Get Lost, Jack Frost!

Seriously, i'm over the cold weather already. Winter doesnt even officially start until tomorrow( ( and its not even " cold" cold yet )  but already im not enjoying having to climb into a cold bed at night and shiver around to warm up; rugging up before leaving the house in the morning; having to turn the heater on by lunch time so i dont get nippy; and definately not enjoying the sore throat that is lingering from last weeks common cold. ( the only thing i am enjoying is the hot chai latte before bed of an evening...mmmm .)

Poor little Flynn still has a runny nose and a sore throat aswell, and its a battle to keep him warm during the night because the little dude likes to wriggle and kick around - which means the sheets and blankets either go flying or, at the very least, end up around his ankles. Luckily he has a few pairs of soft, snuggly pyjamas so i can layer a singlet, a onesie and the pj's to keep him toasty.

We've had a spare mattress set up in a loungeroom for the past week because people have been sick ( ie me and Flynn ) and other people ( ie Mick ) have very kindly given us our space and thus saved their own sleep. However, i am contemplating leaving it out for the entirety of winter so Flynn and i can be warm and snuggly all day long, snuggled in under the quilt. It would probably look like we had squatters moving in, but other than that it would be awesome.

What would also be awesome? Spring. Only 3 months of crappy winter to get through!

Post Modern Penguins, Performance Management and Palins Fence

Ten new baby penguins have been born at Vienna’s Schönbrunn Zoo since the end of April. This week these delightful creatures have been allowed out and immediately became the centre of attention for visitors at the Zoo. Schönbrunn Zoo is the only zoo in Europe breeding these endangered birds. The baby penguins are clearly doing well, eating up to 20 herrings a day. Three things about the story made me stop and pause:

(1) the baby penguins are not being raised by their parents. Their carers (note not keepers) look after them using new digitally based sound and visual technology

(2) the zoo have re-created the light and climate conditions of the Antarctic at the penguins’ enclosure to create a perfect simulated and stimulating environment for the young ones

(3) our School Administrator has a thing about puffins, and as penguins are a very close substitute I thought she would like the pictures.

Also, it seemed to me that the story, in itself, could act as a metaphor for nurse and midwife pre-registration education and training. For example, increasingly we provide opportunities for our students to learn, develop their knowledge and thinking through the use of new communication technologies. We will continue these approaches through the introduction of the next generation of our virtual learning environment, and approaches such as on-line submission and assessment of students work.

Likewise, we have invested a great deal of time, money and other resources in re-creating experiential and simulated environments in which student nurses and midwives can acquire and practice their clinical skills. Whilst clearly not being the real thing, these environments provide students with very effective learning opportunities and these technological based resources will increasingly play an important part of the students learning experience.

And of course teaching and providing learning opportunities for our students is one part of their experience. Students also benefit hugely from the work of a group of colleagues in the School who not only understand the University and School processes and procedures, but effectively provide a guiding hand and proactive support for the students as they study at every level. They likewise also provide very high standard of support and advice to other colleagues in the School, although often this contribution is hidden from view and sometimes misunderstood.

This latter point is unusual in an environment where so much information is so readily accessible and where our activities are known to so many (and already the baby penguins have their own U-tube site). I had a conversation with a colleague this week where we discussed the fact that these days our work in the School and our contributions as individuals in meeting the School’s objectives are becoming more and more visible to others.

It seems to me that such visibility and access to information about individual performance will increasingly inform judgments about the performance of colleagues. I think in an age of evidence based approaches to everything, moving to this position is long over due and to be welcomed. Others might have different views of course and there will always be a tension between promoting the openness of information, ensuring personal and organisational governance, and enjoying [academic] autonomy and privacy.

This week saw the former Alaskan Governor and Presidential wannabie, Sarah Palin dealing with such tensions. After the exposé author Joe McGinniss moved into the house next door (in order to get close to Palin as he gathers evidence for his next book based on her life) she had a 14 foot tall fence erected between the properties. Satisfyingly symbolic maybe, but in an age where we get to see the most intimate details of baby penguins in a small Zoo in Vienna, ultimately futile!

My Inaugural Friday Flip-Off

Hello there reader-people. Today i take part in a great little initiative that i found via Sian at Pumpkin and Piglet ( although it is the brainchild of Gigi at Kludgy Mum ). Its called Friday Flip-Off - its basically a weekly outlet of rage. You know, so we dont take our shit out on our nearest and dearest. So sit back, relax, and enjoy my end of week rant.

To the common cold - you've managed to infect everybody in my house, including my little bubba. This has meant little sleep, lots of crying ( on my behalf aswell as bubs ) and itchy, scratchy sore throats... flip off!

To the selectors of the NSW rugby league team - i am sick to the death of you people. Seriously. Could you please stop picking players out of position and start picking some players with a bit of passion, regardless of their age ( wink, wink, nudge, nudge Nathan Hindmarsh ). If you persist in stuffing we NSW supporters around, i may just have to move to Victoria and pretend that i dont care anymore. And i dont want that to happen. So get your act together or....flip off!

To people who dont know how to correctly negotiate a roundabout - its not hard. Give way to your right; stick to your own lane; blink off when existing. The next time someone cuts me off or uses their blinker incorrectly, i'm going to give them the finger and tell them to ....flip off!

To my neighbours dog - stop shitting on my lawn. Stop barking in the wees of the morning and when i am trying to get back to sleep after a breastfeed. Stop scampering through my flower bed and kicking the wood chips everywhere. You dirty, mangy, fluffly little mutt....flip off!

To the washing - please stop piling up everywhere. Dirty, clean, doesnt matter - you are taking over my house. I know that technically this is my fault for being all depressed like this week and not being motivated enough to even contemplate washing/folding/putting away, but if you could just learn to wash/fold/put yourself away ( magically ) that would be awesome. Because right now, you're the bane of my existence...flip off!

P.S I dont know how to include the blog hop thingo, so if someone could help me with that for next week, that would be great.

P.P.S Head over to Blog This! and vote for me this week...

