These are some feather posies I made while away. We were staying on a rural property in the Strathbogie Ranges, beautiful countryside.
P is flying now, on her way back home. We texted when she got to Istanbul airport and she checked in, all smoothly. Texted again when she arrived in Dubai but plane was late and looked like she might miss her connecting flight. But all was fine. So now, she's headed back to Melbourne with 'lots of stories' she said. We spoke once on the phone while she was away, and at the beginning of her trip there were several long texts back and forth but as she settled, they dwindled to maybe one brief exchange a day, in my evening when she'd just woken up. That everything was fine, she was going to be doing this or that.
Her last few texts she said she'd be sad to leave her dad but excited to come home. She said also she was 'so glad' she went, which is fantastic because she was highly ambivalent about the trip.
In other news, it's Christmas is upon us and I'm not a person who loves Christmas. I can, and sometimes do, but often it's all wrapped up (heh) with lots of scratchy feelings. This year Clokes is having his family here and P and I are shipping off to my sister's. Last year P and I boycotted the whole thing in terms of family and stayed here, ate nice food and watched lots of episodes of whatever it was we were watching at the time. It was certainly stress-free but not really *Christmas.*
So hope everyone has a good break. I'll be back in January I hope with more to say. I'm still coughing badly, but feeling so much better. It was a nasty whatever it was, annoying.
I've got lots of things to look forward to next year, including my trip west. And hopefully big publishing stuff in addition to the two smaller things that are happening in January and April.
6 comments:
"Hairy Christ's-Arse!"
Good to hear your trip to the countryside went so well and that you're becoming a bushy. You'll be looking forward to that impending rural retirement now, eh?
And good to hear that P's adventure in Turkey has gone well and that she got on alright with her dad. I remember you saying that all looked a bit iffy when she left.
So, good Chrissy overall?
Things are alright here. Internet access isn't real bright. Going through a bunch of old documents, photos, slides, tapes, which need to be digitised. Sort of riding a bit of a nostalgia wave at the moment. Back home around new-years-ish.
Some pretty dramatic news from the extended family. One of the cousins caught what he thought was the flu, and was dead in two days. Amazingly, they brought him back (he was gone for a few minutes), and he's now doing ~okay~. Wonders of modern medicine, eh? But yeah, a reminder to be careful about these mystery illnesses, I guess.
Things are no better with the state govt. A couple of my dad's mates have apparently had their doors kicked in by coppers in the wee hours of the morning. Dad's suspicious his phone might be tapped and wants me to investigate. Not sure where to start. I wonder if Mr E could give me some pointers. I think his young bloke's into all that stuff.
Yes Alex, good Chrissy overall. Happy back to you. The day was spent at sister's and ended up with an Abba marathon. A new doco none of us had seen, and then Mama Mia. Which we all had. Seen. It was pretty fabulous.
P's trip was really good, I'm so pleased for her. She also did lots of driving so we went out yesterday in the manual - I want her to get manual license - and did half an hour. Apart from hitting a gutter and stalling quite a bit at the beginning, coupla tyre screeches, she did very well. Also we are back into our walks, she is starting to run, and I feel so much better after my illness.
Oh those nostalgia rides, love them. Digitising stuff, we all should do it I suppose but I reckon so many things will get lost with time.
Fuck that's awful about your cousin, what a worry. Just reading about antibiotics in the paper this morning and how we are fucking it all up so much. Fucking doctors overprescribing; fucking Big Pharma.
Yes you need to ask Mr E about phone tapping. His son is into that sort of stuff I believe.
Hey look after yourself, don't know what the sitch is up there for bushfires, but down here I guess we're all just waiting. High alert here today but there's not an extended hot stretch coming or anything which is good.
Bushfire risk is moderate here at the moment, but things seem to get worse in that regard, year on year. Climate change? No doubt those on the right would be calling for my head for even suggesting such a thing. I do appreciate the dry heat though. Summers are usually quite humid where I live now, and I don't care for that.
Also loving the smell of red dirt. Laid under a sprinkler for the first time in ages the other day. Still riding that nostalgia wave. Had a big round of family haircuts. Convinced my mum to go short like mine. There was some grumbling from the men-folk, but she likes how cool it is, and I think she looks fine.
