Oh Dear

The best plans of mice and men go astray!
Work and the world has been unkind to my plans and I have got out of the habit of doing my blog, I was reading back over the past and only the most recent ones are boring and stilted, I need to get these muscles back in running order again, and I wont try and fill me blog with a massive amounts today and just get back into the habit.
I haven't stopped while not writing, my courses have gone up and I am enjoying my work still.
I did the advocacy course from the Toronto University and it was amazing, I am still processing all that we covered, I passed with an 83% which considering I fluffed a whole section and didn't feel I had enough space to fulfill my brief and be happy was quite pleasing. I shall share what I gained here along with the future learn courses that I so enjoyed and the few I really haven't enjoyed, which was still very interesting.

It is that time of year again when I so want to go and spend heaps of money at the Highland Wool Festival, I was due run a workshop for Crochet but sadly the take up of workshops was so poor that they made the choice to get rid of them and just have a day full of stalls and things :-) means I am not so pressured to get there and may get there for lunch! My husband is working on the opposite end of the council area and is hoping to meet me at the event for a few hours as its 2 hours from me and just over 3 from him. I have too many projects on the go again, but hope to get some done. I did finish some very nice socks which I had only been making for 4 or 5 years :-) and started some fab multicoloured wool which is acid neon colours and so makes me smile. Pictures when there is enough knitted to make it worth showing.





I had got all my DK together to make kits for the crochet class so I am now planning making some granny squares either for a blanket or possibly for this coat. Which should make for an interesting make as this picture is all I have :-) my designer hat is firmly on, and if I can 'make' it I can also help my friend who also wants one to make it... or Bodge it at the very least!

Not very awake to day as I was going to bed last night noticed one of the cats wasn't in her normal spot, asked and turns out she hadn't come home and they hadn't done anything! ack, it 11.15 last night and it started raining again and I am in a thin fleece and crocs wandering the local roads calling for her with a torch, cursing the kids! Ended up making them look for her as I was getting way too cold. went to bed worried but she came in at 1.30am! but I had a broken night worrying about her. At least she wont wander for a few days.

Differences and similarities

I am a day or so late as I had the pleasure of being considered as a person to be job shadowed, I was flattered and scared, and I ended up enjoying it but making some realizations of my own. The point was to allow my colleague an overview of the differing jobs that all come under the same job heading!

My own desk is not a great example of all the tasks but is a good example of working with the different staff and their needs. Also due to a prearranged visit I got to take her to another venue and another library visit. Which allowed me to think about how we are all individuals and while we all do the same job the actual on the ground things done varies so much! I can't think of another profession where so much of what we do is not outlined or pinned down, where the person and their own strengths and weaknesses makes such a difference.

We are due a new school build in the not too distant future, I would like to say a date but they have changed it and I fear that may yet occur again. Current plans are for summer 2016, and the plans are getting shaped and knocked together so fast now. The changes and differences in my own work life will be immense, I have no idea how it will be once I am there and I could worry about it but I have learnt to only worry about what I can change. In hope to keep a handle on my worry and stress I go to a regular Yoga class for Hatha Yoga where the emphasis is on meditation and relaxation, and gentle stretching, 'only as far as you feel comfortable'. The teacher is a retired school Librarian from Edinburgh way and is a very calming lady, sadly for my rather generous body she can get her nose to her knee or both hands flat on the floor, while I 'only go as far as you feel comfortable' quite often!

The email call went out this week from the Cilip Scotland for a request for shared practice. The plan is to make a database of shared practice for us all to tap into when we need and to hold a record of our own shared practice for when we want to promote an idea or an event that worked. The page asks for either a detailed return or a form to fill in, which ever is the most successful for you. I will be looking over my own work and seeing what I can put up and hopefully once it is running I can go and find ideas to bring back to my own library world.

The difference between my fairly neat desk and my home work space was illuminated by the kitten when she flopped over my desk and I took a picture, then I looked at it and realised it was a mess! but the kitten looks so good!

She was on my lap but found my hot water bottle on the top and just curled up, her tail end was on the keyboard, while her head is propped on my Mouse! her belly is being warmed and I just hadn't got the heart to move her. Another difference, at work the kids think I am a scary lady who makes them follow the school rules, at home my own teens just roll over the top of me, and the cats.

