A FRUITFUL TRIP

“Vegetables are the food of the earth; fruit seems more the food of the heavens.” - Sepal Felicivant

The weather all along the southeastern coast of Australia has been terrible. Flooding rains, storms, hail, high winds and in the south, cold… In Tasmania it has been snowing! This is of course right in the middle of our Spring – for all you northern hemisphere readers, our October is equivalent to your April. Such is the situation with climate change, no doubt we shall see many more extreme weather events in the decades ahead. Nevertheless, I think that resourceful Homo sapiens will do something to alleviate the troubles that future generations will have to cope with. Call me an optimist!

The weather wasn’t very conducive to flying and on my way back from Sydney this evening it was a very bumpy ride indeed! When landing in Melbourne there was lashing rain and high winds and the plane jolted on the tarmac and there were hundreds of creaks and snaps, croaks and whirrs, screeches and cracks as the plane landed. My fellow passenger next to me had grown very pale and she took deep breaths and had her eyes closed, while she clutched at the seat, her knuckles white. When finally the plane taxied in, she opened her eyes and murmured “Thank, God!” As far as I was concerned, it wasn’t the worse landing I had experienced and once again, if one flies one must be prepared for the worse…

The workshop in Sydney today was fantastic! It was quite a small group of high-ranking academics from many universities and a few colleges, and we all had a round-table discussion on academic standards, and generic threshold learning outcomes of educational programs in Health, Medicine and Veterinary Science degrees. The discussion was stimulating, engaging and frank. It was quite a useful three hours or so and I came away with quite a good understanding of our new tertiary education quality agency that will be set up over the next couple of years.

We were very well fed during the seminar, but I gorged myself on the extensive selection of fresh fruits that were available, rather than the sandwiches and sweets. We had luscious strawberries, blueberries, grapes, pineapple, melon, watermelon, pawpaw, passionfruit, bananas, apples, tangerines, oranges, peaches, nectarines and cherries for our delectation. The good thing about Australia is that because it is so big, it spans several latitudes and “seasonal” fruit is greatly varied at any time of the year. One can choose from the perennial tropical favourites of the far north, to the delights of the subtropics with their early fruiting varieties of spring and summer fruits and then go to the temperate south with its range of late winter offerings and spring delicacies.

We are very lucky in Australia as the produce is always fresh, of good quality and relatively cheap. Fruit and vegetables are in plentiful supply and when going to the market or the greengrocer, one can go overboard and shop, shop, shop! I don’t think there are any fruits or vegetables that I particularly dislike, even though there are many that I love. I could quite easily give up meat or fish, but I could not give up fruit or vegetables. Which of course is wonderful as fruit and vegetables are full of the goodness of nutrients, minerals, vitamins, fibre, essential microelements, sugars, antioxidants, anti-ageing compounds, active anti-cancer complexes and of course they are all delicious!

JUBILATION IN CHILE!

“The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy.” - John F. Kennedy

The whole world breathed a collective sigh of relief today as the Chilean miners were finally rescued from their living interment. The whole time during their time under thousands of tones of rock, we had all been watching with anxiety the rescue effort and as metre after metre of the shaft was dug, hopes increased for their survival and rescue. Jubilation today was universal as the 33rd and last miner was raised from a potential grave. The chamber 625 metres underground that they were trapped in for 69 days is finally empty and the miners who cheated death and set a record for surviving underground for so long are at last reunited with their families.

I have often thought about the situation and put myself in their position. The first thing that one would have to do immediately the accident happened would be to reconcile oneself with one’s death. To feel trapped beneath 600 metres of solid rock is bad enough, but to also have to contend with stifling conditions, lack of water of and food, overcrowding and the fear of being crushed to death at any time is enough to make one slightly nervous, to say the least! The feelings of doom, depression, anxiety, claustrophobia, despair, hopelessness would all be formidable adversaries in a hole 600 metres underground.

The courage of these men and their strength that helped them survive is remarkable. The joy of their families to see them alive and well after nearly 70 days underground is indescribable. Their happiness at having cheated death and come back to the surface and the light must be a rebirth.

I am in Sydney for a couple of days and I have a very busy schedule. I shall be attending a seminar and workshop on tertiary education academic standards, which looks as though it will be very interesting. In addition I am inspecting the site of our new campus in Sydney. It looks as though it is in a magnificent location and there will be quite a great deal of refurbishment and rebuilding to order, which should make for a great purpose-fitted facility. Thankfully the weekend is not far off…

A ROSEBUD

“Spring is sooner recognised by plants than by men.” - Chinese Proverb

Oh, how Winter dawdles this year! It’s been so long and even though Spring is here, officially, today the weather was wintry, dreary, gray and wet. My office was cold and I put the heater on. I had to go out at lunchtime and after walking through the wet streets, battling with my umbrella, dashing in and out of arcades as I negotiated the length of the City, on the return I took a taxi as the rain started in earnest and I was laden with shopping bags. This evening when I got home, a single fragrant rosebud greeted me in a vase on my desk in my study. A loving hand had picked it from our garden and its beauty was evidence enough that Winter was departing…

A Rosebud

In driving rain and wind that bites
A rosebud braves the weather.
The sun is under leaden clouds,
But warms the cheery heather.

