Literature Literacy and Writing Landscapes.

Literacy in Australian Schools

2018-05-12T17:02:00.000+10:00

It has been reported that literacy in Australian schools has problems and that our children are falling behind the rest of the world. There are no secrets to this, it is the way children are being taught and it is the literacy of the people teaching them that is the problem. When teachers are riddled with vocabularies that include "ace" and "awesome" how do our children learn to express themselves with flair and creativity. When young children are left to ask for their work to be assessed as young as five years old and if they are too shy to do so are left in limbo how is their education being facilitated by teachers in our schoolrooms?

Teachers are being paid to educate our children, they are not babysitters and they are not examiners and yet it seems they are little more. Half of their time is spent in meetings talking about assessment and assessment tasks and the same tasks can be discussed in these meetings multiple times. Why are teachers who are supposed to be professionals so inept that they have to spend so much time going over the same issues while their students are left in co-curricular activities or pastoral care or allowed to go home early. It was my understanding that it is students and their education that is the focus of having schools and teachers in the first place. It is my understanding that parents are under the illusion that their children go to school in order to learn not merely become statistics in Naplan results and exams which in turn are more about the status of the school itself.

Well that is the problem. Every time teachers fight for better pay, which they do not get, they forfeit education for our children and gain meeting time to sit around and talk about how they are going to assess to justify their wages. It is my understanding that when a teacher is employed they have some understanding of their craft. We used to call it red tape but who in reality is paying the price?

Ancestry Obsession

2016-07-12T17:27:00.000+10:00

There is an advertisement on television at the moment where a woman and in another a man asks viewers to come find them because they have stories to tell. It is an Ancestry.com advertisement and every time it comes on I am lured into my account with Ancestry to search for more bits and pieces, for photographs of distant relatives or any information at all.

Most of the time I find something even if it is merely a far distant cousin or ancestor from centuries ago. The problem is that with every piece of information one finds there are hundreds of questions left unanswered, and each persons story becomes more complex and more compelling.

It is also true there are ancestors one wants to find more information about because there lives have been filled with events which beg explanation. It also becomes clear that not only should we be writing our own journals, diaries for our descendants , we should also be writing the stories of our mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles. After all we are our stories and the stories are who we are and the clearer and more honest we can be in telling our stories the more sense it will make to our loved ones down the line. It is so easy as I am finding with my search to yearn for the stories that fill the holes in the lives researched. And the morality and pride that tend towards the false stories, the myths that families tell to their families in an effort to save face is not what we want or need to know. The myths of family are discredited when one becomes a genealogist and we lose so much of our ancestors in the blurred vision that comes with wanting our family members to be what they were not. So much more interesting to know who they were with all their indiscretions or merely that they were ordinary people living their lives in hardship or in luxury.

I have stories of my family I want answers to so that I can uncover their truth and know their pain and hardships. I can never know, unless I found diaries, why, but I want to know who.

Portugal the Destination to Fulfill Everyone's Dreams

2015-05-15T23:03:00.001+10:00

Colours spring to mind when I think and feel Portugal.

Vibrant colours everywhere. In the tints of render, the myriad hues of tile clad walls. Everywhere the rainbow comes to life, surrounds you and works within you. Patterns of mosaic plazas, pathways and stairways. Watch your step and hold on to the hand rails. You learn to walk a different way.

Porto Colour

Regardless of the hills confronting the traveler in both Porto and Lisbon hundreds of people walk their way up and down and up again. The age of the walkers does not seem to deter them, they walk a little slower, or perhaps not. The beauty of these two cities whispers and cajoles you to further exploration, just in case you miss an extraordinary view, building, eatery or fashion store (so many handbags not enough money, or space in an already overweight suitcase).

