How does your garden grow?

I can only take credit for helping to build the boxes. Mrs Bloggs does the actual planting, feeding, tending and watering.

So we have three different varieties of tomato...

yellow zucchini,

regular zucchini,

 onions drying off - almost ready to pick,

 spring onions, carrot, lettuce, beetroot, some random cat,

 climbing beans (I still don't know how to rotate pics in this program),

 corn - nearly as high as an elephants eye,

 the great pumpkin pacth,

 and strange teepees - we stick drill a hole in a tennis ball and push it on to the end of a length of conduit and tie the conduit to the tree trunk. This then holds the bird nets up over the fruit trees.

This time of year is good in the garden.

I'll call it craft

When I take my new airplane out for a fly I spend the evening afterward with glue, scissors, plastic ice cream lids and bobby pins.

This machine has a had the nose cone glued back in place, a new wing fin made from an ice cream lid fitted, new under-wing landing guides made from bobby pins, the rear section of the fuselage glued back in place, the battery compatment door catch glued in and some strenthening tape added to the upper cockpit area.

I am getting better at flying it - at least the crash landings seem to be less severe.

Let's talk about friends and friendship

I'm thinking back to 1976. We were camping with a school group. It must have been near Alice Springs. Here are, us four friends, brought together by our geography and demography. We were merely the same age, growing up in the same area and ended up in the same public school. That was all that friendship was made of in those years.

Is that a bad thing?

From left to right:

Luke was one of the nicest of people I have met. He went to NIDA I heard. Something to do with stage direction or lighting.  I never heard from him again after this year.

Gavin was a good bloke. Supplied us with some good whiskey at times. I managed to stay out of trouble but still managed to spent some great schooldays down at the beach with a bottle of Johnny Walker or two. Remember in particular 'borrowing' David Lockyear's little Corola (I think) and going for a spin to the beach. I had no license and hadn't ever even driven a car but we still made it to the beach, put down a bottle and made it back to school alive! I think Gavin took an apprenticeship somewhere. I never heard from him again.

David was a good mate. He lived up the road from me and we spent some time together. We even camped out in my backyard one night - do you remember that night David? I bumped into David at the beach one day. Our kids were taking swimming classes at the same time. This was soon after I ran for parliament on a 'Save Our Schools' platform. He said he voted for me. He was the only person I have ever met that had said that to me. I have not seen him since.

That's me on the right. That's 36 years ago. I sometimes feel no older than that and yet at the same time feel that that was another world away.

So, where do our friends go?

They go and live their own lives and, I suppose, we go and live our own.

My mother has a friend that she met when she was a teenager. They would often spend their holidays together. they speak to each other at least every year but they don't travel to see each other anymore. It has probably been 20 years or so since they've seen each other. But they are friends. How many people can we count as friends in or life? Should we be counting?

What is it with words and music?

Great songwriters can bring forth from a series of notes and letters some of the deepest emotions of our lives. If our lives a just a series of waking, eating, working, sleeping and repeating then so be it but just stop and listen to a piece, any piece, of Les Miserable and try not to moisten in the eyes - go on - i dare you. But let me break that down a bit.
Good song writing seems to be made from the juxtaposition of the personal with the global. let me expand. A favourite song of mine is 'A Great Day for Freedom' from 'The Division Bell' album. In this song the writer pulls together the idea that great divisions in nations (walls?) can be broken down and new days dawn wherein people can see new light and freedom. the writer in this piece also directly compares that great nationwide breaking down of barriers with his own personal insights into intimate emotional re connections.

The story of Les Miserables follows the journey of one Jean Valjean a poor retched creature who seeks redemption from his poverty and crime in revolutionary France. The songs in the musical adaptation speak of despair, revenge, revolution, friendship, forgiveness and finally, redemption. but all of these emotions are set against both a personal journey as well as a national upheaval. You see - we can all measure our own journeys through and within the journeys of our our societies.

so, when a great song brings tears to ones eyes is that just a rhythm creating a biological reaction or are we as humans attuned to feel deep and heartfelt meaning to words and music?

A new whiteboard can solve everything, part 2

Well, the whiteboard is up.

All I've managed to put on it at the moment is some post-it notes from my desk.
That is a start and actually a good start because those notes were attached to various parts of my desk which is now becoming clearer by the minute and once again allowing me to see the various adornments that have been added to my desk over the years. Presents from my wife and daughters that remind me of them and how blessed I have been.

 The Turkish style magnifying glass that seems to allude to my failing eyesight.

The wooden 3D jigsaw wine glass (which I cannot seem to rotate in the program) which combines three things I like in one object.

1. Wine, naturally,

2. wooden objects and

3. a desire to solve problems and return things to some sense of order. 

The hand made elephant themed recycled notepaper box which now houses some of my secret and useful cards. 

And the pin clock which is simply amusing.

The new whiteboard however is not amusing, nor elephant themed, nor will it require magnifying but it will create some order to things - in business - in life - and in my mind so that I can indeed celebrate all that is good - home - family and life.

