Wednesday, February 1 .....

After my first poem seemed to be a success, I thought I would try another but this one didn't flow as easily. Perhaps it's because I tried to write it in front of the TV and couldn't focus properly on the words. Anyway, I tossed it aside and only came back to it yesterday. Like the first one, it's pretty rough and I know I need to write a couple of other verses to make it sensible. However, I'd rather start a new one than fiddle around with a second-rate effort, so here it is:


THE CAT’S MISSING

There’s something quite unnatural about families who have cats
It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense
‘Cause cats are independent and as lovable as rats
And who’s prepared to come to their defence?

Is there even just one reason why cats should rule our lives?
Is there anyone who’ll try to make a case?
For giving love and house room to these selfish feline pests
Who think they’re better than the human race?

But when our cat went missing, I’m afraid I must admit
That I was just as anxious as the rest
I helped to check the cupboards and the other likely spots
Where it might have crossed her mind to make a nest.

We looked in vain for hours to find what had occurred
How could she disappear from off the earth?
I know she’s not too hefty, but she’s bigger than a mouse
So we checked all round the place for all we’re worth.

And then my brother, Sandy, told us all of what he’d heard
Around the caravan at dead of night
Loud creaks and bumps and rattles, and squeals and clangs and moans,
Apparently it gave him quite a fright.

Now we’ve had a happy ending, the cat is safely home
We found her in the most unlikely place
She’d crawled into the storage of the caravan in the yard
And had to spend the night in that small space.

The cat should learn a lesson from her ordeal in the boot
That curiosity’s a troubling trait.
If you can’t resist exploring each int’resting place you find
Just be prepared to meet a nasty fate.

Tuesday, January 31 .....

I know I shouldn’t be counting but this is my 11th post for the year. If I can average 9 or 10 each month, I’ll have more than 100 by year’s end. I’m assuming there will be a good number of posts while we are on holiday in May/June but I need to keep them going during the quiet months (and there will be many of those).

The Stallholder Application Package went up on the Craft Fair website today and we expect an influx of ‘phone calls and emails over the next few weeks as people get themselves sorted out. I’ve already had 4 or 5 emails and several calls from prospective new applicants and that can only be good. In recent years, we’ve averaged about 65% Tasmanian exhibitors and 35% from the mainland. I’d like to tweak that ratio a bit to give a bit more emphasis to local crafts people but we only have a small population and we might just have tapped into all of the good ones from the Apple Isle.

Marilyn mentioned the other day that she had seen a couple of people picking blackberries on the side of the road so I thought I should check it out. I’ve been waiting for them to come on, looking at the ones we have growing in the yard but they are still small and red. However, the ones across the road are obviously a different species and are big, black and juicy (I’m sure there’s a racist joke there but I’m not touching it). I filled a 2 litre container in no time and will do the same again later this evening and probably tomorrow as well.

I made room in the freezer today by taking out a couple of containers of chicken stock to make soup so I’ve got space to freeze some blackberries. They will be the ones left over after we’ve made lots of delights. It’s time to google for some recipes.


Tonight's the Rotary meeting but I'm giving it a miss. I thought I would take the caravan down to Deloraine tomorrow for a few days. Marilyn has gone to Wollongong to see the rellies and I'll take the chance to get some work done on the arrangements for the Craft Fair.

Monday, January 30 .....

We certainly have our share of strange creatures around here but Jamie came across one the other day which is as strange as any. It was certainly a nest, made of mud and shaped like a cylinder. When he moved it, it broke in half and seemed to be full of spiders. First thought – a spider’s nest, but which spider makes a mud nest? On closer look, the spiders seemed to be full-size and were not all the same: some were brown, others grey and others had patterns on their back. Second thought – it’s a nest of some other creature which has put the spiders in it.

The obvious candidate was a wasp so it was clearly a case for the internet. It seems there are several species of wasp which make a mud nest, with in which an egg is laid and spiders provided as food for the grub when it hatched out. The spiders are not dead; they are paralysed so they remain fresh until the grub is ready to eat them. You can see in the photograph the remains of the nest, spiders and a grub or two. The wasps look deadly and can give a painful bite but are ‘reluctant to bite’, according to the Australian Museum website. I’ll take that with a grain of salt and avoid them at all cost.

Yesterday was the baptism of Josef Santino Ramirez, the first-born of Shiela, one of the Occupational Therapists we brought out from the Philippines to work at Giant Steps. She met a Filipino man here, married and now lives in a nice house in Launceston. Her mother is visiting from their rice farm in Albay Province and is enjoying the chance to see the life her daughter has made for herself. Marilyn has volunteered to look after the little boy for a day or two a week when Shiela returns to work and she will just love this. The family have decided to call him Santino.

