writing about womyn....

i was lucky enough to 'win' a pass (compliments of work) to a session at the melbourne writer's festival happening at the moment... we were to choose three sessions with the outcome being we would get into one of the choices...

what a treat... i handed in my three preferences and waited to see which one i was going to - hey, i really didn't care which one i was booked in for - there's a wealth of talent out there and all would have at least been interesting!!!

i ended up going along to the "writing women" session on friday where carmel bird and sally muirden spoke about their latest novels...

now i have to admit here to not having read anything from either of these authors so i was looking forward to hearing both of them speak to discover what i'd been missing all of this time...

both are considered 'historical writers' and this session was to hear them discuss "the pull of old europe, and writing about motherhood and mysticism." (sounds like herstory rather than history to me!!!)

they both spoke eloquently about their writing and inspiration for subject matter and gave short readings from their books... both of which i might be inclined to read now out of curiosity!!!


so, not having read the books the only 'offerings' here are reviews from the reading's website...

a woman of seville by sally muirden...

"Seville in the year 1616 is a place of betrayal and torture, with the spying eyes of the Inquisition everywhere. Moorish settlers are banished from Spain and their traumatised children are locked away in monasteries for religious conversion with even the most penitent locals conducting their true lives in secret. Paula Sanchez is a concubine famed for her beauty who does her best to avoid the attentions of her lecherous benefactor Bishop Rizi in order to sit as Mary for the ‘The Penitent Magdalen’. In the evenings she escapes the heat and uncertainty of her earthy existence and conflicting morality with the Ladder Man: a mute, almost-ethereal being who never sets foot upon the ground, preferring instead the rooftops of Seville. Young apprentice painter Diego Velasquez wanders freely about the city and watches over the progress of the painting and Paula’s involvement within it."

child of the twilight by carmel bird...

"′It is strange and fascinating to me to think of people -- Avila in particular -- praying me into existence.′

Sydney Peony Kent is nineteen years old. She was a longed-for IVF baby, ′product of an unknown egg and unknown sperm′ implanted in her mother, Avila. Avila not only used the latest scientific techniques to conceive Sydney, but also prayed to the Bambinello, a small carved and jewelled statue of the infant Jesus housed in the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome and said to have miraculous properties.

Avila′s distant relative Father Roland Bruccoli was conceived in a more conventional manner, but his mother too prayed to the Bambinello before his birth -- and that of his twin sister Eleena. It is when the adult Roland is visiting the church of Santa Maria one evening that the Bambinello is stolen. Roland hopes that Father Cosimo, an archivist, poet and riddler said to speak in the ancient green language of the troubadours, can assist in discovering what has happened to the Bambinello. But when matters of belief are involved, nothing is straightforward, as Sydney discovers herself when she too becomes caught up in tracing the Bambinello′s fate.

Deftly weaving together religion, science, pregnancies wanted and unwanted, love, loss and belief, Carmel Bird has created a luminous novel that both questions and celebrates the miraculous."


i enjoyed both authors 'talks' but was more drawn to carmel bird's view on womyn and her sense of humour - especially when she spoke about the 'evolution' of the title of her book and the control the publishers have - originally she wanted to call it "child of the twilight of time" but no - that would be too long... another option was "the green language" but no - people wouldn't understand that (and i have to profess that here was the expectation that you'd either read the book or knew the reference, but as i hadn't and didn't i certainly 'looked it up' to discover the green language is also called the language of the birds or the language of the gods - hrrmph, publishers don't give the reading public credit for being able to research to find answers!)... in the end it was settled on a 'watered-down' version of her original title and became "child of the twilight"...


it was a bit of a disappointment that the session only went for just over an hour, so with introductions and readings there wasn't much time left for 'intimate dialogue' with the authors - and unfortunately the 'facilitator' was a bit 'blehhh' - i can't remember her name (perhaps because she was unmemorable) - what i do remember was that she was a readings representative (surprise, surprise)...


and, on that note, i've got things to do - got the brother coming around and we're going to visit the mother so best i get my shit together...

and life goes on...

well i wasn't able to stave off the 'lurgy' that's been doing the rounds at work (thanks to poorly people who come to work in the mistaken belief they're no longer contagious - you know who you are!!?!!)... i've been unwell the last couple of days but felt a tad less miserable this morning - luckily, because there was to be no snuggling into a warm bed today - the old girl had wee'd in her sleep so she was damp (but oblivious), i was damp (and very aware of it - the warm stream woke me up), and the bedding was wet and needed to be changed... i should have put her out at 5am when i let the boy out - but she looked so cute, cosy, cuddly and dead to the world!!

now i'd been 'encouraged' to get up, what was i to do but get myself a cuppa and turn on the telly (it was 6.30 sunday morning) - i didn’t watch any of the ‘election day coverage’ yesterday or last night  – like a lot of people i’m over politicians, political speak, grand-standing, empty promises and the blah, blah, blah - but i was somewhat surprised to discover australia had a ‘hung parliament’ – the first in 70 years…

so with no outright winner it appears we have a caretaker government with neither party able to govern in their own right… so now julia and tony have to play the 'i'll scratch your back if you scratch mine' game in order to woo the independents (all right wing apart from the greens - not looking good for labor!!)

