frontier librarian

2012-02-03T15:34:00.002+10:00

Mads's holiday in Melbourne

Mads saw two live shows: 'Charlie and Lola' and the Victorian Opera's wonderful performance of 'Cinderella'and 3 movies: 'Arrietty, 'The Muppet Movie' and 'Happy Feet'. She also had lots of trips to parks and pools and catches-up with relatives and old friends. Very sociable time.

2012-02-03T15:26:00.002+10:00

Mads's special present

Mads designed and made this box for her olds totally without assistance. It's for them to keep important stuff in. They looooooovved it!

2012-02-01T07:58:00.004+10:00

Anglesea Holiday

2012-01-20T15:41:00.003+10:00

Junior Masterchef hard at work in his test kitchen. Very interesting for 10 minutes then he found he much preferred Arma's real kitchen with all its breakables and sharps. Naturellement.

2012-01-16T07:48:00.002+10:00

Rellie Fest at Albert Park Lake

2012-01-05T07:28:00.007+10:00

23rd Dec - Jan 1

Hobart, Christmas, Swansea, Bicheno, Boogie boarding, bluebottles, blow-out meals, St Helen's, Bay of Fires, historic houses, windmills, bridges, historic everything. Only the prices were modern.

2012-01-05T07:18:00.002+10:00

Museum of Old and New Art

We took the ferry out to MONA which is on a site surpassing the Sydney Opera House for spectaculararity. Privately owned, and intended to challenge, the collection includes the sublime and the gor blimey, notably the notorious poo machine. That was horrid but everything else pretty damn wondrous.

2012-01-03T20:00:00.002+10:00

Our brush with fame - Sydney to Hobart - December 30

Hil's brother in law was a crew member on 'Whistler' so we turned up at Constitution Dock for some vicarious glory.

Afterwards, at the Taste of Tasmania, we sipped our chardies and watched a few more yachts cross the finish line. It was a memorable experience and I hope I remember it.

2012-01-03T19:43:00.001+10:00

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day - Hobart

Badger genes in evidence in this shot

2011-11-23T09:58:00.004+10:00

Caspie's first visit to Phoenix Park

2011-11-14T11:57:00.018+10:00

Will they still need me? Will they still feed me?

It's my birthday. Great pressies, cake and candles at work and dinner with half the family at The Smith. Skyping with the other half last night.

Caspie behaved magnificently at The Smith, young urban sophisticate that he is. I suspect he was the first child to cross their threshold ever, but he dined, surrounded by execs in business suits, wearing his red Ralph Loren polo (purchased at a school fete for $1.00) and was by far the most handsome male in the room.

Closely followed of course by his relatives.

Yesterday - Sunday in the park with Caspie

Caspie doesn't look so good. "I need a pick me up. What's that over Mummy's shoulder?"

"Coffee!"

"Problem is how does a guy get the lid off these things?"

"Oh now I see! I can drink it through the hole in the lid. Just like my sippy cup. You'd think grown-ups would have something more elegant really".

"Oh no! I've lost the lot!"

"Waiter! Bring me another coffee pronto!"

"Oh cripes! I hope he hurries! I've totally got the jitters"

2011-11-04T16:06:00.003+10:00

The Little C
In my line of work BCG stands for Boston Consulting Group, best known for that matrix about the dogs, cows and stars. So when the Dr told me this morning that the hideous outcrop on my nose was probably one I was puzzled. Turns out she really said BCC which stands for Basal Cell Carcinoma. According to Wikipedia it ‘rarely metastasizes or kills’ (phew) but needs to be got rid of anyway. The thing is the growthation in question keeps coming and going and somedays is totally absent. Doesn't sound like a BCC to me.

Evidently it’s quite unusual for a fair-skinned Aussie to make it to my advanced age without having had one though. Lucky for me Mum was decades ahead of her time in sun protection and I’ve always found sun-baking boring anyway.

Dr Jenny spent approx an hour (the receptionist wanted to charge me for an extended consultation) searching for a trustworthy plastic surgeon to refer me to. Apparently they are mostly rogues who wouldn’t be satisfied with cutting my nose off but would insist on pinning my ears and giving me a boobs ‘n’ bum lift as well.The thing that bothers me most is having a bandage across my snout and looking funny. Maybe I’ll pretend it’s red nose day and wear one of those. Or maybe get some of those novelty bandaids that Mads is so fond of. But I suppose I’ll just go around frightening animals and young children. Pity I’ve missed Halloween.

2011-10-17T18:16:00.004+10:00

Happy Birthday Dear Madeleine!

Today Mads is six and has been celebrating for 3 days with parties, dinners, fairies and kinda queening. Alas for us she is in Frankfurt and we are in Melbourne so the closest we got to sharing the big day was via Skype. But we were ready with our party hats and cake and sang hard. Amazingly Mads managed to blow out the candle.

2011-09-23T10:36:00.003+10:00

23rd September 1961

Today (23rd September 2011) is the 50th anniversary of Hawthorn’s first premiership. After decades of being the easy beats we were Premiers at last. Nothing else in my life mattered.

My favourite player – the tall, dark, handsome and, above all, Couth, Allan Woodley did not play that day but Bug’s heart-throb, Brendan Edwards was Best on Ground.
I stood up all day long, as we did every Saturday, often on 4 beer cans which made your legs ache and ache. There were few creature comforts for footy fans in those days. I saw Hawthorn’s most recent premiership in 2008 from the privileged position of the Members Reserve of the MCC. That’s social mobility for you – other side of the ground and 2 levels up.

Hawthorn 13.16 (94) d Footscray 7.9 (51)

Coach: John Kennedy
Captain: Graham Arthur
Backs: Reg Poole, Les Kaine, Graham Cooper
Half-backs: Sted Hay, John McArthur, Cam McPherson
Mid-field: Col Youren, Brendan Edwards, John Fisher
Half-forwards: Ian Mort, Garry Young, Morton Browne
Forwards: Malcolm Hill, John Peck, Jack Cunningham
Followers: John Winneke, Graham Arthur, Ian Law
Reserves: Ron Nalder, Phil Hay

These young men in their twenties were more than heroes to me, they were gods, and I would have taken a bullet for any one of them. Most of them lined up to form a guard of honour for the current team at our last home and away match at the MCG this year. They still looked impressive: silver-haired, big and beefy in business suits.

After that first premiership, Hawthorn suffered the anti-climax that often follows a massive build-up and only won 5 matches the next year. But early in the season, before that full horror unfolded, a photographer from the Sun took this picture of my next door neighbour, Kay and me at Glenferrie Oval and it appeared on the front page the next Monday.

Very young for my age (note the teddy), gauche and unsophisticated, it’s hard to believe that within 8 years I was married to a tall(ish), dark, handsome, and above all, Couth, Allan Woodley lookalike (albeit one with 2 left feet and no interest in sport of any kind).

How fortunate I am that all 10 Hawthorn premierships have happened in my lifetime. I know supporters of other teams who are breaking their hearts to experience just one. And one poor woman who has given up on her own behalf but hopes her children may be more fortunate.

Thanks for all the joy and pain Mighty Hawks. Happy Anniversary.

2011-09-20T14:56:00.009+10:00

Caspie loves a soft furry animal, particularly one with a long tail that he can snuzzle up against his cheek. We took him to the zoo on Sunday to introduce him to a few. The first animal he saw was a giraffe and I wish I had captured the expression of surprised delight on his face but I wasn’t quick enough with the camera. I did get some pictures of him rattling a few cages though.

And some of him stacking while he waited for his babycino.

The zoo kiosk had a display of postcards which included some of Mere’s stunning new book,’ Shift’. We were thrilled to see it there. Go buy everyone!

2011-09-12T17:53:00.002+10:00

Dining,Wining but not Winning

No sooner had I bought a visitor pass for Right Foot to accompany me into the Members Reserve at the G, then I was invited to join Ange and the Accountants in a corporate suite instead. The weather forecast was dire so I scalped the ticket and watched the Hawks go down in comfort and style.
This week I’m holding off buying a ticket just in case some random Sydney fan wants our company

Dining but (thankfully) not Whining

Caspie had his first sleep-over at our place on Saturday night. He ate and slept, played and laughed and showed no signs of homesickness.

Walking not Driving

After nearly 15 years of doing a daily drive of 96 kilometres, tomorrow I start my secondment in St Kilda Road, a 10 minute walk from home.
I have always travelled a long way to school, uni and work so I can’t imagine what I’ll do with the extra 2 and a half hours in my day.

2011-07-09T02:22:00.068+10:00

Travelblog 28 June - July 30

29 June - London
We arrived in the UK and the entire nation immediately went on strike. Thousands of civil servants including immigration officers went off home. We were processed quickly but apparently by the end of the day the queue at Heathrow stretched back to the planes.
We went to the British Museum and saw the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. And read all about the reasons why Greece isn't going to get them back.

We visited Trafalgar Square and finished the day with fish and chips at the pub around the corner from our Earl's Court hotel.

