Please take the time to check out my little guys blog. He’s on it more than I am on mine at the moment these days.
You can find him here: https://aussietravelingbear.wordpress.com/
Thanks!
😀
This report is by Benaud, Hicks and Chloe Babsiblingsau for Theodoro Tedaloo.
Photo L to R: Hicks, Chloe, Victor SESbear and Benaud SES Member pictured in Photo is L. Anderson, Member of VicSES for 13yrs and counting.
The story is of our Older brother Victor SESbear (pictured here with the three of us) he works with our Dad (Pictured in the photo below) with the Victorian Branch of the State Emergancy Service (SES) recruiting homeless bears, training them and turning them into Trauma Teddies (or TTs as we like to call them) and then when they are needed giving them to children in need.
Our Dad has been a member of the SES for nearly 13yrs and is involved with helping people out during times of stress in Strong winds, Storms, Floods, Search and Rescue, Boat rescue and vehicle crashes. Victor has been a full active bear member of our local VicSES HQ for 5 yrs now and during his time has been helping Dad give Children in distress a TT who has been trained to love and comfort said child.
The most recent case was last night. There was a massive wind storm in the area which hit around 3am in the morning. A large branch smashed through a building causing extensive damage, one of the rooms damaged was that of a 4yr old child who was undestandably trumatised and very by the storm and what cam crashing through the walls. Dad with the guidance of Victor (who was in the truck) took the paw of a willing TT and gave that recruit to the child in need to help comort them.
For more information about the State Emergancy Service please follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Emergency_Service
Stumbled across this and couldn’t believe what I was reading! Things like this should not be messed with people! The spirit world is very dangerous. So read at your own risk and keep in mind that I am NOT encouraging anyone to try this!!
Previously: The Midnight Game.
Instructions for how to play a version of hide and seek with with only one player first began appearing on Japanese horror bulletin boards during the summer of 2007. The craze spread quickly in Japan; the instructions were copied, and pasted, and copied again on site after site, and YouTubers began uploading videos documenting their experiences playing it. It wasn’t until the fall of 2008 that instructions for One-Man Hide and Seek appeared on an English language site… but perhaps it would have better for everyone if it hadn’t been translated at all.
As always, play at your own risk.
Players:
Requirements:
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I’m back!! After connection issues, laptop explosions, visitors, no internet what so ever, injuries and Salem sitting things are finally back on track!!
Injuries have healed, laptop fixed and a new (faster) connection sorted out now I’ll be abled to get back into the swing of things again and once again become a regular poster on here again as I have missed my regular rambling babble to you all.
So yeah this is pretty much just a quick pop in to say Hi!! I’m Back and most of all….STAY TUNNED!!
❤ and purs…
Dez and Binx
xoxoxo
Ever had one of those moments where you find yourself wondering “what was I scared of?” I’m having one of those moments right now to be honest and it seems silly really. Considering the thing I was scared of was soup. Yep, soup. I used to sit at the kitchen bench for hours looking through my books of recipes from Mum and Nan trying to decide what to make for dinner that night that would warm both me and the hubby on a cold autumn or winters night….kinda like tonight actually…. but when ever I would come across a recipe for soup I’d shudder and quickly pass it over thinking that it was far too complicated or technical for me to even attempt it and opting for the good old hearty casserole or stew.
So now I get to my moment of “what ever was I afraid off” feeling. I CAN make soup!! And even if I do say so myself, it turns out tasting better than the tinned stuff ever did! I bit the proverbial bullet last Saturday when I came to that days main meal plan. Over the last say three weeks I think it has been, the hubby and I have been following the “Feed your family for under $15” thing found in the Australian Woman’s Day magazine. It started when Mum gave me her mag after night duty (she does the crosswords) and the meals they listed in that magazine looked tasty and fun so the Hubby and I decided to follow it…and yeah we’ve been doing that ever since. Anyway I’ve gone off on a tangent here haven’t I, where was I? Oh yes, biting the bullet last Saturday.
