tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80523448987980114562024-03-13T15:06:21.799-07:00Marg's Slices of LifeStories from Australia. Writers BlogMargs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-80841484113189210812015-03-29T03:42:00.001-07:002015-03-29T03:42:16.877-07:00How a writing group can speed up the process of moving from hobby to publication <br />
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At the Newcastle Writers Festival last weekend, four of us
from our small writers group presented a session called:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Take your writing to
the next level</span></b></div>
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As I mentioned in my previous<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>post I present here a summary of my section
of that presentation which spoke of -</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How a writing group
can help speed up the process of improving and expanding your writing</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">then begin to take</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>your writing from hobby to
publication</b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Building confidence in your writing. </b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Helpful critiques.</b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Moving towards publication. </b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to form a good group.</b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The joy of sharing successes. </b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Let’s start with: </b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Building confidence in your writing. </b></div>
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One of the hardest things to do when you first start out is
to share your work with others. A good compatible writers group can provide a
safe place to take those first tentative steps and put your writing out there.
It’s often a very scary thing to share your writing in the early days. But as
you share your own work and hear others work<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>you begin to build confidence in your writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the most important elements that made
our group successful was that we have always been respectful of each others
writing right from the start. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2. </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Helpful critiques –
for when we can’t recognize the good bits in our own writing and advice on how
to fix the bits not working or even pick up things that we’ve missed..</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s a great relief when you get a good critique that not
only gives you that recognition but also gives good suggestions on how to
improve what’s not working. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One incredibly helpful discovery that came out of being part
of a group was the recognition that we all write in different styles or use a
different writing process. Some people think about what they are going to write
and let it percolate then sit down and write it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others think on their keyboard or pen and
paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some write in short bursts.
Others are slower with their writing and refine as they go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some like to have large blocks of time. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a good group each member will have some valuable writing
skill they do well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gradually as you get
used to each other you come to recognise each others strengths. For example If
you have someone in your group who is a whizz at grammar and punctuation, tie
them to a chair or buy them chocolates and flowers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The person who is good at the details is as
valuable as the one who sees the big picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Someone may be good at critiquing plots. Ask yourself what are your
particular strengths and own them. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">3. </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Moving<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>towards publication</b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
Nothing encourages us more than seeing a
fellow member’s success. In our group Sally was the first to have an ABC Open
500 word story published on line. We were all so impressed and this encouraged the
rest of us to begin to look at the possibility of publication. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we all set out to get something published
on the ABC site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For most of us it was
the first thing we had published and we began to really feel like writers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
We encouraged each other to enter
competitions or seek publication in anthologies, sharing lists of competitions
and calls for submissions. However some of us were working on novels rather
than short stories. Some were working on both. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also shared articles and books that were
helpful. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Some members were pursuing publication in
various ways, and shared parts of that journey with the rest of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have learned that the modern writer is
responsible for much of his or her own promotion and the need for an online
profile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">4.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>form a good group.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are a closed group and from the beginning entry was by
invitation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you can’t find a suitable
group then think of starting your own group.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Attending some creative writing courses will introduce the
emerging writer to the group process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Having a good tutor is invaluable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For those of us in our small group that Tutor was Karen Whitelaw who teaches
through the Hunter WEA. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In these courses I was interacting with other writers which
was enormously helpful<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I liked the group
process so much that when the courses were finished I wanted to keep that
going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being a bit of an organising type
I took up a suggestion to start a writers group. Gradually I asked a few other
writers I’d met and clicked with by then, to join this small group and waited
with baited breath for their reply. To my amazement those I asked agreed to
join. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally we had a good
number which for us is about 7 or 8. That’s manageable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not everyone can come each time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also meant we had a good variety of
styles, strength, genres and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>gender. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">5.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The joy of sharing successes
with others who really understand</b>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many of you may have had the experience of sharing a writing
success with a family member or friend who doesn’t really understand how
amazing that small success is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
‘ho-hum’ response can be a bit soul shattering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But your writing group members DO understand it<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and celebrate every success</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When you get that first article or ABC Open submission
published or get an honourable mention or<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>‘OH JOY”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a prize for a short
story You’re fellow writers will share that joy and it will encourage them to
continue on too. This keeps us writing and aiming higher.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
I hope you all find this of interest. I welcome any comments or questions. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-91798985959892295582015-03-19T22:05:00.000-07:002015-03-19T22:06:21.687-07:00Newcastle Writers Festival: - The Next Level - How to Take Your Writing From Hobby to Publication<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Like many
people in Newcastle and the Hunter I began my writing journey through Karen Whitelaw’s
creative writing courses through the Hunter WEA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d like to second her promotion of the
Newcastle Writer’s Festival and suggest you visit her blog, ‘The Writer’s Life’
to find out more about the Festival.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After I
finished the creative writing courses, I was keen to continue the writing group
process and took up a suggestion to start a writers group. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three years later we have evolved into a great
writers group that continues to help speed up the process of expanding and
improving each members writing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We applied
last year to present a session at this year’s Newcastle Writers Festival, and
to our delight were accepted. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So on Sunday
at 3pm in the Mulubinba room of the Newcastle Town Hall we present our session:
</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Next Level – How to
Take your Writing from Hobby to Publication</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We are one
of the four last sessions of the day. We would love
to see you there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I will post
about how our session went after Sunday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If people would like I will also post some of the information from my
segment which is - DON’T GO IT ALONE – where I talk about how a writers group
can help improve and expand your writing and help move toward publication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will be keen for any feedback you would
like to give. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">See you all there on Sunday at 3pm </span></div>
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Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-74761270953644866152014-07-27T02:11:00.001-07:002014-07-27T02:11:19.182-07:00The Blog Hop Why do I Write and other Questions<!--[if !mso]>
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I have been
nominated by <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jessie at <u>Jessie Ansons</u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to do my own Blog Hop where I am required to
answer 6 questions about my writing process and the reasons that I write.
Sounds simple I know until you sit down and think about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But here goes.</div>
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I’ve nominated
two other amazing writers to do their own Blog Hop. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nVvObNQ4KRM/T5tP1zqYIiI/AAAAAAAAADw/yv3NmCshfeA/s1600/tibouchina+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nVvObNQ4KRM/T5tP1zqYIiI/AAAAAAAAADw/yv3NmCshfeA/s1600/tibouchina+02.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-no-proof: yes;"></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why do I write</b>.</div>
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This question forced me to really explore the why, which I
quickly realised was a very good thing at this particular stage of my writing. I
realised it is a fairly simple answer. However ‘simple’ doesn’t translate to
easy. </div>
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I love to tell stories. All kinds of stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a child I enjoyed writing stories for
school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I was younger I used to
sing and loved the emotional songs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
wanted to express the story and the emotion of the song and through voice, draw
the listener in to experience that emotion. Now I strive to do that through the
words alone</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Why do I
write what I do</b>?</div>
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I like to be eclectic in my writing so I can express many
different emotions and experiences. I like to make people laugh with<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>jokes and so like to write humorous
stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I read a lot of SF and fantasy
and would like to write more in that genre. Sometimes I write on a particular
theme for a competition but it has to be the right theme for me. I want to
entertain the reader so they have to keep turning the page.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What am I
working on now</b>?</div>
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For most of the last year I have been writing a
Fantasy/Horror story, that started out with a goal of 10,000 words and grew
like topsy into 22,000.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have put the
latest draft aside for a month or so to get some distance before I attempt a
final edit. I have written a few 500 word stories for ABC Open and have
resurrected my blog from the back burner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Meanwhile I am back to short story writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has been a difficult task for me as the
rest<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of my small writing group have been
writing incredibly successful short stories – winning or receiving honourable
mentions and being published. Their stories have depth and layers and I wanted
to have that in my work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a short
while I struggled to find depth and layers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then I realised I had been trying to do that the way they did and that
wasn’t my way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t automatically
think in metaphors for example. Now I am finding my own style of depth and
layering<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in my telling of stories.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How does your writing process work?</b></div>
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Like Jess I do sometimes think of stories when I go about my
daily life. I also think about the writing when doing repetitive computer
games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when I sit down to write I
don’t always have a finished story in my head, just a general idea of a start
or a plot or<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>theme. When I write I like
to have a large block of time. I tend to ‘think on the keyboard’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m visual so I need to see the words. I like
to edit a bit as I go, but generally start with ‘telling’ the story so I get a
feel for the emotional content and then go back on the second draft for more showing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lately I’ve begun to realise that having a
large block of time tends to make me a bit lazy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m deadline driven so sometimes I start when
there’s almost not enough time to finish (sigh). Perhaps I should follow all
the sage advice I’ve been given and make sure I spend 30 min a day writing, no
matter what.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or at the least at the
beginning of the day spend 30 minutes writing before doing anything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need more discipline.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Do I differ from others in my genre</b></div>
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I don’t really have a specific genre. At this stage in my
writing<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>I’m not planning to write a
novel <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>quite <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
happy writing short stories and long short stories and honing the craft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If an idea for a novel presents itself to me
and appeals I will venture into a novel. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being part of a wonderful small writing group
I have the amazing opportunity to read <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>stories
in the different genres in which the members write.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can recognize each other’s Voice and this
has helped me to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>recognise and come to
accept my own Voice.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Meet the Blog Hoppers</b> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
Now I must nominate 3 Bloggers to complete the same task I
have carried out above. Jessie has snagged some of the members of our small
writing group. So I have only 2 at present but what <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>great writers they are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I look forward to reading their Blog Hops.<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> </span></span> </div>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Karen<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>from ‘<u>A Writer’s Life’</u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is a
writer extraordinaire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is an amazing
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>teacher who has nurtured all the writers
in our small group as well as many other local writers. In addition to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>her blog, which gives wonderful writing
advice, she writes exquisite 100 word stories for Friday Fictioneers, as well
as prize winning short stories.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>Elena from ‘othersidesun.blogspot.com’ is a wonderful
bi-lingual Spanish-English writer of prose and theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She has a unique take on Australian life. She
has had great success with published stories and articles as well as having one
of her plays performed.</li>
</ul>
Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-70622475305737155662014-05-23T19:27:00.000-07:002014-05-23T19:27:01.053-07:00Stories at The Mosh Pit<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have
written before about my Small Writing Group. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s interesting <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that we have continued to call it the small
group despite quite a few attempts to come up with a more unique name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have kept our numbers small and our writers, while diverse in writing style, genre and age group,
are on a similar writing level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have
grown and developed in our writing and in our critiquing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
no longer about just punctuation and grammar but<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the overview of the story<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and how we can improve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have developed a trust in each other to
both tell the truth and hear the truth in a respectful way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Two of us –
Jess and I were recently invited to be on the ABC Treasure Hunters” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We were asked about our group and what it was like to share our writing
with others. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Was it difficult? </span>We have learned it is
essential to be able to share, but initially nerve wracking. Writing is a
solitary occupation but sharing and critiquing helps enormously with our
progress and our confidence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This brings
me to our latest project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have organized
an event<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- “Stories at The Mosh Pit”
which will be a live read by six of our group members and two guest readers. This
gives the writers a wonderful chance to share their stories through live reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will be held at a the Mosh Pit which is a popular
and funky Record Store and Coffee shop at Cardiff CBD.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is to be held on the Saturday 31st May and will start at 2pm and go to 4pm or later.
