Space

I've been looking on the NASA web site and it is planing to visit the moon again. Next yr they are selling off the space shuttles and using new spacecraft (Orion) first to go between earth and the international space station then go to the moon for a week at a time, later up to 210 day missions. They plan to have an outpost on the moon. NASA also then wants to go to mars. Though being further away it will be a longer mission. 6mth traveling there 1.5 years there then 6mths traveling back to earth.

October Sky

Inspired by a movie that was on tv yesterday afternnoon, called October sky, I have been looking on the internet at science/maths stuff. October Sky is about a young boy called Homer, who lives in Coalwood, a place where everyone works at the coal mine and the kids expect to grow up to work in the mine. Then Sputnik flyes over-the first orbiting satalite-and Homer is motivated to build rockets. A true story, he now works for NASA.
I have learnt that in the atmosphere there are parts of 'ionisation' that influence radio waves called sporadic E. I think this is what my grandfather was researching. The sun causes free electrons which reflect the radio waves down if at the right frequency. Sciencists can find and measure the (concentrated) free electrons, which gather together they call them clouds.

Cardcaptor Sakura

We have just bought some dvd's of Sakura the cardcaptor. It is a Japaneses cartoon about a school girl, Sakura who finds she has magical powers to capture the clow cards that will bring catastrophe on the world if she doesn't catch them. They were originally done in Japanese though some episodes have been translated into English. We have all of them in Japanese, with English sub-titles. It is interesting to hear some of the Japanese and understand it. I have been looking in my Japanese text book more often to find out what words mean. But I don't have a full dictionary so I can't look up all the words. Ray has found some things about the language on the Internet but is disappointed there isn't more.
We also bought a collection of movies by Studio Ghibli, who have made 14 Japanese cartoons. 7 have been translated into English and the other have sub-titles. I have seen some of these movies on TV, on SBS.

ed... words

As I have been looking though the dictionary as I try the crosswords I have found some interesting words. Like eddy which is a small whirlpool or smoke moving like a small whirlpool. Then a white-flowered alpine plant - edelweiss is the next entry. It follows on to have Eden (Adam and Eve's original place) and edentate which is without teeth. I wonder if I can put these into a sentance or short story?
As the couple walked along the river bed they noticed an eddy in the water where the small creek joined the river. Around this area were edelweiss' in bloom refecting the snow that was around in winter. She said 'This is a great place to bring up children, seems just like eden,' she stroked her rounded tummy, 'I wonder how long our baby will be edentate? when will he start teething?' He replies ' We can worry about that when it comes.'

Time for a jumper

The weather has changed from 40 to 20's in a week, now it is cold. For those complaining about the heat now wear jumpers. It has been overcast and we have had some rain. Nice to hear and smell the rain again. The grass may turn green from the brown it is now. It has been dry.
The water on the side of the road reminds me of last year when there was a flood in town. Though I doubt it will flood now.

Mind power

Each week there is a crossword in our local free paper. I have started filling them in, though I'm not that good. I eventually grab the dictionary but is not always helpful. Recently Ray has been taking them and filling them in for me.
I also have my text book from school on Japanese. I have been reviewing the language. I think I have forgotten a lot but am learning it quickly. I don't think that I will be able to speak it fluently though, it is only a hobby to keep my mind active.

It is hot

It has been hot. Though that isn't strange for summer.
It seems bearable at the moment except at work. It takes forever to put gloves on, for our hands are sweaty. I feel I am forever taking off gloves and putting them on. We need them to keep our hands clean - protect us from germs as well as keeping the food and plates clean.
The other day we had a bit of a water fight. There was a plan to surprise a fellow worker, most of us ended up getting wet to varying degrees. It certainly cooled us down a bit.
At the doorways to the kitchen there are blowy things that are meant to help keep the fly out. If you stand in the doorway you get a cool breeze. The cool room (walk in frigde) is also a good place to be to get a bit of relief from the heat.

Tonight

Tonight I was outside watching lightning, listening to muffled music from somewhere far away. I think it was Wests but it may have also been the place across the road, (from Wests) there seemed to be more than one song playing at once.
Only at this time of year can they play so loud.

Summer is...

Summer is birthday, Christmas, anniversary.
Summer is cricket and tennis on TV.
Summer is driving home at sunset, pass the many tents and caravans.

The Festival

I guess I should mention the country music festival, not that I'm interested in country music but it takes over the town every January. I remember as a kid growing up here watching the cavalcade on Saturday morning. (The 'beautification' of Peel st changed it a bit when they put a median strip down the middle of the road.) There was even one time when Jen my little sister and I got to go on a float. It was a buttercup truck, we sat on hay bales and all wore tshirts for buttercup, that we got to keep. There was packets of chips I think, and cans of soft drink for us in an eski. A few years later we found a post card with the truck on it. The postcard had other pictures of Tamworth and we were too small to recognise but I kept the card.
Another thing I remember is lying in bed at night listening to music from the Oasis Hotel up the road. You couldn't usually hear music but they turn it up for the festival. I wouldn't want to live any closer.

Work

Tomorrow is my first day off since I got back from my holidays 2 weeks a go. I work delivering meals to patients in the local hospital. I usually work 5 days a week for 4 hours, the afternoon shift, serving dinner and supper.
Today I worked the day shift which starts at 6am. It can be hard getting up but once I'm up it is usually a fairly good work day. It is Sunday so the extra penalty will be nice.
I've been at the hospital for 2 years, mostly in the kitchen. The few times I wasnt in the kitchen I was cleaning. The night shift was interesting, start at 2:30pm and go though till 11. I don't like the early 6am starts so this was a nice relief to not have to get up early, but still get 8 hours work.
Kitchen Hand is another job which I have done a small amount of. It was interesting but was the same thing every day so after 2 weeks it got a little boring. I don't think I will want to do the job full time, well at least at the moment.

January

This is my first blog. It is January 09 the beginning of a new year. I thought I would do something new.
The year started while we were in Toowoomba with my parents. My brother Edwin was there as well as my sisters, and my husband Ray. I decided to take more pictures this year as I didn't have many to show for last year. Hopefully I will be able to show you some. (eventually but don't hold your breath)
This year I am also doing a database for all our DVDs, we have so many. Our new computer has open office and am teaching myself how to operate it. I hope to be able to use it to keep track of what we have and what we don't.