FOOD FRIDAY - THE LARDER CHEF

“What is food to one, is to others bitter poison.” - Titus Lucretius Carus

The week has been very full and very busy, just like the weeks before it, I guess. I am glad it’s Friday evening and the weekend is still ahead. Hopefully, it will be a relaxing one. I have some chores to do around the house and garden, but nothing urgent. We have had some nice Spring weather these past few days, but showers and a drop in temperature is forecast for the weekend. We’ll see what eventuates…

Sometimes when we are rather lazy in the kitchen we raid the pantry and concoct some “Larder Chef” dishes. These are quickly prepared meals manufactured from some components of the pantry (usually canned, semi-prepared foods or somehow preserved foods) together with fresh ingredients (usually whatever is in the fridge or whatever has been seasonally available at the market and bought on a whim), and thrown in for good measure some produce gathered from the backyard (usually herbs or some seasonal vegetable). The result is usually very good and would mislead a lot of people tasting it that it is a ritually prepared genuine gourmet dish…

Here is the Larder Chef’s version of a robust Spring soup.

Cream of Mushroom and Leek Soup
Ingredients

1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup
250 mL of cream
A few good dobs of butter
1 large fresh leek
5 large Portobello mushrooms
Ground mace
Freshly ground pepper, salt
Fresh chives, chopped (or parsley)

Method
Wash and clean the leek, discarding the green leaves. Chop finely the white part and reserve.
Clean the mushrooms and chop up finely.
In a heavy skillet melt some butter and sauté the leeks until tender and golden. Put this in a saucepan.
In the same skillet melt the rest of the butter and sauté the mushrooms. When they are cooked, add the cream and the can of soup.
Stir well and add the mace, pepper and salt to taste. Add to the leeks in the saucepan.
Simmer and stir until well cooked.
Ladle into soup ramekins, top with chopped chives (or parsley) and serve with buttered toast.

ECOLOGICAL DISASTER IN NEW ZEALAND

“We’re in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone’s arguing over where they’re going to sit” - David Suzuki

The ecological disaster in the Bay of Plenty, near the port of Tauranga, in the North Island of New Zealand has been making the news headlines for the past few days. And rightly so, as this is the greatest such disaster that the nation has ever faced. Maritime New Zealand today reported hundreds of dead oiled birds had been found, and 92 injured birds were being cared for at the National Oiled Wildlife Recovery Centre. The World Wildlife Fund has voiced concerns about the endangered New Zealand dotterel and the fairy terns. The NZ dotterel and the fairy tern are already threatened and it’s possible that if the situation worsens, the local population could be severely depleted. The full extent of the environmental disaster may not be realised for some time, and is likely to worsen over the next few weeks.

The Liberian registered ship, MV Rena, struck the Astrolabe Reef on October 5 on its way to Tauranga and oil leaks were detected soon after. Salvagers moved in the following day and began pumping oil to a bunker barge late on Sunday, but bad weather made the operation dangerous and the prevention of oil spillage almost impossible. The Rena’s remaining crew of 24 was evacuated early on Tuesday morning. The ship’s Filipino navigator appeared in Tauranga District Court today, following a similar appearance by his 44-year-old captain in the same court yesterday and both have been charged with operating a ship in a manner causing unnecessary danger to person or property. The ship’s second officer is expected to face similar charges this week.

The ship has been spilling hundreds of tonnes oil into the ocean and is now on the brink of breaking up after a large crack appeared all the way around its hull. The ship is only being held together by its internal structural components. The salvage crew that has been winched aboard during a calm in the weather is making what may be the last desperate effort to limit the environmental disaster. They will assess whether the remaining oil can be pumped into ships alongside before the Rena comes apart. At least 350 tonnes of heavy fuel oil have spilled from the hull, and the ship is believed to have originally had about 1,900 tonnes of oil and diesel on board. About 88 containers have fallen off as the ship has listed increasingly in stormy ocean conditions.

