Saturday, December 17, 2011

Settling In

I am settling in to my new space in the new Building. The RCH Revue on Thursday night was a well attended event. Needless to say there was a lot of bashing over the trials an tribulations of the move planning. An ongoing comedy skit of Captain Spotless (the security and cleaning management Company) ensuring no one made a mess of the new place, included a kid coming to the front door with an icecream and the getting wrapped in plastic by orange clad Captain Spotless. A whole roll of glad wrap! Lots of amusement from passers by! But no-one batted an eye lid. It is a kids hospital after all!

However have you seen the cartoon of a child's swing set being designed by a committee, well obviously the RCH design team was not told of the Function or practice of something!
I was in outpatients last week to weigh a baby who was attending clinic, and I went to weight her, Luckily she is a tiny dot!
Where do you put the baby to undress?? The gadget at R is for length
However so not to be negative here is a view of the decoration in the lifts and a view out West from the 3rd floor

I particularly love the cow!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Dylan climbing

Seeing Dylan last week it is no surprise to see he is now climbing! Have to move things up higher!
He had a box with a new push toy that Sean had not unpacked but he tipped it over, then decided to try climbing.

Toddlers always look so precarious but have  a good sense of their centre of gravity.

All done!
And for a finale he showed his head stand!!
Aren't his curls lovely!
He also learned the trick, that when he doesn't want to be picked up he just makes his shoulders all limp, so your hands just slip up his arms!!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

The new RCH

It has been a long 5 years in the building of the new Hospital but it has also sped by and hard to believe that we moved in last week!
It was a time of packing up and discarding years of papers books toys etc. A lot was taken home as there was no space or new systems that meant we could not have what we had before. We had a crate each and our computer.
I am now settled at a new work station. (I was going to show a comparison of my office space but after loading photos from my iPhone, my iPhoto library has disappeared!) along side many of the paediatricians with whom I work daily.

 The clinical offices is a huge area, stretching along the whole front of the building I am on the third floor at the end where the red shades (Emergency) change to pale green.
The huge open space of 'Main Street" creates a wonderful light filled area, and a great view as I walk from the wards to the offices (the wards are at the west end back so still a fair hike if I don't co-ordinate my travels!)
The main enquiry desk with one of the walkways with timber surfaces
View from level 2 The main Street goes up the 5 floors
The Creature in the foyer. Off to the left of it is the Outpatients area and the Meerkats
Nurses' desks
 The wards are in a star shape design with 3 Pods of single rooms radiating out from central work office and reception desk, so each room has an outside window.
In the centre of each pod is a Nurses' station; One catch is that there is no real landmark to help visualize where you had been except the room number.
In old place it was 3rd section bed on the right.etc. But I guess we will work out a new way of remembering.
A quiet space at the end of one of the pods.

The Play room

A single room with the mother's bed area.
The room above the mother had set up a playmat for the baby on the floor. His cot is to the right of the picture. On the left the wall is the corner of the en suite.
The wards are all named for the level they are on. Lower ground is underwater, so Dolphin Short stay ward. Ground floor Main street so services like food outlets chemist, gift shop Immunisation centre etc (we still have McDonalds but it is no bigger than the adjacent Sushi place) 
1st floor Country. Banksia and Kelpie; 
2nd Floor Forest. Sugar gliders (my main ward) and Kookaburra
3rd floor Treetops.  Koala and Rosella, and the Possum Surgical Day stay Unit
4th floor Mountain tops  Cockatoo and Platypus (yes!!) Kids already pointing out they have never seen a platypus in a tree!! but I guess they are in mountain streams.
5th floor Sky Butterfly Neonatal Unit.
The art work is all in keeping with the level.
The Sugar Glider
The pillars by the ward lifts have pictures and information re the level

And then there are the open spaces, play areas and view from all angles all looking at gardens or parkland.

The Back door. Into the garden and park from Main Street.
The children's playground from the floors above
A inner courtyard from the Outpatient waiting area
View from an east facing child's room
The Meerkat enclosure(one in middle of pic.)
The Aquarium is a huge tube rising through three levels from emergency
View from an Outpatient area to an inner courtyard

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Angels & Demons

The Angels Demons statues were outside the Art Centre as well as the town hall for the Melbourne Festival
Displaying bat wings, reptilian tales and innocent charming faces reticent of Botticelli cherubs, the works evoke mixed feelings of warmth, affection and disgust. It’s up to the viewer I think to decide on whether these works classify as cute or something a bit more sinister.

