provides annual awards to celebrate excellence in Australian children’s literature; and reading time which provides book reviews and news; with an early childhood category
a professional association for Australian writers and illustrators; if you have written one book you are eligible for full membership : associate membership is also available
An organisation to encourage reading, that chooses on a biennial basis a laureate children’s author who is then [highlighted] on the page, and provides monthly exercises for children to inspired them to write
Aiming to bring children together from all parts of the world .. ‘that books could build bridges of understanding and peace between people’. Founded by Jella Lepman (1891-1970) in Zurich, 1953; in honour of her 100th birthday the Jella Lepman Medal was created, and reinstated in 2006.
The trip to the MRI imaging was relatively easy, since I’d woken up early and had prepared the day before; so much time is spent planning in such situations! The appointment was at 7am; and despite a few false starts finding St Lukes Calvary Hospital due to lack of innate knowledge of NSEW using the directions app the ‘admissions’ carpark was empty ( although i only saw that word as I returned to the car ).
Car parked on slope of driveway for ease of access with bung knee
Parking the car on the slope of a driveway next to the side door at the front of my home, meant i didn’t have to go down the 14 steps inside to the bottom floor on my bum, throwing the crutches ahead of me ( which, incidentally, took the one layer of varnish off them in little etches of places ); and I’d learnt to manouvere the steps in the top area.
A sunny hangout place with childhood mags I got in an auction
Got there early for 7am MRI Appointment
So after I parked, and had gotten out of the car with crutches; the door for admissions was firmly closed and said to go through the carpark; uphill, no pavement. When I got there, it was the staff admission area and they told me to go back to where it was closed. There was a father and daughter that had arrived by now, and i relayed the message; so down the hill we went, past the laundry pickup and waste stuff. Launceston is quite a hilly place but it has its flatlines ( am thinking of moving to one ! ).
As we made our way down, we could see movement inside, and the door opened. The daughter, going in for day surgery, was told she had to stand in front of a temperature machine, but i was just waved through, told to go to Level 3. At this stage i was still very nervous to walk.
Leg refuses to be comfortable unless straight out straight
The walk to level 3 wasn’t short, but i arrived on time, filled out necessary forms, and waited. the only really comfortable position for my leg has been straight out on the bed; but i managed to find a sort of comfortable place. I said to the masked receptionist wow those are deep sighs, which was sort of a mistake, but i found out later ..
The radiologist called me, and i hobbled after him. I negotiated not taking my Bonds bra-top off as it had no metal in it, and is awkward and time-consuming to get off and on. I had to leave the crutches at the door so relied on his strong forearms after that.
brusing that has finally nearly gone away !
AAARGH Andy take back my fifteen minutes !!!
I’d never had an MRI before; was given earplugs and told to stay absolutely still for 15 minutes. I was nearly a breaking point not knowing the time, but when it was finally over ( and had answered his almost ‘how on earth’ did you do this ) and i got a lift back to my crutches on his forearm, he was immediately seeing another patient so I got kitted back up and went out to the receptionist
Another broken link to printer in workspace reminded me of years back
After a while I realised she was on the phone to the IT department. Again it was a printing problem so she said that she would send the bill in the mail. So i retraced my steps to the lift, got a Europe Nougat Honey Log ( sentimentalism at its best ! ) out of the slot machine once I was on the exit floor; narrowly missed the cord of the cleaners vacuuum, and made my way back to the car in a still otherwise empty admissions small car park.
Next stop : Jimmys !
It was a part of town – off High Street ( which really is high ) that I do know – I wasn’t familiar with, but soon found myself in town and made my way to Jimmys Complex Imed where I was first in at just after 8am; so I was home pretty early on. Phew. It was all done.
Back to Bedrest
I didn’t hear much that week. I realised that as US of A isn’t having their summer break as we were that the Daily Creative Challenges by Adobe were probably started already; and they were; in their second week. So I concentrated on doing the photoshop ones by Voodoo Val and chatted live on the XD ones that Jesse Showalter was giving; both these tutors excellent; as are all of the people in this community. So that kept me busy; and when they finished I finally finished the amp of my “santa’ gift of Lego’s Fender guitar .
So i kept up the almost constant bedrest. Sometimes I would wake up and my knee area was absolutely aching. I learnt the comfortable position; and sometimes had to turn off the tv and anything else i was doing to concentrate on controlling the pain by position.
I would also bandage up areas that were REALLY complaining !
I used Coles delivery service; did a week’s wash-up on the friday with a trolley and stool that i would move as I moved around the kitchen.
Communication from the Centre
During this time I received a text message that I could have my booster vaccination 3rd covid on the Tuesday next ( 18th Jan ) .. this also signalled that I was considered a patient at the Centre, and that the date signified the end of the ban for being on the mainland.
When the bill for the MRI came in the mail – I hobbled out to check – I paid it straight away and maybe the payment released the report but I received a phone call on the Friday – and then another – that the doctor I had seen was going on sabbaticall; that a specialist had been contacted; and to make an appointment. I spoke to the actual doctor later on in the afternoon.
Next Hurdle : a busy Tuesday
So I spent a bedridden but busy weekend, knowing that my next responsibilities were on tuesday. I did get a bit bored on the Saturday and got a Dan Murphys order delivered. There’d been a zoom with Old Glebe friends a few days before ( which was also about cricket but i managed to add that Freddie thought the English captain a beautiful bowler and they wholeheartedly agreed so i wasn’t my usual know-nothing ) and one of them said for heavens don’t break the other leg. But cos of my busy week I’m only opening the second bottle now; after busy Thursday.
So Tuesday comes along; first I returned a library book; then across the road to the post office to check my mail – whoops the insurance is due; plus some cards – and then quite a trip on crutches to Quixotic Books as he had rung the week before to tell me that Kate Seredy’s The Singing Tree had arrived ( Mum’s letters mentioned it, that i have been rereading ). I mistook the corner that his shop was on which was quite alright really as he opened at 9.30am. The first thing i saw after getting out of the lift was walking sticks ! He is currently getting me a copy of a book i remember from childhood : The Secret Curtain by Rosemary Garland; based on a street in Paris years ago where two lonely children live opposite each other in apartments where they can see each other through the window.
