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Showing posts from 2020

Fateful Truth

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  Spring is bursting forth in this Melbourne neck of the woods and the proverbial light appears at the end of the tunnel as our Covid19 figures creep down around the 20s for the state of Victoria. If we keep this up, hold the line,  our Stage 4 restrictions look like they'll be peeled back to ... well, Stage 3! So what will the Fates bring forth come Christmas? [politics aside] Will we have musicians playing to us in a 'live' venue where we're all in the same place at the same time breathing the same air? How I long to enjoy an Australian Chamber Orchestra concert ... I wonder if they could do such a thing outside, in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens maybe, or Sydney Myer Music Bowl? I'd love to hear what their marvellous instruments sound like in the open air - or anywhere. Wishful thinking I suppose - though I am reminded of what can be achieved when the gods and elements are on our side. Handel's Water Music was first performed from a barge on the River Thames f...

A Winter Garden is a Lovesome Thing

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  Our backyard garden: It always heartens me when these lovely colours push through before Spring can be hoped for. Winter flowers ... primulas, cyclamens, and a touch of orange marigold somehow still hanging on since summer - and the green is native violets, plus nasturtium and even a touch of robust parsley. A bird bath and bird feeder, and a path heading towards the sun. ... And so one must remain optimistic, thankful for Nature's miracles, and hopeful that when we get to the other side of Covid19 we will be treating each other, as well as Mother Nature, with far more  tender loving kindness than heretofore.  And while we're enjoying the diversity of colours (have you noticed how many shades of green there are in this picture?) - it just happens to be Wear it Purple day - a day to celebrate and support young (and surely older?) people to feel proud and safe to be who they are on the rainbow spectrum of sex, sexuality and gender - remembering that we can be any kind of...

Melbourne Masks Up

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Today's the day inner Melbourne dons a face-mask - and it looks like we may have to comply with this new regulation for a considerable time - well beyond the 6 week lock-down... From the news reports it sounds like Melbournians are doing their bit today - as we should. Better a cotton face-mask than an incubator mask! I'm modelling my self-made version here. I don't possess a sewing machine so this was created using sticky hemming tape and ingenuity. Quite pleased with the metal strip insert that goes over the nose bridge which came from my 'may come in useful one day' stationery drawer. Who can remember ring files and the metal thing that you bent over to keep the pages together? Yep, had four of those. The material is a very soft Egyptian cotton from an old doona cover, and the hemming tape was at the bottom of my old leather school satchel which has doubled as my 'sewing basket' for many years. Sometimes it's really useful not to throw oddities away! ...

In the distance ...

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This is a beach at Aireys Inlet in Victoria, Australia - there's a lovely cliff-top walk to get to it. In the middle there, two little figures enjoying the view - it's me and my beloved Lois, gazing out. The pic was taken by my niece in 2018 - seems such a very long time ago now!  Outer Melbourne is experiencing a bit of a 'second wave' of Covid 19. Some virus hot-spots so it's three steps backwards, just for the moment. I'm looking forward to the day we can walk along that beach again... However, much closer to home, for our Sunday walk in Port Melbourne along the shore: we saw dolphins in the bay! Such a glorious surprise - several of them cavorting, including young ones. Does it mean the lull in shipping and local angling has cleaned the sea somewhat and allowed the fish to thrive - and so encouraged the dolphins in? Never seen such a sight before.  So ... from ant trails to vast skies - keep looking at the view!

National Reconciliation Week - NRW

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When NRW launched its theme  'In This Together' last year, none could have predicted how resonant it would become! But let's not lose sight of all that must be done. Let's reconcile, let's listen to what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are saying, recommending, wanting. Because - well - we ARE all in this together!  “When we come together to build mutual respect and understanding, we shape a better future for all Australians” - says Karen Mundine, Chief Executive Officer for National Reconciliation Week - this week. Ms Mundine said that Australia’s ability to move forward as a nation relies on individuals, organisations and communities coming together in the spirit of reconciliation. “We all have a role to play when it comes to reconciliation, and in playing our part we collectively build relationships and communities that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories and cultures,” she said. “When we come together to build mutu...

Pansy

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No words coming forth currently ... so I thought this Lavender Yellow Pansy could say it for me. If you listen closely you'll hear ... something about ... loveliness ...

