You’re back! That’s great news. We hope you enjoyed our first blog because we certainly enjoyed writing it. After our personal introductions last week our team returned ready and eager to get busy with our second blog. We welcomed Angelina and TJ to the team and caught them up on our understanding of what a blog is and how we are learning to write one.
As a group we then discussed options and came up with the unanimous decision that this topic would be WINTER! I mean It makes sense. It’s June and the morning we wrote this, it was raining. A lot!
So, get comfy with your hot chocolate and favourite blanket as we… JUST WRITE!
 
The Challenge of Winter and How It Affects Your Mood.
 
Each season brings its own changes and challenges, though the beginning of winter either brings excitement or absolute dread to our minds.
Regardless of if your idea of a good time is dancing in the rain and jumping in puddles or you're counting down the days until summer, winter is affecting your mood.
 
So how does it affect your mood?
For the anti-winter the changes in time, colder weather, never-ending rain and less daylight can cause less of a chemical in your brain called serotonin. (The happiness and optimism chemical) this means that unless winter is your happy place, you're probably going to be feeling a little bit or a lot down in the dumps.
Waking up and opening the blinds, curtains or windows and seeing grey skies, rain, storms, wind and all the gloomy weather probably isn't going to motivate you to be excited about your day.
 
There should be a focus of self-care, mental health and wellbeing through winter make it your challenge to bring yourself some happiness, make your bed before you leave the house, have a hot shower with your favourite soap or body wash, cuddle with your pet, have a pyjama day, face time with family or friends, write in a journal, learn something new, treat yourself to your favourite lunch at work, wear your favourite scarf, curl up with a good book or have a lounge room dance party!
 
Remember that there are people who wake up see the winter weather and dance with happiness, I suggest you find one of those people and take a leaf out of their winter loving book because they’re going to need you when summer comes around! – Shan.
 
 
I love watching the Big Freeze on TV every winter. It's something I look forward to each year. I also buy a beanie to help find a cure for MND. The Big Freeze is an event which occurs as part of the King’s Birthday/Queen's Birthday clash between Melbourne and Collingwood. This was started by Neale Danaher, an AFL Legend in 2014. He suffers from Motor Neurone Disease (MND). Everybody comes together to support this cause in finding a treatment and a cure for MND.  Originally the Big Freeze started in America where they only used to have a bucket of ice on their head but now in Melbourne at the MCG they have a slide for celebrities to slide down into the ice pool. People can also buy a beanie or a scarf to help raise money for the cause and all the money goes to MND to help find a cure – Scarlett.
 
 
What is a Rainbow?  A rainbow is an optical illusion. A miracle that can occur when there is sun and rain in the sky together. There are seven colours in a rainbow, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet  I love rainbows because rainbows can make people happy and I feel happy and excited when I see one. How do you feel when you see a rainbow? Is there a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?  Is that true or not true? It is a sign of hope but it's not real. It's a sign of dreams that could come true. Have you ever driven around to find the end of the rainbow? I've never done it but would like to. Alyshia.
 
 
What is comfort food?  To me it is food that provides us a sense of warmth and foods I like. Some of these are soups, Hungarian food, stew and tuna bake. I love these foods because it gives a feeling family heritage and a sense of warmth and I like to eat comfort food because when I get sick it helps me get better. In winter people drink more hot drinks like coffee, tea and hot chocolate. In the every 1 cafe at Amstel Club we are serving soup during winter. What is your favourite comfort food or drink? – Charlotte.
 
 
The weather in Melbourne can be crazy. For example, lightning, rain, floods, hail, thunderstorms, damaging winds, fog, frost, sunshine, and humidity. The damages of Melbourne’s crazy weather can be droughts, flooding, destruction, landslides, loss of animals, health risks, loss of power, wildfires and damaging of crops. As I am typing I can see a beautiful no cloud moment. The sun is shining through the windows as I type to our readers, I feel the glow on my face because of the warmth of the sunshine. What I have come upon during these times of winter is that the sun always shines. I believe in God so I call this “Gods power” – Angelina.

