Land of Meg

The Blog Baton 3

2009-12-08T02:44:00.004+11:00

Last night I taught my final class for this semester's blogging course. I made my signature ginger cookies - the word BLOG for each student - which were heartily enjoyed by students and teacher, alike.

Here are some of the blogs that were created. Please join me in welcoming them to the wonderful wwworld that is the blogosphere:

www.ebden-small.blogspot.com

www.themorganology.blogspot.com

www.thelineforhome.blogspot.com

www.insidebaliguide.blogspot.com

Over the last few years I have celebrated many an event (and non-event) with these cookies. Here are some of the photos I have managed to take before the words were eagerly eaten.

And previously: The Blog Baton 1 & The Blog Baton 2.

Having Less

2009-12-07T16:37:00.001+11:00

Since I made the decision to try to be more and do less, I have been thinking about other ways I might be able to uncomplicate my life. I have never been a hoarder and I live in a house with an uncompromising lack of storage, but over the years I have managed to hold onto many an item that I figured I might need again one of these days.

On Saturday, Z's school had a garage sale and auction to raise money for furniture to fit out their recently renovated art room. It was the perfect excuse for me to go through my history of accumulations so as to pass onto new owners, that which I no longer need to possess.

How about you? Do you have any de-cluttering tips for me?

Fresh Knickers

2009-12-03T18:29:00.001+11:00

How often do you buy new knickers? Actually, that's none of my business. Sorry.

When we made the decision to only buy second hand clothes, I hadn't really considered the issue of buying underpants and bras. Occasionally we'll find plain cotton underwear in our sizes still in their packets at the op shop, and until recently that's been enough.

But the other day when PJ caught me wearing two pairs, I knew it was time to do something about it. (One pair had functional elastic at the top, and the other pair was still OK at the bottom.)

I guess we could learn to sew our own or we could go without, but this time, we bit the bullet and bought ourselves some new ones. And just in time, as I recently read that:

Police will soon have sweeping powers to search people at random, including strip-search, even if there is no reasonable suspicion those targeted have done anything wrong.

Got Milk

2009-11-27T21:45:00.004+11:00

I woke early thinking about milk today. Perhaps because it looked like our neighbourhood had been dunked in a big glass of it. And perhaps because I had arranged to get some fresh milk today from a cow who's weaning her calf.

I had wanted to find the cow to thank her and snap a pic, but she couldn't be found in the fog. Here is H who looks after the cow, filling my bottle in her kitchen.

Over on PJ's blog, he has a discussion going about the ethics of food that has got me thinking a bit more about what we eat (and drink) and why.

We buy a litre of organic milk a week and I assume that that's good enough. But is it? It comes in a carton from Bendigo, 45 minutes (by car) away, which isn't so bad, although I'm sure a lot of energy is used in the production of that humble litre.

Did you know that due to health regulations it's illegal to buy and sell milk that hasn't been pasteurised? People get around the laws by selling it as 'bath milk'. I don't know the laws in other countries but in Australia, this is the case.

I put the bath milk in my tea today, and can happily say I look forward to meeting Elly the cow next week when I stop by for my litre.

Breastly Dramas

2009-08-18T21:24:00.003+10:00

I go to the theater with a newborn baby. The theater is at the university. It's opening night. The vice chancellor is there, along with other important guests. I sit in a seat near the aisle so I can escape quickly if my baby starts crying when she wakes. She wakes, and I offer her my breast. She happily suckles for the rest of the play. I sit in the half-light with my huge breast out, my daughter latched on. It feels curiously subversive. For what other reason could I sit in a theater with one breast "exposed," unless performing maternity? It means mother and baby don't disrupt the "real" performance, and yet some other meaning is being disrupted, something to do with the way I've been trained to behave in public.

- Alison Bartlett, adapted from Thinking Through Breasts: Writing Maternity.

Do Nothing

2009-11-19T22:15:00.002+11:00

For the first time in a long time I have started to read a book that's on PJ's reading list and not mine: The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming by Masanobu Fukuoka.

