Normie's Rose; 10 days after the funeral service it still is beautiful. Norma's favourite flower was the yellow rose and her casket had them dominating and we were invited to take one home.
Monday, June 27, 2016
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Nearly There
Next Saturday we finally reach election day after the longest campaign in my recollection.
My phone rings daily, my mailbox is full of election stuff, Jason Wood's photo with Malcolm Turnbull looks at me everywhere I drive, and the radio talkback is constantly going on about it, and it is in every newspaper front and square.
It looks to me that it will be an annihilation. Turnbull will be returned and Labour will be decimated, perhaps the ruination of the Labour Party forever, maybe it is totally finished.
As disappointing as Turnbull is to me, it was a master stroke to get rid of Abbott. Abbott gave Shorten some chance.
So, my call is early. Labour is finished. It does not surprise me. Unionism is finished.
Sadly, it is a comedy of uselessness. Australia is cruelled by greed and laziness.
A country driven to point of ruin by self interest greed and laziness.
My phone rings daily, my mailbox is full of election stuff, Jason Wood's photo with Malcolm Turnbull looks at me everywhere I drive, and the radio talkback is constantly going on about it, and it is in every newspaper front and square.
It looks to me that it will be an annihilation. Turnbull will be returned and Labour will be decimated, perhaps the ruination of the Labour Party forever, maybe it is totally finished.
As disappointing as Turnbull is to me, it was a master stroke to get rid of Abbott. Abbott gave Shorten some chance.
So, my call is early. Labour is finished. It does not surprise me. Unionism is finished.
Sadly, it is a comedy of uselessness. Australia is cruelled by greed and laziness.
A country driven to point of ruin by self interest greed and laziness.
Sunday, June 19, 2016
On a Winter's Day
I woke this morning and went outside to relieve the full bladder to be enthralled by the jousting magpies whose warbling and acrobatics have delighted me all this month.
It must be the first sign of spring as these beautiful native birds presumably are asserting territory in the prelude to the mating season. A group of about 8 birds have been darting and chasing in twos or threes from tree to tree in spectacular competition accompanied by magnificent song during interludes when resting in perches.I think it must be parent birds chasing away young from last year's breeding prior to this years, as I believe happens.
There was plenty of sunshine this morning to cheer the spirit of this pilgrim as I soaked up the luxury of a day at home after a tough week. On Thursday I woke and opened the back door to find only one gumboot where there should have been two. Must be a neighbour's dog doing devilment was my conclusion, the same creature that regularly pulls things out of the recycling box at the back door during the night, chewing up yoghurt containers and foil that has had food traces in it.
Gord and I went to 'Blossoms' funeral that same day, at the Springvale Crematorium starting 11.15am. I'm glad we went. She was a good friend. I'm saddened that I will not see her again. Norma had said what she wanted at her funeral service and I was a little disappointed for two reasons. Firstly there was no mention of her marriage to Henry and her time at Emerald which was about a decade, and secondly, the concluding song at the service was 'My Way' by Frank Sinatra. I would have preferred something better, if you listen closely to the lyrics of that song it is not a nice song, it is a selfish construct, and I read somewhere it is the no 1 choice for funeral service songs. Normie could have done better surely. Nevertheless I teared up a bit.
From there we went on to Mentone pick up some beekeeping supplies in prep for next spring. It rained all the way and the traffic was horrible. We late lunched at Parkmore shopping centre then went to FTG where I bought some new 'Oliver' work boots and then on to Lowes at Knox where Gord wanted something or other. All the way traffic horrible. Melbourne is a hell hole. I finished in Tecoma for a massage and Chiro adjustment and got home in the dark after what seemed like a whole day driving in traffic, which it was really. Exhausting.
Friday was not the quiet recovery I hoped for. Orders came in at 10.30am for a whole lot of stuff extra to what I had already known about and planned to do at leisurely pace. Therefore followed 7 hours of picking top pace no break to speak of in drizzly shitty weather. Completing that we went to Monbulk to pick up the take away Chinee for dinner and to shop at Aldi and the green grocer, and drive home in the dark and drizzle without my glasses which I had left at home. Exhausted again.
Sadly, there was another vanishing incident to outdo the gumboot of the previous day. I do like dim sims, steamed Chinese home made ones. I bought 6, two entrees of three each, so that I would have some for left overs to have with the fried rice and noodles that are always left over for the day or two following. Well, after taking a drink of white wine and getting in my footy tips to Rr and placing a few footy multibets I took a bath. I'd seen Gordy eat a dim sim and his spring rolls before heading to the bath then when I came out I had a plate of SFrice and Singapore noodles and checked where the dim sims were, yes fine in the fridge, I'd have them tomorrow. Now I do like Chinese food but my tastes are simple... dim sims, fried rice, noodles. I leave all the other sloppy stuff to others, I'm happy to leave all that.