Anzac Day 25th April

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Anzac Day (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps). A day of Remembrance to honour those valiant people who served in uniform. It feels especially important (given our own travails) to remember their sacrifices, difficulties, courage and fear. Their battles were with bombs and bullets. At 6 a.m. the nation will commemorate the day from home, standing at the front gate, or on the balcony or at the window: a communion of thought, followed by the sound of the Last Post - on the radio/TV, or perhaps it will come drifting across the rooftops played on trombone, trumpet or flute by some able musician. I'm going to take a moment to remember my English paternal grandfather, Corporal Edwin Percy Hardy, 1882-1941. He served with the Royal Army Medical Corps, 6th Field, Ambulance. Warrant Officer Class 2. He served in WW1. Here's the only photo I have of him during that time, he is the tall balding man with his back to us, centre right, somewhere in France: In his wallet he carried a...

pushing through

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I saw this plant pushing through the tarmac and cement nestled against a shop wall catching the early morning sun. It's not a weed, it's a Plain Tree seedling!  Such determination! Where there's life ...

Inhale, Exhale .... repeat

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  In moments of stress it is calming to simply focus on one's breathing, close your eyes and focus on the air coming into your lungs, going out of your lungs. Count as you do so and gradually make each breath last a little longer. In two three four, out two three four five ... In two three four five six, out .... Only that, just that, even for a minute, will help.   We managed a weekend away just before the mayhem broke and here's a pic. It's the view from Glen Cottage, Aireys Inlet, Victoria, Australia. Horses safely graze, and if you peer into the mid distance you may spot a mob of kangaroos, also enjoying the grass. Cockatoos are screeching, magpies are warbling, and occasionally a horse snorts. Imagine that. Let's try and think of lovely things as we take a moment away from the madness.  ... Inhale, Exhale .... repeat ...

“Well-behaved women rarely make history.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

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Happy International Women's Day for March 8th. We absolutely must celebrate half the human race - however that half is not exactly getting its equal share, even now, according to the UN. The United Nations presented its overview this week and it shows a sobering lack of progress, indeed we’re going backwards: “The review of women’s rights shows that despite some progress, no country has achieved gender equality”, said UN Women’s Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. “Only half is an equal share and only equal is enough”, she stressed. Here are the major points: ·          *   Over the past 20 years, progress on women’s access to paid work has ground to a halt as they continue to shoulder the bulk of unpaid care and domestic work – less than two thirds between the ages of 25-54 are in the labour force. ·        *     Nearly one-in-five women have faced violence from an intimate partner in the past year, fue...

Diana Souhami has a new book coming out

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British author Diana Souhami is one of my favourite writers. She's witty, sharp and wry as she twists her biographical scalpel through the lives of lesbian luminaries such as Radclyffe Hall, Una Troubridge, Natalie Barney, Violet Trufusis et al. Now she has written a book called No Modernism Without Lesbians - which is quite a broad statement! The publisher is Head of Zeus. Publication date is April 2nd. Souhami quipped upon announcing this date that perhaps publishers avoid April 1st! Here's the publishers blurb: The extraordinary story of how a singular group of women in a pivotal time and place – Paris - Between the Wars – fostered the birth of the Modernist movement. Sylvia Beach, Bryher, Natalie Barney, and Gertrude Stein. A trailblazing publisher; a patron of artists; a society hostess; a groundbreaking writer. They were all women who loved women. They rejected the patriarchy and made lives of their own – forming a community around them in Paris. Each of these ...

#AuthorsForFireys

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As the fires rampage across Australia, all good Ozzies are chipping in. There are numerous funds to contribute to - and money rather than goods is what is needed now. My choice of fund was Bushfire Appeals run by Bendigo Bank, Victoria.* This recommendation comes via Virginia Trioli's Mornings program on ABC Radio, which is giving regular, informed updates. (Beware, there are scams out there.) Meanwhile, Authors, Artists and their associates are contributing 'in-kind' (because hey, artists don't earn much) via Twitter at #AuthorsForFireys. I have not 'embraced' Twitter as yet, but for those who enjoy that medium there are offers galore to the highest bidders. Rare books, feedback on manuscripts, signed copies given personally over coffee, original book illustrations - and a great deal more. Call me biased, but I am impressed with my Literary Agent, Martin Shaw's generous egalitarian offer which eschews bidding altogether - he offers you feedback on your sy...

a film a book

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To welcome the new year I celebrate the artistry of two women: film maker Celine Sciamma and author Bernadine Evaristo - and their recent creations. Celine Sciamma has created a wonderful, brilliant film called Portrait of a Lady on Fire featuring Adele Haenel and Noemie Merlant (as seen above) in the lead roles. I love this film so much I don't want to even describe it - simply recommend it! - and leave it to Sciamma to explain. She says the film is about reclaiming the female [historical, lesbian] narrative 'the goal ... was really to give back to these women their hearts, their bodies and their minds.' The film   moves very slowly and lushly, and cleverly, and the end is to be savoured, and savoured. Bernardine Evaristo's co-Booker Prize winning novel  Girl, Woman, Other is equally wonderful and delightfully challenging to the reader in a multi-layered playful thoughtful way. Evaristo is an author I did not know, but now must read her seven or so previous novel...