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Archive for the 'books and writings' Category

plaster from toes to mid thigh

Published
by
Helen
on June 13, 2006
in TV and Movies, Uni, books and writings and family
. 6 Comments

Well Mum is not going anywhere fast. She has a leg in plaster and Matthew and I are rapidly adding to the list of reasons why the household needs a laptop. The following is the email that she dictated to Pabbi (hence it does not talk about Matthew and I) that she sent to friends and family. Saves me typing it out.

On Sunday I broke my leg. Paul is typing this for me while I lie in Helen’s bed with my right leg on a pillow. Paul has been fist class at looking after me and helping me etc over this episode

I have plaster from my toes to mid thigh.

I am pain free.

Now for the details:
The following is my own fault, I know I have a tendency to be a bit gung ho and normally I keep that well under control, but on Sunday I didn’t

On Sunday I was leading a small group on a walk from Lemon tree flat to Sentinel point and Mt Huntly (South of Cunningham’s gap) We went up a cliff break on a rope but I decided to come down without the rope. I was almost down when I slipped a bit and where my foot landed gave away, and my foot went in a hole almost to my knee, and I kept going. Before I got myself disentangled from that, I immediately I knew I had done something bad to my knee. I sat still for a while and put some more clothes on, the general consensus was that I had done a ligament bandaged my knee and walked out with the help of two walking poles and someone carried my pack. it was a slow walk. As long as I did not try a twisting movement of my knee and I walked slowly it was quite ok. We had to walk about an hour and a half before we got to the end of the 4 wheel drive road. One of the men had gone ahead and he got back there with his 4wheel drive the same time as we did. Went back to camp and had a sleep while I waited for Kay, my traveling companion to come back from her walk.

Kay packed us up and drove my car to Brisbane. Because I thought I had done a ligament I did not go to the hospital that night but hired crutches on the way home.

On Monday Paul took me to the 24 hour medical centre at Kedron and I had xrays of my knee. The GP there thinks I have fractured the top of my Tibia (shinbone) I was put in plaster (Paul did a great job of assisting the nurse as this sort of plaster is a 2 person job)

I was given a referral to a lower limb specialist but he was not open for business today, I shall call him tomorrow morning.

More news when I know more.

Meanwhile I am drowning in marking and reports. Fortunately a recently retired teacher from my school is taking my classes, by pot luck she also teaches Maths A, B and C

What she doesn’t say is that the GP said that best case scenario she is back at school in a couple of weeks, worst case scenario she may never go back to teaching. It seems that this sort of break can have all sorts of complications. We are all adapting our life to our new found situation. Once she has finished her marking, she plans to break out the embroidery etc that needs to be finished off as unfortunately unless we get a new sewing machine table there is no way she will be quilting.

I had my first exam today which I am pretty sure I did alright in, I knew which questions would be on the exam so I was able to prepare my essays beforehand. I have another exam tomorrow which is for my Ethics and International Relations subject, even more fun.

We have evolved from having a Nintendo 64 which Matthew and I were given for Christmas many moons ago to having a Nintendo GameCube that Matthew bought off eBay for cheap as people sell in preparation for getting a Nintendo Wii. I can’t wait to get Burnout for it as that is one game that I rocked at when I used to play at it my ex-boyfriend’s house. Matthew is planning on attempting to get Mum hooked into playing the games with him; however I do not see that as a likely event.

I picked up this pretty cool book in the 75% bin at Borders today - All My Life For Sale, it is the catalogue of a man selling almost all of his worldly possessions on the internet and the history and future of the items, pretty darn cool :)

ANZAC Day

Published
by
Helen
on April 25, 2006
in Music, books and writings, family and quotes
. 1 Comment

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

We will remember them.
- For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon

Today is ANZAC Day, which without a doubt is the most revered day in Australia and New Zealand, more so than our respective national days (Australia Day and Waitangi Day).

Today is the day when we commemorate those who didn’t come home and honour those who have, the day we thank those who have served and those who are. We know that peace and freedom do not always come without a sacrifice and we thank those who made that sacrifice.