Prehistory of My Place - Part 2

Part 1 last week (scroll down below) dealt with the prehistory of Lovell, including the work of the late amateur archaeologist Helen Leadbeater of Fryeburg citing an article by William Rombola called, “The Ceramic Period in the Upper Saco River Drainage: An Analysis of the Helen Leadbetter Collection” in the Maine Archaeological Society Bulletin for Fall, 1998.Helen Leadbeater’s extensive collection also contained artifacts the age of which Rombola doesn’t guess at, including what he calls “groundstone” tools like “half-channeled gouges” he says “are thought to have been used for some specialized form of woodworking.” By groundstone, I assume he means polished. There have been several polished slate artifacts similar to what he describes found in Red Paint sites all over the northeast and as well as sites in northwestern Europe dating from the same periods. “One,” Rombola says, “was recovered from the north end of Kezar Lake in Lovell, Maine.”North end of Kezar Lake

In July of last summer, fellow teacher Terri McDermith and I arranged for several of our students to assist Maine’s senior archaeologist Dr. Arthur Spiess and his team as they excavated a portion of the area behind the Fryeburg Harbor Church. That’s just across the Old Course of the Saco River from the Kezar Lake outlet dam. Many other locals have extensive collections of artifacts gathered from there during the 20th century. With help from a local archaeologist, Lovell’s Jane Dineen, we found chips and scrapers of hornfels and Munsungan Chert as well as pottery sherds and fire pits surrounded by fire-cracked rock. Dr. Spiess said they all probably date from around 1200 AD. Time and funds ran out just as we were digging the most promising pits and Spiess said that almost always happens. If we can raise enough money - about $6000 for a week’s work - we can resume. That whole area would seem to have been used continually from about 4000 years ago until the Pequawkets (who were Abenaki) cleared out nearly three centuries ago.In the Fall, 1986 Maine Archaeological Society Bulletin, Dr. Spiess published a study titled: “The Kimball Collection From Bear Pond Inlet (Site 22.8).” Locals know that’s in nearby Waterford. The artifacts were gathered prior to World War II by Harold Kimball as he walked by the area where Mill Brook enters the pond on his way to and from work every day. Spiess said, “ . . . the collection . . . apparently includes Early Archaic material (circa 9000 B.P.). B.P. means “Before Present.” He goes on to state that “Abrasive stones are present in a variety of forms.” By “abrasive” I assume he means what Rombola referred to as “groundstone” and other archaeologists call polished slate. Most old stone wood-working tools are made of polished slate. The grainy images of them in the article look like the polished slate tools I’ve seen depicted in Red Paint sites in northeastern North America from Maine all the way to northern Labrador. Spiess states later that, “[this] heavy woodworking equipment, we suspect, belongs with the Early Archaic, Middle Archaic, and Laurentian Late Archaic.” That would mean they were between 3000 and 9000 years old.Also in the Maine Archaeological Society Bulletin for Fall, 1998 was an article by Craig Norman called, “Controlled Surface Collection And Artifact Analysis Of The Stevens Brook Site, Presumpscot Watershed.” Craig Norman, also, was alerted by reports of local amateurs collecting artifacts, this time on the shore of Long Lake where Stevens Brook enters and forms a sand bar. Here also, both stone and ceramics were recovered. The stone was made mostly from the same materials as those in the Leadbetter and Kimball collections. As with the Fryeburg Harbor site, there was much evidence in the form of what archaeologists call “lithic debitage” (lots of stone chips) that stone tools were created on the site over several millennia beginning during the Middle Archaic Period, 7200 years ago.Jane Dineen and Art Spiess

So it seems the earliest evidence of human activity within a 20 mile radius of Lovell is in the form of stone tools 9000 years old when the whole area would have been treeless tundra. They must have hunted animals, some of whom would now be extinct. The tools they made were of materials from as far away as Northern Labrador. Some sites were continually occupied, at least seasonally, for many millennia. We don’t know who the earliest people were, but the latest occupants before European settlement were Pequawkets - the local branch of Abenaki Indians. People around here used pottery for at least three millennia. They planted and harvested corn during the last millennium. The Pequawkets were aggressive, raiding English settlements in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.Terri McDermith and daughter Emily seated

There are many gaps to fill in my quest to understand everything that ever happened around here, and I’ve only got about 25 years left to do it. A few thousand dollars for more digging would help a lot, so if there are any pecunious readers out there who want to help, let me know. I promise to spend your money more wisely than government would, and I’ll also report back about how it was spent without your having to file Freedom of Information Act requests.

Pride ( In The Name Of Love )

Welcome to this weeks Blog This! challenge. On todays menu:
Tell us about a proud moment in life - of you, of someone else, when you made someone proud. Maybe you want to focus on an aspect of your life or someone you know that exudes pride?

Ok, yes, first of all - i totally stole the name of a U2 song for my post title. Second of all, the first person tha comes to mind when i think of the word " pride ", of who I am proud of, of who is proud of me....is my Dad.

Thats him - my dad. We've always been close, my dad and i, the kind of relationship where we can finish each others sentences, have inside jokes and generally just " get " each other. But in the past 8-ish years, since finishing high school and growing and maturing into adulthood, i've realised not only how much i love him but how proud i am of him as a person.

He's always done whats best for our family, regardless of whether or not it was good for him; he worked two jobs for years, existing on only a few hours sleep a night, to provide for us; when he could afford to cut back to only one job, the job he took on was physical labour. He was told by his doctor that this work would aggravate his back condition, to the point of paralysis if he let it get too far - but he continued to work regardless. For 10 years in fact, until he was told it was either a spinal fusion and rehab and cutting back on duties - or it was a wheelchair. He chose to take the surgery option and once he was back on his feet, he was back to work, doing the same job as before, because thats what he needed to do for his family. This persistance has paid off for him in the last two years - he was given a promotion which meant a better paid job with less manual work. 

