Yes, UNKNOWN - the completion date of our new home. My blogging has, of necessity, been neglected for the last couple of weeks. The sorting, packing and throwing out of 40 years of accumulated junk takes a lot of energy. When faced with an overwhelming task - I postpone/avoid. I have to confess to playing scrabble online instead of writing my blog. Writing my blog requires thought - of the introspective kind - do I say this - do I reveal that - what have I done that others might find interesting - while scrabble is in the moment - racing the clock and concentrating only on the things immediately on the screen. My apologies.
Somehow, despite my worst efforts, it all seems to be coming together.
Sunday, 9 September 2007
Thursday, 30 August 2007
Encycopedia of Me Meme .. T is for teeth ..
T is for the teeth I still have - despite the prognostications of a dentist that I had gone to when my children were all very small. My dentist was a train trip away - I didn't have a car, and with three little people 4 and under, and no family to help, getting to the dentist was a major undertaking. So I tried another dentist, closer to home. Imagine my horror when he informed me that my (regularly checked and already heavily filled teeth) needed all sorts of major work, preferably done all at the one time, under sedation and at a very large price. When I expressed some concern about this, he really put the heavies on, telling me that unless I had the work done, I would have no teeth left by the time I was forty. He suggested that my previous dentists had probably been older (which they were) and were not up to date with their procedures. I agonised about this for some time, and eventually, with my cap in hand, went back to my own dentist and told him the sorry story. He said that technically, what I had been told was correct, but that as my teeth were so heavily filled, and fillings had a limited lifespan, that by the time I was forty, the problem fillings would have all been replaced anyway.
When I rang the "new" dentist to tell him that I wouldn't have the work done, he was very unpleasant about it - uttered dire warnings again and put a lot of pressure on me, but I stuck to my guns. Thank heavens - because about twelve months later he was arrested and struck off the roll for molesting his female patients while they were sedated! A couple of local women had been having coffee when one told the other about a strange dream she'd had when sedated at the dentist's - when her friend said she'd had the same dream, they decided that it wasn't a coincidence and went to the police. A young female officer went undercover for a dental appointment and was given the story about needing a lot of work under sedation. She returned with some sort of communication equipment, ostensibly to have the work done, and the dentist was caught in the act. Life works in strange and mysterious ways.
When I rang the "new" dentist to tell him that I wouldn't have the work done, he was very unpleasant about it - uttered dire warnings again and put a lot of pressure on me, but I stuck to my guns. Thank heavens - because about twelve months later he was arrested and struck off the roll for molesting his female patients while they were sedated! A couple of local women had been having coffee when one told the other about a strange dream she'd had when sedated at the dentist's - when her friend said she'd had the same dream, they decided that it wasn't a coincidence and went to the police. A young female officer went undercover for a dental appointment and was given the story about needing a lot of work under sedation. She returned with some sort of communication equipment, ostensibly to have the work done, and the dentist was caught in the act. Life works in strange and mysterious ways.
Encycopedia of Me Meme . . S is for sister ..
S is for the sister I always wanted when I was a teenager. I desperately wanted someone to share girlie things with. My brother is six years younger than I am, and was at a particularly annoying age when I needed an inhouse support group. I left home at 19, when Mr Mooney was only 13, so I really didn't know him when he was growing up. We are good friends and supportive to each other now - which I love. I still would like to have had a sister though!
Encycopedia of Me Meme . . R is for RIDICULOUS.
R is for ridiculous - I'm talking about the scrabble dictionary and the "words" that are allowed. How can words that have NO MEANING in English be considered words for the purpose of the game, when the rules say that no foreign words are allowed? eg "Li" is in the scrabble online dictionary is defined as:
1. A Chinese measure of distance, being a little more than
one third of a mile.
[1913 Webster]
2. A Chinese copper coin; a cash. See {Cash}.
[1913 Webster]
Yet "dux", being the "top pupil at a school", listed in the Oxford Dictionary, is not listed in the official scrabble dictionary. I have used the word "dux" (one of our daughters was dux - twice) but I have NEVER used the word "li".
Well, that's my wobbly for the day! Good news - we have a new baby!
I have been watching the possums for the last couple of months and have seen a certain expansion in the size of at least one. Then, yesterday when we were having lunch on the balcony, the possum opposite woke up and was fussing around in the box, when a baby possum appeared on it's head, squirmed across its Mama's back and generally made a nuisance of itself! Poor Mama Possum - she had a long-suffering look on her face as if to say "these broken days! I need my sleep!".
The baby is too small to ride on her back yet, and mama is very hungry - yesterday she appeared at her window before it was fully dark, and squirmed out and across to the feeding tray when I appeared with some fruit for her. These nursing mothers have big appetites! I am really going to miss the wildlife when we move.
R is also for ROOF - the roof is now on our new place, so the R is for RAIN won't hold the building up as much. It is now due to be completed in mid October until mid November, so we'll be homeless when we get back from India/Thailand on 10 October. Our furniture is being R is for removed on 11 September and goes into storage until the house is finished.
