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Housing Associations – All Change?

I sense that changes are taking place in our housing associations. Maybe someone, somewhere, has at last realised that pouring obscene amounts of public money into fifty or so bodies, many of them overstaffed and / or inefficient may not be the best way of meeting the need for rented accommodation.

In England, the process of Registered Social Landlords merging is steaming ahead. So we can expect more mergers here because it’s basically an Englandandwales system, the main differences being of scale and the fact that concessions are made here to faux socialists over sales of social housing and other matters that might drive them to the barricades . . . or to their iPhones to put out an indignant tweet.

HA mergers England

For various reasons set out below, mergers are to be encouraged, but here in Wales they seem to be things of great mystery, perhaps because housing associations are allowed to behave like secret societies. For despite receiving hundreds of millions of pounds of public funding they are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. This cannot be right. I defy anyone to argue that it is right.

Despite being confronted with a culture of omerta a few dogged individuals have persistently asked the awkward questions, but some of the ‘answers’ from officialdom have come direct from the Ministry of Bullshit.

Let us start by reminding ourselves of recent developments at this housing association in Castell Newydd Emlyn, and try to figure out what these changes might mean because, predictably, the findings of the ‘Welsh’ Government’s investigation into Cantref will remain secret. For those who missed it, here’s a link to my previous post, Tai Cantref: Favoured Suitor Named.

Cantref logo

The ‘Favoured Suitor’ is the Wales and West Housing of Cardiff. A curious choice, some may think. Much of its business is in the care home sector, not only in the south but also in towns like Brecon, Llandrindod, Newtown, reaching up to Flintshire and Denbighshire where many of its clients come from over the border.

Between 2008 and 2015 Wales and West received almost £65m in Social Housing Grant alone. (There are a number of other ‘funding streams’ for RSLs or, given the amounts involved, raging torrents.) Why is Wales and West – or any ‘Welsh’ RSL – allowed to use Welsh public funding to ease the care bill of Liverpool and other English authorities?

And I’m still waiting to learn why Wales and West was awarded £25m by the Department for Communities and Local Government in 2014 “to build 251 homes in Wales”. Social Housing is devolved, so why did Wales and West apply for funding to what is in these matters the English government? Come to that, why did the DCLG award the money?

The announcement of Cantref’s proposed connubials with Wales and West was made in this press release, in which we see the name of mystery man Kevin Taylor. He turned up in 2014 after a career spent in the hotel business in Bermuda and now – in his role as ‘Interim Chair’ – he’s deciding the fate of a Welsh housing association. So I’ll ask again: Who the hell is Kevin Taylor? And who forced him on Cantref?

The only real development since my previous post is that another press release was issued late on Friday afternoon, this one by the propaganda bureau at Carmarthenshire County Council.

Having given the matter of Cantref’s fate some thought, I have concluded that while there are almost certainly better options, if it comes to a straight fight between Carmarthenshire County Council and Wales and West Housing, then I shall support Carmarthenshire. And let’s not rule out Tai Ceredigion. Now I’d better explain my reasoning.

  • Most of Tai Cantref’s properties are in Ceredigion, ideal ‘retirement’ country that granny-farmers Wales and West would certainly exploit.
  • Carmarthenshire’s tyrannical chief executive Mark James will not last for ever. His days may already be numbered.
  • Council mergers are on the horizon, so the days of Carmarthenshire itself are also numbered.

Stop Press: You will recall that in my previous post we heard – from ‘Dai the Post’ – about Hilary Jones, chief executive of the Bro Myrddin housing association, who served as interim CEO at Cantref. According to ‘Dai’, she pressed Wales and West to take over Cantref and put her in charge. And of course, ‘Dai’ also told us that Hilary’s hubby served as interim head of finance at Cantref.

Dai the Post

Another name ‘Dai’ mentioned was David Hedges. Those with good memories might recall that this man got a mention last July in this post of updates and tit-bits (scroll down). Hedges runs a ‘consultancy’ called Cyngor Da. I now learn that David Hedges has also served time recently with Cantref, presumably ‘consulting’, or rather, being consulted, or however it works. And that his time at Cantref coincided or overlapped with Hilary Jones’s.

Perhaps more importantly for the purposes of this post, I’m being told that David Hedges has also worked with Campbell Tickell, the English company called in by (London-loyal civil servants acting in the name of) the ‘Welsh’ Government to investigate Cantref.

P.S. When reading the Wales and West website I saw the name Anne Hinchey, Chief Executive, which rang a bell. She is of course married to Councillor Graham Hinchey of Cardiff Council. Yet another example of the troubling link between the Labour Party and the Third Sector.

A link that does so much damage to Welsh public life through nepotism and other forms of corruption. And in this case perhaps explains why Cantref is being gifted to a housing association in Cardiff.

In my Easter Miscellany 2016 I touched on comings and goings, and tenant unrest, at RCT Homes. A body that gained brief notoriety in the public prints when it advertised for a chief executive at a salary of £150,000 a year. Here’a report from Inside Housing dealing with the departures.

The most high profile of those departures was CEO, Andrew Lycett, who left in mysterious circumstances in November last year, but soon took up a job with the Jehu Group Ltd, a construction company “operating throughout Wales and the West”. (The ‘West’ of where?) Jehu is just the sort of company that would recruit someone with inside knowledge of how housing associations operate and public money is splashed around. Here’s a video of Lycett bragging about RCT Homes’ labour being “locally sourced” . . . but obviously not for the top jobs.

RCT Homes lost a couple of other senior staff around the same time. One was Lycett’s deputy, Malcolm Wilson, who took ‘early retirement’. Wilson is yet another Englishman who slunk over the border to take advantage of the billions of pounds in public money sloshing about Wales with neither oversight nor monitoring. Wilson is said to have been “demeaning” to Wales and the Welsh language.

The third to jump ship, or be pushed overboard, depending on how generous you feel, was Finance Director Lisa Pinney. ‘Jolly hockey sticks’ is not a phrase I employ but it’s often used to describe a certain type of female; in the case of Pinney, a board member of Hockey Wales (not ‘Welsh Hockey’, note), it seems entirely appropriate. Ms Pinney also found lucrative employment, in her case with Pobl, a recent merger between the Seren Group and Grwp Gwalia.

It really is a jobs merry-go-round, giving free rides to people who would struggle to survive in the world of real business. And we pay to keep this ‘merry-go-round’ turning.

Adrian Barber

The consultant (that word again) called in to see what was going on at RCT Homes – and no doubt paid many hundreds of pounds a day – was an Adrian Barber. It should go without saying that he’s English. What else do we know about him.

From August 2010 until April 2011 Barber was Interim Head of Housing at the London Borough of Bexley. In September 2011 he joined the PSI Consultancy (UK) Ltd. This is an outfit that provides “Interim Management” to councils and housing associations in trouble – at extortionate daily rates of course.

PSI Consultancy

He first came to Wales to join RCT Homes as Interim Housing and Repairs Director in February 2014, and was in that post until May 2015 – at consultant’s rates. In June 2015 he became RCT Homes’ Interim Director of Homes and Neighbourhoods, a post he still fills. That is, when he’s not being Interim Chief Executive as well, a position he’s held since last September. (Does he get paid two consultant’s daily fees?)

I’m told that despite holding two ‘interim’ posts at RCT Homes Barber is never available. Is he off moonlighting, being a ‘consultant’ to somebody else!

It’s easy to understand why we, the people who pay, are being denied the facts about RCT Homes, just as with Cantref. For a start, we’d be told how much has been paid out in consultants’ fees. (Because Barber may not be the only ‘consultant’ at RCT Homes.) We’d know what gross inefficiency or corruption caused the implosion. And we’d also learn how much public money had been lost. Our money.

Something obviously went very badly wrong at RCT Homes last year – and it might have been brewing for some time before that – but just as with Cantref, we are not allowed to know the facts. Nobody is to blame, public money doesn’t matter – so mind your own business!

Though information I’ve received suggests that the sackings – for that is what they were – may have been partly due to the manner in which Lycett, Wilson and Pinney administered grants from the Tower Fund, linked to Tower colliery, and Meadow Prospect, the charitable arm of RCT Homes. If you were ‘in’, then you got a grant, if not, well . . . There is also said to be an unaccounted for deficit of £10,000 in the Tower Fund.

Tower Fund

Something else that might have contributed to the threesome’s downfall was the planned housing on Penrhys, above the Rhondda valleys.

A source has written: “Various deals were made to build more houses on Penrhys with dodgy firms some that didn’t even exist. One such scheme for several millions was fronted by a local builder who said he was raising the money on his mortgage for example”. Is this for real!

After reading this I delved into my archives (they can’t touch you for it!) and lo and behold! what did I turn up from September 2012 but Penrhys: What’s Happening? Regrettably, the comments were lost when those bastards at Google pulled the plug on my earlier blog due to some other bastard complaining about something I’d written – can you believe that!

Anyway, my guess is that there’s a lot more to be unearthed about RCT Homes, so please point me in the right direction, folks.

This content had to be removed under threat of legal action from Hugh James of Cardiff acting for Pembrokeshire Housing and Mill Bay Homes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Seeing as so much Welsh public funding is being used to build social housing in Wales (or at least, being diverted to housing associations) we, the people of Wales, have every right to be assured that the money is being properly spent. Here are some observations and recommendations:

1/ RSLs should do what it says on the tin – provide social housing for those within Welsh communities who need social housing.

