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[20 Sep 2009|07:02pm] |
As many of you lot know, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) first_fallen and librsa are getting married this coming week. They're holding a partay on Saturday to which many of us are going. Feeling somewhat dodged about getting given lavish presents and claiming they "already have a lot of stuff"* they have not drawn up an @Home registery or the like but rather have suggested charities to which they would appreciate donations. Reluctantly acknowledging that some of their friends insist on giving something to them, personally, they cleverly suggested that their Honeymoon Fund could form one of the charities. There is some rather casual plan of having jars** at the reception. If you would rather a less casual process, involving actual bank account details, feel free to contact me (although obviously also the bride and groom themselves and probably numerous others) as I have the relevant information.
* We also felt like this. And then, when all our friends got us astonishingly amazing stuff as wedding presents, we realised that we were, in fact, impoverished and just didn't know it.
** I have some sympathy with this Jar strategy as it is the one I use on boxing day for my "this is the money I would have spent on you my friends but instead am spending on earning brownie points for Judgement Day" jar. I suspect the happy couple will receive very little by this route as jars do not move people's hearts.
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[14 Sep 2009|09:11pm] |
Hmm, haven't posted recently. What to say? Well, I'm in my second week of a headache. My dr gave me some powerful juju that worked for a couple of days, but then decided not to. I'm seeing a physio tomorrow so she can beat the tension out of my neck.
Amusing coincidence: K has a headache too! See, her meds were tapered off and finished on Friday. Sunday and Monday she decided that headaches were a good idea. So we're off for a merry lumbar punch on Friday.
Tomorrow she turns 4. Big day. She can almost write her name without a template. She can write the numbers 1 to 10 and can count to 30. Tonight I showed her how she can work out what 10 plus 5 is by drawing 10 dots then 5 dots then counting them all together. Then I wrote the sum out in symbols. She took the piece of paper to bed with her. Also, also, A is clearly my girl too. She is totally into books. She stands in her cot and demands "Book!!" then you need to offer them one by one until she decides you've got one worth looking at. The other morning she woke up early while I was packing lunchboxes. She called for me, so I went through and put on the passage light outside her room. She was leaning over the edge of the cot, was almost blinded by the light, but still held up her arms to be picked up and repeated "book! book!" That's my girl. A can count to 6. K knows lots of songs and sings them to us all the time. A can speak quite a lot now and says things like "I sitting" and "my closed it" and "daddy home" and "supper time!"
Tomorrow K gets 2 books and a musical jewellery box. I'd like to get her some clothes but am first seeing what swag she gets from the grandparents. We shall then fill in the gaps. Macaroni cheese for supper. Of course.
It was my birthday the other day. I took a day of leave a week later and read all day long. No work, no tidying, no laundry. Blissful. I'm not sure whether I've read for that many hours straight since before K was born. I got lots of book vouchers. With them I bought a lovely glossy $$$ book full of interesting science facts.
Oh well, my headache and I are off to bed. Sleep tight.
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[24 Aug 2009|02:24pm] |
Remember to change your limits of integration when you perform a substitution!
Cha-ching!
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[24 Aug 2009|09:16am] |
25 things I promise never to put my child through
Pretty funny stuff, although rather frightening that they all seem to refer to things real parents have done to real children. Some are rather mild, for instance talking about bowel movements. When you become a parent you have to lose any vestige of distaste related to bodily functions. Really. It's for your own survival. Put that together with the fact that bowel movements are a good indicator of your child's health, and it can be hard to remember that a casual conversation on same with a friend might not be received with much appreciation.
I think the funniest is "22. Post an ad on Craigslist offering an actor $500 to pose as a dog walker and then steal your pet."
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[21 Aug 2009|06:51am] |
UCT Archaeologists have recently discovered evidence that early humans (72000 years ago) in Mossel Bay were using fire to alter the nature of silcrete to make it usable for hand-held stone tools. This is quite a discovery and will be published in Science.
It's freezing cold and my office heater has just died. Hmph.
Yesterday I prepared an integration problem for my students drawing on a paper called Gravitational Attraction of Solids of Revolution, from the Journal of Applied Geophysics. Almost immediately after that I was interviewed by someone who's doing a study of academic development programmes in SA and he said something about maths being not-engineering. I beg to differ. The alternative problem I'd been considering had to do with air displacement by an aeroplane propeller.
