Up early while it's still Friday in Oklahoma (and other places). Laundry in the machine and breakfast eaten slowly and with pleasure. So time to play! With the Friday Five from Will Smama that I suspect more than any other will reveal cultural differences in 'what we call things'. What fun! I hope the context will make it clear what I'm talking about. She writes of the joys of a new-build (now there's an expression for you - I would say 'because we are building') home:
Greetings all!
As some of you may know I am in the midst of my first home purchase. It is a new-build and so some of the fun was picking out upgrades and major decor items to my taste rather than walking into a previously owned home that needed to be upgraded room by room (pink and teal tiles in the bathroom, anyone?). As much as decorating is not my thing, I did try to embrace the moment because just how many times do you get to have a do-over on kitchen cabinets/floors/countertops?
And so, my questions to you this fine Friday involve your home past, present or future...
1) If you could, what room in the place you are currently living would you redo first?
Bathrooms, bathrooms, bathrooms! We live in a church house which was generously and tastefully overhauled inside prior to our arrival. Except the bathrooms. Where they fitted new tap sets into old chipboard vanities that are falling apart inside. We are replacing the furniture, but it would be wonderful to refit the whole room, especially downstairs which could be made fully accessible and allow guests of all levels of mobility to stay.
2) What is the most hideous feature/color/decor item you have ever seen in a home?
Friends lived with a bright purple and orange and green wall patterned with huge flowers and leaves between their kitchen and eating area. Again - a church house and because no structural or other defect they had to live with this 'feature' chosen by a previous minister. A reason that I support the bland neutral decor in our current home.
3) What feature do you most covet? Do you have it? If not, is it within reach?
This is an interesting question. Not a feature so much as a personality change. To deliver a tidy house. I don't have it and it doesn't seem within reach. Yet all I need to do is put each thing away properly when I've used it.
4) Your kitchen - love it or hate it? Why?
Hmmmmmm. Blessed with some great appliances, modern stovetop, lots of bench space, large window with good light. Design a bit odd - inaccessible cupboards, fridge opening to wrong side (against wall so cannot fully open), small oven, tiny freezer. I don't hate it. I do quite like it and do some great things in it. But love? No I don't think so.
5) Here is $10,000 and you HAVE to spend it on the place you are living now. What do you do?
Despite the state of the bathrooms, I would invest in original Aboriginal art bought direct from the artist. And an outdoor awning to extend the barbecue capacity.
BONUS: Why do you think there was such a surplus of ugly bathroom tile colors showcased in all homes built from the 1950's right through the early 80's?
Not just tiles. I highlighted in orange in memory of a bathroom bench in our second home. It was a shock stumbling in in the mornings and being confronted by a bright orange mass. Same house had purple wallpaper in one toilet, and bright yellow in the other. But why? I have no idea. I guess if people bought them the manufacturers made them.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Nation Celebration
(Yes I do realise it is Tuesday - just taking a wee break to blog ...)
Yesterday we celebrated Australia Day. As still new Aussies, we headed for the city and enjoyed all the offerings on display, watched the tall boat race in the harbour, rode in Dennis - the 71 year old omnibus and soaked up the sun and the rain that fell late in the day.
Yet it struck me that we were 'celebrating' colonisation. New Zealand commemorates recognition of indigenous people by the Crown (and acknowledges breaches of that Treaty throughout history), the USA celebrate emancipation from British rule. And we celebrate invasion by the British and genocide of the inhabitants and guardians of the land for millennia.
Then on the TV news I heard an item that resonated with my ponderings through the day. This day is known by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as Survival Day or Invasion Day. Our new Australian of the Year, Mick Dodson, has called for a national discussion about the best day to commemorate our nationhood.
To which the Prime Minister has said no. Just like that. A "simple, respectful, but straightforward no"
I hope and pray that the conversation does not end here, but continues.
And in 2010 I will seek out a survival day event to participate in.
Yesterday we celebrated Australia Day. As still new Aussies, we headed for the city and enjoyed all the offerings on display, watched the tall boat race in the harbour, rode in Dennis - the 71 year old omnibus and soaked up the sun and the rain that fell late in the day.