30 June - Brighton
Having recently seen the movie 'Brighton Rock' we were keen to see the place for ourselves. We toured the Royal Pavilion, checked out the delights of the pier (so cheesey, so corny), scoffed at the pebble beach,

tried out the deck chairs and resisted the Brighton Rock which you could buy in any shape you liked, including babies dummies.
back in London, we chose Chinatown for our evening meal hoping to catch a glimpse of a green vegetable.

July 1 - Dublin
The day started badly when a customs officer, no longer on strike, confiscated my Vegemite. No vegemite allowed in Ireland. How I have missed it!
I was directed to my seat on the plane. Right Foot was behind me. 'Just follow herself', said the Aer Lingus flight attendant.
Things looked up when we saw our hotel. It was in a great location and was a zillion times better than the Sardine Tin in London.
Our second Son-Out-Law had asked us to look out for any stuff with the Beamish logo. It's his surname and a brand of beer in Ireland. Late in the day I noticed a pub called 'The Flowing Tide' advertising Beamish. In we went and came out much, much later with a pile of free Beamish-logoed paraphenalia and a few beers under our belts.

July 2 - Dublin
There's lots of green in Ireland but none of it edible. No bok choy, no broccoli, just incredibly starchy mooshy peas.
We visted Trinity, saw the Book of Kells, the sculpture of Molly Malone and St Patrick's Cathedral. Guiness has taken over the town so we decided seeing the brewery from the outside was enough. We were barracking for Beamish anyway.
In the museum a young American girl asked me for directions to the 'barg bardies' but I had to hurry off, or so I thought, to catch the bus.
That's when I did my first dummy spit of the trip. I was over the hop-on hop-off bus and the turn-on turn-off Irish charm. We'd been promised there'd be no more than a 15 minute wait at any bus stop. But the Hop On company rented out their busses for a Right to Life demo which meant we waited for 45. I would have had time to see the bog bodies myself. When a bus eventually turned up I let the driver have it.
We ate at a Spanish restaurant. In Spain they've heard of vegetables other than Murphys.

July 3 - Kilkenny - Tipperary - Cashel
We picked up our hire car and left Dublin to begin our ancestor hunt. First stop was Kilkenny which is a beautiful place but without conspicuous Meaneys, the family RF has links with.
Onto Galbally, the tiny village in a beautiful valley near the Tipperary/Limerick border where my mum's mum came from. I found 4 graves in the old cemetery and one in the new with my great grandmother's maiden name on the headstone. I cannot be sure they were related to me but I'm claiming them anyway.

We stayed at a B & B in Cashel where we were overwhelmed with hospitality by the propietor Peggy O'Neill. She made us a coffee which in colour and quantity rivalled the Yarra.
We ate at a 1709 pub where we ordered fish and were served the whole school.

4 July - Tipperary - Clare
We visited the Rock of Cashel in Tipperary which is very impressive but where the lady -in-charge was having a very bad day.
Then onto to Clare where mum's father's family came from. We stayed in the county town, Ennis, at the most anonymous large hotel we could find, to contrast with the overwhelming hospitality of Peggy O'Neill and her oh so charming but oh so insincere husband.
We visited the stunning Cliffs of Mohrer and its wonderful visitor centre, then the disappointing ClareCastle.
Had a great night at the local with a bunch of tourists listening to the dreaded Irish music we'd been trying to avoid.

July 5 - Trim
We explored The Burren and stayed overnight at Trim in County Meath.

July 6 - Donore
A very full day which included Bective Abbey where we saw an archeological dig in progress. Onto Tara to see the ancient kingy stuff then it was on to the site of the Battle of the Boyne. Our pub was on the site of king James's camp the night before the battle. We toured the cave tombs at Newgrange which was a mystical, magical experience.

July 7 - Dublin
Major stress day. Had to get the car back to Hertz before it turned into a pumpkin then had a couple of hours in the National Gallery before another airport bum recital. Flew to Paris very late and had a difficult time getting to our hotel. I was nearly hysterical by the time we did. Paris was really rocking and I calmed down after a drink at a bar near our hotel. Families with young children were dining though it was nearly midnight.

July 8 - Paris
A lovely low-key day in the Paris sunshine to recuperate from the traumas of the previous day.

Had a glace-au-chocolait for dejeuner and for dinner, Foot had a supreme de volaille.

This dish has been a standing joke in our family for many years but this was the first time we'd actually seen it on a menu. The waiter smirked - he obviously thought it a joke dish too. I expect they place bets on how many tourists order it in a day.

The palid vin blanc looked innocuous but packed a punch. I was soon comotose.

July 9 - Amiens
After more adventures with the French transport system we arrived in Amiens. We could not get into a Battlefields tour until Monday so had a day and a half to fill. Had another Crepe Suzette, lit candles for Caspie and Mads then waited for the late night sound and light show outside Notre Dame Cathedral which showed the orginal colours of the statuary. This removed the subtle, sombre feel of the cathedral and made it more accessible. It became a totally different experience seeing it like this.
Here's a media kit which tells you all about it.
Inside they have John the Baptist's head on display. He wasn't looking his best but you could tell it was him. The resemblance to his famous cousin was astonishing.

July 10 - Amiens
We took a very picturesque boat trip through the floating gardens,
saw the fabulous collection at Jules Verne's four story house, visited the so-so Picardie museum, took another canal ride through the old town and finally had dinner in the old quarters of St Leu

July 11 - Battlefields Tour
We waited in the wrong place but the excellent Lea found us anyway. Our first stop was the memorial where RF's uncle David is remembered on the wall and in the register.
He was killed at Mouquet Farm which we visited later. Lea had done her research and could pinpoint the area where David died.
Next stop was Victoria school where every classroom has the sign, "N'oublions pas les Australiens"

We spent the day touring a number of cemeteries, battlefields and memorials. We found a number of errors in the descriptions, notably a reference to a sculpture carved by someone at the 'University of Daylesford'
It was warm and sunny and, just like at Gallipoli a couple of years ago, I was struck by the contrast between the beauty of the area and the ghastly stuff that happened there.

July 12 - Paris to Berlin
Our last day in Paris and raining quite hard. A million feral tourists crowded onto the buses and we got the news that Mads has tonsillitis. I now had 2 sick grandchildren on opposite sides of the world.

The dreaded hop-on-hop-off bus broke down and we had to walk for miles. This was our second bad experience with this company within a few days. Clearly they are flakes.

July 13 - 16 - Berlin

It's time for one last crepe before heading to Orly which turned out to rival CDG for the stress factor. RF finally had his Swiss army knife confiscated after successfully parlaying it through airports all over the globe.

But it was OK: my stress point came down to its resting level because we were flying Air Berlin and not Air France. Order and organisation supplanted chaos and crowds.
The flight was short, a taxi awaited and we were soon at the hotel, sitting on the end of Madeleine's bed (it was nearly midnight)having a beer. Mere had done us proud. It was a five star in a great location. It cost her a fortune and it meant all our Christmases had come at once.

Our shower reminded me of those psychological experiments designed to test whether monkeys prefer surrogate wire mothers that feed them or cloth mothers that don't.

Wonderfully relaxing 4 days: frustuch and flat white (at last!), picnic lunch in a park, Brandenburg Gate, pizza and wine for dinner. No-one worries about the legal 120 ml limit in Europe, they fill the glass up. Dinosaur museum, Asian restaurant (coriander!), Pergamon Museum, Gates of Babylon , shopping, Checkpoint Charlie, bits of the wall, bullet holes eveywhere, Berlin Zoo and Legoland.

I had a great time shopping at Nivea Haus. Nivea is a product dear to the hearts of many in my extended family and here was a whole shop full of Nivea stuff.

My favourite memory will be Ampelmann. Apparently when the Wall fell and Berlin was reunited the authorites tried to abolish symbols of the East. But the people fought hard to retain their extremely cute 'walk' and 'don't walk' traffic man, Ampelmann.

Unique to Berlin, Appelmann is now an icon and is seen on tee shirts, coffee mugs and a million other souvenirs.

Finally, we relucantly checked out of the Eurostars Hotel and took the intercity to Frankfurt. We had our own clean, comfortable compartment, met some nice people to share a wine with and had dinner in the diner. Great fun.

In Germany any time a train is running late someone appears and gives you a freebie of some sort. We now have two playmobile figures and endless packs of gummy bears.

July 17 - Frankfurt
Sunday is very quiet in Frankfurt and it's cold and wet but at last RF gets to the Zeppelin museum.

July 18 - Frankfurt
Booked our tickets for the Chunnel. Bought bananas for 1,49 instead of $14.00. Cherries are 4 Euro.
My turn to cook dinner.
Prost!

July 19 - Rudesheim
Acting on the recommendation of Mads's other granny, Right Foot and I take the train to Rudesheim, a very picturesque old town on the Rhine. The day comprised stunning views from the chair lift, a long leisurely lunch featuring generous serves of streusel and a visit to a museum of mechanical musical instruments which was fantastic.