The dinner planned for Saturday was Sweet Potato soup with toasted ham and cheese sandwiches. Needless to say the thought filled me with total dread but no matter how much I tried to talk my way out of it, the Hubby wouldn’t let me worm my way into another recipe. *sigh*
So with a deep breath I prepped, cooked and boiled like a pro, and then it came to mixing it to a fine puree with a hand blender…..um….I don’t have one, call in the bullet blender! Yep made a bit of a mess there….wont go into it too much but the kettle got a nice orange coating that needed wiping off once everything was blended and smooth. (Insert sheepish grin here).
Soup made, served in bowls with the accompanying toasted ham and swiss cheese sandwhiches…..and well….WOW! It tasted amazing and I found myself once again wondering why had I never done this earlier.
Fast forward to Tuesday the 7th. I’m staying at Mum’s place for the night cat sitting Salem (old mate as he’ll be turning 13 this September and stand in creative director) and there’s not much in the fridge, yet I discover she has some sweet potato and pumpkin in the crisper….cupboard raid later I had everything I needed for another go at this soup only this time I was doing it all from memory as I didn’t have the recipe with me and the Hubby was at his weekly SES meeting so he couldn’t read it to me. It was another success!
And now we come to tonight….I attempted a Leek and Potato soup for dinner tonight and there was no blender disaster this time thank goodness and again it was yum!! The Hubby’s is waiting for him when he gets home from training tonight so I’m sitting here worshiping my heater, with Binx purring away in my lap basking in my soup success glory!
So yeah, every had a moment where you find yourself wondering, “what the heck was I afraid of?” I know I am and it feels great!
…and I know any body in their right mind should be tucked up in bed fast asleep by now, or unless they’re out on the town living it up as it is Friday night after all, but alas I am neither as a) it’s not my pay week so there’s no “out on the town” for me….(not that there is any excitement like that here in Horsham these days unles your 18 to 25 and all you care about is getting drunk off your gord and one night stands), and b) my insomnia is once more raising it’s ugly little head and saying “nah you don’t need sleep tonight”.
So here I am writing this as Loki plays Assassins Creed III on the playstation which he finally picked up from EB Games Wednesday arvo.
Anyway, while I am wide awake I can finally catch you up on the AWESOMENESS that was the Sharing Day in Norval, Halls Gap on the 22nd October with the Spinners and Weavers.
SO…. On October 22nd, we hosted the 30th Sharing Day in Norval, Halls Gap. And this went very well with a fantastic turn out, wonderful voluntary guest speakers and amazing workshop tutors who were astonished by the sheer amount of people who attended their workshops (which included 22 sharing day virgins, me being one of them).
Feedback has been really good on the days events. I was also pleased to see that everyone who attended the sharing day were especially wowed when they received their handwoven bag of hand made “goodies” created by the Horsham Spinners and Weavers members, I even over heard one lady say that it was “great to get something that isn’t just full of touristy crap”. I have to agree with her there, I’ve been to a few group meetings/gatherings and have come away little dissapointed upon recieveing a crappy plastic “show type” bag (usually donated by a bank or other business) and that’s full of tourist brochers, which would be wonderful if I wasn’t from the area I guess but most people who attened these things have been to the areas before so it’s just a waste of paper. Anyway… our Members had also donated many glorious hand made items to be given as lucky door prizes (I donated a tea cozi + mandala set and a pair of red fingerless gloves I had made) as well as items that were for our competition that raised $100 for the group.
As October 22nd was also the begining of Youth Mentoring Week, we were delighted to have had 8 Horsham College Students join in with us at our Sharing Day and participate in the Nuno Felting workshops with Annette Lizza and the Dying in the Microwave workshop with Carol Everett, we also extend a special thank you to Carol who stepped up at the last moment as tutor for the dying workshop. And these students have now taken up the challenge for Stitching Together: Stories of Connectiveness.
The only downside to our successful sharing day was the fact that our President Pat was admited to Wimmera Base Hospital over that weekend and then transffered to the Queen Elizabeth Rehabilitation Center on the 24th October, good news to share however that she has progressed so well that on the 16th November she has moved onto Melbourne for external treatment. Please keep Pat in your thoughts and Prayers.