Yet it struck me that we were 'celebrating' colonisation. New Zealand commemorates recognition of indigenous people by the Crown (and acknowledges breaches of that Treaty throughout history), the USA celebrate emancipation from British rule. And we celebrate invasion by the British and genocide of the inhabitants and guardians of the land for millennia.
Then on the TV news I heard an item that resonated with my ponderings through the day. This day is known by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as Survival Day or Invasion Day. Our new Australian of the Year, Mick Dodson, has called for a national discussion about the best day to commemorate our nationhood.
To which the Prime Minister has said no. Just like that. A "simple, respectful, but straightforward no"
I hope and pray that the conversation does not end here, but continues.
And in 2010 I will seek out a survival day event to participate in.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Ladybirds and other summer blessings
What a blest day we have had. A call at 8.30 a.m. signaled that friends from NZ were passing through Sydney (en route to Denver) with a day to spare. So out to the airport, drive into town and walk around Mrs MacQuaries's chair with tired but keen on climbing three-year-old who made the most of all the sandstone steps. Then home to our 'empty nest' for a great time of catching up and renewing friendship.
After several 30 degrees plus days, and 43 degrees again yesterday. today's cooler 24 made a late afternoon in the garden very pleasant. Hibiscus trimmed back strongly and all the paths swept and clean. It's time for our six-monthly massive rubbish collection and there is now a pile of tree branches on the kerb. Plus various other unfixable items cleared from the garage.
I hadn't realised that the hibiscus provided a home for so many ladybirds. They were flying everywhere as I pruned. I have never really seen them airborne before. Very beautiful! A very tiny one I relocated by hand. But the others seemed to find new (attached) branches quite easily. Although I was aware of the asault I was making on their territory.
So carried away with the gardening we were late for church. But not too late for the blessing of Matt Redman and Beth Redman's song:
Blessed be your name in the land that is plentiful
Where streams of abundance flow, Blessed be your name
And blessed be your name when I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness, Blessed be your name
It was the high point for me. Amid contextless pleas for change and a meander through the failure of the congregation to embrace the 'change' (undefined) recommended by a review in 2001. I was a bit lost in the sermon, and some of the other music, but this song does give me a sense of linking with the varieties of experience of life, and the hope and praise that can come forth in those diverse circumstances.
It made sense of the call from our partner churches in Fiji for additional aid as they face the aftermath of severe flooding. Of course the political instability and denial of democracy means that nations like Australia and New Zealand are not providing aid through government channels.
This comes after a solid and productive week at work, orientation with fellow tutors for 2009, movies on Friday and Saturday nights that were well worth seeing. Valkyrie for (limited) insight into a period of German history - and I was pleasantly surprised by Cruise's performance. Doubt for intriguing glimpses at the intricacies of human relationships, gender power imbalances, trust and justice.
And that empty nest. A sense of rightness rather than bereavement. One child celebrating 21st with friends interstate (due home on Tuesday). One still serving ice cream to deserving (or at least paying) customers in the Great Barrier Reef region, and taking a dinghy to a neighbouring island to celebrate Australia Day tomorrow. And one safe with a host family in the USA central time zone experiencing temperatures below zero and where quite possibly no one knows that it is Australia Day weekend!
Mind you I don't think anyone here noticed my careful selection of gold and green flowers for the church arrangement! It's kind of time we started engaging with the community around us rather than continuing the 8-year-plus conversation about how we must so engage.
After several 30 degrees plus days, and 43 degrees again yesterday. today's cooler 24 made a late afternoon in the garden very pleasant. Hibiscus trimmed back strongly and all the paths swept and clean. It's time for our six-monthly massive rubbish collection and there is now a pile of tree branches on the kerb. Plus various other unfixable items cleared from the garage.
I hadn't realised that the hibiscus provided a home for so many ladybirds. They were flying everywhere as I pruned. I have never really seen them airborne before. Very beautiful! A very tiny one I relocated by hand. But the others seemed to find new (attached) branches quite easily. Although I was aware of the asault I was making on their territory.
So carried away with the gardening we were late for church. But not too late for the blessing of Matt Redman and Beth Redman's song:
Blessed be your name in the land that is plentiful
Where streams of abundance flow, Blessed be your name
And blessed be your name when I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness, Blessed be your name
It was the high point for me. Amid contextless pleas for change and a meander through the failure of the congregation to embrace the 'change' (undefined) recommended by a review in 2001. I was a bit lost in the sermon, and some of the other music, but this song does give me a sense of linking with the varieties of experience of life, and the hope and praise that can come forth in those diverse circumstances.