With all that done, I went back home, again parking the car on the slope for easy access to the front. I was pretty exhausted all afternoon and then got ready to go out again; even taking the empty bins up to the top using one crutch, and filled them slowly, one load at a time.
When I arrived at the Centre for the Covid booster, there was a line of cars and masked people with boards; so eventually i joined the queue, filled in my questionnaire, got jabbed through the window and waited the 15mins in the carpark. I talked to the masked lady next to me; she was actually waiting for a doctor’s appointment in the car.
Waiting in the queue for the drive-in booster service
Rest Day Wednesday
Each day this week I’ve noticed a vast improvement; yet also that healing is still happening. I manage things such as dragging two oak tree seedlings out of the hot summer sun; and coping by having the bins at the top rather than the bottom of the property.
The neighbour down the hill helped me bring the bins in
So to today : busy Thursday
Back on the bench at the medical centre, filling out forms
This week I’ve noticed everyday I don’t need the crutches so much; but I still take at least one with me. My leg hurt sitting in a normal chair in the waiting room, and I got the MRI report from Dr. He also ordered a full blood test instead of prescribing me beta blockers for essential tremor ( after saying the test for it is; does drinking alcohol stop it ! He said of course it was a bad idea to use that method )
Agony getting comfortable in a chair after mainly lying in bed to enable healing
So as I had some time before a writers group sub-committee meeting, I checked out – took me a while to find it – a mobility aids shop for walking sticks, but decided one crutch was more stable. Anyway it was right near a small swimming pool, so i checked out if they have hydrotherapy – and they do ! Not wanting to rush things ( lol ) I’ve booked in for tomorrow week, but am so glad i found it. have also organised sort of physiotherapy.
physio’s coming !! and hydrotherapy
Next blog
In reactivating this blog, I have found a heap of half-written entries, so will probably post them and am not sure if can slot them into their time-frame. The first one is about my second trip to UK this century.
Although this is public, no-one reads it and it’s been gathering dust, so – although this will change – thought I’d give you a brief update of what happened.
Travel Plans and Delays
The day before NYE I was due to fly on the 11.45 out to Melbourne, and then onward to Canberra. A direct flight to Canberra is one of the last routes that Virgin Australia (VA) is holding out on : since the new management direct flights to Perth, Adelaide and Gold Coast have been added. Around 5am I received a text saying that flight was now cancelled and I would be flying on the 3.15.
Which gave me more time to do my normal going-away clean so get-back-to-a-tidy-house; ie a lot of bending etc; my back complained and i had two of the hand-warmer instant heat things on my hip.
Old Knees !
Firstly, what happened to my knee would be termed by politicians as ‘a pre-existing condition’. Several times out of the blue, in recent times, my knee has dislocated; say after say jumping onto the bed in glee .. . Normally it’s a 2-5 second cramp that I concentrate on getting rid of and it is fine. Or getting up from using dustpan and brush …
binning boris : just before the wednesday knee mishap
Recently….
The Wednesday before I travelled I was sweeping into the dustpan and brush on the floor, crouching, and couldn’t get up. The cramp was worse than usual, and as I couldn’t ‘put it back in’, I crawled to the bedroom; started to pull myself onto the bed with my legs using furniture to propel me onto it, when click; it went back in; no pain whatsoever afterwards. As per usual.
However I noticed I couldn’t pick Lara up when I arrived Thursday ( sorry ! ) and had been balancing my bags in order to walk without pain.
Long Time On Island
That week I still had friends saying I should stay home because of Covid, but everyone was double vaxxed and the Gold Coast mob showed no signs of cancelling so I was set. As a precaution, with some of the credit I had with VA after cancelling a proposed trip to Portugal in January 2020 ( ie before Covid ) because of the Soleimani assasination, to travel business, on the reduced rates they were advertising until December 30. This would be the first time I had been off the island for 22 months and wasn’t planning to until March/April however Jen then Soph mentioned this family meet-up and I was rearing to go.
Car Park at Airport
At peak periods the car park at the airport can be chockablock, so I left early : there were 250-odd spots available, probably because of less people flying ( one xmas there was 2 ! ). I saw a vacant space in the very first row, smack bang next to the disabled parking,so backed into it and felt pretty chuffed.
I was nervous leaving home but once on the highway, and at the airport, the sky and clouds captivated me
But I was early, and although I only had hand luggage I didn’t’ want to go into an enclosed area. Then I heard that sound…
the chiming sound is much louder than the wind in person
The huge light poles, in windy weather, form an orchestra of drone tones .. i amused myself walking right around the car park listening to them.
Melbourne
There was a bit of trouble with where they had placed me on the alternative flight to the cancelled morning booking, but as it turned out that 20-minute dash connection in Melbourne didn’t work and we were rerouted onto a Qantas flight that night. Apparently if they wait for passengers, even though there were 28 of us, it can cost thousands per minute ( well that may be a slight exaggeration but we were met with ‘departed’ at the next gate and that was the reasoning they gave ) and also some people had luggage to collect. I read my book.
Canberra
Julia and Ian picked me up from the airport, around 5. hours after I had been due to arrive, and spent time with the family at Sophs then took a Uber to the hotel, where found the tv wasn’t even in front of the bed; quite wierd !
Sunset on the way to Soph’s
Hotel Life
On the Friday, last day of 2021, the hotel had absolutely no food, not even the normal complimentary milk for the coffee machine. So I saw that there was a coffee place on the river; wound my way around the roadworks, and on the other side of the skate park saw I pleasant piece of bush I expected would lead to the left bank and it looked so fabulously native I set off towards it.
the ‘blade of grass’ terrain in which I fell down a proverbial ‘rabbit hole’
Whoops !!!!
