Textilosophy Oz

2009-12-12T13:38:00.007+10:30

I'm running awwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.....to here...(these photos are by David Overton at Flickr. He has captured this part of Victoria beautifully)....

taking off.....

we're hitting the road tomorrow...early....away from everything, including tinsel....

To Victoria's beautiful High country....alpine country, but in summer.... I can't wait. I will be absent for a while, returning back to the lands of wrapping paper and gift-buying and crowds, somewhere closer to Christmas Day.
We intend to sleep under the stars,and in country accommodation, my husband and I walking with crunchy grasses underfoot instead of pounding the hot pavements with the shoppers....breathing deeply the fresh air. Thank you again to David Overton for the opportunity to show this scenery, http://www.flickr.com/photos/overton/ and hope to return with some of my own photos. Absent 'til then - love to all,... especially to my daughter Caity - although we all caught up earlier,Again, Happy Birthday Birthday Girl , if you're reading this!

2009-12-09T15:08:00.010+10:30

Beware. A big fat rant fast approaching. So, awoke early, knowing I had a packed day ahead, having lost a day yesterday due to the car being serviced, and bus routes not suiting where I needed to go...possible chauffers? All busy, because let's face it, it's a busy time of year... So today was the day to foray out into the crowds of Christmas shoppers...so after waking to the sound of smashed china in the kitchen which suprisingly jumped out of husband's fumbling hands, the day began.
Unfortunately somewhere in the crowd of happy shoppers,someone saw fit to steal my purse...with the money for today's many tasks...

Police are sympathetic..."That's a damn shame ma'am...happens a lot at Christmas- get straight onto the bank-stop that thief using your cards...""What'd they take? An expensive handbag?No? Lucky! Just ya purse eh! Jeez---better get onto the bank straight away - least ya still got your car keys and sunnies!"
(Taking a bit of poetic licence here with the photos from Flickr...but pretty much reflected the attitude of the long-suffering police I spoke to) -so filed a report with the police station, just in case it should be returned battered and bruised from the gutter with at least the cards and driver's licence intact. "Take down this report number" said the policeman at Holden Hill police station. Which I did....
Um, did I forget to mention, this was the post-theft phone conversation AFTER I managed to get inside my house after taking the wrong keys this morning, but that's entirely another complicated story...So grabbed the nearest pen - should be simple enough. After all I'd used it to take down details from the Royal Automobile Association, Driving Licence, Banks..and found that these tasks were all too much for the pen and it leaked everywhere, and I mean everywhere, in blue gory sticky ink...

over the phone, face,paper, hands and worse, smeared itself magnificantly over my favourite shirt...

So this is how I feel. Don't tell me that's not fake red ink on your sleeve sweetheart....and you too will be hitting the Napisan after you've anhilated something. Meanwhile I try to remain in good spirits to wrap and deliver my Kris Kringle ( what can I get which won't look cheap and nasty for the stated $10-$15)which I STILL haven't purchased.Some damn gnome comes knocking on my door, he's going to get short shrift unless he's delivering tonight's tea, rolls of cellophane, a birthday card and present, a Kringle gift,Christmas postage stamps for cards, a replaced bit of crockery and my damn purse . I feel better now. Thanks. Forgive me God because I know at least I can eat, walk and have the ability to spend what I don't have in my purse anymore,from a bank with money in it, and have two arms to swing a sword while some people have none...(arms not sword).Oh and thank you for the bleaching power of Napisan... and can I just add that this birthday thing at this time of year has got out of hand, and I doubt that camels of yore had to fight for a carpark, which I'd be fighting for yesterday in my car ,if it wasn't being serviced...and at least camels don't have to be serviced.

Oh let's not go there shall we?

2009-12-08T07:38:00.003+10:30

Posting for "Ruby Tuesday" hosted by Mary at http://www.workofthepoet.blogspot.com/ Quaker op shop. Adelaide.