The church service was as expected but the party afterwards was fantastic. Probably 100 people, most of them Filipino crammed into the Mowbray Bowling Club, with wonderful food, an open bar and the loudest music you can imagine. Lots of women danced (it seems not to be the culture for men to join in) and some people sang. I left early (the music was too much for my delicate ears) but Marilyn stayed on to get to know the baby better.

Saturday, January 28 .....

The little cafe down on the corner advertises a Friday night Happy Hour when all the locals gather for a drink and a gossip. It sounds very civilised but we’ve managed to avoid going until last night. The weather has been wonderful here for several weeks but it’s gradually getting hotter and we hit 30 one day this week and 29 yesterday. Marilyn went down to the cafe to pick up a parcel (they’re also the Australia Post agent) and got talking to the two women who run it. Long story short – Happy Hour was to be at 6 instead of 5 to accommodate the heat and we were going. No point complaining, I had a quick shower, put on fresh shorts and shirt and off we went.

The first person we saw was an old friend, John Hosford, the ex-Head of Junior School at Launceston Grammar. Apparently he and his wife, Margaret, have a house in Windermere Road. One fellow turned up on his bike; he does a 15 Km circuit each morning and afternoon, riding past our place as part of his trip. He promises to call in when he needs a chat. His wife is away in California so he’s a bit lonely. There was an older couple, Jim and Bernice, who entertained us with stories about their new dog called Dougal. There were probably about 30 people all told, and they all bought several drinks and food.

The story of the cafe is an old one. The new highway has bypassed them and they no longer get the passing trade. When the new highway was being built, the men all came in each day for their lunch but, now that the work is finished, the shop is feeling the pinch, the Happy Hour is one strategy to keep the cash flowing. The cafe is also the shop-front for a local winery, Native Point which has just won a gold medal for their Pinot Noir. The proprietor is a Scot, called Sheena, and she comes each Friday night to sell her wines and talk about them. The shop ladies, Kerry and the other woman make nice light dishes and sell them for reasonable prices; Marilyn had a quiche and salad and I had a seafood crepe and chips. On Thursday night we were at the Casino and the food there was awful. We both had fish and my chips were inedible. The so-called chefs there could have learnt a bit from the two humble cooks from the Windermere cafe.

I admit that I was reluctant to go but I thoroughly enjoyed the company and the food. It looks like this will become a regular event for us if we’re not away in the caravan.

Friday, January 27 .....

I booked the flights for our trip today. I’d been watching the prices on zuji.com and they varied a bit from week to week but we couldn’t make the booking until we decided whether we were going to add Manila to our itinerary or not. In the end we decided that the object of the trip was a week in Japan followed by a cruise. Anything we added on would be a distraction. I remember my brother saying that, when they get back to San Diego after their North American cruise, they’ll just want to get home. We’ll be the same. So, the decision is made, when the ship docks in Tianjin, we’ll have one night to get our breath back and then it’s straight home.

The flights will be: Sydney to Osaka, Beijing to Melbourne. The Chinese airlines are by far the cheapest – only $829 by China Southern and a few dollars more by Air China but I had found a site on the internet which gave passenger reviews and they were appalling: broken seats, surly staff, no English, poor food. Doesn’t sound ideal even at those cheap prices. We ended up going with Singapore Airlines, for a bit more, but we know we’ll be comfortable and we can earn Frequent Flyer points with them.

The information that we received told me to go to a site called Sabre-Almost There where I could get a copy of the itinerary (even though they had already sent me one). From there I was steered to an iPhone app called Trip Case and what a delight that is. The itinerary is sent to that program on the phone and you can input other bits of information such as other activities planned, cruise or train details and accommodation. When I was typing in that we plan to stay at the Crowne Plaza, a window appeared asking whether I meant the Crown Plaza, 48 Wang Fujing Avenue, Beijing, and I said Yes. The phone immediately downloaded reams of information about the hotel, telephone numbers, name of restaurant, etc, and 15 photographs. It must concentrate on up-market hotels because when I also typed in Formule1 in Melbourne, the message appeared ‘We do not recognise this establishment. Type it in yourself.’ So there!

Talking about cheeky internet message, Marilyn had found a site which offered free samples of soup. She sent me the link so I filled it out as instructed. However, the link appeared again yesterday, so I filled it out again. When I submitted it, a message came back: NO MORE SOUP FOR YOU. It sounds like something from Oliver Twist or Pink Floyd’s The Wall.