There will be coffee and food available and music in between the readings. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-no-proof: yes;"></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5dLCrLRz9oM/U3__dsgN_DI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/BW0uzpscRE0/s1600/Mosh+Pit+live+reading+flyer+31+May_TRITON+A4+%2528BLOGS+FACEBOOK+ETC%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5dLCrLRz9oM/U3__dsgN_DI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/BW0uzpscRE0/s1600/Mosh+Pit+live+reading+flyer+31+May_TRITON+A4+%2528BLOGS+FACEBOOK+ETC%2529.jpg" height="320" width="282" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Anthony
Skully <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from the ABC 500 Word Stories is
one of the guest speakers and will give a short talk on writing getting <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>your story published online at ABC Open. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Karen
Whitelaw is the second guest speaker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Karen
is a published author and writing tutor who teaches creative writing through
the WEA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Karen has organised and guided <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a number of writers from the Writers Workshop
she teaches, through publishing an e-book
anthology of short stories called Mirrors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Karen will give a short talk about Mirrors and will also read one of her
stories.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So if you
would like to hear stories read live by local writers, please join us at the
Mosh Pit on Saturday 31<sup>st</sup> May</span> at 2pm.</div>
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Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-15864141104979687072014-05-06T02:35:00.001-07:002014-05-06T02:35:11.546-07:00On Getting published on ABC Open 500 Word Stories<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Recently I went to the Newcastle Writers Festival.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went particularly to support fellow members
of our small writers group who were live reading their stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of these writers had won first prize in
the short story Catchfire Press competition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was an amazing story and well deserving of first place in the competition.
The other three writers <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>were to read
their own stories that had been published on the ‘ABC Open 500 Word Story’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>online site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
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It’s the ABC Open 500 Word story site I want to talk about
today.</div>
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Run by the ABC this site is a wonderful place for budding
writers to get their first ever publication of a story and after that as many
more as they would like to submit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As it says, these stories have a limit of 500 words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story must be true and written in the
first person. Each month there is a theme given.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recent themes have included “Cringe” and “First
Memory”. There are clear guidelines on the site regarding submissions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The people who moderate in the Newcastle and Hunter branch
are Anthony Skully and recently when Anthony was away, Bronwyn Purvis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are super supportive of the ABC writing community.
Anthony runs workshops on how to write for the 500 Words, throughout the area
and gives great encouragement to all. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have written two stories in the last two months and they’ve
both been published.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a great
feeling when you get the email to say your story is up on the site. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you can then say you are a published
author. A friend who has only just taken up writing and who sent in a story to “First
Memory”, said waiting to hear if it was accepted was like waiting for a baby. But just amazing and encouraging to hear it was accepted.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the festival the ABC 500 group was the best of all the
presentations I went to. There was standing room only. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A number of people read their stories which
were welcomed with great delight by the audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some made us laugh, some had us on the edges of our seats.
All were amazing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bronwyn had a slide
show up to match the stories and some stories were pre-recorded and played on
the day. The atmosphere was wonderfully friendly and discussions later were
amazing, with extra stories being told.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One reader of his stories was 97 years old!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The readers were from all walks of life. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was the wonderful atmosphere that was the best part of
that day – friendly and encouraging and happy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So thank you ABC for providing this wonderful place for
people who write, to be published and share their stories..</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And to all you writers out there who would love to see your
story in print<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>give it a go.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-14678039487556959392014-04-25T02:53:00.000-07:002014-04-25T02:57:34.527-07:00A Spot of Bother<br />
<br />
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<br />
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A few of my writing group and I entered a story each in the
ABC 500 word stories on the theme of Cringe last month.. After reading them a friend told
me her own cringe story recently and I thought I’d share it here.</div>
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<br /></div>
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This friend, I’ll call Beth, had taken advantage of the flue
needle available at her workplace. Now Beth had had a narrow escape years ago
when she had been diagnosed with melanoma but the Doctors managed to excise it
before it became too invasive. She still has a large scar from the
surgery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consequently she regularly
checks her body for signs of skin changes.<br />
<br />
Recently she found a black spot on
her arm that she thought was dirt. She scrubbed at it for a couple of days in
the shower but it seemed to be spreading a little and she couldn’t get rid of
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Becoming increasingly worried – and
who could blame her -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>she contacted her
GP whom she hadn’t seen for ages and pushed to get a quick appointment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had a brief chat with the Doctor ,
explaining her concerns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The doctor
examined the spot closely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Hmmmm.” Said the doctor. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Oh God” thought
Beth. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What is it?” asked Beth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Hang on a minute” said the doctor and she got a swab.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beth watched in trepidation which quickly
turned to a cringe when the Doctor wiped the residue left from the small band-
aid that had been put on the spot where Beth had had the flue needle, days
previously. The doctor laughed and Beth thanked her and left, clutching her
dignity all the way home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-5760007620681963782014-04-15T03:10:00.000-07:002014-04-15T03:10:01.263-07:00Memories<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Memory is a funny thing. Some memories are visual and have a
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Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-23897315481445945082014-04-09T00:49:00.002-07:002014-04-09T00:49:43.504-07:00The Launch of Mirrors, The writing workshop anthology <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I want to share with you some wonderful news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am part of the Newcastle WEA writing
workshop which is run by our tutor – Karen Whitelaw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Karen is an amazing tutor and published writer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She has a wonderful ability to guide and
advise emerging writers at each level of their writing as they grow. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 2013 Karen suggested that we were now writers and should
write and publish an anthology of short stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so our journey began. We wrote and edited
and wrote some more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We critiqued each
other’s work and with Karen’s expertise and guidance we each ended with a short
story worthy of publication. Karen and Dianna – who is a member of our group
and a whiz with grammar etc. -were the co-editors. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Karen set about the arduous task of
publishing our work as an E-book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
generously gave massive amounts of her time until finally the task was done.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Last night our anthology was officially launched.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3gf690oH-mE/U0T5hxdJ11I/AAAAAAAAAJ8/_nOaQybhBBg/s1600/e-book+mirrors+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3gf690oH-mE/U0T5hxdJ11I/AAAAAAAAAJ8/_nOaQybhBBg/s1600/e-book+mirrors+(2).jpg" height="200" width="125" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Mirrors the Writing Workshop Anthology</b>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We gathered with family and friends and then celebrated
together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are now published authors
every one, all due to the encouragement and hard work of our tutor Karen,
helped by Dianna.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you Karen from
the heart.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
You can find our anthology on Amazon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you Google :<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amazon.com
Mirrors workshop anthology Karen Whitelaw, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>you will find it easily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cost
is 99cents.</div>
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There are nine stories, all by Australian writers and the
topics are diverse. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I don’t know how
to re-blog someone else’s blog I will direct you to Karen’s blog “the Writer’s
Life” – E-Book launch, where Karen writes a lovely summary of the anthology. </div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
It has been an amazing experience to be part of publishing this E-book. Hope those of you who download the book enjoy it as much as we enjoyed writing it. </div>
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Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-89638276498794879752014-03-28T02:29:00.001-07:002014-03-28T02:29:29.511-07:00Ambiance<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Well I hadn’t intended to post tonight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I’m sitting here editing part of my
Novella and the ambiance is wonderful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Outside is pitch dark and inside I’m surrounded by warm lamplight. The marvelous
sound of falling rain outside adds to the sense of quiet, comfortable seclusion
which cocoons me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </div>
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<br /></div>
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No storms or winds,
just the sound of falling rain, the warm lamplight, and space for thinking,
space for writing, space for me.I'm blessed</div>
Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-28323256543325242292014-03-21T23:51:00.000-07:002014-03-21T23:51:17.566-07:00Starting over<br />
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<br />
After quite a break from posting on my blog I have begun again.<br />
<br />
This morning is a lovely autumn morning just warm enough. The sun shines
through the leaves of the trees and onto the newly mown grass. The new
fence looks a little odd because of its newness and the fill and top dressing
is a little too thick on the ground. It needs a good rake and then we
have to wait for the grass to poke new shoots through. This will take
time. The best time for new growth is spring of course. <br />
<br />
All this is a little like my writing journey. I have learned so much in the
last year. But unlike the grass it doesn't need to wait for
spring to start to grow. Growth spurts occur as I have
breakthroughs. This last ten months I have been working on a
novella. Sometimes I have despaired and thought to put it aside and then
with support from my writing group and workshop I have found a new spurt.
