21 for 2021: week 10

Week 10/2021: week of 8 March 2021

21 for 2021 update

I feel Ike I haven’t really progressed much this week in terms of my 21 things. I didn’t do any cooking so I didn’t make a new vegetable recipe (thing 2) and I didn’t start a new chapter in the Change Journal (thing 4). I had planned to do some work on my resume (thing 18) and link that with the chapter on strengths but it didn’t happen. I’m still working through the habits chapter, including the pre-work routine (thing 20).

We went away for the weekend so I didn’t have my regular time to work on the undone things (thing 5), the vegetable garden (thing 6) or Kramstable’s videos (thing 8).

I did, however, find myself in one of the unexplored areas I wanted to photograph (thing 14). I had an hour on Tuesday night to wander around a suburb I don’t usually go to. I didn’t have my camera, so I just took my phone and made some ideas for a future photo walk in the area.

Adventures in suburbia

I took the film from my SLR to get developed (thing 16) and they scanned images came back on Friday afternoon. The pictures look like they were made on a trip to Great Lake in May 2012. The photos that I made last week to use up the film didn’t turn out at all, so I need to talk to the camera shop about what might have happened to them; whether it was the film being so old or whether there might be something wrong with the camera. I hope it’s the fomer!

Regular projects

There  are several things on my list that I have made a regular commitment to  doing in the hope that this will be more likely to make me do them. I worked on these ones this week.

• Thing 9: Write my mother’s life story.I went to see my mum and we talked about how she met my dad. 
• Thing 11: Complete the Compelling Frame course. I commented very constructively on some photos people had posted in the class Facebook group, and on my adventures into unexplored territory I made some photos for the lesson 5 exercises but I’m not sure how close to the mark they were.
• Thing 17: Brainsparker gym*. This week I finished Module 3. 

21 for 2021 week 10 summary

• Things completed this week: 0
• Things completed to date: 1 (1)
• Things I progressed: 7 (4, 9, 11, 14, 16, 17, 20)
• Things in progress I didn’t progress: 6 (2, 5, 6, 8, 13, 18)
• Things not started: 7 (3, 7, 10, 12, 15, 19, 21)

What else did I achieve this week?

This week the Ten Days on the Island festival has been running across Tasmania and I particularly wanted to see Julie Gough’s exhibition, Fugitive History, at the Ross Town Hall. This was part of the “If These Halls Could Talk” series of events that were held in community halls across the state.

We decided to make a weekend of it and go to Launceston for the night.

Ross Town Hall

The works were deeply moving, showing us “the often-unrecorded atrocities perpetrated against Tasmanian Aboriginal people by the colonists of Van Diemen’s Land”.

Part of Julie Gough’s work

It made me think a lot more about some of the things I’ve been learning and reading about recently, and I’m glad we went.

It was raining by the time we got to Launceston, so we spent the afternoon at the QV Museum & Art Gallery looking at some of the new exhibits. Last time I was there in October, there was a lot being prepared and not a lot to see. This time there was a lot to look at.

Nest, by Alastair Mooney, looks at “the resilience and beauty of Tasmania’s native birdlife in the face of human consumption and destruction”.

Nest

Lost Landscapes, by Anne Zahalka, gives new life to old museum dioramas, reflecting the way these displays contain “powerful messages about the way institutions privilege particular narratives about the environment”.

Skin showcases Garry Greenwood’s leather sculptural works that include musical instruments and masks.

Skin

And finally, Herself, which celebrates the range and richness of art by women in QVMAG’s collection. It includes works from female-identifying artists from 1820 to 2020, including Julie Gough, whose work we saw earlier in the day. So that was a nice way to round off the day.

Sunday morning photo walk

Blast from the past

Following on from my 10-year review of my blog, here’s another one of my favourite posts from 2011. This one is from 5 June 2011, where I got to hang out with the wonderful gardening guru, Peter Cundall, who is now 93 years old.

Tread lightly.

When did I listen and what did I learn this week?

This week, I signed up for the Understanding Dementia MOOC, which is run by the University of Tasmania’s Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre. Through this, I learned that dementia is not a disease itself. Rather it is a condition that is caused by a variety of diseases, the most common of which is Alzheimer’s disease. It is a terminal condition that involves the progressive loss of mental and, ultimately, physical functions, which results from the ongoing and irreversible death of brain cells.

I’m finding it very interesting and am learning a lot.

What was the best thing about this week?

Going away for the weekend.