Tens of kilometres of coastline are closed to the public and some beaches were severely affected, with clumps of oil washing up on the normally pristine coastline near Tauranga. More than 1000 people have so far volunteered to help shift oil off the beaches. This is hard manual work, but Maritime New Zealand are welcoming more people to register to help. In situations like this, it is important for people not to clean the beaches on their own. Such clean-up operations need to be co-ordinated to ensure they are safe, methodical and provide maximum benefit. A team of 500 clean-up personnel is out on the beaches today, concentrating on the areas that need most attention. The smell of oil from the beaches may cause discomfort for some people and Maritime New Zealand advises residents to close their windows and try and avoid areas of oil if possible.

I have been to New Zealand several times and the North Island beaches are some of the most magnificent I have seen. If you have watched the movie “Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”, the beautiful paradisiacal beaches seen at the beginning of the film where the children are at Cair Paravel were shot in Cathedral Cove, Hahei, Coromandel, New Zealand, which is about 100 km from Tauranga. To think that black sludge and dead marine life, black oil-covered birds and foul-smelling residue are being washed up on these beaches is horrific. I can only imagine the terrible time the locals are experiencing seeing this calamity affecting their shores.

I can understand why the lawyers of the captain of the vessel have requested his name remain secret – some of the more militant locals might decide to take the law into their own hands. Especially so as the grounding occurred on the captain’s birthday. If convicted, the captain could face a fine of up to NZ$10,000 and 12 months in prison. His next court appearance is 19 October when authorities say more charges are likely. The captain was released on bail yesterday from Tauranga district court.

It is unfortunate that a few blog posts ago I wrote a poem on the environmental destruction that is occurring worldwide and may prove to be our species undoing. It seems that elephants are indeed flying near Tauranga this week…

pollution |pəˈlo͞oSHən| noun
The presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects: The level of pollution in the air is rising.
ORIGIN late Middle English: From Latin pollutio(n-), from the verb polluere

IN PRAISE OF SIGHT

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” - Helen Keller

I went out into the garden this evening as the cloudy, grey morning gave way to a beautiful sunny Spring afternoon. The garden is a sight to behold at the moment. The roses are blooming, the irises are bright daubs of colour, the citrus trees have burst forth in a wild flowering spree, the stocks and lilacs in every shade of purple, mauve and violet. Bright golden buttons of the marigolds counterpointed by the clown-like pansies, the bright red geraniums, delightfully delicate pinks of the apple blossom.

And in each flower a microcosm of detail: Sepals enclosing petals, stamens, pistils, anthers, powdery pollen grains, sticky stigmas, and insects galore! Delicate down and prickly thorns, serrated margins of veiny leaves, with each blade of green grass an exclamation mark in Spring’s powerful affirmation of life. Beneath the brilliant blue of the sky the golden rays of sunlight are precious showers of treasure, a rich bounty that is redoubled by every living plant, even the humblest little weed growing in the cracks of the concrete path.

I drank in the colours, the intricate shapes, the play of light and shadow, the shifting hues and patterns as clouds passed quickly in and out of the path of the sun. My eyes filled with beauty and moistened as they overflowed with the loveliness of the Spring garden. A cavalcade of a thousand tints and hues, of shades and gradations of light. An infinitude of pattern, a wealth of detail and motifs of complex intricacies – I reveled in the glory of sight.

World Sight Day is an annual day of awareness held on the second Thursday of October, to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment. As I viewed the colourful Spring garden I couldn’t help but shiver as I remembered that every five seconds someone in the world goes needlessly blind. Most causes of blindness are preventable and it is merely lack of money or access to medical care that contributes tot his terrible fate for millions of people worldwide.

Some frightening statistics:
•    Approximately 284 million people worldwide live with low vision and blindness
•    Of these, 39 million people are blind and 245 million have low vision
•    90% of blind people live in low-income countries
•    Yet 80% of blindness is avoidable - i.e. readily treatable and/or preventable
•    Restorations of sight, and blindness prevention strategies are among the most cost-effective interventions in health care
•    The number of people blind from infectious causes has greatly reduced in the past 20 years
•    An estimated 19 million children are visually impaired
•    About 65 % of all people who are visually impaired are aged 50 and older, while this age group comprises only 20% of the world’s population
•    Increasing elderly populations in many countries mean that more people will be at risk of age-related visual impairment.