Angels-Demons. Parade is the handiwork of subversive Russian art collective AES+F, an outfit known for their irreverent hybrid works incorporating a broad spectrum of imagery. 
They are sexless and innocent or not depending on your view. The shiny black, works as a reflective surface so you see yourself in them. That may affect your  perception!

From AES+F website
First Rider (2007)
Angels-Demons. Parade* (2009)
AES+F
3D Modeling – Roman Ivanyuchenko
Alain de Lille was a mystic and a commentator on the Apocalypse. Here is our version of Apocalypse.
We present an apocalyptic parade, which does not constitute the end of the old world. It's the beginning of a new one. The Angels-Demons are infants.
They are all new born and, like embryos, all have tails – long or short, sometimes just pushing through their nappies. All have wings, also of varying sizes. The clear difference between angels and demons, which is common to all cultures, does not exist here. Evil may look like good and vice versa.
They resemble twins – every angel has an identical brother. Or sister. We can't tell which gender as they're at the age when human infants have a strong outward resemblance to each other and are impossible to tell apart. They have the faces of peoples who never settled in Europe but towards whom Europe strived.
Both works (The First Rider and Angels-Demons) are parts of one idea. The First Rider is our vision of Virgin on the Beast. The premiere of The First Rider took place in the State Russian Museum, St-Petersburg in 2007, and then it was shown in MACRO, Rome, Ruzicska Gallery, Salzburg (2008), and Lille, France (2009). The premiere of Angels-Demons was in Lille, France during festival «lille3000» in 2009.

Royal Visit

It was a weird feeling day at work today with the Queen arriving to open the New Hospital (not actually open until Nov 30th) with staff all dressed up and absent!
http://media.theage.com.au/news/national-news/the-queen-opens-the-royal-childrens-again-2730873.html
our view over the front entrance
The medical staff in Mike's Dept who were not invited had a sweep as to what colour she would be wearing! Michale Marks won with his choice of hot pink.
The female RMOs all wore small tiaras and looked suitable impressive to all the patients!
Her black car arriving ! My view of the Queen!
I went up at 1120 after I had seen a patient, to the Care by Parent unit that overlooks the front entrance and we had front row seats, with one of my patients and his mother who are in the Unit.
But all I saw was the car arrive and her in pink dimly seen!! and then went to a meeting with the aforesaid RMO's.
Her pink dress. The white haired woman is Dame Elizabeth Murdoch (101 and in a wheelchair now)
The crowds at Fed Square
School kids out in force! Many dressed as Princesses!
Today Mike also showed me where I will have my workstation (goodbye office, hello company!) in a group of 4 with Lionel Lubitz, Tom Connell and  Nigel Crawford, all of whom I work with regularly. It will be interesting to see how we work in the 'public' eye.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Lights, Action

I was going to contact the local business Loveluvo to get a handyman to do the last minute carpentry of the kitchen, when Michelle mentioned that her brother Liam ( a final year carpenter's apprentice) had not been paid for the last 4weeks as his boss had got into a legal wrangle with a building he was doing and the owners were not paying.
So I emailed Fran to ask if perhaps he would like some work. The boss has signed off on his apprenticeship so that is good and he has a job interview next week. He has been relying on money from the riding education he does. He leaped at the chance and came down last night to work today.
I am also getting him to renail the back deck as the boards are all loose. He said the wood is fine it just needs new decking screws (they have a twist in them ...pays to watch / read Better Homes & Gardens!) He will also fix the latch on the gate.
He has a show jumping tomorrow so will be back next week to do these extras.
But I asked him to take out the exhaust fan, replace the ceiling boards where the fan was, and do the window architrave.
He looked at the variety of architraves around the house (5 different sorts!) but I said I just wanted it simple like the doors of the hall and our rooms.
And could he put in two down lights using the power from the fan. His mate Tad is an electrician, but Liam had done it before but if he came across a problem he would be able to check with Tad.
He returned the boards I had bought (I got 3 pieces 1.2 mt instead of 2.1 mts in my illness daze!)  and I gave him cash for the lights etc
I left for my private practice about 930 but didn't get home till 6pm, and was blown away! It is GREAT!
The Fan gone, boards replaced  and a new downlight
Note the upper board!! and well lit sink
And light when we eat!!!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Commuting

