Mango Smoothie

I have heard January in Sydney described as a month long party and, if you are privileged enough, I suppose that is true. School children are on  holidays and the relaxed attitudes start with Christmas. Boxing day and New Year holidays follow and then there is Australia day only three weeks later. It is the time of year that many businesses close so it can be hard to see a doctor or get a tradesman or eat at a favourite restaurant. The days after New Year sometimes feel just a little bit apocalyptic and everything slowly gains momentum  as the month passes.
All of this is reflected in the activities of my church. There was no service on New Years Day, things resumed with a poorly attended service on the 8th and the coffee lady (that's me) decided to serve cold lemon cordial instead of coffee.Today our minister is back on deck after a couple of weeks off and she corralled a few of us to get Christmas decorations put away.
It's a very hot and unpleasant 40°C today so she offered to buy us all a drink as thank you.
I'm usually a coffee drinker but today my head was turned by the promising sound of a coconut and mango smoothie. In my heat addled state I imagined it to be coconut milk with mango. The drink I ended up with was delicious but obviously highly sweetened and containing very little coconut. It also came in a single use plastic cup. I do my best to stay away from sugary drinks and single use plastics so there was a side of guilt involved.
Right now i'm wondering if this confessional post would qualify as "Daggy Mum" fodder. Maybe I should have just made my own coconut mango smoothie and posted photos.

It's nearly One am....In The Morning

and yes, the "in the morning" is redundant, that's why i put it there! i'm relaxed and chatty and thought i would do a post regardless of the hour.

I finished my Christmas food shopping today, spent a minor fortune in my favourite fruit market come deli. I have become so caught up in silliness that i havent been to that shop in a very long time and i wonder why on earth not. It's a fantasia of good, honest stuff: vegetables and cheeses and biscuits and pasta......
we have a box of my favourite mangoes: calypso; we have halloumi and feta and peaches to grill with brown sugar, we have mushrooms and zucchini, potatoes to roast, broccoli and asparagus. we have turkey and camembert and the makings of punch.

we also have my katten, oscar, soon to be mum & dad's cat. she will provide Christmas-day-pouncing-on -wrapping-paper entertainment. i rescued oscar as a two week old kitten, crying and drenched on a rainy day, no mama in sight. she nearly died of flea anaemia and cost me another minor fortune but she is now seven weeks, doubled her weight, behaving like a cat and worth it? you bet!

i have gifts for all but my wee nephew, as a male he is already impossible to buy for, even at the age of three and the local toy store has closed it's doors. there would have been something there for him but now there is a scourge of the earth dollar store.

i seem to have left the grinch behind, which is easy really, when one is blessed as i am. the greatest gift for me in this season of gifts is the knowledge that the universe truly is unfolding as it should. i dont always like it but who likes whats good for them?

i thank you for keeping on reading and commenting, even when i rudely neglect to reply. i cant explain why i do that except to say that life has taken on a different rhythm lately and a girl has to roll with the punches.

thank you, thank you, thank you for your input to my blog and my life. i wish you joy today and enough other days to make the crummy ones worth fighting through.


" The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness the prisoners" Isaiah 61:1

From a commercial point of view, if Christmas did not exist it would be necessary to invent it. ~Katharine Whitehorn

I am feeling particularly grinch-like right about now.

The proliferation of Christian imagery that is to be seen in society at this time bothers people who dont relate to it and I am disappointed that anything related to my faith bothers anyone else. I feel the same about that as I do about the stolen generations; that is that I have no personal responsibility for the issue but as part of the group which caused the offence I wish things were different.

I also have an enormous problem with the K mart wishing tree. People buy things (probably from K mart) and put them under the tree for an under privileged child and their motives are honorable but K mart or whichever retailer the gift is purchased from are raking in the profit from the good intentions of the populace, a populace who are already handing their hard earned to the retailers at an alarming rate. The gifts are not targeted, who knows whether there are more Barbie dolls given than girls to play with them (and yes, boys can play with Barbie if they wish but realistically most people wouldn't give Barbie to a boy) there may be too many gifts for 5 year olds and nowhere near enough for ten year olds. It's just a logistical nightmare which encourages waste.

Then there are the gift catalogues where you buy a goat in a developing nation and give a postcard featuring the goat to your intended gift recipient. Dont bother doing that for me, please! If you want to give me something for my own pleasure I will be very grateful to receive it and if you would rather give someone a goat by all means give them a goat but please dont give me the picture of the goat and pretend it's a gift for me because it's not. If you want to make a stand against the commercialism of the season I will support you all the way but giving pictures of goats (or chickens, toilets, taps or sewing machines) is the cowards way.

