Search This Blog

Tuesday 7 June 2011

Friday 6 May 2011

Music Moments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxY3L50wpvY

All Things Tea








Selection of my table cloths.
I have been collecting teapots for about ten years or so. Orla and I went to London for a weekend and I bought my first Whittard & co teapot in Covent Garden Market. I have acquired a few more since then, and I have let two out of my possession unwittingly. The ones I love most are the ones I have found in odd places or have been given by friends or family. Actually, that's most of them. Here they are.

Copper, probably North African. Used for Mint Tea. Bought for me by  Terrie at a car booth sale in Santry. 
A lovely pillowcase that will never be slept on. Great for serving  tea and cakes.  Bought in the Refugee Trust shop in Kilkenny.

Hand stitched table runner, bought in market in Budapest.
English Pewter pot from around 1890. Basse and Fischer. Given to me as birthday gift by another collector . 
Good tea needs a good cup. Bought for 50p each in Cotswolds. Dating from late 1800's. 
A gem. Very small. Needs very good tea which I buy in a specialist tea shop in Kilkenny.  This is made of pressed clay in traditional Chinese fashion. Comes from a small village in China and brought back by my friend Barry. 
Make in Kilkenny. Bought as a christmas gift for me by Phil and Gareth when they were in  Kilkenny  School Project. A lot of moons ago. 
Bought in Paris. Mass produced in Hunain. Liked the shape of it. 
Had to have this. No, did not pinch it. I bought it for myself for a birthday. It came with a cup. I loved Bewleys on Westmoreland Street.  Sad day when that went! I use this very frequently. It serves Early Grey very well. 
My newest piece. Bought in Enable Ireland shop in Kilkenny. This is a real find. An  Ever hot insulated teapot from 1940's. It has the chrome insulating cover, but has no inner lid. It still has tea leaf strainer inside. I paid 1.50 for it.
Another image of my new baby, with sticker still on it. 
China cups without handles. Bought in the Netherlands last year. 
Another view of the Dutch mugs. Designs are chinese.   The Netherlands traded heavily with China from 1400's onwards and delph wear was heavily influenced by the beautiful stuff being brought back from China. 

Such and elegant little teapot. Holds only one dainty  china cup of tea.
Tea strainers and stirring spoon

Another brown teapot! This is a rare L & B English teapot. Real vintage. Sorry Orla, you can't have it back.
This, I think, is an 1940's coffee pot. Not successful. Ugly in a beautiful way. the filter at the top is amazingly constructed, all made of pottery including the 'mesh' to filter down the coffee. Grand if you like cold coffee and the handle at the side which seems to say ' I am not a teapot' is very awkward indeed. Bought on holiday in the Cotswolds, a little town called Burford. 

What I'm tinkin'

See here's a thought. All the applications we have learned about and learned to use through engaging with 23 things are life skills applications. Yes, they have application in our work situation. Or, if they don't immediately relate to work they will very soon. Fifteen years ago we only had three computers in the library, none of us had a mobile phone, we had no concept of email or www.  Can you imagine another 15 years from now.
Already we have a commitment to giving our library users skills that go beyond finding the book in the library. If they have engaged with us on skills training level they will take that skill with them and apply it outside the library. The more we engage with all this stuff , the more we change our mindset and ways of thinking about information and communication. That will  feed back into our way of working.

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Twitter and Social Networking in General

I use Facebook a lot. Keep in touch with family and friends. My father uses it and he is 75. My sister's ex mother in law uses it and she is 82. I was thinking of setting up an account for my cat. Well! My reservation about it is that with so much personal stuff out there that the whole issue of privacy and personal integrity is compromised. Then on the other hand, what the hell, who cares! We are so up ourselves in Western Society that we thing we individually are important. Well, we're not. Notice other bloggers that I used a contracting apostrophie. Eats, shoots and leaves.
I have set up a Twitter account and have not come to grips with it yet. But, when you start talking to other people about these tools, you discover that lots of other people are 'social networking' I met a woman lately who keeps up with all things architectural on Twitter. How you do that in 145 characters is beyond me, but, I have not gotten to grips with it yet. Twitter, that is. All else has a grip on me.

Back again!

Ah, I have fallen behind. Am dazzled by the buzz talk of my co workers, Wiki, Library Thing, all being mentioned with authority! I have some catching up to do. Better stop watching Midsomer Murders on YouTube in bed at night and get Thinging!

Tuesday 5 April 2011

Delicious discoveries

Well, signed into Delicious successfully this afternoon. Only took a few minutes and posted tags to my account. Will explore more later.

Annnnnnnnnddddd! more importantly, discovered why I could not access my profile on my blog. I was using the wrong gmail account. Tsk! Very good reason to make note of accounts and passwords in our blue book. The gas thing was that the Account name is shown on the blog, and still the penny did not drop.

Monday 28 March 2011

Setting up my Blog

O.K , Well, this is a new experience. I have set up my profile on established blogs, but setting up from scratch is different. Indeed, not really from scratch as google have already created the frame. All I have to do is navigate it and find out how to use it effectively. Already thinking of applications for "serious" blogs.

http/:buttonbeanosblag.blogspot.com