Revival

A message from Brigid ....

I have been a blogger since 2005. At the height of my blogging busy-ness, I had "a small stable" of blogs on different topics: social and political commentary; desert spirituality; food; waste and ....

A few years ago I called time and ceased blogging altogether - although there was an occasional post. I had called it quits. I am an aged woman these days with a couple of serious illnesses. I am not allowed to drive. I am no longer active in organisations. I think it fair to say that I am housebound. I am active on Facebook, although I am not there as often as once I was. I have decided to embark on a re-entry into the blogging world ... beginning with The Trad Pad and, possibly, a return to my food blog, Oz Tucker. I have always used a lot of photographs on my blogs ... and I miss not being out and about with my camera.

The Trad Pad has been my blog for the lovely things of life. The controversial or political has seldom intruded. Occasionally, the spiritual has found its way in, but I kept spirituality for the blog, Desert. I don't yet know if I will revive that. I will stick pretty much to food and the lovely things of life. If I have some regularity with those two categories, I feel that I will be doing well. I hope that, with this blog new friendships can be formed and old friendships renewed; new lovelies discovered; new reflections can enter into the meaning of modern life. I would love to hear from you - particularly if you have suggestions for new topics to enter into the conversation. So, it is a new year. Let's see what it has in store, what it can bring to us. And I hope that those who share the spirit of The Trad Pad can spread the message of a world of beauty, the creativity of humanity, and the joys of simplicity and tradition. ~~~ February, 2017

Sunday, December 30, 2007

A month of Christmas - the supersized post

BEWARE! VERY LONG POST!

CHRISTMAS : The Prologue
December has been a month in which blogging has been problematic and spasmodic. First of all, there turned out to be the busy-ness of the Christmas season. This took me somewhat by surprise. This has been my first Christmas out of paid employment (I re-entered the workforce in 1977) when my health has been good. My life is scaled down and my energies are transferred into gardening and gleaning. I try to avoid membership in organisations that demand responsibilities and turning up on specific dates for meetings. I have become, through the limitations of ill health, expert in revising my plans. Not only can I retreat from Plan A to Plan B, I can retreat through the whole alphabet down to Plan Z. And without guilt - because I can't afford that.

But since September, my health is the best it has been in something like ten years. I have an occasional hiccup in the way of an "off" day but I am soon up and at it again. And I am quite determined to be up and at it again to build up stamina and endurance. Seven months of varying doses of anti-biotics have undergirded this return to health.

Financially, of course, things have had to operate on a different scale as I have become dependent on a restricted income. I learned long ago about the lilies and this lesson has been re-inforced across the years. To this early lesson has been added the principle of restoration. The precision with which the lessons of restoration have come into my life has never ceased to amaze me: even to having restored to me like for like. Not a substitute or something better - but a like object!
THE JOLLITIES BEGIN


St Thom's (in Autumn) : home base of my Community of Faith

So into this simpler and quieter time, the slightest ruffle of busy-ness can be quite surprising. I shouldn't have been surprised, though, because I had recently made two organisational commitments at St Thom's, my local community of faith.

Firstly, since about August, I have organised - along with two other women - a group called Dawn of Life. This is a support group for those who have lost their life partners through death. We are a group of about a dozen - mostly women as one would expect demographically - and we are growing as word spreads beyond the confines of St Thom's.

Secondly, there was a call for more people to participate in Open Church ministry. This is a commitment to keep the doors of St Thom's open each day, Monday to Friday, from 10am to 2pm.

So many churches in our urban/suburban centres are locked up tight against casual entry. St Thom's does not want to be part of this. We want our facility to be a place for people to come aside: to be quiet, to think, to rest, to pray. In winter time, we even provide a blanket and a heater for your comfort. We are also there if people need help or a referral relating to a need. So the fridge carries casseroles, there are vouchers for travel, for food. If needed, we have a pastoral care team to call on. Open Church sees itself very much in the Christian tradition of hospitality. Open Church = Open Door.

The time slot I was asked to fill was on Tuesday morning. The Tuesday morning timeslot happens to include a Bible Study group so, while bearing in mind my primary responsibility for being there, I participate in the Bible Study.

So here I found myself in the middle of three groups - two of which decided to have Christmas break-up lunches.