Tuesday, January 24th .....

I mentioned that we had a couple of friends here for a few days. They’re touring Tasmania in a caravan and have parked in the front yard before they head off today to Myrtle Park, one of our favourite spots in Tassie.

Geoff is a poet and he entertained us last night by reading a few of his poems. He has a terrific wit and a nice way of putting his ideas into words. I was inspired to try my hand and Geoff challenged me to write a poem about Grey Nomads. I went to bed with a line or two in my head and got up early this morning to flesh it out.

And here it is.

GREY NOMADS

When your days of toil are over and it’s time to take a break
There are options to consider and decisions you must make
For years you’ve spent each waking hour in trying to earn a crust
But now you’ve got to fill your days in case you turn to rust.

Perhaps it’s time to take up bowls or join a cycling club
Or learn to play the oboe or take refuge in the pub
Some take delight in reading books or watching DVDs
But I’m sure you’ll find you soon get tired of nothing more than these.

Some folks take up cruising on the ocean wide and blue
And you might think that could be fun but it might be boring too
Some learn to use the internet, work out the family tree
Others think it’s pretty smart to get one more degree.

Your house is worth a million and that’s a tidy sum
And you know the kids have worked it out, although they’re playing dumb
The grand-kids talk of Disneyland when Nan and Pop are dead
You’re worth more to them when you’re gone, a truth that must be said.

Each time they come to visit you, only once in a blue moon
You can see the dollar signs in their eyes and they think, Will it be soon?
They look at you to calculate how long you might survive
Yes, how much longer will you live, when you’re only sixty-five.

You know there’s just one answer to make your last years fun
Sell the house, buy a ‘van and let the good times run
Join the Nomad army, grab freedom on the road
No more wasted afternoons, no lawns to be mowed.

With your Cruiser and your Jayco, your days will be your own
You can drive or you can sit around, your worries will have flown
You can feel the joys of this brown land and see its very best
With new-made friends to pass the time and fill the hours with zest.

Live life as it was meant to be, with countless things to do
With every day a new delight and a new adventure too
There’s lots in this great country to make us shout and cheer
So pack your bags, hitch up the van - it’s off for another year.

Monday, January 23 .....

There was a breakout from Hobart’s Risdon Prison over the weekend. This is not unusual but there were red faces all around for the prison guards because the escapees announced their intention on Facebook. So, all their on-line friends knew it was on. Of course, the question being asked is, how can prisoners get access to Facebook? Apparently, one of them had a mobile phone – highly irregular in prison and raises questions for the effectiveness of the security measures. I hope their re-capture gets some space on Facebook too; it’s only fair.

Our cat disappeared yesterday. She didn’t turn up in the evening and she wasn’t around for her morning milk. We weren’t particularly surprised because she’s pretty independent and spends a lot of time outside. Our routine is to lock her in the laundry overnight but she had a cat flap and we know she gets out during the night but she’s always back in bed by the time we wake up or waiting on the front doorstep to be let in for breakfast. Over the past few weeks, she’s been reluctant to go to the laundry but we haven’t been bothered about that; she doesn’t do any damage if she sleeps under my desk overnight.

By mid-morning, Marilyn was a bit concerned and searched all the cupboards, under the beds, in the caravan cupboards as well and even went next door to check whether the cat might have been inadvertently locked in their shed. However, there was no sign of her. Sandy, who’s been sleeping in the caravan, told Marilyn he had heard someone prowling around during the night and I think he was trying to convince her that there had been some evil beast about who grabbed the cat for a midnight snack.

Because it was a nice day, I opened the boot of the caravan to get out the folding chairs – and the cat jumped out of the boot! What we call the boot is, in fact, a compartment under the caravan bed accessible by two doors on the outside of the van. It turned out that Sandy had put the chairs away the night before and had, apparently, not noticed the cat when he shut the doors. Not a very plausible story, I would have thought. It certainly explains the odd noise he heard during the night. Anyone who would lock a cat in a caravan boot deserves to have a disturbed night.

Sandy’s sister-in-law, Sandra and her husband Geoff arrived yesterday to stay for a couple of days. They’re currently touring Tasmania in a caravan and Sandy’s grandson Ty had been with them for the last week. Sandy and Ty were travelling back to Sydney together so Sandra and Geoff were delivering him into his grandfather’s care. Jamie and Ty cooked a terrific barbecue for us and we sat outside until the cool night air drove us inside to play cards. A good night all ‘round!