July 20 - Frankfurt
Another rainy day and we worked hard to entertain Mads. She pronounced the Children's Museum boring but we had better luck at the outdoor school holiday activities near the opera. She met a New Zealand family and played with them

July 21 - Saalburg
We visited the Roman town at Saalberg.. It was cold and wet so I took most interest in the indoor sights.

There were guests for dinner - one of Mads's best friends, her sister and mum. They are German speaking Irish / Americans. It was a fun night.

July 22 - Munich
Mere, Foot, Mads and I headed to Munich and it scarely stopped raining for 3 days. The wet weather gear I bought for Ireland but didn't need finally got a workout. Munich's the first German town I've been to where drivers honk their horns in anger. The shopping was the same globalised crapola as every other place. Well done, Esprit, Benneton and Zara. There's nothing unique anywhere any more.
What is different though is the escalators that don't start moving until you get close to them. They can smell you coming and try to run away.

Mads was desperate for some kid company and we spent 3 and 1/2 hours in a play park followed by a very nice dinner in a genuine beer hall, not another tourist in sight.
There's lots of bucks' nights and hens' nights in Munich and the streets throng with brides and grooms in veils, trains, lederhosen and various other tasteless garments.

July 23 - Munich
Mads was sick so we took it in turns to stay by the sick bed and to visit the sights. The palace is rather like Versailles but thankfully without the crowds. We visited the toy museum and the dom. Mads rallied for some Thai takeaway.
We heard the bad news about Norway and Amy Winehouse and the good news about Cadel Evans. Locally, no-one is interested in a non-European winning Le Tour.

July 24 - Munich to Frankfurt
I find these long train trips very relaxing and am always sorry to arrive, totally unlike a plane trip.
We had a cider dinner at the Textorhouse.

July 25 - Frankfurt

Mads still not well but we managed to get her to the family schiebel garden where we picked blackberries and tried not to be stung by nettles.

Tomorrow's our last day here and I'm not looking forward to another farewell. I'm also dreading my email in-box and some impending dental work. Looking forward to seeing Hil, Rob and Caspie though.

July 26 - Frankfurt

The day turned out to be very pleasant. Foot and I went to the modern art gallery which is fabulous - a terrific building and some very interesting works. We met Mere for lunch and a great coffee in the market.
A bit of shopping in some groovy homeware places and then home to prepare a traditional Hesse dinner of eggs and potatoes with green sauce. We added broccoli and sausages and served it with apfelwine. It was our last supper together for who knows how long

July 27 - Frankfurt to London via the chunnel

Today we passed through four countries: Germany, Belgium, France and England. First, Frankfurt to Brussels on the intercity to pick up the Eurostar. Then to Lille just before entering the chunnel. Following Matt's advice I kept a torch ready just in case the worst happened. You have to really work at conjuring up the undersea feeling though.
We share our journey with a very bright, volatile, trilingual 2 and a half year old. By the end of the trip she is monkey-barring it around the carriage on the luggage rack.
July 28 - London
We started the day in our Earl's Court dungeon and found it was sunny and warm outside. We had a very pleasant day shopping, sight-seeing and strolling through the beautiful parks.
It is wonderful being in the linguistic majority group again. After 2 weeks of feeling like a dummy, I talk and listen and talk some more.
Then it's the dreaded flight home via Singapore. But first, one more banana. At this price why not have two. Or three.

July 29th - Friday
The day that disappeared.

July 30th - Melbourne
Arrived at the crack of dawn on Saturday.

2011-06-27T12:25:00.004+10:00

The Green Meaneys

We’ve always known we had to go to Ireland to touch base with our ancestors but I’ve been putting it off because it looks so tame and rather boring on the travel sites. I preferred to go somewhere edgier while I could still face it. But now I am feeling sufficiently decrepit to welcome a little cosiness on holiday. So we are going to Clare and Tipperary in quest of an assortment of Kellys and Dunnes on my mother’s maternal side and Lahiffs and O’Farrells on her father’s. And for Right Foot, to Limerick for the ominously named Meaneys.

Then onto Amiens for the battlefields tour. Right Foot’s 19 year old uncle, David, died on the 23rd day of the Somme and is recorded there. It’s amazing to think that Jim had, not a great uncle, but his father’s brother at the First World War.

After that it’s into enemy territory to catch up with the Triple Ms in Berlin where we will celebrate Mere’s recent publishing successes.

I’ve done all the lastlies: put my footy tips in for the next 5 weeks, got my hair done (the colour’s a bit Assange but I like the cut) and taken lots of photos for Hil to show the police if we go missing.

In the spirit of “leave ‘em laughing when you go”, here is a photo of Swinburne’s winning archery team. All my life I’ve wanted to win a trophy and this is the closest I’ve got. Unquestionably the weakest member of the team, I’m claiming it anyway.

2011-06-14T17:28:00.003+10:00

Casp at Daydreamers yesterday

2011-05-30T09:39:00.019+10:00

Caspie channels Luke Hodge.

Who needs a Sherrin when they have an auberegine?

Caspie-Luke looks around for a teammate to pass the auberball to...

but is knocked to the ground by Big Bad Barry Hall.

He spots an excited fan heading towards him ...

and tries to fend her off ...

but she is determined to embrace him.

Caspie-Luke finds he quite likes it ...

and allows her to chair him from the ground

Caspie-Luke is proud of his 33 possessions and 2 goals against the Western Bulldogs ...

and adds another prize to his trophy cabinet.

2011-05-20T15:33:00.005+10:00

Another weekend of grading Marketing assignments looms.

Most students chose technology and electronics products for their plans. I have read about so many iPlods, iPleeds and XPedes that I am ready to XPlode.

A few years ago the assignments were all about energy drinks and I was constantly Red Bulldozed.

I'm feeling nostalgic for those faraway, innocent, FMCG days of confectionery, Nescafe and shampoo & conditioner two-in-ones.

Apparently Casp took his first steps today. Lucky Hil was there to see it. I don’t know if there’s a photo but here’s a recent one to go on with anyway . Caspie's wearing his Mothercare swim poncho and looking sensational in it too.

2011-05-09T13:05:00.007+10:00

Caspar the Friendly Host

The clan gathered at Café Caspar to celebrate Mothers day and Caspar’s first birthday. There were presents for the mums but the birthday boy was the centre of attention.

He was delighted with his gifts and pronounced one of his new books a story he could really sink his teeth into.

A large box from Arpa was exciting to unwrap but the wonderful activity cube inside was even better than the box. So fun! So educational!

Most of us donned our party hats but Casp decided to nibble at his instead.He offered Ma B a bite too.

Caspie’s cake was styled to look like a bottle of QV moisturiser, beloved by the sensitively skinned everywhere and a major player in Caspar’s life so far. And the cake made excellent eating too.

The birthday boy was a wonderful host but finally just wanted to nuzzle up to Mummy for some quiet time

Skypes with the Triple Ms in Germany rounded off a brillo day.

2011-04-28T13:03:00.008+10:00

Our Page Three Girl

Here is a pic of Dr Moya McF, Senior Curator, Museum Victoria, who I am proud to call my niece. It's from page 3 of today's 'Age'. She is wearing a Collingwood hijab and has been hobnobbing with Harry O'Brien at the Immigration Museum.

Don't forget to rock up on May 11 to see the expo. Harry will be there. He has written about it on his blog

2011-04-15T16:40:00.002+10:00

Auf wiedersehen Triple Ms

The Triple Ms are flying back to Germany tomorrow and we are feeling sad. I detest the last day of a holiday even when it’s not mine. Maybe a quiet last dinner and a bottle of chardy tonight will be cheering. And of course we are going to see them in Europe in July.
Mere, Matt and Mads have caught up with a lot of people and been to a lot of places over the last few weeks but the highlights from our point of view have been:
the airport reunion,
the first dinner at Hil and Rob’s,
the Grand Prix weekend in Anglesea,
the belated 40th celebration dinner for Mere featuring Hil’s magnificent meringue gateau – probably the best cake I’ve ever had - and a 1999 Moet,
seeing Mads and Caspie playing together,
helping Mads with her reading and blussing,
having breakfast with Mads while her mum had a sleep-in,
and simply coming home and finding them there.

2011-04-04T19:05:00.003+10:00

Mads has arranged the Easter decorations beautifully

Note how the addition of carrots to this tableau makes it so much more acceptable to grownups.

2011-03-31T11:37:00.016+10:00

Our lovely long weekend at the beach.

The entire family escaped the Grand Prix in Anglesea: Right and Left Foot with both daughters, sons-in-law and grand-children. The photos are entirely out of chronological order but who cares?

2011-03-24T14:24:00.004+10:00

Multiple personalities – Katie, Bernadette ‘n’ me

Since Monday I’ve been channeling Katie Cage. It wasn’t my idea and it wasn’t hers. Katie’s phone independently decided to divert all her calls to me and there’s been dozens – Katie works in Marketing. The Unhelpful Desk just think I’m a crazy lady and haven’t done anything.

