MANNERS AND OTHER MATTERS

My iMac is now at home.... After much deliberation I decided last week to upgrade my computer.  It was a decision not taken lightly, because a computer, used for many purposes during the trials and tribulations of daily life becomes a close ally, and most of the time, a friend. Mine had been my daily companion for over five years, and we knew each other's foibles.  However, with the passage of time, and I have no doubt some unrealistic expectations on my part about its performance after such a relatively long time in "computer life", it became obvious that, like me, it was slowing down and needed a gentle nudge into semi-retirement.  And so it is confined to the rather boring process of accounts and bill paying and mind-numbing record keeping, rather than the excitement of new voyages towards beckoning horizons in the world of the internet. I took the leap of faith to an iMac from a PC, and despite my incredulity about it's beauty and accessibility, I felt some...

My little prince. .. I have had an extraordinary experience in the last few days...I have become a grandmother for the first time.  While some of my friends had tried to explain the emotion I would most likely encounter when I first saw the tiny baby with my daughter, nothing I had been told prepared me for the overwhelming emotion of maternal protection I felt for my daughter and her four hour old son. It was a powerful memory of maternal intensity I had not felt since my daughter was born almost 32 years ago and then my son a few years later. My mind has wandered over the last few days to the morning when my mother first visited me and my new daughter.I remember clearly her emotion...a mixture of happiness and concern about my labour, my daughter's health, and inclusion as a woman in the maternal experience. We shared tears of joy when she first held her granddaughter.  I clearly remember her looking into the baby's eyes,and then up at me,  with an expres...

A Baby Shower Brunch in my Courtyard Yesterday I hosted a Baby Shower for my daughter who is due to have her  son, and my first grandchild, soon.  It was a fabulous day, filled with love and laughter and joyful thoughts for the future. Her friends included girls with whom she had been in school, both primary and high school, at university and from her work environments;  they were drawn from her lives both here in Perth and Sydney.  My friends included those who have know me since before her birth, 31 years ago, and who have been in her life for all those years, in one way or another.   Organising the Baby Bingo .. . Baby Showers are relatively new here in Australia.  When I was pregnant with my daughter they hadn't entered the realm of the  "celebrations" of Valentine's Day and Halloween;  we had a   kitchen tea for the bride before the wedding to help her stock her kitchen utensils...but baby showers?  No. The c...

It's the season for long, languid lunches in my courtyard Having had an afternoon cooking and simultaneously watching a cable cooking channel I have been annoyed by the number of presenters who use the " we" when speaking to their television audience: "Now we take our eggs, break them into our bowl..." etc. We, the audience, are not there with the presenter; they are joined by a camera operator, lighting operator and others to assist in their presentation, none of whom are helping with the actual cooking process. Prawns and oysters to start... By the time "We are now plating our meal" was announced, I was so removed from the whole experience that irrespective of how delightful the menu appeared, I was distracted and uninterested in its outcome. Language is continuely evolving, but irrespective of whatever language we are speaking, or learning, we should try to grasp the correct use of it's grammar. The taste of summer... Telev...

Ruby at Guilderton, January 2014                                          As I write this blog I am seated on the back of a 50' luxury boat in Thompson's Bay, Rottnest Island.  The sky is a vibrant blue,  water is lapping against the boat, there is a light easterly sea breeze and I am sipping on a delightful French wine.  I am totally "in the zone" of the environment. My hosts and my friend have gone off to dive for crayfish (Western Rock Lobster) and the wonderful local fish, the Dhufish, and will be gone for some hours. Western Australian rock lobsters (crayfish) Thompsons's Bay, January  2014  As it is my first time on board, I am very much a guest...my only decision is how warm will I get before taking a swim in the crystal clear Indian Ocean! I have also recently had a wonderful two weeks at my beachhouse north of Perth...it was afte...

Ruby guarding the Christmas tree My phone has been ringing with people wanting to know how to handle the difficulties that arise during occasions such as Christmas with “blended” families. The old adage that you can choose your friends but not your family is often relevant at Christmas, and particularly with families which have divorced and perhaps remarried partners. Unfortunately there are very few happy melded families like “The Brady Bunch”...at least initially. If having good manners is about behaving well around other people and treating each other with respect, then at times of probable stress and possibly strife, the need to be even more cautious with words and actions is really important. My children’s father and I have been divorced for many years. But over the years we have developed strategies to make our shared Christmases with our children and our new partners as pleasant as possible. We have always attended Christmas church services together, and afterwards ha...

Cindy and Ruby watching the spring rain overflow, Gingin, WA  I have had a break from blogging for three months for no reasons, other than "blogger's block", and travel opportunities which unfortunately cooincided with my making some rather substantial renovations to my home.  With the arrival of spring and my decision not to "downsize" just yet, a long overdue "cosmetic transformation" was made on my home of 22 years. The "transformation" begins, August 2013 And during the transformation, some changes occurred in my family as well.  I find that each year the arrival of spring tends to bring on not only nature's transformations but life's as well, some welcome, others not. The most important transformation has been for my daughter and her husband. Spring ushered in their news that they are expecting their first child together, and my first grandchild, in autumn next year; already I have a room in newly renovated ...