Porto : The Douro Harbourside

Lisbon more tiles

Just a tip, wear your most comfortable shoes and then have another pair handy when your feet and ankles begin to wear out! You will want to walk and you will want to sit down and rest at one of the hundreds of cafes and restaurants with the locals and tourists alike and take in a beer or a wine or a sip or two of port. You will also want to eat even when you have filled yourself with previously unheard of delicacies; savoury and sweet. Beware,the temperature has only to reach the low 20 degrees Celsius to have you in a sweat. Humidity is quite high especially in Lisbon. We were in Portugal in the middle of April, Spring and it could be quite cool in the earlier mornings requiring a warm jacket and by mid morning to midday you were in a t-shirt. I would totally recommend visiting Europe at this time of the year, especially from mid- April to early May with the weather warming up but not hampering the distances you must walk if you want to make the most of your trip. The other reason I would recommend this period for travel is that the crowds are starting to build and any later you would spend your days in lines of people, especially to gain a seat on a hop on hop off bus. In Portugal the tourist buses are probably not as necessary as other cities in Europe as you can walk, or take the historic trains or light rail to see and feel the ambiance of place and people.

Lisbon Tiles

And so my husband Michael and I found ourselves regularly seated under an umbrella taking in the atmosphere of people passing and sitting and drinking and eating. In Europe people eat when they drink and the restaurants, especially in Portugal and Spain will usually bring you a snack when you order alcohol. A practice I view as civilized as well as responsible.

Porto, by the Douro River

Europe Triste : Let's skip to Portugal!

2015-05-15T13:31:00.001+10:00

Too soon over, I have been back home in Melbourne, Australia now for just on two weeks and the spirit of Europe is not fading.

The jet lag has not completely disappeared either and it will be nice when I do not feel like going to sleep when it hits two in the afternoon. That being said let me process some of the experiences of a wonderful though extremely tiring whirlwind trip.

Off the top of my head my favourite place in the world is now Portugal. Portugal is not only an amazingly beautiful, rustic country. Portugal enters your soul with passion. It is an emotional place not merely an incredible landscape naturally and man made.

As testament to this I have an album playing on my I Pad I bought from I Tunes as soon as I arrived home sung by Rodrigo Costa Felix. I found this Fado singer when I was exploring the music while travelling on the trains and planes post Portugal. He is singing with Katia Guerreiro who is also an acclaimed Fado singer while his wife accompanies them on the Fado viola.

I have Fado music playing on my I Tunes radio constantly. One night spent eating fabulously tender and taste filled octopus dishes at Chapitos Cafe / Restaurant in Lisbon and following on stepping downstairs to Barto to experience Fado for the first time was enough to enter my soul forever! On the night there was a female singer,Vania Conde who was wonderful.The only thing now is to learn the language so that I can understand every word and sentiment. I have to say that the expression and soul in the music itself, the singing and viola as well as the guitar are somehow enough to feel one understands emotionally and symbiotically everything about this traditional music.

Travelling Research is Almost as Interesting as the Trip Itself!

2014-12-30T21:07:00.002+11:00

I have ramped up the research on our trip to Europe as time is racing away. It seems like only yesterday I was thinking I had booked so much so early at 11 months to go and now we only have just under 3 months left.

All the hotels are settled now and I have to call them to ask a few questions and confirm the bookings. I want to know whether they have airport shuttle services as well as a few personal requests.

I have been looking into restaurants and other features of the trip and making lists through Tripadvisor. I find the site wonderful to check reviews by other guests of hotels who also post photos of the rooms and other features of the accommodation which to me seem more authentic given there is no vested interests. With so many guests in many of the hotels and apartments each album is from the perspective of each set of guests.

Tripadvisor is also very useful for restaurant reviews with the same patron photos attached and real people's views of the food and ambience. Of course, reviews are a personal thing and one finds quite diverse opinions and experiences amongst them. What I look for is a consistency of review and photos which I process and from which I come to my own opinion. From this point I have a little black book (literally) into which I write down the restaurants I would like to visit.

It is all taking on a life of its own.

