From Uta’s July 2015 Diary

Last Thursday I went to my gentle exercise class. Ayleen, who usually comes along with me, could not make it: She had hurt her back. It was a very cold day. But I decided to put my very warm winter coat on and slowly walk to the community centre. A walk that in the past would have taken me not much more than ten minutes, took me a bit more than twenty minutes. When I arrived there was a nice hot cup of tea and a biscuit with cheese waiting for me. Because it was such a cold day, the class was not very well attended. Marta, our instructor, had some sad news for us: Towards the end of the year she has to leave us for a few months for she has to go to South America to look after her ailing 98 year old mum for a while to give her sisters a break. She said she is looking out for a relief instructor for us for the time that she is going to be away. I told Marta that it was very good of her that she wants to do this for her mum and her sisters.

I had asked Peter to meet me at the library after my class. I was very keen to look for some books at the library. It has been too long since I had last visited the library. The library is in the same building as our exercise class. So it was easy for me to get there. As soon as I entered the library I became aware that I had forgotten my glasses. What a bummer. Half blind, I tapped around for some books. Despite my limited vision it turned out I ended up with a couple of excellent books: One book is Colleen McxCullough’s 526 page novel BITTERSWEET. The other book is OPPOSED POSITIONS by Gwendoline Riley.

I already started reading OPPOSED POSITIONS. I find it is a very interesting read. This writing style and what she writes about appeals to me very much. I found out from that article in The Guardian that this novel is referring a lot to Riley’s own experiences. How to write about your own experiences in a novel, well, this is really something I could learn from, I think.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/18/gwendoline-riley-interview-opposed-positions

Novelist Gwendoline Riley talks about her obsessive need to write, and why she’ll never have children

gwendoline riley novelist — ‘Extraordinary talent’: novelist Gwendoline Riley. Photograph: Sophia Evans for the Observer Sophia Evans/Observer

Peter picked me up from the library. He also looked around a bit in the library. He was interested in some videos that he could take out on loan for four weeks. He ended up getting four DVDs out. They may come in handy for us to watch over the coming weeks. Often there is absolutely nothing interesting for us on TV.

Uta’s July 2015 Diary (continued)

Just a few days ago I took these pictures on one of my morning walks. I remember it was a very cold but beautiful sunny morning. I wore one of my warmest winter jackets. The other week, during the winter school holidays, I saw one morning a lot of movement around this little playground. A father arrived with two children; some other children belonged to some women standing around close by. I sat for a while on on of the seats near the playground. The women were busy talking to each other. I was just observing, not talking to anyone. I kind of blended into the landscape, nobody taking any notice of me. I would have loved to take some more pictures, but I did not dare to.

Little Lucas is three today. We are going to see him and the family tomorrow at Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney. Alternatively we might all go to the Powerhouse Museum if the weather turns out to be too bad. It could be very windy and wet. But we hope it is going to be all right tomorrow. Yesterday there was widespread snow all over New South Wales, even a bit into Queensland! However very close to the coast, where we are, there was no snow.

On the fifteenth of this month it was three years since Gaby died. Peter wrote some beautiful commemoration again into Facebook.

I love to spice my food with Madras Simmer Sauce. The green pieces in the picture are Kale!

We saw already the whole six-part TV series Glitch on iView after having started watching it on ABC TV. It is a fact that we soon got hooked. So we continued watching it online. Last night we watched the last part of the series.

I googled some information about it. Here is one of the write-ups:

http://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/2015/07/08/abcs-glitch-australias-attempt-blockbuster-tv/

“The national broadcaster is staking its claim in the high-concept, big cast, epic drama scene with Glitch, its new six-part series available in full on its iView service from July 9.

The first episode hits the ground running as small town police officer James Hayes (Patrick Brammell) is called to a graveyard to investigate a “disturbance . . . . “

Uta’s Diary, July 2015

The other day we moved some furniture around. We decided that we could have both our computers in our little computer room. That way we would be close to each other while sitting at our computer tables. This little room is easy to heat. So we save up on heating expenses. For sure this is another bonus, especially now that we suffer such an arctic cold spell!

I love to add little slices of ginger to my ginger tea. It makes for a very good tasting, healthy and warm drink. I only need to cut off tiny, tiny bits of my lovely piece of ginger to make a wonderful drink! 🙂

Our camellia flowers seem to thrive in the cold weather:

Bulli Beach Cafe, July 2015

As we were waiting for the food buzzer to ring, we observed a few sparrows flying in and out of the restaurant space. Peter tried to catch them with the camera, however they always flew away too quickly to take a proper photo.

