Sunday, August 29, 2004
Me - according to Quizilla
Atomic Blog - Olympic kids
Thanks to Paul's comment, I investigated Atom. I'm now linked - at least I think I am- and if it doesn't work, perhaps someone will be kind enough to tell me.
Blogging is a wonderful tool to keep you learning - even against your own dinosaur mentality. Now I'm thinking, do I need to sign up for this site feed business? How do I do it? Will it offer me something I need or be just another distraction that overloads my brain with yet more information that I don't have time to pursue? Please share your thoughts and links to any free software/ applications or whatever they are called! - that would enable me to try out the Atom experience for myself.
I get quite nervous about blogging about anything technological because I'm pretty sure I'm making a complete dill of myself, showing off my ignorance to all you clever bloggers out there - still, I have to learn and if that means being embarrassing, well, you could show the compassionate side of your nature by informing me.
Yesterday I went to the new yoga class for the second time. I love yoga. It leaves you feeling both energised and relaxed. If you used to do it (like I did) and drifted away, or you've never done it before, do give it a go. It stills your mind and tires your body and I've never found any other type of exercise makes me feel so good.
Last night I sat in a tropical Darwin back yard and watched two, six year old boys racing naked round and round the perimeter, dodging through the dark palms, stopping each time to give themselves a rolling, throwing, dust bath in a bare patch of earth and take turns at chucking a spear into the garden bed. The gymnastics were impressive, the track events showed both energy and endurance and the javelin throw, a natural skill worth building on. Two future Olympians? Maybe. But they and their accepting, loving mothers impressed me more than any gold-medal-winner.
Blogging is a wonderful tool to keep you learning - even against your own dinosaur mentality. Now I'm thinking, do I need to sign up for this site feed business? How do I do it? Will it offer me something I need or be just another distraction that overloads my brain with yet more information that I don't have time to pursue? Please share your thoughts and links to any free software/ applications or whatever they are called! - that would enable me to try out the Atom experience for myself.
I get quite nervous about blogging about anything technological because I'm pretty sure I'm making a complete dill of myself, showing off my ignorance to all you clever bloggers out there - still, I have to learn and if that means being embarrassing, well, you could show the compassionate side of your nature by informing me.
Yesterday I went to the new yoga class for the second time. I love yoga. It leaves you feeling both energised and relaxed. If you used to do it (like I did) and drifted away, or you've never done it before, do give it a go. It stills your mind and tires your body and I've never found any other type of exercise makes me feel so good.
Last night I sat in a tropical Darwin back yard and watched two, six year old boys racing naked round and round the perimeter, dodging through the dark palms, stopping each time to give themselves a rolling, throwing, dust bath in a bare patch of earth and take turns at chucking a spear into the garden bed. The gymnastics were impressive, the track events showed both energy and endurance and the javelin throw, a natural skill worth building on. Two future Olympians? Maybe. But they and their accepting, loving mothers impressed me more than any gold-medal-winner.
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
It's gold to Aust...something!
The most hilarious (or heartbreaking or inspiring - depending on your point of view) Olympic medal win must be in today's triathlon when the Aussie girl got beaten at the post by the Aussie/Austrian girl. I turned on for my first viewing as they were standing on the podium and the Aussie commentators were carrying on about her mum and dad back home on the sheep station outside Melbourne; how she was born in Geelong etc and the camera was on only one face, so imagine my surprise when they played the Austrian National Anthem. Took me a few minutes of raving that they were playing the wrong national anthem before I sorted it all out.
The funniest thing of all was when the Aussie journalist interviewed the Austrian winner and she said "I'm really an Aussie"! - wonder what the Austrians made of that comment.
Ah, the Olympics, always good for a good laugh - or cry!
The funniest thing of all was when the Aussie journalist interviewed the Austrian winner and she said "I'm really an Aussie"! - wonder what the Austrians made of that comment.
Ah, the Olympics, always good for a good laugh - or cry!
Black Dog Days
I'm blogging today for the sake of blogging, just to put some runs on the board. No-one has commented on my blog for ages. No-one pins my map. My blogskin has screwed up because of the new blogger navbar and I can't fix it! Why do I bother!
I can't write my innermost feelings on this blog because they are not fit to share and of no interest to anyone but me. What have I done this week?
Well, I've cleared the 200 accumulated emails from my work inbox and in the process begun to think that the hard jobs, the ones that are left to do, are just beyond my abilities and energies. After two days back on the job my office still looks like a bomb's hit it. Boxes and boxes of display gear, packed up and brought back from 3 separate events litter the floor, and every available bench space - there's half a day's work just to tidy up, let alone get any real order or system into the place. I'm being asked to produce ideas and strategies for which my creative juices have simply dried up.