 
Winter can be hard for a lot of people. Keeping our bodies warm is so important and wearing warm clothes is a must to prevent hypothermia. Hypothermia is when your body loses heat faster than it can produce heat. It can affect your heart and body. It’s important to keep our core body temperature of 37c to stay healthy. Winter clothes are made from thicker material, water resistant and thermal underwear. Layering pieces of clothes like vests, long sleeve tops, coats, beanies, thick socks and scarves rather than one thick piece is better for keeping your body warm. It’s also important to wear a good pair of boots so you don’t fall over – Tyson
 
 
We hope you have enjoyed learning about winter with us. We have so many topics to discover and we are  glad you are here with us for this blogging journey.

​Until next week, stay warm! 

​Hello and welcome to the very first Umbrella Support Blog – Just Write!
​
I’m Cindy and together with our super support worker Jessy and Program Volunteer Delia we are bursting with excitement because we have a team of very eager bloggers ready with LOADS of topics they are itching to share with the world. Our very first session was an explosion of so many ideas. We could have done with a whiteboard the size of a drive-in theatre screen!

Please allow us to use this very first blog as our personal introductions, written with much enthusiasm personally by our team...
 
Hello Friends!
I'm Shan! I love making friends with all creatures, I'm unicorn obsessed, I'm forever chasing rainbows, I count Tesla's and I sew scrunchies for everyone. I'm also a big believer in kindness and inclusion. I'm so excited to get started on our blogging project! Just here to learn and get creative.
 
My name is Jess I’m here to learn how to blog. I am a massive fan of craft, bowling and also love cooking up yummy dishes. I have joined “Just Write” so I can learn new skills, try new things and learn about different subjects I am passionate about. I am engaged to an amazing guy. His name is Robert. I also have a big family. I love spending time with them.
I have four nephews and one niece. I am caring, honest, friendly, and a generous person and I have been volunteering at Vinnies for 5 years.
 
Hi name is Charlotte and I’m almost 19 years old. I joined Umbrella Support a little while ago. I love everyone at Umbrella Support because everyone is so supportive and caring. I love cooking and painting for fun. I love my cultural background, especially Hungarian food and I've got a paid job through Umbrella Support at Amstel Club. I've been working at Amstel for a couple months now and today as I write this  (June first) I'm starting at the every 1 community cafe.
 
Hi, I'm Scarlett. I love to work in many different areas for example Salvos, cafe work and Amstel Club. I'm also a radio co-host on the Buzzz once a month. Our radio show is called Disability Matters. It airs every Thursday night at 6.00pm (www.thebuzzz.com.au) I love listening to podcasts, and the reason I joined blogging is because I love writing and reading stories. I love footy and go for the Sydney Swans. I love chocolate. Any kind! I love cooking in my Thermomix and love having cuddles with my great Dane Lucy.
 
Hey, my name is Alyshia I’m 19 years old turning 20. I love animals, family, butterflies, sparkling water, cooking and art. I am excited about blogging because we can write about anything we want. It makes me smile.
 
So, as you can see, we have a team who have so much to offer. This team will grow and as it does, we will add their names to our blogs so you will get to know this creative and informative team.

Each week we will meet and choose a topic of interest we all agree on. Then we will get to work, researching, learning and sharing with you, our readers our collated information right here on this platform!
 
Watch this space, exciting things ahead. 

The internet is a great place.
 
Okay, so that’s a matter of opinion I suppose. It can be used for both good and bad, but when used for good, it can open up the entire world. 
 
I recently went to Google and typed in: “What is a blog”. This is what I got…
 
blog
noun

1. a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style.

 
Hmmmm, that helps. Thanks Google! So a blog is writing. It can be really long pieces of writing or it can be quite short.  But about what exactly? 
 
When I researched further I discovered that a blog can be about anything you like. ANYTHING! Then I got excited. You see, at Umbrella we have a group of intelligent and excited individuals who have so much to share. About SO MANY THINGS! 
 
Personally I love writing. I’ve co authored two books and would love to write more but these days time for writing is not on my side. To educate our team on the benefits of writing and to share my love in this space is really going to fill my cup. But enough about me! 
 
Today, June 1st 2023, our group of writers start the journey of learning the power of written expression. We will brainstorm about every single idea we have and will get busy making a plan. 
 
As a team we will research, format, understand everything we document, check our spelling and grammar and most importantly, we will have fun whilst learning. 
 
Watch this space… Our team is about to get busy. Did I mention we start TODAY?!
 
Wait… Did I just write a blog? 😜
 
Cindy.