Family Time

Family is something that matters a lot to me....there are others as well, such as friends, similarities shared by people and the vast open spaces and big blue sky of inland Australia, just to name a few off the top of my head.

I've just spent more time up in Bundaberg, on the central coast of Queensland, with my sister and her family. Whilst fiddling with photos today, I discovered the 'collage' function on Picasa, and had such fun!! So, for you, a collage of some of my wonderfully exhausting times in Bundy.

February Movie

Stuck for choice as I was today, having to fill in a couple of hours while my car was being serviced at the dealer's, I opted for "Dan In Real Life", which had received reasonable reviews from people I generally 'trust' with these things.

I'll cut a long whinge short and say for me, it was a waste of time and money. The movie poster above basically says it all... stupid, predictable and I really didn't care about the guy. OK, there were a couple of redeeming qualities to the movie, but, no, it left me cold.

Recent work

Thought it was about time I added a little of my newest pieces I've worked on. Above are 2 ATCs for a Dragonfly/Butterfly swap I'm in and are based on a dragonfly I saw in a cave in Kakadu N.P.

Below are ATCs made for other swaps. I really love making my own backgrounds too, and having been having lots of fun playing with paint, ink and other goodies.

Kev Carmody

This was my CD of 2007. It was seldom off my CD player for more than one day...I kid you not. I had known about Kev Carmody,an Indigenous singer/song-writer for ages, and had always valued his skills in opening up this white-fella's eyes to the Aboriginal perspective of life's experiences. But, to hear his songs re-interpreted by a broad collection of other Australian singers, was a further revelation.


When my sister and I were in Sydney for Mum and Dad's 60th, we just about knocked everyone over in our rush to get tickets for the concert performance of the CD, as part of the Sydney Festival. Not everyone on the album was able to be there...missing,disappointingly, were the John Butler Trio, The Waifs, Bernard Fanning and Troy Cassar-Daley. Despite this ,we swooned all evening, danced in our seats( after being sternly advised there was to be NO dancing in the section of the theatre we were in), sang along with everything, and even our least-favourite tracks are now firmly placed 'up-there' with the rest.

Kev Carmody's webite is here, and you can also watch and listen to Kev and Paul Kelly via links on that site.

POSTSCRIPT to Wednesday's post about the Sorry speech......
Sally's blog has a wonderfully comprehensive post with links to various aspects of the day, as well as an astonishing photo montage. I urge you to visit her blog for Wednesday,13th February.

WE SAY SORRY

These are the words Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will speak today on this momentous day in our history......

Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations - this blemished chapter in our nation's history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.

A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia."

Stolen or Removed??

The following rant is something I feel very strongly about, and need to get off my chest!

The Federal Government wants to say "Sorry" to the Stolen Generation of Indigenous Australians. At last!

BUT....it is almost unbelievable that the Federal Opposition is, in February 2008, still debating the point . At the moment, many in Opposition are arguing against the use of the word 'stolen' in regards to Government or Church representatives who went into Aboriginal communities and took the children against the wishes of the parents or carers, last century. They would rather the word 'removed' was used, arguing that often this was done with the welfare of the children in mind, and that many children benefitted from it!! Oh Yes!!! They argue also that the officials believed they were doing the right thing. Yes!! I'm sure they did!! Please feel free to insert pedophilia, persecution on gender or sexual grounds and and removal of cultural artifacts and even body parts in here also!!

History is sadly littered with countless incidences of the Church or Government doing the right thing, when they thought they had the moral high ground automatically, because of their position. We know how WRONG they really were!

I made the collage-y thing above as a response.

SOMETHING NEW

Learning to cope with new situations is something I find extremely difficult. HOWEVER, learning new skills or new areas of knowledge is fundamental to my well-being and happiness. For example, I had my first tap dancing lesson today, and that's something I've always longed to do.

A couple of weeks ago, I spent a day with my friend Di at Joan Ajala's place at Brunswick Heads, making marbled paper. Joan's website is here. What a fabulous way to spend time, creating the most amazing patterns on paper. Joan follows and teaches very specific and traditional marbling techniques, and the patterns formed have particular names.I'm showing you some of the beautiful papers I made that day.

The pattern above is called Stones, and is the most free-form of the patterns. Below, in order, are Non-Pariel, Bouquet and lastly, one I made for fun, manipulating the paint by drawing with a bamboo skewer.

Juno

When people see a movie at the cinema, I guess they have different criteria by which they judge whether they liked the movie or not, or whether it made some sort of impression on them.

For me, a 'good' movie keeps ticking away in my mind for days, revealing different aspects of itself. If I get back to the car, and I have to think....."now what did I just see??"...well, I've just pretty-well wasted a couple of hours.

'Juno' is still vibrating 5 days after seeing it...I laughed out loud at times but had a silent little weep too.

PS Last year I was decidedly 'shabby' about seeing a movie regularly.For 2008,I've made a bargain with myself to see one movie a month at least.Let's just see shall we?