We’re now putting a call out to all affiliated groups, to take up the challenge to host the 2013 Sharing Day. Nominations to be in by the last week of December. We have recieved funding from the Victorian Regional Arts Fund and funding is available for any groups that have an ABN number or an accredited association in their town. We went through the Horsham Regional Arts Association, and they are working with us and paying the cost we applied for to continue stages two, three and four. So with thanks to funding like this other smaller groups like ours have a chance at doing something as equally good as what we did with alittle bit of thought and effort. Well that’s what I believe anyway. 😀
When we sent out the original information about the sharing day we asked attendants and their groups they’re with to come together and make a 6 inch square, be it knitted, felted, woven or crochet, that somehow ‘tells a story’ or shows and image that is meaningful to them. There was also a form to be used to give a quick explination of that square to be used in an up comming massive group collaberation called Stitching Together: Stories of Connectiveness. And we hope to see other groups that are creating any wall hangings or rugs for the Stitching together day (26th-27th Jan) at the makers Studio in Horsham. So will totally have to keep you all up to date on how that’s going.
Feedback on Sharing Day 2012 have been brilliant, to quote a few from our feedback book :- “Congratulations on a fantastic day, well done to you and your workers”, “missed the roast”, “loved the finger food lunch as I was able to meet many new people from other groups”, “brilliant”, “great food”, “well thought out”, “I enjoyed the having experienced tutors was a real coup”, “receiving a grant wow”, “lovely to meet other while engaged in our craft”, “tutors were interesting and informative” just to name a few. Can you tell that I just might be a little bit proud of how we did?? Huh? Maybe?? 😛
So yeah that’s pretty much it in a nut shell really. I am so sorry it has taken ages to finally fill you in on it all seeing as it was something I had kinda been going on and on about for months leading up to it. I just can’t believe how busy I’ve just become. Not complaining though as, and I know I’ve said it before, it’s better than being bored.
Anyway I really should try and get something that resembles sleep as I have a really early appointment in the morning and a meeting for the Makers Gallery in the afternoon. If I am not completely whipped out after all that I’ll be back to fill you in on what’s been happening “Post Sharing Day”…. I promise it’s interesting and very yarn filled!
Nighty Night.
Dez
xoxox
When the Lord made SES members, he was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared and said, “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.” And the Lord said, “Have you read the specs on this order?”
“An SES member has to be able to carry and injured person up a grassy hill in the dark, dodge hail stones whilst trying to secure a tarpaulin on a damaged roof, drive a small motor boat against a fast flowing river to rescue a screaming kids pet dog all without wrinkling his uniform.
“He has to be able to lift 3 times his own weight, crawl into wrecked cars with barely enough room to move and console a grieving mother whilst trying to release the body of her trapped baby that he knows has already stopped breathing
“ He has to be in top mental conditions at all times, running on no sleep, black coffee and half eaten meals. And he has to have six pairs of hands.”
The angel shook her head slowly and said, “Six pairs of hands… no way.”
“It’s not the hands that are causing the problem,” said the lord, “It’s the 3 pairs of eyes these people need.”
“That’s the standard model?” Asked the angel.
The lord nodded, “One pair that sees the sickening open wounds of the victim that they’re trying to cut out of the wrecked car whilst hoping that blood that’s splashing on them isn’t HIV positive; Another pair of eyes in the side of the head to check that the other SES members working with him are ok and another pair here in the front that can look reassuringly at a bleeding casualty and say ‘You’ll be alright ma’am’ when they know she probably won’t”
“Lord” said the angel touching his sleeve, “Rest and work on this one tomorrow.”
“I can’t” said the lord. “I already have a model that can operate chainsaws, Jaws of Life and tie knots in ropes without looking once and can search through scrub country for hours without feeling the effects of stinging nettle and spider bites.”
The angel circled the model of the county SES member very slowly, “Can it think?” she asked.
