Hi Filmer!
Great to hear from you. All goes well down under but up and over, we heard from Chloe, last week, when still in Darwin, that Mom had suffered a heart attack. As of this writing, she is still alive and fighting. Haven't heard from Chloe lately so I assume this is the case. Michele went with her to visit Mom a day or so ago. We decided to continue with our trip, as originally planned, once we had talked to Chloe and knew she was confident to be able to deal with Mom's death, should that occur, while we were still away. As I'm sure you can appreciate, we felt that since she really wouldn't know us even if we were at her bedside, being there was not an over-riding issue. Of course, we do hope that she will recover and be there when were are back. We fly to Sydney this coming Thursday, overnight there and then leave for Japan on May 11th, arriving May 12th. Back to Vancouver on May 31st.
Trust everyone is well. Thanks for song. Will listen to it as soon as other lazy-bones wake up. I was out of bed at 6:00am to put a few logs on fire to take chill off the living area. Don't mind the "cold" here in Victoria at all, bit like Vancouver at the height of summer, by comparison! These Aussies need to spend a winter with The Shrink-Wrap People to understand the meaning of "cold"! They shiver when they see me in shorts at this time of year, their Fall. Cora Lee loves the electric blanket on our bed but I'm par-boiled after a few minutes! Feel like i'm in a sun-tan coccoon! Fondestos and Cheers, Cora Lee and Patrizzio!
Here follows an acccount of our last few days, should this be of passing interest:
Another lazy sleep-in today and after yummy toasted cheese/ham/tomatoe sammies for breakfast, morning papers to peruse by others as I scribed. Around 10:30am, or so, we set off for the Clunes Booktown Festival, about an hour away, to the south west, started just five years ago as one way to help revitalize the economically depressed village. Originally a thriving, wealthy, frontier gold mining town, the first in Victoria, 1850's, it is the perfect location for such an event. The extremely wide main street, Fraser Street, was closed for three or four blocks. Food kiosks, a childrens' maze, constructed from hay bales and picnic tables occupied the centre, while the books, both new and used, mainly the latter, were sold on the covered sidewalks, (omnipresent architectural feature in Australia), in cartons on tables and in the various stores or halls or otherwise empty buildings which line both sides of the street. $2 entry fee, (Kathleen just turned 60 so she asked for a Senior's Concession!) gave us a badge and a program. Almost as soon as we made our way into the Festival proper, we went our separate ways, knowing we would bump into one another at some point.
Just a wonderful time browsing the offerings. Didn't take me long to find two mysteries for the rest of the trip: Stuart MacBride's Cold Granite and Jefferson Parker's California Girl. We'd listened to Stuart at last year's VIWF and really like his books. Both of us enjoy Parker and actually read his latest shortly before leaving on this current trip. Both almost new, total cost: $5! Had to keep myself form buying a Joe Nesbo and a James Ellroy as we are at the point of risking excess baggage charges. As I was paying for my purchases, (Typically, the cashier, someone wearing a Clunes Booktown Festival Apron, simply stands near the doorway or the table in question and takes your money as you exit the building or reach the end of the display.), two teenagers came by and proceeded to interview the young man collecting money. One lad used a rolled up program as a "microphone", moving it betwen his mouth and offering it to the cashier to speak into, while his mate recorded the "interview" with his iPhone! What a delightful use of technology, silicon chip meets print, what an intelligent, insightful, witty thing to do. Good on you, mate!
Shortly after witnessing this, I bumped into Cora Lee and she recounted her own battle with restraint. Having limited herself, (Her bag has been ticketed "Heavy" on all interstate flights, although she has not been charged for the excess weight!), to two books, she bought a rather attractive grey felt, wide brimmed hat, to ease the withdrawal from Power Shopping. We agreed to meet by the maze at 1:30pm when we would go somewhere for a bit eof lunch. Next stop was upstairs, in an attractive new building, mainly given over to childrens' picture books. An illustrator, Ann James, was there and she was using a fine-tipped felt pen, of sorts, I think, to make make black and white drawings. A number of her original illustrations, and prints of same, were displayed and available for purchase. Pleasant chat with this friendly and talented artist. Under other circumstances I would have been quite happy to buy one of her works as I was certainly drawn to the choice of colours and the realization of her subjects, animals, young children and the like.