His dedication to us knows no bounds. He came to most of our sporting games ( even though he admits to never liking netball ); he would let you practise your speech with him as your audience, so you werent so nervous when you had to give it in class; he listens, even now, to everybody's issues and doesnt expect anything in return but that you consider his advice; I'd never in my life seen him pick up a pen and paper to write a letter, but he did just that, and wrote me when i was living overseas; he's an amazing Poppy to his three grandkids, even though he tells them " stories " about how he used to be a doctor/cowboy/hatmaker ( and we kids know none of it is true ).

Basically, I'm proud of him because of the kind of man he is. He loves with his whole heart, which means he doesnt forgive easily when he's hurt. If you hurt him too much ( though he wont admit that " hurt " is the right word ) he'll cross you off his Christmas card list forever. Yes that may be stubborn - but it also means he doesnt suffer fools easily, and that he knows the key to life is to be happy. If someone doesnt make you happy, you dont bother with them anymore, and you take that love you had and focus it on the people who mean most to you. He does everything that he does for his family, and we love him for it. Though i know he's taught me many a life lesson and showed me, through example, how to be a good parent, he claims it was us, his children, that taught him to be a good father.

Which ever way it happened, no matter where he picked up his skills, he is a good father and a good man. And thats enough for me.

When Does Existence Count?

Thats the question that I, and many others in Australia, am pondering today? It comes on the back of the case of a couple who, after having been hit by a drug driver on Christmas Day, lost their unborn child at 32 weeks ( " NSW to review unborn child laws " ). This poor woman, who was hit whilst out taking a walk, had to endure the pain and suffering of having to birth her child even though they knew the baby, already named Zoe, would be stillborn - and now, because of laws regarding what constitutes " human ", she cannot even get justice for that loss. See, here in New South Wales, a baby is not considered human until it has taken a breath and, thusly, this drug driver cannot be tried for either murder or manslaughter.

This, frankly, is ridiculous. Is the law saying a baby does not exist until it breaths? So you can have a baby growing inside you, evidence of their existence available on any ultrasound screen, available to any passer-by in the street - yet, in the eyes of the law, that baby doesnt exist until it takes its first breath of air. What a load of rubbish! I know this poses all kinds of moral and ethical questions, but surely a baby at 32 weeks, that could be born that early and survive, which kicks its mother, and gets the hiccups, and can suck its thumb - surely that MUST count as human?

The problem, as its been described to me, is that it raises the question of when would abortion become murder? I dont know at what stage abortion becomes murder - and therefore illegal - in this state, but i'm damn sure its well before 32 weeks. Not that i want this to become a debate on abortion but, for the record, i consider myself pro-choice - although i dont believe that abortion is the right choice ( for me, or anyone else ), i do believe that each individual woman should be able to choose for herself. But abortion is illegal in this country beyond a certain stage because the law regarding abortion must recognise late stage abortion of a fetus as murder. Mustn't it? Otherwise abortion would be legal at any stage. So why is it different for the loss of a child through other criminal means?

I just dont get it. And i'm sure this poor couple mustnt either. My heart goes out to them, their living daughter, and their angel baby. I just hope this legal loophole can be rectified soon so that other families need not suffer the same....

Almost Summer: Pictures

Pictures: 1) My neighbor's horse Fergie
2) Neighbor's other horse Sugar
3) Another of my neighbor's horses but I forget his name (unedited)
4) Daisies (unedited)
5) Fence row
6) Flowers, not sure what they are (unedited)
7) old truck.

Thank God For Sesame Street

Flynn isnt exactly up to the TV watching stage yet - at 5 months old he doesnt have the worlds longest attention span ( hello goldfish! ). However, i do put the kids channel ABC2 on for an hour or so everyday - he doesnt actually watch the programs but he enjoys the music and the colour, and that comes in handy if Mummy has to run outside and hang some washing or needs to go to the toilet. Dont get me wrong, i'm not going to be one of those mums who uses the TV as a makeshift babysitter, i just 5 or 10 minutes of distraction sometimes. So little Flynn doesnt actually watch the shows - I, on the other hand, being an adult, cannot help but pay attention ( even if sometimes i dont really want to ). And do want to know what i've noticed ? Some kids TV shows are just stupid. They dont even compare to the great shows I had to watch when i was growing up. You know, like " Sesame Street ".

" Sesame Street " is the bomb, baby. I should i say the baby bomb? Either way i loved it back then and i love it still. The characters are kid friendly, the puppets come from the fabulous Jim Henson Company, it gets the best celebrity  cameos ( Garth Brooks, Adam Sandler, Aretha Franklin, hell even Michelle Obama ) and they use music and colour and stories to help kids learn. " Sesame Street " is the kind of show i want Flynn to love. Suffice to say Mummy will put this one on when he's old enough to actually pay attention to TV. I've also discovered two other little shows that i dont mind, and would be happy to sit down and watch with him:

" The Hoobs " - this one is a British show about these aliens called Hoobs that travel around in the Hoob mobile, learning about things here on Earth. They call adults " peeps", children are " tiddly-peeps " and babys are " squiddly-tiddly-peeps". Cute! What i like about this one is that every episode is about something in particular and the Hoob go around and try to learn about that thing. So, for example, yesterday one of them had found a painted egg and they wanted to know what it was and it was for - queue learning that eggs come from chickens, humans eat them, and when theyre boiled and painted they are used for egg hunts. Also, this also a Jim Henson production so it gets extra points from me just for that. Hooba-licious!

" Chuggingtons" - this is pretty much the new, modernised " Thomas the Tank Engine ". Not thats there is anything wrong with old Thomas but this one is just a little more " hip". Its more colourful, there are human characters and the storylines teach a moral or lesson without being as clunky as Thomas tends to be. Mick and I bought Flynn a Chuggingtons showbag ( with a backpack and lunchbox, dinner plate and cute hat! ) at this years show so my fingers are crossed that he gets into this one!