When my leg gave way I though nothing of it until I tried to move. I was so near happy Dads encouraging their kids on their scooters but not in speaking distance and anyway I felt rather embarrassed. My phone had been knocked out of my hand and was resting on one of the tussocks of grass I had stepped near, expecting it to be level but it wasn’t. So first I crawled to the nearest tree, hitched myself up, and rang Helen ( who didn’t have her phone on morning walk with Anna ) then Fred ( who was at the gym ) but they eventually rang back, saying they’d pick up crutches.
The map said I was in the actual lake ! At the time I was heading for the pink building
This started at 8.15 thereabouts; I shuffled round to the front of the tree, but started feeling dizzy from the heat ( didn’t even have water ). Meanwhile the idyllic nature of the skater joy was in front of me. One guy came over to a nearby tree and was looking at me, then threw his backpack onto the ground and was in full skater mode. He came back several times.
It could have been worse; it could have happened in an ugly setting but it was pretty glorious; when I was upright I saw a platypus which Soph corrected to a water rat: all I saw was a happy furry wide back sticking out of the water obviously feeding below. Helen indeed had looked a bit unbelieving when I told her when they arrived, and later said that she doubted it was a platypus because the water was so murky.
My view while I was waiting
The nature around me was so relaxing; the birds and ducks just carrying on as normal, same with the skaters-in-the-zone.
Moorhen Company
Rescue Mission
Helen and Freddie eventually found me, and so started my crutch journey ( gift from Helen ) firstly to the car from where we went to Calvary emergency CALMS. They only allowed the patients into the hospital due to Covid restrictions, so i was wheelchaired to the reception desk and after a short wait saw the doctor, who was obviously frazzled what with her sister ringing her continually ( ignore that, she said ) and her obstinate printer which just wouldn’t print so she had to write out both an ultra-scan referral and a sick letter for the airlines. ( I was beginning to realise that my top-price ticket was worth its weight in gold; as I could change flights unlimited without extra charge. ). She wheeled me to reception where she asked the receptionist, who was quite irate I was alone so I explained that it was due to Covid, to ring IT for help with her printer. An orderly came to wheel me out to a bench outside Emergency, where H&F rejoined me after finding a coffee shop to wait it out.
Resting at Hotel and Visitors
At this stage there was just swelling; a hot lump of it. H&F drove me back to hotel where I said I’d rest. It was still 2021 and the news was inflitrating through the family so I rang Ek to let her know. I was still expected at the party that night, but inside I was very nervous about what on earth had happened to my knee. I got myself onto the bed and stayed there.
Jen and Caino came round with supplies, but i couldn’t be persuaded to move. I guess I was in a bit of shock but at that stage I was so scared of making it worse. The area of injury was still blazing hot, and i amused myself by moving my leg by grabbing onto a few ounces of thigh flab which previously hadn’t been useful at all. Thanks so much for the visit and while you would have bent backwards ( well given me your bed and slept on the couch ) i really was still scared at what else could happen and the pain level.
No Show At Party
Photos came through of the beginning of the party, and at one stage i felt very sad so rang Janine in Paris ( fb fone ) and she turned the video on when i said i could hear the ducks, as she sits on the back steps to smoke. So there on the other side of the world, on the edge of Paree, on a sunny day was her garden; no trees but from the camera I couldn’t feel the cold. She was isolating with Covid. Such moments make us aware of others troubles n’est pas ! Anyway we cheered each other up.
Janine’s Ducks in their Argenteuil home, Paris ( from June 2019 )
Trouble With Keycard
I heard a rap at the door, and shouted out. It stopped. Minutes later it started up again. I shouted again and in comes Jacob with the masterkey, to give me two new versions of the door key card, as in the hurry to book everyone in for NYE he’d mistakenly typed in 106 for 108 so deactivated 106.
Slept through New Year ASDT
I slept from around 10, when I’d woken up and checked the time; to 1.15am when it was well into 2022.
New Years Day
That morning I’d fallen again, coming out of the bathroom on crutches, onto carpet but was able to get up and back onto the bed. It actually gave me a bit of confidence as I’d been able to control the fall; and the bruising was starting to appear, with the swelling lessening in its heated fury. I contacted Helen as it was stupid putting people further out having to travel into mid-Belconnen with building fences etc, and announced that I was moving in to their place as it would be easier:- so it wasn’t coming to visit with breakfast, it was picking me up. After all they’d offered before when the party meetup was first announced; but after such a long time alone during the pandemic i was apprehensive about EVERYTHING (!). She told me the card that let Caino and Jen in to my room – that’d i’d said to them to give to her – had been taken back by the hotel at point of exit. So i added about the new cards anyway I still had food from J&C’s haul ( thank you ) and packed up my belongings slowly, using many trips to get both bags onto the luggage rack ready for pick-up. ( forgot to take a pick )
Coincidences
Due to the card situation and sometimes long wait for the phone to be answered at the desk, I’d decided to go down to the foyer, and give my card to H&F. The door to my room was extra heavy I’d found on entry, and I was negotiating my way out of it when who should go by but Jacob from the new key cards of the night before ! He asked me if I needed help, and I asked him to hold the door; and then if it was possible for him to take my bags down to the foyer : it was ! So we and my bags set off to the lifts..
And there at the lifts, was the little girl and her mum that i’d met when I’d set off on the morning before, before all this had happened! As quick-as-a-wink I said hello and to the little girl ‘and you’re four-and-a-half’ which she had proudly told me in the lift.
Moving Out
Jacob deposited me at seats in the front with my bags, where I could see when H&F arrived. This sign was just near me ..
Maybe ‘bae’ means ‘play’ ?
So it was an easy transition to their home, although slow getting in the first time. I handed in the keycards at the desk, explaining the situation, and Jacob rang that afternoon to say to contact booking com for a refund for the fourth night, which went through the next week.
New Years Hawaii Time
Helen and I set off for Sophs early afternoon and stayed for dinner with family. I hadn’t even celebrated New Year yet, so worked out Hawaii’s NY was at 9pm our time. However at about 8.30 it was time enough and we got out the sparklers, after a family photo.
