Easter, The Trad Pad and Life

Easter was a subdued occasion at The Trad Pad due to Miss Eagle's descent into illness once again. Suspicion is now centering on an allergy or sensitivity to antibiotics which is to be explored further.

As you have seen, dear Reader, Miss Eagle and herself have placed little preludes to Easter around the Pad. Miss E decided she wanted something like a Tree of Life to celebrate Easter. The Tree of Life is an ancient idea. And Miss E wanted to move away, at least a little, from bunnies and eggs. True, they symbolise new life but, do admit, dear Reader, they are commercialised and over-used.

So Herself set about the execution of the idea. Now, dear Reader, Miss E doubts that we got far enough away from bunnies and eggs, but there are butterflies and beautiful ribbon and the peonies are flamboyant and profligate (and they light up at night).

See what you think!

The Trad Pad Tree of Life

Detail -The Tree of Life

MAY YOU AND YOURS, DEAR READER,

BE RICHLY BLESSED WITH THE HOPE AND ENERGY OF NEW LIFE

AT THIS EASTERTIDE

Tap dancing to May

More Fun Quizzes at QuizPox.com
Over at Two Homes, Patty decided she needed a distraction while doing wonders for her new Art Room. So she takes the blame/credit for referral to this quiz site. Please keep up those prayers and hugs so that come May 25th, Miss Eagle will not only fly but have a decent tap dance in her.

Signs of Easter - 3

Some favourite things are in this spot. Miss Eagle's dear departed Dearly Beloved owned the chess table. The crocheted rug in the basket is a UFO from Miss Eagle's late mother, Phyl. Phyl had been doing this for her grandson, Sam, when she died. Miss Eagle's sister and Sam's mother, The Director, does not crochet so Miss E volunteered. After fifteen years and Sam nearly 30, Miss E is nearly finished. We shall see if winter brings a conclusion!
The ducks are favourites of Miss E which belonged to long-since-departed great-uncles.

The pencil and quill belong to Herself and come from Il Papero.

Eggs in a basket of moss. Easter is on the way.

The phone book and a feather

A block of wood - and art and beauty

Over at Getting Stitched, Kristin has posted with an update about Mary Azarian and her work. Now, dear Reader, your correspondent, Miss Eagle, cannot quite recall how she found out about Mary A. Perhaps, Kristin did a previous post. But twelve months or more ago, Miss E 'discovered' the wonderful work of Mary Azarian, woodcut artist.
Miss Eagle purchased Mary Azarian's The Gardener's Alphabet over the net as a birthday gift for Herself. Miss E would provide the link for you, dear Reader, but it seems to be broken or disappeared.
Kristen says that Mary confirmed her belief that it takes time, practice, and plain hard work to build any artist's or business' reputation. The lonely toiling-on develops style, techniques, talent, and skills which sometimes (but not always) turns into success on a commercial level. Love what you do and keep doing it, having faith that someone, somewhere will recognize your talent. Try not to get discouraged if success takes longer to obtain than you would ever have thought it would.



Sounds a lot like our endeavours with our blogs and our collections and our craft and creativity don't you think?

Mary Azarian

Signs of Easter - 2

Under the glassy dome, are little green eggs in a variety of designs.

Easter is the season of new life.

Green is an appropriate colour for Easter.

The green shoots of renewed life.

Green is also the colour of hope.

New life and hope: the elements of the Easter message.

Signs of Easter - 1

Now how did that Bunny get there!

The Pie of Life

Miss Eagle is a dedicated Leunig fan. There are times when the words of Leunig are the word of God into her life: pastoral, prophetic. To-day is such a day.

THE PIE OF LIFE

The pie of life

Is hurled into your face

Every day.

But that is no disgrace.

A life worth living gets splattered on your shirt -

And though you're shocked

And rather deeply hurt;

These pies of life

Which fly out of the blue:

You're made for them

And they were made for you.

Thank you, Michael Leunig, from the bottom of my heart. I needed that. This quirky verse and its wonderful illustrations are meditation, perspective, and encouragement.

Miss Eagle takes a turn for the worst

Well, dear Reader, this week has hardly measured high on the enjoyment richter scale. You see, Miss Eagle's health has not been good over the last twelve months because of a recurrent and persistent ailment. Last Tuesday, matters took a new twist, a turn for the worst, and the result was admission to the Angliss Hospital. These photos are the result.

Here is the patient in bed:
This was the getting well gear: a saline drip with lots of antibiotics injected into it.
Breakfast was simple. The food is very limited. Standard Australian Diet (SAD by abbreviation and SAD by nature) cooked without salt and neither salt nor pepper provided. Why not a salt substitute? Why no other herbs or spices? And how do they get mashed potato to the consistency they do? Scorecard? Someone, somewhere can certainly do better.
There was no nice print on the wall nor an interesting poster. The wall decor consisted of a clock - to watch time fly, no doubt:

and this. Should it be named Modern Hospital Installation? Exciting, do you think?
Thanks to Mother Nature and some large window space, one wall afforded the opportunity for some beauty. Wednesday was grey, but Thursday was beautifully sunny and the Dandenong Ranges National Park enchanted me once again.
The focus became the Bedside Table
Some good reading and a journal to express Miss E's thoughts and feelings took care of quite a bit of time,
as well a lovely magazine
writing about home decor.