2009-12-05T08:04:00.006+10:30

Advice given in my sleep , still echoing this morning..." We are not defined by the rooms in which we find ourselves.
. Open to the healing power of the universe...
Facing our heart to the golden morning rays of the rising sun offers access to the most powerful healing of all. You choose to miss this."This really started me thinking. I had an east-facing window when I was a child. The sun tried to peek in much as the above photo illustrates, but views of a glorious sunrise were blocked, as many of us find who were bought up in the suburbs, by a neighbouring fence, brick wall, and, much to everyone's consternation, ultimately a huge brick industrial garaging facility for semi-trailers of all things, - and this is what my bedroom faced. While trying to avoid the "poor me" territory,for a child like myself, this was soul-destroying.
My daughter, on the other hand, had a gloriously feral childhood in the country,expansive golden sunrises with mists rising off the river, parrots and pelicans... I am glad I could give her this, surrounded by pets and laughter.Now, with continuing University studies she too, finds herself in a room in the suburbs, in a share-house, where she can't see these things. When you're a Uni student about to do Masters, money can be a bit tight, and a room can seem a bit depressing....I guess this post is really just a "salute to the sun" as the yogic tradition offers up wisely, a sun that tries to peek through to where we are, even offering healing, at the same time as we battle with the alarm clock existence we have either made for ourselves, or had thrust upon us.The sun has always been there, looking beautiful, but we, exhausted most of the time, sleep on,desperate for a few more hours or minutes of rest. I wish it were not so. I wish our existence were otherwise, but pigs might fly as they say...

Or not. (photo courtesty of Flickr). Philosophy? "Bloom where you're planted".
Have a good weekend, and may the sun shine upon your face.

2009-12-03T17:02:00.004+10:30

I have succumbed. I have become one of those women who shop in Christmas earrings, or earrubas as my typo backfire just informed me. My daughter, when she first learned to talk, called them unyas. So my earrubic unyas and I battled the first wave of ORGANIZED (I am in unfamiliar territory with these people) early Christmas shoppers, (or is 'early' October?). Who knows. Curiously heading into one of those Twilight/Startrek/Disney collectibles shops (shudder) for my nephew, I observed a man in his late-twenties,(I dare not contemplate early thirties) who was having a conversation with the sales assistant. "I've been trying to get my wife interested in becoming a Trekkie" he said "without much luck". Oh Lord. Give up now Sweetheart. It just ain't going to happen. Let me out of here,before I hear more. The strain of overhearing converstions is making my ears burn and my tres-expensive (cough) little red baubles might melt.

Many years ago,when I lived in Mt. Eliza, a town on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria,
I was browsing through an exclusive dress shop, and to my left were two ladies of a certain age, one seated with a walking cane, leaning on it, as she observed her companion twisting and twirling before a mirror. "As I said before" the seated lady repeated emphatically "I think it becomes you Marjorie, I shan't say it again!!...I shall be playing bridge on Thursday with Helen. You do play bridge don't you Marjorie?".
"No" Marjorie replied.
"How about tennis...you DO play tennis"
"No" Marjorie replied.
I replaced a dress on the rack, and looked over just in time to see the seated lady exclaim incredulously...
"You DON'T play tennis and you DON'T play bridge! Good GOD Marjorie, what have you DONE with your life!
One wonders doesn't one.

2009-12-02T14:44:00.003+10:30

Mr Toasty hosted a Christmas morning tea recently http://goodteatoo.blogspot.com/ where over 60 guests let their imagination run free and enjoyed the gathering and festivities at Aspen. Baino and I http://bainosbanter.blogspot.com/ decided to join in and do things the Australian way. Yeah, I'm with ya Baino mate! Donned the Akubra, so let's have another cup of billy tea - seems like most are heading home, but what's the rush! To read more about the history of this iconic Australian headwear, from the slouch hats of WW2, through to official wear for the Olympic Games, you might like to visit http://www.akubra.com.au and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akubra

Baino has well and truly covered the rest, with some great pics, well worth a visit..

2009-11-30T13:07:00.005+10:30

The topic for this week's Illustration Friday is "Entanglement", so I've decided to illustrate the concept with my photography.Cleaning out my Dad's shed as my parents prepared to down-size,was a revelation.

So many things tangled together...

We picked through things, discarding this and that...Later we no longer "picked" but gathered, bundled and threw. It did have it's moments of inspring art though... something my brother failed to see...while I did take time to sit on my butt to photograph something, his butt was noticable by its abscence, having been worked right off!

Having then been inspired by what I like to call "shed art" I fossicked around different places for a bit more ...
It's not landscape, but I like it somehow.

Now for the philosophy..."The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." - Hans Hofmann.