I shall have to make myself another hot cup of coffee now.
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[18 Aug 2009|11:11am] |
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Thanks to the excellent Language Log, here is a cartoon which I rather enjoy. It will particularly strike a chord for anyone to whom the term "Discourse with a big D" is familiar :D
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[17 Aug 2009|11:03am] |
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My life is full of jobs. There's the job of teaching, the job of writing academic papers, the job of being a mother, the job of being a wife and the job of being a housewife. Some of those jobs are easier than others and some are more enjoyable than others. They are all work. They all are, basically, jobs. There's no Being Me. No time to spend just enjoying being me and I'm so tired of it.
My birthday is coming up. I am doing nothing for it except this: the short vac is the week after my birthday, so I'll take one day of leave and spend it doing nothing except having fun in Me ways. This means reading and reading and reading, with a bit of eating food that's bad for me thrown in. If time, I'll watch a chick flick. There probably won't be time. I'd like to go shopping for some clothes, but I can't allow that to eat into the reading time, which is of paramount importance. Getting 15 minutes of time to read in bed at night just isn't enough and it's starting to take its toll.
All of life has become one extended chore. The fizz of calculus and the joy of tiny hugs alleviates the misery somewhat, but mostly it's just one.long.chore.
Here's one bright spot, a conversation with K the other day:
(context: we had recently watched a program in which an adult diplodocus had pushed over a tree)
K: We must try and push over a tree one day
Me: Sure, we can try, but I don't think we'll succeed. We're not as strong as Diplodocus.
K: I'm much stronger than you!
Me: You might be stronger than me, but I don't think you're as strong as Diplodocus.
* pause *
K: I am the same strong as Diplodocus because I am very strong and Diplodocus is also very strong.
Me: I like your logic. I see your point. We can certainly try to push over a tree.
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[05 Aug 2009|11:11am] |
Being a working mother when your children are sick is crap, crap, crap.
K seems to have woken up with croup.
My students are having to do without a lecture on integration by substitution.
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[04 Aug 2009|05:57pm] |
The site of Cudgel War
The site was amazing. There was a large meadow, sloping down towards the lake, where people raised their pavilions. By the end of the week I think there were about 15 pavilions there, ranging from tiny ones to really quite large ones, fancy and plain. Here is P helping G and KH put up their pavilion. I took the photo while lounging casually on KH's new spectacular folding chair, while my infected blister made walking with my swollen foot almost impossible. Well, that's my excuse. This one belonged to the Northerners from Torna. It's actually a lot larger than it looks here, it was very long and the photo is taken somewhat along its length, foreshortening it. Those poley things at the end (real bits of tree, have no doubt, no madmade tentpoles for a Laplander!!) were really tall, probably 3 times my height. See the foxfurs, first_fallen? Here is the pavilion of a friendly couple who helped us set up ours. We gave them a small beaded giraffe :). Here is our pavilion and here is a snoozy person inside it, apparently having dropped off while reading Newe Scientist. Here I tried to get a shot of the Humalasalo camp, which ended up 3 or 4 pavilions ranged around an awning. That red sign has their name on it. There was a constnt shifting of people around that table. This awning was rather nice. It belongs to our friends P, K and K who visited here one Yule. They ordered a pavilion and it was badly made. So they ordered a replacement and now just raise the roof of the first one as an awning. This was the awning where the hand sewers sat. That pic was taken in gloomy weather when they were all sensibly indoors.
The land flattened out near the lake, which was where the tourney field was located. The "beach" was just there so one could watch tournaments while the children paddled and everyone was entertained and happy. Here is a Nordic 1000 pic with Sir G taking on the Baron. The large firepit is around where the fellow in white is standing, and the beach is a bit further round to the right. Very nice indeed. So the meadow was sort of a large rectangle with the lake on one short side and woods on the other three. One long side had nothing going on except a path leading up to a roofed-in area that was referred to as a "church" although it was an outdoor church in that case. Court was held there. The other short side had the building which housed the kitchen, the textile workshop room and the feast hall, which doubled as "troll". Here is the feast hall on the last day, full of stuff headed for car boots and roof racks. The kitchen included a small space to sit and eat, but most poeple ate outside or took the food back to their tents. Past that building was one set of outhouses and the path to the battle field, which had somewhat longer grass than the camping site. Here is a bridge battle picture (although you can't really tell there's a bridge...). The remaining long side of the meadow rectangle had more woods and the main building. The main building housed the bulk of the dorm space as well as a kitchen for general use. Several classes were held there too. One washes one's dishes in a sort of basement room there. Behind that there were cottages tucked in amongst the trees as well as the second set of outhouses. There were blueberries all over the place as well as wild strawberries and raspberries. Girls picking blueberries, just before we left the site on the last day.