Departing Winter’s pallid shroud
Is spread on waking garden;
Each flower for its survival fights
Its will to live must harden.

It’s Spring but still, this Winter lingers
With tightened fist and claw persists;
And yet the smile of Flora, melts hearts,
Caresses buds and for her ally sun enlists.

Winter shuffles along, but still departs:
No more the snow, and ice has melted.
Spring touches with her gentle fingers,
And Chloris is with bright daisies belted.

The rose has bloomed, the lily richly smiles!
Love beckons, Spring’s here with her wiles.

VALE, JOAN SUTHERLAND...

“For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.” - William Penn

News this morning of the death Joan Sutherland, “La Stupenda” of the world operatic stage, surprised and saddened me. She was one of the great stars of opera and I had seen her performing live, which made me understand the sobriquet attached to her persona. At 83 years of age, one had to expect that death would soon be calling at her door, but one has in one’s mind a strong image of such immensely great personalities that they seem to be immortal, unable to succumb to the ravages of age, disease, death…

Her death in Switzerland was a shock to my system as the way that I remember her was as that vivacious, larger than life figure, singing on stage looking majestic, commanding, beautiful and ageless. She was born in Australia and shot to international fame in 1959 when she assumed the title role in The Royal Opera’s new staging of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at Covent Garden. From then on she was unrivalled in the bel canto repertoire and continued the revival of interest in the operas by Bellini and Donizetti that had been pioneered at the start of the 50s by Maria Callas. She went on to conquer all the major opera houses of the world, including the notoriously difficult audience at la Fenice, Venice who, after her appearances as Alcina, named her ‘La Stupenda’ (the stunning one).

She possessed a clear, agile, powerful voice and a flawless technique with a great vocal range. This is the reason she excelled in the exacting and demanding roles written for the soprano voice by Donizetti, Bellini and Verdi. She bid farewell to the stage in 1990 in the role of Marguerite in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots with Opera Australia in Sydney and appeared alongside two of her regular on-stage colleagues, Luciano Pavarotti and Marilyn Horne as party guests in the Royal Opera’s staging of Die Fledermaus the same year.

Joan Sutherland had been suffering ill health for some time and died in her home surrounded by the people closest to her, gazing out on the Swiss landscape, in a town near Montreux. Her husband, conductor Richard Bonynge, and their son Adam survive her.

Requiescat in pace, Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE (7 November 1926 - 11 October 2010). The operatic firmament has been robbed of one of its brightest shining stars.


Here she is immortalized by technology for our perpetual enjoyment, singing “Casta Diva” from Norma by Bellini. 
The Elizabethan Symphony Orchestra is
conducted by Richard Bonynge
at the Sydney Opera House.

MOVIE MONDAY - ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

“Why should people go out and pay money to see bad films when they can stay home and see bad television for nothing?” - Samuel Goldwyn

We watched a rather ordinary movie at the weekend. It was Joel Zwick’s 2004 “Elvis Has Left the Building” with John Corbett and Kim Basinger. Zwick has been responsible for the 2002 “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” in which Corbett starred again. This director seems to have a slew of other comedy/romantic comedy movies and TV series in his credits. He handles this genre fairly competently, but there is no innovation or surprises in what turns out to be standard Hollywood grist. The entertainment version of junk food…

The plot is fairly thin and the gimmick is the killing of several Elvis impersonators throughout the film. Basinger plays a Pink Lady make up travelling saleswoman who has the habit of being at the wrong place at the wrong time and managing to get involved with the Elvis impersonator deaths – accidental or otherwise… She manages to hook up with an advertising executive (Corbett) who seem to be running across dead Elvises all over the place as well. You guessed it, it’s a match made in Las Vegas…

The film is pleasant enough to have on in the background while you’re ironing or something like that, but I wouldn’t recommend it for dedicated viewing. The laughs are few and far between and they are more likely to be smiles or half-chuckles in any case. Corbett and Basinger do a decent enough job of what little the script has to offer them and the direction is pedestrian. The Elvis impersonators in most cases deserve what they get and the two detectives on the case are at best annoying or tiresome.

I guess there aren’t that many redeeming features in the film, but if anyone has seen it and has a different opinion, please comment.

BOLDINI AND A MYSTERIOUS APARTMENT

“Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.”  - – Rachel Carson

Just recently, a good friend of mine sent me an email which contained this link to an interesting news story about a Parisian apartment that was locked up for 70 years and has only now been opened up to reveal a veritable time capsule from the turn of the century. The apartment is situated near the Trinité church, between the Pigalle red light district and Opera. It was locked and uninhabited but wasn’t abandoned nor empty, as someone was paying for its rent. It was filled with furniture, books and various works of art.

