CIDER WAR’S and singing your own song

Blog posts are perfect for tiny portions of ‘language meets living’. For a writer, deep- headed in constructing a novel, this feels light and breezy; to speak of little wonders in life and, as comes naturally, write about them.

My wonders today include 3 things:

1.  Apples

2. Organised Events

3. Making up songs

Firstly, my fruit bowls, and the beer fridge are packed with gorgeous home- grown apples.  Red ones, cooking ones; apples that have little worms inside.  Leo and I made apple cakes for morning tea, like the ones from the bakery with thick shortbread pastry edging and a pocket of stewed apple in the middle- so great for your middle too.  The little boy version, was bright yellow play dough cut, rolled, shaped and eaten.

The apple recipe book, left at our home, when we arrive early spring 2013 is an absolute beauty.  I’ve added to the hand- written notes this summer; feeling grateful to the woman before me who did the same.  We’ve inherited a well cared for orchard.  I have cider in the making and bags of apples leaving in every visitors car.  I wonder about the past owner’s apple habits, and the future of our orchard.  Mostly I just enjoy the wonder of having boxes of fruit and being able to try new recipes with it.

The second wonderful thing of note is organised events.  Sounds dull as a way of wording something that can be so full of life.  My recent wonder was a writers festival in Beaconsfield,Tasmania last weekend, with some Australian legends chatting on stage about their published writing and ideas about, everything you could imagine being spoken of.  A memorable session and there were many, was about the ‘Black War’ in Tasmania at the time of colonisation, a hugely monumental period in Tasmania history that is hidden so cleverly behind other more recent wars.  Some really nice ideas came from this talk regarding living ‘in’ the land, as Aboriginals have done for many thousands of years ‘in’ our island, as opposed to living ‘on’ the land as us immigrants have referred to as our place in the Australian landscape.  Are you ‘in’ or ‘on’ the land right now?  How do you perceive this?

There were also stories read out loud.  It’s so nice to be read to as an adult, especially when it is normally you, as a parent perhaps, reading for young children.  Moments of hilarity came thick and fast with some comedians in the line up and even tears and much tragedy which is so often the impetus behind some great published tales.

Another local event, saw hundreds of women at our local surf club, gather with their bra’s on the outside.  Many fringed, tousled and flung into baskets that were to be shipped to Africa to women in need.  Bra’s are a remarkable decorating spectacle, so colourful and diverse these days.  The company of the local women is something fun in itself.  Many like minded sorts seeking a dose of good fun.   So this was both good looking and an enriching experience, which can sometimes be missing in the fly about catch up’s.  Another super gal, has done something similar hosting an event at her home to raise enough for a water pump in a village.

There are the everyday organised events, that sometimes we take for granted but are like food for our souls.  It is good to be involved with these things, appreciate and support what some clever people have the foresight to arrange.  Organised events bring people together which is the best bit, sharing lives and opening ourselves to new wonders, that can fill us up.

A thought…

Anyone let me know (local larrikins, I’m writing to you), if you want to try and make some apple cider with our apples.  I can do you up a cider kit (there’s not much to it, says the inexperienced one) and we can have a CIDER WAR event, sharing booze to see who’s cider turned out the best?

On a new note, making up songs is the third wonder today.  A wonder in my opinion that never loses it’s wonderfulness.  I can imagine this apple frenzy is going to rot by the turn of the season, but singing and letting words spontaneously come together with a tuneful voice wins hearts.  Sometimes the words just come out that way when you are feeling a bit soulful or sparkly.  Mostly I find it is spurred on by a child.  When you have some fresh minds trying our their vocab by your side it might get the ball rolling.  It’s awesome to see how children put words and sounds together (so quickly learning to rhyme), to make a new song.

I think as a parent, you really know you’re doing a good job when your child, singing their own made up song, also sings an instrumental solo that might otherwise be a complex drumming part or guitar riff.  Sometimes our trips to town in the car are made up of wonders like this.