I dont get the appeal of some of the other popular kids shows. " In the Night Garden " ? Its rubbish - i'm not too keen on kids shows that use baby sounds instead of actual language. I know babys might like being spoken to in goo-goo-ga-ga but i'd prefer Flynn to watch something where he is going to pick up actual words and language. " Yo Gabba Gabba " ? Those puppet character thingys are weird and freaky! The stripey green one doesnt even have elbows - whats up with that? And DJ Lance has one of those faces i just want to punch. So i'm thanking God for " Sesame Street " - as long as it remains on air i might have a little bit of sanity for the next 10 years of childrens tv watching!

Bath, China, Forbidden Words and Chicken Feet

The City of Bath was the venue for this year’s Council of Deans of Health Retreat. It was an inspirational setting. The city was first established as a spa resort with the by the Romans. They built the baths that have made the City famous. The hot springs that fed these baths are the only ones to be found in the UK. The City of Bath became a World Heritage Site in 1987. Although I have been reminded that this is a nursing and midwifery blog and food features too often, so I won’t be saying anything about the food at the CoD Retreat (although the Wild Mushroom Risotto was possibly as good a mine) Bath does have food traditions that are linked to health.

It was Thomas Guidott who in 1668 set up practice in Bath. He was interested in the curative properties of the Bath waters and wrote: A discourse of Bathe, and the hot waters there. Bath has also lent its name to one other distinctive recipe: the Bath Oliver – the dry baked biscuit invented by Dr William Oliver. He was a Doctor at the Mineral Water Hospital and was an early anti-obesity campaigner. He wrote the wonderfully entitled paper: Practical Essay on the Use and Abuse of warm Bathing in Gluty Cases.

It was a very good retreat, if a rather sobering one. Much time and debate was spent on working through the possible implications of the policy changes arising from the recent election of the coalition Government. It is clear that both the HEI and NHS were likely to be affected in a negative way and that both sectors faced some tough times ahead. As health care professionals and particularly Nurses, we caught in the twin headlights of both areas. David Brindle, from the Guardian newspaper provided a very insightful view of the new administration and the likely direction of travel of policy and practice. He didn’t use the phrase Direction of Travel of course, as this is one of some 200 words that have now been forbidden in the lexicon of the new coalition. It appears there are many Civil Servants busy re-writing policy statements in order to erase the use of these words, and some amusement was to be found in the presentations of speakers as these words were highlighted in red.

There was little amusement in the feedback report of the work undertaken to improve the image of nursing. Despite extensive, and one would guess expensive research, little that was new was reported. The solution to our problems appeared to resolve the development of a web site called we.nurse.com. Colleagues sitting at my table thought it might be misconstrued as the web site for continent nurses, while others thought the research team were taking the p**s. Colleagues from Scotland reminded the speaker that they battle every day with being called the wee nurse and this site would be unlikely to help them win the fight. Given the context of improving the image of nursing, the presentation was paradoxical, ill-informed, and out of touch with new forms of communication. Hopefully the programme will be on the list of those to be cut.

Friday saw our colleagues from China attending the University and School. On a brilliant summers day 30 College Presidents and Senior Academics from across China came to Salford to find out more about what we could do together in the future. The day started with a welcome by our VC followed by a brilliant presentation of our work from me. As always there was a chicken included in the powerpoint. Given the place in Chinese culture of the Rooster I did think about the wisdom of this, but felt there wouldn’t be a problem. China has a population of over 1.3 billion people, and they consume 4.7 billion chickens a year! In Chinese cuisine, chicken feet are often served as an option at restaurants – but this is not a food blog.

Our colleagues were then able to see our facilities and like other visitors, were impressed by the METI men and the possibilities for education and training this resource presented. The China Nurse Fund is keen to facilitate qualified nurses coming to the School to undertake Master levels programmes. We were expecting a small group to start in September this year, but this has now had to be postponed because of changes to visa rules imposed six weeks ago. However, a number of areas for collaborative working and research were identified before the delegation left for the almost must do Manchester United Tour at Old Trafford.

Lie, Cheat, Steal - Or How Bludgers Make Me Mad....

I know i've already participated in this weeks Blog This! challenge, and usually i would consider one rant post for the week enough but, well, somethings just got on my goat and i want to rant about it. I found out this morning that a young mum i know is rorting the government and, frankly, this knowledge has given me the shits.

This new mum ( who i have mentioned previously ) is getting the maximum Baby Bonus* ( which i dont begrudge her - i get it too ) and is also claiming Family Tax Benefit A and B. Thats all fine, no worries. Because her partner is part Aboriginal she is also claiming all the Indigineous benefits she can. I dont want to get into all that but i'm not a big believer in being able to claim extra monies simply because of your race ( or hell, even one quarter of your race ). But whats really gotten up my nose is that this woman is claiming single parents benefits - because she's told the government that her partner does not live with her - and thats an out-and-out lie. She and her partner have been engaged for over 5 years and have been living together longer than that. So, she's lying to Centrelink so that she can claim all kinds of money she isnt really entitled to.

The rorting of benefits really gives me the shits. This woman is telling a bald-faced lie and, consequently, she is able to claim almost $500 more per fortnight in government benefits than I am. You might want to say that i'm jealous, but thats not it ( although a little more in my pocket each week would be nice ). Its annoyed me that Mick and I are being honest, we've paid our taxes in the past, and now that we need a little monetary help from the government, we get what we're entitled to based on the truth of our situation.... and then you have people like her, who lie and are able to get so much more than they need or deserve. I cant stand being ripped off, and even though the money is not going directly from my pocket to hers it may aswell be. I pay my taxes in the anticipation that they will be used properly and to good effect - and then there are money grubbing people out there who are a drain on the system.

People who claim disability benefits because they have a slightly pulled muscle in their back, when honest-living people ( like my father ) work for 20 years with a legitimate disorder, up until their doctors tell them if they keep going they may not be able to walk....and then those honest people have surgery and get straight back to it.
Women who have numerous babies to different fathers so they can live off the family benefits.
People who claim unemployment, even though they are perfectly able to work - they just have no drive nor desire to find work because why should they when taxpayers will keep them in the money?

