Fit like?

That's an Aberdeen greeting meaning "How are you?"

Well this tea cosy fits my teapot.  And it's very ...well...cosy.  It's got a lining and everything.

Thanks to Grand Purl Baa for the pattern which is in her latest book How Tea Cosies Changed the World.

I hope it fits Fi's teapot.  It's her SIGNIFICANT birthday very soon.

You're a long time deid, as they say in Scotland, so best have a blether with your friends over a cup of tea as often as possible.  Or something stronger perhaps.

I'm looking forward to a knees-up with Fi soon.  And in our case, that would mean lifting ours knees up a few hills around the ..burbs and blethering endlessly in the wee hours of the morning. 

We call it exercise.

And finally...

Here's tae us; wha's like us?
Gey few, and they're a' deid.
Mair's the pity! 

Full credit to LynnM for all the help finding Scottish phrases et al...

Have you got a Scottish story to tell?  Have you been to Scotland?  Are you Scottish?  If so, what do you like/miss about Scotland?

Reader GeneaMeme

 

It's National Year of Reading in Australia - time to post a GeneaReader meme. (courtesy of Jill at Geniaus)

The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
You are encouraged to add extra comments in brackets after each item 

Which of these apply to you? reading

1.   Have you written any books?  No.But all of my friends have...does that count?
2. Have you published any books? No.
3. Can you recommend an inspiring biography? Hmm....inspiring...hmmm biography...I've read a few inspiring autobiographies...e.g. Richard Branson's and Angela's Ashes....I did enjoy reading the Julia Gillard biography and I particularly enjoyed the Packer biography Who Killed Channel 9? but I'm not sure that they were inspiring....instructive....insightful....amusing....
4. Do you keep a reading log? If yes, in what format?  Sort of...call it a blog....
5. Are you a buyer or a borrower of books? Both.
6. Where do you get reading recommendations? Librarything mostly.
7. What is the one genealogy reference book you can't do without? Nick Vine Hall still stands me in very good stead.
8. Do you hoard books or do you discard them when you have finished? Oh dear...hoarder...
9. How many books are in your genealogy library? Never enough...but to be specific about 50....
10.  What's your favourite genealogy magazine or journal? Well I am besotted with Inside History at the moment...
11. Where are the bookshelves in your house? Everywhere...though we have refrained from the toilet and bathroom (due to mould -  you understand)
12. Do you read e-books? How?On my iPad that my BBF gave me...
13. How many library cards do you have? I think about four.....one for Uni (well it's not a card..it's a number..one for Brisbane City...one for Moreton Bay and one for State Library ...though Charlie did tell me about the National Library so I think I'll be getting one there too...does State Archives count?
14. What was the last genealogy title you read? Probably something about Bathurst at QFHS today..ooh that's potentially another library card!!
15. What is your favourite bookshop? Oh dear....that's hard...I think it has to be the State Library bookshop...Avid Reader at West End is very good but I feel more at home at State Library for some weird reason...Berkelouws is a close second....oh but then there is online and I do like Book Depository and ABE
16. Do you have a traditional printed encyclopaedia in your house?  We have several....Arthur Mee's is my favourite ...but we do have Colliers and also the Children's Brittanica...when I think about it Children's Brittanica is the one I refer to most....we also have The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Animal Life
17. Who are the authors in your family tree and what have they written? Zip...
18. Who is your favourite author? Barbara Pym is pretty neat but I'm going for Elizabeth Gaskell....
19. Where do you buy books? see answer to question 14
20. Can you nominate a must-read fiction title? So hard to pin down just one...George Eliot seemed to have a great impact on me....but I also loved loved loved Elizabeth Gaskell most recently...
21. How many books are in your personal library? Hmm too many to count...we're up to 3,000 on Librarything but I'd say a conservative estimate would be more like 6,000.
22. What is your dictionary of choice?  Well of course I'd like the OED but we've got Robert's old Concise and well chewed Oxford which does us very well.
23. Where do your read? In bed, but that can be fatal...everywhere really...living room...while cooking tea...on the train....
24. What was your favourite childhood book?  It's awful but I can't remember the title of it...but from memory it seemed to feature donkeys (Charlotte stop laughting...it's most unseemly) and was Russian from memory...failing that, Beatrix Potter..The Tale of Two Bad Mice is a firm favourite....here are some very important quotes..."They would not come off the plates, but they were extremely beautiful."   A dieter's dream!
    
    "-all so convenient!"
    
    "Then Tom Thumb lost his temper." - said with great emphasis.....
    
    followed swiftly by...
    
    "Then there was no end to the rage and disappointment....." sounds like my house....
    
    and to top it all off....
    
    "Jane leant against the kitchen dresser and smiled...." as all dolls do....
25. Do you have anything else to say about books and reading? A bit like the old Nike ad...Just Do It!

Busy

Country Women's Association Cup and Saucer at Caboolture Historical Village

 This is one of those quick posts to say Hello World!

I have been very busy of late obviously hence the lack of posts.  I have also started a new blog which does take up more of my time and about which I am being a bit more disciplined.  

Some would say that blogging is a distraction or a way of procrastinating and not getting on with what one should actually be doing. 

In my case, that would be study!!

But I did want to record that I finally went to visit the Caboolture Historical Village this month. 

It was well worth the visit and a beautiful day for it.

It's probably best to visit the village in a group or when it's a special day and lot is going on.

I was able to visit most of the displays in relative peace but I did feel a bit lonely!

There are lots of original buildings with quite interesting collections and re-enactments, as it were.

I was reminded of my trip to Old Sydney Town back in the 70s when I was at school.  It was lots of fun there with convicts being flogged et al.  But I understand it was never a going concern and has closed now. 

Why do you think these sorts of places do or don't work?

One day left - Holidays

An anonymous member of the family wearing his mother's hat on a hot day under protest while fishing.

There's one day left of my holidays.  The house is a mess but I did blog today.

I have started a new blog - a family history one.

See if you like it.

Yes, yes - I know - a weird name...I like the colour green okay???

So I guess I'm saying I might not blog so much on this blog anymore....

I''ll see how I go.

I have had a delicious holiday - read, knitted, watched tv.

I read 40 books this year - well - last year now.

I have just finished watching Season 1 of Downton Abbey which is lovely mindless nonsense and I'm thoroughly enjoying Lark Rise to Candleford.

I did want to see Iron Lady before I go back to work - will it happen?

What's been happening in your neck of the woods?

I say Tomaarto

A big thank you to Toni Henderson for teaching me to animate a tomaaarto. And to Candy Bowers for teaching me to Hip Hop Hack. We had fun at The Edge on Thursday and Friday last week....we were participating in libraryhack. stuff. If you're aged 15-25 you should get on down there. It's pretty cool.

Digital Poet in Training

Here's a bit more stuff from the workshop today using Open Source software called Gimp. You can get Gimp here. Jason Nelson was our teacher today. You can see some of his digital poetry here.

Learning at the Edge

I haven't blogged for a while because I've been busy working (hoorah) and studying.

Today we've been having fun at The Edge.

Check out what Amanda and I worked on today.  We created a map on Google and tagged it with photos, video and embedded links.  We think we're pretty clever.

View Points of interest at SLQ in a larger map