At the end of the street were a number of different booths under one large marquee, Mother Russia and Melbourne Military, specializing, as the names suggest, with respect to the former, in works by Russian authors or about Russians, art and literature, history and politics, while the latter, tomes to do with war and warfare, many, if not most, with an emphasis on Austalia's role in the conflicts discussed. I was keen to buy a copy of Lolita until I noticed it was priced at $40. Might have picked up a book on Monash but it was similarly expensive. However, what interested me even more was the booth sandwiched between the other two. Most of the stock consisted of childrens' series books, Rupert Bear, Biggles, Secret Seven and Just William, ones I was more than familair with having read them in Cyprus in the '50's. Cetainly brought back vivid, fond memories, I can tell you. After snapping a few pictures of the covers of these books, it was time to meet for lunch so I made my way to the maze.
Found the gang and we proceeded to Ecoteriea, a place with an outdoor patio and we all ordered the pumpkin, carrot and lentil soup, with Turkish bread, (GF for Cora Lee), and enjoyed it on the deck, sharing our "finds". Was just before 2:30pm by the time we'd finished eating so we agreed to meet at the National Hotel, at 3:30pm, as it had a cosy fireplace and it was starting to get chilly, dark, menacing clouds overhead, although, fortunately for the Festival and festival-goers it didn't rain, at least while we were there.
I returned to the part of the street I'd not yet walked down, returning briefly to the store where I was tickled to find, just before lunch, an entire collection of science fiction works by L. Ron Hubard of Scientology fame, snapping a couple of pics of the garish covers. Coincidentally, I'd seen a pictures of John Travolta and Tom Cruise in a celebrity mag while I was waitung for my haircut at Central Station the morning we'd flown to Melbin.) On to a storefront where a young man, Peter Stevens, from his card, had pieces of handcrafted furniture, indigenous woods, and other small pieces of woodcraft on display. I liked the coffee and end end tables, (not inexpennsive at around $800, at least for medium sized coffee tables), and lovely jewelry boxes and vase stands/trivets. A chuckle or two about the mini-double beds, complete with pillow, sheet and a blanket, with a corner turned back, intended for pets. Only $350 but how much is Maggie's or Molly's comfort worth anyway?
Next venue offered large format art books and I was taken with one, a catlogue of an exhibition, organized by the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain (Paris), from front cover, of workby Ron Mueck. I had not known his sculpture until I saw a poster for an exhibition held at the National Gallery in Ottawa, hanging in the bathroom of friends, Lynne and Peter Lighthall, who live in Naramata. (In fact, I discovered later, where else but Wikipedia, that this was the catalogue for that very exhibition!) Spent an enormously pleasant few minutes leafing through the pages and read that he was originally from Melbourne. He moved to London in the '80's and worked with Jim Henson of Muppets fame and didn't actually cross into fine art, (technically, hyperrealist sculpture), until 1996. An added bonus was a collection of early paperback crime novels, (Erle Stanley Gardner, Peter Cheyney, Kathleen Hewitt and Ian Fleming, The Diamond Smugglers, "as richly fascinating as a James Bond thriller"!), with wonderfully lurid covers and equally tough titles: Dames Don't Care, The Case of the Sulky Girl, Your Deal, My Lovely), published by Fontana Books and Great Pan. Talk about cheap pulp fiction!
Next encounter was with a lovely lady, must have been in her '80's, who had more of a garage sale than anything else. What caught my eye was a reasonably larhe collection of biscuit tins. I was drawn toone for Cadbury Chocolates so aske dher what it was worth. Couldn't believe my ears when she replied "$2"! Snapped it up and mentioned i'd have bought more, (for Rosie The Riveter for her pecan tarts!), if I'd not been travelling. Noticed an early le Carre, The Secret Pilgrim, and didn't think I'd read it so asked the price. Lady replied, "Make me an offer", so I said, by way of an answer that I wasn't sure if I'd already read book. "How about 20 cents ?" she shot back and Big Spender that I am, I gave her $1!
