Saturday, July 6, 2024

Mini Holiday

Yes, it was mini. I stayed two nights at Sister's but it felt longer. Ray and I stayed there while Sister and family were away in January, and in nearby Queenscliff at Christmas just gone. This time Sister, Bone Doctor and Jo were in Central Australia, doing what you do there. I thought their wee holiday was for Bone Doctor's grandmother's 100th in Queensland. Keep up Andrew.

It felt a bit strange without Ray there. I cranked up the heating to levels that would be horrific to the homeowners and didn't turn them off until I was leaving. Really, only the living area is heated, but the warmth did flow through a bit to the kitchen at least. 

I arrived at about 1pm on Friday. I had coffee and cake for afternoon tea at the local village while I watched some very impressive wave action.

While I've seen it before, it was a while ago, so I drove a couple of minutes to the lighthouse. 




The Russians were coming in 1917.



The sea was a bit riled up.


Loud and Proud, the gay march through Queenscliff...no sorry, my mistake. 


Through a window into an outbuilding. I don't think this is operating equipment but kept for volunteer tours. 



Here be the foghorn. 


This was piece of metal buried into the roadway. 


Your and my best guesses won't come close.


The motor car drive from Queenscliff wharf to Point Lonsdale takes under 15 minutes.  It is hard to image why it would take an hour or more by a horse pulled coach. 

I returned to Sister's and ignored the cats who were about to pass out from hunger. They were quite wary of us both in January, but they seemed to remember me as a source of food. Lol, that sounds like they might actually eat me. I'm sure they thought about it. They hung around all late afternoon. I went out to buy a pizza for dinner, which I kept warm in the oven while I had a pre dinner glass or wine...ok, two. They greeted me again upon my return with their starvation antics. Ok, ok, at 6.30 I thought I would feed them their wet food but they had disappeared. I called them outside and Oreo turned up. This is awkward. They eat together from twin bowls. How to feed them separately? I fed him and later when Athena turned up, I fed her in the bathroom with the door closed against Oreo. 

At 9pm, I rattled their dry food container and they came and I fed them in the garage and locked them in for the night. No possums or hooded plovers were destroyed by them that night. 

I let them out the next morning after I arose and fed them some more dry food. 

After mucking around for a a few hours, and eating my own cereal I had brought along, I wanted proper food and so drove to Queenscliff to the fabulous beach food caravan. I think there is a staff of four and none are under 60. Just brilliant. I wasn't that hungry and it was raining, so I bought raisin toast and coffee and sat in the car looking at the sea. 

Back to Sister's to face, in their eyes, skin and bone cats for a while. I then set off for Barwon Heads, a very busy seaside town with little parking and much traffic. Sister paid for Mother's and Step Father's accommodation  for Mother's 70th birthday, in the cabin used in the tv show SeaChange at Barwon Heads. It is a popular place for good reasons. 

 A few years ago we stayed at Barwon Heads in a cabin. Ex Sis in Law and her husband were staying in same park in their caravan, along with Hippie Niece and her twin daughters. It was a disaster. The twins had a terrible meltdown. Hippie Niece had a meltdown. Ex Sis in Law looked after the twins and Hippie Niece slept on the floor of our cabin.

We were staying another night and motel accommodation was found for Hippie Niece and her daughters. Only later did I learn Ray paid and he never asked me for half. The motel was on the Barwon River on the Ocean Grove side. I want to revisit the place. I have no real memory of it. 

I didn't find it as I suddenly no longer cared but I was on the river bank, and it was most interesting. 

Old boat ramp.

Mangroves growing in the waters.

The new pier and boat ramp.

I am just amazed by my phone camera. This pelican was so far away.

When in Barwon Heads, I had thoughts of visiting Nephew and his family, twenty minutes away, but I didn't feel comfortable bothering them with a visit by the old aunty. They are busy with their children and life. I had posted something on FaceBook and the next day Nephew messaged me, saying they would be at the play park in Ocean Grove at about 1pm. Sadly, I was home by then. I think I really should have let them know I was nearby and let them work out a catch up, rather than me trying to control things. Ray! Stop looking over my shoulder. 