The main thing with Cudgel is that it is a relaxing summer holiday. Most of the time was spent simpling hanging out, sewing, drinking, snoozing, whatever grooved your ploons. It was a lovely event.
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| New friends |
[31 Jul 2009|06:58pm] |
The people
The people we stayed with when we first arrived in Finland were Sir S and his family. They were all lovely and I would love to see them again. Unfortunately she is not fond of flying, so it is unlikely that they will come out to SA.
The family consists of Sir S, his wife V and their two children. Here they are minus the son. V felt she looked insufficiently scholarly in that photo. She is, in fact, a scholar of Swedish medieval history, taking a few years off from her studies (with slightly gritted teeth) to be a mother. Here is K, hand in hand with the son. A and the daughter were as fond of one another as toddlers this age get. Children this age mostly play alongside one another, rather than with one another. Here they are playing happily in the sandpit together at Sir S's home. The little girl is generally known as Supersonic Baby as she is loud enough to be heard, I kid you not, right across the camping site. Not even all the field heralds could be heard across that distance. Here she is dressed in some of her garb. Fortunately for my sanity, this family was not among the authenticity extremists, although that dress is made out of a thickish linen and the hood out of wool. Our cottons stood out rather more than I would like in that sea of linen that was Cudgel. I'd quite like to see one of those rather mad sewing ladies in their two or three layers of wool to attend, say Valentines, or Yule.
The second family we stayed with was Sir G and his lady Baroness KH, OP. K fell for KH from a dizzy height and was never happier than when snuggling with her.
Some of my favourite people at the event were the mad Northerners. They had driven 800km to be at the event, from their canton on the Arctic circle. They were the creative force behind the epiphanic* salmon. For this, I shall love them forever. Never actually visit, mind you, but kind of a long distance love. This is some of them with their coal pit on the beach, where they did some smelting with the aid of a hairdryer for added oomph.
Some extras: I call this one "Finnish Summer"
Here is an arty one done by K, quite barners, I thought.
An unusually good one of me, I felt. A is feeding me my pendant.
Sir S and Sir R overseeing a tournament.
My kitten in one of her cute particolour tunics
* I checked, the OED says this is a real word.
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| killed him a b'ar when he was only three |
[30 Jul 2009|12:45pm] |
So, there is a huge amount to say about our trip, so much I'm not getting started as I don't have the time. I have had the huge brainwave that I don't need to write it all at once! So, expect reportback in bits.
Finland
Goodness me, but it's a civilised country. Clean and ordered and sensible and not a lot like South Africa. It is beautiful, certainly in the summer time and I suspect in winter too. Lots of trees (in the south, anyway) and lakes everywhere you look. Hardly any bugs, which is good when you're camping. 'Course, mosquitoes the size of fighter planes, but that's another post. Here is an example of how Finland works (I recall extemp saying something similar, it struck us both): there are trains, right, and you buy tickets to travel on the trains. So, you can have an electronic card thingummy which you presumably recharge or somesuch, or you can buy your ticket on the train, as we did. You arrive on the platform (clean and shiny) and read off (clearly) where you need to be and when to catch your train. The train arrives (clean and shiny) and you get on. You then wave your card at a machine you have to actually walk up to (not something that blocks your way and you need to placate in order to get on board, like the Tube). If you need to buy a ticket you choose to board the one carriage on which you can do so, then, when a conductor meanders by you wave him/her down and buy a ticket. At no point are you checked, at no point is your travel barred by not having a ticket. It is totally assumed you will Do the Honourable Thing. [It is only fair to add that there are apparently spot-checks and the fine is 80 euros, so it's not entirely honour driven, But still!]
Pretty much everyone speaks English. And Finnish, of course. Also Swedish (mostly). Some other stuff thrown in there too, generally, like German or French or Polish, perhaps a little Icelandic. Hmm.
We managed to spend huge amounts of money on hardly anything. A Dutch acquaintance told us "to take bags of money" if visiting Finland, and he had it spot on. Even the Finns find it pricey.
