Perth bloggers unite!

I was researching others in my near-by city who blog. These are the folks most active nearest to me...

I'd rather be blogging than out in freezing rain!

• Shabby Chic
• Sarah Herron Krissilas
• Cathy Breedyk Law
• PATRICK WHITE
• Matthew Barnabe
• Craig Mcintyre
• Spring Peach
• Friends of Murphys Point Park 
• Bastou

There are many more who started a blog and have abandonded it.

Many wonderful healthcare workers in Ontario

My friend, The Emergency Room Nurse (TERN), who writes a blog from an ER Charge Nurse point of view, is one of my favs. I depend upon her to pick out what is important in health care and draw it to my attention. She distills info, and I learn much, as well as finding common ground between my field (education) and hers, (healthcare), as I advocate for seniors in my community (you know poverty is the most influential aspect of ill-health).

TERN was writing about a fellow healthcare professional who is taking leave from writing.
She wrote:

Writing is hard work. It takes commitment. And there is no cure for it. I’m getting a little faster, but still, producing a longish piece, say in the range of 750 – 100 words, still consumes four or five hours — which is why you, dear readers, only see them maybe weekly.

Where the red squirrel played

It is demanding, time consuming, to write clearly, honestly and accurately about some issues.

I think this is exactly why I blog! Me and my generation are critical thinkers. We reflect, research, and comment on life, our profession, what seems right and wrong in society, in our neighbourhoods, communities, regions, provinces, nation and the world.

I am pleased to be able to stay at home, and bring my take on the world around me, to those who continue to read my blogs, respond, correct me and further reflect. A bad cold aside, I am resting with my laptop! No volunteering this week.

Retiree plays in the snow!

It counts, to put your opinion out there. Not on the 'comments' section of newspapers on-line, but in blog posts that add up to provide information for those looking for it.

My blogs have led to a number of contacts, interviews, and journalists seeking information (i.e., G8 Muskoka)and my insight, as a middle-aged professional. (Perhaps, at 53, I am nearer the old age than middle?) You know from your own discussions, that you are enlightening and illuminating the world around you.

It is only in discourse that we improve and learn. And while we research what we write about, we help improve the information on the web.

Bob V

I found, as a teacher, that few had the guts to listen to me, or my peers. My supervisors (i.e., principals/managers) were more concerned with appearing brilliant to first their supervisors, and then management, and then the public. Once I hit bottom and became clinically depressed: caring for failing parents, moving far from friends and family, leaving the best classroom (Gr. 8s), staff (Sir Win) and principal (Dave Hogg) in OCDSB ever, leaving a fabulous city in which to raise kids (Nepean), to live by a lake in Muskoka, I ended up finding peace by writing my book. Not on education, as I originally thought, but on being a caregiver for my mom with cancer, dad with a brain tumour and the ensuing dementia. Now, much more centered, I can volunteer and help others.

Our granddaughters

Some of us are unafraid to call a turkey a turkey. Workplace bullying, Full Day K, for example
I tend to reserve trite, flippant, fun info for my Facebook friends, and the more serious issues I channel into Health, Education, General Rants on my 3 main blogs.

I play with images, and memes, and generally keep reading, researching and writing.

Happy santas