2009-11-25T19:54:00.010+10:30

This is the place, along with many parts of Wales, where I feel my soul at ease...If I had a choice, I would live out my days here in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia - these ranges are ancient, fossilized and just beautiful. I have lived here pre- our marriage, and for a little while, after my husband joined me there, until the pull of the city and professional theatre called my husband (and therefore me reluctantly) back to Adelaide. In our nearly thirty years together, we have lived at various times in the country as a compromise to me.We return to the city as a compromise to him, and in later years, for my daughter's expanded educational opportunities, but when I return to the Flinders, tears of happiness well up.My first encounter with this beautiful place was in my early twenties, before I met my husband, when recovering from a first divorce, I joined a group of wonderful new friends I'd met through study. In an effort to help cure my broken heart, we all went camping, something I was entirely unfamiliar with, and loved. We climbed St. Mary's Peak in the Flinders Rangers. I was never what could be called a robust person,and what I lacked in robust I made up with enthusiasm, but along the saddle I froze and felt I could go no further. I was pretty much pushed up to the top, but at 22 years old, there was no shortage of male takers to push my butt. These days, well that would be another story. Onwards and upwards went my not-too-fit self, but youth and enthusiasm saw me through to the encouraging words from these friends, of "it will be worth it in the end"... Oh, and believe me it was! That is not me, but it's how I felt, trimphant and amazed. .(photos courtesty of http://www.yktravelphoto.com/

I later taught elementary school for many years in my beloved Flinders Ranges, living in an old farmhouse at a place called Nectar Brook. It was not unusal to see this from the farmhouse in the mornings and at dusk. (following photos courtesty of http://www.flindersoutbackdaytours.com.au/

I would walk for miles at the back of the farmhouse in the golden sunlight to the water holes where there would always be seas of raucous cheeping finches squabbling in the low-lying surrounding bushes...

and little creatures like this lizard.(photo:Flinders Outback website) A visiting child of friends pleaded with me to look after one he'd found and carefully placed at my feet, as my friends bustled him into their car. Sobbing "I want the lizard, I want the lizard" he waved tearfully at me, and mouthing the words "promise?" he turned around just in time to avoid seeing the lizard scuttle off and run under the front wheels of the departing car... damn!I'd often be late for school, because living away out into the Spencer Gulf countryside,I'd have to wait for trains like this one pictured at Yorky's Crossing to travel on through an eternity over the Stirling North crossing with carriages of all descriptions, too many to mention. ....and below,this photo,at the top of the Spencer Gulf, from Port Augusta where I taught. Beautiful as this countryside is to live in, today in the paper I read of a town in this area, "Tests at Hawker show water is only fit for flushing toilets. Hawker's water is about 4300EC (electrical conductivity) far exceeding the World Health Organization's acceptable level of salinity for safe drinking water of 800EC. The WHO states that water becomes increasingly unplatable over 1000mg/l." Our State Government has emergency plans in place to provide bottled water to some upper South East towns this summer where water supply from our state's source, The River Murray is about 1200EC. I've lived in many of those places. Bath and shower water, much to city visitor's disgust, is like cafe latte. So our next State plan is to investigate the validity of constructing groundwater desalination plants.
The country kids weren't easy to teach.Today I looked up the latest newsletter of the school where I was based in my first years of teaching, where I read...

"The new 'slushie' machine has been a fantastic success, with all students enjoying the cool treats in the warmer weather. To encourage students to make sure the paper cups did not contribute to the litter in the yard, the canteen manager introduced a clever policy of refunding 10 cents for each cup returned. Unfortunately we have had to suspend this practice as students are abusing it. They are taking cups that have already been cashed in from the bin and trying to claim them for a second time as well as bribing younger students for their cups to collect the refund".

Some things never change!

2009-11-23T20:46:00.006+10:30

So many people have challenges lately..Don't be...

discouraged...
It is often... the last key in the bunch that opens the lock. (Unknown)

2009-11-18T19:19:00.013+10:30

Ah! The joys of reading to children...

