#blogjune Post 4 - Do you ever question your sanity?

This was the question my husband asked me this morning after I'd come in from running in cyclonic conditions.  My answer: I've run in worse!

I'm often asked how do I stay committed to running?  How do I go out there and run while everyone else is snuggled up in bed?  My answer: I like food!!  No, I do also like running but I do like food a lot and one has to find a balance.

I've only been running for around 4 years.  I've been participating in the Run Down Under virtual run around Australia since 2014.  In that time, I have traveled around 9,000km.  Based on my current average km's per week, I should finish in October 2017.  This has been a good motivator for me and as I do have a slight competitive streak - it does keep me honest!

This morning I have to admit that I originally planned to meet a running friend in another town for a run at 5.30am.  When I got up at 4.15am, it was absolutely pouring and a look at the rain radar confirmed it was unlikely to stop.  I sent her a quick message to say I didn't want to drive in this type of weather and would go running a little bit later when it was light and see if the weather had improved.

Out the door at 6.15am and it was not pouring - very windy but just showers of rain.  Out on the boardwalk the rain stung a bit as a bit of the salt water from the ocean sprayed up (probably some sand too).  The ocean was angry.  But I was the only one to see it and that to me is special.

I was struggling a bit with the run.  It would be nice to be snuggled up in bed but hey, I'm the only one out here seeing all this.  Some might say the only crazy one!  I ran out to Hungry Head beach and looked out over the ocean from the headland - angry rough seas.  Then to head back the same way I came.

By the time I got back to the exposed parts of the run, the wind was a lot worse.  I was running into it and being pelted by the drops - I swear some skin might have come off!  16km done and home in the warm shower!  Yep, I'm glad I got up and got that done!

Do I question my sanity?  The rest of the world is crazy, I'm the sane one!

On the fourth day of Christmas....

I ran 14.66km; did the grocery shopping (I know, I know, I should be doing it online); went for a swim at the beach; and watched trashy TV (yep a trend is developing).

As part of my training for the half marathon I am doing in March 2014 at the Port Macquarie Running Festival, I am to do hill repeats.  For non-runners, this means you run (with effort) up a hill, walk back down, turn around and run back up the hill, walk back down and so on until you fall over in a heap - well no I believe my training program does suggest doing this a certain number of times.

Through discussions with those that have trained before, the best hill to do this on in my area is the hill road leading to the Urunga Cemetery.  Now those that you are my FB friends will note my post yesterday about my concerns of running this road on my own.  I mentioned my fear of stray spirits/ghosts.  Well, you will be happy to note that I ran this hill today and as soon as the headstones were in my line of sight, I quickly turned around and ran back down the hill.  I had planned on doing the hill again but was just not quite ready.  I noted that even the cicadas stop making noise the closer you get to the headstones - what's with that?!?!

Grocery shopping - the love/hate relationship I have with thee!  A number of people have suggested to me that I convert to online shopping.  Now I really need to see things on a shelf - not sure why but online shopping has not grabbed me.  I need to see all the different brands/prices/specials lined up together in order to make a good purchase decision.  So no online grocery shopping at this stage.  Instead I braved the congested Pacific Hwy and hit the energy zapping shops.  However, all was not lost as the checkout lady made my day by just happening to be free so I didn't even have to wait!!  This never happens!!

Beach - how I love thee!!  After lunch - well really it was around 3pm, we headed down to the beach for a swim.  The beach we go to is just 5 minutes drive from home.  We splashed around for a bit and then Miss A wanted to climb the dunes, which then turned into running up the dunes and down the dunes.  Much to my husbands disgust, I mentioned that this is a good form of training for running.  He muttered something under his breath about training and shook his head.

Trashy TV - yes you are trashy but I watch you anyway!  We (ok my husband who can not say no) recently signed up for pay TV - this time with Foxtel.  Last time it was with Austar.  They are all the same to me.  I was a bit peeved as it is not a luxury we can afford but he managed to get a good deal.  We made some changes to our package yesterday and opted out of the movies and opted in for the documentaries and adventure.  Now it's all Man vs Food and Dirty Jobs Down Under.  Not to mention the Location, Location, Location Australia marathon I watched the other day.  My husband is a night owl so he loves it.  Especially shows like Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventurers - hence my fear of the Urunga Cemetery!