     They should not build student accommodation; they should not build properties for sale to ‘investors’; they should not enter into partnerships with the Probation Service and other bodies seeking to ‘relocate’ undesirables to Wales. In short, RSLs should not deviate from their raison d’être.

2/ There must be far better monitoring of RSLs by the ‘Welsh’ Government. More rigorous oversight would allow a ‘doctor’ to be sent in rather than an ‘undertaker’.

     Though it must be a better system than the current one of importing ‘consultants’ at exorbitant fees, especially when those ‘consultants’ so often remain as ‘interim’ executives.

3/ RSLs should not be allowed to create ‘subsidiaries’ in the hope of using these to avoid legislation applying to RSLs or any other devious purpose.

4/ RSLs must be covered by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

5/ A RSL must demonstrate need for social housing from within a community before funding is awarded or planning permission granted for new social housing within that community.

6/ No tenancies are to be awarded to anyone who has not lived in Wales for the three years prior to the application or for five years at some earlier time.

7/ The existing system of Registered Social Landlords and the provision of social housing is unsustainable for the following reasons:

a) The vast amounts of public funding they absorb, too much of which is spent on salaries, pensions and administrative costs.

b) The inefficient or non-existent monitoring and oversight by the ‘Welsh’ Government.

c) The fact that RSLs underperform, making little real impact on housing need.

8/ In the medium to longer term RSLs must either a) have their public funding withdrawn and become private companies or b) their housing stock – built with public funding – must be taken back into local authority control or some other form of public ownership.

     Given the colonial relationship between Wales and England privatised social housing companies would inevitably be swallowed up by larger English companies; consequently (and reluctantly), I prefer the public ownership option. Not least because this course is more likely to create jobs within Wales and to keep money circulating within the Welsh economy.

17 thoughts on “Housing Associations – All Change?

  1. Red Flag

    So it seems through all this and your other posts that there is some cross-border activity going on and when I said the the Shelter Cymru officer I know said “nebulous structure of it all – it’s not as defined and straightforward as people think” – she was bang on the money.

    I take it ‘charitable arm’ is where I was getting confused about them being charities.

  2. Sibrydionmawr

    Not all housing associations are registered charities, but many have become such due to a massive scare, (though how serious the threat was is debateable)in the late 90s or early noughties that exemption corporation tax would be abolished for RSLs. Charities are exempt from corporation tax, but crucially, it cuts down on accountability to tenants in that there are some arcane rules that restrict the influence of beneficiaries in the running of charities. This is normally perhaps a good thing, but even prior to the mass conversion of HAs to charitable status it was recognised that RSLs are a completely different kind of organisation, and that rule about limiting the role of beneficiaries, i.e. tenants in this instance is inappropriate. If tenants have a controlling say in how an RSL is run it makes it very difficult indeed for the paid management to do what they want. Of course, there is the flip side, as governments are also opposed to tenants having what they consider too much control, as it makes it very difficult indeed to implement changes as they have to be decided democratically.

  3. Wynne

    Excellent post again Jac. The can of worms has been opened and the worms are beginning to spread in all directions. In my view, all your recommendations should be implemented with immediate effect. Hope they decide to employ your services as a consultant at a £1000 per day. It would be money well spent.

    1. The status of Mill Bay Homes is intriguing. But the wider picture on housing associations is depressing. Everywhere you look you see the same problems due to all sorts of reasons, but the ‘Welsh’ Government is ultimately culpable. No wonder it keeps the reports secret and maintains the exemption from FoI legislation. The civil servants who operate in the name of the ‘Welsh’ Government are protecting themselves.

  4. Wynne

    An interesting point to note regarding Mill Bay Homes’ development at Crundale. I assume one principal contractor was appointed to deliver 62 dwellings. If 11 of those dwellings are being let by the parent company Pembrokeshire Housing it is logical to assume that Social Housing Grant would have been transferred from parent to subsidiary company to fund their construction. This raises the obvious question of how this was monitored and recorded as we now know that the regulator does not have his “finger on the pulse”. One private estate, but with some dwellings presumably part funded by the taxpayer.

    1. The more I think about it the more I suspect that Mill Bay Homes was created or devised solely to confuse. Easily done when, as you say, ‘the regulator does not have his “finger on the pulse”’.

      As in any field of human activity, if nobody’s watching you then you can do what you damn well like. And that, I believe, is what’s happening in Pembrokeshire.

  5. Wynne

    With regard to Cantref’s project at High Street Cardigan to renovate and extend shop premises to provide 14 flats I am still awaiting response to my enquiry as to whether grant-eligible costs {residential} and non grant-eligible costs {commercial} have been separately recorded. Welsh Government who allocated £750,000 in social housing grant and Ceredigion Council who administer the grant on behalf of Welsh Government referred me to Cantref for an explanation. Nobody appears to be in control here.

    1. When the takeover is complete you’ll probably receive a reply along the lines of, ‘Before our time, nothing to do with us, can’t help you’.

      My real interest now is in establishing the status of the shadowy Mill Bay Homes, and I know you’re working on it, Wynne, so please keep us informed.

        1. My suspicion grows that Mill Bay Homes is a ship of convenience for Pembrokeshire Housing. This would explain why it is not a registered charity; why it is not registered with the ‘Welsh’ Government as a social landlord; why it is not a company registered with Companies House; and why, even though it was briefly registered as an Industrial and Provident Society, it has filed nothing since October 2013.

          When you put it all together it suggests that Mill Bay Homes may even be a ghost ship. (Seeing as we’re in Pembrokeshire I felt I had license to employ nautical metaphors and allusions.)

          1. Wynne

            I like the nautical metaphors. The truth will emerge in due course. The silence from regulators is deafening.

  6. Andy@MBHWreckers

    Mill Bay Homes Ltd and Pembrokeshire Housing Association are one and the same company although Mr Peter Maggs CEO of PHA and Company Secretary Mill Bay Homes Ltd would contest that Mill Bay Homes operates at ‘arms length’ from the parent PHA. According to the Welsh Assembly, Mill Bay Homes Ltd is a now a subsidiary of PHA and shares the same RSL Registration No P072. According to the consolidated accounts of the ‘group’ for 2015, PHA loaned Mill Bay £6.1m which compared with £1.7m in 2014 – I’m sure this will prove to be a worthwhile investment of taxpayers money by PHA as the ‘quality living’ homes are selling like hot cakes if you believe the Mill Bay hype!

    My view is that Mill Bay Homes is a the ‘nasty’ arm of PHA and in the opinion of legal advisers who have represented me against them amongst the worst of property developers they’ve encountered. I have challenged Mr Maggs about Mill Bay and their lack of social conscience but he has rebutted this by stating that he has no involvement in the day to day operation of Mill Bay – his lack of accountability is staggering. I could write a book about the way me and my family and others have been treated by Mill Bay Homes Ltd since and when certain legal action is concluded I will certainly be making some interesting revaluations.

  7. Dai the Post

    Mr Maggs has now retired but a certain mr david hedges has reappeared at Pembrokeshire housing as an interim housing director. We are not sure whether he is there via campbell tickell and Welsh government or as another mates rates freelance job which does not appear to have been advertised unless it was in the Cardiff or London journal? The next target for Wales and west is the rumour here in castell Emlyn

    1. It could be coincidence, but Hedges was at Cantref before it was taken over by Wales and West, and now he’s at Pembrokeshire Housing with rumours it’s to be taken over by the same Labour-run housing association. The question is, who put Hedges into Cantref and PH?

      This might help make your mind up.

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When dialog works: Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind

I’m rereading Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind, which gets better with each repetition; the first time I got lost in the plot and was more annoyed by the occasional cliche than I am now. Now the cliches seem more like cheek and a nod back at pulpy origins. This bit of dialog reminds me about a lot of what works in the novel, especially the over-wrought language of Fermín, the older rascal who takes to advising the young and overly proper Daniel:

‘People who have no life always have to stick their nose in the life of others,’ said Fermín. ‘What were we talking about?’
‘About my lack of guts.’
‘Right. A textbook case. Trust you me, young man. Go after your girl. Life flies by, especially the bit that’s worth living. You heard what the priest said. Like a flash.’
‘She’s not my girl.’
‘Well, then, make her yours before someone else takes her, especially the little tin soldier.’
‘You talk as if Bea were a trophy.’
‘No, as if she were a blessing,’ Fermín corrected. ‘Look, Daniel. Destiny is usually just around the corner. Like a thief, a hooker, or a lottery vendor: its three most common personifications. But what destiny does not do is home visits. You have to go for it.’

I love the second line, and the first spoken by Daniel, whose acknowledgment that they’re discussing “my lack of guts” implicitly admits that Fermín is already right, and Daniel knows it, but he still needs to be talked into doing something about it. He’s too passive—and knows that, too—but is also so passive that he doesn’t really know how to stop being passive. He can only offer objections when he should be as direct about Bea as he is about solving the mystery of Julian Carax, which is the plot’s primary strands and one that interweaves with the others.