I have also been doing a bit of exploring into where places of interest such as museums, art galleries, churches are in relation to where we are staying, the public transport we would take to get there or the line on the hop on hop off bus which is appropriate to the places we want to see.

There is so much to see!

Passport Done!

2014-11-03T18:09:00.000+11:00

Finally the passport applications are in! Even the passport photo was to my liking! It will take about 3 weeks for completion and then most of the big items are in order. Just bits and pieces that can't be booked until 3 months prior to leaving like buses and trains.

Time is slipping away.

Looking at Barcelona Apartments Ends in Confusion.

2014-10-24T23:49:00.001+11:00

As I said in yesterday's blog I have booked all the accommodation for our trip. the only real question mark remaining is over the apartment in Barcelona. I am making it harder on myself by looking at alternatives and the reviews of the apartment I have already booked. It is not as if this apartment is not in an excellent location as it is situated right in the centre of Los Ramblas and the rating is around the 9 mark. It is that there is a distinct feel that I want in the place we stay in Spain that I have not yet captured and so I keep looking.

I need to settle on something in the next few days and concentrate on that Passport!

The Methodology of Arranging a Trip to Europe in 2015: Part One

2014-10-23T18:41:00.000+11:00

It is only a few months now until we take off for Europe.

Most of the arrangements have been made both flights and accommodation, only buses, trains and automobiles to book. Oh and passports to be applied for which is an immediate concern!

I have spent hundreds of hours putting this trip together and making sure it is a trip to remember. It remains a concern that I have covered all bases and have not made mistakes or forgotten anything crucial.

The time frame is adequate and here's hoping our stay in some places does not wear us out and that I have balanced all our destinations with some recovery time.

Hotels and Apartments.

Most of the hotels and apartments have been booked through booking.com as it has enabled me to adjust our accommodation without loss of money,when we realised we wanted to stay longer in one place or a shorter stay in another. There have been a couple of adjustments made to countries or cities we decided we could not miss seeing during our trip. One of these was Porto in Portugal and we are so glad we made that change.

The Majestic Cafe, Porto, Portugal.

Porto, Portugal

I will make sure that all accommodation is valid well prior to leaving the country, probably about a month out. Most of this accommodation booked through booking.com is paid for on arrival at the apartment or hotel. I have budgeted for this and have taken changes in the Australian dollar as well. The remainder of the accommodation has been booked through Hotels.com all of which has been paid for in advance. The only apartment I have booked independently is the one in Paris, situated very near the Arc de triomphe and sought through a site which deals with private rentals.

We are staying in Germany for three days over Easter and the last two nights we are staying in two castles. One of these castles is situated overlooking the Rhine river to add a little magic and fantasy to our experience.

What is the value of literature in literacy learning?

2014-09-21T01:45:00.001+10:00

I was asked once by a Professor of English why I loved literature. My answer was that it was my link with humanity throughout the ages.

Literature is a creative force just as painting and music and photography are artistic expressions of life, so is literature and in turn so is our commune with it through reading. Language is the way we communicate and some have the ability, talent , gift to express and communicate in ways we as readers of their work relate with in ways we have never imagined ourselves. Writers touch our lives emotionally through their ability to use words to create more than sentences, paragraphs and chapters. We engage with these words and their meaning as we do with dreams, they become worlds to us which exist in a place we cannot touch but we can see in our minds eye and we are there until we put down the source and are jolted back into our present existence just as we wake out of sleep and our dream life.

Literature is important as it illustrates the ways in which words are tools and as such the greater our understanding of words and our knowledge of words enables us to express who we are, what we experience and those things we imagine could be. We are forever frustrated by the ways that modern expression fails us when we attempt to communicate with each other. In a world where language has been abandoned for abbreviations and cliches is it any wonder we feel more and more isolated. If we look to literature maybe we can find our way back to humanity.

