crochet and knitting patterns & The men who would be king

Posted 19/11/09
This is one of my of my favourite poems about Australia, I first heard and loved it over 30 years ago, and it has remained close to my heart ever since. In the early days of Australia, most Australians still called England the Mother Land - hence the first verse - but as generation after generation were born here (early European & Chinese settlers go back only 8 generations at the most here, to be a 7th generation Australian is something to brag about, and to be able to claim a convict - or two - in your family tree, then you are considered Australian Royalty) Australia began to flow through our veins.

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I Love a sun burnt country
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die-
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold-
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
All you who have not loved her
You will not understand-
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Dorothea Mackellar

Posted 7/11/2009
The Men Who Would be King
I'm back to writing about books again today; I have been so tied up with everything else that I haven't done much with my collection except read some of the great books I have, but the other day I picked up a book my husband had just finished (the strange man only likes non-fiction, but I have given him my copy of I Claudius, and Claudius the God both by Robert Graves, so he's promised he'll try them), and the title is "The Men Who Would Be king" and it's written by Josephine Ross. I can't put it down, it's just such a fascinating look at suitors to Queen Elizabeth 1, but more importantly gives an insight into the possible reasons she never wanted to marry anyone. I can't say I blame her, she witnessed many men, most predominantly her father, exercise total dominance over women, discarding them completely once they had obtained their goals. Her mother suffered this fate of course, but so did her sister Mary, when Philip 11 of Spain married her for political expediency, then high-tailed it back to Spain and left Mary to her phantom pregnancies, and in total misery until her early death in 1558. Elizabeth could not look kindly on marriage, although she is reputed to have used men to her own advantage, enjoying the power she wielded during the protracted negotiations which she deliberately extended, by never saying 'No' immediately to any suitor. And of course, throughout it all there was one man, Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, who never attained the prize he longed for, but nonetheless was

loved by Elizabeth all her life. Above all this book shows Elizabeth as an intelligent and clever woman, far smarter than her sister Mary, she recognised the importance of making the people love her, not an easy task when you look at the turmoil of her early life, and the technicality of her being seen as a bastard after Mary had her father's annulment of his first marriage repealed, making all subsequent marriages of Henry V111 void.
The beauty of this book lies not only in the history, but the way it is written. Often non fiction writers can be so dry, and well...boring, and you just give up. Have you ever read a book that has great content, but the author is so verbose it's maddening, and the words chosen...well...you need a dictionary permanently beside you to decipher what they are even talking about. But Josephine Ross is eminently readable. I'm loving this book. By the way it's illustrated with portraits of all the main suitors, and one look tells me, maybe Elizabeth didn't think any of them very pretty either, I must say they are certainly not eye candy, and the legs on Eric of Sweden would make a girl weep.
If you enjoy well written historical fiction, then I know you'll enjoy this non fiction foray into some fascinating British history. I'm going to look for some more books by this author. Cheers Ursula

Floodwaters that have isolated up to 5,000 residents on the NSW mid north coast are expected to recede on Sunday, emergency services say.

The NSW government on Saturday declared Nambucca, Bellingen and Kempsey shires and Coffs Harbour natural disaster zones, after a deluge of rain drenched the region and cut off entire communities.

The local councils of the four areas will receive state government assistance to repair roads, bridges, water bores and other public infrastructure.

Residents and businesses that have suffered damage will also be eligible for financial help.

Areas of Coffs Harbour were pelted with 528mm of rain, and further south at Bellingen up to 351mm was recorded in the 48 hours to early Saturday (AEDT) morning when conditions improved.

The Bellinger river peaked at 7.2m just before midnight on Friday, bringing moderate flooding in Bellingen, where its population of 2900 remain isolated.

About 500 residents at Darkwood on the upper Bellinger river, and another 500 on the upper Kalang River remain cut off.

It is the fifth time this year the region has been hit by severe floods.

Further south at Bowraville on the Nambucca River, 900 people are isolated.

The State Emergency Service (SES) says the water will subside on Sunday, and trapped residents should be free to come and go.

"The weather is dropping off dramatically, which means the situation is not as bad as it could be," SES spokesman Steve Delaney said.

"Over the next 24 hours we expect to see the flood water subside."

But concerns remain for about 200 residents near the Orara River at Coutts Crossing, which is expected to flood on Saturday afternoon, Mr Delaney said.

A number of local roads in the affected areas remain closed, and the SES has urged people to delay non-essential travel to those areas until conditions improve.

The SES has received more than 400 requests for assistance, relating to rescue, evacuation and sandbagging of properties.

Homes have suffered leaking roofs and damage from fallen trees and branches.

The Bureau of Meteorology said showers were expected to continue on Saturday night and Sunday, with possible thunderstorms.

But the rain will not be widespread or exacerbate flooding, forecaster Deryn Griffiths said.