That said, the passage isn’t perfect, and “trust you me” is probably a translator’s error. But I didn’t notice it as I read: only caught it as I began writing this. The novel is sufficiently involving to make one forgive minor sins. “Trust you me” could also be Fermín’s character: he’s stuff with half-believed folk wisdom (“Life flies by, especially the bit that’s worth living”), and only half believing it that lets such wisdom be funny—and, strangely, truer than it would be from someone delivering ridiculous lines like “Destiny is usually just around the corner” straight. Fermín also does imply that Bea is an object (which is objectionable; how many of us want to be “a trophy?”), but he doesn’t believe it: that half-belief lets him get away with it. We love his cheek, his pretend expertise (Daniel is “A textbook case,” as if textbooks are written about smitten adolescents, rather than novels), and it’s sustained throughout the novel.

Progress, extra time, efficiency, and consumer goods

Robin Hanson, typically insightful:

The most recent survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center found that five-year-old vehicles had about one-third fewer problems than the five-year-old vehicles we studied in April 2005. In fact, owners of about two-thirds of those vehicles reported no problems. And serious repairs, such as engine or transmission replacement, were quite rare. (p.15, June ‘10, Consumer Reports)

Car problem rates falling 1/3 in five years is change you might not notice, but if you think about it, its a pretty big deal. Most people are surprised to hear that the world economy doubles roughly every fifteen years; when they think back fifteen years, the world doesn’t seem that different. Besides a few big changes, most things seem not pretty similar. But this is illusory – most change happens behind the scenes.

We don’t notice the (relatively) small, cumulative changes that add up to major improvements in life unless we’re paying attention to them, which Hanson is drawing attention to here. If we don’t have our cars repaired as often, we have more time to think about and do other things. This means we have more time to think about art, technology, life, and so forth, although most of that surplus is probably used watching TV, searching for pornography, and so on.

But computers have improved too, just like cars: around 2002 or 2003, a typical computer became more than fast enough for most typical activities aside from high-end gaming and video editing; by now, the developed world is awash in computers that are “good enough.” Some relatively small percentage of us will use those computers to help us think, help us make things, and help others learn.

Of course, most people spend that extra time watching TV; according to the Los Angeles Times:

“The Nielsen Co.’s ‘Three Screen Report — referring to televisions, computers and cellphones — for the fourth quarter said the average American now watches more than 151 hours of TV a month. That’s about five hours a day and an all-time high, up 3.6% from the 145 or so hours Americans reportedly watched in the same period last year.”

But fewer are doing so now than once did, which is a large part of Clay Shirky’s point in Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age, a book worth checking out from the library but probably not worth buying. He says:

Today people have new freedom to act in concert and in public. In terms of personal satisfaction, this good is fairly uncomplicated—even the banal uses of our creative capacity (posting YouTube videos of kittens on treadmills or writing bloviating blog posts) are still more creative and generous than watching TV. We don’t really care how individuals create and share; it’s enough that they exercise this kind of freedom.

The “freedom to act in concert” is significant because the costs of doing so are low. Still, we don’t just have more time because the cost of doing things other than watching TV have fallen, although that’s important, as Shirky discusses elsewhere in his book—we have more time because things like cars, as Hanson points out, don’t demand as much time as they did. And that change is fairly recent; as John Scalzi wrote a few months ago:

You have to get to about 1997 before there’s a car I would willingly get into these days. As opposed to today, when even the cheap boxy cars meant for first-time buyers have decent mileage, will protect you if you’re hit by a semi, and have more gizmos and better living conditions than my first couple of apartments.

The question still is: what are we going to do with all that spare time, spare computing power, and spare mental capacity? The answers (so far) look positive, but I don’t have the foresight (and neither does Shirky—he points out that we have it, but can’t really say what will happen) to predict specific changes rather than the scale of those changes. In a very small way, I’m part of the answer, since I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’m doing right now 20 years ago. About 10 years ago, it would’ve been much harder because blogging software hadn’t matured. Now it’s incredibly easy. That’s progress, even if most blog posts don’t look much like progress because they concern cats, celebrity scans, and so on.

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Sunset on The Sneffels Range.  Mount Sneffels and its compadres bask in the warm glow of the setting sun in this view along West Dallas road.  This spectacular ridge is in the northern part of the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado, and offers stunning views from many directions.

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November 20th, 2006

Best. Wiikend. Ever.

Before I get into all the details, I have to make one point right off the bat. If you have ever enjoyed playing a video game, you need a Nintendo Wii. Whether you're a hardcore fragging Halo geek, or someone who used to drop a few quarters in Donkey Kong 25 years ago, the Nintendo Wii will remind you what gaming is all about.

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Christmas Day is December 25th

Unlike Japan, it is not customary in Western culture to eat Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve (December 24th)
I add fresh herbs, garlic and an onion to the inside of my bird,
to season him OVER NIGHT.
 Tomorrow I will cook this tiny chicken tomorrow. I wish I had stuffing.. or at least access to bread crumbs. Rope the limbs together with sewing thread to hold lil' man's shape.
Cover and refrigerate until Christmas Day to season the meat from the inside.

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Chest Radiography (Chest X-Ray, CXR)

Why its done

Chest x-ray is used to diagnose cancer, tuberculosis (MTB) and other lung diseases, and disorders of the mediastinum and bony thorax. The chest x-ray provides a record of the sequential progress or development of a disease. It can also be use to give valuable information about the condition of the heart, lungs, GI tract, and thyroid gland

How to prepare

No special preparation is required. However, the patient will be informed of the purpose and procedure process for the test. There there should be no discomfort. Pregnancy should be screened or at least inform of the last menstrual period.

The is an increased risk of fetal teratogenicity. The ould be a vasovagal response (hypotension, bradycardia) when instructed on breath-holding.

There should be a normal appearing and normally positioned chest, bony thorax (all bones present, aligned, symmetrical, and normally shaped), soft tissues, mediastinum, lungs, pleura, heart, and aortic arch.

How its done

The patient is positioned sitting or standing upright in front of the x-ray machine, with arms held slightly out from the sides, chest expanded, and shoulders pressed forward. The x-ray film is placed against the anterior chest. For lateral views, the patientwill stand with arms raised from the shoulders. The film is placed against the right or left side of the chest. The patient is asked to hold very still and takes in a deep breath and hold as radiographs are taken. For portable x-rays, the patient is positioned sitting in a high-Fowler’s position, and the portable x-ray machine is moved into place in front of the chest for the radiographic exposure onto the plate positioned behind the back and chest.

The chest x-rays do provide records of progress or development of a disease. X-rays must be done after the insertion of chest tubes or subclavian catheters to determine their anatomic position as well as to detect possible pneumothorax related to the insertion procedure. A postbronchoscopy chest x-ray is done to ensure there is no pneumothorax following a biopsy. In addition, the position of other devices such as nasogastric or enteric feeding tubes can be determined and adjusted if necessary. Abnormal chest x-ray results indicate the following lung conditions: Presence of foreign bodies, aplasia, atelectasis, coccidioidomycosis, hypoplasia, lung or liver cysts, pneumonia( bronchopneumonia, lobar, aspiration, or viral ), brucellosis, abscess ( lung or liver), middle lobe syndrome, pneumothorax, pleural effusion, pulmonary tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, and pneumoconiosis (eg, asbestosis).
Westermark’s sign (indicates decreased lung vascularity, sometimes thought to suggest pulmonary embolus)
Abnormal conditions of the bony thorax include the following: Hemivertebrae, Bone destruction or degeneration, Heart enlargement, kyphosis, Osteoarthritis, Osteomyelitis, Scoliosis, and Trauma.

Factors affecting results

  1. Misinterpretation of a chest x-ray is possible because of tumor, post-operative changes, massive pulmonary emboli, false ventricular aneurysm and esophageal varices. Knowledge of the patient’s history is importanten.
  2. Clothing, jewelry, and metal objects cause shadows on the film.
  3. Movement during the procedure obscures the clarity of the picture.
  4. Poor patient positioning makes x-rays difficult to interpret.
  5. Overexposure or underexposure results in inadequate visualization.
  6. The experience of the radiologist in interpreting the films affects the accuracy and outcome of the findings.

La entrada Chest Radiography (Chest X-Ray, CXR) aparece primero en Summarios | Tu Blog de Urgencias y Emergencias.


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Fight the midday slump with better meetings

8 tips to lead productive and to the point business meetings

Danila Petrova
© Shutterstock / Golden Sikorka

Between Scrums and Sprints, there’s no avoiding meetings when you work in the IT department. What happens when leading the meeting is on your shoulders? Avoid the yawns and disinterested, confused stares with a better, more focused meeting. Get the most out of your business meetings with these eight tips and take your career to new heights.

The more a team depends on teamwork to create and provide a service, the more communication is a key part of the work process. In addition, the bigger the team becomes strong mechanisms for effective and fairly quick communication is preferable to keeping information relevant and up to date.

In the modern IT industry, teams are the main entity developing product – so teamwork is a must. The bigger the project, the bigger the team. You will find no shortage of large software development teams.

Those two factors add up and create a necessity for effective, to the point meetings as a key structure for communicating important information within the development team. Working for an angular software development company has taught me many ways to lead effective business meetings. Those are exactly the tips I am sharing with you today, to make your business meetings more resultful.

Distribute an agenda to all attendees beforehand

An agenda is a short description of the upcoming meeting. It contains details such as date and time, in addition to the main objective of the meeting. Remember to send it out along with the invitation at least 24 hours or more in advance, giving your employees enough time to prepare for an effective meeting.