I was sneaky and took a picture of Peter as he entered the Cafe.

The special offer on one of the blackboards looked quite enticing. But the offer was for the evening. We had come just for a simple lunch. This was yesterday, Friday the 10th. Peter just tells me, “coldest weather is on its way”. I wonder, how much colder it can get. Isn’t it cold enough by now?

We took some seats inside and studied the menu. Breakfast was only till 11 am, and it was already well past 11. Then we discovered a section “breakfast all day”. Under this section we found some special offers.

I had chosen fresh fruit salad with yoghurt.

Peter had gone to pick up my salad and had to wait for the buzzer to ring to go and get what he had ordered. It did not take long and his huge 10 Dollar burger was ready to be picked up. We had asked for an extra: small

We thought the servings were very generous.

Later on I had a pot of Earl Grey tea and Peter had some coffee. We were very happy with our lunch. Earlier on we had already gone for a walk. We thought it was not too cold since there was absolutely no wind. Unfortunately there was no sun either. At least it did not rain.
We really enjoyed our little walk even though we both felt a little pain in our knees.

I took quite a few pictures. Here are some of them:

On arrival I took this picture before I got out of the car.

Uta’s Diary, July 2015

On the first of July Peter and I drove up MacQuarie Pass. It was a cold, but beautiful sunny day. On reaching the highlands, we took the tourist road. Our destination was the cafe of the Bradman Museum where we were to meet our blogger friends. We arrived early and ordered already some refreshments.

The pumpkin muffin was huge and we shared it. It tasted yummy. Our tea arrived in pots. It was leaf tea with milk on the side. Very nice! Our friends soon arrived and ordered some refreshments too. Sorry, we have no more pictures from that day. It was lovely, to meet our blogger friends in person, and we hope to see them soon again.

The Entrance to the cafe, which was heated pleasantly.

Peter took all the pictures with his mobile phone.

A warm, savoury pumpkin muffin with butter.

4 Year Anniversary Achievement

I received this message from WordPress:

“ACHIEVEMENT
4 Year Anniversary Achievement
Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!
You registered on WordPress.com 4 years ago!
Thanks for flying with us. Keep up the good blogging!”

Thank you WordPress, thank you very much. I hope I can stay with you for many more years.

Uta’s Diary, July 2015

I took this picture this morning. It is the first picture I have taken in a long time. I think all through June I never took a picture because my camera did not work anymore. Then I started using an older, smaller camera. This must have been in May. I loved walking around with this smaller camera taking pictures. All of a sudden this did not work any more either. It just would not open up, even though the battery was still full. So I gave up and just did not take any more pictures.

This morning Peter checked the little camera. Surprise, surprise, it opened up for him! Peter said, it was all right, I could use it for taking picture. When I took the above trial picture, it actually worked all right. So wish me luck, that my next pictures are going to be all right too.

There is a heatwave all over Europe right now, while we have very cold winter weather. At least it is not windy, and the humidity seems to have gone too. Right now it is beautiful sunny. The outside temperature has climbed to 13 Degrees Celsius. I should go for a walk. All morning I’ve had the heater on in the computer-room. So the temperature here has gone up to 19 C. (In the morning it was only 13 C inside and 8 C outside!)

For morning tea we had green tea with ginger, Vietnamese bread-rolls, Berliner Fleischwurst and lovely fresh radishes. For dinner we’re going to have fried fish, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, and sweet potato. From two o’clock on I am going to be at Marion’s place. Irene and Barbara are going to be there too. We are all neighbours. Every Friday afternoon we women have a games afternoon. We usually play one game of Scrabble, then we have a coffee/tea break, after which we play seven games of Rummy-Cub (A Rummy game with tiles instead of cards.)

Yesterday I found out something about the ‘anti-monopolist’ Landlord’s Game by BY LIZZIE J MAGIE. I did publish some of the rules. I would be interested in finding out exactly how it works. As I understand it, it is kind of based on a single tax system which Henry George had been writing about. In this Landlord’s Game with some anti-monopolist rules apparently no player ends up as a monopolist, also all players can play right to the end, only that the players end up with different amounts of money and this determines who the winner is. Maybe the players are allowed to cooperate with each other and no player is allowed to fall below subsistence level.

We are all familiar with Parker Brothers MONOPOLY Game. This works out quite differently, doesn’t it?

I better get ready now for my morning walk.