For the Dawn of Life lunch, two of us took overall responsibility i.e. having fallback positions if contributions were lop-sided. It was a great success and I had meant to take pictures. I took the camera. But was so involved in the whole thing, I completely forgot. So the beautiful table settings laden with Christmas candles, Christmas trees, and Christmas gifts can't be shown. Neither the stacks of beautiful food we had to feast upon. There is no sign of the Christmas Creche nor the large Christmas Tree. How could I have forgotten such an opportunity?

For the Bible Study break-up, my participation was not so centrally responsible but I did do the roast chickens with herb stuffing as I had done for Dawn of Life. So much nicer, we all agreed, than the over-the-counter roast chickens with the stuffing that no one seemed very keen on. Each lunch was a beautiful, friendly occasion which we all enjoyed. But as intrusions into a quiet life, they were quite eventful. Again, I forgot the camera.

But I do have some other pictures.

THE FRIENDSHIP TABLE

During the lead up to Christmas I was working on a project that has become my pride and joy. During 2007, I have discovered how much I love gleaning. I always have, I suppose, but this year it has taken on a whole new glow and focus as I have immersed myself in exploring the hard rubbish in, on and around Melbourne footpaths.

My ventures or adventures have been well rewarded.

My pride and joy (sorry, I don't have a before picture) is a dining table. It is strong and sturdy and this brought it home. It had a varnish or french polish finish but had been left in the weather. The varnish, what was left of it, had turned an olive green colour and the table top, which had borne the brunt of the elements, was rough.

Now, it is painted and decoupaged and glittered and I call it my Friendship Table and I look forward to many friendly moments around it. The pink free-form ribbon is as artistic as this non-artistic person is ever going to get, I believe.




THE GLEAN SCREEN
This was not the only glean to enter the Spirit of Christmas. In the background of the picture immediately above, can be seen a glimpse of the screen. When I first brought it home, Herself and I thought it would get painted and end up in the guest bedroom. Now, it well may be that this will happen in due course - but it ended up here in the carport with the Friendship Table. Because, you see dear Reader, the carport is where the table lives and the addition of the screen made it something else again. Through the screen we can look out to the back garden and that gives a whole new perspective. From the carport we can look out at the Dandenong Ranges National Park through a huge Red Gum on the footpath across the road. A beautiful vista.















The screen had to be decorated. This was done with floral garlands, some Christmas trimmings, and some Christian symbols. Which lead to the next thing.

THE CHRISTMAS BOWER

The ceiling of the carport was far from attractive. It is awful. But we could do nothing about that. But, delving into The Trad Pad treasures and provisions, some useful things came up. An evergreen garland, some Christmas wreaths, lace netting, and a pretty bauble - and, next thing, our live-in carport became a Christmas Bower.

One more thing needed to be dealt with. Our garden tap also lives in the carport - beside the back step. Underneath is a circle of dirt surrounded by stone with the rest of floor in the carport being concrete. Why this is so, we haven't a clue. Some months ago, I had potted lots of the pups from my chlorophytum plants. Now they have come into their own...

THE CHRISTMAS BLOGGING LUNCH

But first of all, there was the blogging lunch with Connie and Gina on the Thursday before Christmas. Connie only lives a suburb away and we had been planning to get together for s-o-o long and, at last, it did happen. It was wonderful to meet Connie. She is beautiful and vibrant and so creative. A charmer in every sense of the word. She came with flowers.

Gina will be no stranger to readers of this blog. She and Miss Eagle have been on many an adventure together. And we have more planned for '08.

One adventure will involve stirring the possum. For those of you who don't speak Strine (Australian), stirring the possum means livening things up. Livening things in this context usually means waking people up and making them think or take action. As well as opp-shop treasure hunting, Gina and Miss Eagle share a passionate concern about the direction that community care for the aged is taking. We hope to take this concern further - Gina already has with a specific blog - so expect further news. As well, we have some exploration in the pipeline. Again, expect further news.

Gina came bearing gifts - wonderful pressies. And, of course, Gina is proud of the opp-shopping that yielded these gifts on the shortest of shoe-strings. When she told me how little she paid, I accused her of opp-shop-lifting!

Gina picked up on my predelictions.

Christmas wreaths of my own making next year?


Herself has taken a liking to this & it is on display in one of her corners.

The heart shaped cookie cutters will be doing something different.


The yumminess of this is phenomenal...and with peanut butter!

And these candles are so swish!

I love biscuit and chocolate tins. These wonderful bikkies (well, I haven't opened the tin yet to taste them) has an old fashioned Aussie picture on it titled "Wet Ball" - from the dog slavering over it!