My life away from work is arid. I'm bored with the opportunities on offer. Today I was accosted in an unfamiliar grocery store (I can put it no more kindly than that) by Ilias, a friendly elderly, European gentleman, who proceeded within the space of a 5 minute conversation to:
a) touch my arm 4 times
b) slide his gaze to my (well covered and fairly unimpressive) breasts - 5 times
c) advise me on the type of hammer I should buy because he used to be a builder/handyman/can do any kind of work
d) tell me his life story from the time he came to Darwin 50 years ago, wife's strokes, visits home to Europe to visit 87 year old mother, how he now does everything - shopping, cleaning, cooking. Makes something that he thought I would like, I missed the details but the ingredients were sesame, peanuts and honey, used to run two shops but no-one wanted to buy them, has beautiful pearls and other necklaces and he could bring me some of the concoction and/or jewelry if I cared to give him my address!!!!!
All I said to this man was to respond to his enquiry about whether the plug he was holding was the correct size for a kitchen sink! In case you are wondering he'd lost the previous one with his potato peelings! And his question about whether I lived in Darwin as he hadn't seen me in this store before.
Needless to say I declined his kind offer to visit me, bearing gifts or without, and the details of my address.
But the really spooky thing was when I worked out he'd told me he came here in 1955 at the age of 17, which makes him around 66 or 67 years old (not much older than the males I consider my contemporaries) and I'd seen him as an elderly gent!
Life gets kind of weird in your 6th decade!
I did have a kind of nice thing happen to me at work yesterday when the regional manager, assistand RM and a program manager decided to kit me out in work-safe products and take me for a tour of the new Port. I've no idea why they did this, but it was interesting. Very blokey environment, huge cranes, containers, fork lifts and road trains dodging giant steel cables - and I got a few good photos. Fortunately RM's pesonal assistant rides a motor bike to work and lent me her bikie boots - apparently my sandals aren't work safe either!
Apart from that, how can I complain, the weather is still sensational with a gorgeous cool breeze gusting off the Timor Sea and dear friends and family only a phone call or an email away.
Didn't watch the Olympics at all last night but the previous night I found the man of my dreams. He is married to that woman who got a bronze medal in the 20 km walk - he ran from vantage point to vantage point to encourage her all the way. Now that's true dedication.
I can't write my innermost feelings on this blog because they are not fit to share and of no interest to anyone but me. What have I done this week?
Well, I've cleared the 200 accumulated emails from my work inbox and in the process begun to think that the hard jobs, the ones that are left to do, are just beyond my abilities and energies. After two days back on the job my office still looks like a bomb's hit it. Boxes and boxes of display gear, packed up and brought back from 3 separate events litter the floor, and every available bench space - there's half a day's work just to tidy up, let alone get any real order or system into the place. I'm being asked to produce ideas and strategies for which my creative juices have simply dried up.
My life away from work is arid. I'm bored with the opportunities on offer. Today I was accosted in an unfamiliar grocery store (I can put it no more kindly than that) by Ilias, a friendly elderly, European gentleman, who proceeded within the space of a 5 minute conversation to:
a) touch my arm 4 times
b) slide his gaze to my (well covered and fairly unimpressive) breasts - 5 times
c) advise me on the type of hammer I should buy because he used to be a builder/handyman/can do any kind of work
d) tell me his life story from the time he came to Darwin 50 years ago, wife's strokes, visits home to Europe to visit 87 year old mother, how he now does everything - shopping, cleaning, cooking. Makes something that he thought I would like, I missed the details but the ingredients were sesame, peanuts and honey, used to run two shops but no-one wanted to buy them, has beautiful pearls and other necklaces and he could bring me some of the concoction and/or jewelry if I cared to give him my address!!!!!
All I said to this man was to respond to his enquiry about whether the plug he was holding was the correct size for a kitchen sink! In case you are wondering he'd lost the previous one with his potato peelings! And his question about whether I lived in Darwin as he hadn't seen me in this store before.
Needless to say I declined his kind offer to visit me, bearing gifts or without, and the details of my address.
But the really spooky thing was when I worked out he'd told me he came here in 1955 at the age of 17, which makes him around 66 or 67 years old (not much older than the males I consider my contemporaries) and I'd seen him as an elderly gent!
Life gets kind of weird in your 6th decade!
I did have a kind of nice thing happen to me at work yesterday when the regional manager, assistand RM and a program manager decided to kit me out in work-safe products and take me for a tour of the new Port. I've no idea why they did this, but it was interesting. Very blokey environment, huge cranes, containers, fork lifts and road trains dodging giant steel cables - and I got a few good photos. Fortunately RM's pesonal assistant rides a motor bike to work and lent me her bikie boots - apparently my sandals aren't work safe either!