We read books for themes and topics to gain greater understanding of how other people experience different lives to our own in ways images and music cannot quite capture. We can read purely to escape into a life we would like to have that is free of our everyday problems. And then there are the books that exist that are masterpieces of language in the way they are created and the language is everything. It is largely this last category for which I hunger.

The value of literature for language and craftsmanship has been largely forgotten in sake of the story or theme and yet who can say they do not desire to communicate more eloquently to touch people and to find that common link with humanity through language? After all, words are the means by which we make sense and meaning of our world to each other and within ourselves.

It is raining ... Again!

2013-12-09T14:51:00.000+11:00

We are into the second week of December and for people in Australia this means the second week of summer, as we do not go by the solstice but by the simple starts of months.

In Sydney I believe it is 30c today and that would seem right given it is summer. In down town Melbourne however it is wet wet wet and more wet. In fact it is not just wet as in the past half hour or so we have experienced a deluge that seemed like it would never end. Hard rain fell and this is a temperate climate not tropical. Everything is green, green, green and has that wet smell. Is it cold? Well it is not hot!

There would be many people around old Melbourne town becoming very impatient with this rain and the cold days, even snow last week in the ranges. I am not one of those people I like the feeling of rain and wet gardens, dripping leaves and flower petals.

There is only one thing that has happened in the last half hour due to the rain that slightly irritates me and that is that there is a leak in the doorway leading to my hall / foyer area. It has stopped dripping now so I can ignore it for the time being.

To Be or Not To Be ...

2013-12-04T03:09:00.001+11:00

Sitting thinking, letting my mind wander, I realise I do not want to be famous.

I do not want notoriety, nor do I desire to be put under a public microscope. I would not cope with the attention one is faced with as a result of being famous or a celebrity. And even though most people I have known throughout my life would call me an extrovert and dramatic, I am not made of the stuff to be famous.

So why do so many people in life desire fame when for so many once they find it they cannot cope and end up a mess. If it is purely money and material well I just do not understand that either. There is not one thing in life I could buy that could guarantee my happiness.

I also do not crave fame or recognition for any talent I may have, if in fact I have any. I do desire acknowledgement, to feel I belong in my own settings and to share my life with a significant other who loves me and with whom I can talk, laugh, cry and watch a great movie. I want my children to be happy and my grandchildren to love me as I love them. I want to learn to paint properly so I can be one of those people who stand on a hillside in Spain with an easel, a palette and a paint brush and I want to listen to wonderful music, read wonderful books and share them with someone who might want to share what they are reading too.

But all in all I do not want to Be famous ... Nor do I wish to be invisible !

My Amazon Kindle. I love it!

2013-07-01T11:32:00.000+10:00

Being in my fifties my eyesight fails me in a way at 40 I would not dreamed of happening as I was blessed with 20/ 20 vision. If there is only one reason why people of my age group , a little older and younger should embrace new technologies and specifically the Kindle readers it is that it makes reading a pleasure again.

My daughter who loves her paper books as I have always done introduced me to her Kindle and it seemed it might be my way of losing myself once again in literature. About 6 months ago my husband bought me a Paperwhite reader which has a backlight and is very easy on the eyes and I have been exploring new and exciting categories of reading once more.

My failing eyesight had made it almost impossible to read for more than 5 minutes without eye strain, with the paperwhite I am able to read for hours again. Books are automatically accessible as is the search for books, magazines and newspapers in all categories if you have WiFi. The ability to sample a chapter of a book before you buy is a wonderful way to explore new categories of reading as well as whether the book is well written or the genre you are in the mood to read. All of your books are stored on the Amazon site in your own Cloud device and are also accessible at a touch on your reader. The size, weight and shape of the reader also makes it comfortable to hold in your hand with the covers over you on chilly winter nights.

If you like the colour of books, illustration or want to use it to read picture books to your children the new Kindle Fire is the reader for you and I am seriously thinking of buying one for the craft books I have bought and want to buy such as knitting and crocheting.