“VISION 2020: The Right to Sight” is a global initiative, launched in 1999, which aims to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020. VISION 2020 programmes have been adopted in more than 40 countries. The World Health Organisation is an important partner in these initiatives and provides support to high risk populations in developing countries especially.

Founded in Australia, the Fred Hollows Foundation is an international development organisation, focussing on blindness prevention and Australian Indigenous health. It is an independent, non-profit, politically unaligned and secular body. It carries on the work of the late Professor Fred Hollows (1929-1993). Fred was an eye doctor, an internationally renowned skilled surgeon, a champion of the right of all people to good health and a strong advocate for social justice. The vision of the Foundation is for a world where no one is needlessly blind, and Indigenous Australians enjoy the same health and life expectancy as other Australians. You can donate here to help the Foundation continue its good work.

POETRY TUESDAY - THE ONCE WAS KING

“18 And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fat-fleshed and well-favoured; and they fed in a meadow:
19 And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill-favoured and lean-fleshed , such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness:
20 And the lean and the ill-favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine:
21 And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them ; but they were still ill-favoured, as at the beginning. So I awoke.” – The Bible, King James Version, Genesis 41.

The quote from Genesis that I start today’s entry with is the Pharaoh’s dream explained by Joseph. The seven plentiful and rich years in the land of Egypt are to be followed by the seven bad years of famine and dearth. By explaining the Pharaoh’s dream and enjoining him to be chastened by its prophecy, Joseph saves Egypt from famine and gains the Pharaoh’s favour, but indirectly also causing his own reunion with his family. The lean and fat cows analogy has stood the test of time and even today we may talk of “fat cows” – the good times where we save up for the rainy days head – the “lean cows”. It seems the world’s economic fortunes are going through a “lean cows” period with the world-wide crisis. Few are those countries that have prepared well and most major economies around the world are struggling to cope.

It seems that we humans refuse to be prudent and ignore history at our peril. Our politicians are busy legislating short-term policies to suit their personal goals and look for solutions of immediate political expediency. The world of big business is dominated by greed and the relentless multiplication of profits, to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. The stock market balloon is heedlessly inflated. Yes, there are “well-favoured kine” that will result out of such activities, but it is inevitable that “ill-favoured kine” will follow and the balloon will burst. But who plans for the lean times, nowadays? Even now, in such dire economic times we spend beyond our means and fail to plan ahead. Our politicians and other leaders – community, business, national – give the worst examples. The kings that live a life of luxury and revel in wild spending sprees will crash down from their thrones…

Here is my poem inspired by Magpie Tales’ latest image, from Michael Sowa’s “The Little King”.

The Once Was King

Old King Cole knew in his soul
His days were numbered
Like journal pages; and he rages,
With ire encumbered.

Old King Cole hid in a hole
Real world ignoring;
Drinking his coffee, eating his toffee
His subjects deploring.

Old King Cole, winning a poll
Rigging the voting,
Promised them cake, no one will bake
Generals promoting.

Old King Cole, regularly stole
The treasury’s wealth.
With golden spoon, in his saloon
Ate caviar with stealth.

Old King Cole knew that his role
Was soon ending,
As if in a soap; he couldn’t cope
With his expending.

Poor Old King Cole
Who for his life whole
Cared nought for the budget;
Is now made redundant
No more gold abundant,
No more will he fudge it.

It’s all in the news,
Poor Mr Cole’s blues
Are due to the crisis.
King nevermore,
Mammon foreswore,
Instead, prays to Isis…

MOVIE MONDAY - A LOST CAUSE...

“The most protean aspect of comedy is its potentiality for transcending itself, for responding to the conditions of tragedy by laughing in the darkness.” - Harry Levin

We watched an absolutely abysmal film last weekend that did not promise much to begin with, but which we nevertheless decided to watch as we wanted a little bit of a laugh and had absolutely no desire to immerse ourselves into something serious or emotionally taxing. It was Brad Silberling’s 2009 movie “Land of the Lost” with Will Ferrell, Danny McBride and Anna Friel. I must say that Ferrell doesn’t inspire me with great confidence when I see his films being advertised and this particular film was deep down the bottom of the specials bin at the video store – a heavenly sign, perhaps. This film was really bad… A puerile, quite unfunny, sci-fi fable about, about, about, hmmm, about 102 minutes long.

