#blogjune 2020 Kayak completed

Last post for #blogjune 2019 was about the kayak.  It's finally completed and has had a maiden voyage.  In fact, it's been on the water about 3 times now.  The #nzlockdown meant we didn't have the planned holiday up north where it was going to be used extensively.  But once winter is over here, hopefully we'll be able to re-visit those plans.  In the meantime, the odd weekend paddle will have to suffice.

DH has another identical kayak cut out and will be making another two seater, making family outing with all parties possible.  

The kayak has yet to be named - it will have a sea bird name of some kind.

#blogjune Kayak

Mr is building a kayak. The work is stalled at present because he needs a particular tool to assist in an awkward sanding job. Specifically he needs a finger sander.

Still, once it’s done we will have a double seater stitch and glue kayak. He’s got a twin to build so the whole family can join in the fun. I post on instagram about it’s progress... when it happens. #wakadugmore

# blogjune Words

Sean’s post reminded me of all the family word play / puntastic times we have.  Some come about due to child speak that has become standard. E.g. Fy-ens for fire engine. Others because of a habit of spoonerisms e.g. local road Don Buck road gets changed to Bon Duck road. A nearby road called Rush Creek Drive gets the treatment as well. I’ll let you change that one yourself.

Then there are things like cat names that morph into something else. Usually Mum will name a cat and everyone else in the family re-names it as their personalities emerge.Thus Simba became Pork Bun, Moustapha became Adder.

Certain personalities that we know earn themselves nicknames too. E.g. The Penguin.

My kids used to love some Watties canned ravioli they produced for babies - they called these Little pillows.

#blogjune Party

My niece turns 4 this week so there was a party today. I had instructions to make emoji poo cupcakes. So I did.

#blogjune Limerick

There was a librarian of Huapai
Who said with a long suffering sigh
What to write for #blogjune?
Inspire me soon!
But sadly, there was no reply.

Good night.

#blogjune Hear our voices

Last night I attended an event by the development arm of Council about the community and area in which I work. It was a well run event, a panel of articulate people, preceded by a mix and mingle with elegant cocktail foods and alcohol freely provided.

The intentions and plans for the area are all good, well meaning and hopeful. However, I couldn’t help notice that the demographic of those attending and those on the panel were not representative of all the community. There were voices missing, those that would benefit the most from the development and whose voices should be heard.

I had thought there would be opportunities for audience feedback but there was not. We could submit questions via an online medium to the panel, but these were moderated and only 3 were chosen. I did submit some in the hopes that the missing voices might get some air time but none were chosen.

I came away with mixed feelings. On one hand the event felt like a self-congratulatory “haven’t we done well” and on the other it was an event that could have been a lot more inclusive.  If that was an attempt by Council to get real community engagement, it was not a representative sample.

#blogjune Soap cutting

We cut the soap tonight. It is a bit soft so I hope it hardens up. Miss12 wanted to use a lime fragrance so it smells like a lime milkshake but she likes it so I guess that is ok. 

I need to get a proper soap mould.

#blogjune halfway list

It’s Monday.
I went to work.
I did works.
I trolled through a photograph database and found some ancestral images.
I did more works.
I got change for the till because ATMs are now giving $50 notes which customers then give to us for 20cent transactions. 😤😡
I picked up kids from maths tutoring.
I came home and cooked dinner.
My order from Dirty Hippie arrived and I tried the tooth powder I ordered. It is weird.
The end.

#blogjune Press pause

It’s important for my mental wellness to press pause, particularly on the weekend when I am running around doing things I can’t get done during the week.

Yesterday I didn’t blog for that reason. But pressing pause meant Miss12 and I did the soccer run, I picked up soap making supplies and while Miss12 played her game I popped into the Farmers Market being held next door to the soccer field. We went for a beach walk and breathed salty air.

Today has been similar. After church we made soap and DH and I went for a neighbourhood walk.

Now it’s dinner time and I will have to press play again to get things ready for the work week.

#blogjune Soap

In my attempts to avoid products with palm oil I have been making my own soap.

It’s been a bit of trial and error. I’ve been using the Soap calc website to make up my concoctions - you can put in how much of each oil you are going to use and it will calculate the proportions for the lye which is really helpful.

Soap in the moulds

Moulds for the soap with lavender flowers sprinkled on the bottom

Lye waiting to cool to the right temperature 

My recipe had olive oil, rice bran oil and coconut oil in it.  I'd like to experiment with some other oils too like macadamia nut oil, though that is quite expensive so I'd only be using a small amount.

Because of the chemistry of soap, getting colour into the soap can be quite tricksy but also rather fun when you get surprising results.

You also have to let it cure for 6-8 weeks at least so planning is required.

I've also done some melt and pour soap which is fun because you can embed things into the soap.  However, it's not palm oil free.

PureNature, a local company is a good source for many of the ingredients I've been using.  But I do tend to buy the oil in bulk from a cheaper source.

My friend Rachel does some beautiful soaps which you can see on her Instagram.  I aspire to these!  But need more moulds and lye and colours.  Oh dear. Online shopping is such temptation.