SEE ALSO: DevOps, C++ & Python most in demand job skills

It needs to be specific to the objective of each meeting, but you can create a general template for repetitive or regular ones. Then add on to the template for the more elaborate or specific ones in the future. This is a tool that is especially helpful if you need to lead a project planning meeting that covers a lot. Many Project Managers use agendas to keep their meetings productive and to the point.

Highlight one item of the agenda as the focus of the meeting

Talking about multiple or unrelated topics within one meeting carries certain risks. It allows for way too many opportunities to go off-topic, making the meeting too long and losing your colleagues’ attention. Not to mention having to end it before reaching a decisive resolution, simply because your room booking has run out.

Sometimes these types of meetings are unavoidable and have their place. For example, Scrum-based planning at the beginning of an entirely new project or a new Sprint requires covering a lot of ground. Keeping them specific is not really an option.

But my advice is to keep meetings focused. When sending out the agenda highlight one main item as the focus of the meeting and then add a few related and supporting items on the list to round up the overall solution.

Have an idea of the desired outcome of the meeting

Approach the meeting with a goal of what you want to achieve and navigate the conversation towards the goal. Will you relay important information? Do you want to receive feedback from your coworkers – perhaps hold a discussion? Do you want to have a strict planning meeting that clears up any questions regarding upcoming work? Or perhaps you want to share the latest success of the company’s project?

For example, if the meeting focuses on what tasks will be assigned for the next week or the next Sprint, guide the conversation toward isolating each task and assigning it to a team member. Answer any questions the person may have and then move on to the next one until you decide the meeting has fulfilled its purpose.

Naturally, you should prepare for a little shift in the outcome from what you initially anticipated. What not to do, however, would be letting the conversation carry too much towards discussing previous week’s tasks and their success rate. Instead, dedicate a separate meeting for assignment evaluation.

Manage content based on the number of attendees

A meeting can be held, ranging between a small team of under ten employees working closely together or a wider audience combining 2 or more dedicated teams. It can even widely address the mass audience of the entire company team.

As you can probably assume it would be significantly harder to have an open brainstorming discussion with a large mass of people. It gets significantly less productive with each additional person until it becomes too chaotic to serve its purpose. In addition, carrying out a meeting as if it is a lecture at a seminar is not really taking advantage of the potential a meeting with just a handful of people holds.

Adjust the manner of speech, length, and focus of the meeting depending on how many people are expected to attend to make the most of what you work with.

Prepare and provide materials needed in the meeting

Bringing a printed agenda has been done, although due to ecological movements opting for non-printed resources is preferred.

If your company is strongly ecologically oriented, sending those materials with the agenda can help. In addition, use a big-screen monitor or a projector to show content straight from your laptop.

Create a presentation

Visual representation of the discussed content can help keep attendees’ attention on the topic. In addition, you can pull up specific information, charts, tables or relevant pictures. Important information or perhaps reports or targets should be within your teammates’ eyesight when you are discussing them. Visual aids provide for a better opportunity to keep the focus on the topic at hand. As a result, you will be well received by your audience and in the process. You avoid most risks for miscommunication.

A great tool to use is a digital presentation. Dedicate a section in the presentation for each main point of the meeting (usually matching the sections you already sent out in the agenda). Cover everything related to each point before moving on to the next item on the list. Doing this will allow for clarity in the achieved agreement and the overall discussion perception.

Accept questions and suggestions at the end of each item of the agenda

If your meeting requires you to cover multiple sections that fall under the same general topic, making your attendees wait until the very end to address their questions or concerns can make them forget something important they needed to ask.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, allowing interruptions all the time by generic questions can destroy your focus and disrupt the meeting’s flow – a clear threat to the effectiveness of the meeting.

Allow for any questions or suggestions at the end of each point of your agenda (or presentation). Once you have addressed each, move on to the next item on the list.

Send out a summary of the outcome of the meeting

Regardless of the meeting’s duration, a lot that can be agreed upon when making a focused effort to discuss the necessary topics. But all the best results of business meetings are useless if you or your team members end up forgetting something important.

SEE ALSO: What’s the best data strategy for enterprises: Build, buy, partner?

So after the meeting is finished, write a short summary of how the meeting went and what decisions were reached. Send it out to the employees involved – it will make it easier for both you and them to keep track of all advancement on the topic.

Efficient meetings as an organizational tool

We all know just how much meetings are used as a management and organizational tool. It is completely understandable why that is. Meetings allow for very focused means of communication that can clear up many misunderstandings and misdirections before they even occur.

So making the most out of your meetings is definitely something you should strive to implement when discussing important details in IT projects. Once you get into the habit of planning your meetings a bit in advance, you will notice it does not take too much out of your time. It offers a lot in return when you observe the difference it makes in terms of the meeting’s productivity and success rate.

What are some methods you applied to optimise your meeting productivity? Did you find anything surprising?

Danila Petrova
Danila Petrova is a Marketing Assistant Manager at Dreamix, a custom software development company, focusing on strategy building and audience engagement. With a background in mathematics, informatics, she has extensive knowledge in web design, business communication and a deep understanding of the IT industry. She is involved in numerous graphic design projects and is passionate about the advancement of software development.

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1 Comment on "8 tips to lead productive and to the point business meetings"

Really appreciate your effort and time putting together this very informative and intelligent article on tips to lead a productive and to-the-point meetings in every business ventures. I should say this is a very helpful guideline and a very effective one for many startup companies and every educational institutions. Thank you for showcasing the nuances of the subject to such detail.


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Frownland at the Dryden

I headed out to the Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) to see Frownland. I was reluctant (and, in fact, Ali passed on it entirely) because we had both seen The Pawnbroker the night before. The Pawnbroker, while a powerful movie about the lifetime of suffering the Holocaust caused, it fell a little flat as I had already explored those issues; so in other words, if I had seen the movie at an earlier time in my life, I would have been blown away, but now it was just an exercise in excellent movie-making. The Eastman House calendar seemed to imply that Frownland would be similar to The Pawnbroker — largely because the central characters in each movie is at best unlikeable, and at worst, intolerable.

I was glad to be pleasantly surprised. While I guess it's not incorrect to describe Frownland's central character, Keith as a "chain-smoking, stammering, excessively needy, terribly annoying, yet fascinating nobody," I gravitated toward the more concise description that he's the personification of insecurity. He's cripplingly so, in fact, yet not through any definable mental illness — while he'd most certainly benefit from some form of psychological therapy, he appears to be only circumstantially dysfunctional. What I mean is that he would probably be able to function if it weren't for his antagonistically unsympathetic roommate, his door-to-door job, or the simple fact of being so unavoidably exposed to people by living in New York City.

Filmmaker Ronald Bronstein was there to discuss his film. He's a remarkably articulate guy — particularly when it comes to his understanding of his own work on this particular movie. He was drawing from his own insecure times in New York, and from the insidious nature of insecurity. He gave the analogy to hunger: that hunger's solution — eating — is not blocked by being hungry, whereas insecurity's solution — self-confidence — is blocked by insecurity: you're unable to develop meaningful relationships with others and ultimately it's only through innovative lateral thinking that you can build self-confidence.

So in a way, it's kind of a horror movie: a man trapped in an insecure mental state and who seems to be permanently so. Curiously, Bronstein worked on Frownland for 6 years whenever he was able to afford more film, and he found it challenging to keep touch with the very idea of this constant state of insecurity.

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Jean welcomes shoot-and-sale license for Uist geese

Jean has welcomed the decision of Scottish Natural Heritage to pilot licenses for crofters and other farmers on the Uists and Benbecula to sell the meat of greylag geese.

The measure will provide much-needed income for local communities, ultimately making goose management self-funding, as well as reducing the needless waste of discarded carcasses.

The licenses will run until March 2015, and build upon a similar pilot in Orkney which began last August and runs until July this year.

Jean said:

“This is great news for the Western Isles. Control of geese is vital to crofting and other farming in the islands, but until now most of the birds have simply had to be thrown away. This has also meant that goose control has cost crofters time or money.

“Under this pilot, we’ll see the end of the shameful waste of high-quality meat, and an income stream that will make goose control self-financing and add to the diversity of croft products.

“This is also a boost for Scotland’s largest community buy-out, as Stòras Uibhist, the community company that owns most of South Uist, Benbecula and Eriskay on behalf of the residents, will be the license-holder for those islands.”

Jean had previously pressed the Scottish Government on the issue, asking Environment Minister Paul Wheelhouse in a Parliamentary Question whether he had discussed the impact of the geese on farming, and the possibility of introducing a mechanism for their sale:

Question S4O-02193: Jean Urquhart, Highlands and Islands, Independent, Date Lodged: 22/05/2013
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Scottish Natural Heritage regarding the impact of greylag geese on agricultural land and the possibility of introducing a mechanism for the sale of greylag geese.

Answered by Paul Wheelhouse (30/05/2013):
My officials have had extensive discussions with Scottish Natural Heritage and with stakeholders represented on the National Goose Management Review Group regarding the impact of greylag geese on agricultural land and possible solutions to limiting their impact on certain Scottish islands, including the trialling of adaptive management techniques.