I have no problem with people claiming government benefits when its legitimate - i am, at least while i'm on maternity leave - it just really gets my back up when people cheat the system. I have half a mind to go and dob this girl in, to have her investigated, and made to pay all the extra monies back - but i wouldnt want to seem spiteful. I guess i can just sit back and know that i'm doing the right thing and live knowing that my son will be brought up with good moral standards, because his father and I are setting hime the best example ( even though its the  hard way ) right from the start....

*NOTE* For those of you not in Australia, the Baby Bonus is a benefit paid to new mothers to help with the immediate costs of raising a child. The maximum benefit is just over $5000, paid over 26 weeks.

Prehistory of My Place - Part 1

I want to understand everything, but with a tight travel budget and less than a century of life-expectancy to study, I can only try to understand everything in the area where I live - within, say, a twenty-mile radius of Lovell. I want to know how the mountains formed, how old they are, what’s inside them, and what grows on them. I want to know why the rivers and streams flow as they do, how the lakes and ponds and swamps formed. I want to know what’s under the ground I walk on and how it got there. I want to know why it rains and snows and freezes and thaws as it does, and understand the glaciers that scraped it all. And, I want to know about the people who have lived here since the last time those glaciers melted.

The best guess is that the first people arrived when two-mile-thick glaciers last receded from here in southern Oxford County around 11,000 years ago. The earliest evidence of human activity found so far is in the form of stone tools from approximately 9000 years ago on the shores of Long Lake in Bridgton, as well as Bear Pond in Waterford, Kezar Pond and Lovewell Pond in Fryeburg and in other locations in the Fryeburg area. The earliest evidence of human activity so far discovered in Lovell proper is about 4000 years old along the shore of Kezar Lake.Old Course of Saco River Fryeburg Harbor

One of the most intriguing bits of evidence - though of unknown antiquity - was a skeleton uncovered in the year 2000 near Pleasant Point on Kezar Lake. Norris Bennett was digging a ditch with his backhoe to sink some water lines when he found a human skeleton. It’s rare for bones to survive long in Maine’s acidic soils. My daughter, Annie, was working there at the time and told me a forensic archaeologist guessed that, because of skull’s shape, the bones might be those of an adolescent Indian female. They went to the University of Maine Orono and I’ve heard little about them since.

Last summer I mentioned the skeleton to Dr. Arthur Spiess, Senior Archaeologist for the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. He’d never heard of it, though he’d been to Lovell on at least two other occasions in the performance of his work. That surprised me, but he indicated that when archaeologists uncover bones likely to be Native American, they usually avoid going any further. He didn’t say much more, but I got the impression that it was because of potential objections from modern Indian groups who would object to people digging up their ancestors.Test Pit in Fryeburg Harbor

It’s questionable whose ancestors they might belong to if the bones should date from 4000-9000 years ago. Little is known for sure about who those people would have been, and any claim they would be ancestors of today’s Abenaki is weak. Evidence that old of human activity in Ireland, for example, is probably not from my Celtic ancestors who seem to have arrived on the Emerald Isle only about 2500 years ago. We simply don’t know much about where those early Lovell residents (or visitors) came from or where they may have gone.

A lot of archaeological research in this area is confidential. I’ve had to promise to keep it that way in order to learn several things and that constrains what I can write here, so I’ll only refer to them obliquely. That goes against my nature, but a promise is a promise.

The Maine Archaeological Society Bulletin for Fall, 1998 contained an article by William F. Rombola entitled: “The Ceramic Period in the Upper Saco River Drainage: An Analysis of the Helen Leadbetter Collection.” Helen was the most knowledgeable of the many amateur archaeologists in our area and had the most extensive collection of artifacts found in Fryeburg, Lovell, Bridgton, Hiram, Conway and Ossipee. She was often accompanied by her friend, Eve Barbour, and both have since passed on. Though Rombola’s article focused mostly on Helen’s ceramic artifacts, he included some analysis of her lithic (stone) artifacts as well and those intrigue me most.

Rombola says the oldest artifacts in the Leadbetter collection date from the “Early Archaic Period” which would mean they are among the oldest artifacts found anywhere in Maine so far - 7000-9000 years old. Most are made of hornfels, which Rombola says “is prevalent in New Hampshire and southern Maine” and usually gray/black. Other artifacts are made of material from Mount Jasper in Berlin, NH, from the Moosehead Lake region, the Munsungan Lake region, the Champlain valley, from upstate New York, and several other sources. There was one piece made of the most intriguing material - found only in one location: Ramah Bay in northern Labrador. It’s a material favored by the “Maritime Archaic” or “Red Paint People” who lived in northeastern North America, including northern Labrador, more than 7000 years ago. Though I don’t know where Helen Leadbetter found her one piece, I was very lucky to find a small arrowhead made of Ramah chert last June near the Kezar Lake outlet dam in Fryeburg Harbor.My Ramah Chert Arrowhead

Part 2 next week.

Mummy Meltdown!

I had me a little mummy meltdown last night. I'm not proud of it, but it happened, and i can admit to it. See, my bubba is still having the " tummy troubles " that i've previously blogged about and the challenges of trying to help him shake it are kind of getting to me.

We went to the specialist paedatrician on Monday who advised that i keep up the breastfeeding, give him water and prune juice after every feed and give him a double dose of medecine everyday. Believe it or not, the medecine part of that menu is the easiest. His medecine is super sweet so all i have to do is measure him out a spoonful, into his mouth and mmmmmmmm - he gulps it down. The breastfeeding and the water/juice part is proving to be a little more difficult. I love breastfeeding and i'm so glad that, despite a few hiccups at the start, Flynn and I stuck with it. Problem is that now, at almost 5 months, my milk is not quite enough for him ( which is why we tried a bit of rice cereal - which has seemingly caused the tummy issues - in the first place ). By early evening the little guy is wanting to feed every hour-ish and, before his bedtime rolls around, my supply runs low. This means a little " Mum, i'm still hungry!! " tantrum, before i can settle him down and get him to sleep.