Tomorrow we are in for hot, hot, hot weather and apparently a day of interesting (there is a word the weather guy uses but it escapes me for now) weather.  Apparently, North and South winds will meet and cause instability which may lead to storms - here's hoping!

What did you do on the fourth day of Christmas?

#blogjune Post 29 - I'm Packing

Forgive me for this short post, but I am in the middle of getting things done (e.g. washing, cleaning, packing, marking) before departing for Queensland tomorrow morning.  Yes, instead of Monday, we are leaving tomorrow due to the impending Significant Weather Event that is apparently going to cause flooding rains in our area tomorrow afternoon and Monday.
Here's a image that I copied from Bellingen Weather Facebook page

So you can see we may be in for lots of rain - where I live in Urunga it is purple.

So back to packing so I can head off early tomorrow.

Blog12daysxmas Post 12 - The end of the road

Today's Destiny Card is Courage.

On the 12th day of Christmas and final day of #blog12daysxmas.... we went to the beach for a swim and then fell on the lounge and watched cricket.

I can not believe that the weather has been so good for my holidays.  I'm not back at work until Thursday 10 January so I am hoping the great weather continues.

You will note from previous posts that it has pretty much rained since we moved here 4 years ago.  This year has been the first "real" summer we have experienced.  And while it is starting to get a bit worryingly dry, I can't help but feel blessed that the weather has turned it on while I'm on leave.

This is also the first summer I have spent at home.  The last 4 years has seen me visit "home" in Qld for a week in January.  After last year's heat wave in Ipswich, I vowed that I will no longer visit Ipswich in summer and give up the beach.  So Ipswich visits will happen outside of summer - sorry to all my Qld family and friends.  But with weather like this can you blame me for wanting to be at the beach.

Well this is my final blog post for #blog12daysxmas and I am proud to say that I blogged for a total of 36 days straight.  My goal for 2013 is to blog at least once a week.

So thank you to all who have followed me on my blogging challenge journey and I look forward to blogging each week and participating in any other blogging challenges that happen in 2013.

Blog December Post 23 - It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas

Today's Destiny Card is Flexibility.

As a I have confessed, I do like routine, but this holiday's I have promised to remain flexible and go with the flow more often.

Last night we had the Urunga Carols.  Every year since moving down here, my daughter and I have gone along for the long haul of 4 hours of carols that lead up to the grand finale of fireworks.  This year we have the pleasure of hosting my husband long time friend.  It was great having a refreshing pair of eyes at the carols.  My husband friend continued to rave about what a great event the carols are and how it is great to see our community come together for it.  I must admit that there seemed to be a lot more people there then previous years.

The carols really make it sink in that Christmas is not far away.  The star in the big pine tree on Morgo St - that runs along the foreshore is another sign that Christmas is around the corner.  Of course, small child constantly reminds us of how many days until Santa comes!!

I'm particularly enjoying the lead up to Christmas this year because it is not raining.  The last four years I have felt cheated of a true summer.  And while many whinge about the heat and humidity - that is Christmas to me and we are certainly getting it this year!!

Today we will show my husband's friends some sights from our area and it is really great he is visiting at this time of the year because it is forcing all of us to get out and away from our normal routine and do something - as opposed to sitting in the house and whinging (not me) about the heat!!  I am embracing flexibility!!

So I apologise that my posts are going a bit soft at the moment but with the weather being so good and having a guest in the house - it does not allow for long moments of thoughts before posting.

However, I will share this - once again I read it on a FB/blog post this morning and thought it was a bit quirky - Since 1996, 31 Australians have died by watering a Christmas tree with the lights on.
Ref: Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Blog December Post 22 - Where are the presents?

Today's Destiny Card is Gentleness and I have to say I was showed extreme gentleness when I went grocery shopping this morning amongst the last minute Christmas rush.  I came out the other side unscathed so I'm relieved.