The most remarkable painting in the apartment was that of a woman in a pink muslin evening dress. The woman was Marthe de Florian, and the painting was by Giovanni Boldini. This was confirmed by a written love note from the painter to de Florian. The apartment belonged to Marthe de Florian’s granddaughter who left for the south of France before World War II and never returned. She had just died recently at age 91, and legal experts who have been tasked to draw up an inventory of her possessions in the apartmnent made the amazing discovery.

The people charge with making an inventory of the contents of the apartment, had  speculated that the paintng was the work of Boldini, but there was no record of the painting. According to Marc Ottavi, an art specialist, “No reference book dedicated to Boldini mentioned the tableau, which was never exhibited.” When the visiting card with a scribbled love note from Boldini to Marthe was found in the apartment, the suspicion was confirmed. Later a reference to the painting was found in a book by Boldini’s widow, which said it was painted in 1898 when Miss de Florian was 24.

The painting was sold at auction and bids opened at €300,000. The bidding became feverish and the process offered rapidly shot up as 10 bidders rivalled to own the now famous artwork. The winning bid was €2.1 million or $3 million. “It was a magic moment. One could see that the buyer loved the painting; he paid the price of passion.” Mr Ottavi said.

Giovanni Boldini enjoyed a long and successful artistic career (1842 - 1931). Born in Ferrara, Italy in 1842 and trained on the Italian Renaissance masters from childhood with his religious artist-father, Antonio Boldini. He also studied under other accomplished artists, gaining a reputation even at that young age as an accomplished portrait painter. He then studied in Florence at the age of 20, at the Scuola del Nudo (the School of Nudes), a subject he would return to only in old age.

Giovanni combined work and study for many years, training in Paris and London, and Holland and Germany. He moved to Paris but continued travelling for his work. He developed his own, distinct style, and his portraits grew in fame, helped greatly by a portrait commissioned by Giuseppe Verdi in 1886, the biggest celebrity of his day.

The discovery of this new work under such amazing circumstances is a surprise and a fortuitous turn of affairs. It goes to show that who knows how many masterpieces may be so near to us and we do not even suspect it…

A SPRING DAY WITH BEETHOVEN

“Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence. Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.” – Yoko Ono

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoko_Ono

We had a beautiful, fine, warm and sunny Spring day today. The trees are truly starting to look green and leafy now, the flowers are beginning to come into their own now – we cut our first rose from the garden today. It was a lovely day.

Here is the first movement from Beethoven’s Symphony No 6 in F major, Op. 68, the “Pastorale”. It is played by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrucken conducted by Myung-Whun Chung. Quite fitting for the season and the day…

QUICHE LORRAINE

“Be a fearless cook! Try out new ideas and new recipes, but always buy the freshest and finest ingredients, whatever they may be. Furnish your kitchen with the most solid and workmanlike equipment you can find. Keep your knives ever sharp and - toujours bon appetit! – Julia Child

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child

A busy day at work today with much to do, many meetings, lots of staff coming in to see me. My secretary has been away all week on holiday as her daughter-in-law has had a baby, so I have been realising her worth! Not that I don’t appreciate her when she is around, but certainly when we lose something we then are forced to evaluate its true worth. In any case it all got done, but it was a long day of nearly twelve hours in my office, at my desk…

It was nice to come back home and find dinner cooking and the heater on as it has been cold in the morning and in the evenings, even with Spring well and truly sprung. On the menu tonight was Quiche Lorraine, a fresh garden salad with lettuce, wild lettuce, nasturtium tops, spring onions and herbs in a vinaigrette, all washed down with some excellent shiraz. When well made, this classic French dish is a tasty favourite in our household. The recipe for it below:

Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients

For the Pastry

• 220g plain flour
• 120g cold butter, roughly chopped
• 20 mL very cold water
• 1 large egg, separated

For the Filling

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 220g lean bacon, finely chopped
• 5 large eggs
• 150 mL cream
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Salt and pepper
• 110g grated tasty cheddar cheese

Method

• Place flour and butter in a large bowl and after washing hands in very cold water, rub the butter into the flour quickly until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• In a cup stir together water and egg yolk (reserve the egg white).
• Add the yolk mixture to the butter and flour. Mix with a wooden spoon until well mixed.
• Use your hands to press the dough clumps together into a mass.
• Form the pastry into a disc shape and wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Unwrap the pastry and place between two large sheets of baking paper.
• Using a rolling pin, roll pastry out to fit a 23cm diameter quiche dish.
• So as to prevent creases forming on the bottom piece of paper, flip over every now and then and roll.
• Line the baking dish with pastry. Using a sharp knife, trim away any pastry that extends above the top rim of the dish
• Cover dish and refrigerate for a further 30 minutes.
• Preheat fan-forced oven to 170˚C.
•  
• Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook onion, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned, about 2-3 minutes. Add bacon to the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned (about 5-6 minutes). Remove pan from the heat and set aside to cool.
  Line the pastry case with baking paper and half fill with raw rice, dried beans or pie weights.
• Bake pastry case for 15 minutes on the lowest oven rack.
• Remove weights and baking paper and brush pastry with some of the reserved egg white.
• Return pastry to oven and bake for a further 10 minutes on the lowest oven rack.
•  
• While the pastry is baking, make the filling.
• Place eggs, cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Whisk ingredients together until well combined.
• Sprinkle cooled bacon and onion mixture over pastry case. Top with grated cheese.
• Gently pour egg mixture over the grated cheese.
• Move oven rack to the middle of the oven. Bake quiche in the centre of the oven for about 30-35 minutes, or until set and lightly browned.
• Cut into slices and serve hot or warm.