The other issue is with the water and the prune juice. Two weeks of different medical professionals telling me try prune/carrot/apple/orange juice means that my son has developed a sweet tooth early - which means he's not interested in plain old water. He's also not interested in a bottle anymore. Since having all the different remedies shoved at him, he now HATES the bottle. He starts crying as soon as he sees and if you try and put it in his mouth? Screams! So consequently its either force the bottle in and make him swallow something ( while he screams and cries and splutters ) or, well, nothing.

So last night, i had my moment. My milk had run out, Flynn wouldnt even contemplate the bottle of formula i'd made up for him and Mick decided, after an hour of wailing, that it was time he hit the sack. Which left me with a crying, hungry baby, a supply that couldnt satisfy him, and a major headache. I gave him what i could of my milk and then sat with him on my lap, hoping for sleep. Two and a half hours and another feed later, Flynn was pushing out the zzz's.... and i was pouring out the tears. I felt like a bad mum because i'd gotten so frusturated; like i had the most difficult baby in the world but it was my fault because i should never have tried the rice cereal; like my head was going to explode if i couldnt get some quiet and some sleep soon; and i even felt resentfult towards Mick because he'd crept off to bed instead of staying up and helping me.

But fear not - i've moved past it today. I love both my gorgeous fiance and beautiful son to death, and i know i'm a good mumma. The last five weeks have tested my limits and i've had my crazy moments, but i havent ( yet ) completely cracked. Lets just cross fingers that the blood tests that my little guy had on Monday show up nothing serious and we can get a solution to his " difficulty " soon!

Ch-Ch-Changes!

Just quickly - you may have noticed that i've changed the theme around these parts.
I'm not entirely sure that i like it. I might even change it again.
What do you guys think?
Note: i actually have changed it since i posted this entry. What do you think now?

Modern Manners

Its time again for another Blog This! challenge ( i've missed the last two or three... ). This week its:
C'mon. It's time to shout out your cause, your gripe, your mission. Get on your soapbox and talk about something that really matters to you. Something you think about but perhaps don't talk about. Start a conversation, be heard!

Ok, so those of you who read me fairly regularly know that i dont grandstand very often. I like to keep things fairly light and fluffy and only get really opinionated when something is really important to me, and to others. You know, things like:
a) breastfeeding
b) blood donation
c) leggings as pants.
Important stuff. Seeing as i've blogged about these things in the past and you should, by now, know where i stand on those issues ( breastfeeding, yes; blood donation, double yes; leggings as pants, hell no ) i thought i'd get my knickers in a twist about something new for this challenge. Or rather something old and, apparently, frequently going missing from our society - manners.

Thats right - manners. I dont want to sound old before my time, but it seems to me like manners have kind of fallen by the wayside these days. I dont just mean kids, or teenagers - i mean basic manners from everyone. My son may only be (almost ) 5 months old but i'm already saying to him " Ta Mum " when he takes something from my hand, because a simple " Ta " or " Thankyou " is about the easiest thing in the world to learn, and amongst the most courteous to use. Its pretty simple - you say " please " when your requesting something and " thankyou " when receiving it; " excuse me " when you need to verbally or physically interupt someone;don't point and dont stare, its rude; no talking on your mobile at the checkout or at dinner; and, my biggest bug bare, you hold the door open for others when you are simultaneously using a doorway.

It really gets up my nose when people forget these most simple of things. Like the guy at the supermarket this past weekend who pushed in front of Mick and I at the self serve checkout. Even when i said " um, excuse me, there is a line here ", he just looked at me and then went back to scanning his bread. Not even an insincere " Oh, sorry, didnt see you there ". That guy ? Douche.
Or the middle aged man who, despite seeing me coming with my pram, rushed through door to the carpark and went on his merry way, even though he could have ( and should have ) held the door open for me. I was taught that if you're coming up to a door way at the same time as someone else, you hold the door open for them - and i do just that, whether i'm pushing a pram or carrying my bub or am by myself, and whether the other person is a man or a woman. Its just basic manners.
Or the people who get a friendly " have a nice day " from the cashier and dont even offer a " Thanks! " in return.Is it so hard to give them a one word answer? Uh - nuh.

So, blog type people, please go out of your way today, and everyday, to use your manners. I know your parents taught them to you so hold those doors open, smile and say thankyou, and make your children say " please " instead of stamping there little feet. And if you come across someone who forgets to use their manners when dealing with you, smile ever so sweetly and wait until they're out of sight before you give them the finger. After all, its bad manners to flip the bird to someones face....

Election Results, Fresh Asparagus and Robin Hood.

The election is done and the new UK Government installed. The 50 day spending review has started. We know from early announcements that cuts to public sector funding will start this year. I am aware that many of the organisations who make up our educational practice partners have already started to look at how they will deal with what are likely to be large cuts to their funding. For the NHS, this will inevitably involve reconfiguring services, moving services to the independent sector and closing some services altogether. For those of us who have been around the NHS for a little while, this is not an unfamiliar scenario. What perhaps makes things different today is the sheer scale of re-adjustment required. It is scary, and of course any changes made in practice will often have a real impact upon our work in the School.

For example, we have for the last year, had to manage an increasingly turbulent practice placement environment, with more clinical placements being lost to those being created through service reconfigurations. Students from all three Universities providing pre-registration nurse education in the Greater Manchester area have been affected. With the half of the educational experiences being facilitated by learning opportunities in practice, this continues to be a difficult situation to respond to.

Likewise, service reconfigurations often provide opportunities for organisations to re-think the size, shape and compositions of their workforce. Almost inevitably there will be a reduction in the overall numbers required. Managing the long term impact of this situation will also be challenging. I am not sure that the private sector can offer us much help or direction here. This week I noticed a report commissioned by Abbey Legal Protection about how organisations in the private sector are likely to address the severe down turn in the economy. When asked what costs they would be most likely to cut back on in the next year to maintain profitability, 38% of senior management reported they would cut back on staff numbers, 8% opting to slash staff pension contributions, 7% health insurance, 7% IT support and 5% of the managers surveyed declaring they would not touch the client biscuit budget. Perhaps the reports authors had read my blog from last week, and noted the relationship between chocolate and well being.

