Maybe some bloggers would be interested in this Alternative Writing Workshop. I think with this workshop they can reach a wider readership.
Have a look, and Good Luck!
Author: auntyuta
Auntie, Sister. Grandmother, Great-Grandmother,
Mother and Wife of German Descent
I've lived in Australia since 1959 together with my husband Peter. We have four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. I started blogging because I wanted to publish some of my childhood memories. I am blogging now also some of my other memories. I like to publish some photos too as well as a little bit of a diary from the present time. Occasionally I publish a story with a bit of fiction in it. Peter, my husband, is publishing some of his stories under berlioz1935.wordpress.com
Yellow Chantarelles (Pfifferlinge)
Here is a Blog about Pfifferlinge. I found it by googling the word ‘Pfiffferlinge’. Under images of Pfifferlinge was this picture of Pfifferlinge in the pan.
Our daughter bought us the other day a jar with dried yellow chantarelles imported from Poland. As I mentioned in the previous post she also bought us fresh edible red carnations for a salad.
It reminded me of a salad I had for lunch two years ago in Germany. We took a picture of the salad at the time. Here it is. You can see edible daisies on it together with lettuce, tomatoes and plenty of chantarelles.
It was delicious!
Centennial Park
This was in 2006.
- Peter is approaching the outside area of the cafe
- The glass-doors to the cafe
- Look through the glass-doors
http://www.centennialparklands.com.au
Three different parks belong to the Centennial Parklands:
Centennial Park, Moore Park and Queens Park.
After a very satisfying breakfast at our daughter’s place we drove to Centennial Park not far from where the daughter lives. We wanted to see what the place looked like where in 2006 we were celebrating our 50th Wedding Anniversary.
We found the place without difficulty. We knew they had done some alterations a few years ago. So when we arrived there we noticed that to the original cafe a Kiosk had been added plus a lot of outside sitting area. On this mild sunny morning quite a few people were out already enjoying sitting outside with their refreshments from the kiosk.
The cafe looked inside still very much as it looked at the time of our Anniversary when we had lunch there with the whole family. The cafe was closed because it was still early in the morning but we could have a look through the glass-doors. So we took a photo looking inside from outside.
In some parts of the parks horse riding is allowed. On the way into the park we saw a few very beautiful horses with their riders. Unfortunately I did not think of taking picture and later on we didn’t see any horses anymore.
Here are some details from the Map Guide of the Parklands. There’s
Rollerblade Hire
Cycle Hire
Horse Hire
Dog Wash
Underground Reservoirs
and Bubblers
Distances around Grand Drive, Centennial Park:
Road 3.8 km
Walking Path 3.7 km
Horse Track 3.6 km
Distances from the Parklands:
To the CBD of Sydney it is 5 km
To the Airport 7 km
To Bondi Beach 5 km
- View to the CBD of Sydney
- Inside Centennial Park
Edible Flowers
crispandfresh.com.au
Edible flowers look beautiful as a decoration. Any meal with some edible flowers as decoration would look special. I very much love the red carnations our daughter gave us the other day. We had a good time eating them last night! Thank you, Caroline, for giving us such a special gift.
Mother’s Day 2012
For me the actual Mother’s day was today, that is in the morning our daughter Nr. 2 was able to spend some time with us before her shift started. This visit was also for Peter’s Birthday, which is coming up this week. On Peter’s birthday we are going to be in Sydney with daughters Nr.1 and 3. Our son, who lives in Melbourne, is staying in touch by phone. But we did see him in Melbourne at Eastertime, when we were celebrating his birthday. There was one Easter bunny left, which appeared in the pictures we took today.
The big bag was full of gifts from our daughter. Peter did bake the cake and bought the flowers!
I found another picture of a tree log cake. Here it is:
LOST IN BORONIA
Lost in Boronia (third draft)
Uta had started walking back on the cyclepath. She enjoyed the crisp cool air and the sunshine. The surroundings in this reserve area with no cars around were very peaceful. Uta felt all right drifting along, just drifting along. She assumed, since she had come this way before, it would be easy to just go back on the cycleway. She was right on time too. She had checked with her watch before she turned back. Her son had told her to turn back after fifteen minutes. This was exactly what she had done. Everything seemed so perfect on a perfect morning.
The cyclepath suddenly split into two ways. This was definitely not right. This was not the way she had come before. But how could this be? She couldn’t work this out. It was like waking up from a dream. You’re dreaming, dreaming, dreaming. All of a sudden you wake up and realize that you are lost., meaning you are somewhere totally unfamilar to you.
Feeling absolutely lost, not knowing what to do, she just walked on. She remembered she had to go back to MANUKA DRIVE. This was the road she had started from. So where was this Manuka Drive? Best to ask someone. It had to be here somewhere. It can’t all of a sudden disappear. She asked a man who came along walking two large dogs. ‘Can you tell me, please, where MANUKA DRIVE is?’ The man said he had no idea where this road was.