I was completely peeved when I went to get a dim sim or two yesterday to have with the left over rice. Lib took them to work for lunch and of the whole 6 I bought I had narry a one. The others had eaten the prawn entree and the spring rolls and all my dim sims to boot. I was left with all the sloppy stuff.
Fried up in the pan though it was pretty good.
It must be the first sign of spring as these beautiful native birds presumably are asserting territory in the prelude to the mating season. A group of about 8 birds have been darting and chasing in twos or threes from tree to tree in spectacular competition accompanied by magnificent song during interludes when resting in perches.I think it must be parent birds chasing away young from last year's breeding prior to this years, as I believe happens.
There was plenty of sunshine this morning to cheer the spirit of this pilgrim as I soaked up the luxury of a day at home after a tough week. On Thursday I woke and opened the back door to find only one gumboot where there should have been two. Must be a neighbour's dog doing devilment was my conclusion, the same creature that regularly pulls things out of the recycling box at the back door during the night, chewing up yoghurt containers and foil that has had food traces in it.
Gord and I went to 'Blossoms' funeral that same day, at the Springvale Crematorium starting 11.15am. I'm glad we went. She was a good friend. I'm saddened that I will not see her again. Norma had said what she wanted at her funeral service and I was a little disappointed for two reasons. Firstly there was no mention of her marriage to Henry and her time at Emerald which was about a decade, and secondly, the concluding song at the service was 'My Way' by Frank Sinatra. I would have preferred something better, if you listen closely to the lyrics of that song it is not a nice song, it is a selfish construct, and I read somewhere it is the no 1 choice for funeral service songs. Normie could have done better surely. Nevertheless I teared up a bit.
From there we went on to Mentone pick up some beekeeping supplies in prep for next spring. It rained all the way and the traffic was horrible. We late lunched at Parkmore shopping centre then went to FTG where I bought some new 'Oliver' work boots and then on to Lowes at Knox where Gord wanted something or other. All the way traffic horrible. Melbourne is a hell hole. I finished in Tecoma for a massage and Chiro adjustment and got home in the dark after what seemed like a whole day driving in traffic, which it was really. Exhausting.
Friday was not the quiet recovery I hoped for. Orders came in at 10.30am for a whole lot of stuff extra to what I had already known about and planned to do at leisurely pace. Therefore followed 7 hours of picking top pace no break to speak of in drizzly shitty weather. Completing that we went to Monbulk to pick up the take away Chinee for dinner and to shop at Aldi and the green grocer, and drive home in the dark and drizzle without my glasses which I had left at home. Exhausted again.
Sadly, there was another vanishing incident to outdo the gumboot of the previous day. I do like dim sims, steamed Chinese home made ones. I bought 6, two entrees of three each, so that I would have some for left overs to have with the fried rice and noodles that are always left over for the day or two following. Well, after taking a drink of white wine and getting in my footy tips to Rr and placing a few footy multibets I took a bath. I'd seen Gordy eat a dim sim and his spring rolls before heading to the bath then when I came out I had a plate of SFrice and Singapore noodles and checked where the dim sims were, yes fine in the fridge, I'd have them tomorrow. Now I do like Chinese food but my tastes are simple... dim sims, fried rice, noodles. I leave all the other sloppy stuff to others, I'm happy to leave all that.
I was completely peeved when I went to get a dim sim or two yesterday to have with the left over rice. Lib took them to work for lunch and of the whole 6 I bought I had narry a one. The others had eaten the prawn entree and the spring rolls and all my dim sims to boot. I was left with all the sloppy stuff.
Fried up in the pan though it was pretty good.
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Footy Tipping
Well were almost to the halfway mark of the season.
I'm pleased to say I'm leading our home comp, on 70. Gord is next on 69, Rickyralph is 67, and Lib brings up the rear on 58. Rickyralph keeps banging away but has so far not been able to to bridge the gap on me that I established early on.
The funny thing is that he tipped 9 last week and caught up on me one as I only had 8, but because my tip was speculative on Melbourne beating Hawthorn, which didn't happen, I put $5 on Rr's tips with Sportingbet and collected $88 for the 9 multiple.