As a Christian it is a struggle to find a meaningful spiritual message for the season because it is so easy to get caught in the rush of parties and carolling and gift buying and turkey and ham and decorations......

So I am left with the question of how best to remember and celebrate the birth of history's greatest lover?

Reluctantly I have to say the first step would have to be giving up on the grinch.

the people that you meet

i was a different kylie in america, i was the one who would start a conversation just to see what happened, i didnt do it a whole lot of times but enough to come away with a memory or two.

the very first american i met was in fiji. he was the guy allocated the seat next to mine on the plane and hot is not the word. he. was. beautiful. he was too young and too pretty and i was not yet into american kylie mode so i wouldnt have talked to him but he did to me. he bounced onto the plane, said hello, discussed australia, told me about his graduation surfing trip to fiji and his promising career as a lawyer, complained he was hot....my suggestion that he take his shirt off fell on deaf ears. you can but try.

the guy at immigration had a sign on his booth declaring him to be the "face of america". grumpy face it was, too. i wish him a whole load of incoming tourists who dont give him great finger prints and i hope he gets arthritis getting out of his chair to get the right results from every single one. i hope he feels like a yo-yo.

the stand-out person i didnt meet was the one in arkansas who paid for my afternoon snack with bindi's kids. no sopapilla and punch will ever again be so sweet and it wasnt about the money.

ex-junkie brooklyn boy joseph (not joe) who "fell in love with me" on the train to LA was an experience not to be missed. joe had given away all his earthly possessions and was going to live in mexico. i wish him the best even though he begged my food and sloshed hand sanitiser all over the carriage.

also on the train was the ukelele playing canteen attendant who looked like adonis and gave me hot chocolate "on amtrak" i love saying amtrak, i need more excuses to work that in here......

the last "character" i met was an australian woman returning from a US holiday, she wanted me to babysit her through the airport and we were due to catch the same flight home. i dont know whether it was the "few wines" she'd had or just general stupidity but she was going to be a challenge, she managed to embarass me three times in the space of about ten minutes so when i was moved to a direct flight i was happy to leave her at the counter, arguing over her luggage allowance. she is probably still there.

proof there is a god!

USA 4

kylie & brian (csi seattle)

from bottom left: leah, zack, megan, dana, kylie, brian

well, i've been to arkansas and i saw squirrels! i saw hummingbirds in california so thats two new animals...
actually theres all kinds of animals in arrrrkansas and one of them did that classic random acts of kindness thing by paying for my stuff in a restaurant. what a blast that was! maybe southern hospitality is a real thing, huh?
went to clinton library for a flying visit and tried to teach bindi to leave a teeny bit more room when she changes lanes.
before my flight out of little rock yesterday i went through security twice, lost my belt & bracelet the first time, had the dude feel his way through my bag and swab it for drugs the secont tahme. lord, bless 'is little hearrrt.
the flight was looong, first to atlanta then over 2000km to LA. leah picked me up from the airport and was totally cool about it even though i suspect it was an enormous hassle
and then the big meet up :) :) :)
we sat on megans balcony for a long time and i opened all my aussie sweets. musk sticks seemed to be a winner and strawberries and creams were dubbed "bloody nipples" sounds like a cocktail.
we went to a bar for dinner, where the hilarity continued and the waitress drooled over one member of our party, mr Z discussed his shoe not-fetish, child raising styles were discussed, sport was watched, lemon drops were had......
came back to m egs place to get me a sweater and forgot to leave again as we discussed naked tennis and national donut day and boobs.
i dunno what is in store for today but i think it will be good

USA 3 : with friends like i have who needs enemies

i cant post pictures until i get home to the right hardware but for now, for your entertainment i'll show you the ones that other people have posted on facebook