“You bet!” Said the lord.
“It can work out everything from the most appropriate first aid for an accident victim to the structural engineering of a house that’s fallen victim to a 20 metre gum tree’s collapse. What’s more, it can do most of that in its sleep and still keep its sense of humour. This model also has phenomenal personal control. He can deal with a multi casualty trauma, coax an elderly woman out of her house before the large bits of debris floating rapidly downstream in rising waters wipes out both it and the rescue boat; comfort an accident victims family and then read in the morning paper how the SES were unable to locate the house quickly enough despite the fast the house is on a farm 73km from the units depot and has no road sign, property name or number and they hadn’t given a phone number to call back on.”
Finally, the angel bent over and ran a finger across the cheek of the SES member, “There’s a leak,” she pronounced, “Maybe you’re trying to put too much into this model.”
“That’s not a leak”, said the lord “It’s a tear.”
“What is that for?”
“It’s for bottled up emotions and stress, for casualties they have tried in vain to save, for commitment to that hope that they will make a difference in a person’s chance to survive.”
“You’re a genius lord.” Exclaimed the angel.
The lord looked sombrely at the angel and said, “You don’t get it do you? You see, the tear is the one thing I didn’t make.”
My Hubby Loki during the 2011 Horsham Floods where he and the rest of the Horsham SES and some SES members from all over the state who came to help got next to no sleep helping others over the 4 days the flood waters drowned our town and several others along the water ways.
Wow! I can’t believe how fast this month has flown by! I mean it’s almost a month since my last post here, I guess that’s just what happens when you get really busy getting ready for up coming events mixed in with life in general! Ahh well as I said, it’s better to be busy than really, really bored!
So lets see quick fill on what’s been happening. Well the annual Horsham Show was on again on the 2nd and 3rd of October and the Horsham Spinners and Weavers group put out a little display of things we’ve made, had members working on some of their crafts and had a small workshop on felting for people (mainly aimed at the kids) to have a go at making up a felted badge.
I was there both days working on my crochet and weaving as well as meeting and talking to many people from the community who stopped in to have a look. I did get a chance to wander around though which was good as my little “mascot” Ozzie was with me so I had some time to get a few pictures of his antics for his Facebook page. If you want to take a peek and meet the little mascot for Phoenixphyre Dreams, head on over and say hello to Ozzie Vic Quirkybear he’s a very friendly little bear!
Our display of finished items also seemed to be very popular with the public:
We even got several people interested in comming along to the up coming Sharing Day we have in Norval Halls gap tomorrow so it’ll be good to see them have a go at many of the workshops there and perhaps even become full members of Horsham Spinners and Weavers if we’re lucky. 😀
I do also have a bit of a bragging moment to share with you all as well. Out of the 5 items I took a chance on entering into the Show this year I came away with two 1st places and two 2nd places which I am pretty happy about….so here is the “Dez goes bragging photo” for you all too “oooh” and “ahh” over. 😀
Yay me!! That’s pretty much the show covered. You can see more photos that were taken at the show over at the Horsham Spinners and Weavers Facebook Page if you’d like to take a look.
Next thing that has kept me busy is getting ready for the Relay for Life: Paint the Town Purple display. Val, Pat, Loki and I together with two members from the Horsham Regional Library set up the Horsham Spinners and Weavers display on Sunday the 14th Oct inside the Library. It was great to see all our hard work and creativity finally out on display for everyone to see.
The display was set up for show from the 15th to the 20th October. Although ours will be up for alittle longer as we won’t be able to pop back into the library to take it down until the 23rd onwards. I don’t mind though, I think it looks good all up there so the longer it can stay on display the more people can see it! 😀
Other than that the much awaited for Norval Sharing Day is finally on tomorrow!! I can’t wait. After months and months of organisation, creating and general insanity it’s finally come together. We’ve got over 90 people signed up to come along to the workshops with all the amazing tutors who agreed to show their tallents. As well as several fibre craft traders who are coming along to sell some or their creations, and/or fibre craft supplies. I’m looking forward to that as there is some gorgeous rainbow roving I’m dying to get my hands on! 😀
So that’s pretty much everything in a nut shell. I am hoping it won’t take me another month to get back to you all as I am pretty sure I’ll be bubbling over to tell you all about the excitement and fun at the Sharing Day. But until then have fun, keep creating and most of all keep smiling as the world is an amazing place with people like you in it!