Apart from that, how can I complain, the weather is still sensational with a gorgeous cool breeze gusting off the Timor Sea and dear friends and family only a phone call or an email away.
Didn't watch the Olympics at all last night but the previous night I found the man of my dreams. He is married to that woman who got a bronze medal in the 20 km walk - he ran from vantage point to vantage point to encourage her all the way. Now that's true dedication.
Monday, August 23, 2004
I say - you think
I'm joining in a fun game. Each week on 'unconscious mutterings', I say-you think offers the chance to do a random word association - hell what do I have to do that's more productive?
Here's this week's list:
August 22, 2004
Week 81
I say ... and you think ... ?
1. Olympics - gold
2. Wicked - evil
3. Intoxicating - drunk
4. Radical - out there!
5. Misinformed - wrong
6. Triplets - three
7. Coronation - crown
8. Asimov -science fiction
9. Contemporary - today
10. 1 - number
I found this game on BitchinNY's blog - always a fertile ground for new ideas!
Here's this week's list:
August 22, 2004
Week 81
I say ... and you think ... ?
1. Olympics - gold
2. Wicked - evil
3. Intoxicating - drunk
4. Radical - out there!
5. Misinformed - wrong
6. Triplets - three
7. Coronation - crown
8. Asimov -science fiction
9. Contemporary - today
10. 1 - number
I found this game on BitchinNY's blog - always a fertile ground for new ideas!
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Sandhill safari with Major Mac!
Sea colours - our overnight campsite
Earth colours at One Arm Point
Artist Mark Norval lays out panels for the mural
Intense concentration as the kids paint a panel for the mural in Derby
The colours of Broome
This is the thing that most strikes me whenever I visit Australia's north-west coast. The colours are almost indescribable in their vibrance and clarity. If I say the sea is a clear, bright greenish/bluish/aqua (I'm tempted to say azure but not sure what azure really is!), the sand is pure white, the earth vibrant orange/red and the sky the clearest cerulean blue - will it accurately give you the picture? I want to write a song called the colours of Broome. You have to see them for yourself and if you have, they will lift your heart to sing and stay in your memory for ever. So for me, the colours simultaneously stimulate me and bring me a kind of peace.
The Town Beach Cafe is a must for breakfast, whether you can fit in the biggest plate of 'the works' - sausage, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, field mushrooms and hash-browns - my 6ft something, well-muscled, male companion was stopped by its generosity- or fresh avocado and grilled tomatoes on rye toast (me), it's a great treat at the end of a short walk along the beach and even more enjoyable for its outdoor location overlooking the sensational Roebuck Bay.
After collecting our two Broome colleagues and packing the twin cab ute we set off for the 2.5 hour trip to Derby. Quite a small town, Derby remains the country centre for much of the remote west Kimberley. Staying at the Boab Inn is quite a lot less than 5 star, with its creaky air-conditioners and 50s single beds, but it's clean and has a decent restaurant, which, though lacking in atmosphere, makes up for it in the quality and variety of food on offer. The peaceful, air-conditioned bar is a welcome end to a long day in the open with the Croc Festival kids - several thousand of them- bussed into town for three days of fun, learning and performing. You can check out the Croc Festivals by selecting the link from my previous post.
Local artist and high school art teacher Mark Norval designed a canvas mural project for us based on native animals, plants and people and hundreds of kids from 5 to 17 contributed their brush work to end up with a sensational 6m x 4m backdrop that hung on the stage for the final nights' performances.
After a weekend back in Broome my colleague Mac took me on the road to visit communities on the Dampier Peninsula. We visited Beagle Bay, Lombadina and One Arm Point communities and numerous family outstations in between. These old mission communities are proud, clean and beautiful. It wouldn't be difficult to imagine just moving in and hiding out for ever. The scenery is stunning, wild and pretty much unspoiled as the many tourists to the area tend to drive straight past to the resort at Cape Leveque at the extreme end of the Peninsula. Feral donkeys and cattle however are more numerous than kangaroos along the roadside.
I'm going to post a couple of photos because I feel my powers of description failing me.
Back to the real world now.
The Town Beach Cafe is a must for breakfast, whether you can fit in the biggest plate of 'the works' - sausage, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, field mushrooms and hash-browns - my 6ft something, well-muscled, male companion was stopped by its generosity- or fresh avocado and grilled tomatoes on rye toast (me), it's a great treat at the end of a short walk along the beach and even more enjoyable for its outdoor location overlooking the sensational Roebuck Bay.