I'm not going to focus this post on Gentleness but on something I read this morning.  It was on a blog post with a picture of a Christmas tree with nothing under it.  The comment mentioned the "virtual Christmas" with the author saying that their children had asked for digital music, ebooks, digital games etc so there was nothing to put under the tree.  Is this something that will be more familiar in the near future?

Growing up, our Christmas presents were put under the Christmas tree as soon as the tree was up.  And my brother and sister and I used to try to tear little corners off so that it wasn't noticable to our parents, but was enough to see what we were getting.  I don't think we were good at surprises, yet I don't think we ever managed to rip enough off to see what it was.

My husband grew up with a different tradition due to his German/Scottish parents.  They would open their gifts at Midnight on Christmas Eve.

Before child, we participated in this with his neices when we were invited to Christmas eve dinner.  I used to struggle to stay awake and I have no idea how the kids managed.

Once our child was old enough - think she was 5 years old - we tried it.  We let her go to sleep Christmas eve and then work her at midnight.  I remember that she was half asleep and displaying little excitement and we were all zombies (very tired) the next day.  Needless to say we have dropped that tradition and we put the presents out after she's gone to bed Christmas eve and she opens them Christmas morning.

At this stage the gifts are not "virtual."  Although, mine may be as I want books and I didn't want to go shopping for them so think I may be purchasing them online on Christmas day!!

However, it may well be that in coming years we find that our daughter will want things that are "virtual" and there will be nothing to put under the tree, except maybe for a gift card or two for online credit.

I apologise for the lateness of this post but we are expecting a guest today - a friend of my husband's whom he hasn't seen since before we met - so I've never met him.  They've been friends for ever and reconnected a few years back via phone calls.  I'm not sure how I feel with a someone who is a stranger to me staying with us but I suppose I'll just go with the flow.

And we are praying for no rain or storms this evening as the Urunga Carols are on and we will be heading down at 5pm and staying on till the fireworks at 9pm and then the traditional drive around town looking at the Christmas lights. 

While today we are melting away in the humidity, I can't help but feel that the Christmas weather of my childhood has returned - now all I have to do is convince my husband to allow me to watch the Boxing Day test match and all will be good!!

Blog June Post 21 - Cold Cold I Hate the Cold

For those of you that know me, I may have mentioned on the odd occasion how much I hate the cold. Well for those following my blog, this is only the beginning. Over the next few days I strongly believe you will read how much I hate the cold numerous times.

I know, I know, I've done a previous blog post about this but this morning it was 3.2'C when I woke up. It took me 15 minutes to work myself up to getting out of bed. And you know what the really sad thing is? It is only going to get colder over the next few days!! And small one is having a sleep over Saturday night (her friend is coming here) and that means on Sunday, when it is supposed to be really really cold, I will be up early because they will wake up as soon as they see light! Sigh!

Now when we moved to the coast, I had always believed that on the coast it is always warmer at night. I recall in Qld that if you live on the Sunshine Coast it rarely gets below 10'C at night in winter. Something about the warm air from the ocean. Well, down here it just doesn't work that way. At times it is colder here on the coast then it is slightly inland at Bellingen. I am very disappointed!!

In winter, I thank God everyday that I have excellent heating in the library. I have worked in libraries where heating is not really a thing people thought was important. One memory of working in a library in Ipswich where it was in a very old building and the library was on the ground floor - almost below ground. It was sooo cold!! I remember sitting at the desk with a fan heater under neath and not really showing good customer service because I didn't want to leave the desk.

Other libraries I have worked in have had wind tunnels down particular aisles. Or cold spots. So I am happy to report that Bellingen Library is the warmest place in winter and the coolest place in summer!!

Well, this blog post is not going to be long because my fingers are cold and my warm milo is finished so I have nothing to warm them back up with - I guess I'll be searching for my gloves tonight!! But I am happy to report that I got the Urunga computer to talk to the printer yesterday - just can't get the public computers to do the same. So that was an achievement. And then the tickets for wifi access wouldn't print but I found a work around - double yay! I do believe that my co-workers think I'm nuts after doing a little happy dance once I had worked that one out!!

