The Great Commuknitty Event

I live in Tasmania, an island state to the south of mainland Australia; quite close to Hobart our capital city.

 Just before Easter 2018 I heard a report that our island state was going to experience a harsh winter.  This got me thinking about the homeless in our community and the effect a harsh cold winter would have on them.  Some years previously I had knitted some beanies and donated them to an organisation called St Vincent de Paul who ran a Van around lower socioeconomic areas supplying hot soup and sandwiches each evening.   

I was thinking that there is only so much knitting I can do, and that one person wouldn’t be able to make much of a difference. I gave the situation some more thought and touched base with two Neighbourhood Houses I had contact with and put a proposal to them, (Risdon Vale and Rokeby Neighbourhood Houses).  That we could set up a facebook page called The Great Commuknitty Event and encourage people to knit hats, beanies, scarves, mittens, rugs, children clothes and drop them into the Neighbourhood Centres.  We would then take these donations and drop them into a few different places that assist the homeless and those on low incomes. (We currently have 171 members on our facebook page).

I also shared the details of our Great Commuknitty Event on Kindsprings website https://www.kindspring.org/  as I love random acts of kindness, and reading of what others are doing to spread kindness around the world.

I then sought some donations for prizes for those that donated, and one friend that I approached offered some vouchers for free bread through their franchised Bakers Delight Bakery. Everyone who donated was given a voucher for a free bread loaf each day for one month.

Donations came in and were distributed to a homeless drop in program that provides showers and washing/drying facilities, a place to relax and get a hot drink, breakfast, lunch and access to service providers.  

Donated items were also distributed to “No Bucks Café” a church run program in the City which offers a 3-course lunch for free; Colony 47 an organisation which assists people to apply for public housing and offers other services to them (debt consolidation and budget planning) and to The Link which provides assistance to youth between 12 and 25 years of age.

In July I received an email from Kindsprings commending our Commuknitty Event and asking what we would do with $100 if we were to be awarded a prize in a kindness contest.

After some deliberation and consultation with Coordinators at the Neighbourhood Houses and the drop-in centre (Richmond Fellowship Tasmania) the decision was that the homeless were in desperate need of essentials such as toothpaste and toothbrushes, shampoo and conditioner, underwear, socks and razors.    I cashed the cheque and went to a nearby Coles supermarket to check the prices and quality of items and work out a shopping list. My husband spoke to the manager and asked if they would be willing to give a discount or throw in some items for this worthy cause.  We were asked to come back the following Monday with a letter outlining what we were doing, and they would see what they could do; Coles then gave us a $50 voucher which meant that we had a total of $170 Australian to buy items for the homeless who use the drop-in centre.

These items were purchased and donated to Richmond Fellowship Tasmania’s Drop in Centre; it was lovely to see some people there putting on clean fresh socks, getting toothbrush and toothpaste packs, shampoo and conditioner.  To most these items are essentials it was humbling to see the gratitude expressed for items most of us take for granted.

Recollections of a school uniform.

I managed a uniform detention on my very first day of school, got off the bus and walked into the school grounds and this person with a band on their arm (prefect as it turns out) directed me to the school assembly area and a stage which I was told to sit on.    Assembly progressed and I thought I was sitting on the stage because I was a newcomer, but not in 1st year, I was in 3rd year so obviously all of us on the stage where new people in years above 1  st.......       WRONG!  as the assembly progressed towards the end we were asked to stand...and held up as an example of how not to wear your uniform.    

urgh! the bane of my life..... The Rose Bay High School winter tunic. easily modified by two nappy pins on the shoulders to hoist the yoke up to near choking capacity, and remove the belt from its loops and retie in position after sucking breath in to full lung capacity, quickly tying belt and breathing out....good for at least an extra two inches in shortness.
Didn't have one like this at my school in UK..... thought when we emigrated that they had bought reject uniforms from St Trinians.  (Click on the space below with the pic motif in the corner to see what the uniform looked like)

At my school in the UK there was a choice of different styles as one style does not suit all body types.

Richmond Ramblings

Well this is a new section for my Retired life in the Rainforest....
as you know I retired from work as a Diversional Therapist and Community Carer, became a carer and then remarried.... had 5 glorious years living in Maydena (small township in the rainforest) then my hubby died and I had a couple of years living on my own and  reassessing and moving on with my life.  Met Mr Fantastic on dating site Plenty of Fish and the rest is history.  I am now back at work part time, working as a support worker in Supported Accommodation in the Mental Health field. Living at Beautiful Richmond gorgeous colonial township with lots of history. We have renovated the house hubby has lived in for the last 19 years or so, bought a caravan and a new vehicle and are looking forward to paying off the mortgage and travelling around the mainland of Australia.

YAY! Finished my certificate 4 in Mental Health.

Yes, I know I have been quiet recently.  I have been busy with Life, Work and TAFE, this week I finally handed in my last module for the Cert 4 in Mental Health.  It has been a challenge returning to study and to the classroom, especially since I thought we were going to be able to complete this online.    I was amazed at the casual ways of the classroom, turn up when you are able, walk out to take a phone call, check your text messages while in class.  If the tutor is about to put on a movie which is pertinent to your studies, just casually announce that you are going for a coffee and walk out, make the whole class wait for you to return.... I was amazed as I said.... thinking of all the detentions I would have had if I had done that when in school myself.