The wrapping paper! That is being kept for decoupage!

TECHNOLOGY DISASTERS

The day before our lunch my computer collapsed. My usual repairer was not taking any new work until January 2. He was helpful and provided another number but, to date, there has been no reply. Away? Overloaded with work? This had followed the "Honey, Blogger shrunk my header" episode. In the aftermath of this, I have discovered three column blogs - so if you pop over to Desert and to Oz Tucker you will notice a difference.

After a couple of days, a lot of patience and stretching my computer skills further than ever, I was able to get back in to find that my back up drive appears to have been corrupted. I can retrieve files but they will not open. These include all my pictures. I had uploaded my total collection to Picasa - from which all except a few have disappeared. I have a couple of other spots where photos are placed - but not the entire collection as I have always done with Picasa. So - so much for Picasa! Now in the last couple of days I am unable to download photos from my card through my card reader.

All this has taken time - precious time. And, as you are aware dear Reader, there are times that life has to be lived not interfered with by a computer nor talking about it on a blog!

SANTA ARRIVES IN UPPER GULLY
On the Sunday before Christmas, the CFA (Country Fire Authority) brought its usual Christmas good wishes to the citizens of Upper Gully with Santa arriving in the fire ute.

Santa arrives in Tarana Avenue...
...with his helpers
Santa and his helper greet our neighbour, Betty
The residents of Tarana Avenue farewell Santa
PS: Miss Eagle got a cuddle from Santa

JESUS: THE REASON FOR THE SEASON


The Nativity Scene at The Trad Pad

The dining room table. But we were't going to eat there.
The sideboard...
...with the collection of Rosemary's cakes...
...which don't get eaten but have become an integral party of the Christmas decor.

Then it was Christmas Eve. I attended two services: the kid-centred Family Service and Midnight Mass at St Thom's.



The theme of the Family Service was Signs. So many signs. How do we read the signs. How do we get a true perspective.

A wonderful, involving activity was a central feature - involving a hunt for angels which were signs of a jigsaw piece nearby. When it was thought all angels were found, a crucial piece was still missing. I thought there was something suspicious about the angel dangling from the Rev. Susanne's scarf and that bulge under her jacket!

All the Advent candles and the Christ Candle were lit

The floral arrangements were beautiful.


The Congregation was youthful...

...and did justice to the refreshments afterwards!

THE BIG DAY

Christmas Day was quiet - three single women in the Christmas Carport Bower. Herself, Miss Eagle, and Lee. A southern hemisphere summer Christmas lunch with seafood, cheese platters, cold chicken, salads, cold plum pudding and custard and very chilly champagne. The conversation and friendship was wonderful. And we have a plan to work on jointly. Sometime about April, we think!

THE REALLY BIG PRESSIE

Last, but not least, I want to tell you about the Christmas parcel from my sister The Director. I have taken photos - but the technology won't allow me to download. We were rather gobsmacked. A beautiful woollen shawl for me - perfect for the cool of a midnight mass - and snazzy black and white drop earrings for Herself. But the stunner was this large bag - large enough to wear on the shoulder and quite commodious. I wish you could see it, dear Reader. I know you would recognize the brand immediately. A clue? Think of an L and think of a V!

Now, Miss Eagle can be a bit clueless. She wouldn't know the difference between a Hermes and a Fendi - let alone a knock off from the real thing. Herself has a better eye - and she thinks this is the real thing.

The Director's corporate style adds up to it being the real thing. We think she would not be caught dead with a knock off LV. However, we know what a canny shopper The Director is and how she loves travelling regularly in Asia - the home of knock offs. Either way Miss E is thrilled to bits: because the bag in style and dimension suits her. So useful, so commodious. The brand? A beautiful bonus. Thank you, dear sister.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Christmas, nostalgia and Victoriana

Christmas is THE season for nostalgia and imagination. It always amazes me how humankind has certain pictures in its collective head which seem to be culturally pre-programmed. For instance, in this driest continent on earth we hanker for green lawns and European style gardens - even when we use native plants. People who live in tropical and sub-tropical Australia seem to have this deep yearning to plant palm trees - in spite of the fact that there are only one or two species native to Australia - and they are not coastal and nor do they bear coconuts.

A drop of Anglo blood seems to program one for a predeliction for a Victorian or Dickensian Christmas even if it can never be a white one in Australia.