All in all it would make a wonderful gift for yourself or even an elderly relative who may love to read but have given up because their eyesight.

Julia Gillard : who said we are living in a changed world, definitely not me!

2013-06-28T13:32:00.001+10:00

When the odds are down women are the sacrifice. Joan of Arc, Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, the female support leads in say, The Bourne trilogies or even James Bond do not survive because they are the object not the subject of life , that is men's lives as depicted in every single area of life as we live it. We are expendable and will always be expendable while we allow ourselves to be portrayed as an adjunct to normalised male values and attitudes, to what is seen as acceptable and 'normal' behaviour in life. Our values as women, our ways of contributing to life, thinking, doing are not recognised as part of the big picture. They are the supporting role. Read the literature, watch the movies; women who complain about their lot are seen as somehow less, crazy, neurotic or not feminine.

Just look at the general consensus and depiction of Lady Macbeth, living within a patriarchal feudal society and the moment that she conveys a desire for some of the power she sees around her, the normal practices amongst the males of her status, she is mad, evil and corrupt. As she desperately conveys in her final soliloquy " The Thane of Fife had a wife, where is she now". The same is conveyed through Emma Bovary, wanting some of the success of public life she sees around her she is condemned in much analysis of her character as a selfish, unmotherly woman, evil to some, pathetic to others, never a product of a society which allowed her to be nothing more than an out of control consumer and romantic, never an active contributor to the ways she may have contributed to a fuller more meaningful way of living in the world as a woman. Her crime was that society constructed her to read romantic novels but forgot to mention that her head was being filled with impotent expectations.

I will continue this theme later, but for the time being I will leave my thoughts with my desperate hope for life and living which is to see the values of our world convey an equal proportion of what is female and different to what is male and to have it valued without having to make apologies or excuses for being a female. We are not the same but we have just as much to contribute to the world which might be different, and valuable and healthy and joyous for all of us. It is just a shame when it is women as well as men who criticise us for wanting to contribute in our own way just because we have all been brainwashed into believing the male dominant historical view is the natural and normal way life is. It isn't and it will only be perpetuated by believing it is. Just take a moment to think, read, analyse and synthesise what I am saying. Julia Gillard as the first female Prime Minister of Australia should never be remembered as just another expendable heroine.

Thoughts

2013-06-26T09:58:00.001+10:00

It is freezing in Melbourne this morning. The frost is melting on still blades of grass, birds twitter in the bright impotent sunshine and all is seemingly glorious, given it is winter in the southern hemisphere and we are sitting right at the bottom waiting for the chilled winds from the Antarctic to blaze through our clothes and bones with the slightest of windy days.

My favourite thing about this chilly, chilling cold is that I cannot remain complacent while feeling my bones almost ache and apart from sitting right at the opening of the central heating I have to endure the presence of nature and as such an awareness of life which cannot be ignored.

I exist in a certain silence, daily and I am not a person of silence ongoing. Each of us needs the rest that silence brings with it but not too much. On the upside, I had an email sent to me today in recognition of one of my blog posts which I appreciated as a small sign that other people in this vast expanse of the world are connected to me in the way they respond to life, the way they mediate life and most of all the way they sense life in all its facets. I was once asked by a professor of mine why I loved literature, why it was my passion and I answered that I felt it was my connection with humanity, being human which surpassed time and space. Some may feel the internet does this too and in a way it does, my feeling of connection with literature is a passion for the way words, language expresses the connection and enhances life's experiences through language in ways I might not ever express or be able to express it and this opens up a new and colourful range of ways to perceive the world and life, enriching its meaning forever.