It is still a work in progress.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hF9teeaShf4/Uy0xR90Z90I/AAAAAAAAAJo/F-sQF8uyUkw/s1600/marg+blog+desk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hF9teeaShf4/Uy0xR90Z90I/AAAAAAAAAJo/F-sQF8uyUkw/s1600/marg+blog+desk.JPG" height="149" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
Lately I have learned that authors who want to be published have to be
responsible for much their own publicity through various social media
outlets. Now anyone who has read my blog in the past will know I am a bit
of a technophobe with this stuff. I have a Facebook page but only for
games and with only two friends. I have never tweeted - unless you count
when I was a teenager back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and my friends and
I twittered like birds.<br />
<br />
But I have become a Blogger - much to my surprised delight - with the
help of CD (clever daughter), here I should be honest and tell you the it
wasn't just help. CD set the whole thing up and kept my indecision under
control by giving me limited choices. I have been lax in the last months
and haven't kept up with my blogging. That stops now.<br />
<br />
Next step - one day when the mood hits me - perhaps I will become a
twitterer (is that even a word? No - I'm told it's tweeter.)<br />
<br />
All this takes time - time away from writing. so I am forced to
consider my priorities. And no.1 priority is writing. However I
will post on my blog at least once a fortnight. It may be about writing or an
anecdote or just about something that has caught my attention. <br />
Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-18891193073328488402012-06-10T20:42:00.001-07:002012-06-10T22:09:34.798-07:00Rainy Days PJs and Ponjos<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_W7vNrT2AGg/T9Vo2vOcGyI/AAAAAAAAAIs/DwiwBLjRCwk/s1600/9100604-cartoon-mexican-wearing-a-huge-sombrero-islolated-one-white.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_W7vNrT2AGg/T9Vo2vOcGyI/AAAAAAAAAIs/DwiwBLjRCwk/s200/9100604-cartoon-mexican-wearing-a-huge-sombrero-islolated-one-white.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Reading a post on Facebook this morning <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of YD bemoaning the fact that on this wet cold
miserable day today she was<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>planning a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>lovely ‘stay at home in the PJs and dressing
gown with movies and some tasks etc.’ day til she found she had to go out and
brave the weather to get printer ink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
friend then advised her to get a Ponjo – later corrected to a Poncho<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- as you can disguise the PJs and other
issues under it without getting changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>YD did then reluctantly -minus Ponjo - go for the printer ink and came
home got back in the PJs and with wet hair curled up on the lounge, snacks to
hand and settled back to enjoy her day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All this reminded me of a Saturday Mother’s day eve about
6-7 years ago. YD, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>R. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and I wanted take away for tea but the other
two wouldn’t go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’d think it being
almost mother’s day they would.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But no!!
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>lazy sods left it to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wasn’t dressed well [understatement of the
year} – I had odd bed socks and black, white-cat hair covered trackie-daks <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on and it was a bit cold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I rooted around in the cupboard and
extracted an old oversized pink jumper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I hummed and ha-ad about my face – no makeup – and I rarely go out
without some makeup –don’t want to scare little children do we and have to keep
the image up – but decided I would only be out of the car for about 4 minutes
and who would see me really??.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
asking for an opinion about whether I looked OK and getting reassurances from 2
people who barely looked at me<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I set
off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Driving to the shop I got into a car smash – banged my head
on the side window probably out for a couple of seconds – no-one came to help and
I finally managed to stutter my way off the road in the car with one wheel
wobbly and scraping.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Upshot was I called the 2 to come and help. Organized the
insurance and a tow etc. and YD decided I should go to the hospital GP-after-hours-service
because my head was bleeding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was
the point that I did a quick squiz of my attire and found I looked like a bag
lady. I finally agreed to reassurances that no-one I know would see me and
after all I had been in a car accident. The old adage “It doesn’t matter about
clean underwear <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- if you’ve been<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>run over by a bus your underwear is going to
change colour anyway” comes to mind. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So off we set to the hospital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We sat for a time in the waiting room with YD
laughing hysterically at my mortification of having on 2 odd bed socks, cat
hair covered track pants and a large grubby pink jumper with food stains and a
hole in it, not to mention that I looked as if I had been dragged through a
bush backwards .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually we were <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ushered into the GP. whose name I recognized
as a Doctor who had been referring people to see me for therapy for the last
few years but whom I had never met.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
hope that he wouldn’t recognize my name was soon dashed <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-[ bright man – he is a Doctor after all so
what would you expect] - as he realized who I was and we had a little friendly
chat with me trying to hold the shreds of my dignity together by pretending in
my mind that I was properly dressed with at least a little makeup on. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Despite the damage to my dignity and, I felt to my
reputation as a professional woman, there was no serious damage to my
person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we set off home <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>still without the take away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And this folks is why to this day no matter how short the
trip I never go out without a little makeup on and reasonable dressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I do have <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a Ponjo – sorry Poncho - type thing to wear but
it only folds around like a cape so it would probably fall off at a crucial
point and I would be back at square one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Share back funny stories in the comments section.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-73704780223218806662012-06-10T01:23:00.002-07:002012-06-10T20:35:46.358-07:00Washing Machines I have Known and Loved<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I currently
have a washing machine that almost needs a licence to drive it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This machine communicates with sound and text
messages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example when its load gets
out of kilter it stops and Cheeps – yes Cheeps – like a wounded baby bird until
I come to read its pathetic cry for help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Help me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My load is out of
balance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please reposition my load. Then
press start.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">At another
time after three warnings it refuses to wash until I have run its self-cleaning
program - required after 100 washes it tells me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sounds simple Eh??<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>NO!!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>this thing has about 30 different cycles and the self-cleaning cycle direction
is buried under two different menus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
took me a week to figure out how to access that one while the washing piled up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If I want to
wash a doona it wants to know if it is synthetic or feather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do I know what the thing considers to be
bulky items?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blankets have a different
cycle – again synthetic or wool??<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are
towels considered bulky??<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are they
colour fast??<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are they heavily soiled??
What needs hot water and what needs cold?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nine times
out of ten after puzzling over the options I give up and just press
regular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there again it wants to
know if I want it to add softener and have fast spin.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m
expecting any day to get a text message on my phone from Willemena the Washing
Machine saying “you never talk to me these days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You rarely visit and after I’ve given you the
best years of my life!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CHEEP!!!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Well I
really shouldn’t be so critical of Willemena; given the history of washing machines
I’ve had and at times not had over the years. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0AggikmNMDk/T9VndaBxChI/AAAAAAAAAIk/whRdbge_LcE/s1600/old-washing-machine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0AggikmNMDk/T9VndaBxChI/AAAAAAAAAIk/whRdbge_LcE/s200/old-washing-machine.jpg" width="130" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My first
experience of washing was in the fifties when my mother and my Aunty would do
the washing for our extended family of eight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In those days it was necessary to set a full day aside for the
washing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had a huge wood-fed
boiling copper in the corner and double concrete tubs and well as wringer
machine. Sheets and other whites were boiled in the copper and hot water from
the copper was used in the washing machine. The sheets and the clothes were
transferred through the wringer into the 1<sup>st</sup> tub of cold water and
again through the wringer into the second tub and finally through the wringer
into the washing basket and then taken out and hung on the long clotheslines
which were then held up high by a large wooded prop. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When the
clothes were dry they would be brought in and then dampened down using an old
sauce bottle full of water with a rubber stopper with holes in so the water
could be sprinkled over the clothes which were then rolled up and left to be
ironed the next day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This obviously took
all day to do. I could never understand why they would get the clothes dry on
the line and then wet them again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
was done of course to make ironing the creases out easier because there were
few synthetics in those days and no steam irons. When I was 12 we moved to a new
house and Mum had a front loading semi-automatic washing machine which cut the
work enormously. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Then I got
married and the first few places we lived in we shared a laundry with others
who had washing machines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again the
wringer type - so triple handling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
we moved into our first house we had no washing machine. Just an electric
copper and two cement tubs and an empty space where a washing machine didn’t
sit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I boiled up the whites and hand
washed the coloureds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day just after
I had bought new white Jokey Y undies for ES 2yr old and R, I was boiling them
in the copper and unbeknownst to me a red rag fell into the copper and all the
undies turned pink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What a disaster as
‘real men’ no matter how old they were didn’t wear pink!!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Eventually we
bought a second hand semi-automatic washing machine. Oh joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No more hand washing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However I soon found out why the previous
owners had traded it for a new machine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The opening at the top was about 12 inches square and lined in black
rubber which had begun to perish so you had to carefully pull the clothes out
just from the centre or risk getting black goo on everything. That wasn’t the
worst problem however.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The machine was meant
to be bolted to the floor but the laundry floor was cement so the machine just
sat on the floor. UNTIL it was time for its spin cycle. THEN it would rock and
roll all around the laundry floor, at times it seemed, trying to get into the
kitchen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I took to sitting on the
thing when it was spinning. Many a visitor was startled to bemused laughter
when invited in by a laughing woman perched on a washing machine that was doing
its herky-jerky dance on the spot to the tune of a rumbling and tumbling noisy
rhythm.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Eventually I
began to dream of getting a hoover twin tub.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My sister-in-law had one of these.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She the incredibly organized, 4 kids-under-three, mother. She swore by
the Hoover. One day I was at David Jones and came across a twin tub.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took the step of asking the salesman how
much and did they do time-payment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
was before credit cards. He said yes they did and worked out the payments at 12shillings
and six pence a week<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[about a
$1:25].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought I could just about
manage this from the child endowment and we signed up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next week I waited with baited breath for the
delivery. I had the laundry sparkling clean and ready.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually a knock on the door and huge man-mountain
checked I was me and went to get the machine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I asked him if he need any help as he was alone “No lady I can carry it”
and he did!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his arms like a baby, up
the back steps and deposited it in the corner. I was so impressed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This machine
required moving things from the washing well to the spinning well and hosing it
several times to rinse, then a final spin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So labour and time was still involved with washing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually a neighbour got the first fully
automatic washing machine in the neighbourhood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As we all helped one another out when things broke down we all wished
for the day when our twin tubs <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>broke and
we could try out the new machine.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Then I
finally got my own German brand fully automatic machine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was so simple to use. Put in the clothes
add some washing powder to them spin the dial to the correct cycle push the
dial in and leave it. Heaven!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
machine worked like a dream for 17 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It came through two house moves with flying colours and I thought it
would last forever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then on the last
move when I plugged it in it sadly gave up the ghost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So now I
have Willemena. And although I have joked about her here I have to say I will
always always appreciate the luxury of an automatic washing machine. The amount