Finns (the men, anyway): picture a tattoed and shaved-headed man, possibly with a tight goatee. He's taciturn, looks grumpy and carries a knife. Possibly two. He has a couple of fur rugs, possibly moose. Which he killed himself. When he was five. With his knife. And possibly his teeth. Adjust this slightly for the women (more hair) and it's pretty accurate. A formidable people.
No baths, lots of showers, lots of saunas. We came home and almost fell into the bathtub, weeping. I was too chicken to try a sauna. It was intimidating enough communally showering with gorgeous Scandinavians. Having to sit about and be social in the sauna while they (potentially) analysed my relative hairiness and droopiness just made me shrivel up inide. Also, I'd have had to shuck off my habit to do that, and that just didn't feel right...
Okay, I've wabbed long enough. More to follow at an unspecified time. Also pics. No, really.
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[26 Jul 2009|09:26pm] |
Back! One night last week, while lying awake, I composed a very long blog post about everything worth saying about the event. It went on a bit. Now I do not have sufficient time to repeat it, so let's just mention the main points:
The event was great. Perhaps a bit too long for we who are not used to such long events, but great.
The food was divine, and we're going to get all the refs. The cooks were also utterly lovely people.
It rained half the time. If I wanted rain, I'd have stayed in Cape Town. I made sure people knew this.
We met so many lovely people and some rather odd people. I rather fell for the Mad Northerners.
I had North Sea salmon, slow roasted over an open fire. My God. It was a religious experience.
I got an infected blister. Also mozzie bites with raised welts with a radius of 10 to 15 cm.
The event would have been quite different, probably in a good way, without children.
P felled Sir Siegfried in single combat. This was the highlight of his week, I think.'
K found a boyfriend.
Finns are mostly mad, in a good way. They drink a lot and really do like getting naked.
Our garb was embarrasingly and humiliatingly below par at an event where babies wear white linen smocks with blackworked cuffs.
Pavilions are really cool and have their pros and cons. More on that later.
The sun sets at a ridiculously late hour, making children's bedtimes a major battle.
The site for Cudgel is amazing.
I am assuming by the lack of bad news emails that the cats are both still alive and the house is unburgled and has not floated away on rain puddles.
More will follow, but I now need to go and scratch my mozzie bites. We leave tomorrow, arrive on Tuesday and back to work on Wednesday.
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[17 Jul 2009|12:13pm] |
I hope I typed all the right stuff in the fields labelled with Finnish text. I seem to be posting an entry. Hold thumbs!
We are packing the cars for the trip to the event now. We're leaving some of our stuff hre, like most of the adults' mundane clothes. Hopefully we won't regret that. A is napping, having fallen asleep during a long talk about travel times by bus and train in the Helsinki region. Yesterday P managed to bore her to sleep with talk of raps. We're having trouble getting that little monster to go to sleep, so a collection of boring conversation topics is good to have at hand.
The pavilion we'll be staying in and stonkloads of stuff to go in it are arriving at the site later today. Hopefully there'll be time to get it all set up, but we have been promised indoor crash space if things donät get set up in time. We have instructions on how to put it all up and they sound quite detailed and straightforward, so ... we'll see.
K has scored a necklace from Baroness Katheryn OP, to add to her collection consisting of a green bead one from the honourable Lady Katherine GA and Countess Honor OP. So far A has no jewellery, not even from anyone without titles. We'll have to do something about that.
It is so beautiful here. I was sitting outside just now, swinging on the swing seat, the wind picking up, the woods swaying all around and clouds streaming overhead. So beautiful. We've just polished off the latest strawberry harvest and K is helping water the vegetable patch before we set off.
I'm feeling quite anxious about this event, I've never been to anything like it. Some 120 to 150 people, most camping, for a week. Many classes, lots of combat. About a million children, I understand.
I had better go and see if I can be helpful. I'm guessing no news is good news with reference to the cats. Thanks for the note about the cats the other day, first_fallen. From now until next week Sunday evening we'll be in radio blackout.
As it were...
Ack! Week long camping event! Ack!
Chat in a week.
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[16 Jul 2009|01:24pm] |
Geez. Livejournal has suddenly decided I'm in Finland for some reason and has all its usual text in Finnish. I had to guess how to get to this posting screen.