Nothing quite beats a chocolate covered ginger biscuit – well except perhaps, a dish of fresh English asparagus, served with home made hollandaise sauce, a lightly poached free range egg and hand cut triple fried chips. In a week of birthday celebrations this rather lovely meal was one I really enjoyed!

However, the Food Standards Agency may have disapproved of my choice of food. It was reported this week that they are planning to consult on whether ‘fat taxes’ on food would help make people eat more healthily. Food is currently exempt from VAT. One proposal is thought to be adding 17.5% VAT to full fat milk, butter and cheese to encourage a switch to products with less saturated fat. A study carried out by University of Nottingham (2004) suggested a wide-ranging fat tax would raise around £2billion a year.

And of course it would be impossible to mention Nottingham without also mentioning my favourite film seen this week – Ridley Scott’s tremendously good Robin Hood. It is perhaps just as well that the Food Standards Agency didn’t exist in his day.

Hope for Restoration- Isaiah 35

Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days.
The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses.
2 Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers
and singing and joy!
The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon,
as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon.
There the LORD will display his glory,
the splendor of our God.
3 With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands,
and encourage those who have weak knees.
4 Say to those with fearful hearts,
"Be strong, and do not fear,
for your God is coming to destroy your enemies.
He is coming to save you."

5 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind
and unplug the ears of the deaf.
6 The lame will leap like a deer,
and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!
Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,
and streams will water the wasteland.
7 The parched ground will become a pool,
and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.
Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish
where desert jackals once lived.

8 And a great road will go through that once deserted land.
It will be named the Highway of Holiness.
Evil-minded people will never travel on it.
It will be only for those who walk in God's ways;
fools will never walk there.
9 Lions will not lurk along its course,
nor any other ferocious beasts.
There will be no other dangers.
Only the redeemed will walk on it.
10 Those who have been ransomed by the LORD will return.
They will enter Jerusalem* singing,
crowned with everlasting joy.
Sorrow and mourning will disappear,
and they will be filled with joy and gladness.

Almost Summer

It is almost summer and the weather is already beginning to prove that. We've had four thunderstorms in the past week and with all the rain we've had it's been VERY humid. Oh well that's Tennessee for you.
For any of you who are wondering the flood waters have receded and clean up is well underway in Nashville and its surrounding areas. Thank you for all your prayers.
I am honored to be from this area. We are truly the Volunteer State. The Red Cross didn't have to preform quite a few rescues because of all the neighbors and friends who helped their own. Thank you all you Middle Tennesseans who stepped and owned up to the title Volunteer State.
On an other note I've had a busy past two weekends. The second week of May brought my friends Morgan and Braden's birthday party. It was a blast! Good food, good friends, learning swing dancing, and in general having a blast.
This weekend was our annual Home School Recognition Night. That was a lot of fun also especially since we went laser tagging afterward. Well That's about it. Vaya con Dios.

Picture- Me and a group of my friends at the birthday party.
L to R- Luke, Jacob, Me, Anthony, Brandy, Rachel, and Austin.

Baby, Baby...

Flynn and i hosted mothers group at our house this morning - and, to my delight, it actually went well. See, i had this dream last night that absolutely nobody turned up, so i was panicking just a little when, 15 minutes after the scheduled start time, nobody had arrived yet. But - phew!- people were just a little late because little babies dont like to let you get anywhere on time. They're either:
a) still sleeping when you need to go ( and you DO NOT wake them up )
b) needing a feed ( and you cant hurry a feed or bubs gets grumpy )
c) they do what is popularly known as a Number Three ( poo poo blowout! )
or d) its actually you running late because your just a frazzled new mum.

We only had a small group today ( Flynn and I and four other pairs ) but thats ok because I only have a small house. We live in a 2 bedroom duplex which, although its kinda on the small side, suits us just fine. For now. Lately i've been daydreaming about the time when we can get a bigger place - a house instead of a duplex - and ( gasp ) having another baby. Yep, Flynn is only four and half months old and i'm already daydreaming about another bubba. Is that weird? Even with the trouble he's been having with his digestion ( which we are going to see the paedatrician for on Monday... ) the last four months have just been such a delight, i cant imagine having only one. And i've always wanted to have at least two, possibly three. Of course, when i mentioned all this to Mick he kind of went white.... thinking about another baby so soon kind of sends dudes into an internal mini-meltdown.

So watching my son interact relatively well with other babies ( i say relatively because he did have a little sook for a while there ) - the little people we already refer to as his friends - just makes me think what it would be like having two kids to look after. Two boys or one of each? How jealous would Flynn get? Would he be a good helper? Is he gonna share? Lord, the things that go through my head and, in reality, another baby is at least 2 years into the future. One thing i know for sure - that bubba is gonna be loved....

Trouble In Utopia

“Americans work too hard,” said my son-in-law. “Over there, people sit around sipping good wine and relaxing. Maybe we should pack up and move to Europe.” He and my daughter had returned from cruising the Mediterranean on their honeymoon, stopping in Spain, Italy, and Greece. I had been reading things like America Alone by Mark Steyn about the looming debt crisis and low birth rates in those countries.

“I don’t think they’ll be relaxing like that for too much longer,” I said.

Last week, the end of the European vacation was coming into view. The almost-daily riots in Greece had escalated. Leftists threw Molotov cocktails at police. Huge banners hung from the Parthenon calling for revolution in Europe.Financial reality had intruded into socialist utopia and the left didn’t want to face it. Ironic that the birthplace of democracy and the birthplace of Achilles is also the place where democracy’s Achilles’ heel is being exposed. And what is that? Democracy works well until the majority realizes it can vote itself money out of the public treasury. The Greek majority has been doing that in the form of extended vacations, boundless entitlements, cushy jobs with short hours, and early retirement. Spain, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, and other European countries are right behind them - weakening democracies lined in a row and ready to tip over.