...experienced since time immemorial...These attentive children dare not MOVE for fear of being excommunicated!...Do you think, way back when, the neanderthal children grunted at their Dad.."One more cave painting narrative before sleep time Daddy...."Ugg...a quick one..., then it's fire out and time for sleep"...So , it brings us to the present time where we have progressed to this sort of thing in the classroomFamiliar?Civilised?Look at this young teacher bursting with enthusiasm! Fresh, vibrant, posed,...yes that's not a misprint, posed not poised.Or... how about this. "Children, children, put down your hands, your enthusiasm is simply overwhelming!!" Rather than the above,I've taught, frazzled and exhausted, in classes where it's like drawing teeth, where a loose carpet thread holds much more fascination than what's on the page, where a raised hand is on it's way to a nostril more often than not, and seriously, although I love the children very much, where getting them settled can be disrupted by one child getting up, rushing to the mouse cage and eating a fistful of rodent poop, even though there is an illustration on the cage of a hand, firmly in the stop position, with a line crossed through it that says "NO " .
It makes you think, "Um, did I choose the wrong book, that the attention spans are waning."I don't like eggs and ham Sam I am" may have had more relevance if it was "No poop today, the mouse has run away"...or "Chocolate sultanas it is NOT, it's rabbit waste, from rabbit's bot."

Until recently,I have spent most of my nearly thirty year teaching career in very "challenging" schools, through choice.To enjoy these challenges I've had to think outside the square.Cue- photo of teacher thinking outside of square... So that when I was reading to the Communication class one day, where speaking, even 'attending' to what is being taught is difficult for most of the students, I had a light bulb moment. Instead of being up high, on the chair, why didn't I swap places with one of the children. Let the child be the teacher. Get them to "tell" the story. "Read" the story to me, and praise and encourage the speech that would hopefully come out, me sitting there on the floor in front of this very special and different teacher. I loved playing schools when I was little. Here was the chance for a child to do it, with a real class!
So...no more of this teacher up here business! Let's swap! We may even get some language going!!!!

I am an adaptable teacher, I am creative, I think on my feet, or sitting down on the floor, amongst god-knows- what has been either wiped on the carpet,or supporting it's life-form. Anything to get speech happening. I can, and always will ...

And so the child was chosen. I sat down low, cajoling, encouraging. Nothing. I wriggled closer to point out illustrations. "What's this?" "Can you tell us all what's happening?" Nothing. "Shall we turn the page?" I can't quite reach the book open in the child's hands. I inch closer. The child stares at me. Maybe I am making a connection. It is nearly morning recess. I am starving hungry. It is the birthday of someone on the staff - the staffroom will have cake!.The child smiles. He likes being teacher I can tell. Look how happy he is. His smile broadens. He leans back slowly and relaxes. And farts. Enormously.... Right. In. My. Face.

Sulpheric. Nauseatingly putrid. Gaggingly effective.It would be an understatement to say it blew us all away. I felt greener than Sam's eggs and ham. (I can't stand Dr Seuss by the way, sorry all you Seuss fans). It was the kind of fart that would have wiped the smile right off the faces of those earlier posed-teacher photos. "I would not have done that" I can just hear them say.."and I shall just take my triple-layer gateaux that I whipped up at 5 a.m. to the staffroom shall I ?".
"Yes" I reply"I shall be following closely behind with the dip and bikkies from Coles".
There is a reason why this teacher is a reasonable distance away from her students.There is a reason I declined to feel hungry enough to front up for the staff morning tea......and the only thing after that incident that sat on the reading chair in such an unabashed manner, was harmless, and without a large intestine.

Credit Union Christmas Pageant - Adelaide, South Australia (SA)

2009-11-13T19:04:00.005+10:30

Tomorrow will be a big day here in Adelaide.The following text is courtesy of Plan Book Travel http://www.planbooktravel.com.au/ "Every year, thousands of people line a 3.3 kilometre route in Adelaide's city centre to welcome the colour and excitement of the Credit Union Christmas Pageant - the traditional herald to the festive season.Families flock to the route early in the morning to join in the Christmas spirit, watch the amazing parade of storybook floats, listen to the marching bands, and to wave at Father Christmas.From humble beginnings of just eight horse drawn floats and four bands, the event has grown so much so that the Credit Union Christmas Pageant now comprises 75 sets including 57 floats, 14 bands, dancing groups, clowns and walking sets. More than 1,700 people will make up the characters, dancers, musicians and drivers in the actual pageant with some 200 other volunteers working behind the scenes and a further 200 police and emergency fire services on hand. The pageant was first first held in 1933.
Tomorrow the pageant will be challenging. Adelaide is in the middle of a six-day heatwave, the first of it's kind ever to happen in the month of November, since weather was first officially recorded in 1887. We are used to extreme weather in the months of January and February, the last of which, here in Adelaide, we experienced 9 days straight of searing temperatures from 35 to 40 degrees C. Actually six days of those nine were above 40 degrees. Tomorrow the forecast is 39 degrees, with families asked to bring lots of sunscreen, protective clothing and 2 litres of water per person. Most of the participating floats will have double the quantities of bottled water they usually carry. I'm hoping many will watch it on television instead this year, but as it starts early in the day perhaps excitement will overide discomfort. You can read and see more on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide_Christmas_Pageant and http://www.cupageant.com.au

