One of life's little mysteries

While I was waiting for the train this morning at Upper Gully station, I decided to have a Pepsi Max from the vending machine. Paid my money, pressed the button, and then came the thud in the bottom of the machine. I put my hand in to retrieve the PM and pulled out a green can of VB. The PM was also there - but what was the full can of VB doing there and icy cold as well?! Two other ladies waiting for the train didn't want it, the man on the ticket counter didn't drink, and I certainly didn't want it - now, if it had only been champagne.....

So the icy cold VB went in the garbage bin - and officially became an LLM.

Going bush

I love going bush. It's why I own a station wagon which has a rubber mattress in the back and I can camp in it. My favourite part of the bush is the outback and I have spent a good bit of my life there. So I am enjoying and thrilled to bits with Going Bush, a documentary starring Cathy Freeman and Deborah Mailman. Cathy and Deb are North Queensland girls like me. In fact, when I was a librarian at the Mount Isa Public Library in north-west Queensland, I remember the Mailman girls coming in to the library. While Cathy was born in Mackay, she too spent part of her life in north-west Queensland in Hughenden. Going Bush is fun - Cathy and Deborah are open faced and open hearted and identify so readily with their surroundings. If you haven't caught up with it yet, don't miss the chance for some telly viewing that is fun and heartwarming.

An incredible story of hardship and triumph

ABC's morning program First Person is always worth listening to. For the past few weeks, Noel Tovey has been reading his book, Little Black Bastard. It is a stunning story - and this week, particularly to-day, I have been in tears. His story is not only one of survival upon survival upon survival, it is a triumph of the human spirit. I become a sucker for these sort of stories when they have a spiritual component - and Noel's certainly has this. It is a thread that runs through the story - not dominating it but like a thread that runs behind a piece of fabric that is only drawn visibly to the front occasionally. I don't want to give details of the story but let's say that I now want to read the book for myself.

The crop keeps on croppin'

Enough tomatoes to make Tomato Relish.
This relish is made from yellow tomatoes.
Red tomatoes make red relish.
The yellow tomato relish is brown.
It tastes delish.
Recipe can be found at Food from Oz.

The 99 cent challenge

My response to The Felt Mouse's 99 cent challenge.

The Aussie-Irish Cool & Casual Sporting Bloke's Lunch

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE CHALLENGE

The Felt Mouse issued a challenge. The 99 cent challenge. Table setting with goods coming from a 99 cent store. I had to indulge in special pleading because in Oz we don't have 99 cent shops - we have $2 ones. Is this due to inflation or the rate of exchange with the US$? I had to take advice because I don't go to these sort of shops. Not because I'm snooty. It's because I am practical - you get the quality you pay for. Eventually, I resorted to the Yellow Pages and finished up making my purchases at the Boronia $2 Shop and Go-Lo in the Boronia Mall.

EVOLUTION OF A THEME

I started off thinking I would focus my theme on February 1, the Feast of St Brigid - my saint's day. I'm rather fond of Brigid. She is important to the Irish - right up there and even stevens with St Patrick. So this meant Emerald Green. Not just any green. It had to be Emerald Green. But as I went shopping yellow began to intrude - which looks rather good with the green. So good that green and gold are Australian's sporting colours and they are seen everywhere - and with a Boxing Kangaroo.

So the Aussie-Irish Cool & Casual Sporting Bloke's Lunch was born. And it is not so far-fetched. Here in Melbourne where Australian Rules Football is a religion, it is a great disappointment that there is no international competition - because it is a homegrown game - like Rugby Union and Rugby League have. However, the AFL has moved some way to a solution. You see Gaelic Football has a similar difficulty and its game is not too dissimilar to Aussie Rules.. So Ireland and Australia play one another in International Rules Football. I am sure St Brigid would smile on this and approve my Aussie-Irish sporting themed lunch.