Bon appétit!

NEW GALAXIES

"The Sun, with all the planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the Universe to do." - Galileo Galilei

It is another day when I cast my eyes heavenwards in wonder and awe, as news of yet one more discovery of cosmic proportions is publicised by the press. Australian scientists from Swinburne University have discovered a type of galaxy that was long thought to be “extinct”. This discovery has caused a great deal of excitement in astronomical circles as the find has forced cosmologist to re-examine their theories about new star formation.

These new galaxy types look just like our own Milky Way galaxy (a twirling spiral disc-like structure), however each one such galaxy appears to be forming about 100 new stars a year compared to the one new star per year formed by galaxies such as our own. The newly discovered galaxies have been demonstrated to be more turbulent than the Milky Way and they are about a billion light years way from Earth. Such galaxies that are “star nurseries” were very common about three billion years after the Big Bang but this is the first time they have been observed in “today’s” universe. I put “today” in inverted commas as the currently observed galactic events occurred one billion years in the past, as the objects observed are so distant that it has taken light so long to reach us. Nevertheless, they are considered recent for the 14 billion-year-old universe.

The way stars form is when large clouds of gas collapse under their own gravitational attraction and the popular theory suggested that large streams of interstellar gas fell into the primitive star from outside. The question that was immediately asked in regard to these star-forming galaxies that have just been observed was where is the gas coming from to form these new stars? In the “modern” universe we expect large masses of primordial interstellar gas to be available any more. The source of the gas has to be discovered still…

galaxy |ˈgaləksē| noun ( pl. -axies)

A system of millions or billions of stars, together with gas and dust, held together by gravitational attraction.

• (the Galaxy) The galaxy of which the solar system is a part; the Milky Way.

• figurative a large or impressive group of people or things: A galaxy of boundless young talent.

The Galaxy in which the earth is located is a disk-shaped spiral galaxy with approximately 100,000 million stars. The sun is located about two thirds of the way out from the center.

ORIGIN late Middle English (originally referring to the Milky Way): via Old French from medieval Latin galaxia, from Greek galaxias (kuklos) ‘milky (vault),’ from gala, galakt- ‘milk.’

The reference to milk is from the Greek myth whereby Hera/Juno, the queen of the gods and wife of Zeus, was tricked by her husband Zeus/Jupiter into breast feeding his illicit son Heracles/Hercules as a baby while she was asleep in order to give Hercules immortality. When Hera awoke and realised who the baby was; the illicit son of her husband; she immediately tore him from her breast causing a smear of milky droplets across the sky which the Milky Way. As a result Heracles became a semi-immortal hero. In Greek Heracles, is derived from Hera’s name, and means the “glory of Hera”. However, after Hercules completed his twelve labours and after his death he became immortal. Hera was then reconciled with him and allowed him to marry her daughter, Hebe, the goddess of youth.

A LOVE POEM

“All love is vanquished by a succeeding love.” - Ovid

Well they say that in Spring a young man’s thoughts turn to love. Maybe not only a young man’s or just a man’s! Sweet springtime when the greening trees are revivified, when flowers wildly bloom, when dormant sap begins to flow and verdant juices restore the branches their summery foliage, it surely does affect us humans also. For poetry Wednesday today, a love poem by Ovid (43 BC-17 AD) whose oeuvre was rich in this genre:

Love in the Afternoon

It was very hot. The day just past its noon.
I’d stretched out on a couch to take a nap.
One of the window-shutters open, one closed.
The light was like you’d see deep in the woods,
Or like the glow of dusk when Phoebus leaves the sky,
Or when night pales, and day has not yet dawned –
A perfect light for girls with too much modesty,
Where anxious shame can hope to hide away.
When, look! here comes Corinna in a loose ungirdled gown,
Her parted hair framing her gleaming throat,
Like lovely Semiramis entering her boudoir,
Or fabled Lais, loved by many men.
I tore her gown off - not that it mattered, being so sheer,
And yet she fought to keep that sheer gown on;
But since she fought with no great wish for victory,
She lost, betraying herself to the enemy.
And as she stood before me, her garment all thrown off,
I saw a body perfect in every inch:
What shoulders, what fine arms I looked on - and embraced!
What lovely breasts, begging to be caressed!
How smooth and flat a belly under a compact waist!
And the side view - what a long and youthful thigh!
But why go into details? Each point deserved its praise.
I clasped her naked body close to mine.
You can fill in the rest. We both lay there, worn out.
May all my afternoons turn out this well.
                                                                   Ovid (43 BC-17 AD)

Ovid was born in Sulmona east of Rome in 43 BC, to an equestrian family, and was educated in Rome. His father wished him to study rhetoric toward the practice of law. Ovid tended to the emotional, not the argumentative pole of rhetoric. After the death of his brother, Ovid renounced law and began travelling to Athens, Asia Minor, and Sicily. He held minor public posts, but resigned to pursue poetry. He married three times and twice-divorced by the time he was thirty years old, yet only one marriage yielded a daughter.