2009-11-08T17:28:00.007+10:30

Ah chummies, I am SO over the sensible shoes... and therein lies a textilosophy tale. When you have been diagnosed with a big osteoporosis reading, the doctor likes to put the fear of God into you about taking a fall, and gives you all sorts of literature about avoiding rugs,and tripping over coffee tables and cats or little dogs in the dark passageway ...and , the big one,wearing sensible shoes. Especially to work. Having silly back problems, I've been doomed to this sort of footwear for years anyway.Glamorous -not. So on Friday, I rebelled. I decided to wear some pretty shoes to work for a change- flats, to keep on the safe side,but pretty, glamorous, made a girl feel good. It was a good day. Cooking with the students, using brown rice, onion, and spring onions as ingredients. It even inspired a little textile piece! Doesn't that spring onion look good on that textile piece...

...but not on the floor. Ah yes, gentle reader, there laying in wait on the tile in the wet area of the classroom was an escaped fresh spring onion scrap...causing this teacher to skid on it with those pretty shoes, fly up in the air, and luckily, not land in a crash on her back, but rather a bizzare contortion of movements with a balletic rearrangement of the splayed left leg...

and in sheer shock, (and tai-chi fitness,)bounce right up again, thank God. Ha ha Spring Onion - no walking frame yet! Foiled!We even managed to laugh ourselves silly, all of us, after I had established that, no really, I was fine!!So, I am now working on this little textile piece, making it more...um..onionish... And the philosophy? Pride goes before a fall.... What do you do when you have to wear yuck footwear? Head north to the top of your head. Make yourself feel good with a brand new haircut.
...and hope nothing falls on your head.

2009-11-04T20:09:00.007+10:30

The subject for Theme Thursday this week is "Castle'. http://www.themethursday.blogspot.com/ The theme for Illustration Friday for the week is 'Skinny'. So I've combined them. Please forgive my lack of textile offerings or paintings lately. I just haven't had the time. So keeping in mind the lack of art or fabric, please enjoy the Skinny and/or Castle offerings. The castle below is Carcassone in Southern France.(with skinny turrets) that husband and I visited in 1982.

It is located on a strategic site overlooking the main road between the city of Toulouse and the Mediterranean Sea.
The old city of Carcassone was built by the Romans, occupied by Visigoths and conquered by northern French forces.

These two intrepid Aussie backpackers conquered the climb up to Carcassone with newly-purchased packs on their backs, as part of their round the world adventures for that year. Just about everything is hefty in this photo except me and the fence railing. Those days I was skinny.Had buffed up a bit after carrying that pack around for a year, believe me. As we young twenty-somethings set off from Sydney for the big wide world, my husband's aunt telephoned husband's Mum in Adelaide and said I looked like I was about to topple backwards.
My how times change.

I think Carassone remains the same. Maybe a few more stones are crumbling. I know the feeling. Actually the Vitamin D and Calcium combined are doing the world of good, but am way past putting on one of those packs again. How did I do that!...but boy did we have fun!

2009-10-31T19:22:00.006+10:30

Our daughter slept here last night, a rare occasion in her busy life. Although she is now approaching 26 years old, I still feel the absolute sense of delight that this little dog experiences, to see that sleeping form in the morning. More important than any material things.Money cannot buy that feeling ,A beautiful painting , 'Time to Wake Up' by the English artist Charles Burton Barber (1845-1894).

If I had a tail, I would have wagged it like crazy this morning making the breakfast tray...and having served my time as a parent of an adolescent girl, I no longer have to "bark" orders to get up, get moving. To see her here makes me chase my tail with happiness. It's been fun, and a little oasis from the family stuff where Dad is very frail in so very many ways. Their move is complete. More later. Such beautiful comments you left recently. Thank you so much.