So it was a delight to leave work yesterday and hie myself off to the famous Spiegeltent to see the multi-talented Bernadette Robinson. She sang in the style of Julie Andrews, Billie Holliday, Patsy Cline and Edith Piaf as well as using her own beautiful voice to cause me to tear up during ‘One perfect day’.

When I arrived at work this morning I found my phone had developed 2 more personalities overnight; not Patsy or Edith but Kali from Hospitality and Glenda from Sociology. And by the end of the day I had become Associate Dean as well. But I’m not alone in my craziness any more: the 3 colleagues who share my office have also taken on a couple of aliases each. The noise of four phones ringing constantly is unnerving. What’s worse I’ll be going home to the Grand Prix.

Early tomorrow, however, we’re off to Anglesea to escape the whole wretched cacophony. One perfect day.

2011-03-21T17:09:00.006+10:00

On Saturday we hung out with Mads and Ol at Monkey Mania. The kids had a fab time and worked off many, many kilojoules.

This morning I achieved a cherished dream. I dropped Mads off at school! Sure she was only going for 2 hours but I got to pack her lunch box and take the traditional first day of school photos.

Naturally we were all ready hours before necessary so here’s another pic of Mads in the park next door to the school waiting for siren time.

2011-03-14T14:54:00.008+10:00

Fun-filled and action-packed long weekend of family reunion

2011-03-08T14:19:00.001+10:00

Bubbling Beamish Boy 2

If I am to be humiliated by being seen in my bathers, Right Foot is too.

2011-03-08T14:07:00.003+10:00

Bubbling Beamish Boy

2011-03-07T16:10:00.002+10:00

Pillow Talk
We went to buy a pillow for Mere who'll be sleeping in our bunk bed come Thursday. I expected to chose from firm, medium and soft a la the three bears. But no, these days pillows come in side-sleeper, tummy-sleeper and back-sleeper then are subdivided by anti-asthma, anti-dust mite, anti-snore (oh yes!), anti-back pain, anti-neck pain,etc.
Having lost track of my first born's sleeping habits I was paralysed by indecision until I spied one simply labelled 'pillow'. So that's what we got. Poor Mere will probably be so tired after spending the previous night on the plane that she won't be too fussy.

2011-02-28T19:18:00.002+10:00

FebFast Finale

Remember that recruit in ‘An officer and a gentleman’ who endured 11 out of 12 brutal weeks of boot camp then dropped out, thereby forfeiting his career and the girl of his dreams? What can be said about a person like that? And what can be said about a pair of FebFasters who endure almost 4 weeks of lemon, lime and bitters only to fall off the wagon on Feb 27?

Here’s how it happened. Entering commitments into my diary I realised with horror that the Big Day, March 1 coincided with my first online tutorial in Open University this year. I take this at 8pm, after dinner. They’re final year students and many are hotshots. I need to have my wits about me so a tipple is out of the question.

March 2 is banjo night for Right Foot and swimming for me. That’s no time to break our fast – we have to do it together. On March 3 I have my second year students and their online tute. That brings us to Friday March 4, practically an extra week of deprivation. Unthinkable.

So last night we settled in with David Attenborough, tarragon chicken and a glass of de Bortoli’s Best Box. Right Foot was asleep within minutes. I struggled on to the end of Miss Marple. Clearly, I’m a long way off match fitness but, unlike the poor devil in the movie, have not lost my job or my squeeze and the charity will still get its money.

The following is an assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of sobriety
Pros
Weight loss
Evenings are longer and much more productive
Sounder sleep at night and freedom from the mid-afternoon slump next day

Cons
I have become boring, smug and sanctimonious
I have lost the will to live

2011-02-28T11:43:00.003+10:00

Caspie laps it up at MSAC

Casp had his first trip to MSAC yesterday. He was a little uncertain for a minute or two then loved it. And so did we all

2011-02-24T08:32:00.003+10:00

Caspie visits Queens Road

2011-02-14T15:20:00.000+10:00

FebFast
Right Foot and I along with our fellow faster, Colleen of Hippo, have reached the half way mark in our month without hooch. Neither of them is especially bothered but I am. The only positive is I do now see the beginning, middle and end of TV programs which came in handy watching Poirot last night.
Another 2 weeks of lemon mineral water is not appealing but I am determined not to weaken. I have a vision of sitting up in bed at 12.01 a.m. on 1st March with a glass of chardy. Yeah!

2011-02-08T12:31:00.003+10:00

Caspie is turning three-quarters today. So 9 months in and 9 months out - zero sum.

Unfortunately he has a cold and a new tooth. But he did say, 'E-Dad' which seems such an appropriate first word for the current E everything generation.

2011-02-07T11:24:00.005+10:00

Cyclone Queens Road
We went to the Como on Friday evening, for a meal, movie and coffee only to come out and find the cyclone had struck. We had to wade through muck up to our fetlocks to get to the car. At home the garage was flooded but fortunately Right's Foot's love of putting everything on castors kept a lot of stuff out of harm's way. Some of the ground floor apartments had water inside and the scene in Queens Road was amazing as these pictures from 'The Age' show.

2011-02-01T15:23:00.000+10:00

Febfast
I’ve decided to go on the FebFast and Right Foot has volunteered to keep me company. Twenty-eight days without alcohol. It’s going to be very hard.
On my way home I usually start thinking about my first chardy while waiting at the Glen Iris level crossing observing human nature at its worst. Some drivers would rather see you go under a train than let you into the stream of traffic. That’s when I start to feel like a tipple. Half an hour later I am pottering around the kitchen tossing a stir-fry together, sort of watching the news, chatting with RF and sipping that anticipated glass of de Bortoli. It is so relaxing and I am going to miss it so much.
RF has been Googling ‘non-alcoholic drinks’ and trawling the Thomas Dux catalogue in the hope of finding some pretend wine that looks appealing. No luck so far.
On the plus side I’m expecting not to fall asleep on the sofa by 9.00 and maybe even see the end of TV programs as well as the beginning. We’ll see.

2011-01-31T15:11:00.002+10:00

Book Learning

This is the week I’ve been dreading for ages. School’s going back and Mads would have been starting had she still been living in Melbourne. I can just see her in a little check dress toddling off to South Melbourne or Albert Park Primary. But Mads is far away and won’t be going to school until the end of next year. People keep assuring me that she is gaining so much – becoming bilingual and having so many enriching cultural and interpersonal experiences. I know it’s true but it’s hard on a granny for whom Education is God. I’ve been sending lots of educational materials to Germany for a spot of home teaching and Mere has thoughtfully put some clips on Youtube of Mads demonstrating her mastery of them. Particularly impressive is Mads’s excellence at what her mother used to call blussing (as in 1 blus 1 equals 2). Mads’s maternal line is useless at blussing but Matt can blus when he want to. And so can Mads thankfully. A virtual elephant stamp from me to her.

A couple of months ago I blogged about women who excelled at the ‘adoring wife gaze’ and awarded first prize to Nancy Reagan. But I’ve just received a late entry pic from Black Fasha, in a clinch with Ross on the Indian Pacific. You can see how near and dear they are.

2011-01-27T08:41:00.003+10:00

Strayia Day

After the debacle of the cheese straws at Christmas time it’s taken me a month to get back in the kitchen. Lammies for Astrayia Day was my challenge. They turned out perfectly edible and in fact Rob ate two, but I couldn’t work out how to avoid leaving my thumbprint embedded in each one. Right Foot encouraged me by telling me how his PA, that goddess of many talents, would have balanced them between two chopsticks, leaving nary a trace of human contact.

At the end I was left with a dish of coconut with clumps of chocolate icing which looked alarmingly like a tray of kitty litter. Next year Ferguson Plarre.

Caspie is the first boy child in my life and I am conscious that I need to take him to some bloke stuff. So it was off to see the classic cars in King’s Domain but he was more interested in the baby animals and the other kids around. I can understand that. A car is a car is a car

>

2011-01-21T09:08:00.008+10:00

Memory Lane Take 2 - January 28 update

In response to popular demand from my sentimental rellies here's 4 additional pics from our golden past

Memory Lane

Right Foot has been busily converting slides taken in the 70s to digital format for fear that this will eventually become impossible.
Here is a selection of daughters, their cousins and beaches (Narooma/Dalmeny or possibly Victor Harbor - place your bets) and a classic of RF himself in a spiffing 70s jumper

2011-01-18T08:12:00.004+10:00

Spot the Badger genes

Our new great-nephew was born in Dubai early yesterday, 17th January. Here he is: Joshua Ethan Collins. A very fine baby indeed and another Badger baby impersonation of Edward G Robinson. Congratulations Jo and Greg.

2011-01-17T08:21:00.003+10:00

Midsumma of the 41st crayfish and the 40th ODI

We had a brilliant weekend celebrating 41 years of wedded bliss. “Songs for nobodies”, the musical play written by Joanna Murray-Smith to showcase the talents of Bernadette Robinson was sensational: Right Foot declared it the best night he had ever spent in the theatre.

We always have a crayfish and a few oysters for our anniversary dinner with a nice bottle of wine (as opposed to the usual De Bortoli In A Box). Excellent.