So, dear Reader, if you have not yet discovered Victoriana magazine, get yourself over there for inspiration on trimming the tree, different cards, and activities for children. It is a delight.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

How does my garden grow?

It has been raining at Upper Gully since early this morning...
...a soft gentle rain unlike the storm and flooding of nearly two weeks ago.

The temperature is now 15.4 degrees Celsius - on a December day in Summer!

We have had 7.6mm of rain - just over a quarter on an inch.

The wheelbarrow bunch are doing their own thing...

just going crazy.

These Romas Tomatoes may turn out to be the first of the crop. The Oregano sits in a tub in an old laundry trolley.

It is going crazy - trailing everywhere!

These are my pride and joy. The best of my Sugar Loaf Cabbages.

I can't buy sugar loafs in the supermarkets or markets in Melbourne.

I have never grown cabbages before...but, if it's the only way to have sugar loafs....

Sugar Loaf Cabbages are the most delightful, sweetest cabbages...

perfect for coleslaw.

The hanging baskets look sweet.



I am thrilled with my hydrangea.

I bought two teeny-weeny ones three years ago.

They have been in tubs....

until this summer when I have turned them loose.

They are rewarding me with flowers which are white, through pink, to mauve.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

A photographic walk

Upper Gully from Glenfern Road - home of The Trad Pad

Gina has posted on a recent walk. Set off on a l-o-n-g walk from The Trad Pad on Monday. I walked up Glenfern Road, turned into Ferndale Road, walked past the Sherbrooke Archers meeting ground, took a diversion along a creek, walked by Gilmour Park and its lake complete with ducks.
Then I came to the beginning of suburbia with lovely mountainside homes. I stopped to chat to a newer resident who had purchased a home with an overgrown garden and he was doing battle with rampant ivy over the rock wall. He was interesting - a retired horticulturalist with a penchant for cacti and succulents.

On my walk, I was able to feast upon wild apricots and plums. I took pictures of some beautiful "weeds": rampant convolvulus "Morning Glory" intermingled with agapanthus. Agapanthus is beautiful but it has found its way into our close-by national park. It does look beautiful - the mauve blossom against the grey eucalypt trunks - but it is indeed an interloper there.

And then it was down into Upper Gully village and home by a walking/bike path tucked away behind the main shopping roads. And then past the Neighbourhood House and School, across the park, along the creek and home. Two and half hours on the hoof and on the loose and here are the photographs:

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Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Only a bird in a gilded cage?



Karen Murphy says:

Years ago, when I first went into the world and embraced feminism as an equalising movement, not one based on hatred, resentment or superiority, my mother expressed doubts.
She said that she foresaw a time when women would be under more pressure, rather than less, with less respect rather than more, falling further behind rather than stepping out in front.
Then I thought her fearful and reactionary.
Now I think her wise.

Miss Eagle didn't have the prescience in this matter of Karen's mother. But I do give her some credit.

Miss Eagle's feminist credentials have always been sound. I was never in the radical, separatist camp. And I didn't swap my husband for a same sex partner. I have always called myself a fair-go-feminist or, more technically, an equalitarian.

I wanted a fair go: a fair go to be myself, not to be impeded because of my gender or marital status or fertility or child caring and rearing responsibilities. I love men - or some of them. And I care about the way some men are treated and how many of them - for one reason or another - don't get a fair go. I wanted to earn the good money the boys always ensured for themselves. I wanted women to cease to be their own worst enemies by their always-trying-to-please-mentality. I was sick and tired of a system that kept women happy by giving them a nice title, a nice office, don't-get-your-hands-dirty work, and lousy pay.

I hate Secretary's Day. To show appreciation to and for your Secretary/PA/EA, forget the ad in the paper. Ditch the roses. Give her decent money, time flexibility, a fair degree of autonomy, treat her as a professional member of the team, and value her work!

And titles. One of the feminist trademarks was "Ms." Even down to Gloria Steinem's magazine. But Ms was an indication that marital status was my business not yours. And believe me the stories that abounded back in the 70s in relation to single mothers and their treatment by electricity companies!

To Miss Eagle, the title is important. So important that she doesn't want any. She was not born with a title. She is not a miss - nor has she been missed.

I have a first name, a middle name, a last name. You can call me by my first name (my preference - even if you are a six year old) or you can call me by my last name. I don't want Miss, Ms, or Mrs. This has been the Quaker way for the last 350 years. If there is a Quaker title, it is merely Friend.