*hugs*
Dez.
Since I’ve been able to post something to you all. I’ve been a bit, okay well alot busy lately and although I do have the word press app on my mobile phone for posting also I’ve had to cut back on that as I’ve lowered my data limit on the phone to save some $$. Things are just getting more and more expensive these days it seems…not just here in Australia but all over the world so I hear. Something needs to be done, and soon.
Anyway, I’m not going to sit here and grizzle about all that as I am sure like me you all hear enough of that stuff thanks to media websites, TV and radio so lets move on to more exciting things.
So what have I been doing in my absence? Well not twiddling my thumbs that’s for sure. I’ve been very busy working with Val (secretary of the Horsham Spinners and Weavers) making hand woven bags, hand felted badges, hand felted and embellished book marks, hand felted and dyed scarfs and mini loom pin cushions. All to be used as “show/gift” bags for everyone attending the up comming Sharing Day at Norvall in Halls Gap: Norval Sharing Day that link should (hopefully) take you to the page that has more info on the sharing day if your interested.
Some of the hand felted badges waiting to have names placed on them.
A few of the had woven bags. 100 have been made, each with hand felted and dyed handles.
That’s the major project that has been keeping me busy. But I’ve also been busy, once again with Val, in working on a creative display for the up comming Paint the Town Purple on the 15th to the 20th October, where stores and regional artists help decorate Horsham in Purple and some yellow to support Relay for Life and the Cancer Council to help in vital cancer research. We (as in Horsham Spinners and Weavers) have secured a display in the Horsham Library so will totally share a photo of our display once it’s up.
And on top of all that I’ve been asked to do a mini yarn-bomb type dealio to decorate the S&W notice board in the studio as it was looking a little on the shabby side. So what an perfect excuse for me to attempt to make each motive in my book 50 Fabulous Crochet Squares. Here are the ones I completed in August: (still need to be edged in black before sewing together)
So colourfull. I’ve made another 7 motifs since this photo was taken, so I really must get a photo of them also, probably easier to make a photo mosaic out of them also before sharing them all with you. I haven’t made any more in the past week though mainly becaise my focus has been on the Norval pieces and the paint the town purple pieces….and the piece I have decided to enter into the Horsham Show this year. I’m in the process of finishing an Adult shawl as my entry. It looks pretty good and I’ll share a photo with you all once it’s complete. I’m doing it in 100% cotton 4ply that I got from the Bendigo Woollen Mills in the colour Light Teal. First time ever using a cotton instead of a wool or yarn but it’s working up really well, I’m very happy with it!
Last but not least Horsham Spinners and Weavers is finally on Facebook so please feel free to check it out, add it to faves and been on the look out for our latest activities and events that you are ALL more than welcome to come along and join in on. The more the merrier we say especially when it comes to fiber crafting! 😀
That’s pretty much it from me for now. I better get back to finishing my show piece so it has a chance to fall into place before I enter it. Wish me luck! 😀 And until next time, have fun and most of all keep smiling!
*Huggles to al who want them*
Dez
xoxox
Day 13: From a Distance
Trees on the other side of the river bank, the only thing I can think that I took of that had a bit of distance.
Day 14: Flowers
One of the roses in my back yard this season, I was so pleased with how these mostly neglected roses bloomed earlier this year. The colours were gorgeous.
Day 15: My Shoes
My warm house slippers. It’s so cold at the moment my feet are nice and toasty in these during the day.
Meet Binx, master of the house (or so he likes to believe), parcel and box inspector and yarn craft supervisior. Came into my life aged 8wks old in Feb 2005 and each day isa suprise with him around.
The Aussie Yarn Cat 