This weekend was also the 40th anniversary of international 50-over cricket. People turned up to the G in reproduced retro gear. If I’d tried hard enough I could have scared up some originals. To get to the cricket from Fed Square I had to negotiate my way through the Midsumma Festival – dozens of partying good looking men (but all “What a waste!”), giant inflatable penises and lots of unusual goodies on sale.
And we won the cricket! And we caught up with Caspie and Mads. Then finished off the weekend with a very posh box of chocs.

2011-01-13T12:24:00.003+10:00

The Famous Actress Madeleine stars in in Star Wars Junior

Princess Leia saves the day

2011-01-01T09:40:00.004+10:00

2011 New Year's Eve fireworks, seen from King's Domain Melbourne - a rockstar vantage point, sitting on the top steps of the Shrine!

2010-12-29T15:36:00.008+10:00

Caspie's Christmas celebrations - December 25-26

Much cooing and gooing. Sadly some spewing (not by Casp)

2010-12-23T08:30:00.003+10:00

The rare lacy cheesopod sighted in Queens Road

One of our Christmas traditions has been two packets of cheese straws from Patterson’s Cakes. Patterson’s closed their doors forever a few months ago so I decided to step into the breach and make some. This could be my thing – some people are good at gingerbread, some at plum pudding, others at panforte. There was a window of opportunity for a cheese straw maker.
I chose a simple-looking recipe but was a little surprised that it said to cube the cheese rather than grate it. The dough had large cheese lumps in it and I could see it wasn’t going to turn out like Patterson’s but became quite eager to see what I would get.
The answer is a family of cheese and paprika creatures, like stick insects only tastier.

There’s even a set of twins locked in a lattice of oozy cheese.
I started to trim them but Right Foot loyally declared the lace was the best bit so it's staying on. I'm expecting accolades on Christmas Day

2010-12-21T14:12:00.001+10:00

Caspie checks out our Christmas tree

2010-12-16T10:04:00.003+10:00

A sick chick and a dud do
Frontierlibrarian had a few scary hours yesterday after hearing that Mads has Scarlet Fever. So awfully reminiscent of death bed scenes in 'Little Women' and its contemporaries. But she tells me she is just a little bit scarlet and that her medicine is tasty and yummy. Thank goodness for the resilience that comes with being five years old.

My idea of a good time at the works Christmas do is dancing with my GFs, around our handbags, to the Village People, ABBA and other eighties music, wihout spilling our chardies. I'm not so much into STANDING for ages listening to sycophantic speeches.

2010-12-10T15:04:00.006+10:00

Let's round off the week with some pictures of our Christmas tree. This is the first time we have gone for a colour scheme instead of just plonking years of post-Christmas bargains all over the tree.
It's blue and silver and features on its top the star we bought in one of the Weihnachtsmarkts last year. There are also the six decorations made of Alsation lace that I bought in Strasbourg's old town and have been dying to trot out ever since.

Two of the little dolls I bought in Russia a few years ago also made the cut. The other two failed the dress code. Ms Red and Ms Yellow, you have to stay in the
box this year.

The only exception to the colour scheme Mads's special decoration which is gold and red. Couldn't leave Mads out. Also worthy of note is Caspie's silver C.

2010-12-08T08:34:00.003+10:00

More wedding photos from Phillip Island

Here's a few more pictures. Sorry - I don't have time to crop or tizzy. See yesterday's entry for some others.

2010-12-07T12:46:00.002+10:00

Perfick weekend
Friday to Sunday was a 3-day surf fest at Phillip Island with a wedding thrown in. The bride emerged from the waves in her red bikini, transformed herself into a stunning vision of bridal loveliness and married my famous tree hugging nephew.

There were eight speeches – bliss! I love a speech even when it’s not one of my own. I was brought to tears firstly by the bridesmaid, then by the groom speaking lovingly of his young daughter and finally by the redoubtable Auntie Buggers who took 20 minutes just to tell us about Gav's first 4 years.

Foot and I shared a house with Hil, Rob and Casp - very comfy and convivial. Only the presence of the triple Ms could have improved our perfick weekend.

2010-12-01T08:21:00.004+10:00

Life begins at 40

My first born baby girl is turning 40 today. Here is a picture of her taken when she was 2 weeks old, looking at me in alarm. She was right to be afraid. I had no clue about what I was doing; no idea which end was up. But she survived, even thrived and was rarely sick. I don’t think she had a single day off in her primary school.
The daisy wheel printer and the floppy disc were also born in 1970 and where are they today?

I clearly remember my mother turning 40 when I was 9. She was depressed about it: 40 was old in those days but now I’m the mother of a 40 year-old I know it’s the new 21.

It’s also the first day of Summer in Melbourne but it will be very cold where Mere is today. I hope she’s feeling summery inside though.

Happy birthday dear Mere Claire

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

2010-11-25T14:06:00.003+10:00

Six and a half month old baby admits...

He still lives with his parents

2010-11-19T14:57:00.001+10:00

Write it out a hundred times

There are many famous political slogans:
Ban the bomb!
All the way with LBJ.
It’s time.
The poetic, “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, the NLF is going to win! (They did).
Free Zarb! (I’m still waiting for mine to arrive).

But a golden oldie from my early childhood is all you to need to remember on Election Day. You’ve got a week to make sure it’s etched on your brain before wending your way through those wonky cardboard partitions:
Put Libs Last!
Put Libs Last!
Put Libs Last!
Put Libs Last!
Put Libs Last!
Put Libs Last!
Put Libs Last!
Put Libs Last!
Put Libs Last!
Put Libs Last! x 10

2010-11-17T14:51:00.004+10:00

The look of love
Kate Middleton has mastered the adoring wife facial expression already.

This is a look you’ll never see on my face but if you don’t know what I mean check out Mrs Ted Baillieu’s textbook example from last week.

What annoys me most about these pictures is that the man is never looking at the woman. He’s always thrusting his best angle at the camera while she gazes ecstatically up at him. My hero!

The unsurpassed supremo of the adoring wife look is Nancy Reagan. She didn’t just bestow it on Ronnie, but also on John McCain and even Barack Obama.

I’m on the lookout for anyone who can top Nancy. Janette Howard need not apply. We all know she is really the man in that relationship.

2010-11-08T16:54:00.004+10:00

Halfway to a birthday. Callooh!Callay!
The Beamish Boy turns a half today so I bought some brioches from a posh Sth Yarra bakery to celebrate with the gals at work. Hopefully Casp is enjoying his first banana.

Here is a pic of the Half Birthday boy pinched from his mummy’s Facebook page

2010-11-01T16:20:00.004+10:00

Pissed on and pissed off

The Timor-Leste Trivia Night is the one you really want to win. The participants are mostly librarians who have been answering questions for decades and the standard is high. We have been on the winning team the last 2 years so felt we had to defend our title. It was held in Geelong and despite the fact it was pissing with rain, we drove down there on Saturday night.

What they didn’t tell us in advance was that the questions were ABOUT Geelong. Examples:
Who was the third person to run through the banner at the 1963 Grand Final?
What business is found at 49 Malop Street, Geelong?
How many jock straps does Joel Selwood have in his third drawer down?
Was the blemish on Gary Ablett Senior’s nanna’s knee shaped liked (a) the grandstand at Skilled Stadium, (b) Denis Walter or (c) the Mayor of Geelong’s first pet?

Do we feel ripped off? I know the answer to that one.
Next year we’ll hold the quiz in Queens Road. I’ll set the questions and Right Foot can answer them. That’s fair.

2010-10-18T18:20:00.005+10:00

Aussie sheila becomes saint

Mads turned 5 yesterday. She celebrated with her German kinda friends in Frankfurt but at least we got to see her on Skype in her sparkly silver party dress. Have a great year being funf Mads.

I found myself thinking about Mrs Rutledge, our bigoted, anti-Catholic neighbour when I was growing up. How she would have hated the canonisation of Mary MacKillop! The extent of the media coverage over the last few days has been astounding and all but the truest of true believers must be heartily sick of it by now. Mrs Rutledge would have died of apoplexy had she not done so already.
Everyone but Mrs Rutledge loved Mary because she was an Aussie who became famous. We stood up and cheered just as we would for a Wimbledon champion or Olympic gold medallist. Fitzroy claimed her as theirs because she was born in Brunswick Street and Penola claimed her because she opened her first school there. Even the Scots tried to claim her because her parents were born in Scotland. Don’t they know most Australians have parents born overseas? Get your own saint, Scotland.

2010-10-07T12:11:00.003+10:00

Two little girls beautiful and bright

2010-10-01T13:16:00.003+10:00

Grand Final Rematch
Get it right. It's a rematch not a replay, OK? I've got a great seat and am looking forward to it, especially the bit where Sarah Murdoch announces the winner of the Norm Smith Medal. I have Brendon Goddard in the sweep, maybe he'll take another speccie.

However, nothing we see tomorrow will compare for shear exhilaration with this YouTube clip. Be careful though: Auntie Buggers used up her entire pre-paid credit after I sent her this link. If you're of the Faith it's addictive.

