Saturday, July 26th ....

I woke up this morning full of plans for a busy day but I've lost interest and am watching replays of the Commonwealth Games instead.  I think I enjoy these games more than the Olympics; somehow these seem a little more old-fashioned and amateurish, although my head tells me the athletes are just as professional and self-serving as those in the Olympics.  I like the idea that these are the 'Friendly Games.'  I was keen on Athletics at school and, like many dreamers, I wondered whether hard training would get me a place on the Australian team.  Even then I was sensible enough to realise that my future lay elsewhere.

It's great to watch the athletes but, sometimes, the backstory is just as interesting.  The organisers of the Glasgow games decided there would be an element of design in the decisions made.  My involvement in the Craft Fair has shown me how important  'design' is in achieving good results.  So, the medals were designed by a team from Glasgow School of Arts.  Each is individually produced using a combination of 3D printing (!) and hand finishing.  The medal-winners' podiums are designed and constructed from fallen trees collected from around Glasgow.  I was astounded to read that there are 96 podiums needed for the Games.

The designer of the podiums also made 2-handled drinking vessels, called quaichs, which are given to each medal-winner.  Better than a bunch of flowers!  The dresses worn by the girls at the medal ceremonies are made of silk, printed with a specially-designed Glasgow 2014 tartan, designed by a 15-year old, Aamir Mehmood.  Don't you just love the traditional Scottish names.

The baton, which was carried across all Commonwealth countries carrying the Queen's message, was also a beautiful design, although it posed a bit of a problem when Prince Imran couldn't get it open to read the message.  The Queen probably knew what she had written anyway.

Thursday, July 24th ....

The Malaysian Airlines crash is an appalling human tragedy but I'm afraid I'm uncomfortable with the  circus that's forming around the whole episode.  It seems that the grief of those who have lost family members or friends has to be pushed into the background while the general public, egged on by the media, tears its hair and wails.  It reminds me of the scenes when Kim Jong-il died, and his loyal subjects screamed their anguish under the cameras of their political masters.

I think the trend began when Princess Di was killed and the British public went mad.  It was mass behaviour so unforeseen that it raised eyebrows and led to an investigation.  Why did a stoic nation like Britain produce such an outpouring of grief?  The report came to the conclusion that, with the breakdown of society, churches and the like, "Britain has become a nation of isolated individuals looking to unite over a national tragedy or movement.  What really drives the behaviour is the need to be seen to care. And they want to be seen displaying compassion because they want to be loved themselves."

Clearly, Australia is no different.  And don't the politicians make a meal of it!  Special envoys flying here and there, ceremonies to welcome the remains to an airfield somewhere, Operation Bring Them Home, and so on.

There's a serious lack of quiet dignity in all of this and a lack of understanding of the need for the real mourners to come to terms with their loss without being elbowed aside by those who are trying to manipulate the whole tragedy for their own benefit.

Thursday, July 24th ....

The weather in Deloraine is cool today.  Marilyn is driving the Community Car and Jamie is at TAFE, Nera is not feeling particularly well and has taken to her bed, so the cat and I have the fire to ourselves.

Marilyn and I were at a function last night.  The Inner Wheel club was having its annual changeover and  celebrated with a meal at the British Hotel here in town.  Marilyn has been coerced into joining the club and will be inducted at their next meeting.  The meal was quite good and the company was chatty but the highlight of the evening was the entertainment.

Three middle-aged women, all smiles and energy introduced themselves as Trifle. The spokesperson, English, had written a poem to explain what they are about.  They don't really sing, and they don't really dance but they thought they would take a chance ... , and so on.  They believe their entertainment has many layers, like a trifle.

It was like watching a train wreck: you know it's awful but you can't take your eyes off it.  Their whole act was on an iphone attached to a stereo.  Old-time songs played while they changed costumes and we were expected to sing along.  Can you believe "I've got Sixpence' and 'Roll Out the Barrell'?  Their first skit had them dressed as babies, in nappies.  What is it about some people that lets them think that it's OK to lose your dignity like that?  Maybe it's OK for the Footy Show but not for a nice middle-class crowd like the Inner Wheel.  Anyway, when they scurried behind the bar to change, we listened to the Olde English Music Hall songs and waited to see what else would be inflicted upon us.

One of them appeared dressed like a girl from the 50's and mimed a rock 'n' roll song.  All the songs were mimed.  The problem was, we were so close, there was no magic.  We saw every wrinkle and every stumble.  The choice of songs was interesting:  a strong English influence, like Tommy Steel's Wot a Mouf, and Shirley Bassey. Their piece de resistance was 'Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better'.