Originally, his “Amores” were a five-book collection, published around 20 BC; the surviving, extant version, reduced to three books, includes poems written as late as AD 1. Book 1 contains 15 elegiac love poems about aspects of love. Ovid's next poem, the Ars Amatoria, the Art of Love, parodies didactic poetry whilst being a manual about seduction and intrigue. He identifies this work in his exile poetry as the carmen, or song, which was one cause of his banishment. By AD 8, he had completed Metamorphoses, an epic poem derived from Greek mythology. The subject is “forms changed into new bodies”, this long poem tells of transformation. The stories from mythology follow each other in the telling of human beings transformed to new bodies. Famous myths, such as Apollo and Daphne, Orpheus and Eurydice, and Pygmalion are contained.

In AD 8, Emperor Augustus banished Ovid to Tomis, on the Black Sea, for political reasons. Ovid wrote that his crime was “carmen et error” (a poem and a mistake), claiming that his crime was worse than murder, more harmful than poetry. The Julian Marriage Laws of 18 BC were fresh in the Roman mind. These promoted monogamous marriage to increase the population’s birth rate. Ovid’s writing concerned the serious crime of adultery, which was punishable by banishment.

BRISBANE POSTCARD

The days in Brisbane went extremely well despite the problems with the technology. I was able to recover my presentations from the injured disc (something a damaged b-tree structure...) therefore it was no chalk-and-talk, but rather th eexpected powerpoint presentations with the bells and whistles. That did the trick, which impressed everyone, not least the boss, who was more anxious than I was regarding the damaged computer.

I am on a late flight to Melbourne this evening and I am quietly waiting for its departure in the Qantas lounge at the airport. Now is the time to relax a little and wait for the plane departure to be announced while sipping on a drink.

GREETINGS FROM BRISBANE

I am in Brisbane for work for a couple of days and I have been hit by rather unfortunate ill luck. I was working on a presentation on my computer yesterday and then suddenly, my computer died...
This has left me in a spot as I had two other presentations on there and now I shall not be able to access them unless I get my computer fixed. Fortunately it's under warranty, but still, the inconvenience of it is just such a pain!

Technology is wonderful and makes things so much easier, however, when it fails we realize how inordinately our life has become on it. If I can't get to my presentations this morning, I shall have to give a good old fashioned "chalk and talk" presentation, which I don't mind doing, however, everyone nowadays expects a PowerPoint presentation...

ART SUNDAY - DAVID BOYD

“Pictures must not be too picturesque.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The art of Australian David Boyd for this Art Sunday. He was born the third and youngest son of artists Merric and Doris Boyd in Melbourne in 1924 and studied pottery and painting within the artistic Boyd family, which was an extended and multi-talented one. In 1948, he married Hermia Lloyd-Jones, daughter of graphic artist Herman (Jonah) and Erica Lloyd-Jones. Together they introduced a new wave of Australian pottery, inventing new glazes and novel methods of shaping sculptural figures. Their three daughters also became potters.

Initially acclaimed as a potter, Boyd began his career as a painter in 1957 with a series of paintings on Australian explorers. His paintings ignited controversy as he depicted aborigines as gentle, frightened people not wanting to be deprived of their homeland. Boyd remained unmoved and he continued to provoke with unpopular ideas. As a humanist, his paintings are full of social comment, as befits a moral painter. He said: “I often think of myself as being a spiritual anarchist.” Several major series of paintings demonstrate his highly dramatic style with the juxtaposition of innocence and evil. For example, the “Trial”, the “Tasmanian Aborigines”, the “Wanderer” and the “Exiles”.

He was also an accomplished pianist, having studied at the Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music. David Boyd worked and travelled in Europe and the UK, winning international recognition, and on his return in the 70s, produced some of his most approachable work, combining angels, aborigines and children dancing through his often depicted and much loved bush. The work above, "Winged Child Dancing" (1974)  is an example of these sorts of paintings.

He became Chairman of the Contemporary Arts Society of Australia and for the next 20 years travelled and exhibited overseas and at home to world acclaim.

WORLD FARM ANIMALS DAY

“Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.” - Albert Schweitzer

I had another very busy day today, which started with a presentation I had to give to the annual meeting of one of the societies of Medical Radiation professionals. It all went very well, everyone enjoyed it and I was invited back to present at next year’s meeting. Then back home where I had an appointment with a painter who gave us a quote for a painting and repair job to be done and then I went out and had a bit of a break. The evening was lovely and passed with some wonderful music, nice food and a cuddle.