#blogjune Filler

It has been a good day but a long day. So to bed. Goodnight good people of the inter web.

#blogjune Sustainable libraries

Today, the local council for which I work has declared a climate emergency. There is already a lot of cynicism out there in social media world about the declaration but I am glad. It’s a long awaited commitment and yes, it won’t be perfect but it gives us a clear mandate.

This is a hill I’m prepared to die on so I am very interested to see the actions that will come from this move.  I know this is going to be in the library’s strategy documents because it was signalled to managers yesterday, so I’m already thinking about specifics in my particular branch.

IFLA has a special interest group for the Environment, Sustanability and Libraries.

What can we do? This is a brain dump post so may be repetitive and less than logical or comprehensive. Feel free to suggest other stuff. I fully own that I need to do more research and this post is simplistic.

Reduce the amount of paper we use:

We print receipts all over the place - for items going into transit to another branch, for slips for books on hold, for due dates. We’ve got to  reduce those in some way.

We print lists of so many things - items to be put into transit for holds, items to be assessed for withdrawal.  The LMS we use does have a mobile app that could possibly be used for this kind of work. If we invested in RFID wands that could also help and could also help us to be more efficient in locating items quicker.

Our buildings:

Some of what goes on in our buildings in terms of efficiency is out of control for my team.  Our HVAC is a perpetual issue for us. Facilities are working on improving it, so that could help reduce the power use but it’s not something my team has much control over.  However, we are a bit slack about turning things off at the end of the day so that can easily change. Facilities recently changed most of our lighting to LEDs which are more efficient.  Hmm what else?

Recycling:

We could do a lot more in this area. We already recycle bottles, cans, some plastics. We re-use paper for scrap.  We do craft recycling activities.

We separate our food scraps for composting.  I don’t fully trust that this gets taken to an appropriate place though.  We are reliant on all recycling stuff going to the right place. Ideally I would like it if we can reduce waste as much as we can.

Stuff we consume a lot of:

Pens

Toner/paper

Tapes like sellotape, book mending tape

Information:

How can we support the community to address this issue for themselves? Can we provide good information about choices for things like electric vehicles, housing efficiency, alternative energy sources? We already lend out kits for people to find out how efficient their homes are.

Questions:

Could we do some kind of community garden thing in the outside areas?  How much work would my staff have to do though?

Could we do a worm farm here?

Should we mend more things rather than taking them out of circulation?

Some things we do could be more digital but will that remove choice for people who fall through the digital abyss? What does this do for the 40% of NZers who are functionally illiterate?

#blogjune Monday night

Today’s post is brought to you by ambitious Miss12 who has an “expo” on Wednesday that is about all things Spanish. Which means she wants to make tapas and churros and wear a bull costume. To be fair she signalled this plan a while back but I have been in denial about it because much of her plan involved outsourcing to Mum.  Hence my ambivalence.

Yesterday I modified a Kiwi onesie and a Fresian cow hat into a bull.

Tonight I have to help make bechamel sauce to be made into ham croquettes tomorrow along with the churros.

Forgive me but I really just want to put up my feet and read my book. 🤭 *whinge whinge*

#blogjune Pie

Do you like pie? I like pie. You would know this if you follow me on Instagram 😉😁

The photo above is a fish pie. Tonight I’m making apple pie.

One of my colleagues @philiplib has a handy list of all pie winner locations based on the NZ Bakers Pie Competition.

#blogjune Lessons from NASA

Today we were talking about rockets.... as you do. Mr15 is pretty interested in space flights, rockets and related subjects so these things come up in our family conversations.

Anyway, I mentioned the Challenger disaster in passing and my husband found this video on the topic to show Mr15.

I remember this happening of course. We were in Germany at the time and a bit insulated from international news, but we had a little bit to do with some Americans who worked on the US bases there.  Dad came home from work (Max Planck Institute für Physiologie) and said “The Americans have lost one of their rockets.”

The investigation into the disasters of Challenger and then Columbia exposed a number of problems, but one thing the video points out is the issue of the organisational culture at NASA and the effect this had on decision making and risk management. Librarianship has always been a risk adverse profession and one that likes to have rules around how we do things. (See also: fines, noise, reference only works). Many librarians work in complex organisations and in turn are influenced by the culture there. It is worth reflecting on the way organisational culture can hijack our thinking.  Are our rules, policies, practices actually improving our services?

#blogjune End of week reflections

If you only do what you can do, you’ll never be better than you are” – Shifu, Kung Fu Panda 3

Over the last 6 months my team has been holding 4 vacancies.  I’ve managed to recruit to all of them now so on paper at least I have a full team.  The reality of day to day is that I sometimes have everyone there and sometimes not, depending on sickness, leave, jury duty, family needs and so on.  I have had to accept that.

I hadn’t realized how much stress the lack of FTE had had on me until the other week.  I was up on the top floor of a building in the CBD overlooking the city and could see all the way west to Manukau Heads.  Looking at the contours of the land, the Tāmaki River entrance and being able to see where the portage path of Māori going from the Manukau to the Waitemata would be, reminded me of the importance of taking the balcony view once more.  I’ve been so focused on the dance floor, trying to get cover, doing extra customer facing shifts to make up for the lack of staff, not being able to look up from “just getting through” and it has taken a toll.