of actual labour time to do a load including gathering the clothes and pegging
them out is about 10 minutes. This means I could do the wash my mother and
aunty did when I was a little girl in about an hour and a half.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it also means I can do a load every day
if I wish because I don’t have to heat up the copper and drag out the machine
etc etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So viva labour saving technology. But I don’t
think I would appreciate Willemena as much without the history of washing that
I have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you have a funny washing story please share it in a
comment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<br /></div>Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-43527353689525214582012-06-02T21:55:00.002-07:002012-06-02T21:55:42.122-07:00Wallpapering Stories from the Past<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It seems from some of the renovation shows on TV these days
that wallpaper is somewhat back in fashion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It takes me back to the very early 70s when wallpaper was going through
a fashionable cycle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that time we
were renovating the girls’ bedroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mind
you at the time we didn’t know that there would be 2 girls in the room as I was
eight and a half months pregnant with YD but in those days we didn’t know in
advance the gender of the baby soon to be born.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Clever eldest daughter [CED] and Eldest son [ES] were both at school and
youngest son CJ was a bit over two.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yBS02r0B4LE/T8rt_pjfvHI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/aWclI74XoOc/s1600/Wallpapering_Cartoon_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yBS02r0B4LE/T8rt_pjfvHI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/aWclI74XoOc/s200/Wallpapering_Cartoon_2.jpg" width="176" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The wallpaper was chosen and, instructions to hand, Hu R
started the job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither of us had wallpapered
before. Unfortunately R was coming down with the flu and had little
patience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So after the 3<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">rd</span></sup>
time he attempted to put the 1<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> strip on the wall and it ended in
disaster with the air growing bluer by the minute with frustrated words, I
convinced him to go to bed and I set out to conquer the task myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Being eight and a half months pregnant with a baby who
turned out to be 9pounds 2 ounces [ don’t ask me to convert to kilos- that’s a
lost cause even today], lumbering up and down a ladder, wallpaper strip in hand
and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>trying to get the patterns to match,
was no easy job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Buy hey; I was young
and confident in those days – nothing would beat me. On the floor in front of
the section of the wall to be papered I had positioned the water-well containing
the wallpaper roll and water to activate the glue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I eventually got into a rhythm that was
working well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two year old CJ was outside
in the yard playing in the sandpit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He kept
coming in and out to talk to me and watch. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Then just as I started up the ladder he came in again and
stood with his little hands behind his back solemnly watching me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as I got to the top of the ladder and
had begun to position the paper he whipped his little bucket from behind his
back and tipped a heap of sand into the water-well. He stood for a second as I watched
in horror and then he took off like a little rabbit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I lumbered down the ladder and took off after
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what was I to do when I caught
him but scold him and laugh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I went
back to try to salvage the mess. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I soldiered on at the task all day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My lovely friend and neighbour P came over
later in the afternoon with a bacon and egg pie for the family’s tea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God bless her heart because by the time I was
finished I was stuffed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the room
looked fabulous and I had become a whizz at wallpapering. Over the next few
years of constant renovations I wallpapered quite a few of the rooms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">These days I can think of few things worse than having to
wallpaper. I’m content to watch others on the TV do this and just feel grateful
I’m not doing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As a footnote to this story – years later when the kids were
pretty well grown we set out to do some minor redecorating in order to sell the
house we had after the one mentioned above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>CED offered to strip the walls of the out dated wallpaper. She laboured
for some weeks at this task – a horrible job to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now we had 2 Berman cats at the time – long haired
white with red tips who were very curious of the whole process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually we realized that they had become
covered in glue and their fur became knotted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We spent weeks combing or cutting out the knots. A process neither we nor
the cats enjoyed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So anyone else with wallpaper stories<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they’d like to share, feel free to comment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-56050894905999079362012-05-23T03:49:00.000-07:002012-05-23T03:53:12.600-07:00Oh Horror! she doesn't cook!!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I confessed to my friend who is a gourmet cook and is coming
to visit for a few days that I don’t cook. After her initial surprize and my explanation
as to why I didn’t cook, she graciously dismissed my concern and agreed it
would be lovely to eat out one night and get nice take away the other. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now it’s not really accurate that I don’t cook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am a whizz with the microwave although strictly
speaking that’s more about heating and reheating, including nuking frozen
dinners, warming heatpacks and hotting up coffee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also have a George Foreman Grill for grilling
chops and steak, which I do less and less often.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not exactly a vegetarian but I rarely
these days eat red meat. In addition I have a deep fryer – also used less and
less often these days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1yuzR-rYa6Q/T7zBNd1-t9I/AAAAAAAAAIE/m-bS0KNkezA/s1600/female-hands-with-cupcakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="139" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1yuzR-rYa6Q/T7zBNd1-t9I/AAAAAAAAAIE/m-bS0KNkezA/s200/female-hands-with-cupcakes.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">old days</i> as
the saying goes I was a great cook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>General cooking of meals for our family of six for many years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus baking – there I really shone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cakes and slices and pavlovas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was famous for my pavlovas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would whip up a batch<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of four dozen patty cakes – half of which
would be gone before they were cool enough to ice and the rest I would make into
little butterfly cakes with homemade mock cream and icing sugar. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Slices like marshmallow slice and passionfruit
slice and custard slice all went down famously with kids and friends alike. In
addition I made great pancakes all from scratch – no packet mixes for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I was a young mum a group of us young mums who were
neighbours, would play cards one night a week, taking turns holding the card
night at each of our homes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it was
my turn, I would spend most of the day baking slices etc. and we would spend
less time playing cards than eating and chatting and laughing, and a good time
was had by all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think these card
nights kept us all sane for those early years. Later a different group of
friends all living in different suburbs, would visit each other - kids in tow,
to play canasta. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to take the pancake
batter and make them up and serve them hot with butter and sugar and lemon juice
–mmmmmmm. I would often make them for lunch for my kids when son RR was 4 years
old.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All this was done on the basic electric standalone stove and
oven. Just the dials to turn on and off and the temperature to set and knowing
which shelf of the oven to use and how to tell when things were cooked. Unlike
today with ovens that look like the command centre of the Starship Enterprise <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Then I got out of the way of cooking for a number of
reasons. One was that I was working in jobs that had me out until fairly late in
the evening and R was off work for a couple of years after an accident.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He began to take up cooking as a hobby at
first and then began to do much of the cooking of meals at night. Eventually as
the kids left home and he was back at work which had him home by 4:30PM and I
was often home at 8PM he became chief cook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Also in the intervening years sweet things like cakes and slices went
out of fashion and savoury treats came into fashion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So not only did I get out of the habit of cooking much when
R took over but now that I’m on my own, I can’t be bothered cooking for
one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Except at Xmas when the family
comes and I traditionally do the big baked dinner. Now in this new kitchen of
mine I have of course a new oven which has many different ways of cooking and
is all electronic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was not the most
complicated oven I could buy but still requires a degree to figure out how to
work it and what settings to use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So because
I use it once or twice a year I never remember how it all goes and I have to
look up the manual every time. Then disaster - Last Xmas I couldn’t find the
manual. I discovered this <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on Xmas
morning. After an hour or so searching I gave up and winged it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And to my surprize it all came out OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The girls think it’s hilarious that I have to
look up the manual every time I use the oven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>OK for them they have the old fashioned type.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So I don’t really cook these days and I have a very bland
palate. I’m not interested in gourmet food and the fact that I could turn the
TV on at any time of the day or night and find a cooking show on one channel or
another stuns me. But I have a healthy diet and these days I have to watch the
calories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I have no intention of
taking up cooking again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I use the time
I save not cooking and cleaning up after, in other productive and enjoyable
ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To all of you out there who
collect recipes and watch all the cooking shows and love cooking and experimenting
I say go for it! Enjoy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll keep on being a not cook. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<br /></div>
<span id="goog_662342613"></span><span id="goog_662342614"></span>Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-23814945251615453232012-05-15T00:39:00.004-07:002012-05-15T00:44:49.186-07:00The Gadget<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The following
story is one I wrote as an exercise in my writers group. The task was to
describe a gadget, in detail, that you were holding in your hand 30 years in
the future. When I came to write the story I had misplaced my computer glasses
and had been searching for them for days. I kept thinking that if it was my
phone, which I misplace regularly, then I could just ring the phone and it
would be easy to locate, but glasses don’t have a ring tone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus was born the gadget story. The final
version presented below has been redrafted and rewritten using the helpful
editing tips from the members of my group. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hope you enjoy it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Gadget<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Last week I
misplaced my mother’s engagement ring. I wasted an hour frantically looking for
it before I found it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However the panic
filled experience threw me back 30 years to another time when I had misplaced
my computer glasses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back then, in 2012,
when a computer screen sat on the desk in front of me, I needed the computer
glasses to be able to sit comfortably back in the chair and read the screen,
while I typed on the keyboard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike
today where we have voice operated computers and the work is projected onto the
wall so we can see clearly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">While the computer
glasses stayed elusively out of sight, for four days I had to lean in close to
the computer, reading glasses perched on my nose, peering at the screen, while hot
sharp lances of pain built </span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">up and played viciously across my shoulders, every now and
then side tracking and burning down my back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">desperation I
would once again go on the fruitless search, but to no avail. Finally on the
morning of the fifth day I found the glasses on the vanity in the bathroom
lurking behind the makeup jars, and yes, when I wasn’t looking for them. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Reliving
that memory I thought “That’s it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
is the third time in as many weeks I have misplaced something and wasted time
searching for it”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was time to bite
the bullet and pay the seemingly exorbitant amount of money for the gadget that
30 years ago I fantasized about being invented, every time I found myself searching
for frustrating hours for some lost item. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So today here
I am unwrapping the FINDER.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been
tracking the ever new and inventive upgrades of this gadget for </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">the last couple
of years, thinking I should wait until they had finally perfected it and in the
hope that it would eventually be cheaper than the cost of small second hand car.
The prototype was about the size of mobile phones back in 2012.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Newer versions came out, each one smaller
than the last. In addition I was concerned about the possibility that while it
would be helpful to have the Finder to locate lost things, what if the thing I
lost was the Finder?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I get ahead of
myself here. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What is a
Finder?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a gadget into which you
program the details of individual items, of which you don’t want to lose track.
Such things as sunglasses, phones, keepsakes, electronic keys, jewellery, even
articles of shoes and clothes, as well as tools of various kinds, and larger
items like cars, for when you forget where in the multistorey parking station
you have left it. In short all the things that you are in the habit of
misplacing. On request from you, the Finder then directs you to the item’s location.