THE CENTRE PIECE

As you can see, the centrepiece pays tribute to the colours of both nations. The Green, Orange and White of Ireland and the Green and Gold of the Land of Oz. The balloons are set into a plastic terracotta flowerpot (taken from someone's hardwaste on a footpath) covered with emerald green rope. On the left is a genuine imitation Australian cricket cap (more like the one-day-er cap - not the real test-match baggy green). On the right is a little bit of me in the form of a decoupaged glass cup and saucer. Around the saucer are real Aussie Macadamia Melts and in the cup is green "rock candy". Now that "rock candy" might do for Americans but it is an unAustralian name. We would call these green and white boiled lollies.

THE MENU

The meal comprised tinned PMU Corned Beef (I didn't realise it was still made); Potato Salad; Asparagus; Marinated mushrooms in chili; and olives. The salad is served on paper plates in cane holders (the holders came from hardwaste on a footpath). The place mats are non-stick liners purchased in a roll and cut to size. The cutlery cost nothing - inherited from my aunt as was the table. The table is covered in table runners cut from alfoil.

THE DOLLARS AND THE CENTS

Olives - $2; Macadamia Melts - $2; Corned Beef - $2; Asparagus - $2; Rope - $2.99; Potato Salad - $1.50; Mushrooms - $2; Boiled Lollies - $2; Souvenir Cap - $5.99; Plates - $2; Balloons - $2; Alfoil - $2; Non-stick liners - $2. Well under the $40 limit.

THE UPSHOT

I am amazed at Jenn's tour-de-force. An example to us all - quite a clear talent. Mine is light-hearted and, because it was a sticky and busy day, cooking was not on the agenda. I forgot to put any cups or glasses on the table but I figured the blokes would bring their own beer in stubbies complete with stubby coolers, wouldn't they? As for the food, I threw it out. Not what I would want to serve my guests - and I hate to think what the fat conten would be in the tinned corned beef and the dressing with the potato salad. But then the setting and the shop and the cost was the thing, wasn't it? If you want some decent Oz Tucker get across to Food from Oz at http://oztucker.blogspot.com where I am attempting to put my hand written recipes and my clippings and associated stuff on the net and hoping some non-Australians will do as Barb from Woof Nanny does, and trade some information and comments.

The Crop

My tomatoes are really starting to crop now - with all the heat and rain. I have three tomato plants which spread themselves everywhere and I have to stake, and stake, and stake them to keep them up off the ground. The three tomato plants include two heirloom varieties - the yellow tomato, the little Black Russian, in addition to the popular Don Burke Italian variety. The Black Russians aren't really black, except when they are photographed. They are a very dark red with the top part of the fruit being on the way to black. I have discovered that the yellow tomato should not be put in a bowl with navel oranges - until you get close you can't tell them apart. Homegrown tomatoes are wonderful and flavoursome. You can use plenty of compost or organic fertiliser and not use inorganic chemicals and pesticides. And, with growing them, comes a sense of virtue and achievement.

La Coupole is just her cup of tea

Herself is an out-and-out Francophile and has a couple of trips to Paris under her belt and, of course, visited La Coupole. La Coupole was at its height between the wars when Hemingway and Picasso were habitues just to name two. But the souvenir Limoges cup and saucer were brought back for her by a friend who knew how she loved the place.

The pen from Il Papiro

Herself indulged this week and left a goodly sum behind at Il Papiro in Degraves Street. For those who have not discovered Il Papiro, stepping through its door is like stepping into a shop in an arcade in Florence. She purchased a quill pen with nib and some little business cards blanks which she has me putting the details on in my best calligraphy. Anything to do with paper is there in the most wonderful Italian designs. Just the place for the purchase of a special gift!

The Journey after Lapbanding - 5

Yesterday was the day of my first adjustment to my lapband. Adjustments happen periodically. This means an injection in the upper part of one's abdoment of water into a "port" that is connected to the lapband. The addition of water tightens the lapband. Conversely, the lapband can be adjusted by the removal of water. Following the operation to insert the lapband, no water was inserted. So this first adjustment was the first insertion of water. I had 4mm of water inserted. The process is a matter of trial and error to ascertain what suits the individual. To ensure that it was not too tight, I was first given a glass of water which went down OK. Then I was given a tiny tub of yoghurt. That went down all right. The whole purpose of the exercise is to ensure that the individual does not get hungry under about four hours. I return two weeks from to-day for a second adjustment. This will be followed by a further assessment six weeks from then to decide if I need a further adjustment. My understanding at this stage is that after that I will probably have to discern for my self when I may need further adjustment.