Ferrell plays a discredited scientist whose big brainchild is a tachyon amplifier that plays music from “A Chorus Line” as well as amplifying sub-atomic particle energy to transport people into a parallel dimension where present, past and future coalesce. He ends up building his machine and together with a Cambridge University dropout and a desert amusement park owner manages to transport the group to another dimension where dinosaurs coexist with cavemen (actors in obvious monkey suits), aliens (in green rubber suits) do battle with each other for control of the universe and where Ferrell bumbles his way through swamp and desert in order to save the universe. Terrible plot, abominable acting, scatological schoolboy jokes and a film that is Z-grade matinée fare.

The film is loosely based on the children’s TV Series “Land of the Lost” from the 70s, which was about Rick Marshall, and his two children Holly and Will, who got stranded in a strange and mysterious worlds, where time and space collided. This was a good series, but the film shares little with it. The original TV series had a sense of innocence, child-like wonder and was a good adventure TV show with a wonderful world of dinosaurs and simian semi-human creatures. It was tacky and inauthentic but at the same time quite sweet and wholesome, very characteristic of the era. All of this is lost in the film and the makers couldn’t seem to decide whether to make it a G-rated family film (like the original show) or whether it would be an adult comedy/parody full of sexual and drug jokes. While there is a lot of the latter, adult it is not.

We watched this film, but there was a lot of eye-rolling, much attempt to smile at some less objectionable jokes, lots of groaning, and some disgust at scenes that would have appealed to depraved teenage ninja turtles, perhaps. Ferrell to his credit tries to wade his way through the pitiful script written by Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas and utters some abominably nonsensical drivel. The film has special effects and CGI (with some convincing dinosaurs), but there are also some very amateurish troglodytes in monkey suits and some very plastic looking aliens that reminded us of the “Creature of the Black Lagoon” on a bad day.

The sexual references were heavy-handed, the drug taking scenes hardly healthy role-modelling material, the scatological jokes rife and the level generally aimed at about ankle level. This is really a film that is struggling with itself and can hardly be saved. I can laugh at some nonsensical humour, but I really want it to be clever and witty. This was idiotic and witless and dragged on and on. The best part was the costive, bad-tempered tyrannosaur that had it in for Ferrell.

If you watched the 1070s TV series and look towards this movie for some nostalgia value, then don’t bother. If you are rather omnivorous and non-discriminating in your movie comedies or you are a fan of Will Ferrell, then you can watch this. The film cost $100 million to make and grossed just under $50 million. I guess the public voted with their feet and the bush telegraph ensured that word got around…

ART SUNDAY - 'WHAT MAKES ME'

“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” - Oscar Wilde

For Art Sunday today, I am sharing an art site that is sponsored by the Australia Council. The Australia Council for the Arts is the Australian Government’s arts funding and advisory body. They support Australia’s arts through funding, strengthening and developing the arts sector. They collaborate to build new audiences, foster philanthropic support and deepen understanding of the arts through research. Each year, they deliver more than $160 million in funding for arts organisations and individual artists across the country. This is extremely important in times like ours where the fragile world economy means that arts funding comes very low on the pecking order of government funding priorities.

Each year the Australia Council develops a set of Strategic Priorities to ensure efforts are focussed on areas identified by the sector as critical to capacity building. These priorities are informed by the art form sector plans, the leadership team, the art form boards and committees and research by the organisation. The Australia Council’s four over-arching Strategic Priorities for 2011-12 are:

Cultural Leadership: In 2010/11 the Australia Council conducted research to identify the characteristics of effective cultural leaders. The Council will work with the sector to identify effective development pathways, including the building blocks for leadership development.
Programs – Continuation the Australia Council’s Emerging Leaders Program a national framework for cultural leadership development.

Realising the potential of broadband: The commitment by the Australian Government to a national broadband network (NBN) is promoted as the largest single infrastructure project in our lifetime. It creates potential for all aspects of the arts community, including individual artists, arts organisations and arts administrators. Targeted projects in areas that are connected to the NBN will help the sector seize new opportunities.
Programs – Commissioned projects for small arts organisations, including cross platform transmedia and other new practices in targeted NBN connected areas new partnerships between the arts sector and media/technology companies the development of tool-kit and education program to extend the findings from the Australia Council’s online engagement research.