I carelessly caught the 'singer's' eye when she was performing Shirley Bassey so she homed in on me and for one awful moment I thought she would drag me up to dance.  Marilyn kept telling me to keep my knees in just in case one of the performers sat on my lap.  

There was an interlude when one of the ladies did a comedy routione, dressed as an old granny with a stick.  She did make it topical by throwing in a bit of Jacqui Lambie's horrendous radio interview.  Ageist and sexist all at once.

Clearly some of the audience enjoyed it but most of us were cringing in embarrassment.  Just another one of life's little experiences.

Tuesday, July 22nd ....

I'm reading a book at the moment called Dreaming of the Bones, part of a series by Deborah Crombie.  It's an odd book.  The others in the series are fairly standard crime stories but this one is much more pretentious.  It's about the supposed suicide of a poet and is set in the village of Grantchester near Cambridge.

Grantchester is famous as the home of the poet Rupert Brooke who wrote the lines: ... Stands the church clock at 10 to 3, and is there honey still for tea?  Brooke lived at the Old Vicarage, which is now  occupied by Lord Jeffrey Archer and his wife, scientist Mary Archer.  There has been a house on the site for 400 years and Mary Archer recently published a book about it. 

The Guardian crossword setter Araucaria set a famous clue: Poetic scene has, surprisingly, chaste Lord Archer vegetating (3, 3, 8, 12) giving, as an anagram, THE OLD VICARAGE GRANTCHESTER.

Brilliant!

My friend, Brian, took me to see Grantchester when I was in UK last year.  I saw the clock (now replaced) and the Old Vicarage, and the river where Cambridge students bring their punts to picnic in the fields. 

Even though the book is a bit staid, it's interesting to visualise the places mentioned in it, and Grantchester is now another place we intend to revisit .... some time.

Another interesting belief is that Grantchester has the highest concentration in the world of Nobel Prize winners living there, probably because of its proximity to the University of Cambridge.

Sunday, July 20th ....

All in all, it's been an interesting weekend. Madi and Josh have come down to spend the weekend with us so we're busier than we would normally be. We had lunch yesterday at the 50’s Diner here in Deloraine: hamburgers, spiders and rock 'n' roll for everyone and then up the mountain to play in the snow.

It was a very nice family meal around the table last night and this morning there's been a binge of cooking in the kitchen. It looks like mini quiches for lunch. We'll probably leave at about 3 to get Madi and Josh home to their dogs.

The highlight of the weekend, though, was the announcement at dinner last night that Madi and Josh have become engaged. Great excitement all round.

Their move to Launceston has been very positive for them. The stability of having their own house has encouraged them to look more optimistically to the future. They're both enrolled in TAFE, starting Monday, and they are starting to talk about where they plan to be in a year's time.

We couldn't be happier for them and, of course, will support them as they work towards their dreams.

Saturday, July 19th ....

Our Probus Christmas dinner was a great success. There were 26 of us who sat down to a terrific meal and it seemed that everyone was happy to sit through the afternoon, enjoying the desserts and coffee.

One of our new members offered to share his knowledge of wine with us and brought along a sampling of wines from Taylor's of the Clare Valley. His son, Adam, is the chief winemaker there and supplies his father with all he can drink, and more. We sampled a very good Riesling and a Sparkling, and 4 different qualities of Red. Adam was one of the developers of Jansz bubbly when he worked at Pipers Brook so he knows about that style. The Riesling was a typical Clare Valley style and the Reds were excellent.

Kevin described them as $10, $15, $20 and $40 (mainland prices) and we could certainly understand why the prices varied. The $10 one was enjoyable but the $40 one was terrific. Not a lot was drunk so I looked forward to having some leftovers but, when the dust settled, my share was an inch or two of a 2013 Promised Land Shiraz - nice enough but not earth-shattering. I've no idea who smuggled out the two $40 bottles, but they were clever.

However, a nice surprise was the donating to the club of a magnum of their 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, in a presentation box. This wine won a Gold Medal at the 2012 New World Wine Show and a couple of silvers, so it's pretty good. We think we will raffle it. Maybe $5 per ticket? We'll see.

The Christmas Dinner experience made me think of the famous words of Pink Floyd: If you don't eat yer meat, you won't get any pudding. How can you get pudding if you don't eat yer meat? This must be said in a coarse Scottish accent (think Glasgow).

Saturday, July 19th ....

Jamie and Nera have been very worried about her family in Balatan over the past few days as they were right in the path of the typhoon. Nera had a couple of sleepless nights waiting for news and was very anxious when she couldn't make contact. Eventually, she heard from her sister in Manila that all was well and they had come through unscathed.

They were also worried about their own house which is right on the beach and very vulnerable. Nera's father organised for some large rocks to be put in front of the house but they couldn't do much more than that. The typhoon destroyed the house next door to them but only tore off part of their roof. There was some other external damage but it could have been much worse.