HNY at 8.30pm Jan 1 ASDT 11.30pm Dec 31 Hawaii time
Picture Book
I’d visited on the Thursday night, although due to the plane changes had missed dinner, which I had on the plane. Nearing the end of a ‘Writing Picture Books’ course I asked everyone ( the boys were playing computer games ) if they wanted to hear a story ( Lara had already told me that Sean Kelly’s The Game had no pictures – especially as I’d removed the cover one in order to read it ) and from the start laughter was ringing out … and changes incorporated from their feedback included Farmer Bill, a gate, simplifying the story and removing the word ‘down’!
I’d intended to print it out at Officeworks the next day, doing the illustrations in the morning and getting a lift back to Soph’s from Ju and Tills as they were going there; then when H&F had a colour printer I was going to take it with me to Anna’s on the Sunday afternoon which was cancelled due to possible Covid; and eventually finished it early Monday afternoon, with the ‘binding’ two widths of sellotape. A week later I’ve downloaded the certificate for the course and Jake has read the story to Jess ! ( I promised Lara to send her a picture book which hopefully will arrive just before school starts when you’re back from camping trip ).
Done and Dusted !
By the way while I was doing this course I was getting ads for BBC Maestro courses, and a particular one by Julia Donaldson who wrote The Gruffallo. These courses were much cheaper than the one I did, and eventually bought Julia’s one, and found it much more in depth and MUCH easier to listen to ( as it was video of her, not such a blank screen saying ‘play’; and she holds up examples of books ) however no feedback. The best part of the feedback was hearing about Aristotles rules of writing.
Hot Air
One early morning at H&F’s i heard a strange sound and thought a Gruffallo must be near – but it turned out to be a hot air balloon ! That started a nearby dog barking. . .
Getting back to the Island amidst Covid Restrictions
I originally was ready to wallow in defeat for weeks; however the 7-day reprieve for Tasmanians to return within that time was looming, so I rang to change my flight to the Tuesday, with special assistance ie a wheelchair.
Tuesday dawned after I’d woken around 4, and gotten completely ready. I put on the backpack and my shoulder bag, and crutched my way out to the kitchen. It’s funny how the brain starts to plan every single move when in a situation like this. No-one was as friendly as the first flight, from Launceston to Melbourne on the 30th, with the computer specialist father next to me who immediately asked me what i did for a career. ( the only name i can recall was that he worked before current job for Oracle Systems, used to travel heaps and one of the managers in his company used to work for Adobe ). His Indian lilt was lovely to listen to and I correctly guessed the age of their son, who had the window seat opposite, as 17. He joked that this fly wanted to enjoy Row 2 too …
Fly travelling Business Class
In retrospect, with all this happening, it was a jolly good thing my covid paranoia chose to travel business !!!!
When I got back to Launceston, I was last off the plane, and they had the ramp exit rather than the stairs, and I was wheeled across to the Covid checkpoint, where I was deposited. As it was between planes, one of the workers ( police were everywhere as well ) wheeled me to the lift and out to baggage claim, and then a lady worker volunteered to wheel me to my car, on the very front row next to the disability parking. Despite being on the front row she said I never would have made it on crutches.
Back Home
Once home, midday on the first Tuesday of ’22, I parked underneath, gingerly making my way over to the back door, kicking branches i was cutting up for recycling bin away; and getting up the stairs on my bum. So of course I had to do this again on the Wednesday for the doctors appointment which I’d made on another matter, a month before
Going to the Medical Centre Amidst Covid Restrictions
I’d been at the local shops, exploring behind them were there was a business block with an electric bike shop when i saw a Medical Centre – OMG i thought, right near me ! This was mid-December, and when I rang to make an appointment as the online booking was unclear, I was told they were not taking any new patients that year. So i said so can I have an appointment next year, which surprised her, but she booked me in for the 5th… which was pretty useful considering ! Again, I got the nearest park to the entrance just by chance. I wasn’t to know that the girl should have not added ‘this year’ to ‘not taking new patients’…
I’d been given a phone number to ring on arrival, and told nurses would come and triage me. I’d also rung the day before to say I’d be on crutches. So I rang, answered all the questions, and she said to come in. There was a desk set up with a fully masked staff member outside the entrance.
I went up to her and got asked all the questions again ( apparently the car triage call had been superceded by this desk ) with one extra : have you been out of Tasmania. I said yes in the ACT yesterday. She said I couldn’t come in and when i was horrified she said no need to be like that. Understandably the staff are incredibly overworked, but i explained to her i’d rung the day before, I’d rung the number given, and beside that i was in pain. She then said ok get back in the car and see what i can do.
Waiting Out Being Banned Entry On A Bench
I sat on the nearest bench, and when she came back with a form to fill out she told me that i could be seen in the Covid room, and i said i’d rather be seen just here on the bench. we both apologised and it was all OK after that. I waited for ages, watching people going in for their covid shots and chatting to passers-by as they came out of the centre, and eventually the doctor came out in complete PPE gear. She gave me paperwork for MRI scan and xray, and they are this Tuesday. She said she will contact me when she gets the results, and in the next appointment will be the induction ie get asked all the questions in introductory appt.
Waiting It Out At Home
So since then I’ve been home; requisitioned the office chair to alleviate some of the strain i sometimes feel putting weight on the leg; waking up at 4am; and spending most of the time on my huge big bed that came with the house ( additional cost ) because they couldn’t get it out the door !
The big bed that came with the house, at extra cost ( but they couldn’t get it out the door !)
First Coles Delivery
I’ve finally done a Coles delivery; and there was lots of food in the fridge anyway including cherries which were made into a streudel over 3 days. However requisitioning the office chair to help moving from bed to kitchen made a huge difference.
Transportation !