USA 1

it's sunday morning, sunny with a crisp breeze and i arrived in the grand ol' USA about a day ago. i arrived at the airport to find that my phone which was supposed to be on roaming wasnt at all and if there was a problem finding megan i wasnt sure what i would do but next thing a woman went dashing past and i caught just enough of a glimpse to think her face might match up with the photos i knew so i put on my loud kylie voice "MEGAN??"
yep, it was her!
we went and got me a laptop and had dinner at the pub across the road. i had a hot dog the likes of which i've never had in my life and hung out watching "too big to fail" i was pretty sleepy by then and didnt register much but it worked out great cos i got a full 8hours sleep and jet lag just doesnt seem to exist for me (touch wood)
today we're off to laguna beach .....
back later :)

unexpected outcomes

well, the benefits of the big trip have started and i havent even left yet. or maybe it's not a benefit...i've been trying (trying IS the operative word) to stockpike australian candy to take to sweet toothed friends stateside. i buy two packs, eat one, go to the shops again, buy two more, eat more, decide to buy more, settle and then decide it's nowhere near enough. can anybody ever have enough candy? really?

i was here googling images of sweets so i could put a post together and i saw some creative ways to use musk sticks. who would have thought of cutting them into pieces to decorate cup cakes? even more clever was the picture where they used a musk stick as the holder for a meringue "lollypop"

and the pictures of cherry ripe were surrounded by pictures of cherry ripe slice...if i was feeling creative i could try making that for the gang but then again, if i was feeling creative a pavlova would be the thing to make, wouldnt it? i feel a job coming on......

time for an update

finally summer has well & truly arrived in sydney. it's muggy on top of humid, it's hot, my first born had his birthday, work is gearing up after holidays and kids are considering their imminent return to school. the sydney festival is in full swing with many, many events happening. the cornerstone of the festival is the series of free concerts in the domain, a large park in the centre of the city.

last week i went to "festival first night" where a number of stages are set up around the city, roads are closed to create a pedestrian precinct and the whole city comes alive.

last night i took the mob to "summer sounds" previously called "jazz in the domain".

there was a local mariachi band sweltering in fab costumes and then los lobos. i still couldnt get keaghan to stay still but look at the smile, you dont impress the kid easily and he is already giving me instructions for next year so i guess he liked it!

the crowd stretches to the edges of the park in every direction and by the end of the night there was barely one who wasnt up and dancing. the sea breeze was a welcome relief from the oppressive humidity, the atmosphere was buzzing, we had cheese and chocolate.....

the two coolest kids on the planet are excited even before we get on the train and mr sixteen is sweet even in the face of mum having a tantrum about trackwork & last minute changes of mind

maybe i'll join the fray for the symphony next week!

beach bums

i love the beach but i dont take every opportunity to go. you see, walking on sand with my particular brand of dodgy ankles is a special exercise in concentration and persistence, especially when i'm cold out of the water. wearing shoes seems so unsexy compared to barefeet or flip flops, having to ask my kids to assist me into and out of the water takes humility i sometimes would rather not develop. then there are the times my drive for independence means i decide to exit the water unassisted and i end up staggering through the shallows where proud parents play with toddlers and there is no chance of being inconspicuous. i will probably fall and drag myself ungraciously to my feet only to fall again. if i can overcome my pride enough to ignore these things i adore the water, i love having beach hair, i love the post-beach-scratchy skin, i love the people watching and the sea breeze and the colours of the sea & sky. today it was with just a touch of trepidation that i took the kids and headed for coogee, cant remember the last time i might have been there... and i loved it the moment i got there. i loved the vibrant atmosphere, the sea breeze, the salty air. i loved watching kids play in the showers, i marvelled at baby faced policemen, i was reminded of the hilarious incongruity of toddlers showering naked except for sandals and i played games imaging the lives of passers by... i didnt swim, the surf was rough and i didnt want to make all that effort just to take a pounding but it was all good and a little wander taught me that there are ocean baths at one end of the beach, that might be just the thing for me to do another day! on the trip home i decided that a little refreshment was in order and we stopped at a cafe i have often wondered about, the pool cafe. we had milkshakes and iced coffee, the view was divine, the sea breeze coming through the open windows was lovely, the drinks were good and the food looked excellent. a return visit is on my to do list!

link here for a Charcot-marie-tooth fact sheet

the scenery as promised

amazing texture on this old banksia

love the colour in the bark

dont see many of these any more

"the castle" is an institution

An overcast afternoon

We took a little trip out this afternoon and went to a local park. There were no end of disappointments starting when the fish & chip shop where i planned to get lunch was closed. Ne'er mind, instead of rushing by the indian grocery we stopped in and grabbed some roti canai, it's a real treat. We couldn't have roti for lunch but it came home to become dessert tonight.
We picked up some fried chicken instead of fish & chips and headed to the park.

There was sand writing.......