Hair Tale

2013-03-25T16:44:00.001+11:00

So I do it again. I messed with my hair, bleach it and dye it a lighter shade which I should have learned by now was not going to make me any less frustrated and that by the end of it all I could easily have sat down comfortably in a hairdressing salon and be totally happy leaving it to some nice guy or girl who is an expert colorist. No, not me. Alright then, what colour hair do I have now? Who knows (she smiles) , it is not any colour I know really. It is lighter and I wanted it lighter and I can tell that if it were a shade known to a hair colorists chart it suits me lighter. Well I feel lighter with it lighter and I suppose until I can do something to fix it up I have to be happy with it the way it is. But knowing me I will be restless with it and have to make more moves on it asap. I am lucky I have strong hair and I am equally lucky I have any hair at all. My excuse to self is that it is only hair and it will grow or that there is always a dye on the shelf that will cover it up.

Really, it isn't as bad as I am making out and the light in this house is not great on a day like today. You never know do you, it could be worse out in the light. Never mind this is what I get for not wanting to sit in front of a mirror captive for hours. Nothing to do with age although that should be a factor. More to do with feeling worn out after sitting looking at my own image for hours on end. I have never liked it and the end result is, well its only hair!

Melbourne International Garden Show

2013-03-23T18:45:00.002+11:00

On a very pleasant Saturday we drove into Carlton to the garden show and I truly didn't know what to expect. I haven't been to the Queen Victoria Exhibition buildings for decades. I am glad. It was as inspiring and beautiful a building on the inside as I remembered, We are so lucky to have retained such a wonderful and historic place for our children and grandchildren and it was lovely to see so many children at the Garden Show.

You need hours and I mean hours to get around the exhibits which sprawl through the gardens on the Victoria Street side of the buildings.

We bought lilium bulbs which I adore for their beauty and scent. You could purchase 30 mixed bulbs for $10 and they will mysteriously identify their varieties in the springtime. I also bought my favourite lilies which are the European white with pink centred, highly scented variety. Glorious.

The garden exhibits were fascinating as were the floral art displays.

They also had things for the kids to do and see including an animal nursery, gardening activities and so much more. Plenty to eat and drink. Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, thank you!

I was glad to get back home from the hustle and bustle of the city traffic and I could do with a little nap but no I am about to sew.

A little Nouveau Deco

2013-03-18T21:45:00.002+11:00

WALTER BEACH HUMPHREY (American, 1892-1966). Memories

It's Raining it's Pouring

2013-03-16T18:21:00.003+11:00

After a week of heat in the mid 30's the rain is now pouring down in sheaths. I love it! How about you my fellow Melbournians. I do not care that so many people ridicule and jest about our temperatures and the fickle four seasons in one day nature of where we live. The way we live here, our gardens, our culture has been born of the changes and distinct seasons we experience. It is not normally a place of huge extremes as distinct from the weather in the Northern hemisphere , where the temperature at the moment in London I hear is minus 12 Celsius.

After spending last weekend walking the broad expanses of Gunnamatta surf beach near Portsea, watching the azure foam topped waves rolling in and pleasuring in the sea breeze on my back as a welcome respite from the searing heat, now I am cutting material and sewing, listening to talk back ABC radio, sipping a brewed coffee, while the rain renders the wooden side fence orange rather than its normal parched yellow. Wonderful, just wonderful. Next week another couple of days of warmer temperatures but for now the garden feels greener and the chicken soup on the stove succors me.

I love Melbourne, in this very moment, I love that the Gran Prix has been silenced by our fickle weather.

Cool Beauty

2013-03-12T12:05:00.002+11:00

In the middle of a new direction

2013-03-12T11:03:00.000+11:00

Well I have been reading my last post and this week is as opposite as it can get weather wise compared what it was last May! I am having a break right now, only a short one, before I proceed with my plans and actioning the foundations of my new direction or business /es. I am in the process of designing a new blog and I have applied for an ABN (business number) and have registered my business name. Next I have to change the thread in the sewing machine from red to white, turn on the air con, and sew. Soon I will register with a domain which I cannot do until I have my ABN as I want a business website and I have been watching, reading and learning how to build one. Brain plasticity or how to stop oneself from going completely nuts. I suppose I will expose what this business is all about soon, when I am have more to offer and it is more REAL to me. At the moment I am driven and the whole process is motivating me and more and more ideas keep popping into my head. This technology thing is great for that and I am using a program called Evernote to write down my ideas, capture screen shots and articles I find on the net for the way I want things to look and also the way successful people organise their businesses as well as what they offer. It is a start and I have to keep pushing on. I have to because I know that people start again and again. I have always remained positive in terms of the advice and thoughts on the world I have espoused to my kids and now I have to start living it again. Here I go!