A couple of aspects of the visit were dismaying. My scales are big dial type scales. They tell me that I have lost approximately 20kg. The scales at the clinic are digital platform scales. They tell me that I have lost approximate 12kg. Now a kilo or two's difference would be understandable - but that much?! I am reminded of what Oprah says: The scales aren't my friend. My measurements were taken and while they had declined slightly it was well, er slight. However, my clothes - which everyone says is the best guide - are getting much looser and I am getting back into clothes that were tight. Even got into a new pair of shoes yesterday. Well - they were new three or four years ago - and have never been worn. In recent times my feet have been swollen. They are no more and, of course, the feet are getting skinnier as the rest of me loses weight. So off I went to the clinic yesterday in a blouse that I had not worn for a while because it was too tight and uncomfortable and in the new shoes - which turned out to be probably the most comfortable pair of new shoes that I had ever been in. Felt really good!

So the story continues. Will let you know what happens after the 9 Feb visit.

Technorati Tags Lapbanding Weight Loss

Smoke getting in your eyes?

To-day is getting warmer and to-morrow promises to be a hot Australia Day - scorching in some parts. I have been out and about to-day: over to Coburg through Northcote and Thornbury this morning and midday found me in Lilydale heading for the hills through Monbulk and Belgrave and back home to Upper Gully. Now if it's that hot perhaps you dream of waving coconut palms. But coconut palms in Melbourne? Someone in Thornbury (or is it Coburg) has solved this problem. The photo above shows a green palm tree complete with yellowy green coconuts. I think it might be made from moulded plastic - note the "carved" effect on the "bark" and the spiky "palm fronds". The sky looks clear blue. Glad the camera was so sympathetic. The reality is that a smoky, smoggy haze from widespread Victorian bushfires covers the inner city extending even to the outer east and the Dandenongs. Even our view of the Dandenongs National Park from our home in Upper Gully is thick with smoke. It makes us think of the firefighters, those who have lost homes and livelihood, and - above all - of those who have lost their precious lives. Our prayers are with you all!

The challenge of the cheap is on....

Jennifer over at The Felt Mouse has issued a challenge. Apparently, in the US they have 99c shops. I pleaded a special case saying that - perhaps because of the exchange rate - we have $2 shops not 99c ones. The challenge includes a table setting + food. Now I don't know of a $2 shop that sells food in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Does anyone out there know of somewhere? Do any of my blog friends in the eastern suburbs range wish to join in either with your own entry or making a joint effort with me? My mind is running along the following lines. Next Wednesday, February 1, is St Brigid's day - and she's my patron saint. Now, in Ireland she is as big as St Patrick - so I'm thinking this could be the theme. Green and shamrocks. Just recently Herself purchased a green dinner set at a Sallies Op Shop. This could be a good start. I think things could go from there. Advice, views, etc most welcome!

Just too darn hot....

It has been too hot too blog. Focussing on cooler things - and hiding out at the movies. There have been a couple of trips up to the Cameo at Belgrave. I saw Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas)and Mrs Henderson Presents.