2010-09-27T19:36:00.005+10:00

Drawn Grand Final
For me, the most affecting pictures from Saturday were of the two little boys who missed out on their big moment - presenting the medals to the winning players.

Pictures: Herald Sun

2010-09-08T14:10:00.005+10:00

Eight Nine Ten
I wanted to do a post today just because of the cool date: 8/9/10.

Caspar is turning a third today. I don’t have a recent picture of him so here’s one of Campbell Brown instead. Under-appreciated by the club but loved by the fans, Campbell is one of those people whose names are never mentioned without certain adjectives attached – in this case ‘Hawthorn hard man Campbell Brown’. Others are 'recovering drug addict Ben Cousins' and 'royal love rat James Hewitt'.

We are going to miss you Hawthorn hard man Campbell Brown.

2010-09-07T15:38:00.002+10:00

Julia! Julia! Julia!

Praise the Lord! Even though He doesn’t exist. Julia is over the line and we are spared Tony Abbott. Thank-you, thank-you thank-you.

2010-08-30T17:34:00.003+10:00

A Shilling For Your Thoughts
When the Queen Victoria Hospital was demolished Right Foot was outraged. “Now how will they be able to put up a plaque to Mere’s birthplace when she is famous?”
Years later, to our surprise the chance came. As a fundraiser the Queen Vic Women’s Centre resurrected the idea of the Shilling Wall. In 1897 a whole bunch of women gave a shilling each to pay for the construction of the Queen Vic. By paying a bit more than a shilling, we could nominate our own special woman, have her name engraved on the wall and say 25 words or less of nice stuff about her on the website.
So on a rainy day in May 2008, Right Foot, Mads (aged 2) and I were at the open day and unveiling of the first panel of the new Shilling Wall. The panels are modest - no neon lights or gilt lettering on mahogany honour boards here – more a transparent perspexy sort of thing. We'd envisaged something grander but it is a fund-raiser after all. You have to be determined to find the name you’re after. RF and I searched for Mere’s while Mads got stuck into the afternoon tea.
We weren’t sure how Mere would react so said nothing. A year or so went by and we still weren’t sprung. Then they advertised for donors for more panels and we decided to nominate Hil, although she wasn’t born in the Queen Vic. Famous daughters need plaques and does it really matter where?

2010-08-03T15:55:00.003+10:00

It’s a cakey sort of week and there's more to come. Two family birthdays and Caspar will be turning a quarter on Sunday. Here he is looking magnificent.

2010-07-26T18:12:00.004+10:00

Buggies and Boogies

Last weekend we drove up to Albury where Right Foot was delivering a paper to the Carriage Builders Association annual knees-up. People kept asking us, if we lived in Queens Road, where did we keep our horses? On the mantelpiece in the living room of course.

On the Saturday night there was a trivia quiz which is my favourite way in the world of spending an evening. We competed for prizes such as canvas horse rugs, Zilco harnesses and the services of a stallion. Every second round was on a horsey theme: dressage, show driving, etc. We were reasonably useless but we learnt heaps. Last night, watching the finale of Masterchef, I expressed surprise at seeing the contestants chatting with the judges during the competition. ‘Yes’, said Right Foot knowledgeably, ‘You’d be disqualified in dressage for that’.

We spent Monday to Friday in Coolangatta, braving the waves in our wetsuits and boogie boards and trying not to blend in with the rest of the population whose average age was about 90. Everyone dines at 5.30 and toddles off to bed at 8.
Yesterday we went to ‘the State Theatre to see ‘The king and I’ and were greeted as usual at the foot of the circle stairs by Jeanne Pratt who seems to attend every performance by her company. Her late husband’s scandalous behaviour was all over the front page of the Sunday Age but she calmly sat a couple of rows behind us to enjoy the show.

But the best part of our week off was returning and catching up with our gorgeous boy, Caspar

2010-06-21T14:18:00.003+10:00

Some tres artistique pictures of Caspar

2010-06-07T11:22:00.005+10:00

Carn the Hawks

Caspar has proven that giving him the same name as one of the Three Wise Men was appropriate. He has decided to be a Hawthorn supporter. Here we see him following the distribution of beanies ceremony.

First, he looks thoughtful as he considers the lifetime of emotional highs and lows ahead of him or maybe he’s thinking about those cold Friday night matches at the MCG reliving his grandmother’s fantasy that one day a reincarnated Gary Buckenara will dash along the Members’ wing.

In the second shot he seems to be developing a one-eyed view of the game. It’s funny how quickly that happens.

Finally we see Caspar howling in dismay at another appalling umpiring decision by Scott McLaren.

Carn the Hawks!

2010-06-02T10:46:00.003+10:00

Library Week Celebrations

How good is your relationship with your boss? Do you want to burn them in effigy or do you get on well enough to decorate a cake in their image - like we did?

2010-05-31T19:29:00.003+10:00

The Triple Ms have gone back to Germany leaving a big gap in our lives. They were all asleep when I left for work on the last day so I didn’t get a farewell hug. I felt arm-empty. The only consolation was that I had spent the entire previous day with Mads. We trammed it to Fed Square, commentating on the old familiar sights along the way. The floral clock is a highlight but nothing can equal Stop 20 – Domain Interchange. Mads loves saying those words and doesn’t need an excuse to work them into a conversation. She tries out various pronunciations and emphases: D’main Interchange, DERmain Interchange, Duhmain Interchange, etc. Eventually I told her I knew a girl named Domain Interchange – THAT impressed her.
When we got to the playground at Fed Square Mads changed into her dragon suit, complete with head, tail and claws. She got a lot of attention in this outfit and, at one point, from the top of the slide, she called out to me with a world-weary sigh, “They’re all admiring me.”
From there we went to the Ferris wheel. There were no other starters on a Thursday morning so we had it to ourselves. The man locked us in our carriage, started the wheel and walked away. We went round and round, and round and round and round and round. “We sure are getting our money’s worth Mads!” Round and round, round and round, round and round. “It’s very windy up here isn’t it?” Round and round. “And a bit chilly!” Round, round and round again. “I want to get off now Arma”. Hmmm. I could see the man some way off with his back to us and it took 3 more circuits before someone else noticed my waving and gyrating and organised a breakout. I think we are Ferris wheeled out.
The rest of the day was all good. Precious memories to store up for the long winter of absence ahead.
A couple of years ago Mads’ proud boast was, “I’m toilet trained”. Now it’s, “I’m bilingual”. So there’s an upside. I suppose.

2010-05-24T18:34:00.003+10:00

Having a second grandchild is a lot like having a second child. You feel much more confident, less scared and, Yes! I can do this!

2010-05-17T17:56:00.003+10:00

Some photos and a video of the Beamish Boy

Caspar

2010-05-13T16:12:00.004+10:00

More Caspar photos

2010-05-10T18:42:00.006+10:00

Beamish Boy

We have a grandson! Caspar James Beamish was born at 9.05 pm on Saturday May 8th to Hilary and Rob. He is the most beauteous boy the world has ever known.

Another Caspar was one of the Three Wise Men and some of the lines from TS Eliot's poem, "Journey of the Magi" are highly appropriate, eg. A hard time we had of it and such a long journey but also, happily, There was a Birth, certainly, We had evidence and no doubt.

Caspar is doing well and Hil is recovering.
A few early pics are posted here.

2010-05-05T09:47:00.002+10:00

'Full of expectation'

This is the header chosen by a twitty journalist for a not so great article about our fabulous Hil.

Her new series is being launched but he fails to mention any of her existing works, not even the highly successful Zac Powers.

This guy has no future beyond local rounds

2010-05-03T19:14:00.002+10:00

Baby Beamish was due yesterday but the doctor thinks there may be another week to wait. I am getting a little edgy.
Mere was 15 days late and people kept ringing me up and saying, Are you still there??? I hope BB is not quite so tardy. Hil is well and she and Rob are still considering names. They are seeking something 'unusual but not freaky'. I know I will love it.

2010-04-21T11:34:00.002+10:00

Aeroplane ashtrays - come one - come all!

James has mounted a display of his famous aeroplane ashtrays for ANZAC Day at the Prahran Mechanics Institute. It's only part of his collection but I am taking the opportunity to dust a few shelves in their absence.
Maybe they'll ask him to do a model boat display next. That would be great.

Get on down to High Street and have a look

2010-04-19T17:34:00.006+10:00

Camels and Cake

On Saturday we headed up to Andrea’s country estate in Shepparton to celebrate the first birthday of Great Niece Isobel. It was a gorgeous sunny day: perfect for a tres elegante garden party and a very fine time was had by all.

Only scarey thing was the ride on a camel which I undertook with Black and Auntie Buggers. They were terrified too but just stuck with cussin’ and cursin’ under their breaths while I let my feelings be known.