The Rainbow Connection

2012-05-25T09:30:00.003+10:00

It is raining in Melbourne this morning. Some would suggest that that is usual for Melbourne forgetting that we have just been through a long drought. For some the rains have meant pain and discomfort. This morning the rain is a comfort for me. I was watching the Muppet movie with my daughter and my grandchildren a couple of days ago and Kermit sang his song "The Rainbow Connection" and it struck a chord within me, somewhere deep and somewhere within me that is truly who I am and at most times these days I can't seem to find. I cried, no, I started to sob and I couldnt control it. The song, the lyrics sent me back to a time when I was young and believed in magic and rainbows and when I believed that other people felt that way about life too. Actually, it isn't that long ago, a few years maybe and I have moments of it when I am around my grand kids and my children. I suppose that is because I somehow passed down the belief that anything can be made to happen if you want it to enough. Their father also held that dream and I thank him wherever he is in the universe for sharing that dream. I also believe that the gift my mother gave me was that same vision of magic and I love her deeply for that too because without it I might not have survived the dark rain clouds we all have and some of us more than others and all of us less than someone else.

Anyway, what I want to say here today is that through this song , a Muppet's song, a Kermit song, the rain is feeling good to me in this moment. I may even go out in the next downpour and stand right in it. Want to join me after all that is experiencing real life, that is knowing you are alive and that in the simple things lies the magic. And my rainbow connection? Well my grandchildren are my connection. Let them sing songs about Rainbows! I can see it in them already, my children and their partners are sharing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=jSFLZ-MzIhM&NR=1

A Celebration of Life Day

2012-05-14T09:34:00.001+10:00

It is my beautiful daughter's 32nd birthday today. Another of the days one celebrates as a mother which in so many ways for me is private and filled with memories of the seconds and minutes in the event that is her Birth - Day. In relation to the memories of her birth they are as clear to me as if she were the ages of her children, brightly coloured moments without the pain of labour and fascinating to think that I could do that (as every mother does ), and that I did it twice. My daughter is everything to me. My daughter is a wonderful mother and wife. If there is a person in this world anyone can rely upon you can rely upon my daughter in emotional and practical ways. I love her beyond infinitely and I am proud of her just for being her. On this day 32 years ago when her father and I shared her entry into this life we were blessed and so was the world. My daughter is a gift to me every day. She is God's blessing. Happy Birthday to you Kathryn.

Life's Landscape

2012-05-04T09:33:00.000+10:00

The rain has cried itself out, at least for the moment and the wind has raged to the point of exhaustion. It is seemingly peaceful out in the world at least to the eye of the beholder.

Life is largely an invisible landscape and truth is largely a thought process. All around us the silent buzzing of billions of people continues on as mysterious as electricity. The only difference is that if our lights, computers, fridges, all our gadgets were suddenly turned off we would notice, wouldn't we? I suppose my thoughts which are buzzing around in my head are silent as are most of our thoughts and so we remain invisible. You may say that twitter has filled that silence and I disagree. Twitter largely tells us that our lights are on or off and that someone had toast for breakfast. It does not engage us in real thought and real actions. It is not engaging us in human truth, human visibility. It renders us no more visible as a community of truth than where we stood before it.

We rely on people who care to ask us real questions or share their thoughts with us only then will the silent buzzing become meaningful noise. We need to care about humans in a way which allows for truth to have a say. Social media is not fulfilling this role on the whole except where people are brave enough to share their truth, their thoughts and lives in deeper ways than mere idle gossip or to establish some form of manipulation of actions from the world of the invisible.