Joyeux Noel is a true story built into a movie of heart warming schmaltz with a message. Oh that all our current batches of soldier boys would see it and recognize how terribly they can be used - not only by politicians but other powers-that-be in the ruling class. There is no doubt though just how much Germans love Christmas. From the German-speaking culture we get Christmas trees and Silent Night together with all the fun, feasting and spirituality of the season. It is well to note that the Christmas Truce of World War I (and the Americans couldn't be in this one because they hadn't yet joined in) - the fact on which the movie is based - occurred at the first Christmas and didn't happen again. In just a few months, the deaths and the manner of their occurrence in the trenches were horrendous. In the years that followed trench warfare and the hundreds of thousands of lives committeed to it became an obscenity. We try to pretend that all war, any war, that we decide is right is therefore justified - and the movie opened with this and portraying the hateridden propaganda that was let loose in France and Germany and Britain. Humanity across the globe gets itself into all sorts of messes called war - but only occasionally for good reason. But even when the reason is good what happens is not. Joyeux Noel gave an indication of the horrors of war but emphasised the hope of humanity. Our hope is in spirits embedded in ancient traditions - traditions that teach us and help us to remember what it is to be human.
Off to World War II and Mrs Henderson Presents and the Americans did eventually turn up. What can one say about Dame Judi Dench. It seems that the older she gets, the busier she is. These days she seems to be in everything. Her performance as Mrs Henderson is like a mature and well-cellared wine: to be savoured, enjoyed, and dwelt upon. She appears as a cross between The Dowager Queen Mary and the Queen Mother - at one point, complete with tiara. Mrs Henderson is a romantic, a realist, a person of her class with a sensible earthiness which brings her through an extraordinary adventure in The Windmill Theatre. This movie is a tour de force not only for Judi Dench but for Bob Hoskins. Never has he looked so handsome (even in the nude and full frontal), never has he characterized a role so well. Dench and Hoskins are evenly matched - two denizens of British film and theatre. This movie has the fun of comedy, the variety of a musical, and the drama of a wartime movie. The evocation of the Blitz brought back memories of the London bombings of 2005 and reminded me of how well the Poms do stiff-upper-lip in theatre, film, and real life.

These are two wonderful movies to put on your list if you haven't seen them yet. But just ask - wouldn't it be wonderful if we could only look at a world at war in the movies as an historic artifact?

Technorati tags: Joyeux Noel Joyeaux Noel Christmas Truce Silent Night World War I World War II Mrs Henderson Presents Dame Judi Dench Judi Dench Bob Hoskins The Windmill Theatre Blitz

Can cockies count?

Can cockatoos count?
Monday there was one.
Tuesday there were two.
To-day, Wednesday, there were three.
How many to-morrow?
Cockatoos Upper Ferntree Gully

Aging fabulous

The years creeping up on you?

Want a blog from a contemporary?

Want to discuss matters that ageing causes you to think about?

Here's the blog for you.

Aging Ageing

A regular visitor at our place

This person is a regular visitor at The Trad Pad lately.
He comes and crack the seeds of the stone fruit that drops on the ground.
He is on his own. Usually I see cockatoos in flocks around here.
So why is he on his own? A natural loner?

Cockatoos Upper Ferntree Gully

Lady Lilith

This is Lady Lilith
Another Dante Gabriel Rossetti


Of Adam's first wife, Lilith, it is told
(The witch he loved before the gift of Eve,)
That, ere the snake's, her sweet tongue could deceive,
And her enchanted hair was the first gold.
And still she sits, young while the earth is old,
And, subtly of herself contemplative,
Draws men to watch the bright web she can weave,
Till heart and body and life are in its hold.
The rose and poppy are her flowers; for where
Is he not found, O Lilith, whom shed scent10
And soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare?
Lo! as that youth's eyes burned at thine, so went
Thy spell through him, and left his straight neck bent
And round his heart one strangling golden hair.
Note: Sonnet is inscribed on the lower portion of the frame.

Art, pain, and the voyage

I love the painters of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

This one reminds me of my daughter, Herself.

It is a painting by Rossetti titled The Blue Bower.

The piece below is by the Afro-American poet, Gwendolyn Brooks.

I have snitched it from Gregg over at Speed of Life.

"Art hurts. Art urges voyages -
and it is easier to stay at home,
the nice beer ready."

Art

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Gwendolyn Brooks

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Blue Hills - oops I mean Blue Heelers - is all but over

It hasn't run as long as Blue Hills, Australia's iconic radio serial. Blue Heelers may or may not be an icon but I think John Wood just might be. He has set something of a record in regard to the Logies. He is the most nominated actor never to win the Gold Logie. Now that Heelers is all but over, it is unlikely that he ever will take home the Gold. I fell in love with John when he played Sugar Renfrey in the television mini-series of Power Without Glory from Frank Hardy's novel of the same name. Final episodes go to air later this year.