At the request of farmers on Orkney, Scottish Natural Heritage is working on the development of a scheme to permit the limited sale of wild goose carcases under licence, provided an effective and proportionate system of identification and control can be established.

We are required to consult with the European Commission before putting any such scheme into practice and we intend to start those consultations very shortly.

Motion: The Community Energy Efficiency Programme at the Scottish Green Awards

That the Parliament congratulates Shetland Islands Council and Community Energy Scotland on being finalists at the 2013 Scottish Green Awards as a result of their joint grant scheme, the Community Energy Efficiency Programme; understands that the programme is a two-year grant aid scheme designed to help volunteer-run community facilities to become more energy efficient and reduce their carbon footprint; further understands that 43 grants, worth almost £355,000, were awarded to 32 different community groups across Shetland, including public halls, youth centres, heritage centres, boating clubs and sport and leisure clubs, resulting in the upgrading of 26 facilities; believes that energy and carbon reductions could range from 12% to 48% less once all improvement works have been carried out, and considers that the Community Energy Efficiency Programme is a model example of how a joint partnership between a council and a charity can help communities to become more energy efficient and reduce their carbon footprint.

Climate Challenge Fund Advice Surgeries

The Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund (CCF) has made 563 awards to the value of over £46.9 million since its launch in 2008. The fund helps community groups who have projects designed to help reduce their carbon footprint, and funded projects in the past have included community growing projects, initiatives to reduce, reuse and recycle and energy efficiency advice.

To encourage potential applicants, the Scottish Government will be holding two further advice surgeries in the Highlands and Islands next week to provide information to local community groups and interested parties. These will be held between 9.30am and 12.30pm on Tuesday 23rd July at the Merkinch Community Centre in Inverness and between 9.30am and 2pm on Thursday 25th July at the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Council Building in Stornoway (with videolinks to the Council Offices in Balivanich and Barra).

I would encourage any and all community groups with any ideas to pop along to these events in Inverness and Stornoway to hear more from the CCF. More information can be found at their website.

Speech: Stage 1 Aquaculture and Fisheries Bill

I am pleased to have the opportunity to support the bill’s basic principles at stage 1. Although a lot of my colleagues have identified during the debate issues that require more work or consideration, I think that there is consensus that work can be done to improve the sustainability, accountability and transparency of the aquaculture and wild fisheries sectors. Indeed, the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee’s report on the bill commented that

“the current draft of the Bill is very much the starting point, and should the Bill reach Stage 2 it will require amendment in order to make it … robust”.

There is no doubt that the cabinet secretary and the Government have a tough and delicate task on their hands. Again, the committee’s report reflected the difficulties in finding consensus on the way forward on contentious issues due to current difficulties between the aquaculture and wild fisheries sectors. Although it is not something that can always be addressed by legislation, I am sure that we would all agree that improving the relationships could and should be part of the process.

The importance of the aquaculture and wild fisheries sectors to Scotland’s Highlands and Islands communities must not be underestimated. The popularity of Scottish salmon continues to grow at an exponential rate, with aspirations to increase sustainable production by 4 to 5 per cent per annum until 2020.

Enabling the sectors to continue to grow and to provide jobs and exports in an ecologically sound manner is essential to ensuring the sustainability not only of the sectors but of many rural and remote communities. However, do we know what the increase of 5 per cent per annum until 2020 will look like? Planning applications are already being refused on the basis of proliferation. We need a national plan if we want to see such growth.

Recognising the opportunity for Scotland and realising its potential is the right thing to do. Being sensitive to the natural environment, legislating against abuse by a large industry, always protecting the fantastic wild salmon and its life cycle and believing that quality must not be compromised by quantity should all be Scotland’s trademarks.

Of the issues that the bill seeks to address, I am of the opinion that the presence of sea lice and the strategies used to contain them will be paramount to the bill’s success. I welcome the minister’s announcement of £1 million of funding for scientific research. I believe that that is essential not only to reassure the public but to ensure that we have sustainable growth in fish farming.

In conclusion, I support the bill at stage 1. I look forward to seeing work on the bill continue over the coming weeks and months to create a strong framework for the sector.

Motion: Importance of Crofting to the Highlands and Islands

NOTE: This motion is eligible for Member’s Business, meaning that, if selected, it shall be debated at some point in the Chamber.

The Role of Crofting in the Highlands and Islands
That the Parliament understands that there are 18,027 crofts in the Highlands and Islands and across Scotland, housing over 33,000 people; considers that crofters play a key role through the production of store animals for the agricultural supply chain and in maintaining land in remote areas; believes that crofts are a valuable source of high-health status animals for larger agricultural food producers; considers the work of crofters to be vital to Scotland’s national food and drink policy and to the continuing success of the sector; understands that most crofters rely on common agricultural policy subsidies to earn a marginal income and that they have to take on second jobs; believes that, by bringing in new inhabitants and because of the economic links that crofters have with the rest of the agricultural sector, crofting has helped maintain population levels in remote communities, considers crofting to be of paramount importance to the environment, food and drink sector and economy, and would welcome the interests of crofters and their communities being championed.

Highlands and Islands MSP Jean Urquhart has today welcomed the Scottish Government’s cabinet reshuffle, congratulating her colleagues that have assumed Ministerial posts.

The reshuffle was conducted following the retiring of Bruce Crawford, Brian Adam and Stewart Stevenson from Ministerial office, with a new Ministerial post of External Affairs and International Development also established.

In particular, Jean congratulated Paul Wheelhouse MSP, who has replaced Stewart Stevenson as Minister for the Environment and Climate Change after Mr Stevenson stepped down. The minister’s brief contains many issues of relevance to the Highlands and Islands.

Commenting, Jean said:

“As Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, Paul will have a role in helping to direct policy on crofting, aquaculture and biodiversity, as well as liaising with Scottish Natural Heritage, SEPA and the Forestry Commission.

“Through my involvement with the Parliamentary Cross-Party Group on Crofting, I am aware of the challenges and opportunities facing crofters.

“I look forward to working with Paul, and my other colleagues who have assumed Ministerial posts, over the course of the coming months and years.”


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Mental Health Awareness Week 2018 focuses on stress

Stress magenta

Manchester Withington MP Jeff Smith has backed Mental Health Awareness Week 2018, running from 14th to 20th May.

This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week is focusing on stress. Although not an illness itself, links have been established between stress and some mental health conditions including depression, anxiety, psychosis and post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

According to the Mental Health Foundation, 74% of people have at some point felt so stressed that they have felt overwhelmed or unable to cope.  32% of people have experienced suicidal feelings as a result of stress in their lives.

Commenting at the start of Mental Health Awareness Week, Jeff said:

“Millions of us deal with stress on a regular basis and it can be damaging to our health.

Short-term stress can help us concentrate and focus on the task in hand, but when feelings of being overwhelmed last a long time or become hard to cope with, stress can start to impact on our physical health.

I’m encouraging everyone to take a moment this week to think about their mental wellbeing and make sure we all find time to relax and unwind.”

Those taking part are encouraged to share their tips for dealing with stress and what they are doing to mark Mental Health Awarenss Week by using the hashtag #MHAW18.

You can find some tips on how to deal with stress, and ways to mark #MHAW18 on the Mental Health Foundation Website here.

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#BookLove: Yvonne Bastian @yvonnmbee

Book Love (1)

Today I’m delighted to welcome blogger Yvonne Bastian to Jen Med’s to help me spread a little new year Book Love. We’ll be getting to know all of Yvonne’s favourites in a moment, just as we’ve learned a little more about the person behind the blog.

About Yvonne

YB.jpgHello, I am Yvonne, in my mid 40’s and I run “Me and My Books” and like most of you I love to read.  I live in Cornwall and when I am able, I love to be outside. I love walking, photography and my vegetable garden.  I always have a book with me, I am the one you see with her nose stuck in a book while sat on a beach, on top of a hill, in a secluded corner of a garden or castle, sat by the harbour, perched on a rock or in the corner of a cafe always accompanied by a large mug of black coffee. I am a newcomer to the world of book blogging and reviewing I only started to take this step in feb this year (2017) and I am loving it.

You can follow Yvonne on her blog and Twitter

Childhood Sweetheart
Favourite book from childhood

I saved my pocket money to buy my copy of “Five go to Smuggler’s Top” by Enid Blyton, not the first Famous five book I had read, but my very first copy all of my own.

First love
The first book you fell in love with

Was C.S.Lewis “Narnia” series and I still love them even now.  What’s not to love about talking animals and magic, when you are a child it is all an adventure

Biggest book crush
The book character you’re totally in love with

That has to be Strider / Aragorn from “The Lord of The Rings”.  I first read this trilogy as a teen, and has to be some of my favourite books.

Weirdest book crush
Well… duh

Not weird as such, but it is a fangirl thing, Lisbeth Salander from the “Millennium” books.  I was delighted when David Lagercrantz continued this series.  It was like meeting up with an old friend again.

Hardest break up
The book you didn’t want to end

It was a trilogy I read earlier this year.  It is called “The Darkest Hand Trilogy” by Tarn Richardson and it absolutely blew me away.  It had everything I wanted in a book and so much more.  It a dark fantasy mixed with historical fiction, supernatural, religious conspiracy, fiction, action paced and blooming brilliant. I knew it was a trilogy when I started and still didn’t want it to end.  Yes I did shed a tear or two!