Its’ a wonder-ful life when you think about it.

working on the beast now; hello november

National Novel Writing Month

November is appearing to fill up quickly with fun distractions. More reason to employ an external motivator like the NaNoWriMo initiative. I’ve signed up to November’s National Novel Writing Month. I’m treating this as a daily motivator to write. I actually think I’ll be doing more rewrites than anything on my young piece, post my uni- driven fiction splurge. My aim is to have something more solid to work on, in it’s entirety. If I can see a clearer ending after November, I’ll be stoked!

Does anybody else write down their goals? For themselves? Publicly? Do you tell your good time friends what you really strive for and why? Is this just another form of list- making (done that post), self- indulgent fun for a lass with a keyboard at the ready?

Deadlines are like a guide, wordy ones work best for me, not dates. In the dwindling days of 2013 I imagine the resolutions I mapped out earlier in the year (this year one of many years I’ve saved such a file)! It’s an ongoing goal, ‘writing a book’ that features each year in some kind of ambitious one-liner. This past year was about completing a Masters at Uni. Another year I strived to enter short story competitions. It’s always been another thing, with other things too. Babies have dominated. Funnily enough the ambition gets more focused as time and experience bring about new challenges. Word wending encounters and life conflicts battle much like a ‘protagonist’ might find oneself in, one debarcle of a situation, after another. The ideal ending is a resolution. Something I hope to glean for the further writing of my tale, beyond November. A monthly- kind of goal!

Meanwhile, today I dunked my whole body into the crisp Southern Ocean and felt all sorts of old-fashioned notions about the “health- giving” properties of an ocean bathe. Here is a glimpse of our home paradise.

2 boys, 1 dog and a surprised mother in her underwear all took a dip in the quiet waters at our local

Table Cape in the background and her black volcanic rock along the foreshore

This pungent weed smells like growing up in summer

drizzled in sunlight

 

love a list? the ultimate list of all lists

Many people are ‘list makers’ and not all of them, control freaks.  I think lists are imperative for living less hurriedly.  They give the bearer of a pen and paper, time to visualise small wins in their day-to-day living.  My favourite place to write a list is on the back of a recently opened envelope that might have held some outdated correspondence you’ve already read, replied to and deleted from your email inbox.

A silly example. Current lists in my handbag are a mess of scribbles and renovation notes.

Bin the mail, turn the envelope over and flatten with the palm of your writing hand for a neat slim writing space.  Lists, in my experience as a regular ‘maker’ of such human constructs, can overflow.  An unguarded moment may blacken your page with a torrent of domestic imperfections.  The back of your envelope can prevent such a malady with words limited to the empty space between folds.  This recycled office essential, allows list lovers to concentrate on what is achievable with just the right amount of space to unload some chores on to.  Let the written word, ease your burden with the perfect list.

My perfect list, written for a sunny day at home.  Inspired by a solid Spring of rainfall on the coast of our island.

* Strip all the beds and drape layers of bedding over the hills hoist and deck for a dry airing; and sleep deeper overnight.

* Get down on the ground and check seedlings in the veggie patch for fatalities, plant a pot of asian greens and fill a barrow with weeds.  In two months there will be home-grown grub in the salad bowl.

* Open up every window in the house, shed doors and vehicles too.  Spray lubricant over bike chains and imagine the smooth motion that now comes with your peddles has also cleared grit from inside the home and slickened every surface.  Any lurking doubts or disagreements in the shadows might be sucked out the windows and swept out the door.

* Find a breeze-less, sun-filled place; pull up a chair and a cup of tea.  Let warmth seep inside and close your eyes for ten minutes (at least).

* Fill a vase with fresh flowers.  If not from the garden, from a roadside stall or the market.  Lift your space with a floral scent.

* Give animals some love.  Throw a stick with young dog.  Chat with feral cat.  They love the sound of human voices and always speak back.  Mimic a bird call in the backyard for fun.

Here comes the sun. Keen eyes might spot an early bird.