Back at Sister's, I took an afternoon walk to the beach. The sea had calmed compared to yesterday. How many times did I, Ray, Sister, Bone Doctor, Jo and dog Fuzzy Cocoa walk to the beach together? It will never happen again and I felt the sads.  Fuzzy is on her last legs and won't last the year. But overall, while I was glad to come back home, it was a nice break for a couple of days. Sister's bed is very comfortable.

Oreo.

Athena.


How many bicycles does a family of three need? Six? That's two each. 


But wait, here's another two.


Aww, one person will only have two bikes. This one on its own makes it a nice even three bikes  each.


I have no knowledge of what this device does but it looks electro dangerous.


Nothing exceeds like excess, and by golly, do Sister and Bone Doctor do that so well.


High tide at the beach on Saturday, with gentle waves.


The wind was coming from the north on the Friday yet this sea was pushing hard against the northerly wind. 


People were walking along the path, but with a careful eye on what the seas was doing.


Thursday, July 4, 2024

The Grieving Widower #39

Sorry, this a bit long.

I cook at least once a week. There were six fat chorizo sausages in the freezer. I managed to split them into three and cooked three for myself, with frozen chips from the freezer and supermarket bought potato salad and coleslaw. One sausage was left over to eat the next day. There are also normal beef sausages and I've had a meal from them and there are more. Also frozen is a bolognaise sauce Ray made. Half of it would probably do for one meal. Can I saw the frozen into half with the electric knife? I'm sure I can boil up some pasta. Is there any parmesan cheese in the freezer? I am sure there would be and I know there is some bought garlic bread.

A couple of personal observations. It is just over 2 months since suddenly Ray died. He was the most wonderful person, but he struggled with life, and I was not his idea of a perfect partner in our latter years. We still had fun and did things and seemed like a perfect couple, but I learnt to be quite guarded about the way I expressed myself. He would read things into what I said that were not there. My arthritis is much better since he has died. That could be because I now go out each day when I feel physically comfortable to do so. Except it is not so different from when we used to out together. I am also drinking less alcohol. 

I've looked at professional grief counselling, but I can't see it working for me. Acupuncture and hypnotherapy never worked for me, and I have plenty of people to talk to about Ray's sudden death. Just when I thought the final condolences happened last week, the barista at where we/I bought/ coffee offered them this week. I don't know how he knew. My standard reply is, 'I have my moments but I am doing ok, thanks'. Depending on the person, I might add, 'Forty five years is a long time together'.

I am doing things now on my own that we both used to do and I do really miss Ray, tearing up. I hate how he was cheated out of his future, but I am so glad he did not know he was dying as he was unconscious. He never had the chance to worry about how I would survive, what would happen to his personal possessions. I've yet to really attack that. There is no rush. 

I think all the paperwork has been done related to his death. (It's not, as per an email) I am not changing the names on any bills, or anything. I will lose his pensioner concession discount on so many things. Come October, I will be entitled to them myself anyway. (Now an email from our power company, Raymond's post code no longer matches his address. Electricity pensioner concession pricing is withdrawn)

I've decided I won't send birthday and Christmas cards anymore. Well, Ray did that, and moaned about doing so. The exception is the greats who are young. We were sending $50 in each card, but now I am a poor old widower, I no longer have the funds. Ray is looking down on me and telling me to not be such a cheap bastard and keep sending them $50. Ok hon, we will compromise as usual, $20 until they turn five, then $50.

It is a week or so since I wrote the above and things have happened. I'll leave that for another post.

Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Quiz Answers

1. The capital city of Australia is Canberra. Anyone who thought Sydney deserves a slapping. 

2. Our island state is Tasmania.

3. Our largest territory is Northern Territory, larger than most of our states. 

4. Wombats burrow holes into the ground for shelter and to breed. If their pouches faced the same way as kangaroos, their pouches would fill with dug out soil. Well done Roentare for a concise answer. 

5. Again Roentare knew of the Goyder Line. From memory, a surveyor named Goyder explored South Australia and drew a line on a map which was the limit for land that could support agriculture and livestock. He was quite correct and those who breached the Goyder Line had their livelihoods destroyed by drought and long periods of low rainfall. 

6. My city, Melbourne has the largest tram system in the world. I think it is described as a legacy system, as Melbourne has had trams continuously since the 1890s. It is now a quite modern system, built on the old.