After collecting our two Broome colleagues and packing the twin cab ute we set off for the 2.5 hour trip to Derby. Quite a small town, Derby remains the country centre for much of the remote west Kimberley. Staying at the Boab Inn is quite a lot less than 5 star, with its creaky air-conditioners and 50s single beds, but it's clean and has a decent restaurant, which, though lacking in atmosphere, makes up for it in the quality and variety of food on offer. The peaceful, air-conditioned bar is a welcome end to a long day in the open with the Croc Festival kids - several thousand of them- bussed into town for three days of fun, learning and performing. You can check out the Croc Festivals by selecting the link from my previous post.
Local artist and high school art teacher Mark Norval designed a canvas mural project for us based on native animals, plants and people and hundreds of kids from 5 to 17 contributed their brush work to end up with a sensational 6m x 4m backdrop that hung on the stage for the final nights' performances.
After a weekend back in Broome my colleague Mac took me on the road to visit communities on the Dampier Peninsula. We visited Beagle Bay, Lombadina and One Arm Point communities and numerous family outstations in between. These old mission communities are proud, clean and beautiful. It wouldn't be difficult to imagine just moving in and hiding out for ever. The scenery is stunning, wild and pretty much unspoiled as the many tourists to the area tend to drive straight past to the resort at Cape Leveque at the extreme end of the Peninsula. Feral donkeys and cattle however are more numerous than kangaroos along the roadside.
I'm going to post a couple of photos because I feel my powers of description failing me.
Back to the real world now.
Saturday, August 21, 2004
Beagle Bay Mission Church is decorated with pearl shells. This visit one of the highlights of my trip last week on Dampier Peninsula, WA. Story coming, I promise!
Sunday, August 08, 2004
Australia all over
Since I now seem to have as many readers from the USA as I do from Australia (thanks heaps Katie and Daniel for pinning my map) I thought I'd tell you about a radio program you can listen to on the web which gives you a good insight into the real Australia. It's called 'Australia All Over' and it airs in Australia from about 5.30 am to 10am every Sunday. Colloquially it's called 'Sunday with Macca'. The presenter is a guy called Ian McNamara. People ring into the show from all over Australia, just talking about where they are and what they are doing and he has interesting guests. It's not a political show and not a sporting show, just real people doing interesting things in interesting places. Check it out.
Anyway, the reason I'm telling you about this today is because this morning, I got my 15 minutes of fame, world-wide, on Macca's show. There's a segment on the show called "why I live where I live". People write or email Macca about what they like about where they live. A week or two ago, I decided to send in a piece I'd written for a previous blog about the joys of living in Darwin, and this morning, Macca broadcast my letter. I missed it! Had been listening and turned off 5 minutes before but a friend rang and said he'd heard my letter and knew it was me, which was confirmed when Macca gave my name and suburb.
The rest of my week was spent in Katherine (famous for its Gorge) about 300 ks south of Darwin, where I was working at the Croc Festival. It was great fun. Now I'm off to the Croc Festival in Derby, Western Australia, so no more posts for a couple of weeks.
Yesterday my work group and families had a lovely lunchtime barbecue/picnic at Howard Springs Reserve where a delightful natural spring-fed pool teeming with large barramundi, turtles and other fish is surrounded with tropical rain-forest. We were farewelling our co-ordinator who is moving to Canberra (Australia's capital), thousands of kilometres away and as cold as Darwin is warm. It was an emotional farewell. He is an inspirational leader and a wonderful man and we are all going to miss him terribly.
Stay well till we meet again.
Anyway, the reason I'm telling you about this today is because this morning, I got my 15 minutes of fame, world-wide, on Macca's show. There's a segment on the show called "why I live where I live". People write or email Macca about what they like about where they live. A week or two ago, I decided to send in a piece I'd written for a previous blog about the joys of living in Darwin, and this morning, Macca broadcast my letter. I missed it! Had been listening and turned off 5 minutes before but a friend rang and said he'd heard my letter and knew it was me, which was confirmed when Macca gave my name and suburb.
The rest of my week was spent in Katherine (famous for its Gorge) about 300 ks south of Darwin, where I was working at the Croc Festival. It was great fun. Now I'm off to the Croc Festival in Derby, Western Australia, so no more posts for a couple of weeks.
Yesterday my work group and families had a lovely lunchtime barbecue/picnic at Howard Springs Reserve where a delightful natural spring-fed pool teeming with large barramundi, turtles and other fish is surrounded with tropical rain-forest. We were farewelling our co-ordinator who is moving to Canberra (Australia's capital), thousands of kilometres away and as cold as Darwin is warm. It was an emotional farewell. He is an inspirational leader and a wonderful man and we are all going to miss him terribly.
Stay well till we meet again.