Whatever I did wrong with the camera produced an accidentally arty, grainy, bleak kind of a shot, appropriate to the light & dark nature of the subject ......

Art imitates life with goofy there......

The dare devils were in form......

I had no end of trouble uploading these so I'll leave you with this brief view of the wildlife and maybe tomorrow i'll have better luck with the scenery!

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.

this Christmas i'm tired of the rigmarole. i'm a little tired of carols, i'm very tired of rampant consumerism, i'm tired of obligations and crowds and cards and wrapping.
i see no point in gift boxed soaps and enormous candles and Christmas earrings and reindeer antlers for cars. i see no point in giving the wrong thing, even with the best intentions.
we have here one lone tree but everything else is chaos as usual. even Chrismas feasting is failing to get much excitement from me.
as i wade through the traditions and the busyness feeling like the grinch i try to keep my spiritual eyes and ears open for deeper meaning. i know the story of the Christ child, the Messiah. i know what His coming meant for humanity. i know what it's all about but what does it mean for me? today?
it is strange that the shortest church service of the year will be Christmas day. if any day is the day for prolonged worship, Christmas would be it but instead we schedule a short service so we can rush home to family and presents and bacchanalian feasting.
even among the Christians the Christchild has made way for consumerism.....

so while the pressures of the season annoy me, while the loss of focus dismays me, as unrealistic expectations of joy and universal peace set us all up for failure it is for me to find joy, real joy and to create meaning. it is my job to teach my children that the birth of a baby two thousand years ago should not be an excuse to clutter the planet or our homes or our minds and spirits with junk.

Jesus was first a refugee, later an itinerant preacher. he was a nobody who had nothing but he changes lives yet. thats something to aspire to.

to all of my blog buddies, whether you celebrate or whether you dont, i know that you cant avoid the season so i wish you joy and peace and just enough grinchiness to make sure that the important isnt lost in the urgent.

lots of love

k

an epitaph

liam took a particular interest in the poetry on some gravestones, sitting side-by-side and with the same inscription. his interest was sufficient that he turned me from my imminent departure and helped me to the other side of the cemetery so that we could try to figure out what it said. the boy wants to read poetry!
the first was easier to read but had only part of the verse inscribed. it was a privilege to uncover the remaining verse on our return home

Pass a few swiftly-fleeting years,

And all that now in bodies live

Shall quit, like me, the vale of tears,

Their righteous sentence to receive.

But all, before they hence remove,

May mansions for themselves prepare

In that eternal house above;

And, O my God, shall I be there?

Sepia Saturday at Wiseman's Ferry Cemetery

for those who dont usually stop by here, i'm telling the story of a wee trip i took with the young 'uns last week, which included a little exploration in family history.



we spent an enjoyable hour or so wandering the cemetery at wiseman's ferry. the sun shone, the river glistened and birds sung.....

despite dad's best efforts to educate me, the early history of the jurd family in australia is a jumble of names in my mind so when we found the grave of william douglass i knew it meant something but what, exactly?


well, william douglass was the papa of elizabeth, who married the first jurd in australia, daniel.

"The Jurd Dynasty in Australia began with the marriage of Daniel Jurd and
Elizabeth Douglas at St Matthews Church of England, Windsor on 28 September
1812. Daniel was born in England around 1778, was a chimney sweep in London and
was convicted at the Old Bailey of stealing 20lbs of bacon. His accomplice was
Samuel French. They were transported for 7 years. Daniel arrived on 4 August
1802 aboard the Perseus. Elizabeth was the daughter of William Douglas and Mary
Groves, two First Fleet Convicts.
Daniel & Elizabeth settled in Pitt Town. They had 9 children, 6 boys and 3 girls. Daniel received a land grant in the Macdonald Valley and this was first worked by his eldest son, and first child John, who married Mary Ann Fleming. Daniel died in August 1833, just 7 months after the birth of his youngest child, Joseph."

Hawkesbury Family History Group

this week, as i have started to picture these people they have started to become shadowy figures rather than just names. william was transported at just 16, he outlived his son-in-law by many years, elizabeth raised a new baby as a widow.......

i wonder how they felt about their place in history?

did they see themselves as pioneers or just as convicts? as people fortunate to be out of the grime and poverty of their english lives or as outcasts in a wild land ?

sepia saturday participants are listed at the sepia saturday blog, pay them a visit!