What I’m reading this week

• The Summer Island Festival by Rachel Burton
• The INTP: Personality, Careers, Relationships and the Quest for Truth and Meaning by A.J. Drenth
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Walking back to the hotel after dinner

Habit tracker

• Days I did my morning planning routine at work (Goal = 4): 4
• Days I did my post-work pack up routine(Goal = 4): 4
• Days I worked on my art (Goal = 2): 4
• Days I read a book (Goal = 7): 7
• Days I did yoga stretches (Goal = 7): 7
• Days I had a lunch break away from my desk (Goal = 4 work days): 4
• Days I went for a walk or did other physical activity in the afternoon (Goal = 7): 5
• Days I shut my computer down before 10.15 (Goal = 7): 6

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P365 – Day 309 – Oatlands (05/11/2011)

A while ago, on a trip back home from somewhere, we stopped in Oatlands for lunch. We didn’t have time to have a good look at the town but saw there were a few interesting little places that we thought might be fun to explore.

So we decided to go back and stay for a night, and we thought a wedding anniversary weekend would be a good excuse to have a night away. It was even better that Juniordwarf’s grandmother agreed to have a houseguest so we could have a night away by ourselves.

I think it’s actually the first night we’ve ever had away from home sans child, which was VERY exciting.

Oatlands is about 80 km from Hobart, just off the Midland Highway and, according to the official tourist guide, it has the largest collection of sandstone Georgian buildings in Australia. There certainly are a lot of them, and the town has a really historic feel to it. Most of them have been well maintained, and the self-guided street tour booklet that we picked up when we arrived provides a bit of the history behind many of the old buildings.

126-130 High Street

 

The original Oatlands Hotel

 

There are some very cool topiary plants throughout the town

 

Oatlands Town Hall

52 miles to Hobart

Side of a building

The major attraction for us was the Callington Mill,  which is a working 19th century windmill that produces organic and chemical-free flours. The mill is open for tours, so after lunch, we presented ourselves for a tour.

Mill Lane – great street sign design

Callington Mill

We met Tony, our cheerful tour guide, who explained that because it is a working mill there are certain requirements for visitors. Firstly we were required to wear a very attractive hair net – which is actually called a snood, so there you go; I learned something – and a hard hat. Looking pretty glamorous we were.

As well as this, we weren’t allowed to take in bags, mobile phones or cameras for safety reasons.

Once everyone had divested themselves of their encumbrances, we headed over to the mill. I commented to Slabs that it was smaller than I’d expected. He replied that it was a mill, not a tower – which of course it isn’t. I think I’d been expecting something like the Shot Tower! This is a five-level mill. Much smaller.

Once we’d climbed the four ladders to the top of the mill, Tony gave us a brief history of the mill: it was built in 1837 and closed down in 1892. A blacksmith set up a forge on the ground level and in 1913 the entire interior was burnt out, due to an explosion caused by sparks from the forge igniting flour dust that was still lingering in the mill (yes! flour dust is explosive).

In the 1970s the first attempts were made by the community to restore the mill, some Government funding was received in 1988 so that more work would be done and finally, in 2010 the work finished, completing the restoration of the mill to working order. The final stage of the work was overseen by a mill builder from the UK.

Tony then explained how the mill worked, from the smutting process at the top (a process to remove soot or dirt smut from the wheat – which isn’t actually done because the mill insists on clean grain) to husking the grain, grinding and packing it at the bottom. (I’ve probably forgotten a few steps, but you get the idea.)

The cap on top of the mill weighs 11 tonnes and isn’t actually fixed to the mill – its massive weight keeps it in place. The four sails weight a tonne each, and can be opened up or closed down depending on how much wind there is, and how much power is needed to run the mill. At night they are fully opened so they don’t turn.

Shut down for the night

It was a really interesting place to visit. I love the fact we can now buy Tasmanian milled flour that is either certified organic or chemical-free.

That was one of the highlights of our weekend. Another was our accommodation, Blossoms Cottage, which we loved.  It’s a self-contained one bedroom cottage, very quiet and peaceful and just perfect for the two of us.

Blossoms Cottage

The inside

The view outside the kitchen window

After our mill tour and checking into the cottage, we decided to visit both of the local drinking venues – the Midlands Hotel and the RSL/Bowls club. The RSL was great because when we got there we were the only people in the place, so we were able to have a good chat to the barman and play pool without shaming ourselves in front of a pub crowd.

At least one of us knew what they were doing

After dinner, we went back to our little cottage and opened a very treasured bottle of wine – a 2003 Bream Creek Cabernet Sauvignon that we’d bought on a wedding anniversary weekend away six years ago.

Brilliant!

It tasted glorious and was a wonderful way to end a great day.

In this case, neither of us knew what we were doing!

This is for Juniordwarf