I have started using public transport for any trips into the city in the evening of late, and find I can be in or home in 15-20  minutes often far quicker than peak hour traffic.
I know there are lots of complaints for peak hour commuters, but I drive to North Melbourne, (more train lines change there, so more frequent choices) and can park at the door.
The longest I have had to wait is 8 minutes Av. 1-4mins, and on return max was 9 minutes av 4-5. Trip city to North Melbourne is 10 minutes
Last night I was part of the VicFEAT at the Royal Australasian College of Paediatricians in st Kilda Rd.
The topic was feeding problems and they had 72 sites logged in to the teleconference from around the country. It went over very well and was really great.
It is just past Toorak Rd so I caught the tram.
Flinders St Station ; about to have an upgrade
On the trip back I had to wait for 6 minutes for a tram (well under the 9 minute maximum!) and I sat in the tram shelter to read my Kobo. I'm reading  "The Address Book" by Jane Clifton and was having a laugh as she described how she stayed awake a lot at the house in Cardiff as she had read a Conan Doyle story of a woman being killed by the villain letting a spider into the room via an air vent and it pierced her eyeball, the venom making her go mad and hang herself and the villain inherited her money! (Jane did question how one lies there asleep with one's eyes open. Jane was 11 at the time!)
Anyway the tram arrived and I walked out on to the tram stop and got on a mod filled tram. Sat down opposite a man, who was staring into space, opposite were 3 girls all texting and behind me 4 women talking about work.
Here is how to initiate interaction with tram passengers!
I settled to read the KOBO again and felt something on my hand, looked down and there was a mod size huntsman!
I may have squawked but I flicked my hand and flicked the spider onto the man opposite, who seemed to sense something and looked down to where it had landed on his shirt's short sleeve.
I said "Sorry, a huntsman!' ALL the women heard! He flicked it off and it landed on the empty seat beside him, and he looked a bit helpless with nothing in his hand.
I said "Do you want a shoe?" so I took off my shoe (summer weather, so slip ons) and ignoring all thoughts of Karma hit it 3-4 times and flicked it to the floor.
The women were all up and saying "Did you get it, is it gone?"
The guys said "Yes , She saved my life!"
Applause all round and we settled back!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

The slave

I am sure someone must have said that he who starts a garden is a slave for life! 
The garden looks good but looks can be deceptive. 

The intruder of past years was the wandering jew (Tradescantia albiflora Why the Tradescants gave their name to this pest!) that I have managed to eradicate over the years. Then a few years ago this new weed that I call @#X*@. 
I think it is something called Chenopodiaceae and is a  herb called Fat Hen!   
The Fat Hen
It is spread by seed and unfortunately while I have been laid up it has been raining and everything is thriving including this little Fat Hen. Combined with Spencer traveling underneath he spreads the seeds on his coat.
It grows along the side path as well coming under fence from next door. I heard him say yesterday that he'd sprayed that so why was it still there? Maybe because I throw the ones I pull up over the fence sometimes!! Bodes ill for my spray plans!!
The lush look of the garden is deceptive as most of it is this blasted weed. So feeling a bit more active I attacked the garden.
Had a short break when it rained but stopped when the green bin was full of weed!
Amazing what appeared with the removal of the wall of weed
View to fence and Borage struggling in the forest.
Dainty Bess was there with some blooms
The same bit of fence and Dainty Bess
Dainty Bess (bought for memory of Maddy's Aunty Bess)

The choked rose and Sage
Room to breathe and the path visible
The mass of plant over the path was mint, and more Pineapple sage became apparent Bottom L of above pic.)
Also planted the Fuschia (a pink one not a Fuschia one Celia! ) next to the nectarine

The pole apples are in bloom as well and look great 


 

India and after

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