We are now at GrimR and Katheryn's place in the country. Absolutely beautiful. K and I took a walk earlier and snacked on wild strawberries growing at the roadside. This afternoon we're have a braai. Currently P and GrimR are off walking the dog (5 month old basset) while the girls eat some fruit. This lot of fruit is probably shop bought, but tonight we'll have today's harvest of the strawberry patch, having finished off yesterday's harvest with some bubbly after supper. I might not want to come home. A is taking some serious strain. She seems fine, but is fragile and the smallest thing breaks her. Her determination to not sleep at all is not helping anyone at all. Tomorrow we'll pack for the event in the monring, then do a spot of shopping, then head off to the event! The site opens in the evening. Okay the girls are causing trouble now so I have to go.
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| The wolverine has landed! |
[14 Jul 2009|05:20pm] |
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We're safely in Finland. The trip was mildly horrible. W's Nintendo DS, or whatever it's called, was wonderful and occupied K nicely for several hours. The aeroplane had the temperature stuck on about 26 or 27 degrees C the whole flight, which put paid to A sleeping very much, although K managed to deal with it a bit better. We first went to Jo'burg, waited a bit there and then left there at about 19h30. The meal was only served after 22h00 and they only put the lights out at about midnight. They left the TVs showing our route up all night, though, so the one directly over our row shone bright shifting light onto the children the whole time, another factor in A not sleeping. A had a pretty rough time. K has been very tough and I am proud of her. Then there was the 4 hour layover in Istanbul, followed by the 4 hour flight to Helsinki, which was much more pleasant than the long one (a better temperature setting, for one thing).
We were fetched at the airport by Baroness Katheryn who took us to Sir Siegfried and Lady Villin who are our hosts for 2 nights and 3 days. Thereafter we shall stay with Sir GrimR and Katheryn until Friday, whereupon we shall head off into the countryside for 9 days of medieval camping. I am possibly quite mad.
Yesterday we just rested, while it rained. It was still fairly warm, though, although poor little A couldn't decide whether she was hot or cold and was often both in different bits of her. Today was 26C, so Finland isn't always cold. Just most of the time. We took the train intrepidly to Helsinki (we're in Vantaa) and met GrimR who showed us around. We took a ferry out to an island castle (fortress?) called "Finnish castle" in Finnish and "Swedish castle" in Swedish. Then we went to a craft market sort of place, then to a bottle store to get some Finnish licquers, then home to Vantaa. It was a long tiring day, with lots of walking. I am the only one awake right now, the other three have crashed. This evening there is a combat practice. Tomorrow we shall probably take the morning easy, then we are seeing Mistress Jaelle in the afternoon. She is the one pretty much making this trip possible, or at least, helping make it comfortable. She cannot make it to the event, so is lending us her pavilion, her bed to go in it, a couple of inflatable mattresses, bedding, chairs, a freezer box, toys and books for the children, feast gear, etc etc. Then, in the evening, we'll be whisked off to our second home, out in the countryside somewhere. "Green?" says GrimR in amazement, as we admire the verdant Finnish scenery. "This isn't green, wait till you see My Place!" I expect to be blinded with the green of frantically growing vegetation soon.
Right! Downstairs to do some leisurely cross stitch before supper, which appears to be a huge fillet. It's a hard life.
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[11 Jul 2009|10:11pm] |
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The bags are packed (we think), the hand luggage is ready (mostly), the girls are sleeping (fitfully) and I am blogging (sleepily). The scroll still needs to be put between cardboard and slipped in, the toiletries and medicines have to wait till tomorrow morning. What else? We must not forget to take K's sunglasses, bright lights tend to trigger her headaches and Finland in summer, well, let's just say it's not dark. Our ipods are primed, the house keys have been handed off to friends. W's Nintendo thingummy is charging. We have a book of Finnish facts which we have not read and know no vocabulary at all. We're ready! Yes?
To infinity,
and beyond!
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[08 Jul 2009|09:56am] |
So, we fly on Sunday. K has chosen this week to come down with a chest cold and an ear infection. Both girls got a bit snuffly over the weekend. In K's case it went straight to her chest and her ears. Sigh. So I rushed her off to the doctor and she's on antibiotics and steroids again. I was glad I did take her to the doctor as I'd have been annoyed with myself otherwise come last night. She had a bad night. Coughing and choking and waking up crying. She spent the night in bed with us eventually. When I say "in" bed I really mean "on" bed as duvets and other bedclothes are of the devil and must be eschewed. "Avaunt!" she cries "Get thee beneath me, ye devil duvet!" This means that, despite my spanky new fuzzy pajamas, I was pretty cold all night and "woke" feeling pretty grotty.
