Book drive - started

Well, the Book Drive started today and already some have come in. I will know more on Monday. I have found someone who is willing to work with me for a couple of days sorting and packaging the books for distribution.



It feels good to know that the project has reached a productive stage. Need to plan the next steps to ensure it works, no matter how small the number of books gathered.



Need to contact the librarian at Springfield, Kerrie, to discuss their discarded books. Not sure if there will be many as they are so new and have lots of space.



Had lunch with some librarians today, Vivienne, Sue and Helen. We had great fun and found a lot in common with them. Sue, married, is very fair, with reddish hair and freckly skin, and likes the beach. She has a daughter in London. Vivienne is dark and brown eyed with olive skin who likes heat and has a daughter in Bangkok and one in Sweden. Helen who is fair with creamy skin, unlined despite many trials and tribulations over her life. She has two sons, one of whom is estranged and one who works at USQ. She is a lovely person, calm and positive and married to Ron who adores her.



I found someone who is interested in my job when I get around to retiring. She will be free after Semester 1 next year as she is doing the final stages of her doctorate then. She already has a job that is on-going so no rush. She is doing some marking for me this semester to test the water. I'll be interested to see how she goes. David and Tas are both receptive to the idea but I guess that the position will need to be advertised.



My SDS knowledge is so ingrained now that it has become intuitive for some clients.



Saw a Sudanese chap today who the others think is too grandiose in his plans. Told him the requirements and not to miss any of the steps, but he seems very confident. Wilson and Jess are not so sure he can do it, but he will have to fail for himself before he will accept a lesser level of work.



Clare is keen to be a friend and I need to pursue this too. I need a diverse group around me, younger and involved in things.



What will my life be like if/when I stop work? U3A offers many activities but I need to feel busy for myself, not just to be entertained. A series of projects are indicated. I have a quilt to finish. Must get back to painting and this will co-incide with the renewed Culliford House, next year. I could start a TAFE Vis Arts Diploma but Hugh wants to do some travelling around Australia. so, it looks like a bit of voluteering might be the best solution.



I could try to see if DDCC is interested in me doing some work out there. This would present an ideal opportunity to try out the Careers Ed stuff, especially if I also use the lesson plans I have developed for this project. Maybe it can be used as a qualitative research project? Needs lots of planning to ensure the questions are considered, research goals too. One should be 'the effect of specific phrases and words on the students' attitudes and behaviour.'

This writing is for my own recording of thoughts, I don't care if no-one else sees it, ever.

New House - Thoughts

We have just built a new house. Planning the decor is fun, but so far it seems very bland and monochromatic. I think this will improve when the paintings, etchings, drawings etc are up and floor rugs are down. The art works are a mixed lot - by local artists in the main - landscapes, portraits, still life, some of my own, photographs by my husband, and family snaps.

The frustrating thing is that the main floor area is waiting for the concrete to dry out enough for the cork to be laid. It needs to be under 5% moisture and is still above 6 - 7%. According to the carpet laying people it could take weeks to dry to the required level. It has been almost 6 weeks now! Rainy weather does not help and also the fact that we don't live there - the place is shut up most of the time and only open when we are there. Today was a good one.

The driveway was poured this morning. The workers mix sugar with the top layer of cement to prevent it setting really hard!! Then, when it is, hard enough they jet the top layer off to reveal the aggregate surface below. A magic process. Tomorrow they return to put on the sealer that gives it a shiny, wet look and enhances the colours of the stones - a mix of 85% pale with 15% dark. The front yard is a mess but the bones of the shape is now visible.

The best part of today, though, was a visit from an old friend. She came to town with her daughter who addressed the Women in Business seminar at USQ. We spent many years very close to this family as our daughters were similar ages and they played the same sports. We also camped with them for several years on Fraser Island. Then her husband retired and they moved to Brisbane, right on the bay at Cleveland. He loves to fish.

She is well although still troubled by asthma, and her daughter is very successful. She started a mobile physio practice and now employs 50 part-time physiotherapist who visit their clients, and therefore, have no 'rooms'.
We served her lunch and talked until the daughter came to pick her up. Being near all facilities is great. I walked down to the library, returned some books, selected some magazines, bought the lunch ingredients - all in about half an hour. Must make a couple of roomy bags that will take all requirements to do the shopping.

This afternoon after our friend has left we fixed the curtain rod in the bedroom, and have hung one curtain. The other needs a bit of repair. I pulled the gathering strings too vigorously and now have to reattach them - a bummer. This morning the bed we bought on Saturday arrived and we put it together. It is really comfortable - nice and firm. We went for an inner spring with boxed springs on a slatted base. No more skirts that get twisted and now have space for some storage bins under the bed. I will make a new bed-spread - a simple throw using the material I made the chair covers from, and then get/make cushions to match the paintings I will put in this room. The Chinese one I bought in Xian of ladies drumming. A chair cover too and maybe a small table with a cloth. The room is big enough and we need to use the big chest of drawers, too. The walk-in robe has adequate hanging but little shelf space for both of us. Sorting out my clothes will be a good exercise, as I have stuff that is years old, and not wearable or worth keeping. A bad habit of mine, at least an odd one, is that I quite like old clothes, or I did. Lately I have started to like new ones.

Books for Prison Libraries - Donations

Books, Maps, Dictionaries of all types (languages, history, art, philosophy, psychology, mathematics, sciences etc., reference books, encyclopaedia) Practical "how-to" with diagrams for building, sewing, craft. All of these are needed.

This is my first blog and my first post to it. I am keen to have this idea pursued by as many as possible as it is something that can be done to help people who are often overlooked except for their crimes. Most prisoners are like the rest of us - people who have made bad decisions, chosen the wrong path and many feel trapped by this and their circumstances. Recidivism is reduced by giving hope.

For the past few years I have been involved with the pre-tertiary education of people who need a start to get into higher education. (Post secondary education.) One group with whom I deal are prisoners. Their access to education gives them hope of evading the return to prison that is the lot of many. It has become a passion with me to try to help these people to learn something positive as it is true that education opens doors and offers hope of change.

As part of this the access to reading materials that are supplementary to the texts is limited by the resources that the prison library hold. If people with professional libraries need to move them or clean out the parts where they have changed direction would put aside these materials and give them to the prison nearest they would be building resouces of background knowledge for students in prison.

Subject areas are as wide as the degree offerings of any well resouced university library. From Anthropology, Archaelogy, Art History ..... to English, Literature, Poetry, Drama, Psychology, Science to Zoology, and all points in between are needed. Also, books that are about crafts and hobbies, leisure activities, sporting heroes, gardening, building techniques for projects in the home and garden are needed.

Education Officers welcome these materials and to donate you need to contact the Senior Education officer to discuss your donation.