On the FCS (Fraidy Cat Scale) camel riding scores higher than even the water slide at MSAC, the Glen Iris level crossing or Sister Rosaria from primary school. I spent 3 gruesome years with Sr Rosaria, about the same waiting for the gates to open at Glen Iris and 3 X 3-minute heart-stopping goes down the waterslide. But camel rides take an eternity when you are in constant danger of slipping off because your skirt is too snug to allow your legs to reach the stirrups and the handler delights in your discomfort.

Arpa and I were able to take a quick refresher in baby-handling though. There’s only a couple more weeks to wait for Baby Beamish – very exciting!

2010-04-07T11:28:00.006+10:00

Chocolate Shall be Your Salvation

Good Friday is not a good idea. It’s boring, depressing and melancholy-making. We distracted ourselves by packing a lot in: the pool, Luna Park (tawdry but open), a beach walk and finally Catherine Deveney at the Comedy Festival.

More Comedy Festival on Sunday (Pete ‘n’ Dud – Shaun Micallef), two trips to Anglesea to get some mileage out of the wetsuit I bought during our GP escape, a visit to the recently completed volcano (took 130 years) in the Botanic Gardens and that was Easter.

Except, of course, for the chocolate. The Bunny brought Right Foot chocolate-coated ginger and dark chocolate with almonds and me a delicious selection from Chocolateria San Churrio sporting the strapline “Chocolate Shall Be Your Salvation”. I couldn’t put it better myself. Seasonally appropriate too.

2010-04-01T16:40:00.001+10:00

Escaping the GP last weekend

2010-03-15T15:38:00.002+10:00

Return of the Mummy(care)

Mothercare opened its first Australian store in Chadstone on Friday. http://www.mothercare.com.au/

I went there on Saturday and if I’d known the sex of the unborn ‘Celly’, would have had a bit of a spend-up. Most of the clothes were very gender specific.
It was nice to talk to the staff in English. The last two Mothercares I was in were in Poland and the Czech Republic. Lots of miming and pointing but even more being ignored or avoided.

When Mere and Hil were kids our Mothercare shopping was via the eagerly awaited catalogue which arrived every season. We had enormous pleasure selecting stuff, much of which we could have found suitable substitutes for in Adelaide. But this was English baby lotion! European bibs (or feeders). Stylish, sophisticated nappy pins. So cool. Yes, it’s true. I really did import safety pins from the other side of the world.

We’d wait three months for the parcel to be shipped. Sometimes it would be opened by Customs and I’d have to pay duty. Other times our contraband simply arrived unscathed and unsniffed. Bonus!

At first the products were only for under five-year-olds but just as Mere was nearing her fifth birthday the catalogue arrived with “And now for children up to ten” emblazoned across its cover. Praise the Lord! Hil was only eighteen months old so another eight and a half glorious years of Mothercaring lay ahead.

But I do not remember ordering anything after we were banished to the Latrobe Valley. Who cared what you wore in that god-forsaken hellhole? Better not to look too swish anyway.

But now I have a new catalogue, picked up in store. It’s been thirty years but I’m back.

2010-02-05T15:20:00.006+10:00

Dancing: the vertical expression of a horizontal desire legalized by music
(George Bernard Shaw)

For my birthday last November Right Foot bought me dancing lessons – AND agreed to go too. First, five private and then ten group lessons. On Wednesday evening we took the first two of the group classes. There was both less and more pressure: less because we weren’t the only ones being scrutinised by the instructor but more because it’s one thing to stand on the toes of your nearest and dearest and another to stand on a stranger’s. We lumbered through the Marengo, the Salsa, the Tango and the Quickstep.

The real hurdle was the degree of physical contact with unknown men that many Latin and even Ballroom dances involve. I am so accustomed to the dimensions of my usual partner that the others felt all wrong. I am used to dancing with my arms above my head as if I were the victim of a stick-up, with a partner double my weight whom I can clutch like ballast. These other puny weeds were too short, slight and insubstantial. There didn’t seem to be enough man to grab hold of. Their skin was too fair and had a different smell. Wednesday night was warm and there were naked bits of unfamiliar male flesh I hesitated to touch. I wondered why – too fastidious? Too loyal? Too shy? Just out of practice?

In the second class I was the only woman who had a partner with her. I guarded him zealously.

2010-01-18T14:50:00.002+10:00

Ruby Saturday

On Saturday 16th we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. Having just arrived back in the country we decided on a low key, crayfish dinner for 2 rather than a knees-up for everyone we’ve ever met.
I am now proudly wearing a ruby on a rose-gold band. Beautiful. And James has a posh bottle of ruby port.

We have also harvested our first tomato. I got to eat it.

2010-01-12T17:51:00.005+10:00

January 12th - Auf wiedersein

9.00 a.m.
Tonight at 10.10 (8.10 a.m. Wednesday in Melbourne)we are scheduled to fly home to a city where the temperature has been more than 50 degrees warmer than what I've become accustomed to.

Today they will have launched the new system at work. I wonder how it went.

There are a few things I'm looking forward to:
Seeing Hil, Rob and "Celly"
Not having to wear 78 items of clothing whenever I leave the house
Flat white
Celebrating our 40th anniversary
Catching up with some cricket
De Bortoli chardonnay
The Saturday Age
The Sunday Age
The gals at work (and AL of course - gotta say that)
Regaining the power of speech
My daily games of Alchemy and Word Mojo Gold

I'm going to start implementing my New Year's Resolutions too. No more unachievable, high flown stuff but something practical, i.e. memorising my mobile phone number and labelling all the mysterious dollops in the freezer. That should be do-able.

What I'll miss:
The Triple Ms - Mere, Matt 'n Mads
The cheese
The bakeries
Being so close to other European cities
Efficient transport system
The Kulture
Just knowing I am in Europe
The excitement of travelling
New experiences

2.10 p.m.
Just back from a farewell lunch with Mere at Textorbar. I had a chardonnay, a real one with body, flavour and discernible alcoholic content, not a wussy Euro one and it's gone to my head. I have to rest up.

Das es alles. Tchuss!

2010-01-12T04:18:00.003+10:00

Limburg January 11

For our 6th and final trip out of Frankfurt we decided to go to Limburg. Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with Limburger cheese but instead has a beautiful Romanesque cathedral and an intact medieval town. I got some good photos of the old cemetery in the snow.

We had a tasty lunch though it was not at all what I'd deduced from my reading of the menu. After 5 weeks of living here I clearly haven't mastered a lot of Deutsch.

2010-01-12T04:04:00.005+10:00

Sunday January 10

If the film, "On the beach" had been made in Frankfurt and Ava Gardner had never gone to Melbourne it would have been spared decades of cultural cringe. If she thought Melbourne in the fifties was the end of the world she should see Frankfurt on a Sunday. It is closed. Everything is closed except the bakeries (and thank God for them and their delicious cakes and bread) and the ever-present trinkalles (small streetside kiosks where you can buy a short snort at any time of night or day). People are wandering the streets, forlornly looking into shop windows and wondering what to do next to get out of the cold. What a wasted marketing opportunity!

Tonight it was our turn to return the hospitality and Matt cooked his signature dish - tacos, and Mere made an excellent apple crumble. We dragged in a table from outside and thawed it out to accommodate the extra numbers. Their friends are so interesting to talk to and it was a terrific night.

2010-01-09T18:19:00.008+10:00

Saturday January 9 Snee, snee, snee

It has snowed all night and and there's a thick white carpet right up to the front door. A snowman is planned. I'm not sure how prominent my involvement in that will be: I may just dash out for the photo opportunity when the hard work is done...

...Many hours later... Nothing as easy as a snowman - I did not get off that lightly. Oh no, I worked for my raclette today. Mere's friends took us tobogganing. It was freezing, not "I'm about to die" cold like the time in Offenberg but cold enough to make my toes curl under into a ball which is a sure sign the brain has sent out a message, "OK, disaster is looming: send the blood supply to the vital organs only, heart and lungs, cognitive processes, kidney functions (oh boy, how they function!) forget the extremities, the old girl can survive without feet and hands."

It was only one degree warmer than the North Pole and almost as cold as my office at work but it was worth it for the fabulous meal. Such hospitality! In order to stave of imminent death Caro provided hot chocolate liberally laced with rum. It worked and I am here to tell the tale.

2010-01-09T04:13:00.006+10:00

January 8 - Depot 1899 - ho, ho, ho and a bottle of wine

Across the road from Mere and Matt's is a restaurant converted from an old tram depot. We'd been watching people coming and going for the last month and wanted to try it. On the outside it was described as a wirtshaus which suggested a footy franks kind of place to us but it turned out to be much posher. Our arrival with a lively four-year old who was dressed as a pirate complete with eye patch and alfoil sword (but, alas, no parrot) unnnerved the staff.

"You are English", said the waiter, reluctantly placing the Riedel wine glasses down in front of us, "Please be careful".
"Oh no", we assured him, "It's worse than that, we are Australian!"

Matt ordered something from the specials menu. "That menu is not available for another 10 minutes" (We were dining at 4-year-old hours).

