A mixed green salad

The WordPrompt from WordPress this month is green. Here is a mixed salad of green things that spring to mind and a little Google digging.

Green – my second favourite colour. Five hundred and fifty nanometres of energy.

Green trees. Green tree frogs. Green snakes. Green grass. Green glass.

Evergreen, Green fingers, the greenback, the Saudi flag

The green and gold – Aussie Aussie Aussie – Oi -Oi – Oi!

The Baggy Green – cricket anyone?

Ireland.

Greenhouse – a place to grow food and flowers in cold climates

Greenland – a country shrinking before our eyes

The Greens – a political party. Greenie – an environmentalist.

To be green – inexperienced, Green field site – not yet developed.

Green slip – third party car insurance in NSW, Australia. The House of Representatives Ballot Paper.

Green Eggs and Ham – Sam is very persuasive! The Green Mile – how many times have you watched it? Anne of Green Gables – Not once. How Green Was My Valley – I don’t know? How green was it? The Green Lantern. Pearl Pinkie and Sea Greenie.

Green Day – careful! That boulevard is only a broken dream.

The green cheese – Trivial Pursuit’s science and nature questions.

Eat your greens! Limes, mint, basil (all the herbs – I could go on and on!) Green olives, avocado.

Green beans – because there are yellow ones I guess. Green Peas – are there yellow peas? Mendel must have bred them out of existence.

It’s the place to be…farm living is the life for me!

Green Patch – a beach on Jervis Bay with white white sand.

Little green men from Mars! They’d be rather easy to spot wouldn’t they? I mean against the red of Mars.

The green eyed monster of jealousy. The vomit emoji

Go! Yes or OK (as opposed to red – stop)

Copper carbonate, malachite, chrysoprase, jade, peridot, tourmaline

Emeralds – my birth stone. (Maybe that’s why it’s my second favourite colour?)

The Grinch, Shrek, The Hulk, Gumby who all seem to find it easier being green than Kermit.

Billiard Tables, card Tables

It is greener on the other side of the fence.

I’m so old I don’t buy green bananas any more – Lou Holtz – I don’t know who he is but that’s funny! (a football player apparently!)

(My SEO smiley sure won’t be green!) My first favourite colour? Copper sulfate blue.

More than Thanks

On Tuesday 7th December, the New South Wales Teachers Federation had its first full day strike in ten years with the launch of the “More than Thanks” Campaign. I went to the rally in Sydney to support the cause. The rally was very well attended with an estimated 15,000 people marching from Hyde Park to NSW Parliament House. It was loud but peaceful. The only police interaction occurred when a group of people opposed to vaccination chose to interfere with the procession.

There is a chronic and worsening teacher shortage. This is especially concerning in “hard to staff” schools in rural and remote areas. Classroom teachers are opting not to step up to leadership positions because the workload is crippling and the extra pay not enough to cover the enormous increase in expectations. Principals are especially burdened by non-teaching related activities. They are expected to be business managers, accountants, HR managers, and expert teachers. They are expected to respond to parents on a nearly 24/7 basis. Further, many of the so called ‘opt-in’ processes are later deemed mandatory, leaving schools scrambling to collect the revered ‘data’.

Although the school was non-operational on that day, the comments on the school’s Facebook page were supportive. It’s obvious that if smart young people are not attracted to the profession it won’t be long before there is no-one qualified to teach our children.

I am subject to a Code of Conduct so it is not possible (even here on a private blog) to state my opinion only facts, but suffice to say I will willingly lose a day’s pay. You can read about the issues I chose to support on the NSWTF campaign website.

Covid lock downs and remote learning, has earned teachers lots of praise, but we need more than that. We need More than Thanks.

More than Thanks Rally.

Bookbinding

OMG! I am in love with bookbinding! Aside from this blog, I write in a journal nearly every day. My musings range from shopping lists and reminders to deep and meaningful tirades, depending on my mood. This journalling means I get through a lot of journals. I prefer to write on blank paper and the other day when I finished one book I didn’t have another to continue with. I decided to use up some of the materials I had lying around to see if I could make my own.

YouTube teachers no match for a real person!

After a few Youtube videos, I had cobbled together a rather wonky, but serviceable hardbound book. It was fun and allowed me to use my crafty skills. I looked around the interwebs to see if there were any courses available. Just my luck, there was a two-day beginners bookbinding course coming up the next weekend in Sydney and there was one space left! A message from destiny. I signed up for my first in-person course in nearly two years! (Thanks Covid!)

Developing my skills

The course was terrific! The teacher was amazing and I came away with five “books” which progressively developed my skills. Starting with a few sheets of paper folded and stitched to make a pamphlet, we worked step by step to a multi-section sewn book. At one stage in a flow-fueled frenzy, I actually exclaimed “I feel like such a boss!”. This was my sort of course. I like being arty but can’t draw to save my life. This craft which combines mechanical skill with aesthetic features is perfect for me.

This experience challenged my skills and provided a goal-orientated focus putting me right in the coveted state of flow I have talked about before. On Sunday we started at 9:30 AM and one group member interrupted our quiet reverie with “My goodness, it’s 12 o’clock already!” None of us had stopped to look at the time, go to the toilet or get a cup of tea. We were fully absorbed in following the instructions and creating a little bit of paper and board magic.

Great location

Sadly, there is no longer anywhere in Australia to do a trade course in Bookbinding. This course run by the NSW Guild of Craft Bookbinders is part of the Sydney Community College program. The Guild offers more advanced courses and memberships. They share a space in the same building as Writers NSW on the grounds of Callan Park. Callan Park or Rozelle Hospital as it was later called was an infamous psychiatric hospital. Its close to Parramatta River and very close to the CBD. The grounds are spectacular and the building itself heritage listed. You can get there by public transport.

Christmas sorted!

Watch out, friends and family! I’ve already ordered a ream of lovely paper and I’ll be practicing my bookbinding skills over the next few weeks. Christmas gift list sorted!

(Next, I want to do a paper marbling course to make the endpapers!)

PS: The promised Part 2 of Eco-friendly painting will be here soon!!