Blue Hills
Blue Heelers
John Wood
Logie Awards
Power Without Glory
Frank Hardy

McMillan and the voices of history

My journey through Gippsland recently brought Angus McMillan into my consciousness. McMillan has an entry in the Dictionary of Australian Biography. One thing we know now is that there are many aspects, many voices to history. What we learn at school, or what is written in dominant histories is not the whole story. There is an old saying about history written by the victors. Angus McMillan was certainly one of the victors. He is a pioneer of white settlement only in Gippsland. Notice I added the word only. Settlers tend to just say that so-and-so was a pioneer. We forget or gloss over that so-and-so was a pioneer in one sense only. I first heard about Angus McMillan and his journey from Adrian on The Director. I found this interesting since there were other Victorian journeys by whitefellas but only Angus McMillan's is talked about in Gippsland to any extent. This is probably because it had and economic impact that was not present with the other journeys. The first seems to have been in 1797 when the Sydney Cove was wrecked on Preservation Island, part of the the greatest survival trek in Australian history. I am also aware of Thomas Walker's journey publish anonymously as A Month in the Bush Of Australia. Journal of one of a Party of Gentlemen who recently travelled From Sydney To Port Phillip - with some remarks on the present state of the Farming Establishments and Society in the settled parts of the Argyle Country. Catchy title, don't you think? The reason I know about this one is that my four-times great-grandfather Rear-Admiral John Gore gets a mention. And of course, there was Hume and Hovell but they didn't go to Gippsland. These are the histories of the victors.

But other voices are heard these days. One place to hear the other voice is at Krowathunkooloong, the Keeping Place in Bairnsdale. It was here I heard and read another side to the McMillan journeys: the deaths, even the massacres of aboriginal people that are ignored or glossed over. These were the deaths of people defending their land, their country. They are recorded and remembered there at Krowathunkooloong. There is an electoral district named for Angus McMillan but aboriginal people would like to see this name removed.

In recent years, there has been much debate within the ranks of academic historians about the extent of aboriginal deaths during the taking of land by white settlers. This debate has earned the name The History Wars. While the debate rages and even finds its way into print, one thing tends to be overlooked. Firstly, that some massacres are fairly recent and are within living memory or only a generation behind. Secondly, that the stories of these massacres have been handed down within families to whom they are relevant - both white and black although in many white families they are covered up. I used to live in Mount Isa in North West Queensland. The Kalkadoons, the original people, had some huge, and sometimes successful, battles with white settlers. They were true warriors. In very recent times, along comes Charles Perkins who became quite a controversial figure in modern aboriginal history. One thing that seems never to be realised is that Charlie was a descendant of those Kalkadoon warriors - and he was a fighter too. I once worked with his sister, Nerida, and I sometimes used to give his mother a lift home from the shops to her home in Sunset. These are the things - the stuff of a family's heritage - that are lost in the academic research. So I have a family tree which includes a crew member of The Endeavour and his son, also a naval officer and god-son of Sir Joseph Banks who came as a white settler to a land grant (stolen land?) at Lake Bathurst near Goulburn. The Perkins family has a family tree which includes a fighter for aboriginal equality and rights, as well as fighters for their land and their freedom.

So let the academics do their histories and argue and debate. But the stuff which gives flesh to the bones of an academic history lies in local and family histories and the energy and memory that sustains them.


Angus McMillan
Krowathunkooloong
Gippsland
Sydney Cove
Preservation Island
Furneaux Group
Bairnsdale
Mount Isa
Kalkadoon
Charles Perkins
John Gore
Sir Joseph Banks

Bairnsdale 3

An important place to visit in Bairnsdale is Krowathunkoolong, the keeping place of the Gurnai/Kurnai people. The aboriginal people of Bairnsdale seem to be well set up with a strong identity: there is a CDEP program, a childcare centre, and a place for the elders. They are keeping their culture strong and alive and making it known. One thing I learned from my visit was the discrepancy in history when only one side of the story is heard. There are many histories in our lives, many viewpoints and we need to listen to them all. You know the saying - history is written by the victors. Well, these days all sorts of people are getting a voice - even us bloggers - and it is good to listen to the voices to get some insight into what is actually happening or what has happened in the past.