It is a time saving and stress relieving gadget that I have wanted for years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now
technology has come a long way in 30 years since my computer glasses incident
in 2012.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I unwrap the box and take out a
teardrop shaped crystal pendant on a long silver chain. The newest Finders come
in a variety of shapes and styles to suit the individual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have chosen one I can wear as jewellery or
hidden under my clothes so I won’t misplace it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However there is a small one inch square box that can be stuck on the
wall in the house that is called the Finder’s Finder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So if I do misplace the Finder I can easily
access it again by asking the Finder’s Finder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Finder pendant
is hinged on one side and as<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I touch the
release it springs open revealing a small almost invisible microphone and a
tiny light which when I lift it to my eye, reads my retina imprint and programs
itself to me specifically. The computer chip is voice operated and has a tiny
sensor pad which when passed over the object I want it to record, reads, and
then locks into its memory, sensory recognition information of that object, including
the voice label I give it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These days of
course cars have a personal ID signal that can easily be picked up by the
finder.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So .. let’s
try it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First up my mother’s engagement
ring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I run the sensor light over the ring
and record “my mother’s engagement ring”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The device answers “Mother’s engagement ring recognized and recorded”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I close the device. Now let’s test it
out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I place the ring on the floor under
the window in the front bedroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I walk
downstairs and out onto the deck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
hold the closed device up to my face and say “Find my mother’s engagement ring.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pleasant female voice of the tiny
computer says clearly “Mother’s engagement ring is on the floor under the
window in the front bedroom of the house”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I am two feet from the
window the Finder emits a happy little chirping sound that increases in volume
the closer I get to the ring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I pick
up the ring the device says smugly “you have found your mother’s engagement
ring.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now I’m not
really sure how this technology works but I believe it’s developed from the
original GPS signal technology back in the early part of the century. By 2012 newer
technology had just emerged where using an app on an I-phone someone could
locate exactly where you were down to a specific room in a house, if you too
had an I-phone at the time. However it works I love my Finder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No more wasted time looking for lost
items.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why did I wait so long to buy it?<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Well I have
list of things to program into the Finder and I’m sure I will need to update
that list from time to time. So I’ll go and do that now and I’ll talk to you
later.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Postscript</span></span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A week ago I went looking for my very expensive recording
device that I needed for my day job. This looks a little like a small phone. I
estimate I spend altogether about 6 hours over a period of four days searching
for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found all the attachments but no
recorder. I searched every cupboard, under desks, behind furniture – often using
a torch to look into inaccessible nooks and crannies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know how when you search so long for
something how it tends to leave the house turned upside down and how this adds
to the frustration? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well I haven’t found
the thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My friend says it’s up in
Nannies room behind the wallpaper. – Those bloody borrowers. All the while the Finder
Gadget was running through my head. Oh how I wished I had one.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">While I have set the gadget 30 years in the future, I believe
that with the way technology is expanding almost at the speed of light, it will
probably only be a few years when some clever techo will come up with it as an
app on the phone. Bring it on guys.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-44622918920396726782012-05-13T21:17:00.000-07:002012-05-20T00:36:29.766-07:00Hope you had a happy Mother's Day<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kd5S0cOp954/T7ie2ZhiILI/AAAAAAAAAHk/8fgMidd_4cU/s1600/Mother-Child_face_to_face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kd5S0cOp954/T7ie2ZhiILI/AAAAAAAAAHk/8fgMidd_4cU/s200/Mother-Child_face_to_face.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I hope you all had a happy Mother’s Day - yesterday for those of us in Aussie and today
for those of you still in Mother’s Day. Thinking back to the Ghosts of Mother’s
days past I suspect there were some lovely gifts, some funny, some a bit weird but
charming, some that truly came from the heart. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One family story I have been told is that when I was a
little girl and taken shopping for a gift for my mum I chose a heavy glass beer
jug, the kind where the top curls in at the side of the pouring lip. The grown-ups with me tried to talk me out
of it because my mother was a dyed in the wool teetotaller – a result of a very
difficult childhood. Nothing however
would dissuade me and I’m sure my mum oohed and aahed over the jug when I
proudly presented her with it. Now I have
that jug and I treasure it as a reminder
of my Mum.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When my kids were little there were the usual gifts from the
school mother’s day stall, which all the mums had donated items to. And of course the treasured cards made with
little hands and printed so carefully.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My sister –in-law, when she had her twins and brought them
home, had 4 children under 3. She was
much more organized than me. The first
time my brother gave his kids money to go and buy her a mother’s day gift they
went off in four different directions to find the right gift. Every one of them
bought plastic flowers. Now my sister-in-law hated plastic flowers with a vengeance
and had never had them in the house so I suppose the kids thought they were a
treasure and said sister-in-law had to display them for months until they were
forgotten and she could finally throw them out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">These of course are the gifts we really cherish because they
are so personal from our children. So I hope you all have spaces for little handmade
cards or if your kids are grown maybe you have some from your grandchildren. Now
I have grown kids and two daughters took me out for breakfast and spent the day
with me. It was just lovely. I know they are so busy in their lives but
they spared the time for me. The boys
contacted me from a distance away and I had a lovely chat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now today things have gone back to normal. But the memories
stay – both old and new to warm my heart. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-88336952974230470872012-05-12T01:24:00.002-07:002012-05-12T01:29:06.892-07:00On the Eve of Mother's Day<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mw8eLGf7-KQ/T64U-fy2QNI/AAAAAAAAAHA/Vc7JbxgVMNE/s1600/violets0001_mid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mw8eLGf7-KQ/T64U-fy2QNI/AAAAAAAAAHA/Vc7JbxgVMNE/s200/violets0001_mid.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I write this as dusk begins to gently creep in, on the eve
of Mother’s Day, and my thoughts turn to my mother as they often do at
dusk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve noted elsewhere that my
mother, towards the end of her life, would sometimes say to me “after I’m gone
if you want to think of me, think of me at dusk”. This evening I think of many
things; of how the roles we played, she and I, gradually shifted over the
years, and of how we grew closer as time moved forward. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember my teenage
years and the squabbles we had that seemed so important at the time and now can
be seen as just part of growing up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
remember when I first started work and was earning a small pay taking responsibility
for buying my own clothes, and one day coming home and finding a brand new
chenille dressing gown laid out on my sister’s bed and one on my bed too. At
the time my sister was at Uni and Mum was on a very tight budget. I took for
granted that Mum needed to buy my sister clothes but I felt I was responsible for
myself. Mum passed it off lightly when I asked her about it but it felt like such
an amazing gift. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Years later when my children were growing up I understood a
little more about such things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The children’s
clothes were always bought before mine and it took me a couple of years when
they were independent and working before I stopped looking for and buying
things for them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After I had children Mum and I grew closer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I understood her more and we shared so much. I
have lovely precious memories of watching my tiny mother – she was only 5 foot
tall,- <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>holding my babies, gazing into
their little eyes and talking to them in a sweet loving voice, and feeling that
love enveloping me as well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I would save the funny stories of things the kids did to
tell her about. This sharing of everyday things some funny some sad, some a bit
of a worry, continued through the years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After she died I found there was such an empty space in my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realized all these everyday things I saved
up to talk with her about, I shared with her and no-one else, and now I had
no-one to share them with.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Eventually as she grew old I was able to do for her all the
things she used to do for me. It came to be that what I experienced from her
was truly unconditional love. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She seemed
to look at me through rose coloured glasses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She saw no fault, made no criticisms, and I felt not just loved but
truly liked as well. That was such a gift and gave me confidence in myself
through sometimes difficult times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mw8eLGf7-KQ/T64U-fy2QNI/AAAAAAAAAHA/Vc7JbxgVMNE/s1600/violets0001_mid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mw8eLGf7-KQ/T64U-fy2QNI/AAAAAAAAAHA/Vc7JbxgVMNE/s200/violets0001_mid.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My mother loved violets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She grew them in her garden, the old fashioned sweet smelling ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Always a little corner or two for her
violets. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the years since she died,
every now and then when I am sitting alone, I get the faint smell of violets
for a few moments and I find myself saying “ Hello Mum, I miss you, … thanks”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-86414669297688443882012-05-05T01:11:00.001-07:002012-05-05T01:11:49.646-07:00What your first Car should be<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I heard someone say the other day when they heard of someone
who just got their driver’s licence and was given a brand new very expensive
car with all the trimmings,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That’s not
right!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your first car should be bit of a
bomb that you have to work hard to pay for and you have stories to tell your
grandchildren about´ You know stuff like –<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“I loved my first car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a
twelve year old Torana and it was green with one blue door and the handles used
to stick and I had to sit on a cushion because the seat was too low for me to
see across the bonnet properly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh how I
loved that car!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was mine, all mine paid
for with blood sweat and tears.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m very much inclined to agree with this sentiment.