It made sense of the call from our partner churches in Fiji for additional aid as they face the aftermath of severe flooding. Of course the political instability and denial of democracy means that nations like Australia and New Zealand are not providing aid through government channels.
This comes after a solid and productive week at work, orientation with fellow tutors for 2009, movies on Friday and Saturday nights that were well worth seeing. Valkyrie for (limited) insight into a period of German history - and I was pleasantly surprised by Cruise's performance. Doubt for intriguing glimpses at the intricacies of human relationships, gender power imbalances, trust and justice.
And that empty nest. A sense of rightness rather than bereavement. One child celebrating 21st with friends interstate (due home on Tuesday). One still serving ice cream to deserving (or at least paying) customers in the Great Barrier Reef region, and taking a dinghy to a neighbouring island to celebrate Australia Day tomorrow. And one safe with a host family in the USA central time zone experiencing temperatures below zero and where quite possibly no one knows that it is Australia Day weekend!
Mind you I don't think anyone here noticed my careful selection of gold and green flowers for the church arrangement! It's kind of time we started engaging with the community around us rather than continuing the 8-year-plus conversation about how we must so engage.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Sabbath Blogger
Being a full-time working gal is great. But certainly curtails the time for this pasttime as I head off for an early train and wander home in the dark even on a summer evening.
Even emails are a hurried matter early in the morning or late at night = scanning for the urgent and leaving 112 unopened in the inbox.
So do I desert the blogosphere and decide it filled but an interlude 'between jobs' (as they say)?
Or do I continue to feel anxiously guilty about my neglect of the domain and feel paralysed: unable to return with confidence to cyberfriends I neglect?
No No. (I would like to say No No No but I can't think of a third unacceptable option)
I will be a Sabbath blogger
Sunday will be my day for visiting and reflecting on my week
For some of my cyberfriends my Sunday is their Saturday - so this is Sabbath in the original and the Christian tradition
And now off to a farewell lunch for family member heading to the freezing climes of Oklahoma for a year of cultural exchange. A change from 43 degrees Celsius here last week!
Even emails are a hurried matter early in the morning or late at night = scanning for the urgent and leaving 112 unopened in the inbox.
So do I desert the blogosphere and decide it filled but an interlude 'between jobs' (as they say)?
Or do I continue to feel anxiously guilty about my neglect of the domain and feel paralysed: unable to return with confidence to cyberfriends I neglect?
No No. (I would like to say No No No but I can't think of a third unacceptable option)
I will be a Sabbath blogger
Sunday will be my day for visiting and reflecting on my week
For some of my cyberfriends my Sunday is their Saturday - so this is Sabbath in the original and the Christian tradition
And now off to a farewell lunch for family member heading to the freezing climes of Oklahoma for a year of cultural exchange. A change from 43 degrees Celsius here last week!
Monday, January 12, 2009
We're back
And in the past few weeks have:
- Driven from Sydney to Melbourne via the coast
- Seen kangaroos up so close at Durras North
- Camped within two metres of a goanna and a black snake
- Bought beautiful pottery at Cobargo
- Found new relationships with family and friends
- Had a welcome reminder of 'home' with the story of Pelorus Jack retold at Eden whale museum
- Celebrated a birthday with a harbour cruise and extravagant meal in Merimbula
- Paddle-boated around the estuary at Lakes Entrance (and disobeyed the rules by going just outside the marker buoy
- Walked through bush, along beaches, and through amazing mazes
- Tasted and bought wine at Foxeys hangout
- Watched New Year fireworks in Melbourne (from a distance)
- Traveled home by train (2 1/2 hours late!)
- Packed away all the Christmas decorations
- Heard Shane Claiborn in person
- Swum on the Gold Coast
- And finished an academic paper for publication. worked hard on course books for the new year, started lecture notes (again for the new year), pulled a thigh muscle, moved into a new office (at same workplace), started the knitting of a warm winter jumper (sweater/ jersey) (for the Oklahoma-bound family member, loved, laughed, planned faith formation development day.
- Known joy
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