The meals arrived in less than 5 minutes - the presence of 5 Australians, one under the age of reason, had obviously spurred the chef on to his personal best. By this time Mads had her sketch book out and the table was strewn with pictures of pirate ships.
"Pay attention", said the waiter and muttered something about the plates being hot. (They weren't so I think he just wanted us to pay attention in a general kind of way).
The food was excellent and the wine the best I've had since I got here. Nobody spilt or broke anything but when the waiter cleared the table he dropped a knife. We smirked in delight as it clattered to the floor.

And it didn't matter about the footy franks. We'd had one at lunch time anyway.

2010-01-07T17:32:00.003+10:00

Holiday Reading
When Nancy suggested buying a copy of 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' for the library, I said,"Nah. That'll be corny and cringe-making". I hope Nancy ignored me. Meredith has a copy and I'm almost through it. Last night I woke up screaming and abusing the Germans. I knew nothing about the German occupation of the Channel Islands before and some gruesome stuff happens in the book. (Although it IS a bit twee and self consciously witty). Mere says it gave her a nightmare too.

And all this while I am receiving so much help and hospitality from German people. We have another raclette dinner on Saturday. Raclette is a New Year tradition and a very good one.

I haven't had a Frankfurt yet but my resistance is weakening

We went to the local Art Gallery today where they are showing a Botticelli exhibition with queues around the corner a la the recent Dali exhibition in Melbourne. We'd just seen the major Botticellis in Florence but lined up anyway. It was very interesting: mostly minor works but some of his very late pictures which were new to us and what better way is there to keep out of the cold?

2010-01-06T17:44:00.003+10:00

Florence Day 5 - Michelangelo's David

We were up early and at the Galleria d'Academia when it opened at 8:15. I looked at everything, resisting the urge to fly through the first galleries to get to Big Dave like people do in Melbourne Museum in quest of Pharlap.

In the afternoon we went to the Pitti Palace which was the first disappointing place I'd seen in Florence. The Medici had collected indiscriminantly, favouring quantity over quality and there were hundreds of paintings, good, bad and so-so in every room - overwhelming. The rain meant we couldn't go into the Boboli Gardens which was disappointing.

A few final purchases were made and then it was off to the airport and back 'home' to Frankfurt.

The next day I wanted a quiet domestic day while I processed the wonders of Florence. I made a cake for the first time in decades, a cheesecake as close as possible to the Margaret Fulton recipe which was a family favourite.

2010-01-06T17:34:00.005+10:00

Florence day 4 - January 4

The MMMs left early for the airport and Jim and I set off for another day of seeing marvels. After a while you find yourself merely glancing at yet another Donnatello as you stroll past. I try to retain as much as I can, knowing my sister (known in the family as Auntie Buggers)will examine we intensively on my reaction to Florence.

Lighting the candle in Cologne had bought such spectacular success in conjuring up an English speaking playmate for Mads, we decided to give it another go in the duomo. We both lit one and put them side by side on the candle rack. Good things will surely follow.

We spent a long time in the duomo museum where most of its treasures are now housed. Magnificent.

It rained most of the day and the sellers of knock-off designer handbags instantly transformed themselves into 'ombrello' merchants.

2010-01-06T17:28:00.006+10:00

Jan 3 - The Uffizi

We arrived bright and early at the Uffizi where we sauntered smugly past the long queue, brandishing our pre-booked tickets.

Four hours and hundreds of masterpieces later we staggered out exhausted. We saw roooms full of Botticellis, Carravagios, several Leonardos and Michelangelos. Famous paintings familiar from art history books materialised in front of us. Included was 'The birth of Venus' which I once heard a tourist describe as 'Venus on the half-shell'. I'm not sure what sauce you'd serve with that.

An afternoon of exploring, getting lost and discovering treasures followed.

We had a last dinner with the Triple Ms: they are going back to Frankfurt in the morning.

2010-01-06T17:17:00.002+10:00

Florence for Four-Year Olds - January 2

We spent the morning sucking up some major cultural experiences in churches, museums, on the street, everywhere.
Florence is awash with riches, historic and artistic and I was in a headspin trying to absorb it all.

Florence is not a particularly child-friendly place though and by afternoon Mads was in need of the company of someone born in the same millenium as herself. It wasn't easy but we managed to find a park where Madeleine met an English-speaking 5 year-old girl who she really clicked with. They played happily for hours.

We attribute this miracle to the candle we lit for Mads in the cathedral at Cologne. Stand by for a deathbed conversion.

2010-01-06T07:04:00.004+10:00

New Year's Day

We hauled our seedy selves out of bed and trained to the airport. As usual, Jim's Swiss Army knife caused him to be pulled out of the queue. I think I'd better confiscate it myself.

The supposedly 4 star accommodation in Florence was in a great location, the staff were fantastic and the breakfast turned out to be much better than is usual in Italy. But the rooms were dark, drab and depressing. Not to worry, we were out of there pronto and within 10 minutes I was into my first gelati and within half an hour I was in the duomo

The temperature was 12 degrees - 10 warmer than Frankfurt.
We found we could readily rehash the bit of Italian we'd picked up 2 years ago. We were in Italy! - something not anticipated when we left Melbourne 3 weeks ago.

Unlike the Germans the Italians blissfully disregard any rules that don't suit them, such as not taking photos in museums and galleries. The railing around the statue of Cellini at the Pont de Vecchio has dozens of love tokens saying 'Carlo e Rosa' and Guila e Guiseppe' padlocked to it, immediately above a sign saying that this is prohibited.

2009-12-31T23:26:00.004+10:00

31 Dezember 2009

In March 1944 eighty percent of Frankfurt was destroyed by allied bombs. The historical area of Sachenhaus where Mere lives has many of the old buildings interspersed with new dwellings where previous ones were hit. Other parts of Frankfurt are entirely post-war. This morning we explored the new area, the skyscrapers (apparently unique in Germany), the opera house and the up-market shops.

As happened over Christmas Germany is now closed for 3 and a half days.

We went to a most enjoyable New Years's Eve dinner party at an Aussie/German couple's home. Great company, lively conversation and wonderful food. One traditional dish was raclette cooked in individual coupelles. We also had fondue, baked apple and too much wine.

Fireworks are sold freely everywhere and we've been hearing explosions for several days. At midnight, a couple of dozen people gathered in the square and randomly set off crackers in an uncharacteristically random way. In was dangerous, fantastic and somehow unGerman. A man called Jorge offered me a glass of champagne and a beanie. I accepted both and we partied on.

Off to Florence tomorrow. Tschuus!

2009-12-31T06:18:00.002+10:00

Wednesday 30th Dezember

This morning we went to the local, very new swimming pool. Its design is a cross between an old fashioned spa and a modern Olympic pool. You move through a series of doors into your own tiny change room before being ejected out the other side into the water.
The swimmers were very sedate: every single one breaststroking languidly, stoically, grimly along. No-one's hair got wet except at the edges, no showing off jocks powered past, there was no lane range aimed at slow swimmers.
The key to your room came with a bracelet to wear while you swam - no need to hide it in your towel or stick it in your togs. They had thought of everything.
The showers were 'all in together girls, never mind the weather girls' (just don't check me out quite so obviously, OK?). The Germans don't seem to be worried about privacy or modesty. Meredith tells me that the famous Frankfurt kitchen sometimes included a toilet.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and we are invited to a party. On New Year's Day we fly to Florence for 5 days where temperatures are expected to reach a balmy 11 degrees. Tropical.

2009-12-30T05:25:00.006+10:00

Tuesday 29th, Eau de Cologne
We rose at sparrows' and travelled to Cologne taking the scenic route along the Rhine. Germany is picturesque in places but the prominence of industrial sites prevents it being as pretty as France.

After two and a half hours in the amazing, glowering cathedral (where I briefly forgot that I am an atheist and lit a candle for Maddles), we had a quick coffee.

Then it started to rain. We had a choice between shelling out for a brolly in the colours of the Cologne Fussball (Soccer) Club, or for the same money, visiting a Roman sewer. It was a no brainer: I am travelling with Dr. History after all.

For every shower of rain after that there was a Roman museum to shelter in so I am now the full bottle on the Roman occupation of Germania with a Major in Waste Disposal Systems.

After a couple of glasses of Koelsch, the local beer, a box of noodles and a coffee it was back on the ICE to Frankfurt.

And did I buy any Eau de Cologne? Ja. Fumf bottles. 4711? Ja again. Naturlich.

2009-12-28T19:22:00.002+10:00

Wiesenbad

Yesterday (Sunday) we visted the spa town of Wiesenbad. It's an attractive place but, like the rest of Germany, pretty much still closed. We explored what we could: the cathedral, a spa, the old town which was best seen from the top of the ferris wheel. Apart from that we graviated between coffee shops keeping out of the cold.

I was hoping to see a regiment of hungry Germans emerge from their homes this morning in quest of fresh supplies. There has been no bread, milk, fruit, vegies or meat for 4 days. But things are still quiet down there on Schwantaler Strasse.

Jim has taken Mads to the pool and this afternoon we plan to hit the shops for bargains.
Tomorrow, maybe Cologne where I should be able to get some Eau de.