Equinox and changes

The local area has been a bit blowy and down to zero! The equinox brings us storms and darker nights, the temperature drops and winter appears on the horizons. Of course the coldest windiest night is the one my midnight kitten decided to not come home for tea (again) making me wander round in the cold with a torch calling for her! Most of my neighbours no longer react when I wander past their house at night calling for midnight, or if they are out they smile and nod as both of us know she will turn up in her own time.

There is an advert of a man desperately looking for his cat in the rain, which is for selling cars I think, but the punchline is the man getting home soaked and miserable and the cat is sat in one of his cupboards with what looks like a smirk. I live in fear of wandering one night for hours only to find her watching me from the house!

I finally worked out the 'How to proxy Vote' for the Cilip AGM and made a great new connection through Twitter of a new friend who is going and has my vote there. If you are not going and need to Proxy vote do it as soon as possible! the closing date to get to them is the 19th September!
I used to feel very isolated in the Far north of Scotland but as social media and internet becomes more all encompassing the links to others becomes easier and the chance to be part of live discussion and participate in relevant and cutting edge debate and changes as they happen are amazing. Last week I had ordered the Man Booker short list through the catalogue before they announced it on BBC,  also managed to get some work by an author visiting the school new week which should be up on Tuesday!

I have an eclectic mix of places I get information from and people I chat with so sometimes find odd things that make me think or make me rant! I adore the blog by A Girl Called Jack and love new things from cherry heart, this though was a new blog based in america which caught my interest, the post made me laugh out loud, and the comments were most strange! Wait but Why is thinking about why we have unhappy people who have over inflated expectations, My friend mentioned it to claim his GYPSY status. Oddly even though he was at school with me I didn't find it meant me, as my grandparents were Victorians, my parents both just missed the war as they both hit 18 after it ended, but had that mind set and brought me up to accept what I had and not to expect what was unrealistic. I was always out of step in Thatchers Britain as a teenager, and fitted better with the 'adults' at uni than the drink every night/all night youngsters, so I find this very funny not me but sadly true.

The latest Knitting retreat has happened again and, like before, has happened without me :-( I wish I could wave a magic wand and get time off and funds to pay for it, I plan one day getting to this wonderful event, I hope it stays running for me :-) And if you wander to the shop you can see the one site that draws in me in and makes wish I could just click Buy on so much! I am setting myself a finishing challenge, I have things I want to start but not until I finish some others, I did manage to finish a scarf this evening and have hopes for more soon. Well I must go and fuss over my Midnight kitten.

Left Field

I always loved those Holly Hobby images that said 'love is... ' then some twee saying that could have come from a fortune cookie! Nothing too challenging, nothing too complicated, and infinitely repeatable. and a variation was Life is... which I used to make my own versions up!

This weekend showed that my favorite from then was still in force. Life is what happens while your planning other things. My husbands work which has never been solid and we were expecting him to be told the work has finished in Easter time got a call late Friday to say they didn't want him in Monday! Ouch. Spent part of weekend in shock, its a bit like a relationship where you planned on breaking it off gently in a few weeks only to be dumped now! Expect odd comments about job hunting to appear!

I had such a busy week past week and did so much, but now have to deal with all the stuff waiting on me, I have a fierce to do list with very short deadlines on things and no time to do them! :-) so life is normal once I stopped wallowing  I have successfully managed to set up a Cilip course in Inverness more info to follow once I have the last details ironed out (on the to do list) so watch this space!

I have had the joy of loads of unread blog posts to catch up with after such a busy week and I found myself saving some to read as the treat at the end of the chore! so I have chosen one of these to share today. The Hack School Library is based in america and helps, looks at issues for a library student, I like the wide range of topics, and the fresh eye that gets applied. It has made me stop and think, sit back and cogitate, and generally challenges my 'comfortable' way of thinking! I realise I did very little thinking at University  I did what I was told and turned in the work needed but seem to have missed a whole other side to student life, I know it existed as fellow student spent ages discussing and arguing things but I didn't seem to be aware of them as much. So even now I find out new things from the blog which makes me think more.