Although the Spring Racing Carnival seems to go on forever (Caulfield Cup was a few weeks ago), the actual Cup Carnival kicked off with The Victorian Derby at Flemington on Saturday (Halloween) so parties abounded in and around Melbourne on Saturday Night. I went to one myself, and we drank champers and organised the Cup Day BBQs - everyone has one here. The Melbourne Cup is the horse race that stops the Nation, we have horses and race goers from around the world converging on Melbourne for the big race. Bart Cumming's has three horses running this year, the favourite, Viewed and his two stablemates Roman Emperor and Alez Wonder. Ted's backing Alcopop, I haven't decided who to back, the only horse race I ever bet on, but I usually choose by the name, a most unscientific way. We are having Aussie King prawns on the barbie, with some lovely sparkling Australian wines, and we'll set up a TV outside and watch the race there. We never go anymore, as it gets too hot & crowded at Flemington, and quite frankly, I can't be bothered. I hope the weather warms up

again though; it was 33° on Saturday dropped to about 23° yesterday with rain, today is overcast and 29° but tomorrow is forecast 33° again and sunny, so hopefully the forecast is correct. I love this time of year in Melbourne, the weather is just...perfect.

We have been asked to a Halloween Party at my son's place this year, and my husband refuses to go as he says it's un Australian. I suppose I have to agree with him to a degree, as when I was young we had never heard of it. Now you get little kids wandering around on their own asking for lollies, and it's all a bit weird, all these annoying little blighters parading the streets and making a nuisance of themselves, asking for stuff for free, we just don't answer the door, it's all become too commercial, I bet not one of them knows what it's really all about, and my contention is that halloween has totally replaced Guy Fawkes here since they banned crackers on us. It all used to be far more fun.

But Guy Fawkes Night - which did celebrate a real event in our British history - has disappeared. And has been replaced by these unpleasant begging brats all demanding something for nothing, not to mention the adults who are just as keen to dress in Halloween costumes and act like childish idiots themselves. The old feast of All Hallows, or All Saints, has been totally forgotten. I doubt whether any child on Saturday night tried to grab apples with their teeth from a floating tub. And I'll bet not one of them knew that this day was the eve of All Saints' Day, in which the Church gave thanks for all those virtuous souls who have gone to God. It was traditional to expel all evil spirits, not dress up like them.

All the parents would build a huge bonfire at the end of our street in the local school yard, and we'd pile old boxes and collected junk on it, a great way to clear out the garage, and we'd have a silly guy sitting on a chair - usually just a skeleton frame dressed in someone's old shirt. Dad would give us each a small bag of crackers, and we'd throw them into the bonfire, and the dad's would set off lovely rockets from empty beer bottles - another excuse to have more beer, they needed the bottles for the rockets, and they'd nail catherine wheels to the fence and light them, and all the boys (my brothers included) would run around trying to steal the girl's crackers, and we'd run off squeeling to our fathers, (who'd always take the girls' side).
Once my brother Pete dropped a penny bunger into my cracker bag (on purpose) and set the whole lot off, Dad was really cross with him, if it happened today they'd probably lock my brother up for endangerment. I managed to drop the bag, but was most upset because I didn't have any crackers left. Do you ever wonder how you survived your youth without all the nannying that governments surround us with today? I do. But we did, and we had a ball with very little expenditure on my parent's part.

Anyway back to the party, my son who is 29 says he'd much prefer cracker night too, but one has to do something, and after all it is Cup weekend, and the Halloween craze seems to have taken root, unfortunately it involves spending money on useless apparel. I thought I'd go to the party as a witch, very appropriate for a new mother in law don't you think? And the costume I can make myself. So here I am joining all the other crazy adults, dressing up like an idiot and making a fool of myself. My wool wig is designed to give my husband nightmares.
I'm staying the night so my hubby doesn't have to come out late and pick me up, I can also get ready at my son's place so my husband doesn't have to see me in the outfit, it might spark some more 'un Australian' comments. On Cup day we usually have a big BBQ down at my brother's holiday house in Dromana, and this year I don't think it will be warm enough to get me down there. It needs to be at least 40° before I'll stick a toe in the water. My better half likes the BBQ on Cup day, he loves to cook a BBQ, and probably averages a new one every 2 years, they seem to get bigger and better every year, and he falls for a new feature and just has to have it. The Cup Day festivites are Australian through and through, so he throws himself wholeheartedly into those. They'll take his mind off Halloween. Me I like cooking on the Webber best. I have completed a BBQ ebook, and I think a Webber recipe book could be a good one, I'll dig out my recipes.
I'll let you know how the Halloween party goes, but more importantly, how the Cup goes, and I'll get some photos if I remember. I'll go now and upload some Spooky books to my book site usedbooks-online.com, , and maybe a copy of "Man from Snowy River" both very Australian and about horses, that should please Ted ; I've placed Casper there to the left of you. Until next time, Cheers Ursula

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Updated 17-08-10 04:54:25 PM Posts on Books & Comics

Updated 17-08-10 04:54:25 PM
Posts on Books & Comics