The one that got away
The book in your TBR or wish list that you regret not having started yet.

Not the one that got away, I own it, it’s part of a series that I love, but is the last in the series to be written by the author.  It is the final book in the “Discworld” series by Terry Pratchett, the book is called “The Shepherd’s Crown”.  I cannot bring myself to read it as it would be the last time I would travel to the Discworld for the first time.  So in a way this is one that I am allowing to get away as I am not ready to read it yet.

Secret love
Guilty Reading pleasure

I don’t really do romance, but I do adore Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and Lorna Doone by R D Blackmore

Love one, love them all
Favourite series or genre

This year an American author contacted me to read the first in a series of books, after reading the prequel I found that i loved his distinctive writing style and his characters.  The books are “Detective ‘Cadillac’ Holland” series by H. Max. Hiller.  I have read four of his books, and I am eagerly looking forward to the next book, it’s due out soon.  He is a self published author and I adore his books

Your latest squeeze
Favourite read of the last 12 months

This year has been an absolute dream regarding books that I have read.  I cried buckets over “The Radium Girls” by Kate Moore, more tears over “The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde” by Eve Chase.  Was amazed by “How To Stop Time” by Matt Haig.  Came across the start of a great series when I read “Perfect Remains” by Helen Fields.  The problem is not where to start, but where to stop.

Blind date for a friend
If you were to set a friend up with a blind date (book) which one would it be?

I would choose “Lost for Words” by Stephanie Butland, it was Book Night pick by Facebook Group “A Love of Books”.  Set in a book shop, need I say more? It is a beautifully written book, I loved every single word on every single page.

Some great choices in there Yvonne, thanks. Some I recognise from my own lists and tbr and a few I may well have to add. I have Lost For Words. May have to bump it up the tbr  a little.

What do you think guys? Any recommendations for Yvonne? Any books you can think of to rival all the ones she has chosen?

Have a fabuously bookish day all

6 thoughts on “#BookLove: Yvonne Bastian @yvonnmbee

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Open House at Nuvo Townhomes 16 15454 32nd Ave

South Surreys Nuvo Townhomes.  A small, well run complex with low maintenance fees in the Morgan Creek area. Walking distance to shopping, dining, schools, rec and parks.

This 3 bed and 4 bath duplex style / end unit floor plan allows for extra light and wide spacious rooms. The bright and airy main floor boasts an open concept kitchen, stainless appliances and granite countertops. Family room walks out to a sunny south facing deck.

Large master suite (also on the main) includes a walk in closet and ensuite bath with his/hers sinks and soaker tub.

Upper level offers 2 generous sized bedrooms plus 3rd bathroom.

The rec room on the ground level has a private bath and separate entrance and could flex for 4th bedroom or home office/work space.

Plus a full size 19 x 18 double garage with extra storage space.

Morgan Elem and Semi Secondary catchment.

16 15454 32nd Ave is asking 649,900 and is open this Sunday October 6th from 2-4pm.

View video here.

View pics and specs here.

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Five on Friday: Weekend Edition

Hey hey!! Happy Friday!

I thought I’d share 5 of my favorites from last weekend with ya!! I believe I have a super fun weekend planned ahead, so I’m looking forward to it.  I feel like we try to go out and enjoy this gorgeous weather as much as possible.  Pretty soon, it’s going to get cold, snow, icy and yucky to drive in, so we tend to hunker down and hibernate a lot once Winter hits.

1.  This adorable romper from Apricot Lane is SO comfy and was the perfect attire for our ‘book club/ladies night out’ last week.  I tried to get a good photo, but the husband was making me laugh so darn hard!  It’s hard sharing from this boutique because stuff sells out really fast, but if you haven’t shopped with them before, you’re totally missing out! (I know the leopard watch was a bit much with it, but I just love leopard haha!)

2.  Girls Nights & bubbly.  It’s seriously my favorite and there’s something about rosé bubbles that just tastes so delicious!  I love a good French Rosé but I also dig a simple can from Our House Wine.  I know, canned wine, who would have thought? It’s great because no one wants to drink a whole bottle of bubs, ok no one should drink a whole bottle, so the cans are perfection.

Oh, and cheese for dinner.  Who doesn’t love a good ole charcuterie platter?! I don’t know about the men in your life, but this would not constitute a meal in my household.  However, I left hubby home with the kiddos and so the ladies and I devoured this and a flat bread.  Yum, yum!

3.  A good mani.  I snuck out and got “I Seafood and Eat it” GEL for my nail color last time around.  It’s such a pretty mix of a hot pink/orange/red.  I do have some Colorstreet nails that I am itching to try out as well, I just need to stop going to the salon!

4.  Date nights!  I love a reason to dress up in some fabulous clothes and accessories.  We went to a local Rochester favorite, Tony D’s and it did not disappoint!  We were able to catch up with friends, one of whom used to work with Joe.  It was a beautiful evening all around!  Our city is pretty too!

Black Cami

Jeans (similar)

Shoes (similar)

5.  Quiet time.  I’ve been doing so much better carving out “do you time” as my life coach would call it.  It’s so much better when I take the time and relax, read, write, sip a little beverage.  I may sound like a broken record, but making intentional time to fill my soul continues to ground me more and more.  My back deck is mostly peaceful (depends on where kids/dogs are!) but I do love sitting back here, watching the birds and being outside.

Speaking of, I just love tea. I love Starbucks but when you’re home and in your cozy slippers, you just want something to pour from your own fridge! This chai is so tasty. I mix mine with vanilla soy milk and some ice cubes.  They do have a sugar free version, but I just use sparingly.  If I want one, I have one.  #intuitiveeating

That’s about all I have today for you lovelies!!

Cheers to a great weekend and a beautiful day!

Top 3 Trends: Spring 2019

Happy Fashion Friday friends!!

With warm weather literally here–hello 64 degrees, we missed you!!  I’ve got Spring weather on my mind!! I love the transitioning of the seasons.  It means that I can incorporate styles that I haven’t worn in a bit and be a little adventurous in trying new styles out!

Fashion should be fun and the best part is, there is no wrong way.  At least in my opinion.  Clothes, makeup, and accessories should all be a great way to express ourselves.  Sure, throwing on a sweatshirt and leggings has it’s place (I’ve lived in them way too many days/nights this past Winter!) but to put in a little effort here or there and actually try out something new is exciting!

We are so lucky to have the internet these days to see what people are wearing.  I love Pinterest, Instagram & online sites to look through and dream up ideas of what I could wear.  If I am totally honest, my favorite way to see what’s “in” or to get new fashion ideas? Traveling.  When we go to big cities, I could sit and people watch for HOURS!!  Grab a latté or a glass of vino and gosh, it’s so fun!! My favorite places to visit have been Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, NYC and Toronto.

My top 3 focuses this Spring will be: Square Toe Shoes, Utility looks, and Classic go to pieces to style up what I already have in my closet!

Square Toe Shoes

I do not own a single pair!! When I read somewhere these were a must have shoe, I went right to Instagram and used that good old # feature.  I think these are super fun and I wonder if they’d be more comfortable than a pointy shoe?  I had to giggle because back in 2009 Joe and I went to Mexico and he bought a pair of white leather mens shoe with a square toe.  He wore them maybe once, but he was so ahead of the trend!  The question is, should I try an open sandal or a closed toe?  Big decisions here!

I feel like this is something that started appearing in the Fall, as I bought a one piece pantsuit/jumpsuit that I saw my bestie Ann wearing and just had to have it.  It’s a beautiful olive green and I actually purchased my 6 year old daughter a blue one quite similar that she is super excited about!

I love that a masculine outfit can be made feminine with the right hair, accessories and makeup!

I adore how this model has a belt on to cinch her waist and add more to her figure and the simple necklace and a statement bag.  (Did you see her shoes too?!)

via pinterest

Check out those lips and the heels!  #yesqueen

via pinterest

Classic Accessories

If there is one thing I swear every gal needs in her life, it’s a pair of large black designer shades.  Most face shapes fit a black frame so well and even if you’ve drank too much bubbly the night before (or maybe you’re just a tired mama) and look a bit of a hot mess, these babies will make you feel like a million bucks.  Ok, maybe you won’t feel better right away, but they’ll hide dark circles!  I’ve recently discovered the site, The RealReal, where you consign and buy designer gems.  Now we can score like new iconic pieces at more affordable prices. I call that a total win!

Another accessory must have is a fabulous belt.  I believe when all else fails, grab a solid back top, a pair of your favorite feel good jeans and fasten it all together with a gorgeous belt.  I think the red really makes a statement here, but you could always stay more subtle with brown or black. A belt to me signifies a well put together look. (with little to no effort, yes please!)

As for makeup and hair? On the day to day, I tend to keep a low maintenance neutral look.  I use a lot of browns/nudes and my hair is typically blown dry and I work on keeping it not brassy with a purple shampoo.

And as always, the best accessory?   Your smile.  Be happy and appreciate it all.

Which trend do you like or want to try?  Or better yet, let me know what’s on your lust list from here!

Have a beautiful Friday!

Weekend Review!

Where does the weekend go?!  I feel like it was a great mix of work and fun and even a little rest!

