Book Launch

If you are in Melbourne tonight, why not come along to the launch of my mum's book, Alzheimer's: A Love Story.

It's at Readings in Carlton (309 Lygon Street) at 6:30pm.

The book is about my grandparents' (above) love for one another, from when they met over six decades ago to when my grandmother died from Alzheimer's earlier this year.

Just in case my mum's signing pen runs out, you'd better bring your own.

Hope to see you there!

Rednesday: Say Cheese!

Our camera that has been holidaying at the repair centre in Newcastle has come home to us. Although we have been making do with our phone cameras, we welcome you back with much excitement, dear little camera.

Perhaps because we live in a house with very little storage space, I am a collector of photos of things, rather than the things themselves. But I'd say more so, it is because I am a writer, an observer, that I want to document the incidentals of my life.

I thought that not having my camera for a while might be good for me; that it would force me to be more inside my words and rely less on the images. And maybe it did do that, but I didn't like it.

An Inheritance

I don't really consider myself overly sentimental, but I always thought I would inherit a sewing kit from a grandmother or from my mum. I felt a bit sad when I realised that if I wanted one I'd have to create my own.

But then something happened. As I mentioned last week, the lovely Steph very kindly made me one of her softies that I turned into a pin cushion.

And then something else happened. Leonie from Raglan Guld, read the post where I talked about starting my own sewing kit, then she very generously sent me a package stuffed full of sewing goodies and beautiful fabric to start me off on my way.

I have had to rethink my definition of inheritance. Because I have inherited my kit, just not in the way I thought it would come.

So thank you again, Steph and thank you Leonie. And thank you to you too, Chunky Chooky Cath, for my lovely bag that also arrived in today's post that I tore at in the post office like a pre-schooler on her birthday.

Green Porno

Season three is now available to watch online.

Thanks for the tip, Larisa!

Take a Seat

From here.

We Danced

We danced last night. At Z's school's family disco. There are 17 kids in the whole school, and we like the parents of all of them. Talking with them and dancing with them.

Z was there with his mum and it was an odd feeling for PJ and I to be off duty parents. But I must say, that when I saw Z eating all that chocolate at suppertime, I felt happy that he was going home with his mum and not us.

Can you guess which plate is ours??

Hope you are having a great weekend, too.

I'm Sorry, Lauren

I'm sorry that we killed you, Lauren James. I'm sorry that we forced you to have liposuction on your legs and bottom when you were only 26.

When I read in the paper that you died three days after the elective surgery, I blamed you and thought you foolish. Then I blamed your parents. Then I blamed your surgeon. Then I blamed your boyfriend for not telling you often enough how beautiful he thought you were. And then I realised who really is at fault.

At first I couldn't understand why you did it when you weighed 65kg and were 169cm tall, but it doesn't really matter does it, how much you weigh or where exactly you sit on the body mass index.

You had your breasts enlarged when you were 21. Although that surgery didn't kill you, I'm sorry we made you do that to yourself as well. We told you you'd be happy. We told you you'd feel fulfilled when you looked in the mirror and saw what we'd created. We didn't lie to you. We weren't trying to fool you. We love you! And we thought that what we love and value is what you could love and value as well.

Breaking with Tradition

I read somewhere recently how odd a thing it is that the laws of our nation's future are created according to a constitution created over 100 years ago.

Walking up the stairs of our local town hall yesterday to get to the boardroom, I really felt the heaviness of that tradition.

In 2005, our local council established the Women’s Honour Roll to pay tribute to women in the Shire whose contribution, courage and example have led to significant social change. For the last 4 years, the award ceremony has been held on March 8, International Women's Day. But this year it was held 2 months late, because the usual March date didn't fit in with Council's schedule.

There was much community uproar that the local event was not held on International Women's Day, a day that has been commemorated since the early 1900s, the world over. And so I volunteered to be on the Honour Roll committee, to ensure that this year's ceremony was held on or close to, International Women's Day.

This is the food that sat in the middle of the boardroom table the committee sat around:

This is the mantlepiece I sat across from as I thought about my own contradictions:

On one hand I couldn't believe how stuffy and outdated the town hall was, while on the other hand, I was only there to uphold a tradition that had been broken.