Bedside View
1,881 Pages to go!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
I Love You Too Babe
How could I possible top this! Ten years married today and I am sharing this beautiful red letter delivered in a handmade tin because according to wedding anniversary custom ten years is "tin." My hubby has made my card out of the appropriate material every year from cotton and wood to pottery and iron and I have kept every single one. This means a great deal to me. To my number 1 follower - I love you x
Speed Mingling and Bidets
There is a definite social awkwardness when you throw 15 new prep mums in a room – at least until you pour a glass of champas. Cliques appear and people get stuck talking to one person about their arduous birth story…until you start speed mingling.
Yes ‘speed mingling’ is my all-female version of speed meeting/dating and this two minute chat and move on game can actually break the ice for many and open you up to a whole new mix of people and conversations.
In one speed mingle I realized that if you have a female baby that’s overdue, the estrogen in their body can cause them to have a baby period. (I never knew that.) I talked about boys and sport and the popularity battle if you aren’t physically inclined. We discussed emotion from songs and how the tune and the words can turn us into wet blankets. I’m never having twins with reflux and after two minutes of ears only, I have total admiration for all parents of twins. Then there was the whole Catholic thing of not sleeping in the same bed with our partners at our parents’ home and the “mattress on the floor” rule before we were married. All these came from snippets of speed mingling. It’s amazing when conversation is limited, it can indeed be very enlightening and lighthearted.
Nerves and pretenses had subsided and by the end of the night we had moved from cocktails and double chin photos to joking about hot chocolates out of our “bidets.” There should be more speed mingling conversations!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Pigs Fly
Have you ever stopped to read your food packages? Everything is organic, free-range and has no preservatives or artificial flavours. It’s what we want to read and it’s what most of us are choosing to eat.
When I was making pork burgers, I stumbled upon this creative marketer:
“Born and raised on carefully selected R.S.P.C.A Approved farms, our free range pigs forage, roam and socialise in the Great Australian Outdoors.”
Yes they play Piggyback races, have a farewell BBQ and watch the sunset together before they DIE and end up as pork burgers on our plate. Who are they kidding? What death is humane? Enticing us with free-range pigs is fine but luring us with ones that "socialise" freely is a tad misleading.
As I chomp down on my burgers I’ll keep it in mind that the pigs had a good life – snort snort.
Taking The Saint Out of Valentine
Saint Valentine’s Day, originally acknowledging two martyrs, Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni, in 496 AD, sounds much more meaningful than the commercially driven celebration known to us today as Valentine’s Day. Now it’s just a day to send tacky cards, fluffy toys and over-priced roses. Will you be my Valentine? Sure Darl!
So when did this day take a loving and affectionate turn? Some say the first recorded association of Saint Valentine’s Day with romantic love is in Parlement of Foules written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1382. Can you believe I studied Medieval Sexuality at university? I needed a filler and what an insightful one it proved to be.
“For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.*”
Translated it reads: "For this was Saint Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate."
This poem was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia.
Not such shallow origins after all. It was only when Mr. Hallmark and his love-sick subscribers of the twentieth century got involved and made the Saintly Day less than saintly, with cards and later gifts.
Even the true and tried “roses are red, violets are blue,” can be traced back to Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590):
She bath'd with roses red, and violets blew,
And all the sweetest flowres, that in the forrest grew.**
I received a handpicked bunch of flowers from our garden (including a sprig from my beloved Crepe Myrtle Tree,) not to mention a beautiful morning cup of tea and kiss. Tonight I reciprocated with a delicious prawn, chorizo and harissa lentil dish for dinner. That’s simple and from the heart. No tacky card required.
Just as I am about to sign off my blog, I received a text from a dear uni friend who has just become engaged. Perhaps the saints are still working their miracles? Or is it Chaucer? The bird has chosen his mate!