After World War II, average life expectancy rose in Europe as retirement ages declined. That meant Europeans would be sipping wine, relaxing at sidewalk cafes, and collecting fat pensions for many more years than the system could sustain. Taxes rose somewhat to help pay for it all, but not nearly enough. Added to this was an unwillingness to bear children. They weren’t having babies to grow up into workers paying those increased taxes.It takes money, effort, time, and self-sacrifice to raise children. That cuts into vacations and afternoon wine-sipping. It’s definitely more difficult to relax with little kids running around, teenagers challenging you, asking for money, borrowing your car, and questioning your values. It’s much easier to just go on living with your own parents until you’re forty-five. Mom can do laundry, cook, clean, and iron your clothes while government takes care of everything else. When your aging parents move on to assisted living or die, you can take over their house. Then retirement for you won’t be far away because you can stop working altogether at 53.

If anyone should suggest Europeans are too lazy and selfish even to reproduce, post-modern rationalizations abound. There’s: “Who would want to bring children into a world full of racism and imperialism?” Then there’s: Having children uses up scarce resources and increases our carbon footprint! Haven’t you heard about global warming?” And, of course, there’s: “Humans are overpopulating the earth and crowding out other species.”

While whales and polar bears are doing fine worldwide, human beings in Europe are declining rapidly and their economy is heading for a crash. Liberal/socialist politicians have been reelected again and again on promises of more and more unsustainable entitlements. When taxes were insufficient to pay for it, they borrowed. When it became obvious to lenders that Greece couldn’t pay it back, the money dried up. Liberal/socialist politicians couldn’t deliver on utopian promises and announced cutbacks. The left went ballistic. It was like parents with declining income cutting allowances to their children, who then threatened to burn down the house.Left wing demonstrators in Greece riot because they want government to do more for them. The conservative Tea Party in America demonstrates because they want government to get out of their way while they take care of themselves. Greek leftists leave behind destruction and dead bodies after their riots. Conservative Americans pick up after themselves, leave their demonstration sites spotless. Still, American media do their best to depict them as racist homophobes.

As Greece sank into anarchy, over here the Dow went into an afternoon free-fall brokers hadn’t seen before. Some analysts were blaming a computer glitch, but others knew what it was: the realization that the United States isn’t very far behind Greece. We’re on the same road they are and rapidly accelerating. We’re $14 trillion in debt and adding to it with trillion-dollar-plus annual deficits for the foreseeable future. Our demographics aren’t as dismal as Greece’s, but bad enough. Unfunded liabilities for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security exceed $100 trillion and that’s without considering the costs of the new health care “reform.” American investors looked at this and Greek riots - and they saw America’s future. That vision shook them deeply, as it should.

Conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher saw it coming decades ago when she said: “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”

Mothers Day Recap

So yesterday, as you would be aware, was my first Mothers Day to celebrated as a mama - and i'm not going to hide it... i was kinda excited! How could i not be with a gorgeous little fella like this to call my own:

Gorgy smorgy!

So, here's how my day played out:

* Woken at 3am for a feed with Flynn. Mick gave me my present - a fluffy pink dressing gown/bathrobe. He later said i looked like Dame Edna in it ( i'm not sure if that was supposed to be complimentary or not ).

*Got out of bed at 7am, when Flynn woke for another feed. I was hoping for breakfast in bed ( whihc is wat i had been told i was getting ) but, due to Micks having " got his beer on " the night before, he kind of forgot thats what he'd promised.

* I got upset and had a little tear or two, at which point Mick redeemed himself by rushing out of the bedroom and apologising. Good man.

* Got read the Sunday paper in peace because Flynn decided he would have an hour long nap. Good boy.

* Showered and went to the mall. Bought a new fleecy hoodie. Since getting big milk-boobs, i dont have much warm that will fit me for winter.

* Subway, Eat Fresh!

* Watched a recorded DVD of this past weeks episode of " The Amazing Race ". I love me some Race, and this was on my wishlist of things i wanted to do on Mothers Day. Flynn had a feed and a sleep while it was on, and Mickey J took himself off for a quick bike ride.

* Went to my mums for afternoon tea ( we had been to Micks mums last weekend. She lives in another town so it was easier to split the visits ). My dad made a lovely zuchinni and sweet potato cake. Good man.

* My sister had bought a puppy and was also visiting my parents, with the puppy. I love puppies!

* Flynn got tired and had a nap on my dads lap which was awesome, seeing as he's been majorly clingy the last few weeks. Good boy.

* Got home and gave Flynn a bath - marvelled at how he marvels at the rubber ducks that he has in the tub. Too cute!

* Mick made me a lovely red penang curry fpr dinner. We figured out earlier that he'd forgot to plan dessert, so i made my own peach crumble. Tinned peaches to the rescue!

* Mick and I settled in to watch " Where The Wild Things Are " ( Flynn had already flaked it and gone to sleep ). It was a really, really sweet movie. Actually, you could probably even describe it as bittersweet. I dont really remember the book so much - although i do know that i read it once or twice as a child - but the whole melancholia of Max and the Wild Things and the beautiful rise and fall of their friendship really touched me.

* Gave Flynn a dream feed .... we've had a full week of him waking around 3am-4am for a feed, when he had been waking at 6am or 7am, so i tried the whole dream feed thing hoping it would get him to sleep a little longer. It totally worked. Good Mummy!

* Went to bed utterly exhausted. I had Friday at the zoo, Saturday at the show and Sunday out and about - by 10pm last night i was well and truely ready for bed.

I really enjoyed my day, even though we didnt do anything spectacularly exciting. I had breakfast, lunch and dinner all prepared for me; i didnt do a single load of washing; i got to take a shower by myself; and i got to snuggle up to my gorgeous fiance in a cuddly, warm, dressing gown whilst nursing my precious son to sleep. What more could a mama want?