We heard also from our friend Kit who lost some trees from her garden in Calamba and some roof damage to her resort which is not far from Balatan. She is more concerned about her tree plantations because she lost 5000 mahogany trees in the 2012 typhoon and can't afford a loss like that again.

It's been a beautiful day in a Deloraine so I took Jamie and Nera, and Madi and Josh up towards the Great Lake looking for snow. There was still a lot lying on the ground so they had a good time chucking snowballs at each other.

Monday, July 14th ....

The tables are set and we're well on the way for a successful dinner tomorrow. Before the hordes descend, we have taken a photo.

I also wanted to give a more updated version of the divinely inspired words of Julian of Norwich. These are the commercially inspired words of Sonny Kapoor of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

'Everything will be all right in the end and, if things are not all right, it is not yet the end.'

Monday, July 14th ....

We're planning a Christmas Dinner tomorrow for our Probus Club. Traditionally, the July meeting has been a celebration of Christmas in Winter and the dubious honour of hosting it has fallen on our shoulders. We have just over 20 members and are inducting 2 more tomorrow, so we're catering for 30. There are three tables in the dining room which will seat 26 and any leftovers will have to sit at the table in the kitchen.

Most of our members are over 80 and don't eat much but they'll be served turkey and ham, roast vegetables, stuffing and gravy, followed by pavlova, fruit salad and cream, mint slice, and Janet's shortbread. Janet has a lot to answer for. We were going to have a simple buffet but she said that the oldies would be disappointed and deserved to have a traditional sit-down meal. Of course, she's not here to share the work.

Today is the fourth day of beautiful weather and we hope it hangs around until tomorrow at least.

I've always read a lot and am always impressed when I come across a great piece of writing. Some authors have the knack of putting words together which create a special effect, when the sum of the words is greater than the words themselves. I thought I might, occasionally, repeat some of these elegant passages in my blog. Apart from anything else, they'll be an aide memoire when I read back in future years.

These words come from Julian of Norwich who was a Christian anchoress, born about 1343 and died about 1416. Her name was not Julian but her cell was attached to the wall of St Julian's Church in Norwich so that's how she was known. She was a mystic who claimed that God spoke to her in dreams.

'All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manners of things shall be well.'

Friday, 11th July ....

Life is starting to get back to normal after the wedding. It's been a beautiful day and that's a great relief after the miserable weather we've been having. Nera has made the most wonderful soup for dinner; I thought it might have an exotic Tagalog name but it's simply Chicken and Macaroni soup. Apparently, it's often served for breakfast but I'd enjoy it at any time.


Nera has spent most of today filling in more forms for her application for a residency visa. It's never-ending but at least she is able to apply from within Australia. Quite a lot of money has to be handed over with the application and it's non-refundable, no matter what the outcome.

Sandy put me on to an iPad app called Pinterest. It brings together the internet scourings of people all over the world and allows you to pick up anything which interests you and 'pin' it to a board. I spent an hour today following random ideas and picked up some wonderful posters, pictures and ideas, in topics as eclectic as Dr Who, Japanese villages, bridges, Australian Impressionist art and lessons to be learned from the movie Brave.

Friday, July 4th ...

I'm feeling a little guilty about neglecting the blog so I'm making an effort to kick it off again. When I opened Blogger, I found this little bit I'd written previously and it seems a shame to delete it.

Saturday, May 24th ... I'm sitting in a pop-up shop in Launceston, waiting for customers to arrive. The shop is set up to display some of the art produced by Giant Steps' students; today is the last day and we hope to sell some of the last few items which haven't been snapped up. The show us being sponsored by Tasgas and they have included a few items devised by their staff members and all in all it's a very interesting mix.

We have been busy over the last few weeks moving into our new house. It's been a slow process and I've discovered that what we did with ease in our thirties takes a lot longer now that we are a little (or a lot) older. However, the house is great and it's been well worth the effort. Jamie and Nera have arrived from the Philippines and are starting to make the house fit their needs.

Back to the future - tonight, we're taking a break from wedding arrangements. Jamie and Nera have moved out for this week, into a little cottage just around the corner. We have Anne and Alan, and Sandy and Janet staying with us. We've been drinking lots of wine and eating good food so life is pleasant.

Nera's having friends around tonight for a hen party. They've set up the karaoke and I expect the place will be bopping. Their menfolk are relegated to another room. Pity the poor neighbours! We've ordered Thai food as everyone's fed up with being in the kitchen.

We had planned to have the wedding ceremony out of doors but that's not a clever decision in Tasmania in July so it will now be held in the Rotary Pavilion. Food preparation began today and tomorrow will be spent setting up. It should be great.