We had the Australian Rules football final replay today, which Collingwood won easily, shaming the worse side St Kilda. I am not a football fan, however, I did watch some of the game, wincing all the while as St Kilda were so bad…

Today is World Farm Animals Day, so here is a sweet little video to celebrate the day:

GRANDMA'S RECIPE

“It’s sad to grow old, but nice to ripen.” - Brigitte Bardot

October 1st is celebrated as the International Day for Older Persons. The General Assembly of the United Nations the designated this day as the International Day of Older Persons by resolution 45/106 of 14th December 1990, following up on initiatives such as the Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing, adopted by the 1982 World Assembly on Ageing and endorsed later that year by the General Assembly. In 1991, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Principles for Older Persons (resolution 46/91). In 2002, the second World Assembly on Ageing adopted the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing to respond to the opportunities and challenges of population ageing in the 21st century and to promote the development of a society for all ages. The theme for this year is “Older Persons and the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.”

The world’s population has continued on a dramatic transition path from a situation of high birth and death rates to one characterised by low birth and death rates. This has resulted in the growth in the number and proportion of older people. This is something we see for the first time in the history of civilisation. One out of every ten persons is now 60 years or above; by 2050, one out of five will be 60 years or older; and by 2150, one out of three persons will be 60 years or older. The majority of older persons (55%) are women. Among the oldest old, 64% are women.

Differences between developed and developing countries are marked: One out of five Europeans, but one out of twenty Africans, is 60 years or older. In some developed countries today, the proportion of older persons is already one in four. During the first half of the 21st century that proportion will be close to one in two in some countries! Based on the latest available information, approximately half of the world’s older population live in urban areas.

The UN Principles for older persons aim to ensure that priority attention will be given to the situation and status of older persons. The UN Principles address the independence, participation, care, self-fulfillment and dignity of older people. This is in appreciation of the contribution that older persons make to their societies and the faith in a society that will assure the older person of their share of fundamental human rights.

It is fitting today therefore for Food Friday to give a recipe that my grandmother used to make. This is a traditional Greek recipe that is also widespread in the Middle East. It uses semolina, butter, and almonds, all bound together with a syrup and spiced up with cinnamon and cloves.

Greek Pot Halva
Ingredients
1    cup butter
1/2    cup chopped blanched, toasted almonds
2    cups semolina
1    stick of cinnamon
3    cloves
For the syrup
3    cups sugar       
4    cups water

Method
Prepare a syrup by boiling the cinnamon, cloves, sugar and water for 10 minutes. In a shallow pot place the butter until it melts and warms through. Add the semolina heating through until golden brown. Stir often and ensure the semolina is toasted well. Pour the prepared syrup into the semolina mixture and continue heating while stirring, until the syrup is well absorbed.
Remove the halva from the heat and cover the pan with a tea towel and the lid over that, until the mixture is barely warm. Mix in the toasted almonds and spoon into a mould packing in the mixture well. Unmould into a serving platter and dust with ground cinnamon.
You may also wish to add a handful of sultanas in this dish.

INTERSTELLAR JOURNEY

“The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago... had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.” - Havelock Ellis

Imagine yourself and your family entering a huge interstellar spaceship. You are joining another few hundred families and a few hundred crew members that will start a journey across trillions of kilometers of space and which will last a few generations. Your spaceship is a self-contained small world that will sustain and nourish not only its original passengers, but their children and grandchildren, their grandchildren, and so on. If all goes well, this starship colony will have travelled for nearly 200 trillion kilometers in a journey that has lasted for hundreds of years into deep interstellar space, aiming for a distant small red sun the constellation of Libra…

Your descendants on the spaceship will finally be able to gaze out of their portholes and see the distant sun their ship was aimed at for so long… It is the sun Gliese 581, a red dwarf star, around which there are six planets orbiting. The destination of this interstellar expedition is Gliese 581g, an earth-like planet, orbiting in the habitable zone of this sun. On this world there is liquid water and there are habitable regions in which life may be possible. “May be possible” being the operative words.

The planet is “tidally locked” to Gliese 581, which means it does not rotate; the side facing the sun would be perpetually hot, and the side turned away, perpetually cold. However, the twilight zone between light and shadow would be fit for human life. This is the zone that our starship has been directed at, to begin a new colony of humanity. This is of course assuming that everything else on the planet is right, including the gravity, the atmosphere, lack of indigenous hostile life-forms, etc etc… All of this of course would have been checked before the starship began its journey. And even if everything was deemed to be OK before the trip started a “second option” planet in the neighbourhood would have been selected.