The Australianism for today is : "Received Standard English" - not exactly an Australianism, but this is the English to which we all aspired when I was a child - only people who had private school educations, or came from the upper classes in England spoke that way. All the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission") announcers spoke "Received Engish" - they spoke "proper" unlike the rest of the rabble. Nowadays RSE is not often heard on the airways - we seem to be quite comfortable with our own Aussie accent. Another blow struck for a classless society!
1. A Chinese measure of distance, being a little more than
one third of a mile.
[1913 Webster]
2. A Chinese copper coin; a cash. See {Cash}.
[1913 Webster]
Yet "dux", being the "top pupil at a school", listed in the Oxford Dictionary, is not listed in the official scrabble dictionary. I have used the word "dux" (one of our daughters was dux - twice) but I have NEVER used the word "li".
Well, that's my wobbly for the day! Good news - we have a new baby!
I have been watching the possums for the last couple of months and have seen a certain expansion in the size of at least one. Then, yesterday when we were having lunch on the balcony, the possum opposite woke up and was fussing around in the box, when a baby possum appeared on it's head, squirmed across its Mama's back and generally made a nuisance of itself! Poor Mama Possum - she had a long-suffering look on her face as if to say "these broken days! I need my sleep!".
The baby is too small to ride on her back yet, and mama is very hungry - yesterday she appeared at her window before it was fully dark, and squirmed out and across to the feeding tray when I appeared with some fruit for her. These nursing mothers have big appetites! I am really going to miss the wildlife when we move.
R is also for ROOF - the roof is now on our new place, so the R is for RAIN won't hold the building up as much. It is now due to be completed in mid October until mid November, so we'll be homeless when we get back from India/Thailand on 10 October. Our furniture is being R is for removed on 11 September and goes into storage until the house is finished.
The Australianism for today is : "Received Standard English" - not exactly an Australianism, but this is the English to which we all aspired when I was a child - only people who had private school educations, or came from the upper classes in England spoke that way. All the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission") announcers spoke "Received Engish" - they spoke "proper" unlike the rest of the rabble. Nowadays RSE is not often heard on the airways - we seem to be quite comfortable with our own Aussie accent. Another blow struck for a classless society!
Sunday, 19 August 2007
Encycopedia of Me Meme . . Q is for ....
Q is for Quokka - a small Australian wallaby for which Rottnest Island is famous. (Rottnest is a small island off the coast of Fremantle, near Perth, in Western Australia) Rottnest Island was named by Dutch explorers and means "rats' nest" as they mistook the tiny quokkas for rats.
Q is also for quandong - an Australian tree with an edible berry used as "bush tucker". Bush tucker is food gathered from native Australian flora and fauna as eaten by the Aboriginal people. Some bush tucker has become popular with more adventurous chefs - I have seen wattle seed ice-cream, quandong jam (as made by our son), pepper berry seasoning, lilli-pilli jelly to name a few. The Macquarie Dictionary, Australia's national dictionary, notes that the word quandong is a colloquialism for a "person who exploits or cadges off another", with another obsolete colloquial meaning of a " a stupid person, a country bumpkin". Apparently another obsolete colloquialism is to "have the quandongs" or, in modern speak, "to be stupid". Now, I may be a quandong, but I've NEVER, EVER heard the word quandong used for a person of an exploitative, or cadging nature - although The Macquarie Dictionay may feel that I'm a living example (albeit obsolete!) for using their definitions when I could make up my own!!!! In my view, "quandong" would be perfect for those days when you're all at sixes and sevens - "I've got the quandongs" - without any of the perjorative meaning of stupid attached. In fact, henceforth this blog will use its own definition of "quandong" when appropriate!
Roxie was very taken with " don't come the raw prawn with me" - so now I expect to see her "having the quandongs" occasionally and we shall all know that she is using "flea speak" (two invented concepts in one day - I'm firing!)
Q is also for Queen - I am a staunch republican and believe that in this day and age it is ridiculous for Australia to remain a colonial outpost, with a head of state across the sea, in a country that bears little resemblance to our own, despite our shared history. Bring on the Republic of Oz is what I say!!!
Q is also for quandong - an Australian tree with an edible berry used as "bush tucker". Bush tucker is food gathered from native Australian flora and fauna as eaten by the Aboriginal people. Some bush tucker has become popular with more adventurous chefs - I have seen wattle seed ice-cream, quandong jam (as made by our son), pepper berry seasoning, lilli-pilli jelly to name a few. The Macquarie Dictionary, Australia's national dictionary, notes that the word quandong is a colloquialism for a "person who exploits or cadges off another", with another obsolete colloquial meaning of a " a stupid person, a country bumpkin". Apparently another obsolete colloquialism is to "have the quandongs" or, in modern speak, "to be stupid". Now, I may be a quandong, but I've NEVER, EVER heard the word quandong used for a person of an exploitative, or cadging nature - although The Macquarie Dictionay may feel that I'm a living example (albeit obsolete!) for using their definitions when I could make up my own!!!! In my view, "quandong" would be perfect for those days when you're all at sixes and sevens - "I've got the quandongs" - without any of the perjorative meaning of stupid attached. In fact, henceforth this blog will use its own definition of "quandong" when appropriate!