I'm pleased to say I'm leading our home comp, on 70. Gord is next on 69, Rickyralph is 67, and Lib brings up the rear on 58. Rickyralph keeps banging away but has so far not been able to to bridge the gap on me that I established early on.
The funny thing is that he tipped 9 last week and caught up on me one as I only had 8, but because my tip was speculative on Melbourne beating Hawthorn, which didn't happen, I put $5 on Rr's tips with Sportingbet and collected $88 for the 9 multiple.
Cheese
The crisis in the dairy industry has made big news recently and I sympathize greatly with dairy farmers. I heard it said somewhere in the media that we should all make sure we buy Australian milk in order to support the dairy industry.
We don't buy a lot of milk but I have never even considered that the milk we buy is from anywhere other than Australia. It is incomprehensible to me how or why we would import milk when we have so much of it here, and if we did how it could be competitive on price after travelling from overseas.
It has also been said we should eat more cheese and i have been doing my best. Cheese I love and I snack on it most days when I come home from work with a few dry biscuits. Also it is my habit to put grated cheese over certain left over meals say like tuna rice or risotto as I heat in the pan with a sprinkle of cayenne pepper. Mumma Mia! Grilled cheese on toast with or without tomatoes is also a treat, melted cheese is a delight.
And there are so many types of cheese to enjoy. I adore grated Parmesan on my spaghetti sauce and don't mind some blue vein now and again.
And let's not forget that great companion to cheese - wine.
Oh how I'm looking forward to getting home tomorrow night to enjoy the open fire and some Friday night wine and cheese. Even a terribly dead and boring footy match like Essendon and Hawthorn will not be able to spoil that.
We don't buy a lot of milk but I have never even considered that the milk we buy is from anywhere other than Australia. It is incomprehensible to me how or why we would import milk when we have so much of it here, and if we did how it could be competitive on price after travelling from overseas.
It has also been said we should eat more cheese and i have been doing my best. Cheese I love and I snack on it most days when I come home from work with a few dry biscuits. Also it is my habit to put grated cheese over certain left over meals say like tuna rice or risotto as I heat in the pan with a sprinkle of cayenne pepper. Mumma Mia! Grilled cheese on toast with or without tomatoes is also a treat, melted cheese is a delight.
And there are so many types of cheese to enjoy. I adore grated Parmesan on my spaghetti sauce and don't mind some blue vein now and again.
And let's not forget that great companion to cheese - wine.
Oh how I'm looking forward to getting home tomorrow night to enjoy the open fire and some Friday night wine and cheese. Even a terribly dead and boring footy match like Essendon and Hawthorn will not be able to spoil that.
Sunday, June 05, 2016
Vale Normie
The phone rang today, my mobile, at about 3pm. As it rang I was taking out the cards in the bottom draw of our kitchen with the intent of writing a birthday card for my friend Norma who was to turn 79 years old next Thursday the 9th of June. It has been a custom of Norma and I to send each other a tattslotto ticket and a card on our birthdays for the last twenty years or so. I thought I'd post it on my way up to watch the last quarter of the local footy, to save me having to do it next Monday and risk forgetting.
The mobile phone was in my office and I quickly dropped the stack of cards I'd taken from the drawer and managed to take the call before the caller hung up. It was my friend Craig, a young man of great quality whom I met through Norma some 20 plus years ago, and who through all that time I have had business dealings to our mutual benefit albeit on a small scale. He was a young man just left school when I met him, and with his young lady companion Leanne was embarking on a career in the nursery industry. They married and started a wholesale tube sale business on line and have gone on to great success and have two children. I regularly get plants from Craig, and he regularly takes cuttings at the farm and NHP. No money changes hands, our dealings are on a favour basis in the best of spirit.
Craig told me he had received word from his mother that Norma died on Friday. In the card I was about to write her I was to say that we, Gord and I, would be down to visit her in the next week or so. It has been my habit to visit her a couple of times a year. Gord and I last visited in February, after she had moved from Banyule to Balwyn after the subsidized housing she was in sold up for development and she had to find somewhere else, this time a Catholic church residence, a tiny flat.
Norma had a florist shop in Armadale through the 1970's My father used to sell posies and vegies to her on his deliveries. She married foliage grower Henry from Emerald in the 1970's and lived with him at Emerald in the 1980's after she concluded her business. She visited the farm regularly to buy vegetables and we picked foliage and flowers on their property.