Thinking back to the first car we got after we were married.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>R came home with it the afternoon before we
had to go to a wedding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a yellow
Humber and it meant we didn’t have to catch the bus or get a lift anymore, we
had our own wheels. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next day my Mother came over to mind the babies while we
went to the wedding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We sailed out in
our best clobber, got in the car and it wouldn’t start!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had to get a taxi to the wedding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in those days there was no warranty with
second hand cars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually we got it
fixed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IFz9zGT0Ukc/T6TfboxfEjI/AAAAAAAAAG0/p3DOjShfHC0/s1600/1959-mini.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="113" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IFz9zGT0Ukc/T6TfboxfEjI/AAAAAAAAAG0/p3DOjShfHC0/s200/1959-mini.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Some years and a few old bombs later we got our first ‘second
car’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>R brought it home – it was a
bargain – a grey mini-minor. Loved that car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It turned around on a penny and I felt like the queen of Sheba in
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had no floor covering and several
holes in the metal floor that let in the wind and cold in the winter and
splashes of water in the rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used it
for work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One day while out I noticed the water light had come
on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I decided I knew enough about cars by
this time and I could fix this myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
I found an empty ice cream container and filled it up at a tap in someone’s
front yard and began to fill the radiator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And filled it and filled it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Drove around for the rest of the day and went
home quite proud of myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After about
a week R thought the mini was not driving well and decided he needed to replace
the head gasket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a major job because
to get at the head gasket you practically had to take the engine apart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nevertheless one weekend R worked for two days with much
swearing because it was a small engine and he had thick fingers. When he was
finished late on Sunday afternoon I was sitting in the car watching him put
water in the engine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was a little
puzzled and asked “why are you putting the water in there R?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said because that’s where it goes. “doesn’t
it go in the front where the radiator is “ says me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> "</span>No this is an east-west engine."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What’s an east-west engine? I ask.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>R froze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“where did you put the water the other day”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[this said In a dangerously calm voice.] </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“There in the front where the radiator always is” I reply in
my innocence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That’s where the oil goes”
he says still dangerously calmly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Oh, I
thought<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the cap was a bit dirty when I
undid it” I say.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">R stood up and said even more dangerously calmly “Go Away
now!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go away!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>then he went out and got drunk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was always difficult when we were forced to trade up to
another car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would set a budget but
the next car was always over the budget.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
time the car dealer took our trade in for a test drive while I sat in the
office re-working the budget to find an extra few dollars a week to pay for the
newer car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dealer guy was away for a
long time and finally word came that the transmission had fallen out of our car
and it would have to be towed. So we were forced to do a deal with that car
yard even though it was sailing close to the wind with finances.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One time R bought a bright yellow “sin-bin” van.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The back was carpeted and set up
unusually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After we bought it we found a
small safe tucked under the carpet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leaving
it to our imagination who might have been the previous owners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day with the kids in the car I pulled
into one of the few personal service petrol stations left and the man – a nice
Italian man came out and as he filled up the car he asked me “what’s a nice-a
lady like you doing driving a van like this?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The car we traded the van in on was probably the first
really nice car we ever had. A Ford Fairmont with a vinyl roof – air conditioning,
power steering – pure luxury. We had it for years and I thought If I won the
lottery I would still keep that car and just keep having it done up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But over the years we kept trading up to better cars with a
bit more of what we thought of as luxury but had become standard on cars. I don’t
ever take the car for granted. I really appreciate it. There are a few of those
cars that I still think of nostalgically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But if I had been given a luxury car to start with I would never have
come to appreciate all the cars over the years. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m sure many of you have fond memories of
your First Car and will tell them to your grandchildren one day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d be happy to hear some of your stories if
you want to tell them in a comment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<br /></div>Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-44344643550517359692012-05-01T01:28:00.004-07:002012-05-01T01:39:44.641-07:00Victory for a Technophobe<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The sun has been out today – Hurrah!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And right now the late afternoon sun is
highlighting pockets of the bush at the back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My mother used to say to me towards the end of her life “after I’m gone
if you want to think of me think of me at dusk”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isn’t dusk a lovely word?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For my mother I think dusk represented ‘downing
tools’ time and relaxing. And so I often do think of my mum at dusk. I love how
the sun creates that lovely wash of golden light at this time of day. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">CED has now taught me how to download photos and put them
into the blog. I am very chuffed with myself that I can do this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So yesterday I bought a new camera.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other one was held together by
blue-tac.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well not really all held
together just the card inside was held down with blue-tac so the camera
recognized photos on the card.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I’ve
been out and taken a couple of photos of the golden afternoon sunlight on the
bush and have read the instructions on how to download the photos and hopefully
put them on the blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think it
has captured the real beauty of the colour but what the heck let’s do it
anyway.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I ventured into the daunting technical details of
downloading Digital Camera Solutions Disk, and then when that was done,
downloading <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the photos from the camera, all
the while reading the instructions carefully, I thought back to a woman who about
four or five years ago told me she had come home from work one afternoon to
find her four year old playing a game on the computer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The woman knew this was a game she had just
bought and had not yet opened or installed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She asked her little boy – remember he was four years old – who had
installed the game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Just me” he said
cheerfully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“How did you do that?” she
asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Well you just put the disk in
and then keep pressing yes and its there, see?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I, along with this mother, was mightily
impressed by this, and have never forgotten it.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-80GzIwwQajw/T5-eGmFoxII/AAAAAAAAAGc/KiVTRxxpiBU/s1600/IMG_0012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-80GzIwwQajw/T5-eGmFoxII/AAAAAAAAAGc/KiVTRxxpiBU/s320/IMG_0012.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So I reminded myself today – if a four year old can do it
then I can be brave and courageous too and stop worrying I’ll break the thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just keep going and keep telling yourself “I
think I can!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think I can! I think I
can!”, and bury the panic every time it starts to creep up until you say “I
know I can<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>… I DID it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go me”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now to all of you technically very clever people who scoff at
those of us who are actually scared of new technology – I believe we are called
technophobes, see it’s an official disorder- I say “everything is relative and
we take our victories where we find them”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So now new photos are downloaded and not only
that I have adjusted the colour and other technical details.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be impressed folks, be very impressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now I will download one of the photos
right here on this blog right now to show you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It may not be the best photo ever, but it is mine and represents a great
victory over technophobia. To all the other technophobes out there, there is
hope for us all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day soon all this
will be operated by voice command and we will just tell the technical thingies
to sort themselves out.</span>Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-88497880787357144882012-04-28T01:19:00.001-07:002012-04-28T01:22:08.843-07:00The Cat and the Anxiety Disorder<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I will not become
complacent again about Flame’s tablets! I will not become complacent again
about Flame’s tablets! I will not become complacent again about Flame’s
tablets! I will not become complacent again about Flame’s tablets!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[<u>this said while beating self up the side
of the head</u>.]<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Who is flame you ask?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Let me tell you. I have written in the past about Raji my wonderful
gentle 14year old red point Birman cat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well
Flame is the ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">other’ one</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GX7dN7dWyLE/T5uhDSTGIgI/AAAAAAAAAFM/SQnAAExQyQ4/s1600/IMG_0091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GX7dN7dWyLE/T5uhDSTGIgI/AAAAAAAAAFM/SQnAAExQyQ4/s200/IMG_0091.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flame</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A very pretty sweet looking kitten-faced 10
year old red point Birman cat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To look
at her you’d think butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People take one look at her and go all gooey
and, to their later regret, reach a hand out to stroke her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">YD says calls her ‘Southern-White-Trash’ and gives her a
whiny voice that says when YD tries to touch flame - “Don’t you turch me you
curly haired girl .. I only like that other one … she feeds me and I will let
her turch me as long as she feeds me and provides a lap for me to sit in WHEN I
want it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I own this house and I let her
and that other big red cat live here to look after Me.!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whereupon Flame stalks away, sits and begins
to pointedly clean any part of her body that the unsuspecting one has touched.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think maybe YD is a little put out that
Flame seems to like only me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We adopted Miss Flame when she was about 3yrs old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had been a breeding cat but with the last
litter of kittens she had a prolapse which required surgery and the owners couldn’t
breed her anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is a rare red
point female Berman, rare because most Red point Females are tortoise shells. So
they let us have her for the cost of having her desexed and we wanted her to be
a companion for Raji since the other cat we had<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>- a lovely blue point Berman male called Haji,- had been killed on the
road and both Raji and my husband R were fretting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we too were taken in by the sweet kitten-like
face when we went to look at her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">First night with her R was away with work, and she came into
bed in the evening and sat between my knees as I was reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought “Oh, isn’t that nice, she’s
adjusting well”. Until I felt the bed clothes become wet and realized she had
peed on me and the bedclothes. I didn’t realize at the time but Oh god! that
was the beginning of years of stress with this little cat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She took to peeing on the lounges, the mats,
the beds, at odd times – seemingly at random.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We tried everything; putting lots of litter trays around,
behavioural strategies, pheromone sprays – you name it we tried it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I bought plastic mattress covers for all the
furniture and kept the bedroom doors shut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Eventually in desperation I discussed medication with the vet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So began her journey on
anti-depressants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that kept the behaviour to a minimum [mostly].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every now and then the routine of the house
would be interrupted by a workman, stranger to Flame, or some other disruption
to her world, and she would be stressed and pee on things again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes she would poo also. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U6gniKleu9Q/T5umvfrkPPI/AAAAAAAAAGA/85vwzQyQTOE/s1600/IMG_0094.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="147" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U6gniKleu9Q/T5umvfrkPPI/AAAAAAAAAGA/85vwzQyQTOE/s200/IMG_0094.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flame</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Eventually I realized this little cat had an anxiety
disorder. Not surprizing given her early history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kept in breeding cages and having a number of
litters of kittens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had been sent to
Queensland to another breeder for a time and then sent back when that person
became ill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When she had the prolapse surgery