*Oruch, Jack B., "St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February," Speculum, 56 (1981): 534–65. Oruch's survey of the literature finds no association between Valentine and romance prior to Chaucer
Friday, February 11, 2011
The Ton
Century. A ton. One hundred. It doesn’t matter how you write it - it is a lot!
It’s fitting that on my hundredth blog that I am thinking about the books that have helped to shape me, broaden my understanding, stir me, excite my imagination and make me wobble with big belly laughs.
Some titles you will know and others I can’t even find a record of any more. I have a particular memory of a book Dad gave to me about a sailor buying dolls from around the world and Dad even nicknamed me Langpo after a Chinese doll in the story. The dolls had various characteristics such as rosy cheeks and corn blonde hair and wore their traditional dress. I wish I could remember the name let alone the author. Anyway, below are a hundred books that spring to mind for now. There are thousands more that could be here and others that didn’t strike that chord with me at all.
It has taken me longer than expected hunting some author’s names down and will end up being a Saturday blog. Here’s to the next blogging ton!
In no particular order:
1. Anne of Green Gables - L.M Montgomery
2. Dim and Dusty – Joan Dalgleish
3. The Urchin - unknown
4. Buchenwald Hell - unknown
5. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
6. The Bronze Horseman – Paulina Simons
7. The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo – Stein Larson
8. Kane and Abel – Jeffery Archer
9. Pippi Long Stocking – Astrid Lingrin
10. Then Again Maybe I won’t – Judy Blume
11.Cat in the Hat – Dr Seuss
12. Harry the Dirty Dog – Gene Zion
13. Breath – Tim Winton
14. Witches – Roald Dahl
15.The B.F.G – Roald Dahl
16. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
17. The Book Thief – Marcus Zusak
18. I am the Messenger – Marcus Zusak
19. Tuesdays with Morrie – Mitch Albom
20. Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
21. A thousand Speldid Suns – Khalid Hosseini
22. The Kite Runner – Khalid Hosseini
23. Once – Morris Gleitzman
24. The Colour Purple – Alice Walker
25. The Davinci Code – Dan Brown
26. Z for Zachariah – Robert O’Brien
27. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
28. Penny Pollard’s Diary – Robin Klein and Ann James
29. Twilight – Stephanie Myer
30. Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austin
31. Jessica – Bryce Courney
32. ‘The Power of One – Bryce Courtney
33. April Fools – Bryce Courtney
34. Dolls of the sea - unknown
35. Possum Magic – Mem Fox
36. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
37. The Poky Little Puppy – Janette S. Lowrey
38. Grimm’s Fairytales – Brothers Grimm
39. The Rainbow Serpent – Dick Roughsey
40. Are You My Mother? – P.D Eastman
41. The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Cole
42. The Tale of Peter Rabbit – Beatrix Potter
43. Freckle Juice – Judy Blume
44. Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret? – Judy Blume
45. James and The Giant Peach – Roald Dahl
46. Bridge to Terrabithia – Katherine Patterson
47. Charlotte’s Web – E.B White
48. A Fly Went By - Mike McClintock
49. Forever - Judy Blume
50. Meg and Mog – Jan Pienkowski
51.The Fugitive – John Grisham
52. How To Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
53. Celestine Prophecy – James Redfield
54. Titch – Pat Hutchins
55.Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
56. Wild Swans – Jung Chang
57. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S Lewis
58. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
59. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
60. The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
61. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kasey
62. Guess How Much I Love You – Sam McBratney
63. Where the Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak
64. Love You Forever – Robert N Munsch
65. The Giving Tree – Shell Silverstein
66. Pollyanna – Eleanor H Porter
67. I Am the Cheese – Robert Comier
68. Tomorrow When the War Began – John Marsden
69. Long Walk to Freedom – Nelson Mandela
70. Peter Pan – J.M Barrie
71. Ramona – Beverly Cleary
72. My Naughty Little Sister – Dorothy Edwards
73. Winnie the Pooh – A.A Milne
74. The Diary of Anne Frank – Anne Frank
75. If I Had Duck Feet – Dr Seuss
76. The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx
77. The Godfather – Mario Puzo
78. The Outsiders – S.E Hinton
79. Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare
80. Where the Heart is – Billie Lette
81. I Know this Much is True – Wally Lamb
82. The Deep End of the Ocean – Jacquelyn Mitchard’
83. The Go-Between – L.P Hartley
84. George’s Marvellous Medicine – Roald Dahl
85. The Silver Sword – Ian Serrallier
86. Black Beauty – Anna Sewell
87. The Tiger Who Came to Tea – Judith Kerr
88. Fungus the Bogeyman – Raymond Briggs
89. Treasure Island – R.L Stevenson
90. Little Women – Louisa Alcott
91. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
92. Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
93. Hans Anderson’s Fairytales – Hans Christian Anderson
94. Heidi – Johanna Spyri
95. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
96. Mr Happy – Roger Hargreaves
97. Night – Elie Wiesel
98. Matilda – Roald Dahl
99. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
100. The Concise Oxford Dictionary
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Comforting Arms of Death
Death touched me. Black sweeping and crushing in the final moments, ironically a source of comfort as it scooped up weary souls.
It was death that narrated the journey of the book thief, the main character in the number one international best seller The Book Thief, written about living and dying through the Holocaust. The Book Thief is one of the most creative and compelling books I have ever read. The harrowing and painful demise of so many people almost sounds poetic when death finally rescues them. Only Markus Zusak could write like that.
I am thinking about Zusak’s brilliant voice as I reflect on the devastating floods, cyclones and bushfires ravaging our wide brown land. Was death a comfort to those people lost in the treacherous waters? Did death gather them, give them peace and support in their hour of need? I’d like to think that those terror stricken faces were embraced and comforted as they were taken away.
I dedicate this reflection to all the people washed under one very sad day in Queensland (and Brazil.)
You Came
You came here as a torrent,
And took my home away.
You ripped my child from my arms.
Your strength could not be matched.
Rapids of muddied debris,
hurtling down the street.
Buildings, cars and tanks now weightless,
As they were tossed in your treacherous jaws
Rivers, creeks, dams cascading into one
deadly body of water.
Swamping towns, swallowing animals,
Drowning and dragging us under.
The sky then had the audacity to suddenly
be clear and blue.
For some, the water yet to peak,
Lapping at their toes.
Rising, rising, rising.
The local pub,
Now the community hub.
Strangers resting wearily on each other.
You snatched, destroyed and burst onto our land.
You Came.
Yet our spirit will not be broken.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Kung Hei Fat Choi
Kung Hei Fat Choi and welcome to the year of the rabbit. “At his best, the Rabbit is admired for his suaveness and intelligence and sought after for his sensible advice. At his worst, he is too imaginative, oversensitive or just acidly indifferent*.”
I’ve rested and re-energised and have a New Year’s resolution to de-clutter. Condense the home, the car, the kid’s toy box (I can’t wait for this,) as well as creating space for doing what I love – writing. Yes! I am back with the absolute right to write!
My youngest trotted off to school last week attached to her 5kg school bag crammed full of stationary and books. Leaving behind mum and a trail of holiday boredom-induced destruction she bounded into her classroom. It was such a beautiful moment, like watching a bright balloon, bobbing about on a string. Still attached but ready to let go any minute.
As I turned to go, the holiday’s “I’m hungry” still echoed in my ears. How was she going to cope with structured meal times? Not my problem now. I bounded along the path, even excited by the prospect of washing dishes, scrubbing clothes and sorting without an audience. The calmness and stillness was delightful and very self indulgent.
I don’t feel lost or flat, pining after my life as a kinder mum. My children are settled and so am I. I’m ready to quietly chip away at a few of my goals. I know you’ve been waiting for my blogging return. You and six others of course. Can I pull a rabbit out of the hat? Perhaps this Chinese New Year I can.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)