Friday we had a list of things Real Estate to do.  I was not feeling my best, so I made the extra effort to look cute, hoping it’d help me feel better.  Leggings with OTK boots at least look a little more put together, with little to no effort!  This top from Saint James Boutique was super comfy too!

Bradley, Joe and I went to check on some properties and had lunch downtown.

Saturday I hired a babysitter and was able to sneak out and get some girl time in with my friend Kristin!  She hit up her spin class and I managed to get my 20 minutes in at the gym.  We fueled up with these delicious Super Bowl (Chia pudding) dishes.  I am totally recreating this again!

Saturday night I had no desire to cook, but I pulled out this cookbook my stepmom got me and had all the ingredients.

It was pretty good!!

Sunday I got up and got my steps in at the gym nice and early so that I could spend the day with the fam!  She wanted a picture with me.

We went over to grab our lockbox at one of our properties we ‘sold’ and Brooke was so proud of herself for reading this sign.

After that we had lunch at our favorite place, The Revelry.  I snapped this cute photo of my loves!  They all enjoyed chicken and waffles.  Mama enjoyed a Wedge Salad, since the disco is coming up haha!

The bartenders always mix a mocktail up for the kiddos and they loved them.

Sunday night I felt like something light and fluffy, so I jut did baked Cod with lemon, butter, wine and white Jasmine rice.  I added some Brussels Sprouts for good measure.

Sunday night we were in bed quite early so I decided to download some Chic Lit to help me fall asleep.  I love reading and am immersed in several Real Estate books and am super excited for Rachel Hollis’ Girl Stop Apologizing to come out tomorrow!   I scooped up this book per Emily’s reads.   She is inspiring as she read over 100 books last year!

And this?  All the feels.  So very, very true.

How was your weekend?!

Makeup Monday: Perfect Nude Lip

I feel like there are so many good nudes out there, I cannot get enough!!

I don’t spend hours a day getting ready, and when I see a fab look I have no shame in asking that pretty girl how she achieved that glow! I was at Ulta before the holidays, and one chic lady working there had the most perfect nude lip!

I went right up to her, complimented and asked what she was using.

Her answer–

I’ve worn it a TON and I do get compliments too, so I had to share my find! I love that it’s a high end (MAC pencil in Stripdown)  mixed with a drugstore lip Maybelline Super Stay, color: Driver. The MAC pencil is super soft and glides right on! I do apply some chapstick first (Younique lip bon bon) and then the pencil, followed by the Super Stay.   Honestly sometimes I just do the bon bon and the pencil if I’m super short on time!  The Maybelline has a nice smell/taste too, which is key. I HATE when lipsticks taste weird!

I will admit that it doesn’t stay ALL day, but It’s easy to apply and lasts for about 3-4 hours.  It’s

I’ve been trying to up my makeup game a bit more, while trying to stay low maintenance and keeping things simple.

And a little fun Monday vibe–

Have a great one dear readers!!

Fashion Friday: Save on Style

It’s that time of year—redeem your dot dollars!!  They are like “Old Navy or Gap Cash” and super easy to use!! Spend $50 get

Don’t have any? I have a few extras if you’d like, e-mail me at

My current faves you can save on:

Chalet Vest

Darby Collar

Always Tank.

Darby Collar.

Soirée Top (in black)

Reversible Skirt

Tone it down with the black side (if you must!)

Addy Poncho

Sparkle Studs

Mixed Metal Sutton.

Chalet Vest.

Work Hard Play Hard Leggings

Camo Sweatshirt–super soft and lightweight.

Rebel Pendant.

Seriously, let me know if you’d like a coupon code!!  I have until 1/3 to hook a sista up!

Style yourself right into the New Year!!


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Who Are Some of Your Favorite Fantasy Writers?

I often tell Dr. Charles French that he will eventually get the children I teach, or that I have prepared his students. You see, while I teach preschool and he teaches college, we actually teach the same thing – that literature is the greatest teacher. We both read to our students with passion, and follow the many trails that books blaze along the way. I know that my students will come to read Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, because I have read to them Charlotte’s Web and The Story of Doctor Doolittle. Fantasy is imagination, and also inspiration. For me and for Dr. Charles French, it is our greatest teaching tool. We are as excited as our students! Thank you, Charles. Keep reading great literature to your students. I will, too.

charles french words reading and writing

I thought I would continue this series on favorite writers by asking specifically about Fantasy today. I have addressed Speculative and Science-fiction writers, but now let us consider those we love reading in Fantasy.

Here is a brief list of some of my favorites:

J. R. R. Tolkien and The Lord Of The Rings

J. K. Rowling  The Harry Potter Series

Ray Bradbury Something Wicked This Way Comes

These writers are only a few of many possible whom I might have listed.

So, I ask you: who are some of your favorite fantasy writers?

View original post

About Jennie

I have been teaching preschool for over thirty years. This is my passion. I believe that children have a voice, and that is the catalyst to enhance or even change the learning experience. Emergent curriculum opens young minds. It's the little things that happen in the classroom that are most important and exciting. That's what I write about. I am highlighted in the the new edition of Jim Trelease's bestselling book, "The Read-Aloud Handbook" because of my reading to children. My class has designed quilts that hang as permanent displays at both the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia, and the Fisher House at the Boston VA Hospital.
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36 Responses to Who Are Some of Your Favorite Fantasy Writers?

  1. frenchc1955 says:

    Jennie, thank you so much for your kind words and the reblogging!

    • Jennie says:

      Charles, I want to shout to the whole world what you do with literature. You make it come alive, and you make students want to read more. Your literature is the best, and your students learn far more than the words they read. I think I do that on a tiny scale with preschoolers. One day they will be lucky enough to have you as their teacher. And they will definitely love reading Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. I mean that sincerely. Thank YOU, Charles!

  2. I don’t read too much fantasy but what I do read I believe started with Pippy Longstocking. Who didn’t wish for parents that were working at sea leaving one to fend for themselves with a pet monkey and wonderful horse and willing and gullible new neighbor children right next door?

    I love The Hobbit, but am on the fence with rest of the Ring series. I am not a fan of Frodo. I love Sam and feel he was ever so much more worthy of carrying the ring and getting rid of it.
    Without Sam and a whole lot of other characters Frodo would have failed the mission.

    I may be missing the point of that, but honestly I spent all the rest of the series passed off and very disappointed in Frodo. He did not even come close to his Uncle Bilbo’s strength , or character en Mon avis. I have the series 3 times at different stages in my life and don’t ever like Frodo any better.

    I fear I am on an island alone feeling this way. I feel the alone disliking Withering Heights. I detest Heathcliff and Cathy. They have a sick and very dysfunctional relationship. I have never seen or felt romance reading or viewing it. Y e t so many women swoon for him! Why? He’s brutal and controlling. What about that is remotely romantic?
    It’s not for me.

    I am too literal for fantasy me thinks. 😀

    • Jennie says:

      Actually, I am not a fan of Withering Heights, nor Heathcliff and Cathy, even though the literature is excellent. I think it depends on the fantasy. Pippi Longstocking is delightful. Thank you, Deborah!

  3. charlypriest says:

    Thank goodness that there are people out there like you.
    I was in a bad path, parents send me to study in the US, and It was a great change of teaching. In the US the teacher or counselor she worked both told me up straight, you are not good at math, not good at science, but you are good in English literature(I´m Spanish), psychology( we never had that one in Spain), philosophy and history. Basically that is the things she outlined for me to go after, I did.

    A great job that profession, you did make me at that time to be able to focus on my things that I got a scholarship to go to a US university (sorry about the grammar but the computer is configured in Spanish) and excell for a bit. The method of teaching there is very different from here in Spain, so thank you and other teacher, specially the one that told me my strenghts and weaknesses and apply the strenght in the material I was good at. It´s obvious for you, but try to implement that in a Spanish scool system.

    I just thank you for your profession.

  4. Oh Gosh. I so love all the Harry Potter stories, and I love The Lord of the Rings too. The Chronicles of Narnia is another one I like, not as much as the first two, but I still think it is pretty good. I can’t think of more tonight, but I am exceptionally tired as my significant other, Richard has been in and out of ER three times in as many days. He is finally OK, but it was very scary. Anyway, I did love those books a lot and still do. Thank you kindly.

  5. beetleypete says:

    Fantasy is not generaly a genre I enjoy. But I loved The Hobbit, even though I didn’t read anything else in the LOTR series. I have never read a Harry Potter book, so my top vote for the ultimate fantasy must go to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and Through The Looking Glass. They were like nothing I had ever read before.
    Best wishes, Pete.

  6. A couple to add to the list, both of whom appealed mainly to older children (though, frankly, I found them enjoyable as an adult!) Anyway – Susan Cooper (The Dark is Rising series) and Ursula le Guin (the Earthsea novels).

  7. Does Madeline L’Engles’ ‘A wrinkle in time’ series count? I discovered the ***series*** (already had read the first book earlier) when I was a work-study in the juvenile library (Norlin) of the education school at CU Boulder back in the 70’s. I read many a cool YA novel before they were called YA during my late night work-times (wo)manning the desk!

    • Jennie says:

      Yes! YES!! That’s one of the great ones. YA books are my absolute favorites. I started with Kate DiCamillo, and I’ve never looked back. And libraries now have a separate YA section. I’m so glad. 😀

  8. Opher says:

    Tolkien – The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit!! Fantastic! I do like Harry Potter though. So many kids started to read because of those books.