Pitt Town

the first little stop on our trip was a hamlet called pitt town. it is an historical village and significant to my family's earliest days in australia. significant to the early days of the colony, in fact.
my main point in this post though, is to say that i was delighted to see the kids excited by things like the architectural details on these churches

and the hand made old style pews in this one
(i'm sure there were old style pews in both but we didnt go past the gate of the second)

i think brain fog has stopped me from picking out the best pictures here, but that gives me an excuse to post again, right?

thanks to liam for his photography

post #500

the vehicular ferry across the hawkesbury at wiseman's ferry

i'm just back from a three day roadtrip with the kidlets. we had a good time and the experience was full of lessons

• the shops in tiny towns can't be relied on to stay open until their advertised closing time


• nor can they be relied on to open at the advertised time


• dont expect to travel in a westerly direction on a winter afternoon, if you do, dont expect to enjoy it


• roadside barbecue areas are a great invention, must make better use of them

i also remembered how much i love to drive

the diary ends

ipoh town hall

our last full day in malaysia begins with yum cha in ipoh. as we drive i admire some of the colonial architecture and the kids laugh. shopping is suggested and having enjoyed a thai massage a couple of days back i see my chance for another and request a visit to the same shopping centre. my foot is a little bit troublesome so i try to sit quietly as everyone shops. liam acquires a wallet and a shirt, the girls buy some girly knick knacks and keaghan fancies a tee shirt. i am briefly but seriously tempted by a net book.

we go home to shower and change before a farewell dinner with the family. the seafood menu doesn't impress the girls and all attempts are made to please them. we start with a chinese new year specialty: noodles, coriander, ginger, cucumber, pomelo and a few thin slices of raw fish are placed in little piles on a platter, plum sauce is poured over and everybody stands together and uses their chopsticks to toss the ingredients together. that is followed by some delicious tofu, fried rice, stir fried veggies and a whole steamed chicken.

after dinner the night passes painfully. i have the worst insomnia i have ever experienced. my mind wont stop and i try to slow it but cant. at 3am i nearly jump out of my skin when the phone rings. the bus driver wants to know why we arent on the bus to kuala lumpur. we had planned on taking the 3Pm bus. i toss and turn a couple more hours and drift into delicious sleepy peace at sunrise. a few short hours of sleep are interrupted as family come to report to me on what is happening and a new booking for the bus is organised.

i want my last malaysian restoran beakfast and we go to get it. i am interested to see that as new year celebrations come to their end the customers at breakfast consist less of noisy family groups and the usual routine is returning. one man in dirty work clothes lingers over a pot of tea, there is a young man from the tyre service opposite and a young woman sipping coffee.

my dream for this breakfast was to have watermelon juice but in my state of numb tiredness hot, sweet coffee becomes my choice. for genuine sustenance i order a new discovery, a wonderful bright green soupy concoction called lo char (?)

we head home to some last minute packing, share lunch and go to catch the bus. the trip home is gruelling but uneventful and soon we are back to our normal lives. until next time malaysia will be an other reality mirage.

the diary 8

todays post follows from yesterdays......

i think of my sister-in-law who i accompanied to church this morning and i wonder how she reconciles it all. the celebration is part of her culture but it is also part of a religion she no longer wants.

liam, who is finding it difficult to deal with having no control over, or even prior knowledge of, his schedule, take a look at the party, asks what it's about and makes a hasty exit. i consider talking to him about respect for his heritage but i know that his father's culture is not his and my words would be hollow so i also retreat.

tonights fireworks are all about noise, the party has only just begun and it is well past midnight. it looks like a long night ahead.

the day after the party suckling pig is on the breakfast table along with the gruesome, crispy, brown skinned duck head and i wish for raisin toast or fruit & yoghurt.

after a long, late night nobody can focus on the school work that we brought with us and my temper wears delicately thin so we give in and watch a movie instead.

the diary 7

tonight, a week into the new year, there is a party centred around an abundant offering table. there are two suckling pigs, duck, chicken, buns, pomelo, nectarines, bananas, grapes, sticky rice, jelly, sugar cane and cognac. there are three candles that stand a metre tall and there are incense sticks and pretend money to be burnt.

my husband seems unable to explain the exact meaning of this event except to say it is part of the new year celebrations and that festivities will end on a muted note in another weeks time. compared to our one day holiday for new year a week of public holidays plus another week of celebration seems a lot and i muse that sometime, somewhere somebody was mighty glad to see the back of the old year.