So between juggling rosters, reorganising shifts to accommodate TAFE studies, attending training at work for the new service management system and NDIS rollout things have been just a tad hectic.
But that is behind me now, so watch out there will be a few posts coming up to make up for lost time.

I have still remained active in Bookcrossing and on facebook....lol, and am hoping to make loads of difference in the garden over the next few weeks.

Michael and I have recently attended the Uni Revue which was great, we started out at Mako fish punt for our evening meal with friends and then on to the Theatre Royal for the Revue.

Will make a blog post regards our holiday we had recently, and catching up with all family members.

An Afternoon High Tea

Had a wonderful High Tea experience at Riversdale Estate for my daughters birthday.

A friend of hers had organised for a surprise afternoon tea to celebrate her birthday we were joined by friends and had a relaxing afternoon in sumptuous surroundings.  Imagine velvet tub chairs with diamond buttons in the back.  Crisp clean white linen on the tables, beautiful floral display in the centre of an orangery (or conservatory).  Food served on fine china with numerous choices of tea and a veritable smorgasbord of food which was brought out on a 3 layer fine china arrangement with a large R topping the plate stand. 

Savouries on the bottom layer salmon bagel, and a lovely Cornish pastie with chutney, finger sandwiches on the top layer, and the middle layer was mud cake, strawberry tartlet, and a lovely wine trifle.  Just when you thought you could eat no more along came the scones and Chantilly cream….lush.   A choice of teas to wash this down and refills available, fine china and silver service.

The views over the vineyard and the bay were beautiful, it was so tranquil and serene, and we went for a walk along to the Peter Rabbit Garden after our High Tea. This is a new attraction and the only one in the Southern Hemisphere, beautifully laid out and following the Adventures of Peter Rabbit from the books by Beatrix Potter.

There was also a Beatrix Potter inspired shop with lots of lovely gift ideas from her books.

All in all a wonderful afternoon with great friends.

Kaylene (Story) Jones Eulogy

Kay Story…..

We met February 1969 when I had a disastrous first day at school in a new country, and Kay took pity on a pom in detention.

We both lived in Risdon Vale and I would often walk to Kay’s, we would catch the school bus together and then go to a friends house in Rose Bay for a cuppa and then walk back to school; there were also days when we deliberately missed the school bus in order to catch the city bus and chat with our friend Annette who went to a private school.

Kay and I, and our other friend Maz regularly managed to not do sport together. Friday afternoons straight after lunch we would manage to lose our timetable and spend time together, with Maz singing, bar bar bar bar Barbara Ann, and us providing the chorus, making plans for the weekend, swapping clothes, records and dreams. Occasionally we would go to Rosny Regional Shopping Centre always looking out for Choco Royle, so we wouldn’t get a detention. On one occasion when we did participate in PE, we managed to get lost walking around the Hill behind school and had to miss out on the next class that afternoon, as we cut through the bush, skirting the golf course down to Gordon’s Hill Road and sauntered back to school having a fag to calm our frazzled nerves.

 Maz and I remember the sports mistress telling us she was going to ask our mother’s to get us checked out gynacologically as we managed to miss swimming every week for an entire term - but we didn’t discriminate - we missed all sports.

Kay and I became good friends, Kay was a patrol leader in our local Girl Guides unit and I transferred to Australian Guides and became her seconder.   The following year we discovered the CWA hall dances with The Corvettes which were also on a Friday night. Kay dropped Guides first, quickly followed by myself in favour of the local fortnightly dance.   Our fathers used to take it in turns to run us back and forth to the dance in Lindisfarne, and later to Humpty’s in Moonah on one of these occasions my father’s car had problems and every time we stopped in the traffic we had to get out and push his car to get it going again, in platform shoes and flares it wasn’t a good look.  We were very pleased to see Kay’s dad at the end of the dance.

Our Rose Bay days where too soon behind us and Kay went on to Elizabeth Matric, and I went to work…luckily in North Hobart so we still caught up on a regular basis.

Life occasionally got in the way of our friendship and we could go long periods of time where we did not see each other, but our paths would cross again, and we would just pick up where we left off, over a cuppa we would chat and joke about the twists and turns we had taken and it was as if we had only been out of touch for a week or so.

Our kids went to the same school, but were in different years we would often have a chat at the bus stop as Kay went to work and I went home, usually with kids in tow who didn’t mind playing on the oval while we kept watch for the city bus.

Kay was always busy with some project either at home or at The Shack, but always had time to help anyone, she took pity on me and my lack of sewing skills often turning up work trousers, or giving advice on sewing projects.  We both loved crafts and would often share ideas and patterns, comparing our wool stashes, and upcoming projects.  Kay also had a wicked sense of humour so the emails would go back and forth with jokes.  Our dads had taught us the same fractured nursery rhymes and Christmas carols which we would compare and inevitably teach to our kids.