In the early 1990's Henry took ill, Normie went to court, to go for an out of time settlement 19 years after their marriage as they had separated within one year, lived apart for some time then got back together although divorced. It was an an ugly situation with great acrimony between Norma and her husband's daughter, her step daughter. I could write much about the dramatic events at the time which involved me coincidentally but there is no need for it in this post.
Norma came out of it with a pay out which was taken out almost completely by $110,000 legal costs and she was basically penniless for the last twenty years or so, living on a pension and paying rent.
She was a powerful personality who pushed me to the limit of my patience at times but through it all she was a great friend who offered her best wisdom even if it was sometimes a little overbearing. But she was always there as a friend, on the phone, and when I visited. She was a brilliant cook, her soups were magnificent and she taught me much. She was a raconteur and had an interesting life. In the late 1950's she went out with Big Bob Johnson, Melbourne ruckman and forward, and she was friends with Bart Cummings and cricketer Keith Miller.
I will miss her greatly. She has been there to pump up my tyres for such a long time, and I'm very sad that I'll not see her again. Not on his plane anyway.
The mobile phone was in my office and I quickly dropped the stack of cards I'd taken from the drawer and managed to take the call before the caller hung up. It was my friend Craig, a young man of great quality whom I met through Norma some 20 plus years ago, and who through all that time I have had business dealings to our mutual benefit albeit on a small scale. He was a young man just left school when I met him, and with his young lady companion Leanne was embarking on a career in the nursery industry. They married and started a wholesale tube sale business on line and have gone on to great success and have two children. I regularly get plants from Craig, and he regularly takes cuttings at the farm and NHP. No money changes hands, our dealings are on a favour basis in the best of spirit.
Craig told me he had received word from his mother that Norma died on Friday. In the card I was about to write her I was to say that we, Gord and I, would be down to visit her in the next week or so. It has been my habit to visit her a couple of times a year. Gord and I last visited in February, after she had moved from Banyule to Balwyn after the subsidized housing she was in sold up for development and she had to find somewhere else, this time a Catholic church residence, a tiny flat.
Norma had a florist shop in Armadale through the 1970's My father used to sell posies and vegies to her on his deliveries. She married foliage grower Henry from Emerald in the 1970's and lived with him at Emerald in the 1980's after she concluded her business. She visited the farm regularly to buy vegetables and we picked foliage and flowers on their property.
In the early 1990's Henry took ill, Normie went to court, to go for an out of time settlement 19 years after their marriage as they had separated within one year, lived apart for some time then got back together although divorced. It was an an ugly situation with great acrimony between Norma and her husband's daughter, her step daughter. I could write much about the dramatic events at the time which involved me coincidentally but there is no need for it in this post.
Norma came out of it with a pay out which was taken out almost completely by $110,000 legal costs and she was basically penniless for the last twenty years or so, living on a pension and paying rent.
She was a powerful personality who pushed me to the limit of my patience at times but through it all she was a great friend who offered her best wisdom even if it was sometimes a little overbearing. But she was always there as a friend, on the phone, and when I visited. She was a brilliant cook, her soups were magnificent and she taught me much. She was a raconteur and had an interesting life. In the late 1950's she went out with Big Bob Johnson, Melbourne ruckman and forward, and she was friends with Bart Cummings and cricketer Keith Miller.
I will miss her greatly. She has been there to pump up my tyres for such a long time, and I'm very sad that I'll not see her again. Not on his plane anyway.
Saturday, June 04, 2016
Count Your Blessings
On the phone a couple of weeks ago I asked a lady friend to have lunch with me. She declined as she had an appointment on the day I was suggesting and couldn't make it. I was disappointed, but it was important that I had made the invitation, for reason that I will explain.
There was nothing in my invitation of a picnic in the park that could be seen as untoward. The lady is a casual friend whom I have known for some years. I first met her through an involvement I have in a local organization which caused us to liaise now and again and see each other incidentally over a period of years. Our contact was cordial, polite, respectful, pleasant if I think back, she is one of those people you are always pleased to see, who leaves you feeling a little better about the day and the world in general.
Years passed and our involvement ceased on an organizational level but we bumped into each other shopping every couple of months or so and always had a yarn in a warm friendly exchange. The lady, younger than me by a decade or so, had an interesting local family history and in her own right her life story justified me to ask her if I could do a profile on her for Signpost magazine. She agreed and it was on the agenda but I didn't get around to it before I stopped writing for Signpost at the end of last year.
A couple of months ago we met shopping in Woolworths and I apologized for not having followed through and explained that I had ceased doing the Signpost articles. She was not concerned, and told me that her mother, who would have been an important part of the story, had died recently.