I week of meetings last week was good but I have one more to do, so tomorrow I am off to Farr, which isn't far! well not for me :-) to a meeting, and to drop in on the Bettyhill Library. It is a strange but cosy affair, The community has both this and the local library van once every three weeks, so should be some of the best read community's around. The best bit for me though will be the views driving  there and back, cold crisp day I hope, with snow in the hills and sheltered areas, wild life and horizons to die for. The pic is from last Easter when the snows had gone, but what a view!

And finally just to cheer me up, one of my kittens being very perched! and yes her tail really is that long that it sticks out and round her front feet when sat down! This is Midnight who was black at birth and very sweet, but has grown up to be bigger than mum and sisters and can be very pushy, but is so pretty!

Autumns here!

I have had an odd few days, a web chat I follow had a lass on who had lost her friend to suicide, most sent comments to help, but it brought up all my own memories of Tracey and how devastated I was when she took her own life. I still miss her every week and still think 'Tracey would laugh at this...' before remembering she has gone. But the chat and comments brought back the raw pain and the sense of confusion, the why, the what if's, the ideas of, was it me? I sent my own note in and she thanked me personally as I hadn't sent 'don't worries' and other nice but unhelpful comments.

Later I heard about a friends who was very ill had passed away, which on top of the first left me a bit like a damp sponge, I woke in the night crying (again) and ran out of tissues in the house. I havent come to any sense of understanding about that yet but I will. Just need shares in paper goods :-).

Final issue of the weekend has been our little cat Smudge, she was sick Friday, and still not good Saturday, She seemed to rally this morning but by afternoon we rang the vets and she went in, and she has gastroenteritis, and needs fluids! so she is at the vets and we shall get her tomorrow, but we thought we would lose her too. She was a very poorly cat and even though she is safe we worry until shes home again. It was something she has eaten, but short of locking them in all day we cant stop them foraging, of course the kittens have been shut in since lunchtime to keep Tom happy! :-D Now hes worrying still but at least at the vets all will be done for her, better than with us and getting worse.

I sound sad in all this but oddly I am not, I knew my friend was just waiting on death, Tracey was such a shock but time passing had helped me as have good friends around me. Smudge is safe even if not home.

Autumn is here, the days are cold and the nights sharp and frozen, the leaves are gone and the garden dormant, I have my Christmas cards and some of my gifts, and plans for more soon... and odd time of year,

November

No sun - no moon!
No morn - no noon -
No dawn - no dusk - no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member -
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! -
November!

Thomas Hood

and to quote Coca Cola "The Holidays are coming"

Sunshine and warmth

I shall be blogging during July but time will be put to my story, and I will be showing it eventually but not until it is well edited so may be September then
:-D
I have just been taking pics of my mad cat and thought I would share one with you, and try uploading pics to this too
:-D

She is abusing the children tent in the back garden, but she doesnt get to go away with us. She would like to though.

Mad cats and paint

My oldest son is winding the cat into a pre-bed-time frenzy, she has big black eyes and her head is moving back and forwards, side to side like a snake, and his hand will soon be ribbons.
I spent a couple of hours this evening painting a pair of kittens in my art class, after I finished a wave which got more abstract as I tweaked! I do realist not abstract but oddly it works.
I am girding my loins, so too speak, as tomorrow is sponsored walk day, a whole 3 miles if you squint! and a quiz thrown in to slow them down enough that it won't take under an hour :-D well as I am walking it will be a bit longer... I am also taking a walking stick to help when my foot is sore, and maybe to encourage slow chatty walkers...
I have just gained a lap full of semi wild cat who wants cuddles and play and isn't above climbing my curtains if I don't play. hopefully she will calm down soon! if not I shall put her out the back door and she can work her way round to the front and her cat flap, past several strays, and at least 2 other house cats territory which should bring her down.
So my end of day has been cats, real and painted, while tomorrow involves snakes, as my walking stick is 5' long snake headed hand carved, treat to myself. And snakes of children, all two by two as they walk (yeh right, sure they will) in neat lines!