Storytime

Another year, another Book Week...another excuse for us all to dress up. Not that many at my work place need an excuse. Frankly a 'It's Friday, dress up day' would suit the majority of us. (except for me, I don't work Fridays). But you get the idea. This year we had some fun celebrating the joy of Book Week.  There was an extravaganza with face painters and stories and scavenger hunts and book making. Each day there have been themes. Friday was Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Saturday, as you can see from the above picture, was anything. Monday and we were Dr Seuss (although I came as Little Red Riding Hood) Tuesday and we were fairies - as yet no group photo but... There were wings. A huge variety of wings. Can I say I had a bad case of wing envy. Some were AMAZING. Bit of a problem when coming too close to people, but they were beautiful. Huge part of Book Week (apart from the chance to have fun dressing up) is to celebrate books. We look at the ...

That's right, celebrating twenty years of Harry Potter. Yes twenty years ago we first met a young boy called Harry living in the cupboard under the stairs. How time flies! To celebrate, many libraries (and I'm sure book stores) held festivities. We had a Harry Potter night on Monday, complete with magician (who was amazing!) to keep the magic flowing. It was a great night...a great family night.  We had folks making bookmarks...looking at amazing potions... Using props for photo opportunities. Many photo opportunities....  There were snitches in cages and wands... I loved the creativity from my team mates... the library looked great! Full of colour and mystery... And everyone dressed up, for that day we lived Harry Potter. (some went above and beyond..they lived their characters). To me, that was the most important part of it all. Don't get me wrong, loved the feedback. So many parents came up to tell us what a g...

Yep, two days left and 2015 is over. It was a full on year in so many respects. A few health glitches this year but mostly it has been amazing. (Warning, there will be a photo montage ahead) We ventured forth and saw some lovely gardens and came back inspired...and with plants. Due to this inspiration three new garden beds were dug and planted, definitely Works In Progress, but I have a vision. Whether they become anything like I imagine is hard to say. During 2015 we had one child move house, one child become engaged, one child tell us they are about to become a parent and one child get married. A very exciting year (and we only have two children!) We also spent a lot of time with Little Miss...which is always a joy...and a learning curve for all involved. We went to see animals... and Disney Princesses with a stop at a lovely tea room on the way. It was also a year of a bit of culture... I say a bit. From the Buena Vista Social Club to Stephen Fry, Sw...

On the weekend my writing group, Lazy River Writers , had our Christmas break up. We tend to have a meal out to celebrate, there is usually festive decorations, a secret Kris Kringle, we also hold a meeting. This meeting is not for workshopping nor fine tuning a WIP...but we do the usual talk of what we have achieved the past month, our brags, as well as catching up with what has occurred personally. One  member puts together our Top Five Achievements for the year which is always a great way of looking back over what we sometimes feel has been a year of little success. We also discuss how our goals for the year have gone. This usually brings much chair scraping, much mumbling of 'didn't do anything' or the announcement of 'it was a crap year'. This year, amongst the tinsel and Santa's...and the most yummy food..... (I have told you that our group does food very very well haven't I?) It was suggested that since we celebrated our fifteenth...

Last weekend we had the 'official' opening of our new library - 3 weeks after actually opening. There were entertainers and balloons, family storytimes and Spot the Dog. It was a lot of fun- so I'm told, and I was there. But like everyone else that works in the branch, I have not yet had the time to sit back, relax and actually enjoy the new surroundings. We are too busy planning new activities and programs for the year ahead...and just working. Sound familiar? After I receive notice that a story or poem is to be published, say YEAH out loud (perhaps a smallish jig if this is a magazine that I've been trying to get into for quite a while) I get back into. Work on the next piece to send out. Not that you have to have fireworks every time you receive an acceptance... However I don't think we celebrate all those small steps. Yes it's great to be published, more so if payment is part of the proposition. But do we celebrate when that poem finally wor...

It's that time of the year - but not only have I been to a few Christmas events (I"m not really a party person - I tend to be the one in the corner watching everyone -and yes making notes) in the past few weeks we have had other celebrations. My youngest brother turned 40 - that's myself, my brother and my sister - he was a tad 'happy' at this stage :) We also celebrated my husband turning 50, good friends of ours turned 60 and 70 respectively.....and we also celebrated daughter's boyfriend's birthday. And a wedding. This was one of the loveliest weddings I've been to in a long time. It was colourful and fun (everyone wore clothes bought from the Op Shop- including the bridal party) - it was meaningful and joyous. It also involved one of the hardest pieces of writing I've ever done.  I was asked by the groom's mother to write a poem for the wedding. She had to read one and couldn't find anything she liked. Hmm....anyone that knows me ...