A Visiting Poet

On Monday this week, we had a lovely visit from a travelling poet and her photographer/roadie.
Nerelie Teese is an ex-Leitchville girl, who attended school with Steve's sister Deb.  Steve met her through Deb in the late sixties and I was introduced to her in the late seventies when she was living in Beaudesert, Qld. 

I don't know how many different paths Nerelie has followed during these years but you can be sure that they are all interesting and people oriented.    Check out her website -- it's fascinating reading.
By the time Steve's and Deb's Mum, Betty, required funeral services, Nerelie, who knew Betty well, had become a Civil Celebrant.   She conducted a beautiful, personal service, which must have thrilled Betty.

Nerelie's latest incarnation is as a travelling bush poet.  She began by reading bush poems, mainly to kids, graduated to memorising the poems and dramatising them and is now giving presentations all over the countryside, indeed, all over the world.  It was a foregone conclusion that Nerelie would write her own poems which are now included in the presentations and ceremonies.   Here in Moree, she performed for the Fairview Senior Citizens Village.

We met Leigh Wright for the first time.  His bush photographs enhance Nerelie's presentations.  He described his role to us as, "Sitting quietly in the back and watching, making mental notes of what grabbed an audience's attention, anything that needed changing."

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Pass The Peas Please

There was a young girl from Dimboola

Who always ate peas with a ruler.

When folks cried, "Use your knife!"

She said, "Not on your life,

The steel only makes them get cooler."

For a long time, I have yearned for a feed of fresh shelled peas. I've tried in all of the local shops but can't find any peas, apart from snow peas . I asked in the major supermarkets and was told, "No one wants to waste time shelling peas these days."

What a lovely way to waste time!! Sitting with cousins on my Grandmother's veranda, shelling peas for Christmas dinner into a large bowl. Every now and then, Nana would call from the kitchen , "Keep whistling". While we whistled, we couldn't eat the peas!

In the mid sixties, frozen vegetables hit the supermarket shelves; just a few --- peas, carrots and corn, from memory.  They were very expensive which showed they were a luxury so I normally didn't buy them.  For a "night off", instead of buying fast food (of which there was little), I would buy a small packet of frozen vegies and feel quite decadent!   It wasn't until the seventies before I could buy any frozen food without feeling guilty;  this was because we were in a tiny town that had very little fresh vegetables.

Long story short ------  I bought a packet of seeds and we sowed them along the fence on July 17th.  Two days later, we had 1" of rain, followed by a week of warm sunshine so the little green leaves have all stuck their heads up.     It's going to be a long while before there are peas to eat and I'll be waiting daily, smacking my chops!!

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Visitors

Jenny and Leon and a trailer load of his son's furniture arrived late on Thursday.  As this park was full, they took a cabin at the Mehi park, which turned out to be very nice.

We all went to the RSL Club for dinner that night, talking nineteen to the dozen, as they planned to move on to Brisbane the next day. 

After they had a spa on Friday morning, they found themselves very relaxed and exhausted, so they booked in for another night in the cabin. 

We hadn't made any firm plans for the day, so it fitted in with their mood.   We went to a great little cafe in the main street and enjoyed open grilled sandwiches for lunch.  Two huge slices of bread were loaded with fillings; that was fine for Jenny and Leon, who shared.  Steve and I could eat only half of ours, which was just perfect because we had the other half for tea that night.

We all came back so that Leon could see our caravan.  He and Steve have a lot in common and they talked so much that Jenny and I couldn't get a word in edgewise and left them to it.

They left on Saturday morning, with us wishing they could have stayed longer.  That's a sign of great visitors!!!

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WELL DONE TATEY!!!!!!

After 5 years of hard work, Tatum has completed her double degree --- while working at a part-time job (which is almost full-time.)
We are so proud of her. As well as her jobs, she managed to keep up with some sports and an active social life.  Along the way, she gathered up Adam, who then gathered up our family as his fan club!!

They both worked for some years with a promotions company before forming their own, Two Minds Marketing, which is doing very well. 

Facebook announced the completion of the degrees, then a little later it carried the louder screams of elation at winning an indoor beach volleyball competition.   Tate also got the Most Valued player.  She's riding high this week!! 

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They light up my life......

Just as the purple hyacinth begins to slowly die off, the other two bulbs have come into full flower.  One is a soft, pale pink and the other is a pale lilac.   These are all glorious colours and I'm thrilled with them. 

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The flowers that bloom in the spring, tra la .......

I'm thrilled to see my first hyacinth open.   IT'S PURPLE!!    I can't see what is the colour of the other two but I don't mind, now that I have one in my favourite colour .   It has a wonderful perfume.

I went to the monthly market today and bought 2 punnets of Johnny Jump Ups and 2 of a little blue daisy flower which will be shared between the garden bed and hanging baskets.
I hope that tomorrow when I plant them will be as beautiful as today.

The SES and the crop dusting pilots took advantage of the lovely weather to practise their bush fire techniques.    The crop dusters flew in (over our caravan) at app 20 second intervals and dropped a red substance, (pretending to be fire retardant), at the airport.  Then they flew off in a circle, returned to land at the airport and filled up with more "fire retardant."    This went on for about 5 hours ---- by which time it was no longer interesting!!   Although we appreciated their efforts to improve their skills.

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My marvellous mat.

Doesn't this mat make your mouth water???       Oh well, maybe not ......... but the colour sure gets my blood pumping.   I can see red or green or blue, but I feel purple.    I feel it in that part of my chest where I have felt homesick; where I feel the sad twinge of missing my Mum and Dad and the little babies who didn't make it.  It begins with a delicious bubble, a wobbly feeling like jelly on top of a trifle;  then it changes quickly to pizzicato on a violin string.

And that reminds me ----- I was 14, in Year 11, writing a review of a poem, written by either Byron, Shelley or Keats.   I thought it was a poem with great contrasts of colour and emotion, so I wrote, "These words are like pearls on black velvet."  

When my report was returned, marked with a C, my little gem was crossed out with a heavy pen and written above that desecration was, "Don't be so fanciful.  That won't get you anywhere.  It is meaningless."  I felt one of those twinges at that moment but it wasn't purple!!

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HAPPY JULY 4TH AMERICA