Roxie was very taken with " don't come the raw prawn with me" - so now I expect to see her "having the quandongs" occasionally and we shall all know that she is using "flea speak" (two invented concepts in one day - I'm firing!)
Q is also for Queen - I am a staunch republican and believe that in this day and age it is ridiculous for Australia to remain a colonial outpost, with a head of state across the sea, in a country that bears little resemblance to our own, despite our shared history. Bring on the Republic of Oz is what I say!!!
Friday, 17 August 2007
P is for ... Pedro
Word(s) of the Day: Those things that some people call "shrimps" are called "prawns" in Australia. "Don't come the raw prawn with me" has nothing to do with food - it means don't try to hoodwink me with whatever was being spoken of. It's not a saying I use myself!
P is for Pedro, my son, six foot five, 38 years old, No. 1s over the head, widow's peak and goatee - I hate goatees. I think he looks like a bikie! He is a gentle, caring man and father of Ms 11 and Master 7. Speaking of whom - Ms 11 applied for, and has been accepted into, one of the schools of creative and performing arts for her high schooling. She starts next year. I am delighted for her - she applied for two different places and I was worried that her self-esteem would be badly damaged if she wasn't accepted into one - but she gained entry to both - so much for Grandma's anxiety.
P is for plague - that flea plague is not getting any better - again, many, many hits looking for information on, and photos of - "f*l*e*a*b*i*t*e*s" - my sitemeter page comes up with all these advertisements for flea control products too. Most of the searches seem to be from the USA.
P is for Pedro, my son, six foot five, 38 years old, No. 1s over the head, widow's peak and goatee - I hate goatees. I think he looks like a bikie! He is a gentle, caring man and father of Ms 11 and Master 7. Speaking of whom - Ms 11 applied for, and has been accepted into, one of the schools of creative and performing arts for her high schooling. She starts next year. I am delighted for her - she applied for two different places and I was worried that her self-esteem would be badly damaged if she wasn't accepted into one - but she gained entry to both - so much for Grandma's anxiety.
P is for plague - that flea plague is not getting any better - again, many, many hits looking for information on, and photos of - "f*l*e*a*b*i*t*e*s" - my sitemeter page comes up with all these advertisements for flea control products too. Most of the searches seem to be from the USA.
Encycopedia of Me Meme .. O is for ....
O is for oranges - I love juicy navel oranges, but don't like Valencia oranges which are widely grown in Australia. When our own navels finish, I buy California navels - but I'm beginning to think about the carbon footprint now .... O is for Ohhhhhhh!
O is for the colour orange - I love it - the burnt orange kind, or the apricot kind, but not bright orange. Orange is not a colour I can wear, but I still love it.
O is for - ordinary people - like you and me - ordinary people who have extraordinary lives and talents if we bother to scratch the surface and get to know them and - if they will let us.
O is for opportunity - it's not always to recognise an opportunity when it comes along, especially when we're bogged down in "just living". I don't know whether there really is a Chinese proverb that says " in every crisis are the seeds of opportunity" - but it is true - mostly. Crisis can make us strong if we can learn from the experience; crisis can cause us to take paths and follow directions that we may not ever have considered. I say mostly, because my heart goes out to those who are in the middle of war, famine, persecution/abuse, or suffering from a severe mental illness. Sometimes crisis is just crisis with no up side.
Carson and Roxie have both commented on some of the Australian/American language comparisons that I have been making. So each post I'll give an idiomatic Australian word or expression for your delight (or horror!). By the way, I am spelling "Encyclopedia" that way only for the purposes of the "Encycopedia of Me Meme" We all know that the correct spelling is "encyclopaedia" don't we? - it's just those people from that large northen land mass who can't spell!
O is for the colour orange - I love it - the burnt orange kind, or the apricot kind, but not bright orange. Orange is not a colour I can wear, but I still love it.
O is for - ordinary people - like you and me - ordinary people who have extraordinary lives and talents if we bother to scratch the surface and get to know them and - if they will let us.
O is for opportunity - it's not always to recognise an opportunity when it comes along, especially when we're bogged down in "just living". I don't know whether there really is a Chinese proverb that says " in every crisis are the seeds of opportunity" - but it is true - mostly. Crisis can make us strong if we can learn from the experience; crisis can cause us to take paths and follow directions that we may not ever have considered. I say mostly, because my heart goes out to those who are in the middle of war, famine, persecution/abuse, or suffering from a severe mental illness. Sometimes crisis is just crisis with no up side.
Carson and Roxie have both commented on some of the Australian/American language comparisons that I have been making. So each post I'll give an idiomatic Australian word or expression for your delight (or horror!). By the way, I am spelling "Encyclopedia" that way only for the purposes of the "Encycopedia of Me Meme" We all know that the correct spelling is "encyclopaedia" don't we? - it's just those people from that large northen land mass who can't spell!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