  9. Thank you for sharing Jennie.. Loved these reads myself. 🙂

  10. L. Marie says:

    I love fantasy books. Love Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Ursula LeGuin, Juliet Marillier and many others.

  11. dolphinwrite says:

    I’ve been partial to Terry Goodkind, though not for everyone. The main characters are so real, the writer doing a great job of creating a relationship that lasts.

  12. I loved to read Harry Potter, and Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” too. Now i try to start reading “The Hobbit” in original English.;-) Michael

  13. dolphinwrite says:

    Been reading those Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child.

  14. Orlando says:

    Don’t forget George McDonald – especially Phantastes and Lilith – wonderful books with haunting imagery

  15. phoenyxpyre says:

    Terry Brooks! Also agree with you on Tolkien!

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Recipes from people who love Taylor Ham™® or Pork Roll

Taylor Ham Breakfast Casserole
Made with Taylor Pork Roll, Egg, and Cheese

Serves 6

1 pound of Taylor or Trenton Pork Roll cut into strips
10 slices of bread or 3 cups unseasoned dry stuffing cubes
4 eggs
1 cups milk
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded American or Cheddar cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste (meat is already salted so use sparingly)

Good additions – Onion, Bell Peppers, diced pre-cooked potatoes

Cook Taylor Ham until crispy
Cube sliced bread or measure out stuffing cubes.
In a large bowl, beat eggs, stir in milk, and cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Blend Taylor Ham and bread into egg mixture. Pour mixture into a greased or sprayed quiche dish or square baking pan, cover, and refrigerate for several hours.

Ready to Use

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Bake uncovered for 30 minutes
Use cake tester or knife to check if the center is done

Serving Suggestions
If don’t have much time in the morning to prepare breakfast, this recipe works well because it is prepared the night before.


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9/11 – 10 Years Later

     I don’t think any American who is old enough to remember September 11, 2011 will ever forget that horrific morning. For this Song-lyrics Sunday post, I’ve decided to do something a bit different. First, I’d like to share the link to the website for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. Second, I’d like to ask that everyone pray for the families of those who were lost that day. Pray for our nation and our leaders. Pray that we would do what is pleasing to God and follow His Spirit.

Finally, I won’t be posting the actual lyrics today because I’ve decided to post three different songs that came out of the events of 9/11 and the events that followed. To post the lyrics as well would just be too long… and I think the words of these songs are understandable without having them written out.

There She Stands by Michael W. Smith

Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) by Alan Jackson

American Soldier by Toby Keith

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Pet portraits

Art, Pencil

My son’s preschool puts on an auction each year. Families are asked to contribute a useful service or something handmade. This year, I’m donating a custom pet portrait. I decided to go for small pencil drawings. These two are samples I’ll have on display so folks can get a good idea of what they’re bidding for.

I haven’t had anything up in my Etsy shop for a few months, but I’ll add this custom pet portrait to it. People sure do love their pets. And who doesn’t love a dog in glasses?

Sketchbook Skool #4.1

Pencil, Sketches, Watercolor

This week’s lesson was taught by Cathy Johnson, a naturalist and artist who has written a boat load of books and has a whole heap of experience in capturing nature. She is a sweet lady and I really enjoyed watching her videos because she’s positive and lovely and you can just tell that she is a very nice person. I love drawing animals, but I usually (ok, always) draw them from photos, because, well, you know, they move. I did my best to draw a bird from nature, but it was pretty pathetic. As Cathy suggested, if you can’t get a reasonable likeness from a moving object, just use a picture. But better to use a picture you took yourself to maintain a real life connection.

Image (58)  Image (A58)
These first two seagulls were drawn from photos I took. I like bird butts. 🙂 Image (B58) Image (56A)
This third seagull was from a googled photo. And this 4th page was done in real life as I walked around the embarcadero in Morro Bay. That thing in the middle? It’s a squirrel. I thought I could draw a squirrel from memory (which is basically what this is) since I’ve drawn them before, but alas. No.

Image (57A)
This last one is also from a googled image. I liked this lesson, but it was hard. I learned that I do like working in pencil for birds and other animals. H and 3B work out nicely.

New Sketchbook

Pen & Ink, Sketches

Last weekend I made a trip to Blick to get one specific item. It was not paper. I have SO much paper. On the way to that item’s section I passed the paper and sketchbook aisle…

I will say that I made it out of there for under $15, so it wasn’t so bad.

I bought a Canson 6″ x 6″ spiral bound book and a Bee Paper 5.5″ x 8.5″ Pen Sketcher’s book. I like to have these little inexpensive sketchbooks because they don’t intimidate me. If I fill them with ugly doodles, no big deal. This freedom does tend to lead me to make drawings I end up really liking, which makes me wish I had put them on nicer, frame-able paper. Ah, well. I hate that I have piles of very lovely, thick, archival paper laying around completely neglected. Fear of failure, people. There’s also something about the potential of a blank piece of paper that I don’t want to mess with. What nonsense.

I’ve filled a couple pages of the 6″ x 6″ and here they are:

ImageI admit, I have a bit of a problem starting a blank notebook, even a cheap one, for fear that the first page will not inspire the looker to continue looking. (I know, I know.) So, I just accepted the first page-ness of this first page.

ImageThis here is a sketch from a very old and not too crisp photo of my great grandmother, Cora.

ImageThis style sketch is easy and quick.

ImageI wanted to try a pen portrait with my smallest pen- a 005 Micron.

Oh my Gouache

Gouache, Sketches

My husband gave me a set of Reeves gouache paints for Christmas and I finally broke ’em out yesterday. I’ve never used gouache before except to add white on top of watercolor paintings (which I had trouble making look decent… not my fav. technique for w.c.) so I thought I’d just goof around and do some sketchy stuff instead of blast right in to a painting I’d want to look nice.

Gouache is super RAD. I need to learn all about it. The colors are so bright and thick it almost looks like pastel.  I like the flat finish of gouache compared with the plastic-y shine of acrylics.

You can see that the colors are so much more brilliant than watercolor. It lends itself very well to an illustrator-ly style but a quick internet search of gouache images shows that it’s capable of so much more! I’m excited.

Image (70)


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Torah for today: what does the torah say about …ebola?

Torah for today: what does the torah say about …ebola?

Torah For TodayIn this week’s Torah for Today, Rabbi Zvi Solomons asks ‘what does the torah say about …ebola’?

In 1967 Israel won a wonderful victory over the Egyptians, Syrians and Jordanians, following which the army stationed troops on the Suez Canal to ensure there would be no more incursions from the other side.

The Israelis soldiers must have been very bored, because some of them even went swimming in the canal.

This was not a very clever thing to do, as the Egyptian troops over the way shot at them. Several Israelis were injured and other soldiers had to risk their lives rescuing them. The question was asked of the army’s rabbi at that time, Rabbi Gershuny, was whether one should risk one’s life to save others who have intentionally put themselves in danger.

The answer was that one can do so because the risk is a safek sakana. In other words, you can risk your life if there is a chance you can save another life, because there is a good chance you will live. Similarly, Rabbi Jonathan Emden wrote that although God gives you your body and you are obligated to look after it, being His gift, you are not absolved from rescuing someone else from danger.

The principle voiced in Leviticus of not standing by the blood of your fellow is an essential Ethos of the Torah, and indeed one which every society should encourage.

In the past few months, we have seen a terrible epidemic in western Africa with thousands of deaths from the Ebola virus. At the same time, we heard of the hundreds of general practitioners in the UK who are about to retire from practice

. If a nice Jewish doctor were to come to the rabbi asking whether he should go to West Africa to combat the Ebola virus, what answer would the rabbi give?

While the immediate danger to the lives of westerners in Europe or the USA is not necessarily extreme, we have to balance the dangers against the benefits.

An experienced health professional present in West Africa would doubtless be able to train many people in handling virus-infected victims and casualties. Moreover, western doctors, in their retirement, often go abroad to help people in less privileged societies. In such a case, although we would of course be concerned for people going out to West Africa, it would also be a most fulfilling thing for them to do.

The risks are quantifiable, reasonably limited, and the amount of good – saving lives – is enormous. Let them go.

• Zvi Solomons is rabbi of Reading Hebrew congregation

READ More from Judaism:

Torah for today: what does the torah say about …ebola?

SEDRA: Lech lecha

read more:


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Our professional team can support your family and whānau to:

  • Enjoy your childrenfamily fun
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  • Get more parenting skills
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Suzanne Paola

Suzanne Paola is an award-winning poet, memoirist, and author of nonfiction. As Susanne Paola Antonetta, she is the author of Body Toxic: An Environmental Memoir, A Mind Apart: Travels in a Neurodiverse World, and Make Me a Mother: A Memoir. With Brenda Miller, she is the author of Tell It Slant: Creating, Refining, and Publishing Creative Nonfiction. Among the awards her work has won are a New York Times Notable Book distinction, an American Book Award, a Library Journal Best Science Book of the Year Award, and a Pushcart Prize. Her essays and poetry have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Orion, and Seneca Review. Her next project is The Devil’s Castle, a cultural history of a once well-regarded German psychiatric institute that would later house a Nazi extermination program. She lives in Bellingham, Washington with her husband and son.

Jill Grinberg