Internet Life
Around typing that on Sunday 9th AUS time but still the 8th in NYC, i lazily went on facebook and was directed to a live link to Cutting Room NYC where Hey, Plati etc were playing the middle gig of Bowie songs ( ie on the 8th but added on 7th and 9th due to demand ). I hastilly – with the crutches and office chair – wheeled to the fridge and opened champers and sang along to live feed of them playing. It was the first time for ages there was no tremor in my voice which while the champers helped, was a major milestone for me as a potential tremorist for life. I sang my heart out and in again. I eventually stopped when the live feed stopped (( and probably to the neighbour’s amusement as per years ago when H&F went to G&M’s ( before AVR ) leaving me on Xmas with champers which had me singing xmas carols at the top of my voice in the Glebe garage with laughter from passers by – another year I drew Mickey Mouse … to come as they’re all DOWNSTAIRS ! )) but went back to it after preparing tonight ( and three nights afterwards ) cauliflower curry – which unfortunately i ruined by leaving the slow cooker on .. oh well !
So the big ‘imaging’ day tomorrow and then a wait until the doctor rings !
Well not quite. They were the first band i ever saw, when i was 17 although all i can remember is being held up by the crowd on the stairs with only a toe touching them; so that we could see. It was just before i met uni friends and am not sure who i was with. When we arrived here, from Cheshire, life was different and I was so homesick, which I really didnt get over til the 2000 Sydney Olympics when the ‘aussie aussie aussie woy woy woy ‘ made me realise i’d been here most of my life. Coming down to the island below the mainland, mainly for financial reasons and to get off that frozen stuff through a relationship; I breathed a sign of relief. The cold winters invigorated me and the pressure I’d felt was off.
My friend Dale died in ’91 as did the conductor of the orchestra i worked for in admin; Freddie Mercury – and our Mum. I was given his artworks so that the family wouldnt take it all, as gay marriage didnt exist then and his boyfriend had no rights, and who also died within the year. Dale’s art, which had been in storage for yonx as i moved around after leaving the granny flat at the back of The Glebe when Dad died, fit in like a glove; two of the huge big ones fit over the mantelpiece as though they were made for it. I actually laughed to myself and said to the ‘spirits’ hehe course you can live here – just be friendly which reminded me of another bf who in that shock of when they go suddenly; i said sure you can visit but only if you are friendly and leave that anger behind. He was the original inspiration behind the book i intend to finish this year.
My interest in Led Zeppelin has been building slowly, but got a huge increase when i realised that they had tons of acoustic tracks and that JPJ was an amazing musician in his own right. Back to when we arrived here …. in those days the TV Times that i think were free in the Sunday papers, had advertisements in them that influenced me – one of them was for the International Correspondence Schools which i did tons of courses with much later, but always used to look through the lists; and the other one was the World Record Club. We’d left in the beginning of 1968 – i would get up on my desk when the top ten hit show played on the radio on a Sunday evening; and had the Jackie magazine posters all sellotaped together and hanging like a sheet from the picture hooks ( dad said i couldnt stick them on the wallpaper so found an equivalent ) : and when i started flute a friend asked me to play Pink Flamingo. Oh and i remember Top of the Pops when the Who came on with a big fluffy dog; and our eldest sister came back for the summer from Reading University in a very short lime green mini and showed us the twist; and how Clapton was God.
With the world record club, at first we got about 6-12 albums right off, and then one a month. With the three of us younger siblings, we would choose what to get. One of them was a Led Zeppelin album and when i heard some of the lyrics i recoiled in horror. I have found it is a blues term lol but in our transition to this other country, which in fact our parents actually came from, going across to Ireland at first for work after WW2, we all put on weight and had body types that were scorned on by the opposite sex here. I remember a time in the UNSW medical school common room, in the days Denis Tek was there ( getting full marks in the weekly tests even though Radio Birdman were playing every week ) .. where a group of students were perched up on the window sill giving us girls a score out of ten as we came in – when it was my turn they said ‘pass’. It might have been funny for them but it hurt big and anyway with age all of that is in the past!
Anyway on hearing those lyrics, i banned myself from listening to them. Went to heaps of concerts and had tons of fun dancing and fan-tasizing about groupie life .. ecetera; eventually working in offices to calm our parents down, bless them. Of course i was aware of LZ’s hits and the record covers, but had no interest in them at all because of that initial hurt. Then once i was regularly online in music discussion groups, a lady said that RP had replied to a post of hers when her dog died, as he kept the same dogs. That made me change my mind about them, and i lost my prejudice against them.
So i’m not sure how it happened – i think it was seeing the dragon suit – but i’ve found what many people say is the best rock n roll band ever at this advanced age, when i have heaps of time to listen. And read.
Currently reading Salewicz on Jimmy Page – quite slowly as listening to all the music mentioned which is a trip in itself; in fact just joined Apple Music as easier to concentrate just having the music rather than stopping reading to watch videos. Also go into the discussion groups as i always have ( loved alt music queen where i similarly got into them long after the fact, having been obsessed with Bowie for yonx ) where the discussions and personalities are huge source of fun, info and debate.
Currently listening to Buffalo Springfield, mentioned in the above book, 2018 paperback copy, p218 : which the next post will be about; but then i’ll have to go back to collect all my notes and listenings from before then, which has had me intrigued for days.
Not being a particularly tidy person, when it is necessary to do such i build up all sorts of defences .. however am getting better. Some things I cant bear to throw away, so now i make piles of like-minded things, such as shopping lists which on the back of them have various names and ideas I want to look up so provide links here ..
Robert Carl Sticht: an American who introduced pyritic smelting to Tasmania and had the mineral stichtite named after him. The Felton Bequest gave some of his art collection to National Gallery of Victoria.
Eric Thomas Galley Museum – Queenstown, Tasmania : over 1,000 photographs and memorabilia in 23 rooms giving insight into past lives. $5 admission
Nigerian Soups ( fuf and onugbu soup mentioned in Adiche’s Purple Hibiscus as is ofe nsala, harmattan wind, Igbo peoples and yes i had to look up glass etagere ! )
.. another one crumpled up into recycling / tinder box and the tidying continues …
Mona’s own page for its exhibition On The Origin Of Art is extensive and I’m not trying to re-invent the wheel more like how we explore what art is in ourselves.
The opening page of Mona’s dedicated info about it explains it’s ‘one man’s attempt to piss off art academics’ .. i guess that means their four guest curators – Steven Pinker, Geoffrey Miller, Brian Boyd, and Mark Changizi – care more for the planet than art theory .. and that the one man is David Walsh.