Next storefront held large format photographs by a local photographer, Neil Nesbitt, I believe, which captured views of Clunes, both contemporary ones as well as reworking of original, historical photographs. Some of the smaller prints were done from found negatives and in a couple of instances, glass plates. I was particualry taken with the arresting, colour shot of the soldier atop the war memorial we'd passed when first walking to the entrance to the Festival. The shot was angled up from the base, so the viewer sees the soldier from below, the sky and cloud formation in the baclkground, startling, even disturbing, brooding and threatening even though stark blue and white. Someone I bumped into in the gallery told me that the model for the figure was a soldier boy from Clunes. obviously, someone who survived the horror of the trenches. Additonally, the statue was copied to find its way across the country, reproduced in many of the town and village squares we had presumably passed in our travels, ubiquitous as these memorial monuments are. Additonally, in one of the small bins near the entrance I found a recent print, 2011, which showed the same statue surrounded by the flood waters from the river which flows through the town, I presume, inundating the lower sections of Clunes that year.
Last stop was at a store which happened to have a box of books outside the door, 3 for $2. I rifled through it to find Paul Brickhill's The Dam Busters. I'd read it years ago as my Uncle Walter was a member of the famous 617 Squadron, although he joined its air crew after the raids on the Ruhr. Found a picture of his Squadron Commander and pilot, Jack "Willy" Tait. I met him and his family as a child in Cyprus as he remained in the RAF after the war and was posted to Kyrenia, as well as in London in the early '90's. Earlier, I'd come across another of Brickhill's works, Reach for the Sky, the Douglas Bader Story. I'd seen the film, (Kenneth More plays the fighter ace),the based on the book, (Bader had lost both of his legs, below the knee, I believe, in a crash resulting while attempting some aerial acrobaticses, in 1931), but managed to convince the RAF to allow him to return to flying with the outbreak of war in 1939. One of my first childhood heroes!
At any rate, went inside to browse and ende dup buying three other books: Shane Maloney's The Brush-off, (He is another Australian crime writer recommended by Steve.); Laurence Block's The Sins of the Fathers, another author I've not read for years and probbaly won't remember the plot even if I've read it before; and Raymond Chandler's classic Phillip Marlowe, The Big Sleep, introduced by Ian Rankin, in this Penguin edition. Again, have read it years ago but definitely want to re-read it. All in near mint condition.
Back to the National Hotel to rendezvous with gang and then we strolled back to car. What a remarkable, fun-filled afternoon, both historically and bibliographically. Everyone had found something and literally, for next to nothing. Well satified with outing, we returned to Harcourt North via a different route, Stefano pointing out various farms, properties and businesses, owned by friends or aquaintances, as we rolled through the picturesque countryside. Home by just after 5:00pm. Kathleeln went for a walk, Steve and Cora Lee read and chatted in the living room and I started to record the day's events. Just before 7:00pm we made ready to drive to Robyn's/Nick's, five minutes away, for dinner. Delighted to see them both again as when we said goodbye in March, had not planned to return before leaving for Japan.
Enjoyed the appetizers, (cheeses, crackers, dips, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and almonds), Kathleen and Cora Lee had put together, along with a Cockfighter's Ghost Chardonnay, Hunter, another of Steve's purchases from the Easter Weekend. Unfortunately, for us, Nick had already eaten as he is working long, long days at the apple orchard where he is employed, as the pick is on. He is up at 5:00am and doesn't finish until near dark so after visiting, he said goodnight before we sat down to dinner. Robyn is a terrific cook and she served lambb shanks on mashed potatoes, with broccolini and an incredible warm mushroom/pumpkin/feta salad. I'd contributed a d'Arenberg, 2009 Sticks and Stones, Tempranillo blended with a number of Portuguese varietals, from our Mclaren Vale visit, and we
spen the next hour or so visiting and talking about the implications of the recently announced state budget for TAFE's, (Technical and Further Education, post secondary institutions akin to our community colleges), as Robyn works at one in Bendigo.