We had the same sort of friendship with our other good friend Maz, who had spent some time on the mainland after RBHS.  I bumped into Maz at the local store and we chatted in the aisle for what must have been a good hour…. The three of us resumed our friendship, transferred from the terraces of Rose Bay High, to Kay and Lee’s kitchen.

Maz often caught up with Kay through the course of her work, and fondly remembers the drawer at Kays work, which always had lollies which she freely shared.

Kay, Maz and I spent a lovely morning together recently, drinking tea, telling jokes, chatting, sorting wool, and copying knitting patterns.   Little did we know it would be the last time we would be together.

Kay has never changed over the years, always ready with a quip or joke, a cuppa and a cake, never judgemental, always loving and caring, supportive through everything that life throws at you.

Kay Mate,

We have gone from Witches Britches, Hair ties and slouch socks

to boyfriends, marriages and maternity smocks.

Our love of cars, music and the odd craft project,

Home renos, family and kids we love to protect

life changes, training and new careers,

Our friendship spanned so many years.

God didn’t need to prove it, we already knew,

He took the best, and broke our hearts, when he took you.

Mainland, mainland, mainland.... and a couple of funerals.

We had a lovely first caravan trip to the mainland in May 2015. 

Destination Maroochydore to celebrate with my brothers family members for our mum's 80th birthday, then on to my sisters and another celebration on the actual day.

On the way to Maroochydore we stopped at Glenrowan - Ned Kelly Country - and visited and amazing anamatronic show where the events leading up to his capture were recreated as if you were there and part of the events.

We also visited Mount Panorama - the racing track and museum of cars and motor bikes. 

While at my brothers we visited Underwater World at Mooloolaba, I had been there before but it is a lovely place to visit and admire the fish in a near normal environment as we walked around viewing tunnels and observed their behaviours.

It was lovely to get away and relax also to spend time with family members on both sides of the family.

We had a slight hiccup leaving my sisters house, the kerbing in front of her house was a little high and damaged the rear of our Ford XR6, necessitating running repairs in the way of screws and cable ties.... we arrived at Michael's fathers home and another problem the drive was too steep to be able to back the caravan in.... quick unhook and an appeal to the neighbours to help push the caravan into place, and some serious thinking about the vehicle.  We love the XR6 but it is perhaps just a little too low to tow with.    

Next day on way to SeaWorld we checked out some 2nd hand cars and I did a search on Cars Guide and we put an expression of interest in at Sunshine Ford on a Ford Territory ex demo vehicle they had.... arranged to view it later in the day, crunched some numbers with the budget and we became the proud owners of a new Territory, diesel, just had a couple of small things to do on it before we took possession, like fitting a tow bar, and having tinting done on the windows.  

This also gave us a chance to visit Movie World and spend a relaxing day there moving among look alike movie stars and watching stage shows and 3D movies.

We spent an extra night on the Gold Coast catching up with family there before we took possession of our new vehicle and travelled onto Valla Beach in NSW, and visiting Michael's mother and husband Geoff.

We had a lovely meal out with his mum, as Geoff was not well and was in Macksville hospital, having some tests done.

We stayed an extra day in Valla Beach before heading down to Melbourne and the Spirit of Tasmania ferry and home.

We had just been home about a fortnight, back at work a week when we hastened to Melbourne as Michael's daughter Emma had her first baby, a gorgeous little bundle of joy called Thea.  She had been a little anxious to meet us all, causing her mum to spend time in hospital in Tassie, before transferring to Royal Melbourne Womens Hospital for the birth.  Thea was diagnosed as having spina bifida in an early scan and would require surgery immediately following her birth.  She has proven to be quite a feisty little girl, kicking out catheters and removing drips, but has come on in leaps and bounds and is progressing well.  It was lovely that all the siblings and family where able to be in Melbourne for some time while Thea was in Neo Natal Intensive Care and show support to Emma and her partner Matthew.  Michael and I flew in the day following the birth and stayed 4 days we had to wait for our cuddles of the precious little bundle till she was released from hospital and back home in Tassie.

During this time we were made aware of problems with Michael's step father, his health was deteriorating fast, he had been placed in a nursing home for respite care with the possibility of a full time placement as it was getting harder for Michael's mother to care for him at home. He was having falls and there was the possibility that he could injure himself in a fall, and it was hard to assist him back upright following falls.  We got a phone call on a Tuesday morning that he had passed away and planned a trip back to the mainland for his funeral and farewell.  We travelled into Sydney along with Liz (Michael's eldest daughter) and Josh (Michael's son from Adelaide) met us there. We hired a car and had a 6 hour trip to Valla Beach for the funeral the following day. It was lovely to see all of Michaels Brothers and his sisters in one place with his mum, but it was a pity the circumstances were such.   Road trip back to Sydney and back home....

The day before we left for Sydney I had the news that a dear school friend of mine that had been battling cancer had passed away, so we came home to another funeral and this time I had been asked to give a Eulogy to my friend about our school days and our friendship over the years.