Does all of this sound a bit like a sci-fi fantasy story? Well, I agree maybe yes, but part of it is all true. The planet Gliese 581g does exist and has just been discovered. This planet is not alone in the astronomers’ list of possible planets that can or do harbour life. Various calculations based on data that has been collected over the years and complex formulas, have resulted in the assertion that as many as one in 5 stars in the universe is orbited by a planet that can sustain life. This means that of the 200 billion stars in the universe, maybe 40 billion planets have the potential for life.

If you go out and gaze into the sky right in the midst of the constellation of Libra, you will not be able to see Gliese 581 with the naked eye, you will need a telescope, as Gliese 581 is about one third as bright as our sun. However, the descendants of the starship passengers that establish a colony on Gliese 581g will be able to gaze into the sky and see with the naked eye a bright star in the firmament which they will know is the sun of the world on which their ancestors evolved!

All of this may be in the future, of course, but we are ruining our earth in such a precipitously rapid rate that we may need to go scrounging around the galactic neighbourhood in order to find other planets that we can colonise and start ruining afresh.

ON DYING

“We understand death for the first time when he puts his hand upon one whom we love.” - Madame de Stael

I was chatting with a friend today and the talk turned to the topic of death. We questioned whether we would prefer to die quietly and imperceptibly, as in one’s sleep for example, or whether it would be preferable to die in a way that one was aware of the moment of death. The former was his preference, the latter mine. I guess as far as I was concerned I would want to die and have that experience as the last experience of life.

I wonder if one is aware of one’s death as it approaches? Is it perhaps like that no-man’s-land between wakefulness and sleep or is it a case of an on-off switch – awareness to non-awareness? Surely it would depend on the cause of death and the circumstances of the death. One may die peacefully in one’s bed or die a violent and painful death. One may slip away or fight for each breath, trying to hang on to dear life. It is a fascinating topic and perhaps we cannot not answer that question of “how does it feel to die?” as we do not know what happens after death.

A poem by Christina Rossetti today that touches upon approaching Winter (and death), but also the promise of Spring and rebirth…

Withering

Fade tender lily,
Fade O crimson rose,
Fade every flower,
Sweetest flower that blows.

Go, chilly autumn,
Come, O winter cold;
Let the green stalks die away
Into common mould.

Birth follows hard on death,
Life on withering:
Hasten, we will come the sooner
Back to pleasant spring.
            Christina Rossetti (1830–1894)

OUR POOR QUEEN...

“Whenever monarchs err, the people are punished.” – Horace

Over the past few years there has been a great debate in Australia about whether we should become a republic or remain a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II officially the Queen of Australia (which is a title and role separate from her position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms). Since Queen Elizabeth lives in the United Kingdom, in Australia the executive powers vested in her by the Constitution are normally exercised by her viceroys, who are the Governor-General at the federal level and by the Governors at the state level. These viceroys, by convention, act on the advice of her Ministers – that is, the elected Australian Government. However, this situation can also have dramatic and unforeseen consequences that demonstrate the power of the crown. The proof was the Governor-General’s reserve powers outside a Prime Minister’s request resulting in the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975…

So until we become a republic, our queen is Queen Elizabeth II. This is a state of affairs (pun intended!) that I find amazing in this day and age. Kings and queens are a relic of times past when monarchy was widespread throughout most of the civilised world and a hereditary royal office was de rigueur! That we still have these relics of the past amongst us, and more importantly, that there are still staunch royalists around underlines the fact that so many people still live in childhood dreams and pad out their humdrum lives with fairy tale fantasies of kings and queens, princes and princesses (as a peek in many a popular magazine will show).

Through information released under the Freedom of Information Act, it has recently become apparent that in 2004 “our” Queen through a Senior Aide applied for a “poverty heating grant” from the Government of the UK to cover the rising costs of heating her palaces!. The Aide sent the UK Government a written request to assess the Queen’s eligibility for assistance from a £60 million anti-poverty fund dedicated to saving energy and helping those in need cope with heating bills. The Aide justified the request by saying that the cost of Royal utilities, which doubled in 2004, stood at £1 million per year and had become “untenable”. This was further justified by pointing out that the £15 million government grant to maintain the Queen’s palaces was inadequate…

When I read about this in the newspaper I was stunned! The sheer monstrous audacity of the request was mind-blowing! The Queen of England is one of the richest people in the world with a personal fortune close to half a billion dollars, and this does not count the palaces, crown jewels, and other treasures she and her heirs enjoy, as technically they belong to the British state (unless of course, she says like Louis XIV: “Je suis l’ état. L’ état c’ est moi.”). The enormity of the transgression of asking for money that was put aside for the down-and-outers is incomprehensible!

At least, I am glad that the Government Department administering the poverty heating grant turned down the request in an apologetic email that explained the purpose of the grant: The handouts were to help low income families cope with no money at all for heating. There was also an expressed concern that if Buckingham Palace were to be given money from the fund it would lead to “probable adverse press coverage”. This latter part was probably what closed the matter for Buckingham Palace – there has been so much bad press these last few “anni horribiles”.