2009-10-15T07:48:00.003+10:30

Not long now until the big move to a different place after 57 years. It will take place for my parents next week. It hasn't been the easiest of times this generational manouvering, this shuffling through emotions of "what's best" with and for a couple in their eighties. Everything seems to be strategic.Who is listened to - who feels they have not been heard. The emotions around possessions, discarding, keeping, and why. Must be hard for my Dad to let go of things, when he feels he is losing his mind. As the daughter, knowing when to tread gently, when to be firm. I am hoping "down the track" as we say in Oz, that Mum and Dad will be happy in their unit. Of course there will be a period of adjustment that everybody goes through when they move house, no matter what age or situation. Some factors though in this are a bit more challenging.

Dad had an acute heart attack days ago, was very confused, but thanks to fast work by the ambulance crew is in hospital, and appears to be doing well.The hospital system being what it is however, they are anxious to discharge him as soon as possible. The absolute escapism of Willow's Ball at The Manor was a welcome reprieve in the harsh light of reality at the moment. Thanks Willow. I'm sure many felt the same. Over 200 people sharing magical moments. We so very much need magic in our lives.

I am going to take a break for a while, get a few things organised. There are health issues of others to consider, as well as trying to get myself back on track. Last night I found out a friend had a double masectomy, and am still in shock at the suddenness, aggressiveness of this cancer - the time span between recent diagnosis, and the drastic outcome.She has my admiration. She is noble and strong.I will be back. I've wrapped up the memory of the whirl of visits after the cyber-ball in the palm of my hand, blown it away gently like soft dandelion drifts, and watched it dissipate into magical sparkles. Thank you dear friends for your company. All will be well.

2009-10-13T16:46:00.016+10:30

Darlings, you have no idea the amount of preparation involved to get Kevin and I to the Seasonal Ball at Willow Manor http://willowmanor.blogspot.com/ Luckily I have a wonderful assistant in Roxanne, bless herTakes things totally under control, so that all I have to concern myself with is looking divine.

It was most unfortunate that Harry gave notice a while ago. Left me without a limmo driver for tonight, so for the past couple of days Clive has been flat-out interviewing potential candidates...and the position has now been filled. Must say I was pleased with the earlier run with the new driver over to Willow's this afternoon to drop off some things. The orchestra was just vacating the drawing room after practicing the opening number with that wonderful baritone BrynTerfel and who should I see sliding onto the vacated piano stool but Johnny Depp. "Don't tell Willow I'm here yet- have to go back into town, then I intend to return with " the grand entrance." he confided. Can't wait!Hurrying back home it occurred to me that Kevin should have arrived. Perhaps Charlie had forgotten to pick him up from the airfield, and overlooked the instructions for champagne on arrival. Hurrying inside, should have realized Charlie would have it all covered. That lad never forgets anything. Problem Amanda? Mr. Costner is resting by the pool but has bought the wrong jacket. You think it's wrong, he doesn't. Let's have a look at that on your phone. Doesn't look happy does he! No I don't like it either. Has he staff with him? Andrew? Get Andrew to arrange a black formal jacket...and tell him to hurry...

He better get it right. Time's getting away...

Now where is Kevin? Can I see him from the balcony? Aaah, there he is

down by the pool. Ah, the staff will get him organized. A
little wave - see you soon I have things to attend to...

Yes, pleased with that.Tonight will be...just...

...wonderful

2009-10-12T21:59:00.003+10:30

All aboard the Poetry Bus...it's Poetry Monday courtesy of Totalfeckineejit at http://totalfeckineejit.blogspot.com/ Pick your photo from those supplied and write a poem. I've chosen the old guy in the middle, green bag.(click to enlarge). Oh God Mum, she said
They found Grandpa
Trying to rob the High Street Bank
With Josh's toy gun
In the Coles bag.

Was there a balaklava...mask? I gasped.
He thought, she sighs, Nan's sunglasses
Would do the trick.
What's worse, she said
Was his excuse.
I need the money
For the fare to Denmark
To see Princess Mary.
Now that Frederick's here
In Sydney
For the Masters Games
I reckon I'm in with a chance.

Reaching for the car keys
I know
It will be another long day.