7. Again referring to Roentare, I have to disagree. The King on the advice of the Governor General of Australia can dismiss our Prime Minister, as Queen Elizabeth II dismissed our Prime Minister in 1975. I don't know if our monarch can dismiss an Australian Prime Minister without the advice of our Governor General, but I suspect that could happen. 

Rule Britannia, marmalade and jam. Five Chinese crackers...... bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

8. Melbourne has recently overtaken Sydney as the largest Australian city.

9. When I was young, from books I always thought swans were white. No, Australian swans are black. 

10. I was wrong. PNG gained independence from Australia in 1975, not 1972. Maybe I should have fact checked my questions?

Extra question. A Winnie, Winfield, is a brand of cigarettes. Rough men use to tuck a packet up under the sleeves of their tee shirts. They were advertised on tv by Paul Hogan, once a Sydney Harbour Bridge painter who went on to world wide fame in the film I've never seen, Crocodile Dundee. The spoken by Hogan advertising slogan was, "Anyhow, have a Winfield".

Hmm, maybe I should have slipped in a question about our indigenous people. Bad Andrew.

Tuesday, July 2, 2024

Aussie Quiz

Yorkshire Pudding writes a weekly quiz, that often makes me feel poorly educated. However, it is a bit of fun. Obviously Australians will do well at an Aussie quiz, but how about the rest of you? Here we go.

1. An easy one. What is the capital city of Australia?

2. What is the name of our island state? 

3. Australia has six states and many territories. Which is the largest territory? 

4. Kangaroos and wombats both rear their young in pouches. Why would the wombat pouch face the opposite direction to a kangaroo?

5. This one is for Australians as I am sure few people overseas would know. What is the Goyder Line?

6. What city in the world has the largest tram (street car or trolley) system?

7. Does the Australian Prime Minister have more power over Australia than the King of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, Australia being a Commonwealth country.

8. What is the largest city in Australia?

9. What colour are Australian swans?

10. Papua New Guinea is the largest Pacific island. No Cloudia, it ain't yours. In what year did PNG gain independence from Australia? 

10 extra. I couldn't answer the last question, aside from a guess at 1972 and I am fairly sure my educated guess is correct. 

So a bonus question, what is a Winnie which might be tucked up under the sleeve of your tee shirt and what does it have to do with a former Sydney Harbour Bridge painter?

Answers in 24 hours...hopefully.  


 



Monday, July 1, 2024

State Library 2 - Rennie Ellis

I published a post about Hazara refugees featured in photos at the State Library. I was actually there to see a much more fun exhibition, the photos taken by the marvellous photographer Rennie Ellis1940-2003 . If he ever took a photo without a human in the photo, I've not seen it. 

My expectations were low. What would the exhibition be like? Enlarged photos pinned to a wall? Oh no, it was so much more, with photos projected or on screens in a large size. It was just brilliant and well done to the curators.

I took lots of photos and I will remark on those who I knew of in the photos. 


Albert Park Beach. We often visited and I still do.


Probably Keferd Road Pier. The runner used to be seen all over Melbourne's inner southern suburbs, always topless. 


Like they need darker skin.


Tea for two. Do Aussies remember those ubiquitous mugs?


There were quite a number of photos from more than one Melbourne Cup, a horse race, and a public holiday for Melburnians. 


If you can't look glam, you can look interesting. 



Celebrity hair dresser the late Lillian Frank.




The year the carpark flooded, where the wealthy used to picnic from the backs of their cars, and champagne of course dahling. 


Sporting matches, Rennie could be there.


Music guru, tv presenter, Ian (Molly) Meldrum. 


Lillian Frank again. She lived her last years around half a kilometre from us.


The very naughty and sadly late artist Mirka Mora. 


Our Local Bearded Media Resident and now former politician with his then wife and the very popular singer, Johnny Farnham. 


Rennie got close to many famous performers. Sadly Tina Turner is history.


Jagger.


Molly Meldrum again.


Keith Richards.


I don't think Rennie was gay but he did like to photograph large gay events.









Protests for women's rights. 



I don't remember these anti Portugal demos. I guess they were about central Africa.


Anti nuclear protests.




Protests about the sacking of our elected Labor government by the Queen's representative, the Governor General.



Mr, All Prick and Ribs, Mick Jagger, again.

Aids for the ageing

I was in Port Melbourne and there is a rare shop there, a Reject Shop. They used to be everywhere. It is somewhat like a $2 shop/£1 shop. I ...