Not everything completely honky-dory. Folks won't stop nagging me about my weight. They think I'm too skinny now (dad keeps dropping the word "anorexia"). I have tentatively agreed to start taking the protein powder my brother uses, as an attempt to "put some beef on my bones". I don't remember them being like this when I was fat, but they do seem genuinely worried, and I've mentioned before how my extremities are now all wrinkled and veiny and haggard looking. Still, they have a weird way of always making me feel like a bloody teenager. Parents, eh?
Cousin is basically fine now. In a weird way, it's hard not to be glib about something as big as a return from death. The antibiotics thing though is a real concern. Everyone knows it's a problem and nobody in a position of power is doing anything about it. There is a very real risk that we (you and I) will see a return to a pre-penicillin type age. Which will be absolutely horrid for the younger generation.
Sounds like fun times ahead with the driving. I agree about the manual. It's a shame she doesn't have a few acres to burl around on or something. Things are kind of rubbish for city kids in that regard.
And I heard on the news the other night that there was a corruption investigation in Turkey. Three members of the govt (ministers?) had to resign. In response, the govt sacked about seventy police and prosecutors and made a rule that they would have to okay any future investigations. I don't know how strong the feelings you and P have for the place, but it must be very sad to see that "2 steps forward, 1 back" dance going on. I know how upset I was just about Tony Abbott.
Ah sprinklers. Most kids these days won't get a chance to know what it's like.
Wow, your parents! Are you underweight or are they just comparing you to before? How do you feel? Are you healthy? How is their weight? I think people make a big deal about thinness in a way they don't heaviness. Oh that teen feeling, I don't think it ever goes away. The roles are fixed and don't change. Unless a parent gets sick and you have to look after them, which happened with my mum. Then I became like the mother and her the child and it's been a bit hard to go back...
Glad your cuz is fine, that is so fucking weird. I keep thinking about it. It's freaky.
Ah the Turkish sitch - yes, corruption and all that. Let's say it's nothing new, so in terms of the 2 steps forward and 1 back, I'm not sure that holds. I am disappointed though that there's a trend towards religion and conservatism with the election of this current government. I hope it swings back to secularism next government change. People come and people go. Tony Abbott will go too.
Well, mum's a fairly small woman and dad's a broad, squat, muscular fellow who's gone to fat in his later years. It's true that there's been a huge change in my size in a fairly short period. My skin still hasn't completely shrunk back (if it ever will) and I sometimes forget I'm not as wide as I was. But I'm fitter and feel better than I can ever remember. I've got energy to spare. I'm even doing handstand push-ups now. Granted, I'm not pretty to look at (won't be gracing the pages of Picture mag anytime soon), but I don't think I'm any skinnier than any of these women, and according to the image title, they're supposed to be bloody body builders. Realistically, I don't think it matters what you eat; unless you're producing (or taking) enough testosterone and growth hormone, I don't think it's possible to bulk up that much. Certainly, I can't see myself ever getting a build like the aunts and cousins with more of the Islander ancestry. Some of those girls look like this (I'm actually a bit envious of how strong some of them are). It's just rubbish to be copping this sort of shit at my age, and from my parents, of all people.
What I think I'm taking away from my cuz's experience is that it's yet another reminder that stuff is random and nothing is guaranteed. Enjoy what you can, while you can, I guess.
The politics thing, and I'm talking all politics here, including the non-elected players; I don't know if I can describe it that well, but sometimes it feels to me like the very concept of reality is breaking. Like any person with a public platform these days can define their own little bubbles of objective truth around every individual issue, and since nobody in the wider community has any concept of “broader context” anymore, nobody cares that none of those little bubbles fit together into anything remotely coherent. It's almost like politics has become as one big continuous ad break on the telly. I dunno, call it “the bullshittening” if you will. Was it always like this? Can it be salvaged?
Lastly, the long planned blog went up on NYE. It's pretty bare and sad-looking at the moment, but it was turning into one of those things I sit on the back-burner and plan until I give up on. The deadline helped in that regard. I intend to start posting sketches and doodles and shit when I get home, but for now it's just me rabbiting on like a madwoman. Actually, I'm not finding it that easy. It seems I'm much better at hijacking ideas than I am at coming up with my own.
Ooh exciting about the new blog. I've just been and commented on your posts. Will reply to the rest of your comment here a bit later. Mum's just popped in, gotta make her a cuppa.
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