2009-10-09T21:45:00.006+10:30

Not long now... Willow at Willow Manor http://willowmanor.blogspot.com/ hosted this fabulous event last year and is preparing to do so again.Today I put down my gardening trowel, dusted off the dungarees, and chose my gown and shoes...because let's face it, I dance divinely and at this ball I'm an absolutely gorgeous size 10! Johnny Depp (much in demand last year) so beautifully requested a place on my dance card last October and how could I refuse..( he complimented me on the soft white gardenia in my hair if I remember, but I was a little tipsy with exquisite champagne), The catering was unforgettable, wine flowed and the music was divine. Shall I see you there? Oh, by the way, no postings this weekend, I shall be far too busy searching the most elegant of establishments for the perfect pair of earrings ,there's a manicure and pedicure to be arranged - before once more my toes long for the redochre dust of this lovely land Down Under. I shine. I flourish. I relish the magic and Tinkerbell sparkle. Bring on the fairy lights.

...I think I hear strains of the orchestra rehearsing as we speak.

2009-10-07T22:38:00.007+10:30

Sepia Scenes posting for Wednesday. The little cottage where we used to live.

I've always loved cottages, warm and cosy, and there's nothing quite like a cottage garden. All that wicker chair needed was a cat, but as the crazy landlady said "A cat is strictly not in the lease". We did manage to guiltily share or borrow Dennis the Menace though, the cat from next door. He much preferred to be inside our cottage than out . Probably thought he'd get caught and made to return to his house. Furtiveness all round at No. 12. It's why outside, the chair's empty but inside warm hearts are full. Thank-you Dennis for making a stressful time in our lives with health and work, just that much more bearable, and while I share this photo from a while ago, we hope you're doing purrrrfectly well.

2009-10-06T09:11:00.004+10:30

TFN challenged us recently to write a poem from one or more of ten photos he provided. The photos are at http://www.totalfeckineejit.blogspot.com/ Inspired by Willow's poem "Back Alley" http://willowmanor.blogspot.com/ I thought I'd give it a go...

NEIGHBOUR

"I watched them take off

In all different directions

That family" she said.

"And when the old man dies

Back they all come

From everywhere,

Alex from New Zealand!"

"You'd think" (arms crossed now)

They'd paint the peeling fence

Before they sold the house.

But that's just me.

Bet your bottom dollar

(she glances at No. 14 and nods)

It'll be Tom'll mow the grass"

2009-10-05T15:33:00.008+10:30

Woke this morning to the most glorious Spring day!Sun shining at last...flowers blooming everywhere around the home...the flowers waiting for the bees to visit...Finally it feels like Spring has arrived......daisies are out..Missie Begonia is in fine form...Makes a person (or little creature)want to come out of their house and celebrate...and think, "I was over that cold season, bring on the warmth..." says Mowsie, who in mouse years is getting on...Another person who had a soft heart for little creatures...
(painting by Mark Sanislo)
Yesterday was the Feast Day of Saint Francis. Don't think he was too keen on steel-sprung mouse traps either.
My plastic non-violent one is out on loan yet again. Word gets around. I think it would have done a roaring trade in the monastary kitchen had it been invented.

2009-10-02T17:37:00.006+09:30

Just because...Why? you might ask. Actually its Bench on Friday posting time, an informal meme of various benches, courtesty of RuneE at http://visualnorway.blogspot.com/ The fish on this bench has a tale to tell. Its a postcard from the Australian Museum Shop online at http://shop.australianmuseum.net.au/. The details read "Ethel King colouring a mounted specimen of a Queensland Groper (Epinephelus lanceolatos) 1926. Australian Museum archival image.

In 1925, the Fiji Government sent some fish to the Australian Museum to be mounted for the New Zealand and South Sea International Exhibition. The largest specimen was the groper over 2 metres long and weighing over 160 Kg. "The fish skin," and I quote from the site, "was fitted over a plaster cast and them coloured by Ethel King, a skilled artist.

Museums and benches are synonomous, and part of the Australian Museum is the Lizard Island Research station, located on the northern Great Barrier Reef, 270 km. north of Cairns in Queensland, facilitating coral reef research and education. On the benches at this Island, much valuable research takes place.
The Australian Museum is a New South Wales government agency with an international reputation in the fields of Australian natural history, cultural and indigenous studies and research. Each year over 13 million users visit the website.
If you'd like to find out more about Australia, this is the place to visit. http://australianmuseum.net.au

2009-09-30T21:48:00.003+09:30

Sometimes we are asked to do an artist's statement... or describe 5 things about ourselves....I agree with someone called Alan. W. Watts ,that trying to...define yourself...
Is like trying...
To bite your own teeth. Yeah?

