Yesterday we had the annual swimming carnival. It was a washout. I got wet to the bone. This week has been a long one. All the illness in my home has skirted around me and I have felt it creep closer from time to time. My new routines of eating fruit and vegetables and taking vitamins and exercising and drinking plenty of water have protected me well. It has not quite penetrated my health to the extent of really stopping me.
I am reading a book of short stories called “Black Juice” by Margo Lanagan. It is delightful. When I got it out of the library at the senior campus last year, with the intention of reading it over the holidays, the librarian said the young person who had been the one and only borrower had given it a 5/10 and she didn’t expect much of it. I guess that is why I have not rushed into it, although I had read many positive reviews. In my mind I put it in the category of those things that get good reviews because they are all buddies and afraid to tell each other the truth. I usually trust the opinions of the children around me before the ‘experts’ or ‘acclaimed’. In this case I judged wrongly.
This week has passed well. I thought it had been a dull week until I came to write about it. I had a lovely pizza dinner with family and friend last night. It was a great combo of good food, funny, often interrupted stories and much laughter. We were fare welling my daughters best friend who is heading off to Wodonga to study. It was an enjoyable evening although underneath the laughter and smiles, I felt sad to be setting her off into the world. I had that sense that things would never be the same again. So many nights she has spent laughing and being ridiculous, always spontaneously and rarely planned. It is right that they should grow up and pursue their own lives but that is the pain of young people growing up . When they are successful and grown they leave.
I also brought home a ceramic mask I made last year after school. I made the mask at an after school workshop. I was pretty cranky whilst I was putting it together and I really enjoyed the process as a distraction from the hurt I was feeling at the time. It turned out well. One day when I am not tired and lazy (as I am right now) I will put a photo of it on this blog.
Louis Sachar & school counsellors
I read Holes at school during reading class a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I watched the video last Friday night and it was great. I am going to use this book and film with students as I feel there are a lot of good things to be learnt from it. I found another book There’s a Boy in the Girls Bathroom by Sachar. It gave me a whole new appreciation for the counsellor at our school. I don’t know how often I have heard or said the comment that the counsellor is not doing enough to help. I read that book and it made me appreciate the kind of long term effort it can take with people for counsellors. It is an important role and to expect instant results would be silly. It is a great book, was an enjoyable and mostly very light story. I think there is something in that story for everyone. I realised in reflection on my own behaviour, how it is easy to become disliked when you are angry and sad. You push others away and it can happen very quickly that you end up with few people who want to be around you. It is not some kind of huge personality disorder, that needs to be untangled. It was a great read.
Reading
I’m finally reading Billy Connelly’s biography. I am a fan. I have seen him twice in Melbourne. He is returning soon I hear and I will have to pass, for lots of reasons. I would enjoy it. I have never laughed so much than when I saw his shows. It was a great workout for my stomach muscles.
I am finishing ‘The Road to Camelot’ a collection of Authurian short stories edited by Sophie Masson. So far my favourite was Isobelle Carmody’s story about Guinevere.
I’ve just started ‘Rasberries on the Yangtze’ by Karen Wallace.
I am looking forward over the next few weeks to collecting a pile of books for my summer reading. Any suggestions anyone?