And the big news is..... pending no one gets sick (touch wood)... that I have worked out a roster to cover staff leave (including mine) over the next few weeks. So at this stage, I am still going to Ipswich and while I thought it might be cold up there - it really is no colder than it is down here - at least it gets warmer as the day goes on - down here we are expecting tops of 16'C/17'C next week - bbbbrrrrrrr!!

Keep warm!!

Blog June Post #6 - weather it will, weather it won't

Weather is usually a topic of conversation that you resort to when you have nothing else to talk about, but not in this case.  What has prompted my discussion of weather is yesterday the East cost of NSW had an exciting (probably not the case for everyone) weather event happen.  A deep low came up the coast from the South.  It also affected some parts of Victoria with some serious flash flooding.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, by the time it reached us in the early hours of this morning, the rain part had disinergrated and we are now left with some strong gusts of wind.  It did cause the power to go off but I didn't notice because I was asleep and only know because the clocks are flashing - another good reason why I rely on my mobile phone alarm to wake me up!!

Weather has always struck me as an interesting topic.  I love watching shows about the tornadoes in the US and can totally understand a persons fascination with trying to understand weather and why such things as tornadoes happen.

Prior to moving down here, we lived in South East Qld (Ipswich) and it had been in drought for almost 10 years.  We felt much depression watching storm clouds brew only to pass to either side of where we lived or offer nothing but a light show and some noise.  Not to say we didn't get some bits of rain, but mostly it was disappointment.

Within the first year of moving here, it flooded around 12 times.  We had some ridiculous amount of rain - 3638 mm.  Now we have times when we crave the consistency that Qld weather used to provide - you would at least have a week of sun (maybe not so much at the moment).  For 3 years we have been cheated of a proper summer.  Lots of rain and not much heat.

So what does this have to do with libraries?  I will share with you a story that happened to my libraries.  In April 2009, we all headed down to Wagga Wagga for my graduation.  When we left we knew there was a weather event coming - the now famous East coast Low.  However, there is no way we could've predicted (well no one could) what happened.

I had my laptop with me and there was wireless internet available in the cabin we were staying in (at a cost).  So I was following the weather back home.  I also called my branches to make sure everything was running smoothly.

Now since I was not there, I was relying on my staff to tell me what was happening.  Dorrigo reported that yes it was wet but there was no flooding and nothing to be concerned about there.  Bellingen reported that it was wet and stormy and the river was coming up (it comes up often so not too much of a concern), and Urunga said that yes it was stormy and lots of wind but don't worry.

As time went on the radar on the BOM was sort of indicating that perhaps there is something to worry about because I had never seen black and red in so many places and it wasn't moving.  It was hovering over our area.  Of course, in Wagga Wagga there was not a drop of rain.

Another call to my staff.  Dorrigo was still ok, Bellingen the power was off so I suggested it was probably ok to go home and put a sign on the door.  Urunga well they mentioned that the bowling club across the road was about to get flooded - hmmm - my response - why are you still there????  Get out of the library now.  Their response - but what if someone needs the library? My response - I really don't think that they could possibly get to the library unless they had a floatation device!!

So they did leave but they had put themselves in danger.  One of the staff got their husband to drive through water to the front door of the library and get them out.  I won't mention that I had said to put anything we thought needed replacing on the floor in case the water did come in!! Shhhh!!

Now at this point I will mention that we don't have a disaster plan.  Yes we should have one.  I believe that at that stage council didn't have one in place either so I can't blame my staff for trying to go down with the ship.  I suppose in some sad way it did show an interesting aspect of customer service!!  And I do believe that in our communities there are probably some people that would come to the library in times like this and think that it should be service as normal!!

So now there is a task on my list - develop a disaster management plan and also a procedure to follow to indicate at what point you should be leaving the library and going home.

I suppose there were many libraries that, like us, didn't have a disaster management plan and now do, especially since the floods/fires in Victoria, NSW and Qld.

Do you have an interesting weather event that you would like to share?

I have more to write on this topic but I have run out of time - I have to head up to Grafton again today.  And I will report that the winds are now a little more than strong gusts - I would hate to be anyone camping/caravaning down at the caravan park on the foreshores at the moment.  I hope they have strong ropes and I hope my car doesn't get blown off the road.