I don’t really know where I’m going career-wise anymore.  I have been thinking about “what next” for a while. I’ve applied for a number of jobs with no success. I don’t even know if I want to move on or not – there are some aspects to my current position that are positive, especially for my family and the latter has a lot of weight in terms of my direction.  There are still some things I want to achieve in my current position too and I finally feel like I can plan ahead with my new staff.

One thing I would like to do is regain my learning mojo. I feel very behind in terms of digital developments, technologies that affect my profession and potential uses of tech in services we could offer. I used to keep up with this but no longer.  So I am going to increase time spent on professional reading in these areas. I’d love to go to VALA again but self-funding is problematic. So this will have to do.

#blogjune Fermentation

Last year I made sauerkraut. It was a success and I used up a massive cabbage that FIL had given me. I didn’t have any special equipment, just jars, weights and ingredients.

I’ve toyed with the idea of doing some other fermented foods but got busy and didn’t pursue it. I work with someone who makes kombucha so I am interested in doing that. But I also really like things such as kimchi.

Anyway, I am thinking of doing some fermenting this weekend. Of vegetables just to be clear. I may treat myself to a crock just to make it a little easier to deal with. I’ve got yet another book out of the library with recipes to inspire.

There are some excellent purchasable fermented products out there which I like also. But it’s fun to make things yourself sometimes.  It is good for your gut flora.  Apparently it can help your immune system as well as a result. 

Have you tried this style of “cooking” before? Any tips?

#blogjune Loved titles

Inevitably I bring you a post about books.

I am not a particularly “literary” librarian. I read what I like to read which varies according to my interests and mood. You can find me on Goodreads (in the sidebar) if you want to see what I’m reading.  I'm exploring a lot more titles from non-white, European backgrounds these days in an attempt to decolonise what I read.

Here are some of my favourite titles from childhood reading.

I don’t recall when I started reading this series (and the Emily series too) but I re-read them over and over for quite a while.

Similar in style to Anne of Green Gables.

I loved this series and must have revisited them a bazillion times. I still love them and the illustrations by Garth Williams.

This mystery series along with The Three Investigators were constant reads for me.  I have a life long love of mystery,  crime and thrillers.

Blyton, (although much maligned by many) was staple fare. The Famous five, Magic Far Away tree, the Children of Cherry Tree Farm. Not the Secret Seven though, I thought they were a bit tame.

This was another series I liked.  I enjoyed books about animals and vets.  James Herriot, Joy Adamson and Gerald Durrell were devoured once I was old enough.

Like other bloggers doing #blogjune, Tintin and Asterix were constantly read too.  In fact, some of the family vocabulary and sayings stem from these.  For example, "could be, could be not, couldn't rightly say" from one of the Asterix books.

Judy Blume was another author I read frequently in my teen years.

Ultimately, I reached the age when I ventured into the Adult section of the library.  My parents never censored what I read and apart from a brief prudish episode in my 15th year when I tried to avoid sexy bits in books, I ranged far and wide through many authors. Leon Uris and James Mitchener were some I remember exploring.  I read Samuel Pepys entire diary from start to finish. I read voraciously, often staying up late after everyone else at turned out the lights, to finish books. I suspect I don't read quite as much as I used to, and these days a very rarely re-read books.  I'm also a lot fussier and will abandon something if it isn't grabbing my attention.

Tell me your childhood favourites!

#blogjune We all scream

For ice cream!

This is a frivolous post really, but first day back after a long weekend and my brain just wants cheese, chocolate and bed not necessarily in that order.

I mentioned ice cream on Sunday. It is probably my favourite dessert, alongside cheesecake.  My favourite flavour is chocolate but the other top flavours I like are:
Orange choc chip
Mint choc chip
Rum and raisin
Hazelnut and chocolate
Maple and walnut

So far the only flavour I’m not a fan of is licorice, which I like in it’s normal form.  Oh, and green tea - it’s okaaaay but kind of boring.  Caramel iterations are fine but often too sweet for me.

I haven’t had some flavours that are popular in other countries like corn or some of these Japanese flavours, but I’d be game to try one or two. Maybe not wasabi.

I canvassed the family and chocolate is the most common favourite. Miss12 is keen on Cookies and cream so she is happy TipTop have brought it back.  My granddad liked vanilla. “Can’t beat vanilla” he’d say when we would scoff at his choice.

If ever we had Neopolitan in the house, the chocolate side would get eaten first!

What about you?

#blogjune Quickie

A short post today. We’ve been out all day and there hasn’t been time to sit and write a long post. Nor has there been much planning for dinner so it was a quickie dinner of  Nasi Goreng.

I use a combo of recipes I found on the internet and serve it with peanut sauce. The vegetables tend to be what is in the crisper and the protein whatever is available in the freezer. I also serve it with prawn crackers.