2009-09-25T16:49:00.012+09:30

Today is Bench on Friday, an informal meme details of which can be found at RuneE's blog at http://visualnorway.blogspot.com/

Just before the rain set in this afternoon I was walking in North Adelaide, close to the city. There were not many people around. Although it's Spring, the wind had an icy bite to it, and it was scarf and gloves weather.Although the bench in the photo is quite plain, the church behind has quite an interesting story in the establishment of the young colony of South Australia, which held much pride in the time as being a state founded and colonised by free settlers, not convicts....a better view...It was formerly the North Adelaide Congregational Church, opening for worship on Friday 22nd February 1861. At completion it was the largest place of worship in South Australia, able to seat 600 people. Now of course, amongst others,we have the very large Catholic and Anglican cathedrals. The first minister Reverend James Jefferis (1833-1917) was " a man of vision and "keen social engagement" according to the history of this church.In 1872 the copper magnate Walter Watson Hughes had made a donation of what would have been a very substational amount in those days of a struggling colony, twenty thousand pounds to the Congregational Church. This was to be used for denominational training purposes. "Jeffries" the history continues "had the vision to see a wider potential for Hughes generous gifts and formed a committee to discuss the formation of a broad-based educational institution serving the entire community, and so it was that the University Association was formed, a grant of land sought from the Government, and with Jeffries dedication and committment, in 1874 an Act of Parliament to establish the University of Adelaide, passed.".North Adelaide Congregational church Sunday School teachers, 1915, courtesy of the website Light on the Hill http://www.bpuc.org/ What I enjoy so much about Bench on Friday postings is that , for me, it encourages further research into an area. Having lived in South Australia all my life, I had no idea of the beginnings of The University of Adelaide, and never bothered to ask my father-in-law who lectured in Civil Engineering there and was Assistant to the Dean in the Engineering Faculty.
North Adelaide really is a beautiful area...

Walking back to the car I noticed the wisteria is out for Spring. My dear Great Grandmother worked in many beautiful homes in this area as a laundress walking up and down hills exhausted, back to her little cottage in "lower North Adelaide"(,now demolished but almost identical to this one in Stanley Street)... trying to support her family,.as there were no pensions then. Her ageing mother (back from the interior of Australia, where, after being widowed, she was home help at the newly established Alice Springs Overland Telegrah outpost,) looked after her daughter's three beautiful little girls. My grandmother used to tell me that late into the night her mother would be ironing with heavy irons heated with coals. My great grandmother was deserted by her "wild and poetic" husband, and was very grateful to the nuns who helped with the little ones' education and piano lessons. My late grandmother remembered little about her father, other than he painted beautifully, wrote prose and poetry and took with him the gold sovereigns my great grandmother had saved from his army severance pay. He told them he was going north to look for land for them all and would send for them.He left them, in turn, destitute.
We did some family research,and discovered photographs from distant sources... my great grandfather,he of the grandmother who, we must always add "as legend has it" was a gypsy,he who was good with horses and animals, clever with the turn of phrase, the dreamer and deserter following in the footsteps of his father in doing so...she, my own long-gone grandmother,a fatherless existence, painfully shy as a child, gentle, with a beautiful sense of humour and flourishing handwriting,( thanks to the nuns, who were, she said, kind but strict)placed together now on my shelf, because he's not going anywhere while I say so!!.

2009-09-22T16:23:00.004+09:30

What a great meme doing the rounds at the moment through Derek, and courtesy of Weaver at http://weaverofgrass.blogspot.com/ The meme subject is "failed photo". I thought Weaver's featured photo with the little dog was quite delightful. Not really an adjective used to describe the following which probably come under the heading of "mmmm...interesting" or "mmm...strange". I'm sure you have a few in your collection, so feel free to pick up Derek's meme and run with it. Thanks for the idea Weaver, and without further delay...
Mum and I...Now I know that my Great Great Grandmother was supposedly Romany. We have no trace of her in England, only the name Mary Brewer or Bruer...but it was said she sent her young son out to Australia to be with his English father (surname Bishop) who had, after this brief affair, emigrated here. I definitely look like I have the gypsy touch here, but I also look like I have been exhumed from being buried for many years, and quite happy about it. I have my hand out waiting for you to cross it with silver..

Another outstretched hand - My daughter and her grandmother after Graduation - not that you'd be able to see anything with this, hence the explanation...And last but not least...when I told my husband to put his head back for this photo, it's not exactly what I meant... Hope you choose to have fun with this too.