Then a lady appeared on the cyclepath. She was running at what seemed a moderate pace. Uta dared to interrupt the lady’s jogging by asking her for directions to Manuka Drive. Luckily the lady knew exactly where Manuka Drive was. It turned out, Uta had gone too far along the cycleway. Turning back the way the lady had told her to, Manuka Drive soon was right in front of her. What a relief, to find some familiar sourroundings again, she thought. Gradually it dawned on her that she must have crossed Manuka Drive before without paying attention to it because the cyclepath went via an underpass to the other side of the road.
Memory from about 2006
LOST IN BORONIA
“Have you got a watch with you, Mum?” asked my son. I showed him my watch. “All right,” he said. “Follow us for fifteen minutes. Then turn back, and we will catch up with you on our way back.”
Soon my husband, my daughter-in-law and my son were quite some distance in front of me. All three were runners who were training on a regular basis. My husband looked back once and waved to me. He seemed to be a bit reluctant to let me walk on my own.
However I followed them quite happily and confidently, glad not to have to move along as fast as they did. What on earth could go wrong on a footpath/cycleway? I was thinking to myself. After about ten minutes I reached some sports-fields, where quite a few people had gathered. There was also a large road with a lot of traffic on it. The track I was on, seemed to lead through an underpass to the other side of this busy road.
Close to the sports-fields was a nice landscaped area, which looked very inviting to me. Better to go there and avoid the narrow underpass, I thought. So I roamed about the landscaped area for a while.
The sun had come out a bit. I enjoyed the scenery, thinking about this and that, walking here and there. Then it was time to walk back on the footpath/cycleway. I started walking briskly again. All of a sudden, the area felt rather unfamiliar to me. I was not sure, whether I had really come this way before.
Why could I not remember a single thing about where I had passed before, I asked myself. How could I be so unsure, whether I still went into the right direction? I was no aboriginal, I thought. An aboriginal woman would never have lost her sense of direction as I had.
I decided, I would walk five more minutes. If by then I could still not see anything that looked familiar, I would ask some passerby for directions. A young father came along. He was walking behind his little son, who was on a bike: “Excuse me, could you tell me please how I can get to MANUKA DRIVE?” The man’s answer was: “Sorry, but I have no idea where Manuka Drive is.”
The next person I asked for directions was a woman jogger, who did not seem to be running very fast, so I dared to interrupt her serious exercise. She stopped and talked to me for a while, but she also did not have a clue, where Manuka Drive was. When she continued with her jogging, she called back: “Good Luck!” Maybe she thought, I was completely lost and needed an enormous amount of luck to find Manuka Drive. But I was still confident, that this big road, called MANUKA DRIVE, could not all of a sudden have disappeared. The bus went along there, for heaven’s sake! Why doesn’t anybody know, where this road is? I thought to myself.
Finally I met a woman with two dogs. She told me, I had to go back. The first road to the right was not Manuka Drive, but the second road to the right, that was Manuka Drive. “Second road to the right!” She repeated, as she left with her dogs.
Where I was, the track went into three different directions, but thanks to that nice woman with the dogs I knew now exactly, which direction to take. I saw the jogging woman again, who was on her way back, and I called out to her: “I have to go back!” Her good luck wishes seemed to have worked, since I did know my way now. All of a sudden it was no problem at all to find Manuka Drive .
I turned to the right and there it was, the beautiful grand house at the corner, where the family had moved to recently. When we all had left the house earlier on, the grandson had started doing Thai Chi on the lawn at the back. He was still doing it as I opened the gate to the backyard. “Have the others come back yet?” I asked the grandson. “Not that I noticed,” was his answer.
Well, the others arrived within the next five minutes. Was I glad that I had made it to be back before them!
LOST IN BORONIA (second draft)
I reached a large road with a lot of traffic on it. The track I was on seemed to lead through an underpass to the other side of this busy road. I looked around and saw a pleasantly landscaped area close by, which appealed to me more than this narrow underpass. I decided I would roam around the landscaped area for a while and then turn back to where I had come from.
After about five minutes I was back on the footpath/cycleway. I started walking briskly again. All of a sudden the area looked rather unfamiliar to me. I was not sure, whether I had really come this way before.
Why could I not remember a single thing about where I had passed before, I asked myself. How could I be so unsure, whether I still went into the right direction? I was no aboriginal, I thought to myself. An aboriginal woman would never have lost her sense of direction as I had.
Another five minutes passed. I still could not make any sense of where I was going. So I asked several passers-by for directions to MANUKA DRIVE. Nobody seemed to know MANUKA DRIVE.
Finally I met a women with two dogs. She told me, I had to go back. The first road to the right was not Manuka Drive, but the second road to the right, that was Manuka Drive. “Second road to the right,” she repeated, as she left with her dogs.