I have loved each passage PJ has read out to me, and then when he blogged this quote yesterday I just knew that I had to read the whole book myself:

The more people do, the more society develops, the more problems arise. The increasing desolation of nature, the exhaustion of resources, the uneasiness and disintegration of the human spirit, all have been brought about by humanity's trying to accomplish something. Originally there was no reason to progress, and nothing that had to be done. We have come to the point at which there is no other way than to bring about a "movement" not to bring anything about.

Fukuoka's solution is called Do Nothing Farming. It's not entirely Do Nothing, but is more concerned with nature playing the starring role and not people, pesticides or machinery.

I live in the country because I love the lack of hustle and bustle, but feel that my desire to create, accomplish and be productive has gotten in the way of my ability to be quiet with myself. I have forgotten how to do nothing.

And so, I have decided to start Do Nothing Blogging, where I will blog according to the season of my mood, and not every single day as I have been doing with gusto for the last year and a half.

This has been a big decision that's been coming for a while. It feels good to actually make it.

So stay tuned, and thanks for visiting us here in the Land of Meg.

Collective Nouns

2009-11-21T16:42:00.003+11:00

My sister Kate from Fox's Lane is this week's theme queen for My Place and Yours. The theme she has chosen is My Collection.

Whenever I think about collections, a line of comedian Steven Wright's comes to mind: 'You can't have everything. Where would you put it?' Which is why I just collect red things; it narrows it down some.

I have been waving my red flag high for the past ten years, during which time I have accrued a lot of great treasures. Here are some of them:

Thank you Kate for the great theme!

Now, I'm going to put the kettle on for a nice hot cuppa while I drop by Meet Me At Mike's to see what everyone else is collecting.

We've Been Talking

2009-11-03T20:40:00.003+11:00

Since we first got together, but more seriously for the last 18 months, PJ and I have been talking about the areas in our life that we'd like to change in order to live more sustainably.

Trying our best to avoid buying things that are made from or packaged in plastic is our ongoing mission. On the whole I feel great about it, although there's an organic grapefruit juice we no longer buy because it comes in a plastic bottle, that I really, really miss.

Buying local is another rung on our transition ladder, which we are incrementally working towards. As is only buying second hand clothes.

We recently made a decision that feels a lot bigger than the steps we have taken so far. And that is not to fly by plane again. PJ and our friend Jason, who together make up the outfit WorkmanJones have been invited to show their work at a gallery in the States next year, accompanied by their respective partners. Airfares and artist fees were included. I was planning to see my sister Abby, among other people, but now it looks like I won't see her or them until they come to Australia or until air travel is powered by non-polluting fuel.

This feels huge! One of the sites I write for is a travel site. On my profile it says

As a writer, Meg is often asked about the one book that has been the most inspirational or influential in her life. For all the insights, adventures and revelations it has afforded her, she would hands down have to say her passport.

And I'm not just saying that. I'm OK about not flying within Australia, but it feels like a huge thing to say I'm never going to travel overseas again.

What about you? Is there anything you have given up or can't imagine living without?

My Left Hand Part 2

2009-11-18T19:00:00.000+11:00

Part 1 here.

Salad Days

2009-11-17T20:21:00.000+11:00

Learn Something Every Day

2009-11-16T21:13:00.000+11:00

Learn more here every day.

So Proud

2009-11-13T20:46:00.001+11:00

First Mum's editor spoke, then one of her past lecturers from the professional writing and editing course she completed recently and then the author took centre stage. Here she is, my mum.

Nicola, Mum's editor started her speech by telling us about when Mum delivered the first draft of her book to the Scribe Publishing HQ. She gave Nicola the manuscript and a jar of her End of First Draft Blackberry Jam. 'Vivienne is the kind of person who gives you homemade jam,' she said. And she is. I just love that about you, Mum. You put your own touch on every single thing you do. Your book is just another way that you touch the world with your you-ness. And it is a really wonderful thing.