For dessert we were privileged to have poached quince with butter-scotch ice-cream. Cora Lee and I had never had this delicous fruit, other than as a jam preserve, so were bowled over by its taste and texture, (Bit like a giant apricot in colour, perhaps slightly more pinkish in hue, with the flavour and firmness of a baked pear, though not overly sweet.) Being rather full after the main course I had asked, initially, for half a portion. After first spoonful I was glad Robyn had not listened to me. She offered tea or coffee to follow but once the dishes were done, (Steve and I played with their two young, affectionate dogs, Pluto and Rocky, in front of the fireplace), our crew was ready to make for home. Thanking Robyn for the magnificent meal and the inordinately pleasantl evening, we embraced our hostess and made for the car
Back home by 10:10pm to line-up for bathroom, (I downlaoded my camera to my iPad while I was waiting for my turn), to brush and floss like good little boys and girls. Goodnight to Kathleen and Stefano and we both read for a few minutes before it was lights out. I dropped off puzzling over an episode of surveillance conducted by one of main characters, Anselm, in which another, secondary player, Serrano, is bugged so that the "good guys' can learn more about the "bad guys" and their nefarious dealings. It is not clear to me if a "bug" has been placed, surreptitiously, on Serrano or whether he has been "turned" to wear a wire. Made a note to re-read chapter before I dropped off.
To be continued...
Fondestos and Cheers, Patrizzio!
glad to hear you're both doing what you always do & that is enjoying your lives to the fullest.
we're all fine up here, "up over"? while you & corinne trek "down under"
you might enjoy this tune from an english gal who also runs long distance in support of various causes as chosen by others in her popular audience.
see you sometime when.
Imogen Heap First Train Home (c) (C) 2009 Megaphonic Records
http://youtu.be/ax84xcaLfHs
Hi Carol!
Hard to keep one step ahead of Choocheranian! Have you seen Africa United? Off to Salmon Fishing in Yemen in Castlemaine this afternoon. Otherwise, all goes well down under but up and over, we heard from Chloe, last week, when still in Darwin, that Mom had suffered a heart attack. As of this writing, she is still alive and fighting. Haven't heard from Chloe lately so I assume this is the case. Michele went with her to visit Mom a day or so ago. We decided to continue with our trip, as originally planned, once we had talked to Chloe and knew she was confident to be able to deal with Mom's death, should that occur, while we were still away. As I'm sure you can appreciate, we felt that since she really wouldn't know us even if we were at her bedside, being there was not an over-riding issue. Of course, we do hope that she will recover and be there when were are back. We fly to Sydney this coming Thursday, overnight there and then leave for Japan on May 11th, arriving May 12th. Back to Vancouver on May 31st.
I was out of bed at 6:00am to put a few logs on fire to take chill off the living area. Don't mind the "cold" here in Victoria at all, bit like Vancouver at the height of summer, by comparison! These Aussies need to spend a winter in Winterpeg to understand the meaning of "cold"! They shiver when they see me in shorts at this time of year, their Fall. Cora Lee loves the electric blanket on our bed but I'm par-boiled after a few minutes! Feel like i'm in a sun-tanning cocoon! Fondestos and Cheers, Cora Lee and Patrizzio!
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| Ta Prohm, a famous temple site, near Siem Reap, Cambodia |
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| Burning fields near Luang Namtha, Laos |
All pictures are 12 x 12" (30.5 x 30.5 cm)
Bob Altwein
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Rice fields on Cam Kim Island, An Hoi, Vietnam Hi Patrick How is your mum? Where are you? Did you visit Japan? Tina
Hi TNT!
Thanks for your inquiry about Mom. As of this writing, she is still alive and fighting. Haven't heard from Chloe lately so I assume this is the case. Michele went with her to visit Mom a day or so ago. We decided to continue with our trip, as originally planned, once we had talked to Chloe and knew she was confident to be able to deal with Mom's death, should that occur, while we were still away. As I'm sure you can appreciate, we felt that since she really wouldn't know us even if we were at her bedside, being there was not an over-riding issue. Of course, we do hope that she will recover and be there when were are back. We fly to Sydney this coming Thursday, overnight there and then leave for Japan on May 11th, arriving May 12th. Back to Vancouver on May 31st.
Trust you are both well. How is new garden/patio coming along? Please thank both Mark and Terry for all the hints about Darwin and Kakadu. I have a few more things to add to entries for the days we spent in Kakadu, in particular, and will send the postings along when complete. Hope to do that in next few days as Kathleen and Steve will be at work on Monday and Tuesday so we'll be at home, lollygagging!
Fondestos and Cheers, Cora Lee and Patrizzio!
Here follows an account of our last few days, should this be of passing interest. Fondestos and Cheers, Patrizzio!
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