Although I use and am part of this online world I do not hear real voices saying real things, I do not hear laughter or crying with which I can share and contribute. Truly, I am not complaining, I am concerned.

I think of a poem "Someone" I learned in Grade 4 Primary school by Walter de La Mere:

Someone came knocking at my wee small door,

someone cam knocking, I'm sure, I'm sure, I'm sure,

I listened, I opened, I looked to left and right,

but naught there was a stirring in the still dark night,

Only the busy beetle tap tapping on the wall,

Only from a distance the dew drops fall,

But I know not who came knocking at all, at all, at all.

At the time in the 1960's I was asked by my teacher to choose a favourite poem from the class reader, learn it and recite it to the class. I was about 9years old. What this poem speaks to me now is that I listen, I open and look from left to right and now .... I ask you where are the sounds of people, of children in this largely invisible and silent landscape of life?

I am Back!

2012-02-20T12:33:00.000+11:00

Long time without a written word. It is now approaching Autumn in Melbourne, Australia and today it is in the low 20's C and feels quite cool. At the close of the week we will be hit in the face with 30C and more days and it is difficult for one's body to adjust.

Time rolls by and my grandchildren grow older faster than time and the weeks and years do the same. Next week is the beginning of my class for my Masters degree and I positively don't know why I am doing it at all. I am somewhat disillusioned with education and I am definitely disillusioned with politics. Does it all seem a little superficial to you? Am I merely getting older and now appreciate the old days for the lack of technology and the necessity to communicate with real people face to face and indeed say real things. I am hungry for a truly GREAT conversation or to laugh until my stomach hurts over something ironic which doesn't have to be at the expense of another human being. Do you even remember what another human being actually is, someone who just talks and doesn't feel as though they have to change emotionally, intellectually, financially and physically to meet some standard created in a marketing boardroom. Do you think that we will ever feel as women that we can allow our hair to turn grey, relax and grow old or is that too a thing of the past. I hope not I am running out of energy to worry about it and I just don't have the cash to let someone else worry for me.

On another note I am making dolls, handmade felt dolls with embroidered faces. Another thing I could sell when I make enough to sell them. I also have to go through my sewing room today and organise all the material I have stored and start making my hats for real this time so that I can sell those too. Of course I could start to study but there are no resources on the university website and the unit I am doing is a bit hazy so I am not sure what I would even look for if I were to do a search. So I will go with the crafts and maybe later I might continue on here because to be honest all I was going to write has escaped me.

travelling north

2010-12-29T10:32:00.002+11:00

It is the day before I travel north just like the David Williamson play. The difference is I have been jogged out of any illusions having lived in the area I am going for four long years. Some people may find this an exciting, relaxing prospect as for me well the weather is beautiful generally on the north coast - central north coast and the ocean is majestic - true. Three days, three long days which have to be lived. Yep that about says it all. I think this time I will take lots of photos of scenery, fill my time with the surrounds, the history. You will see in these photographs the reason why we as Australians endure the image of sun-bronzed Aussies, something as a Melbournian I have never related to and have found quite parochial to the Northern states. Puberty Blues was hardly a culture predominant in 70's Melbourne culture was it! Unless of course you were one of those who travelled to Jan Juc or Phillip Island with the board on the pack rack ... for the rest of us good old Melbourne beaches and hotels or nightclubs were the go .... concerts, souvlaki's in Carlton. I always intended to write this history maybe my three days up North could spur me into beginning the alternative experience. After all we dont all wear ''swimmers'' for some of us its a pair of bathers we will be taking with us!

Then again I am not totally in despair I will probably find moments of pleasure in the little trip away, I will take my notebook (pc) and a real book and I will write as I always do and let's face it there are always moments of surprise when you least expect them in life!