You make us all so proud.

Sharing Food

2009-11-15T20:45:00.003+11:00

It's my niece Indigo's 9th birthday today and to celebrate she had some friends over for a slumber party last night. I went over to hang out with them for a while. What a great age 9 is — so mature yet still so gorgeously unselfconscious.

For dinner they each dressed half a homemade pizza base with their favourite toppings. Unfortunately I couldn't stick around for the eating as I had my own dinner to get home to.

It was my turn to cook, and on the way home from the party I was busy planning what I was going to make. But it turned out all I made were ooh and aah sounds as PJ had surprised me with this delicious home grown, home caught, home cooked meal.

The greens are all from our garden — silverbeet, spinach, broccoli, snow peas, sugar snap peas, spring onion, spearmint, wild rocket, broad bean leaves, oregano and parsley. The Redfin (English Perch) was caught by yours truly in the local lake the day before, and the lemon was gifted by some friends.

I like what David Graeber says in his book Possibilities:

Sexual relations, after all, need not be represented as a matter of one partner consuming the other; they can also be imagined as two people sharing food.

Run DC

2009-11-14T14:04:00.001+11:00

This is my mum's friend, Declan, at her book launch on Thursday night wearing a rip off of the Run DMC t-shirt, featuring Obama.

And here is a whole bunch of other people who were there, imitating the US president imitating the East Coast Hip Hop stars:

It seems everybody's getting in the mood, including this lovely softie I saw over at Handmade Romance:

Hope you are having a great weekend, too!

Book Launch

2009-11-12T11:24:00.000+11:00

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!

2009-11-11T17:23:00.001+11:00

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

2009-11-10T13:20:00.002+11:00

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

2009-11-09T22:08:00.001+11:00

Season three is now available to watch online.

Thanks for the tip, Larisa!

Take a Seat

2009-11-08T21:40:00.000+11:00

From here.

For My Niece

2008-11-15T09:18:00.001+11:00

Happy 8th birthday Indigo!!

This video reminds me of you and the graceful way you move through the world.

Guerilla Grasses

2008-11-20T13:49:00.006+11:00

PJ recently said that growing our own heirloom vegetables feels like one of the most politically potent acts we can do in the face of neoliberal capitalism.

Plant as protest. Plant as poem. Plant as placard.

I have recently discovered the work of Edina Tokodi aka Mosstika, who, in the tradition of political guerilla gardeners is a cultivator of eco-urban sensitivity and a planter of important seeds.

Mosstika says:

I think that our distance from nature is already a cliché. City dwellers often have no relationship with animals or greenery. As a public artist I feel a sense of duty to draw attention to deficiencies in our everyday life... I usually go back to the sites to visit my plants or moss, sometimes to repair them a bit, but nothing more generally as they tend to get enough water from the air, condensation, and rain - especially in certain seasons... I believe that if everyone had a garden of their own to cultivate, we would have a much more balanced relation to our territories. Of course, a garden can be many things.

Breaking with Tradition

2009-11-05T14:55:00.003+11:00

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.

We Danced

2009-11-07T18:08:00.002+11:00

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

2009-11-06T17:15:00.000+11:00

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.

Rednesday: History

2009-11-04T21:07:00.002+11:00

Thank you to The Doily for this xcellent X, which I have been using as a home for my needles. I have started creating a sewing kit, and I love that your gift kicked it off.

Thank you to The Lark for the goodie showbag you gave me when I came to visit your shop. This button badge was my favourite thing of all. We are so lucky to live in this town, which may be one of the reasons I am OK about giving up air travel. If our lives here sucked, maybe we wouldn't be so ready to say no to going elsewhere??

I moved here because my older sister Kate and her family live here. It's Kate's birthday today. Hope you had a great day, Katchka!

My final thank you goes to you, PJ, for fixing my favourite ring again.

It breaks and I wonder why I don't just buy a new one. But I love how you fix it and present it to me anew each time. That it has a history of its own that I can wear.