Category Archives: Celebrations

A Big Kid Now

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Most Australian students start the school year this week.  Miss O is now included in that number.

Good luck with school this week, this year, this life. Study hard. Do your very best. What you put in now, will be repaid later in your life. You might not see the point of it all (I didn’t!) but trust me, it’s all important. Be nice to your friends, respectful to your hard-working teachers, and be kind to your mother and father. Now off you go and have an adventure. Education. No one can ever take it away from you.

 

Acknowledgment:  Thank you, Patty for the wise words.

Australia Day

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Firstly, I would like to say to my overseas readers that although this post is directed to local readers, I do hope you will read it and perhaps gain a small appreciation of Australia and its people.

Today, January 26th is Australia Day.  It is the official national day of our country and is the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet which landed at Sydney Cove in 1788.

Aus DayI am not going to indulge in a debate but suffice to say that there is much angst about the relevance of the day.  The selection of the date does not acknowledge the long, proud history of the indigenous people who had lived here for many thousands of years and were displaced by the ‘marauding hordes’.

The occasion is marked by citizenship ceremonies and other official events but for many it is an opportunity to celebrate summer and our outdoor lifestyle rather than any particular allegiance to our nation.

In the light of the extreme weather being endured around the country over the past couple of months perhaps it is time to stop and really think about the words of the iconic poem penned by Dorothea Mackellar.  The second verse is the most well-known and oft quoted but to read and absorb the words of the entire poem really sums up how I feel about my home.  What better day than Australia Day to stop and remind ourselves of what it means to be Australian?

You can listen to the poem being read by the author in this video and the full text of the poem is below.

My Country by Dorothea Mackellar – 1885-1968, written in 1904

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die –
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold –
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land –
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand –
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

This is another video titled “Celebration of a Nation” which was released for the Bicentenary in 1988.  It is a 15 minute potted history of the first 200 years of non-indigenous settlement and contains some interesting insights.

I hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Experience Gift – Part 2

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On Friday I took Izz to see Hairy McLary & Friends at QPAC as part of her Christmas present.

We caught the train to South Brisbane.

2013-01-20 01There was plenty of time for lunch before the show.

2013-01-20 02This is what we have come to see.

2013-01-20 03

A great show, and finally, an ice-block before the trip home.

2013-01-20 04I then brought Izz home with me and she had a sleepover and lots of fun before being picked up on Saturday afternoon.

An ‘Experience’ Gift

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I have started introducing my granddaughters to gifts of experiences rather than more and more stuff.

I bought tickets to shows for them both for Christmas and today was Miss O’s turn.  We went to Sydney for the day to see the stage production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

First, there was a plane to catch.

2013-01-08 01We also managed a ferry ride on the harbour.

2013-01-08 02All that sightseeing works up an appetite.

2013-01-08 03Finally, it was time for the show.

2013-01-08 04It was a big day!!

2013-01-08 05A unique and unforgettable experience.  Apart from the actual show we really enjoyed the quality one-on-one time.

Experience gifts can be as simple or extravagant as you choose.

Revamped for the New Year

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I started this blog in March 2011 after a couple of false starts over the previous couple of years.  This time I have generally been successful in maintaining regular posts – mostly daily, however, my efforts at responding to your comments have been less than stellar.  I will try to improve in that department this year but please be assured that I read each and every comment and I really do appreciate you taking the time to let me know what you think.

I have finally updated the blogroll on the right-hand side so please take the time to check out some of the other wonderful blogs which inspire me.  This list is not yet complete and I will also endeavour to make sure that the blogs listed here are all active.  When I get time I will also update the ‘Blogs of Interest’ to include all of the blogroll.  ‘Blogs of Interest’ may also include some inactive blogs.

I would love to hear of any blogs that you may have found of particular interest.  Please leave a comment or email me directly (see ‘About Me’ for the email address).

To my dear readers, thank you all so very very for your interest and comments over the past year and I look forward to continuing the journey.  May 2013 bring you health and happiness.

 

A Year in Review

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Here we are, almost at the end of another year and as usual I try to take time to think about what I have done and my plans for the new year.

I was looking back at some of my posts from around 12 moths ago and although I have achieved a lot this year, some of my lofty ideals did not come to fruition.  You can check out my goals here.  The photo project was an epic failure but everything else (and much besides was done).