they had needed her to continue to feed the kittens so forced her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then when they decided to give her away they
took the kittens away too soon and she developed mastitis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shortly after this she came to us without
ever really having any experience as a house pet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not surprisingly we didn’t think about this
until after the ‘trouble’ started.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Despite all this in the beginning I persevered with her,
gradually accustoming her to being cuddled by me and I believe feeling
safe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She became the dominant cat
straight away as Raji was accustomed to not being in that role.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He always defers to her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She eats first and will sometimes come back
in and push him away if she sees him eating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">She is also a greedy little thing and is now so fat she will lose her
balance when lying on her back and suddenly find herself rolling over </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now, she is a very bright little cat and she doesn’t like the
tablet she knows she gets every morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So she ducks me – hiding behind the lounge where I can’t get to her. Sometimes
I get complacent and think it doesn’t matter if she misses a day for her
tablet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But sometimes without my
realizing it, this stretches into a few days and then she starts to pee or poo
on the mats or my chair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have no
idea of the work it takes to clean all this up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I keep a thick blanket on my chair and it’s a pain to wash and hang out
on the line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the carpet catches some,
I have to shampoo that and then I have a spray that neutralizes the smell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t even want to think about the problem
with the bedding, especially the times in the household in the past when I’ve gone
up to bed after a stressful day, feeling exhausted, only to find I have to
strip all the bedding etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the last week or
so I have been lax about flame’s tablet, kidding myself, I realize now, that
she is going OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cured of the behaviour,
I thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Wham it started with the
bathroom mats where this time she began pooing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not too bad because they are small and easily washed. But it quickly
spread to the blanket on my chair where for 4 days in a row I walked in and
found she’d done the deed again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>4 times
had to wash the heavy blanket and struggle to get it dry. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I began to make sure I gave her the tablet
every day no matter how hard that was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By
the night of the 5<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> day I got cunning and brought out the plastic
bed protector [duh], and put it on the chair overnight and any other time I was
not sitting in the chair. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So finally the
medication seems to have kicked in again and no more troubles but I am still
reluctant to leave the plastic off the chair.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At night she waits
for me to go up to bed and then comes and curls up on the bed and sleeps the
night there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bed seems safely out of
harm’s way while I am in it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She likes
to go outside more than Raji.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She often
finds a sun spot or at least shelter from the wind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If she gets locked out too long for her
however, she complains bitterly and loudly in her high whining voice as I let
her in. Oh and the other funny quirk about her is she snores – very loudly and
sounds just like a human.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It cracks me
up when she does this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T-LBvg_mM88/T5ulo63SsxI/AAAAAAAAAFw/7kMOdzwEksk/s1600/IMG_0149.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="168" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T-LBvg_mM88/T5ulo63SsxI/AAAAAAAAAFw/7kMOdzwEksk/s200/IMG_0149.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raji grooming Flame</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Despite all this I really love her [most of the time]. Raji
and she have become a family and they often groom one another and sometimes
curl up together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know how she’ll
be when Haji goes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But like all families
we have our individual quirks and ups and downs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So now you know why I am writing on my computer 500 times ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I will not become complacent again about
Flame’s tablets!’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Maybe tonight I
will leave the plastic off the chair .. what do you think??<o:p></o:p></span></div>Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-79672722726314738452012-04-26T19:51:00.000-07:002012-04-27T19:13:13.476-07:00A Lazy Autumn Morning in Aussie<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7n9yQKc7Z2Q/T5s6FgY6QgI/AAAAAAAAADU/1QGUxUds-wo/s1600/kookaburra-pair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7n9yQKc7Z2Q/T5s6FgY6QgI/AAAAAAAAADU/1QGUxUds-wo/s320/kookaburra-pair.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here in Aussie we are in the early stages of Autumn, and just this week the temperature has finally begun to reflect that. It’s been hovering along the edges of slightly warm accompanied by lots of rain and clouds, and dipping now and then into shivers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nature is so amazing. Just as many of the trees begin to shed their leaves and the flowers die off so there is a lot less colour and dull winter threatens, there are pockets of brilliant glowing deep purple springing up all over, where the wonderful tippichina trees have burst into bloom. It’s as if Nature wants to spread some colour through the gloom that is gathering. Added to this the Camellia trees are coming into bud and here in my garden I have miniature camellia bushes already sprouting some delicate pale pink flowers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nVvObNQ4KRM/T5tP1zqYIiI/AAAAAAAAADw/yv3NmCshfeA/s1600/tibouchina+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nVvObNQ4KRM/T5tP1zqYIiI/AAAAAAAAADw/yv3NmCshfeA/s1600/tibouchina+02.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Early mornings are much cooler and it warms up a little for a time in the middle of the day. So this morning … the first day off for a week … I took the opportunity to snuggle under the covers for a while and read a good book before getting up to face the day. You know how nice it is to wander around in the warm dressing gown and bed socks and settle with a cup of fragrant coffee in the sun to read a good book. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">While I sat there one of the two resident kookaburras .. I’ve christened them Bib and Bub from a famous series of children’s stories about the gumnut babies .. flew onto the gate and began to scan for breakfast. As I watched he swooped down grabbed something and gave it a sharp flicking shake before raising his head and swallowing. He’s fat as mud, an indication of good pickings for birds after all the rain lately. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Well, I’ve had the whole morning to myself, successfully avoiding all pending tasks and now guilt is creeping in to push me back to reality. I’ll go soon to do the tasks but I think I’ll also buy myself a loaf of hot fresh bread to have later smothered in butter and dipped in wonderful hot creamy pumpkin soup. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Later today I will work on my writing. Some for this blog and some for the writing group six of us budding writers have just formed. This is not a task as such but an enjoyment. I think it’s going to be a wonderful group. The women in the group are all very talented and I’m sure will one day be published authors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hope you are all having a great day out there as I am here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-23003921396676737492012-04-24T07:00:00.002-07:002012-04-24T10:38:59.283-07:00That Wonderful Smell of Hot Fresh Bread<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This morning I bought a Vienna loaf of bread from the fresh bread shop instead of the ‘long-lasting’ sliced bread from the supermarket. I didn’t get it sliced because that would spoil the experience. It needed to be cut thick just as we used to do before sliced bread was invented. The smell of the bread as I cut it with the breadknife – which I had had to hunt up, having not used it for a while - flooded me with memories. <br />
<br />
First my mind went to me as a little girl, the first day I was trusted to cross the road and go to the bakehouse around the corner all by myself to buy the bread for the family. With dire warnings echoing in my head about not pulling chunks out of the middle of the loaf,[as most kids tended to do], I walked up the driveway of the bakehouse, enticed along by the wonderful smell of hot fresh bread. Is there any more comforting smell or a smell more likely to trigger memories? The baker handed me the bread and I set off and along the way I broke the loaf in half – they were made to do that easily then – and where the soft part on one side made a little hill I ever so carefully, so as not to leave a tell-tale hole, peeled out some of the warm, soft, oh so fragrant bits of bread and stuffed them in my mouth and chewed in something bordering on ecstasy mixed with a little guilt. Then I proudly took home my prize. Now I’m sure the adults knew what I’d done, but they didn’t say anything and that left the experience intact as a lovely memory. <br />
<br />
My thoughts then went to the early days of raising my children when the baker came around every day except Sunday and delivered fresh bread. We would wait for the baker so we could have fresh bread for lunch, each slice covered in honey or peanut butter or vegemite. Originally the baker, who came from the old Co-op store, had a horse driven enclosed cart. He would stand on the wide step at the back of the cart when driving it and he would often let one or other of the kids have a ride with him for a little way down the street. The kids of course loved it and would often wait for him so they could beg their ride. <br />
<br />
One day I was going for a job interview – all dressed up - and I missed the bus and was faced with a run up the steep hill to try to catch another bus in the hope I could be on time. I didn’t think I could make it and I worried I would present at the interview all hot and bothered instead of cool calm and collected. Then along came the baker with his horse and cart and I cadged a lift on the step of the cart with him while the horse pulled us up the hill in time for me to catch the other bus.<br />
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Now tonight for tea I had fresh slices of bread with the crisp crusty outside and the soft white inside, slathered with butter, then dipped into lovely hot creamy pumpkin soup. Heaven!<br />
<br />
I think this will become a ritual at least once a week.Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-67211090291043416002012-04-23T04:57:00.002-07:002012-04-24T01:32:43.386-07:00On Getting Started<br />
Well… after the marathon of the last couple of weeks getting this blog up and running, I can take a breath and settle in to write and post. But before I do that I just wanted to say a big big thank you to Clever Eldest Daughter [CED] who was encouraging of my early writings and suggested I should think about creating a blog as an outlet for said creative writing. Not only this but she then set the blog up and taught me how to use it and run it. This last being not an easy job as I have a bit of a block about my ability to learn the new technology. I could never have done this without you CED. <br />
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So at first we tried two different layouts and CED gradually worked out the bugs in them. Then we needed to change it again so people could post comments, etc. It quickly became obvious that the original title of the blog was too unwieldy and the word “ruminations” in the blog was used far and wide. That led to a week of trying to come up with a new title that was catchy and reasonable short. <br />
<br />
Well, I did come up with some that seemed very clever but on CED’s advice when I checked them out other people were just as clever and had already come up with them. Finally I gave up the hope that inspiration would strike out of the blue and made myself sit for hours just working on the name and plugging it in to see if it was already taken. Cries for help to other family members didn’t bring relief even though they got into the spirit of it. <br />
<br />
So I decided to continue to post with the old title until I could get a better one. Then; out of the blue, when I was out the morning before I posted the next piece, inspiration struck [helped along by something I saw] and LO! the new title ‘Marg’s Slices of Life’ was born. Yay!..Then CED, just yesterday morning decided we needed to change the layout for some technical reasons and we sat for a couple of hours working on that. Just as we had settled for something reasonable and convinced ourselves it didn’t have to be too pretty CED came across some new backgrounds and layouts that would fit.<br />
<br />
Now anyone who knows me knows not to give me too many choices or I waffle on forever. So CED looked at the choices and offered a couple to me. And the blog evolved based on the last 2 pieces I had posted. It feels appropriate to have the blog reflect the Aussie bush in both colour and background. <br />
So there we had it. Quick Marg! before you begin to waffle tell CED to set it. And it was done. Now all that remains is the road ahead to write. <br />
<br />
To all who might visit my blog in the future – welcome, may we share good stories. <br />Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-46640064921730313202012-04-21T20:19:00.000-07:002012-04-21T22:48:21.201-07:00The Spider Dance and stories from the webs<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Spider Dance<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This morning I walked out of the garage door intending to
check the letter box and straight into a huge spider web that had been craftily
strung across that entrance overnight.
I’m sure you’ve all been there.
The brains message ‘sh*t there’s a monster, people-eating spider on me
somewhere, probably on my head and about to attack my face’, is pipped at the
post by the body hurtling into the ‘spider dance’. In situations like this the body needs no
direction from the brain – survival kicks in, by-passing the brain. To the accompaniment
of the eerie high pitched shriek, instantly recognizable as the spider noise, the
legs frantically lurch into the dance and spin me in circles while the arms
windmill, madly brushing the hair and face and any part of my body that can be
reached while my head cranes on my neck in a vain attempt to view the whole of
my back to see where the dreaded spider is currently stalking me. Unable to see,
but convinced the creature is there just out of my sightline, I rip off my top –
heedless of the fact that I’m by this time in the middle of the driveway and in
full view of the neighbours. When there is no sign of the spider on my top I
now lean over and continue to frantically brush at my hair. When I finally realize the spider is not
actually on my body I begin to search my surroundings for it. I spy the tattered web where I have broken
through it and can see that by the probable size of the web the spider that had
constructed it had to be really big.
Then I spy it huddling in what I would like to think of as fear of me,
but is more likely in glee, up under the eaves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Gathering the shreds of my dignity around me I replace my
top, take a quick surveillance of the neighbourhood – no neighbours in sight,
probably lurking, with snickers of laughter, behind curtains or closed doors –
and continue to the letterbox.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now the experts tell us that spiders string their webs
across the probable flight paths of insects or near light sources so they can
trap unwary food sources. This makes sense.