As for how to address the mail, use names or initials. Ms has still not lost the stigma of being a very, very radical title. Rubbish, poppycock and horsefeathers! Any good old fashioned stenographer will tell you that when you don't know the title of a woman (whether it is Miss or Mrs) you can always write M/s. This was the forerunner of the feminist Ms.

Many organisations - business, political, feminist - have, since the 70s, always addressed their mail Ms. But imagine my shock in recent times when I received a letter from Kevin Rudd address to me as Mrs.... !

Now, for those of you who are archaic, yes I am a Mrs. But I don't wish to be called Mrs and how dare Kevin or who ever prepared that letter assume, since they are complete strangers, my marital status. It is none of their ever-so-polite business. Why could the letter not have been addressed to FirstName LastName or FirstName Middle Name/Middle Initial Last Name. The salutation could have been Dear FirstName. What is so difficult about that? What is so bad mannered about that?

And then what bugs me is that, so often, computer programs give no option. Very few in the title box have an option saying "None". So I pick my own - if someone is willing to play along. My favourite Melbourne book store sends me their catalogue - courtesy of the assistance of a rather cute young man on a sunny Melbourne morning - using the title Saint: Saint First Name Last Name. Heaven knows what the postie thinks!

Back to Mrs Murphy and her prescience. Is she right? Julia Gillard is now next to the top of the tree and there are a lot more visible women in public and corporate life than ever before. Our efforts have not been for nought. But even more visible are the sexual libertarians and their camp (no: not gay: ancient phrase) followers.

Karen Murphy explicitly lays the blame and I support her:

And I blame women because winning equality and respect was always going to be our fight, wives and mothers, sisters, friends and colleagues, but we seem to have walked away before serious battle was even joined.
Capitalism lurks somewhere behind it, of that there is no doubt, the notion that earning money is without a moral component. But it goes deeper than that, as if we have all been sold the emperor's new clothes of sexual glamour.
No, ladies, it's not glamorous, it's just naked.
In particular, I hold to account:
■All the lap dancers, strippers, topless barmaids and well-educated prostitutes who do it for the money.
■Women participating in pornography.
■Women who post tawdry "raunch" photos of themselves on the internet.
■Women who model in degrading advertisements (think Windsor Smith shoes) who do it for the money.
■Women who have cosmetic surgery just when their faces are becoming interesting, and breast enhancements to make themselves desirable.

■Women who claim they have Brazilian waxes for themselves.
■Women who refuse to have an argument with their male partners over the sharing of household duties.
■Women who have caesareans so that their vaginas remain tight.
■Women who claim stiletto heels are comfortable.
■Mothers who give their daughters make-up or hair dye before they turn 10, and are more likely to ask if the child has a favourite boy at school rather than a favourite subject.
■All the women who participate in soft-porn music clips.
■All the women who do pole dancing instead of a non-sexual gym workout.
■All the actresses that strip when their careers are in trouble.
■All the female sports stars that strip to raise money.
■Those women who still believe it is more important to be beautiful on the outside than the inside.

Is this what the liberation of women, the freedom of choice and social movement for women is all about? If so, as Mrs Murphy predicted, it has devalued the currency. Not only has the currency of the free will of women being devalued but it is affecting our children, particularly our daughters and our grand-daughters.

We now have people who consider pole dancing a mainstream activity appropriate for teaching to little girls. We now have sexually-inspired clothes for little girls. Our little girls are not only playing with their mothers' cosmetics but seriously wearing cosmetics at a younger age than ever before.

The women who use their freedom for only these practices have sold their birthright for a mess of pottage. Instead of building wider horizons for themselves, they have narrowed the supposedly gilded cage. There is a wide and beautiful world out there waiting for women to explore and make their own. There are those who want to encase us in heavy clothes and imprison us in our homes and leave us naked on our beds.

We have to continue to fight to establish ourselves in the physical, mental and spiritual freedom our Creator Spirit intended for us.

Monday, December 03, 2007

Water, water everywhere in the Outer East.

The previous post was talking about our lack of water and water restrictions. Clearly, a day is a long time in weather and climate. This afternoon, there was no shortage of water in the Outer Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Huge downpours this afternoon and flash flooding all over the place.

For the first time in three years, the creek in front of our house is full and flowing: flowing fast, in fact.












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