A new whiteboard can solve everything

I drove near 80 km today to pick up my new whiteboard. I should say at this point that I did the usual farmer in the big smoke thing and combined my trip with quite a number of other errands.  even though i am neither the farmer nor is Adelaide the big smoke. i first called into the chemist and sorted out some new more healthier versions of spring nasal relief - yes, spring is upon us again. number 2 - a nice long black from the McLaren Vale bakery. Next, pick up a light fitting for one of my winery customers then to order some fans for another winery customer. did you know that apart from the problem of a bit too much heat, one of  problems that wineries face during vintage, is too many wine flies. Hence I intend, before next vintage with one of my customers, to install a series of post mounted industrial fans to help keep out the wine flies! And then on to Mile End Office Supplies to pick up my whiteboard. I had to take my new ute for this errand - it is the only vehicle that would fit the 900x1500 board. It fitted well on the flat of the tray. So it was of home  with a couple of diversions. Lunch was required and new riding gloves. Here is something to ponder: did you know that i take size XL in riding gloves and size S in working gloves - can you figure that?
I should mention at this point that I have just spent the most fantastic time with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter over in west Australia. the girl is just so gorgeous and mum and dad just so easy going.I am just so happy for them all. Back to my trip of today - I managed to make it to Gran's place before too long. She has been splitting wood without my help. I hope my next eldest sister doesn't find out. I have managed to get this whiteboard home and I am hoping to mount it (read what you will) by the end of the weekend. After then I will be able to solve everything by writing it on the whiteboard.

One reason why I love living in this town

I spent the morning on a job at the top of the hill. Lovely couple in a lovely place with a beautiful view over our valley. We spoke about how nice it is to live up here. We had similar experiences of just being able to afford run-down old places here around the same time (some 16 years ago). But, being able to see the potential, we both have comfortable places to live nearby such a lovely town.

Now, to the story of why I love living in this town.

In the afternoon I had a job on Main Road. I had to park on Main Road and as I was getting out of the truck (with our town name emblazoned on the side of the truck) a fella came up to talk to me. He explained that he was also an electrician but not from our town. He came from the city and worked mainly north of the city. His daugter (or niece - I'm not sure which) ran the hairdresser's salon just down the road. Apparently the new supermarket development in town had bought her building and was due to demolish it to make way for a new driveway for the new supermarket. This had left her in a spot of bother. Her business had been operating from that building for some years. As chance would have it, there was another building that had just become available only a couple of hundred metres up the road. She wanted to move in to the new building but she needed some electrical work on the building to make it work for her.

This brings me back to the fella who stopped me on the side of the road. He had looked at the truck and had assumed (quite correctly) that I was "the local fella". Just to proove this point, as we were speaking, a customer drove by from one direction, tooted his horn and waved 'hello'. I returned the wave. Almost immediately following the local builder saw me as he drove past and similarly tooted and waved 'hello'. Having suitably impresed this visitor from out of town with my obvious localness and recognisability in the town he asked me for my card and commented that he would be recommending me to his female relative as 'the local guy' - the one that is known in the district.

I could have been doing the same job down in the city and could possibly be making the same money but would I be having as much fun? I don't think so!

Great reformist parties sometimes need great reform

In the lead-up to the 1968 US Presidential election the announcement by Robert F. Kennedy of his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination was seen by some in the Party and by many in the wider public as a chance to reform a Party that had become stale and tainted. The Democratic Party in the US had been a great reformist Party during the twentieth century. In the tradition of Labour Parties around the world it had stood up for working men and women against the excesses of capitalist and entrenched ruling classes whilst still acknowledging the fundamental need for economic growth and opportunity for the individual. That Party had lost it's way by 1968. It needed a breath of fresh air. It needed a great reformer. Robert Kennedy could have been that man but his soul was taken from the world too soon. The Party and the US has not ever really recovered.

Australia's Labour Party is the oldest labour party in the world. It has a proud history of reform and support for the working men and women of Australia. The 40 hour week, the 38 hour week, universal health care, near universal superannuation. These are just some of the things that Australians have come to expect in a modern society. They are all thanks to Labor governments and Labor Party policies.

We may, however, be coming to a point in our history where these things are so expected and so embedded in our culture that even the Conservatives cannot reverse them. This may mean that the public could instill another Conservative government and still expect that those aspects of our society are safe. This is dangerous.

Let there be no doubt that the Conservatives have every intention of reversing many of the great reforms of our times.

This is where we come to our problem. Our Australian Labor Party is on the brink of tearing itself apart over matters of personalities and not policies. The NSW Right wants power at all cost. The VIC Left has lost it's ability to connect with the public. The QLD party is as insular and anti-Canberra as it has always been and he rest of the State organisations are so caught up in their own petty State issues that they fail to see the importance of a strong Federal system and, more importantly, a Federal Labor Government.

All members and supporters of the Labor movement must suspend their differences and personal power plays and concentrate now on maintaining the current Labor Government and ensuring it's re-election in 2013.

A note to Channel 9

Been watching SBS's coverage of the Tour de France. Live from 2130 every night, highlights for breakfast at 0700, catch-up highlights before tea at 1800 and a back-up, if I miss all that, at 2030.
Compare this with 9's woefull broadcast of the Tour Down Under this year - and they have it for 3 years!
It takes a few viewings to understand all of the nuances of the Tour. I think I'm starting to get there. Good to see an Australian team competing even though they are in 21st position. Watching the race now. They've just collected their food and drinks. Saw one rider with a can of Coke - having trouble with the opening tab while riding.
I'd love to get out for a ride in the morning, might even have a Coke.

Too many people want a piece of me

I'll get the hang of this eventually but here goes for now.

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Too many people seem to want a piece of me.
I'm saying that in a bad way. All of my customers are being quite pleasant but I really don't seem to have enough hours in a day or days in the week to fit everyone in. Some things must be done before the end of the school holidays. Some things must be done this week because "I need my kitchen back in working order" even though you pulled it apart and expected everyone to fit in with you to put it back together. Other things must be done today because production is waiting and it's costing us every minute it is down. In the meantime I'm waking at 4 in the morning because I'm thinking about all these things.

I just thought out loud, though, that it would be worse, I suppose, if nobody wanted me.