But at my place while there are hundreds of spiders that do just that,
there is a small number who seem to have loftier ambitions. I have lost count of the times I have walked
into webs strung across the outside access doors of my house. Call me paranoid, but maybe there is secret
society of spiders that have ambitions to catch a human! Come to think of it,
the size of these webs is bit of a giveaway isn’t it? – they are always huge. Set up for larger human sized prey? They are very cunning too. For a time after I have been caught they wait
until I’m lulled into a false sense of security or have forgotten and then
overnight up goes a new trap and bam! there’s the spider dance again. Well I’m
recovered now but will stay on yellow alert around doorways for a while
whenever I go outside. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After all of this excitement, nay more like terror, I find
my mind going back to the many spider encounter stories in the annals of the
family. So I thought I might post a few.
Some are hilarious, but only if you are not the victim. So read on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Spider hunting story</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Younger daughter [YD] has always been particularly
frightened of spiders but always unwilling to kill them. Once when she was a teenager she sat curled
up in a ball on the lounge afraid to move for four hours, watching what she described
as a <u>giant</u> huntsman spider, march across the opposite wall, and waiting
for her father and me to come home and catch it. [I have been the spider
catcher in the family for years.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">By the time we got home and she told the story, the spider
was nowhere to be seen, despite a thorough search. Four days later I was
walking past the wall where the spider had been, and noticed what appeared to
be part of spider leg poking out from the edge of picture hung on the
wall. I got the latest top-of-the-line
spider catching equipment, aka a bowl and a piece of cardboard, gave a
reluctant YD a broom so she could move the picture while standing at a safe
distance and I could quickly pop the bowl over the spider when it moved
out. Good plan, until the spider did
move out and, reminiscent of the scene in ‘Jaws’, I jumped back in fear - “we
need a bigger bowl”-. It was the biggest
huntsman I had ever seen. However, brave
and courageous mother that I am, I ran to get a really big bowl leaving YD, now
standing on top of the lounge in the farthest corner of the room, to keep the
spider in sight so we wouldn’t lose sight of it again. I ran back and after a few heart stopping
minutes managed to trap the spider in the bowl with YD declaring in the
background “Very brave mummy!... very brave!”.
I then took the spider down to the back fence under the gum tree and
released it. Now this was the designated
‘spider releasing spot’ for years. And therein lies another story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Under the gum tree I had lots of
plant pots stacked upside down, one on top of the other for gardening
purposes. One day, some years after the “Jaws”
event, I went down and picked up a pot and looked at the pot that had been
underneath, to see to my horror it was covered in huntsman spiders of various
sizes. Thinking quickly through the
shock; told you I was the brave and courageous one; I realized there may be
others inside the pot I held, my hand covering the hole in the bottom.
Carefully I turned the pot around and looked and sure enough there were spiders
there as well. I flung the pot away - brave
and courageous only goes so far-, and had a quick look around all the other pots. There were hundreds of huntsman spiders
infesting the “drop off” area. I raced
inside and dragged the family out to see.
The closest I could figure was, for years whenever I took a spider down
and dropped it off, it walked into the colony saying “Hi honey I’m home – she threw
me out again”. While I don’t like
killing spiders, that’s why I catch and relocate them, this time I had to get
in the exterminators. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">=======================================================<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Funny spider story</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Years later Youngest Daughter
[YD] went with a friend to attend a Buddhist retreat out in the boondocks. No sewer this far in the bush, so toilets
were the old dunnies with the pan system. YD held out as long as she could and
then, in fear and not a little disgust was forced to visit the dunny. She got herself settled with her undies
around her knees and reached out to get some toilet paper ready and put her
hand right on top of huntsman spider. With her very own well-honed trademark
‘spider shriek’ – recognized by every family member as ‘YD has encountered a spider’ - , she leaped to her feet, burst
out of the dunny with her undies still around her knees and ran full pelt in a hilarious knock-kneed gait –
off into the bush while her friend rolled around hysterically laughing.- She
was NOT amused.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Funny Spider and snake story<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fast forward a few years.
YD Had agreed to check the house and collect the mail for us while her
father and I went away on holidays. At that time we lived in a house where the only
driveway was at the back of the house off another street. The letter box however was down several
levels on the street at the front of the house.
So the logical thing was for YD to drive to the letter box at the front,
collect the mail and then drive around two blocks to the back of the house and
check the house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A few nights into the holiday I
accessed a couple of messages on my phone about 10pm. These were from YD sent
some hours before. Voice message one- shrill
panicky voice “ I’ve just picked up your mail and there, not 2 feet from me was
a giant snake – frightened me half to death, so I scooped the mail up really
quickly and leaped in the car and took
off before the snake could crush and eat me.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I hurtled off in the car and
got a little way down the road, I glanced over and there was a large huntsman marching
out from the mail and stalking towards me.
In my panic I drove up the gutter and leaped from the car. I was dancing around calling for my mum to
come and get the spider out, but you are away- big help you are! Then I considered
going into a nearby house for help. But eventually, I don’t know how, I managed
to get the spider out with a newspaper and bravely continued on my way, pushing
away the thought that other scary creatures might be lurking. You owe me big time. I want a frock”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">2nd message: [a little bitterness and revenge creeping through
the voice] “I am now in your house and I am smoking! Not happy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Me and Spider story</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Four years ago I had moved into my latest house and had a
long haired carpet laid. I was very
happy with my house and a few weeks in I was walking up the stairs to go to bed
at about 11 PM. I looked up and saw a
large huntsman – yes I know they seem to follow me, probably looking for
revenge - up high on the wall on the next level. Deciding I needed to catch it before it got
into the bedroom and frightened me to death in the night by walking on my face,
or before the cats investigated it and got bitten, I gathered my usual spider
catching equipment. This time I could judge the right sized bowl needed. I proceeded to try to catch it only to drive
it further up the wall. So cleverly, I
got the broom to gently ’encourage’ it to come down where I could get it. Unfortunately it dropped straight onto the
long haired carpet and started straight for the bedroom. There I was on hands
and knees frantically chasing it plopping the bowl down just a little too late
to catch it. Lucky for me but not so
lucky for the spider, the long haired carpet must have made it like trying to
run through long thick grass. It seemed
to run in slow motion lifting its legs high in a sort of staggering gait. This
slowed it down enough so I just caught it in the doorway. Breathing a sigh of relief I carried it down
the stairs carefully opened the back door and stepped out straight into a large
spider web strung across the doorway.
When I finished shrieking and doing a parody of the spider dance while
still clutching the bowl, I placed the bowl on the bench and cleared the web
from the doorway. Then Through the
remaining panicky shreds of thought, I realized it was best not to create
another colony down the back of the new house and took the bowl out the front and
released the spider into the gutter, whereupon it lurched across the road
toward another house. I imagined I could
almost hear its footsteps because it was so big. I had a momentary bout of guilt about
launching the spider onto the new neighbours, but eventually after a short
struggle, brushed that aside and went inside to settle down before going up to
bed. In hindsight I suppose this should
have sent a few warning signals up about spiders and doorways and paranoid
thoughts I wrote about in the 1<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> post. But then I was blissfully unaware. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nowadays I am learning how to live in harmony most of the
time with the spiders that inhabit my yard and house. There are some lovely
stories about the various types of spiders that I will share sometime in the
future. This time it’s been about the
funny encounters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052344898798011456.post-84366310598770614302012-04-20T15:45:00.000-07:002012-04-20T15:45:14.021-07:00An Aussie morning gift<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This morning I reluctantly rose early. I would have killed
for a sleep-in because I had one of those nights where I had trouble
sleeping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I walked into the study, sat
at the computer and looked out the window at my garden and the bush reserve at
the back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I never wanted to be a photographer more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a week of torrential rain and dark days
it was as if someone had strung fairy lights all through the bush. The trees
and ferns and plants were sparkling with hundreds of tiny lights, even the
grass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sun streamed through the
trees lighting soft shafts of light through the fine morning mist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was like those photos you see where clever
photographers have caught the streams of light spearing through from behind an
amazing tree. Here and there one light seemed to sparkle brighter as if to say
“look at me – look at me”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An errant
breeze whispered through the leaves for just a few seconds stirring the
sparkles and then the bush settled back into the morning stillness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I wish I had the skill to describe this and share with
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is particularly wonderful
because of the awful weather we have had this last week and indeed for most of
the summer just gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>there goes another ‘Look at me” sparkle and I
know this is a leaf spinning on the end of one strand of cobweb but it’s too
far away to see more than the magic sparkle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The sun lays pathways across the grass, and further back it spotlights
individual pockets of the bush, contrasting them against the darker shadowy
pockets where the sun can’t quite reach. There between the ends of two branches
of the wattle tree is a delicately fine spider web<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>shining golden in the sun – a golden orb
spider has spun this one,- while nearby another misty grey spider web shimmers
like a tiny bit of soft grey mist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
look, there is a tiny spider web seemingly suspended in mid-air with no visible
support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This one you would never see
except for the few moments the sun has caught it just so this morning. And see there
in the garden the sun now scatters the fairy lights on a few of the plants and
on the vine covering the back fence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I open the window to hear the birds more clearly and their
songs echo in the slightly misty air seeming to celebrate this bright morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if I listen carefully I can hear the
little creek down the back bubbling and burbling along its way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is fairly rare because the creek really
only runs like this after heavy rainfall. So everything brings its own
blessing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Wouldn’t you know – I left my I-phone at work last night and
I can’t take even an amateur photo of this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As I sit here the scene begins to change as the sun rises higher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My bush - as I like to think of it - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>presents a different picture depending on the time
of day, or the weather, or the season. Each picture uniquely beautiful, in its
own way ever new and fascinating.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But this morning its absolute MAGIC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I look at the clock and know I have to stop very
soon and prepare for the work of the day but OH how I want to just sit here and
drink in this scene that’s so particularly precious after the days of gloomy shadow
and rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It brings and joy and
amazement to my heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If only I had the
time to just sit and meditate on this wonderful picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I know it will soon change as the sun
moves higher and I realize it has been a little gift that I had to be up at
just this time to see this snapshot of beauty today. And I once again feel how
blessed I am to have my home in this place and the opportunity to see such
wonders in my backyard. A heartfelt wish that you could see this too, particularly
those of you who haven’t seen the Australian bush.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We Aussies truly live in the amazing ‘lucky ‘country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>Margs Slices of Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00715089877519161934noreply@blogger.com6