Once you are down in the bowels of the earth ( well not quite ) the staff show you four doors which are separate exhibitions of each of the guest curators.
My own art academic experience is vague. I dropped out of uni in the early 70s heavilly influenced by Timothy Leary, and believed there was an ‘intergalactic university’ that was training me .. in many ways it is a miracle i survived. I was always falling through the cracks; the square plug in a round hole; ‘crazy’. Later on in life, after our mother died and i wanted to make sure Dad was happy, I enrolled in the early days of Open Learning Australia, and gained an art theory major through Charles Sturt University. However I wanted to experience uni life, and explore academic writing more ( i had been heavilly criticised for it during the OLA degree ) so with my redundancy from the ABC I enrolled in a Master of Arts Coursework University of Sydney. When i rang up to enquire about it the course-coordinator said something like ‘no you do not want to do this degree’. Well I did but that is a story in itself. The cost for such degrees was going to skyrocket the next year so i crammed it all into the one year. One of the things it taught me was that art theory as taught at that University was remarkably more detailed than what I had studied.
After that I fell into a crowd that didnt like my ‘arty-farty’ side and for many years on a Sunday afternoon merging into late night ridiculed my politics too .. so much so that i was the first to volunteer to go down the pub to get new art supplies. I did find artistic friends though – including Marie who gave me glowing accounts of MONA.
Of course while they are trying to piss of art academics if they can be taken for their world, they also create a type of mumbo-jumbo that can hurt brains not used to it. The question of what is at the heart of art, why it is an urge and a pleasure, is given free play to these four highly talented and motivated men to choose what they deem as important art.
Meeting a friend at the coffee shop in the Royal Society of Art in London, a young man with a ring in his nose plonked himself down at the table next to us and started clicking his youth membership card on the table which started off a conversation with him and my Londoner friend who had a different membership card. I mentioned how Instagram shows that art can be shared for free, that everyone is an artist. They both disagreed with that speculation, in that art must be kept valuable. From that conversation I was able to find this guy’s art exhibition where he was selling art. I’d love to sell art ! My own way of dealing with the value of expression is to keep all my internet activities separate from each other so that most people have no idea of other pages that i have. I do this to avoid old friends thinking I’m up myself, mostly; or embarassing friends I’ve known for a shorter time.
Also in this day and age we are allowed to take photographs of artworks; just cant flash at them. I’ve made slides of the ones that i also took the details of; one of the underlying reason for me making this is to learn how to do blogs, use creative cloud tools properly (a large and endearing project), and generally get back into the workforce.
By the way studying Art History gave me the shivers as I found it totally elitist and was horrified that i was expected to understand french extentialism as it was apparently at the heart of modern art.
Edward Collier is one of the ways this artist’s name is spelt. The Letter Rack is one of several of such paintings; so much so that Dror Wahrman has written a book about them ( Mr. Collier’s Letter Racks: A Tale Of Art and Illusion at the Threshold of The Modern Information Age, Oxford University Press, 2012 ). A google search brings up many if you are so inclined, as do sites such as Pubhist. This particular Letter Rack is on loan from the Art Gallery of South Australia … another reminder of my masters by coursework as curatorship was the only real career-orientated subject offered … which i didnt do.
I love this probably because of the music, the chiaroscuro, the daily mess of homes and activity and finding things … as i typed that a bird arrived on the balcony edge rather noisilly announcing himself; then flew off.
Suransundaris .. such statues always remind me of old friend Fifi LAmour telling me about when she accompanied her documentary-making father to India for a year after finishing school. They were outside a temple and a man came rushing up to her; ‘We’ve been waiting for you to return’ he exclaimed, probably profusely bowing down; ‘You’re the reincarnation of our goddess’. She was given a full tour of a complete tantric temple; and I always remember this story when i see any ancient Indian Statues. BlessU Feef x.
Raoul François Larche : I cant read where this is borrowed from; there is one in MOMA’s collection and in the NGA’s where it is designated as a lampshade base in gilded bronze. The freedom of such dancing is catchy; it was with somewhat amusement that I realised recently that although I feel dancing is part of me, I wasnt a dancer as such although I felt i was in my bones. Art Nouveau still strikes a chord in many people. Larche apparently also made statues of religious figures as well as partially draped and nude women. The combination of the impression of gold and freedom of expression is paramount as well as its beauty. There is film available of Loie Fuller dancing on youtube.
Kantharos .. my photos belie the importance and beauty of these objects, but as i was travelling and couldnt afford more weight to lug around despite anything else, i took some pictures … also to amuse and remind myself as i was alone. This particular old object reminded me straight away of a friend I’d only recently made back contact with since we had worked together in the 1980s; Helen, who comes from Greece originally, and has happiness in her soul despite everything. I couldnt get over seeing something like this up close… it’s beautiful. Many examples from this period have apparently been reworked.
Yanagawa Shigenobu .. Japanese Art was one of my subjects in my MA although I barely touched the surface. This is hopefully a pretty obscure photo. Our lecturer took great delight in the tutorial about this element of Japanese woodblock print. A delight of this little project is finding out just how much of art collections are online, and just how much Japanese Art is included in the collection of The Art Gallery of South Australia.
Takashi Murakami is obviously a lot of fun and very relevant. This artwork is purposely only shown part of here. There are lots of videos available; this one where he explains Otaku; and how with this particular artwork that has no specific meaning, relating to Warhol’s Lonesome Cowboy, he wished to combine the influences of Japanese PostWar Art with Otaku. In our society it’s a bit like ‘how is he allowed to do that’ but he did and has and it’s lol exceptional. Apparently he originally trained in Nihonga. Definitely an artist to learn more about !
Yayoi Kusama – must say i didnt understand this but noticed that it was generating a lot of interest and enthusiasm; people were captivated by it. It reminded me of Infinity at the Gold Coast which is probably a derivative of it. I was reminded of it when some facebook friends were discussing an exhibition of her work at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC which is so popular one is only allowed a few seconds in each exhibit; and I remembered this immediately.
Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi .. I loved this … based on weaving of coconut fibres. It reminded me of the Aboriginal Memorial at NGA and of recently art gallery visits where famous priceless artworks were painted on boards nailed together.
Faig Ahmed has his own page where is work is described in his biography. I found it pretty confronting in a good way in that ‘what a waste of a carpet’ interweaved with ‘gosh in this day and age cultures are getting lost’ sort of feeling. The Jameel Arts Centre will open in 2018 in Dubai.
Fertility Figure .. what seems to be lapels of a coat could actually be stick arms across the body with only nipples evident. Havent been able to find any more about this little figure ( until i find the catalogue in a library ) which seems to have been on loan to or from the Ian Potter Museum of Art University of Melbourne.
Marian Ellis Rowan rang a bell inside my memory about some of her work at Kew Gardens and while i may be mixing her up with someone else, her paintings of New Guinea plants are treasured by them. It is named after Princes Stephanie of Belgium after being discovered by Carl Hunstein in 1884.
Mask of Xipe Totec is from the British Museum and is carved on the other side creating criticism of authenticity amongst some scholars putting it and another mask of Xipe Totec in lava under scrutiny
Dr Seuss has his own webpage, facebook page and art gallery in Chicago. Seuss worked with Judge magazine from 1927, creating covers, before his children’s book characters. Judge was one of the magazines he worked on.
There are many images of this exhibition available and there are still two days left of it (ends Easter Monday 2017).
It’s been a month now, since I left Sydney; four Mondays ago.
That Monday, I’d woken up early in a hotel room in Central. It reminds me now of the night I stayed in Central before I went down to Melbourne to the Bowie Symposium. That in turn reminded me of decades before when a friend had lived in a tiny turret which i could see from that window.
(pic of Central from 2015)
This time, I explored a Central side that has grown up since old factories and breweries have become high-rise fabulous apartments, winning awards.
I was staying in a hotel so that i could leave my luggage there when I handed back my key for the little studio apartment that I had rented for over a year.
I also rented a storage unit as I had too much for one little room and in the last weeks I moved as much as possible into it but still had room for my birthday cards and we had fun at Timbah on the day.
Exploring Central was a lot of fun including finding a ping pong shop.
So in the morning of that Monday I woke up, packed my bags, went back to the rental, packed up everything that was left in bags I had bought at the central Daiso shop, took the keys back to the Real Estate, went back to the hotel, had a shower, left the hotel and went to the Airport; I was exhausted so i made sure i had two gos of a massage chair when i found it.
I went and sat at the gate where the plane would take me to … Hobart.
The flight was all very well and on arrival I waited for my case where there was a seal statue on the move-a-lator to show us when one whole round was complete. I took the airport shuttle bus which went a very roundabout route which gave me my first ever look of the city. One of the stops before mine was Wrest Point Casino.
The first two nights I had booked at Hadley’s which is one of the oldest hotels in Hobart and a favourite of my friend Marie.
I was absolutely exhausted as well as having a cold/flu and after my sister Ek had texted that no Errol Flynn’s ghost wasnt at Hadley’s Hotel he had died in America; I fell asleep with Rage on ( a Monday night what’s more ! ).
Shortly I’ll be able to visit MONA for free as a tassie-an I presume.
As for now, I purchased a ‘posh-pit’ ticket, still fragile from a cold and realised while it was now Thursday, Monday was still only days back
We’d meant to make MOFO in January until other things prioritised – i guess i need to make the next blog entry about friends alcohol-love .. yet ‘something happened’
I needed to know about this dude Marie had told me about who afforded the whole place through gambling, so early in the morning before dawn i read about him by Richard Flanagan in The Monthly … which got me reading another article that came up just now in searching for it; by Amanda Lohrey, which mentions DW’s autobiography A Bone of Fact (Picador; $55). I read the latter article instinctively as I’d earlier read – probably after MONA visit, her article “Tasmania Got Gamed” reviewing James Boyce’s book Lucky Streak ( i’d nearly gone to a book opening Tuesday but was coughing etc madly ) which now means i need to subscribe to read more Monthly. Some point in all that I read Richard Flanagan from December 2015 in The Mercury’s Talking Point …
Yet Mark Opitz’s Sophisto-Punk (2012), ‘as told to Luke Wallis and Jeff Jenkins’ calls; as does Jesse Fink’s The Youngs (2013) about ACDC .. both sourced from a bargain bin at the central Post Office yet even for that price they came into the right hands… mine x : one of them has already thanked me
I foregoed the canapes of the posh pit on the way back to sit at the front slightly corresponding with the gent that had been on the left side on the way over .. the breeze was gentle and velvet and the rain had gone just leaving its trails … taking my orange juice glass back as i disembarkt
While I cant remember exactly where i read ‘he was a cicada of a man’ or some such, which i really enjoyed, when i searched for it I found the cicada puzzle
Icehouse tomorrow – first time in about thirty years ! Might as well read the day away before it as the present pile of books is getting bigger and also the local newsagent might have the current Monthly lol
While I actively social media-rised with Bowie fans after the shock of 9/11 woke me up to that was where they were living, and I read his published reaction, my years of total Bowie worship were only remembered by relatives laffing at a aunt’s 90th birthday about how i couldnt talk about anything else; and the social media put me in the situation of reading how others were in the same boat.
Then he died; creating an art-form of it. I’d already moved back to the city due to the effect of the Bowie Melbourne Symposium; but was horrified looking from the outside at the extent of alcohol love amongst my friends.
So I’ve just left the rental where I got the phone call; SMA told me to sit down; i said i dont need to you’re going to tell me either a nuclear bom has hit Pari or Bowie died. I’d already run home from after watchin the Lazarus video on pub wifi with headphones on, freaked out as instead of him looking at a pen, I’d visualised a junkie hitting the needle to get the air out; but at home lisnin to the music it enveloped me in sound magic.
I’m off the mainland; surrounded by ‘evergreens’ and seemingly looking back on fifty years in a place i never wanted to be, living a life accordingly; full of now-learnt ‘grace’.