the greens made up ground as a viable major party threat, winning their first lower house seat in the electorate of melbourne (previously held by labor for 106 years) and who knows - perhaps the balance of power?

wyatt roy seems set to become the youngest ever member of parliament by taking the seat of longman – not only does young wyatt have a back to front name, this is the first time he's been able to vote in a federal election - he's 20 so was too young to vote in the 'kevin 07' election (ahh, those crazy queenslanders!!!)

of course there are losers, winners and blame aplenty - and the community will no doubt be subjected to watered down half promises and outright backflips - yep, that's politics!!! unfortunately there's no end to the politicking yet folks!!

yawn & sigh…

what i did do last night though was watch a really interesting movie – disgrace – based on a novel by j m coetzee – jon malkovich plays david lurie, a middle-aged academic in post-apartheid south Africa – it explores racial tension, sexual abuse and power, the search for identity, father-daughter relationships (jessica haines plays his daughter lucy) and touches on animal rights… it was thought-provoking and confronting...

and now i can feel the pull of domesticity - towels and bedding won't wash themselves... neither will the dishes, nor will the vaccuuming get done if i don't get up and do it...

ah yes, life does indeed go on…

changing the world - one small step at a time...

you know, as a palestinian sympathiser / supporter I never thought I’d have reason to say “go israel”!!!! unfortunately for the palestinian people it’s not in relation to their struggle or plight – but fortunately for animals israel may be proving itself to be a leading voice against the brutal fur trade…

according to unleashed australia “israel is on the verge of becoming the first country to completely ban fur. on 2nd september israel will vote on whether to ban the production, import and export of fur.”

sickeningly the 'price of fashion' for humans is paid by non-human animals - did you know millions of minks, raccoons, foxes, rabbits, dogs, cats and other animals are skinned alive, anally electrocuted, poisoned, beaten to death or drowned for their fur?!

how many animals are horrifically slain for one fur coat?

disturbing isn't it!!! why not add your voice and urge israel to 'help make fur history'?  change has to start somewhere - and hopefully spread rapidly...

concerned people do have a voice by way of petitions and protests - as evidenced in Catalonia on 28th July, when it became the first major region in mainland Spain to ban bullfighting!!!! yay for caring, compassionate people!!!!

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world.

Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” ... Margaret Mead

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on an up note for me and my weekend... i had the 'malmsbury mob' come to visit so i got to see my wee loudie-dude, irene and the rest of the gang... we walked, talked, ate and mellowed out with a relaxing smoke... it's always a lovely time when the 'country clan' comes down...

the following photo shows me, louie (it's a pity you can't see the detail in his little black face - it's very expressive) and the grey boy is old man lucky... mind you, there was a bit of a power struggle / territorial dispute going on - my lap was the desired prize and both were vying for more of it - looks like louie had the 'upper paw' when the photo was taken - he's spread out more!!!!

alas, that's it for now - it's time to do some 'domestics'...

a beautiful friendship...

my friend irene just sent me this video - it's grouse so i just had to share it... heartwarming, inspiring, beautiful - i shed a tear of happiness, amazement, wonder and sadness...

learning new 'tricks'...

apart from working yesterday, i've been busy 'enhancing' my knowledge of all things blogger this weekend...

we've been talking about a parenting / kids blog at work for ages now and even exuberantly set about creating one (with many 'test runs' on different hosting services!) - but with one thing or another (people involved with the project leaving or going on extended leave, unfamiliarity with applications 'trialled' - some of us always wanted blogger!! - rfid tagging taking priority, etc. etc.) enthusiasm waned rapidly and input became half-hearted, so it never really 'got off the ground'!

but (hopefully) that's all about to change... we've finally decided to go with blogger because it wins hands down for its ease of use!!!!! well, according to Sailor Lily and me anyway - we're both very comfortable with blogger and enjoy 'playing' with it and as we're now the ones responsible for the initial design and content of the blog we're really happy with that decision!!!! did i mention 'free without ads'?? even better - especially if it turns out not to be utilised by its intended audience!!

i've learnt how to create navigation tabs (still working on multi-layered tabs - they're a bit more 'fiddly')... you have to work within the template css code to do this and it can be really frustrating trying to find where the new bits of code need to go!! thanks to bloggersentral - i checked out a lot of different websites for this information but their instructions were the 'easiest' to follow...

once that was done the tabs had to be 'styled' in the design template (static colour, hover colour etc.) and a html gadget added with specific 'navigation tab' code and then the individual page addresses had to be added to link to the right pages - that takes quite a while...

i also learnt how to 'trick' blogger so that we could have a static landing page - not usually a blog feature and really not necessary in a personal blog but definitely needed for the library blog so that newcomers get information about what the blog is rather than stumbling straight into the posts!