Thank you to the wonderful medical, nursing, and radiological staff. Miss E particularly appreciated the hardwork of the Emergency Department staff under the leadership - at least as far as Miss E was concerned - of Danny Ben Eli. A girl can still fall in love with a doctor, can't she? And she had two roommates during her stay - older single women like Miss E, namely Jenny and Henrietta. Miss E hopes they are, quite literally, on their feet soon. And Miss E was pleased to see Lois - part of her community of faith at St Thom's, Upper Gully - who is on the chaplaincy team at the Angliss.

Colours of Provence

Miss Eagle, dear Reader, in a previous incarnation owned a gift, homewares and decorating shoppe. One of her suppliers, sending their wares thousands of kilometers to the tropical north, was Colours of Provence. To-day, your correspondent discovered that she is still on the e-mail list. CoP has written informing, nay bragging, that they have six containers arriving at their Southbank showroom between February and April. Not only did they write, they sent pictures. Needless to say, their usual beautiful stuff. Decorating porn!

Miss E informed Herself. Herself only hissed one word - "Drugs!"

And indeed. Such promotion to addicts. Smack for addicts. Total abstinence required - but can we make it? Will we resist temptation - or will we pay it a visit???

A corner of my world - 1

A corner of the living room at The Trad Pad - beside a big squishy couch.

A place for relaxing and sleeping with furry friends.

Cutting it? These take the biscuit....

Over at Pear Tree Cottage!, Lee-ann has displayed a marvellous collection of cookie cutters. Miss Eagle loves biscuit cutters too so here are hers. Some, Miss E has had for quite a while - but they are not the oldies and goodies that live at Pear Tree Cottage!

Drought

Photo by John Mitchell
And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Isaiah 58:11 / KJV

Ode to an Opp Shop 3

Isn't it delightful.

And Miss Eagle has an idea.

Does anyone out there in the blogosphere want to come to play?

Miss Eagle is suggesting a day - a Saturday or a Sunday - in Upper Gully.

There is the PWP Opp Shop which opens Saturday and Sunday.

There are the Upper Ferntree Gully Markets open Saturday and Sunday.

We could lunch at the Royal Hotel.

Or we could drive ten minutes up into the Dandenongs to Sassafras.

We could browse the tea leaves and the tea pots at Tea Leaves.

We could lunch at Ripe.

Miss E thinks this could be a planning day for a major blogshopping onslaught on Opp Shops. Gina from Patra's Other Place has THE BOOK.

She knows where seams of gold are to be mined.

Perhaps Leanne from Pear Tree Cottage could be prevailed upon to notch up a mile or three to Melbourne.
Word has it that Sharon from Beyond the Blank Page might be showing some interest.

Sharon has not forgotten that she wasn't able to join Gina and Miss Eagle on their marvellous day last year.

So, dear Reader, have a thunk!

If you think you could stand the strain of a day in Upper Gully, if you could get your head around planning a blogshopping event please drop me a line off the sidebar.

Miss Eagle expects to hear from you soon!

Ode to an Opp Shop 2

Here are more photos of the Parents Without Partners Opp Shop at beautiful Upper Ferntree Gully. What can one say - I just marvel at it.

Ode to an Opp Shop 1

Parents Without Partners operate an Opp Shop at Upper Ferntree Gully. Last year, the shop front became a giant canvas/workspace as Work for the Dole participants in Knox City executed a wonderful mural entitled "Jungle Rhapsody". The work is huge and gorgeous. Miss Eagle doesn't know how long it took to paint, or how many people were involved but she does know it took quite a while to photograph it.

The family that tables together.......

Throughout history, humans have tabled together to break bread.

The simple ritual of the shared meal reunites us with our families and brings balance to our lives.

These words are taken from the review of Art Smith's book, Back to the Table: The Reunion of Food and Family. Art is Oprah's personal chef.

Counterbalance this with the views of Australian educationists that more children than ever are present at school with language difficulties. And what do they think is to blame:

"Families aren't sitting around the dinner table any more every night talking about what's happened during the day and engaging with the children," Ms Trimper said.
"Children are sitting in front of televisions more and computers playing computer games. It's dinner in front of the television, video games after dinner, or parents both working and time poor — all those issues have to impact on children."

Back in 2005, Miss Eagle recalls hearing or reading that Kathy Letts, that well-known expatriate Australian, had rid her London house of the dining room table so that the room could become a home theatre. Miss E was horrified. Letts was reported as saying that, if the family wanted to eat together, they went out to eat. More horror!

What about privacy - what if something unforeseen invaded mealtime: argument and debate, outrageous laughter and hysteria, practical jokes. All of these Miss E knows can arise at family meal time and a good thing too. But what happens in a restaurant or some public eating place: a child’s terror of having to behave?

The failure to table together as a family shows no respect: no respect for the food, where it came from, the person who prepared it. It shows no respect for ourselves and what connects us to life and to each other. And now the kids are paying the price at that most basic form of human connection, language.

In Britain, there is now a movement called Back to the Table - because Mealtime is Realtime they say. There are some big names swinging behind the campaign - including celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay.

Miss Eagle would love to hear from you, dear Reader, on this subject: your projects involving food and kids; kids recipes; fun meal time stories etc. If you want to email me to include your contributions as a post complete with pictures, all the better. If you really have something to say about families, food, and connection you might also like to guest on Food from Oz. Please email me.

Lets put fun, families, and people into meals. Let's get rid of the pit stop mentality where food is just a refuelling of whatever is handy. Let's take time to think about our food, how it is produced, where it comes from. Then let's take time with its preparation. And above all, let's take time for one another.