I then said that I had not got around to doing a profile on her good friend's father either, I had asked him about it once and he was reluctant but told me to try him again later when he didn't have so much on. She asked did I hear about her good friend. I said no.
"She died on Christmas Eve".
This floored me. She went on to say that her friend woke up with a splitting head ache and after no improvement she sought medical assistance but before any could happen she collapsed and an ambulance was called but she died quickly from a massive stroke, aged about 50, leaving a husband and teenage family. My friend and this lady were close friends, and both were part of the organization that I had dealt with over a number of years as mentioned above.
As we continued our chat in the supermarket she told me she had had a terrible time. Her mother died, her friend died shortly after, then her husband walked out on her, all in a matter of a couple of months. Apparently her husband, a policeman, had been having an affair for years and leading a double life unknown to her totally until he walked out, leaving her with two teenagers. Worse still, he was behaving with animosity and intimidation over the nuts and bolts of the separation.
I could scarcely believe all that I was hearing as this lady friend had always been of such pleasant nature and warm character, and her family situation as read by me was of perfect harmony and good citizenship. She teared up while telling me about it and we hugged and said that we must have lunch and a walk in the park where we had been involved in community affairs over a decade or so. I said this as a gesture of friendship, with understood but unspoken offer of counsel to help her through her trials.
As weeks went by I rang her a couple of times to arrange a picnic lunch but she was not home. Gord kept reminding me to do it, he was with me when we had met in the supermarket and he was as equally moved as I was by the lady's misfortune. Eventually I found her home but the day I suggested was unsuitable to her. I'm sure my offer was appreciated and served its purpose as a show of support and friendship and I must contact her again soon.
I hope she comes through it OK. Life can be a real bastard.
I count my blessings for my good fortune.
There was nothing in my invitation of a picnic in the park that could be seen as untoward. The lady is a casual friend whom I have known for some years. I first met her through an involvement I have in a local organization which caused us to liaise now and again and see each other incidentally over a period of years. Our contact was cordial, polite, respectful, pleasant if I think back, she is one of those people you are always pleased to see, who leaves you feeling a little better about the day and the world in general.
Years passed and our involvement ceased on an organizational level but we bumped into each other shopping every couple of months or so and always had a yarn in a warm friendly exchange. The lady, younger than me by a decade or so, had an interesting local family history and in her own right her life story justified me to ask her if I could do a profile on her for Signpost magazine. She agreed and it was on the agenda but I didn't get around to it before I stopped writing for Signpost at the end of last year.
A couple of months ago we met shopping in Woolworths and I apologized for not having followed through and explained that I had ceased doing the Signpost articles. She was not concerned, and told me that her mother, who would have been an important part of the story, had died recently.
I then said that I had not got around to doing a profile on her good friend's father either, I had asked him about it once and he was reluctant but told me to try him again later when he didn't have so much on. She asked did I hear about her good friend. I said no.
"She died on Christmas Eve".
This floored me. She went on to say that her friend woke up with a splitting head ache and after no improvement she sought medical assistance but before any could happen she collapsed and an ambulance was called but she died quickly from a massive stroke, aged about 50, leaving a husband and teenage family. My friend and this lady were close friends, and both were part of the organization that I had dealt with over a number of years as mentioned above.
As we continued our chat in the supermarket she told me she had had a terrible time. Her mother died, her friend died shortly after, then her husband walked out on her, all in a matter of a couple of months. Apparently her husband, a policeman, had been having an affair for years and leading a double life unknown to her totally until he walked out, leaving her with two teenagers. Worse still, he was behaving with animosity and intimidation over the nuts and bolts of the separation.
I could scarcely believe all that I was hearing as this lady friend had always been of such pleasant nature and warm character, and her family situation as read by me was of perfect harmony and good citizenship. She teared up while telling me about it and we hugged and said that we must have lunch and a walk in the park where we had been involved in community affairs over a decade or so. I said this as a gesture of friendship, with understood but unspoken offer of counsel to help her through her trials.
As weeks went by I rang her a couple of times to arrange a picnic lunch but she was not home. Gord kept reminding me to do it, he was with me when we had met in the supermarket and he was as equally moved as I was by the lady's misfortune. Eventually I found her home but the day I suggested was unsuitable to her. I'm sure my offer was appreciated and served its purpose as a show of support and friendship and I must contact her again soon.
I hope she comes through it OK. Life can be a real bastard.
I count my blessings for my good fortune.
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