all this took time and effort - but it would have been so much harder trying to do it at work - concentration was imperative and constant interruptions just disrupt the thought processes!!!

with that said though, i have spent hours trawling through information on how to 'adapt' blogger for what we needed... no, i don't get paid to work at home (unfortunately!!) so i look on it as a personal learning 'odyssey' because the knowledge i've gained will help with my own blog - and hey, it's not like i go out a lot these days - i certainly can't afford it - being solo-with-animals and living in st kilda is very expensive - i'm surviving on a band 4 wage working 4 days a week (no - i don't want full time work - i'm 55 and have been in the workforce 40 years - cutting back my hours is something i dream of - and allie & shadow deserve more companionship and the opportunity to get in and out when they want / need to a tad more often!!!) - oh, there's also the fact there aren't many people i want to socialise with anyway - and apart from that, being vegan limits the options for 'wining and dining' - we're just not catered for in so many venues!!

anyway, i'm happy with what i've done with the blog and think it's looking good - it'll soon be 'open to the public' so i'll put a link when it's viewable... now all we have to do is get the children's services team enthused about - and posting to - it!!!

you could say i'm a tad blogged out now though - so i'm just going to leave you with some music - haven't done that for a while so here's an aussie band i really liked years ago - the baby animals 'fronted' by Suze DeMarchi - they formed in 1989 - split up in '96 - they reformed in '07 and released an acoustic cd of their hits called il grande silenzio in 2008 (a fact i've only just discovered after watching the video - so i'll have to see if i can get the album!!) enjoy... (i just checked chaos.com and they have it so i've ordered it - you can even check out the tracks to see if you like it - and it only cost $11 - an affordable price!!!)

soothing the senses...

what a wonderfully quiet, relaxing weekend i’ve had…

i decided that my next non-working weekend would be spent just being with allie and shadow and enjoying their company, catching up on some reading and savouring the peace, quiet and serenity of home life - of course the domestic stuff like cleaning up wee and washing pissy towels is part of every day, but i'd 'shopped in advance' for the weekend so i didn't have to go out saturday or (what turned out to be a bleak, cold and wet) sunday!!! finally, this weekend was the one i'd been waiting for!!!!

friday evening saw me settling down with a yummy vegie pastie (rye pastry), sweet potato wedges and rocket salad with a balsamic dressing - a couple of glasses of wine – howling wolves from margaret river (another new vegan-friendly find) - along with a few bongs, a cat on the knee and a dog stretched out next to me (letting me know in no uncertain terms if i wasn’t patting her in the right place!)... what more could i want - "being human" was on telly - i’ve taken quite a liking to this show – it’s a tad ‘darker’ this 2nd series which i'm enjoying so i got comfy with me gang and looked forward to a long, lazy weekend...

the only other thing i really needed was the beautiful fragrance of one of the soy wax melts from australian soy candles by lisa jane creations – lisa is a young womon running a small “cottage” industry in rural victoria which allows her to work from home and be with her children – she has all things soy wax and uses essential oils to create beautiful scents - my favourite is black raspberry and i had one left - another sensuous and sensory indulgence for the evening...



i decided to keep the computer turned off on saturday but before i settled down to read i gave allie a bath which was an added bonus with it being quite sunny and mild (no, she doesn't like baths - but i bet she feels so much better now - she's soooo very soft and smells lovely - sensory pleasure for both of us!!!)...

i have a number of books that need to be read – so many reserved!!! so I decided on 31 bond street by ellen horan for this weekend – a mystery based on a true 1857 story centred around the murder of new york ‘society’ dentist harvey burdell and the trial of emma cunningham, the womon charged with the crime. well it didn’t disappoint. It is a well crafted story and I was fascinated to read in the author’s note which characters were actually fictitious – and she very skilfully threaded the slave trade and disenfranchisement of the native people through the story (it's set 4 years before the american civil war)…

having finished 31 bond street on sunday and enjoying it immensely i was encouraged to have a bit of a search online and i came across this interesting blog “butchery on bond street” which I’ll have to read in more detail some other time… it’s written by a volunteer archivist in the green-wood cemetery where there is apparently a 'trove of treasures' related to this crime...

so, with it being monday now and the weekend just about over i better think about doing something - there's more washing to be done, a visit to be made to the mother, a trip to the supermarket for some much needed shopping, cleaning, blah, blah, blah - okay, guess it's back to reality...

later tonight though i’m anticipating starting ‘time’s legacy’, latest offering from barbara erskine, a skilled wordsmith who weaves tales between the past and present – sometimes ‘herstorical’, sometimes ‘historical’, always mesmerising...  maybe I should just settle on ‘theirstorical’ because I certainly can’t use the male-centric terminology of our language – but back to barbara erskine… she’s been a favourite author since i first read ‘lady of hay’ in the 80s and with many novels to her credit will probably remain a favourite for many years...