Queens and kings are a thing of the past. They have a place in history books and fairy tales, packs of cards and chess boards. Their currency is passé and their days are numbered, I should hope. Behaviour such as that outlined above is proof enough that we as a society should rid ourselves of this antique parasite. God knows we have enough modern parasites in the guise of politicians, pop singers, sports personalities and film stars to maintain in the style we have accustomed them to…

THE GAME - MOVIE MONDAY

“Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.” - Danny Kaye

We watched an interesting film at the weekend, one that has been around for quite a while but which we missed when it was first screened. It was the 1997 David Fincher film “The Game”. This is a psychological thriller of some punch (even if the plot is somewhat contrived and improbable), which is nevertheless quite subtle in the way that it projects its message and its moral. One may watch it, enjoy it and take it in superficially, but I believe it is on reflection that one can really assess it and process it in such a way so that it becomes personally relevant.

David Fincher is of course famous for “Fight Club” and “Se7en” but is also responsible for “Panic Room” and “Alien 3”. Therefore, he is well-seasoned in directing a satisfying thriller. He does very well with “The Game”, keeping the viewers on their toes and ensuring they experience one emotional roller coaster ride after the other. The plot’s twists and turns help of course, with scriptwriters John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris having done a good job in providing some good material. Once one gets over the improbability of some of the scenes, one can concentrate on the essence and enjoy the movie.

Michael Douglas is not one of my favourite actors, although he has played in some excellent films and he generally does well with his roles. In this film he is excellent and gives an acting recital, especially as his role is very demanding and he is needed in almost every scene. Sean Penn does well in supporting Douglas, and Deborah Kara Unger is also very good. The rest of the cast is also very good and overall, production standards are very high. All of these features maintain viewer interest and engagement in what is arguably a long film (130 minutes or so).

Now for the plot: Douglas play Nicholas Van Orton, a billionaire financier, who has everything that money can buy. He is the typical tough, ruthless businessman who has sacrificed everything in order to be successful. He has a younger brother, Conrad (Penn), who is the opposite. Conrad is pleasure-seeking, wayward, free-spirited and “unsuccessful” by Nicholas’ standards. For Nicholas’ birthday Conrad gives him an unusual present (what else could you get someone who has everything?), a gift certificate from a company called the Consumer Recreation Services (CRS). Nicholas is skeptical as Conrad is a problematic sibling that has had to cope with addictions, “interesting” life experiences and all sorts of scrapes. However, both Nicholas and Conrad love each other and have over the years supported each other in coping with their father’s suicide (he fell to his death from the roof of their mansion).

CRS is in the business of providing to clients a real life entertainment experience where a game is played within the participants’ lives and is tailored to their own individual needs, lifestyle, deficiencies and strengths. Nicholas takes up the challenge of participating in the game and after a series of physical and psychological tests, he becomes embroiled in a dangerous game that exposes his repressed emotions, his fears and anxieties, disrupts his life and forces him to re-examine it in order to find out what makes himself tick. As mentioned previously it is the constant twists in the plot that keep one guessing and even to the last scene, one is left wondering if it is true or not.

Overall, we enjoyed this film greatly and then got into an animated discussion about it, which was the best part about it. Discussing a film with someone you have seen it is great fun and analysing it, disassembling it, evaluating it, extracting the essence is a great way of prolonging its enjoyment – or in some cases value-adding on a mediocre film. I’d recommend this particular film highly if you haven’t seen it and you love psychological thrillers!

MATISSE AND FAUVISM

“An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language.” - Henri Matisse

For Art Sunday today, Henri Matisse. He was born on December 31, 1869 in Le Cateau Cambresis, France. He first got a degree in law but then decided to become an artist. He studied for three years with Gustave Moreau. He learned a lot by copying paintings by other great artists, such as Raphael.

Matisse was one of the founders of a type of art called Fauvism, a style of painting with vivid expressionistic and non-naturalistic use of colour that flourished in Paris from 1905 and, although short-lived, had an important influence on subsequent artists, especially the German expressionists. The term Fauvism is from the French fauve ‘wild beast.’ The name originated from a remark of the French art critic Louis Vauxcelles at the Salon of 1905; coming across a quattrocento-style statue in the midst of works by Matisse and his associates, he is reputed to have said, “Donatello au milieu des fauves!” (‘Donatello among the wild beasts’).

Matisse liked to compose his paintings with people in them as it made it easy for him to express his feelings about life. He especially liked to paint women, because he said they held the answer to the mystery of life. Matisse also did many pieces of art using cut paper. He was also a sculptor and an etcher.

Towards the end of his life, Matisse developed cancer and he became confined to a wheelchair. From his wheelchair, he completed one of his most famous works, painting the inside of the Chapelle du Rosaire. Matisse died in 1954.

Illustrated here is his “Le bonheur de vivre” (The Joy of Life) 1905-1906; Oil on canvas (175 x 241 cm). The characteristic swathes of bright non-naturalistic colour evoke strong emotional responses in the viewer, while the subject matter makes it clear as to what the artist believes is essential in life for a joyful existence.