Fortunately for me my time at this first school was brief. My next primary school was very different no maypole dancing or bands here. The walls of our classroom were lined with boards on which someone had painstakingly numbered the times tables. These varnished boards surrounded us all day and each day was spent learning and then reciting a new table. The more tables you learned the further forward in the class you were allowed to sit and the more the teacher liked you.

I am a very new member of GreyPath so forgive me if this is not the correct forum.

I do volunteer work with the disabled elderly particularly in respect of computer support so that they can maintain contact with the "outside world" from home.

One of my "clients" suffers from Motor Neurone Disease, is wheelchair bound, can't speak and is going steadily downhill. Yet, she has a brilliant mind, is very positive and makes me realise how lucky I am!

She is determined to remain at home as long as possible - what makes me sick is the lack of support from the government. Because she developed MND after she was 65 it seems she is not entitled to Disability Support, only Aged Care. This is a joke (sick) as from an age point of view she has no problem but from a Disability standpoint she is very seriously in need of support if she is to remain at home.

Why are people over 65 excluded fom Disability support? Where do we go to get past the bureaucratic nightmare?

Is there a blog on this site which can assist the elderley disabled of our community?

Currently this lady is spending the last of her life savings on private carer support because the public system says they will not help. She could "give in" and force the issue by going into residential care which would cost the government much more but equally it would mean the end of her life as she knows it....

In my quest for warmer weather, I recently made a little excursion to Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast.  Eager to see the hinterland, I booked a trip for the first day.

Of course, it rained all day--no sunshine!! (They've had so much rain, the reservoirs are overflowing, and pipelines are being installed so that water can be siphoned off to waterless Brisbane).  No matter, the tour was highly informative, as there were only five persons on board, and the very knowledgeable driver was only too happy to answer our many questions.

Our first stop at Eumundi Market led us thru  watersoaked stalls!

But what did I discover in one of the sheltered stalls near the footpath?

Couldn't believe my eyes--there in front of me was ''Quarkkuchen'' (cottagecheese cake), a cake my beloved grandmother used to make.  Still have the recipe in her spidery German script!

Speaking German, the stallholder explained that he baked all the cakes himself.

Our next stop was in beautiful Montville, where ''in the rain'' I enjoyed my first taste of 'Quarkkuchen'' in 65 years!

 I attended a Govt seminar on Wednesday and it was to do with ageing and nutrition. I became aware that many more seniors these days rely on home grown food to supplement their budgets. It's also a great hobby activity as we age. 

It is so important to so many, that we plan to write a new course on such for the Greypath Lyceum . 

As I can not be sure of finding a course writer for such, I will write it myself by default if needs be. 

I would greatly value anyone's input on such matters as, best varieties, crop rotation, picking, most beneficial plants food wise, watering, mulching, seasonality , useful images and more.  

If you have a contribution to make, please make comment here and also mail me direct. Thanks Ray  

This is a website for a simple word game.

Your participation will help feed the world.

www.freerice.com

We welcome Andy Youngman who has taken over from Mike Hambidge as our Guest blogger. (Home page under the SIG's tab) . While Andy has some months to go yet of course, we would like to have a queue of interesting people lined up to do a blog stint in the future.

 I have in mind people who live a different life to the rest of us.

 For example a Canadian Indian Princess, (No kidding - Lakashima did our creative writers course a couple of years ago), an Aussie Nun in a Senegal school ( I know one and we are working on it), a NT Policeman, someone who travels the trains every day and makes acerbic observations, a Union Rep in the Pilbara, or whoever

All odd examples, but I expect you know what I am trying to say.

If you know of anyone, do mail me and I'll contact them. 

 Ray

We took our 5-year-old grand-daughter to the local zoo a couple of days ago, and it rained.  
Any zoo is a wonderful mine of information, source of knowledge and entertainer of children.
During two hours of scattered 5-minute downpours we saw birds a-plenty, mongooses (mongeese?), lots of apes, a black bear, tiger and a couple of sea lions. It was good that we saw kangaroos, wallabies, emus and a wombat - all of which prove that even the animals are a bit different in Oz.
It's good that the zoo people in Adelaide have been able to provide roomy "real life-like" settings for most of their bigger exhibits, and the general setting there is vastly better than when I visited as child.
But the bear, while we were there, trod a constant, well-worn path into his den and back to one point a few metres out. Not much fun for him.
The tiger, in a spacious setting of realistic "jungle", paced steadfastly up and back along the back fence.
Then there were the two sea lions, swimming interminable circuits of a circular pool that looked about half a metre deep and about 10 metres across - This for animals built to range widely, designed for speed and agility.
Now, I might have the wrong idea. It could be that these big animals were not stressed, or bored, or at all unhappy. It could have been near feeding time, with them demonstrating the stress we all tend to show when we "just can't wait" for a good feed.
I know that good zoos (and ours is one) are considered vital for the preservation of many species, as well as good at entertaining and educating we humans. I know that great efforts are made to keep the animals fit and happy.
But I can't help wondering how we'd feel if kidnapped by an interplanetary visitor and exhibited in his zoo.