Where I was, the track went into three different directions, but thanks to the woman with the dogs I knew now exactly, which direction to take. I remembered “second road to the right” and sure enough, there it was, the beautiful grand house at the corner, where I had started from, and where the son and his family had moved to only recently. After all it was my first visit to this place. If I was going out again on their walking tracks, I would take a bit more care where I was going in order not to get lost again. But BORONIA is a beautiful suburb of Melbourne, no doubt about it, and I love it.
——————————–
I wrote about having been lost in BORONIA quite a few years ago. I found both versions in my file. Which version do you like better, the first or the second one?
Diary, 9th of May 2012
A SEPARATION
A Persian Film with English Subtitles
‘A married couple are faced with a difficult decision – to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer’s disease . . .’
The movie length is 2hrs. The talk is extremely fast most of the time. Towards the end of the movie my eyes started feeling a bit sore. But it was a gripping movie. The marriage difficulties ring so true. It was filmed like a documentary. The setting could have been in any other country where there’s an established middle class. Caring for an aging parent suffering from Alzheimer’s disease would bring problems to any family.
Anyhow Peter and I watched this movie in the Gala Cinema in Warrawong while Peter’s car was being serviced. Now the car is ready for re-registration which is always due in the month of Peter’s birthday.
Our free standing home is called a ‘villa’. There are ten identical villas in our complex, eight of them owner occupied. One widow in the complex recently sold her house to move to a retirement village. Another widow in the complex gave her yesterday a farewell afternoon tea. We were all invited to this. One of the widows in the complex was prevented from coming, all the other residents could make it, meaning we were four couples plus three single women. A. had everything wonderfully prepared for the afternoon tea. There were seats for all eleven of us around the living-room. The hostess presented our departing friend with a beautiful set of flowers which you can see in the following picture.
I was in a bit of pain during the course of the afternoon. But I still had a good time. The women, who’s departing, has arthritis in both knees! And this for years. So I cannot say yet that I’m a really bad case. Anyhow hopefully I am going to get better again. Peter had knee-trouble some time ago and he got better and is walking/running again quite regularly. Someone in the group took yesterday a picture of Peter and me which shows how awfully crooked my leg looks. I should really be a bit more aware of my posture. I put this picture into the blog to keep reminding myself to become more aware about the way I’m sitting.
I am holding my right knee, which is the one that’s hurting. My left knee is totally all right so far.
Sydney, December 2007
Peter and I had our fifty-first Wedding Anniversary in 2007. We stayed at Darling Harbour in Sydney. The beautiful Chincese Gardens were close by. As you can see, we took lots of pictures there
Our hotel was the NOVOTEL at Darling Harbour. We did get a room there for the weekend at a very much reduced price. It had been a special offer on the internet. So for one weekend we had five star luxury!
- We bought this bag at Darling Harbour and kept it as a gift to take to Germany
- Sometimes we had a bit of rain
- It was getting close to Christmas
- The entrance to the Chinese Gardens on a beautiful sunny morning
A Conversation
A Conversation between Husband and Wife
After breakfast at Darling Harbour they strolled to the Chinese Gardens. She said: ‘How exquisite to have such a place of peace and quiet in the midst of buzzing Sydney!’ He voiced agreement and commented, how wonderfully the trees and bushes had grown.
‘Don’t you think all these spots with watery aspects can make us totally forget the outside world? I must say this outing is a wonderful way to celebrate our fifty-first wedding anniversary!’
‘It sure is great that we can do this. I would suggest we celebrate by having lunch here at the Chinese Gardens later on.’ – ‘Yes, Darling, let’s do this.’
Lunch was excellent. Afterwards they strolled back to their hotel. She said: ‘It is really getting hot now, Darling, isn’t it?’ – ‘Yes, after all it is the middle of summer. Just as well, that we can have a rest at our hotel before going to see our movie.’
As they entered their room they noticed that the bed had not been made. ‘Fancy that, here we are in a two hundred Dollar a night room and they do not bother to make our bed!’ exclaimed the husband. She responded, saying:
‘Well, just as well, since we need to have a rest now. I’m absolutely exhausted and I suppose you don’t mind either to lie down for a bit. Let’s get undressed and make ourselves comfortable!’
Very refreshed after their sleep they ventured out across the Pyrmont Bridge to find their way to the DENDY Cinema at Circular Quay. As they rushed across the bridge, they were caught by a sudden downpour. By the time they reached the other end of the bridge, they were soaked! ‘We are not going to make it to the DENDY like this,’ the husband said. ‘Let’s go back to the hotel!’
They entered their room. ‘Now look at this’, the husband said. ‘The bed is made. And they even put fresh towels in the bathroom!’ – ‘Well, this is a luxury hotel after all.’ replied the wife.
AuntyUta 