World War I forged the Australian identity, as a federated nation we were only 14 years old at the beginning of the war. We sent 40% (330 000) of our male population to the war, they were all volunteers. 60 000 of these did not return. Australia had the highest casualty rate of WWI and New Zealand had the highest casualty and death rate per capita of any country involved in WWI. It was not a war that threatened either of our nations personally but as members of the Commonwealth we felt a duty to serve.

The Last Post

We now pause for two minutes to reflect on the significance of the day and to show our respect to those who served. The idea of a minute’s silence is credited to Edward Honey, an Australian journalist in London during WW1 who published a letter in the Evening News on 8 May 1918 appealing for a moment of silence during the celebrations of the first anniversary of the Armistice (11/11/1918)

Rouse and Reveille

Since this is not a Dawn Service, we follow the moment of silence with Rouse instead of Reveille which is played as the first call of the day.

Advance Australia Fair

Lest We Forget

Sesame Somen Noodle Salad with Smoked Salmon

Published
by
Helen
on November 18, 2005
in books and writings and food
. 0 Comments

After I finished all my exams on Wednesday, I popped into Borders on the way home to check out the magazines, I walked out with the November issue of ABC Delicious which came with a July back issue :) as well as the Donna Hay Spring issue that they still had on the shelves and the current Donna Hay Celebrate issue (which has the most gorgeous Christmas ideas in for example a biscuit wreath and a succulent leaf star).

After working Wednesday and doing some scrapbooking (The Story Bridge and Breadsticks Recipe It wasn’t till Thursday that I could sit down with some sticky notes and mark my way through the magazine. It was also my turn to cook tea last night so I dished up the recipe that had grabbed me the most.

Sesame Somen Noodle Salad with Smoked Salmon.
400g Somen noodles
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 or 3 shallots
1/4 cup chives (which I forgot)
1 or 2 small cucumbers (though I used zucchini, since Mum refuses to eat cucumber)
200g smoked salmon, roughly chopped
1 cup mint leaves

Cook the noodles and drain. Combine the soy sauce, brown sugar and sesame seeds in a large bowl. Add the other ingredients and noodles, lightly toss to combine. Serves 4

My notes.
As I am not a fan or raw shallots or zucchini, I gave them a quick cook in the pan (1 or 2 minutes on a high heat). 1 cup of mint leaves is total overkill, it turned out really as Mint Noodle Salad, next time go more for 1/4 cup or less. Maybe add some sesame oil to the dressing to add a bit more flavour. Recipe says it serves 4, but really would serve 5 with comfort and some left for lunch.

salmon noodles

new library books

Published
by
Helen
on November 1, 2005
in books and writings
. 5 Comments

I have always loved going to the library and taking my time there, I mean time, rarely I am out of there in under 45mins. I mainly go for non-fiction books, I guess one reason is that it is easy enough to have a quick flick and decide if you will like the book. One thing about books is that you are always learning, I often get at least three or so photography books on all topics especially those that are not things that I normally photograph as I am always able to gain a new piece of wisdom.

I went tonight and came out with a swag of books, which are as follows.

Crafting Frames at Home - The Editors of Country Living

Hardware Style : 100 Creative Decorating Ideas Using Materials from Every Aisle of the Home Center Store - Marthe Le Van

The Encyclopedia of Quilting and Patchwork Techniques - Katharine Guerrier (different edition though)

Poster Art in Australia: The Streets as Art Galleries Walls Sometimes Speak - Roger Butler with National Gallery of Australia

How to Take Great Photographs at Night : Carefully Structured Assignments to Help Improve Your Technique - Richard Newman

Photographing People - John Hedgecoe

Capturing the Night With Your Camera: How to Take Great Photographs After Dark - John Carucci

Weekend Projects: Over 150 Quick and Easy Makeovers - Petra Boase

Fast, Fun & Easy Irresist-A-Bowls - Linda Johansen

Portfolios That Sell: Professional Techniques for Presenting and Marketing Your Photographs - Selina Oppenheim

Special Effects Photography (Pro-Photo Series) - David Daye

The AVA Guide to Travel Photography - Keith Wilson

Discover Australia By Road - Hema Maps

Viewfinder: 100 Top Locations For Great Travel Photography - Keith Wilson

Simple Knits for Sophisticated Living: Quick-Knit Projects from Beautiful, Chunky Yarns - Barbara Albright

200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws, and Afghans : Crochet Squares to Mix and Match - Jan Eaton

browsing in Borders

Published
by
Helen
on June 17, 2005
in books and writings and paper
. 7 Comments

ok so imagine this.