"Welcome to a lifetime of thankless commitment" as they say.
Yes! I have new pajamas! This is very exciting. Seeing as my old, paper thin ones tore the other day, the old ones from P are okay, but the waist is too big so I need to keep hoiking them up and the stupid Woolies ones are stupid and thin and hipsters and stupid, I really needed some new ones to take into Other People's Homes. The purchase was really just a serendipitous add on to a pajama purchase for A, though. She has been sleeping in babygrows lo these many moons and it was time she moved into Big Girl Pajamas. I was planning to leave them for Finland, so they'd be nice and clean in the aforementioned Other People's Homes, but after being dressed in her pink and fleecy babygrow last night, she went and dipped her foot in the cats' water bowl. Sigh. Since her only other set was in the laundry, on went the new jimjams. Legs folded up three inches, sleeves one and she's the cutest thing alive (still). She also has a Tigger dressing gown (with ears on the hood) and bright red slippers. All set for wowing the crowds in forn parts.
The catsitting calendar is slowly filling up, but there are gaps. There is still time for you to nip in there! Spend quality time with Phi, an old man now and probably not too long for this cruel world. Spend time with Megaera, now with middle age spread. Watch lots of CSI. Read lots of books. Sorry, the really highbrow stuff is on campus where I can impress my colleagues, but there's still good stuff at home. Do not trust the order of the bottom two or three shelves, A has a penchant for, er, rearranging.
I am totally whiling away the day on the internet until my laptop arrives, at which point I shall hie myself home to continue sewing my habit. While watching LotR special features :D.
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[06 Jul 2009|10:40am] |
It is 10h40 and I have done no work today. Partly this is because I stumbled across a lecture by Stephen Fry and he sucked me in, as he usually does, even when all he's doing is going into paroxysms of joy over Apple trinkets.
So, I shall post here what I am about to do, as that always makes me go and do it. There are witnesses now! I have a choice between revamping my thrice-bedamned Piaget paper or returning to that data analysis I did last week. Hmmm. Data analysis, I think. So! Today's schedule is talk to colleague about the syllabus of a new course we're designing, do some data analysis, meet my mum for lunch, go home and sew a habit.
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[06 Jul 2009|09:41am] |
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Dixie Chicks - Wide Open Spaces |
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In less than a week we leave for Finland. K is extremely excited. Having first been assured that there are toys in Finland, the fact that we shall be attending an SCA event for a week and shall be living in a tent has her head exploding. The class and combat schedules have gone up on the website, which has suddenly made everything a lot more real, along with our now frequent communications with our hosts and various generous people. To start with we'll be staying with Sir Siegfried and his family, including two children K and A's ages and then with Sir GrimR and partner and a puppy! We have a box full of presents, to which we might still add a bit. Most garb is completed, many thanks to first_fallen, although my new habit is still needing a lot of work. We've started doing things like nappy calculations, and listing all paediatric medications for all possible maladies.
I previously blogged about needing people to pop round and feed the cats while we're away, but I am far too idle to go and look up that post, so I wonder whether I might repeat the request here and now? I'm thinking, say, 4(or5)-evening blocks where you pop in, feed the cats, stay to chat to them for a bit, maybe watch some TV, raid our bookshelves (leaving a note!) and wander off again. We do not have DSTV. Anyone? Anyone?
On a completely different note, there's something I've been meaning to blog about for ages and keep forgetting. There's a group of three vet shops, the one in Rondebosch, the one in Constantia and the one in Long Beach, that are doing this rather unusual fundraising thing. They are collecting those little pastic tags used to close the bags of loaves of bread and, apparently, one million of those buys a wheelchair for a disabled person. I asked how this particular economy works and it's something like this: the pastic gets melted down into blocks, which are then used by someone who makes plastic lawn furniture. Either the actual money comes from the sale of the furniture, or from the sale of the blocks to the furniture maker, but somehwere along there's actual money which goes into a wheelchair savings fund. They're on their way to the third or fourth wheelchair, I forget which. Anyway, perhaps collect those plastic tags (if you don't already recycle them) and hand them over for this good cause?
On Wednesday I get a new laptop! So exciting!
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