( re-starting blog; these first two posts are from a while back )
I wrote this nearly two years ago .. slightly edited ...
The July 2015 Melbourne Symposium The Stardom and Celebrity of David Bowie, somewhat carries on from the October 2012 University of Limerick’s Strange Fascination? A Symposium on David Bowie from which David Bowie: Critical Perspectives (Routledge Studies in Popular Music, 2015) emerged. Presenting a paper at both, Ian Chapman and Sam Coley provide a lighthearted experience of the first, which sounds similar to the mood of Melbourne.
They had a vox pop or similarly monikered; where we faced a camera and spoke of our Bowie experience; and to finish into a sentence “Bowie is..” I looked into the camera and said Bowie is still alive.. and so am I … it was a joke at the time
Limerick [symposium] and the V&A Show began (or were begat) before his return to commercial recording embellished upon us in January 2013. Forty years before that, many of us were encroaching upon our adult self, admonishing its relevance to subservience, and imagining we would change this and the spacemen would come [in 2012]. Bowie, Pink Floyd, Stones, Cat Stevens, Moody Blues; all of them made life worth living.
Before attending the Melbourne Symposium – a partnership between ACMI, The University of Melbourne, Deakin University and with the support of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation – I’d read the hardcover Orange catalog book Bowie Is, also full of essays. Reading it in tandem with Moonage Daydream (Rock/Bowie, 2002) seemed apt, as both books rely heavily on the accompanying photographs yet have crucial written evidence of the Bowie phenomenon and history.
( I’d done the research due to being chosen to attend the press showing to write a review for davidbowienews website)
I struggled with the idea of intellectualising Bowie but dutifully summarised the Orange Book, shuffling between stories and picture albums until I came to Camille Paglia where i nearly gave up. While pressing the point is important the reader can disengage when being told why an artist does something when there is no obvious contact with the artist themselves. Paglia makes sure we set Bowie’s androgynous look in within influences such as early Kathryn Hepburn early on; the 1968 movie Queen, Vince Taylor, and many of the ‘other’ forms of androgyny such as the 1931 August Sander Secretary photograph. She reminds us of the 1932 film Freaks as similar to the background of the Diamond Dogs cover. She talks about his physical attractiveness.
One aspect of the larger than life footage of the Bowie Is exhibition, is that it sets us free from the ‘gazely stare’ in that it is not possible in such a social environment to believe that that wink, that all-encompassing I-want-you charismatic invitation is for yours truly. Bowie’s photographs show a mastery and ease with the camera encapsulate that sense of him sharing an intimate moment with us yet in reality he is in love with the camera or at the very least sharing an infinity with it, and a professional understanding with the photographer of the genius they were creating.
Yet the extent of his fanship and the way it has changed over the years is evident in facebook post David Bowie Is Mistaken .. there was no public internet in 1973 and even the comments on this post show the extent of fanship today.
(so much has happened {since his absence} since i wrote this; yet with distance I’m aggrieved at his suffering and feelings of desolation; at other’s suffering and desolation that he’s disappeared)
Then you see a letter from the late seventies where he suggested a fan read Julian James’ The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (1976, 2000).
(Their level of intelligence isnt often publicist’s main concern in creating rock stars; after all Brian Cox was one once)
This intellectual approach towards a rock star ( or ‘rock god’ in his words as quoted by Ricky Gervais ) isn’t what many of us expect however in academic circles it’s undoubtedly exciting to write, research and teach on such a topic. From these readings I began to see his use of collaboration and inspiration, not to prop up his own misgivings about his talents but to create an altogether more interesting phenomenon, was the most vital part of his success.
So many light-bulbs flashed during reading the catalog and listening to the symposium talks. Yet overriding most of it, was the camaraderie and joy of like-minded people, as if someone had spread bliss amongst us. It was obvious amongst many of the speakers as well as the audience. Even at the press call.
My real “Bowie” obsession was in the late 70s and early 80s; about six entire years thinking of nothing else. There’s a mob of us who ‘left’ him, some at Let’s Dance, some very shortly after. I came back in 2003; home-computerless at the time, I spent an hour every day at the internet cafe listening to Bowie Radio on his website, re-introducing myself to his songs and acquainting myself with Bnetters, who had even had special shows put on just for them.
Lindsay Kemp’s Flowers created big waves in Australia from 1975. The atmosphere was created immediately you arrived on the steps of the New Arts Cinema in inner-Sydney Glebe by trumpeter, incense, colour, smoke. As one walked through the foyer becoming more entranced with each step. It was a big moment in Sydney. While it was based on Jean Genet’s Lady of the Flowers, the pure eroticism of taut men clad in not much at all, covered all-over in white theatre paint with made-up faces, writhing on 3 layered platforms of scaffolding symmetrically on each side of the stage to overpoweringly excellent music and lighting was just the start. It is hard remembering details because we invariably went stoned.
It wasnt as if Australia had no theatre or stars. Dame Edna can attest to that. So can Reg Livermore. They both created themselves. The documentary Brilliant Creatures by Howard Jacobsen, 2014 concentrates on the impact that Barry Humphries, Germaine Greer, Clive James and Robert Hughes had on the cultural revolution in the 1960s … in Britain. And that’s just four of them.
In one of Lindsay’s dance classes during his first Australian tour he mentioned that he cant turn everyone into a David Bowie. Music was all important to all of us, especially after the early 1970s. We were young. We were also involved in a magic group with further debauched influences and indeed Bowie’s “Cygnet Committee” (as well as ) was one of the enabling points of realisation to get out of it. Much emphasis had been made within that group regarding Bowie’s referencing ‘Kether to Malkuth’ on Station to Station. This was many years before Madonna, in 1996, publicised her Kabbalah teachings. in an online article, quoting from Bebergal’s book…
“The theater of rock began long ago: in the smoky UFO Club when Arthur Brown wore his flaming helmet, when Hawkwind hypnotized their fans with lights, when Bowie came onstage not as himself but as a crash-landed Ziggy.” Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll, Peter Bebergal, 2014
( these first two posts were drafts when i decided to activate this blog )
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