The organising for Christmas also fell by the wayside but it was all achieved before 25th December.  My goal is to do better in 2013.

The important thing when you find that the achievement did not measure up to the goal you set is to simply pick yourself up, dust off and try again.  That is what I love about a new year – it is a clean slate.

I have my 2013 diary and have resolved to use it properly this year instead of cluttering my brain with 1001 things I have to remember.  An Excel spreadsheet is set up to record our spending so that we can see where the money goes.  The emails are sorted/deleted/archived/actioned/unsubscribed as required and I will keep this up-to-date each week.

Our holiday in March is planned and booked.

How was your 2012?  What do you plan to achieve or do differently next year?

How Green Was My Christmas?

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Well, Christmas is over for another year and I hope it was a good one for you and your families.

One of my goals was to reduce our overall environmental impact from the festivities so it is probably time to review what I did and whether it made a difference.

Cards – I only sent 11 Christmas cards by post this year.  This is a significant reduction over the years.  There was a time when I posted between 50 and 60 cards each year.  I sent ecards and emails with our family newsletter.  These are generally well-received, save time and money for me, reduce clutter for the recipient.  I will continue to do this.

Gift-wrapping – this year I made fabric gift bags to use which seems to have been successful in making a significant reduction in the amount of wrapping paper which ended up in the recycling bin.  There was still some from gifts we received but that may change in time, who knows?  Perhaps I will make some for Belle to use next year as well.

Gifts – I made a few hand-made gifts and also a couple of experience gifts and some Oxfam Unwrapped gifts which seemed to please the recipients.  I need to plan my handmade items a bit further in advance next year.  I received a couple of practical and requested gifts so I was very happy.  A bathmat, colander, air mattress, gluten-free sauce and dressing and a Kathmandu voucher as well as a promise of dinner when we are next in Melbourne.  We do not want to be overwhelmed by ‘stuff’ and my family understand that. Yay!!

Food – we made a conscious effort not to over-cater and were mostly successful.  I have fruit cake leftover as well as a little smoked salmon and some cold, grilled chicken.  All of this will be stored appropriately and used to avoid any waste.  We had a special meal with close family but did not over-indulge.  Next year I would like to try to be more organised with my garden and be able to use more home-grown produce.

I am pretty happy with our achievements and will continue to  work on improving each year.

I would love to hear about your celebrations – what worked and what didn’t?

A Green Christmas – Gift Bags

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We celebrate Christmas and exchange gifts while still trying to remain true to a reasonably simple, low-consumption lifestyle.  It can be be so easy to get swept up in the hype.

This year I am doing my bit for the environment by shunning the wrapping paper and choosing to make reuseable cloth bags from Christmas fabric which I bought in the sales last year.

Here are a couple of gifts already packaged.

2012-12-17 01I have made a range of sizes in a few different fabrics.

It will be good not to be collecting up armfuls of ripped wrapping paper to go in the recycle bin on Christmas morning.

Gift Giving

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Even though I do not buy many gifts it can still be a challenge to find the perfect gift.  I try to make choices that fit with my values and will be truly appreciated by the recipient.

This year The Duke and I have agreed that we are not buying ‘stuff’ for each other and that our trip to the USA was our gift to each other.

Belle, Missy and my immediate family will receive a combination of money, home-made goodies and Oxfam Unwrapped gifts.  These are well worth checking out if you are not familiar with the concept.

Blanket

Miss O and Izz have more than enough toys and clothes so I bought them each a special Christmas ornament when we were overseas and also a couple of cloth badges.  I have recently given them the camp blankets which belonged to Belle and Missy when they were younger and collected badges.  Their main gifts are experiences rather than stuff – tickets to shows.  I will take Izz to see a stage production of Hairy McLary and Miss O to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  These will both be in January and I am really looking forward to sharing the joy with each of them.

At work our team (about 10 of us) used to do a Secret Santa but a couple of years ago we all agreed that it was really unnecessary and we would make a donation to World Vision using their gift catalogue.  We have lots of fun choosing what animals we will ‘buy’.

I feel that my gift-giving will not just add more stuff to people’s lives but make a positive contribution in several ways.  It has also meant that I have no need to spend hours trawling the malls with a million other stressed shoppers so I am happy about that, too.