Meeting with Granddaughters in Melbourne Two Years ago

I copy here a blog that I published two years ago. At the time we had spent a lovely evening with Justine and Lauren. Both their birthdays are in June. They are six years apart. Justine lives in Melbourne and Lauren lives in Newcastle. Because it is their birthday this month, I thought I republish this blog which has a few lovely pictures with the birthday girls.

Out and about in Melbourne

Famous sculpture at the Yarra River in Melbourne.

Peter, granddaughter Lauren and I had been waiting at Flinders Street Station for granddaughter Justine who was going to meet us there after work. It was a happy meeting after not having seen each other for sooo long!

Uta and granddaughters at the Yarra River

Dinner at Il PRIMO POSTO, Italian Restaurant

After dinner we strolled to a Gelato shop that was still open. We each had a little tub of this delicious gelato and sat down at a large table with a terrific view of the Yarra.

This was a lovely night out with the granddaughters. Justine caught the train back home from Flinders Street Station. Peter and I went with Lauren by train back to Essendon where our son Martin was waiting with the car to take us home.

A REAL LIFE POLITICAL THRILLER

http://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/killing-season/

Here is a summary about ABC’s program: The Killing Season.
I did not write this myself. I just copied it!

“THE KILLING SEASON is Sarah Ferguson’s gripping three-part examination of the forces that shaped Labor during the Kevin Rudd / Julia Gillard leadership years.

It is a documentary series like no other. Visually striking, scripted like the best political dramas, The Killing Season is an enthralling account of one of the most turbulent periods of Australian political history.

Packed with political intrigue, strong feelings and frank disclosures, this is a must-watch series for the nation.

For the first time, Kevin Rudd gives his own, full account of the period and relives in vivid detail the events of losing the Prime Ministership – a retelling he found painful.

Julia Gillard is forthright with her recollections and analysis and doesn’t spare her colleagues.

A comprehensive cast of the main players – including many of those still in parliament – speak frankly, providing a dramatic portrait of a party at war with itself.

Episode Two of The Killing Season goes to air on Tuesday 16th June at 8.30pm, on ABC1. You can watch Episode One on ABC iview and at abc.net.au/killingseason.”

It is still Tuesday today. Peter and I just finished watching Episode Two of the above program. Having just watched it, I feel sick to my stomach. I wonder, wonder why on earth politics has to be such a dirty business?
Yesterday was a lot of talk about the Magna Carta, which was written down 800 years ago. The principals that led to the writing down of the Magna Carta have not changed in 800 years. People are still the same. What you own of the land or the wealth of the land determines what class you are in and what your political powers are. All politicians who want to stay in power have to be prepared to do more for the rich than the poor. It is as simple as that.

Why can’t the poor have simple housing, healthy food, clean water, clean air and adequate clothing? And of course a job according to their abilities. Is that too much if the poor expect as much as this? But even this much the rich of this world are not prepared to leave for the poor of this world. Has anything changed since Jesus walked the earth? Ah well, he said we are always going to have the poor with us. But do we need to drive them to desperation or distinction?

We have laws that forbid killing. Still, wars and killings go on and on. Why?

People are capable of heroic acts. They often help other people not counting the costs, sacrificing themselves. A species that can resort to such heroic acts, also needs to kill at times? Why is that so?

As far as politics is concerned, I find it very difficult to reconcile myself with mainstream politics, be it Labor or Liberal. To my mind they are practically the same. How can I like to be governed by back stabbing, scheming people who do everything to support big business at the expense of poorer people?

Correction, personally I don’t really mind that much being governed like this, for I have all my creature comforts. So what do I complain about? Well, I do not like how people through no fault of their own can end up being desperately poor and without a job. And I do not like how politicians constantly do scare all of us and try to keep us in line that way.

Some Reflections

I am very interested in learning to understand how people relate or not relate to each other. With some people there is immediate rapport or so it seems. With others misunderstandings pile up in no time. Trying to resolve some misunderstandings can take a long, long time: Maybe years! And maybe some misunderstandings can never be resolved. It is like living on different planets.

Do some relationships become stressed because of a confusion in the pecking order? Is a pecking order always essential in every life situation? Do childhood experiences play a very important part in a person’s life?

I wished I had it in me to write a novel, creating characters that express some unexplainable things inside me that I cannot express any other way. Sometimes talking to an open minded person can help a lot. Finding a talking partner like this whenever needed is probably not possible. People who can resort to prayer are very lucky in this regard. Having a conviction that God always listens and understands our problems, is enormously consoling. God may understand, no doubt about it. But can we talk about everything that is a puzzle to us? Maybe this puzzle becomes less of a puzzle by writing about it in a novel?