Blather

End of iso dress

donna — Sun, 18 Oct 2020 07:32:35 +0000

I had an entirely free day (yes, even in iso I usually had something scheduled). So I thought I’d make something for me.

This dress caught my eye, but I wasn’t sure if I’d like it – I don’t usually wear things this loose. I didn’t want to spend a day making a toile, but I didn’t want to make it in linen and hate it.

Jo, from Seamwork

Then I remembered I had some flannel that I was going to use for a kilt – I liked the idea of a short-sleeved dress in warm fabric. It would be Read on “End of iso dress”

Do one new thing every day

donna — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 03:58:07 +0000

I’ve been rebuilding this website and going through all my old posts to add images and make sure their categories are right.

And I found this old post: This week’s firsts

In which I was doing something new every day.

What a good idea was that! I’m going to do it again. I’ll report back next Thursday.

Read on “Do one new thing every day”

Self-directed work: Time blocking

donna — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 22:39:00 +0000

I’m working at home at the moment, focusing on writing and re-establishing my freelance/consulting business. Working at home, on self-directed tasks, takes deliberate planning and discipline – otherwise I’m likely to clean the house and talk to the kittens all day.

In the past I’ve always squeezed this kind of work around something more structured like client work or conference organising, so this is the first time I’ve had to come up with a strong method to keep focused and productive.

I already have two very strong practices that work for me:

All of my ‘todos’, including every random idea

Read on

Blogging again

donna — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 03:36:30 +0000

In the olden days…yes, less than 20 years ago… I loved blogging. I loved thinking through my thoughts and writing them down. I loved being able to go back and see what those thoughts were. Work-related blogging brought me good attention when the blogging and design community was small and the amount of content low.

After a while, it just petered out. I was writing longer books, and working more. I had less time to just write. At one point I packed up my old work blog and redirected the URL to my company website. I miss that content – Read on “Blogging again”

The Big North: Wrap-up

donna — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 03:04:30 +0000

Some statistics:

Total km: 3562.5
Average km/day: 509km
Furthest day: 746km
Longest day: 10h 15min

Here’s the final map:

And just because they are beautiful, here are some photos of pubs (not well shot, and mostly in terrible light): Read on “The Big North: Wrap-up”

The Big North: Day 7 (home!)

donna — Thu, 22 Dec 2016 07:40:14 +0000

I made it home. Today I rode a lot of my favourite roads. New to me was the highway from Mudgee to Lithgow, but from there I took the Jenolan Caves Rd, Duckmaloi Rd, Shooters Hill, and Abercrombie. Stopped in Goulburn for a cup of tea with mum, then slabbed straight up the highway. I took some photos of the stunning views on the way, but I just can’t get any depth of field on my phone, and they all look like I’ve taken photos of grass next to the road.

I did get this last big thing near Oberon: Read on “The Big North: Day 7 (home!)”

The Big North: Day 6

donna — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 07:42:12 +0000

Tamworth woke up beautiful this morning!

So beautiful that I went for a run to a Google-recommended cafe where I had a fabulous breakfast

Then went to the bike shop and had my loose chain tightened.

Next job of the day was to go to Tamworth’s major big thing:

And then to the motorcycle museum, which is tiny and looks closed, but is packed with old bikes in amazing condition. I was so busy juggling my free coffee & talking to the guide that I only took one photo:

I got on the road around 11 & headed towards Gilgandra Read on “The Big North: Day 6”

The Big North: Day 5

donna — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 09:48:31 +0000

Planning the trip home is hard. I have to avoid my natural inclination just to head home, and instead keep exploring. It’s also hard as I want to go inland and the distances between towns are huge – it’s harder to make adjustments than on the coast where things are close together. I’m also a bit sore & don’t want to over-commit & have to ride long distances while tired.

So I did some calculations & made a conservative plan – the things I know I want to do are to ride up the ridge to Toowoomba, go to Tamworth, Read on “The Big North: Day 5”

The Big Wet: Day 4

donna — Mon, 19 Dec 2016 06:28:26 +0000

Today, instead of heading a lot further North, I did a loop ride, coming back to Caboolture. My motorcycle atlas listed 3 good rides, so I programmed the GPS to do them all

I first went up the one marked #11 on the map. The second part of this runs along a ridge and apparently has one of the best views in this area. Well, you know, when it rains along a ridge, the valleys are just mist. So no views for me and no photos either.

That brought me out near one of the classic Australian big things: Read on “The Big Wet: Day 4”

The Big North: Day 3

donna — Sun, 18 Dec 2016 07:33:07 +0000

Today was all about north. The weather was windy and unpredictably stormy everywhere so I decided just to hit the highway & get north of Brisbane to get it over & done with. 450km or so of highway got me to Caboolture just before the hailstorm hit.

I still managed 2 big things & lunch with kiddo in Surfers Paradise where she’s having a well-deserved holiday.

Funniest thing that happened today – my hands and arms are super- sore so I’ve been riding one-handed & stretching the other. All of a sudden I realised that I was stretching both arms Read on “The Big North: Day 3”