Young funky girl wearing a pair of moleskin pants, a Kahlua tee and a bulging back pack on back, wondering round Borders after finishing another exam. Decides to go to the top level where the bargain buys are, see if I can find anything I like - nothing much. Now over to cooking that is on the same floor - nothing grabs my eye here either so I wander over to the craft section and smack bang in the middle shelf of the craft section, is the book - The Complete Book of Creative Scrapbooking a whole shelf of our book.

So what does this girl do?
does she
a) just keep on browsing and pretend not to notice it.
b) saunter over and have a flick through and mutter to self about how good looking that guy is on page 75.
or c) pull out mobile phone and ring Barb to tell her that our book has it’s own shelf at Borders, meanwhile having staff and customers look over in awe and amazement.

Now if you picked C you are right of course. I am going to have to go back with a smaller camera and take a photo - didn’t really want to pull out the DSLR and ask someone to take a photo.

Then one of the staff that was near me comes over and asks me which one is the book and proceeds to tell me that he only made that display yesterday :) and chats with me about the book and the process. How cool :)

for the engineers in my life.

Published
by
Helen
on May 25, 2005
in books and writings and random life
. 2 Comments

Karl, Dina and co and the rest of you.

Mum was given this today.

An engineer was crossing a road one day when a frog called out to him and said, “If you kiss me, I’ll turn into a beautiful princess.”

He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket. The frog spoke up again and said, “If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week.”

The engineer took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket.

The frog then cried out, “If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I’ll stay with you and do ANYTHING you want.” Again the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.

Finally, the frog asked, “What is the matter? I’ve told you I’m a beautiful princess, that I’ll stay with you for a week and do anything you want. Why won’t you kiss me?”

The engineer said, “Look I’m an engineer. I don’t have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog, now that’s cool.”

running

Published
by
Helen
on April 22, 2005
in Uni, books and writings and random life
. 1 Comment

I scribbled this down just after I had got on the connecting bus this arvo.

My life is about running, running between buses, to buses, running to meet someone, to make a deadline, to get somewhere, running always running.

Running to the bus and then sitting simply, quietly in my seat, waiting again to get somewhere at some time.

Breathing fast, heart pumping, bag swinging, getting to the bus, weaing in and out of people, getting to the bus, getting to a commitment.

Always running to something. The final stage of getting home, the walk, is my single piece of simply free time, commitments are nil, time is mine, stopping to enjoy the ride. Walking.

Imported Magazines

Published
by
Helen
on April 6, 2005
in books and writings and cool things
. 6 Comments

Borders, Borders, Borders, why do you treat my heart so bad?

I had to buy a new monthly bus ticket today, since the bus from uni was 20mins late I would not make it back to my normal bus in time after going up to central station to get a ticket so I decided to get the next bus and spend some time enjoying the city.

First stop was Borders mmm love that shop. Except I normally walk out empty handed because I just have to love reading US magazines like Real Simple but with a cover price of AU$13.95 (~US$10.69) and increasing, more often then not I only allow myself a flick. I emailed Real Simple today though to see about international subs as the site only has info for USA and Canada. I would love to get RS in the mail each month, sigh. I hope they do Int’l subs.

I also saw some cool books that I like the look of which I have added to my text list on the right some though I did not scribble down the name of or they are not yet on USA Amazon. This book in particular is one I can’t wait to get my hands on - Falling Cloudberries. It is one of those cook books where every recipe looked like something that everyone in the house would eat. I like those sort of cook books - cook books for real life.

On the way up to central station I went via Queens Plaza, not long now till it will be finished then I can do some serious window shopping, from what I could see it looks like it will be a visual delight. Opening date is said to be May 24th. sweet.