Innovative practice: This initiative will support new forms of artistic expression and presentation platforms, as well as the importance of supporting artists in the research and development of their practice at various stages of their careers.
Programs – Investing in a Creative Australia, the Federal Government’s $10 million commitment to assist artists to create new work and increase audience access to diverse creative expressions

Diversified models for support: Support structures come in many forms; financial, mentoring, new models, partnerships and collaborations as well as delivery methods such as touring. By considering diverse operating models, this initiative aims to strengthen the arts sector.
Programs – A project to research, pilot and evaluate new funding models (such as crowdsourcing) the development of a framework for national touring a developmental program for independent producers.

An online initiative of the Arts Council of the Australia that brings art closer to the people is the “What Makes Me” cube project. This gives people the chance to upload images, videos and music onto the faces of a cube. The website invites the people of Australia to review the importance art has on their life by creating a personal cube of art that has some personal significance to each individual creator. I have created a couple o f cubes, which are shown above. I have chosen to upload some of my photographs, my paintings but also images that hint at my music compositional activities and my sources of inspiration. It is a fun way to get people to think about art in their everyday life.

SONG SATURDAY - SI LA VIE EST CADEAU

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence” – Aristotle

A quiet Saturday today with the usual chores, shopping and then back home for some rest and relaxation. Certainly much better than last Saturday! We had some rain, so it was good to stay inside and enjoy being homebodies, surrounded by familiar things. We need so little to feel happy and content…

Life is a gift and we should revel in it, making the most of every second! For Song Saturday, let’s go back to 1983 and the Eurovision Song Contest, to "Si La Vie Est Cadeau" the winning song from Luxembourg, sung in French by the lovely Corinne Hermès. Music by Jean-Pierre Millers and lyrics by Alain Garcia.



If Life is a Gift

We, we were immersed in blue,
A summer sky, a transparent ocean,
We, we were two,
And while we loved each other, time stood still.

But time betrayed us,
So why did you promise me the whole world?
Our love would have been enough,
I didn’t want an imaginary happiness…

If life is a gift,
A gift given, a gift taken back, a stolen gift,
Take love as a gift,
A gift given, a gift taken back, a stolen gift,
Happiness doesn’t last long…

We, “we” meant the child that I wanted
To give you as gift in Springtime.

But time has all the rights in the world,
So why did you promise me the whole world,
And a child that was never born?
Today my only happiness is an imaginary one.

If life is a gift,
A gift given, a gift taken back, a stolen gift,
Take love as a gift,
A gift given, a gift taken back, a stolen gift,
Happiness doesn’t last long…

FENNEL IN SPRING

“Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses, A box where sweets compacted lie” - George Herbert

I have been attending a two-day workshop on occupational health and safety at work, organised by our Human Resources Department. I must say that it was well run and had very good presenters, making it quite agreeable to attend and all of the people present were engaged and participating well in the proceedings. Everyone learnt something and some of the topics raised some vigorous discussion. In the past, I have attended some very dry and dull such workshops which if nothing worse, tended to put attendees to sleep. So it was a good couple of sessions, but nevertheless quite exhausting and the work does tend to bank up back at the coalface.

This evening I came home a little earlier than usual and one good thing about daylight saving time is that it does not get dark until much later in the evening. I took the opportunity to do some work in the garden (gently and very cautiously as my back still aches somewhat) and breathe in some fresh air. The garden looks beautiful now, with most of our roses having started to bloom in earnest, and many of the mid-Spring flowers putting on quite a display. The fragrance of the grapefruit, lemon and orange blossoms was overwhelming, while the native frangipani contributed its own distinctive perfume to the air. The irises are gorgeous at the moment, and the stocks also give out their own heady aroma, as are the lilacs, the carnations and the robinias. Many of the summer annuals such as pansies, marigolds, violas, petunias, daisies and lobelias are now coming into wild bloom. It is a lovely time of the year.

As the weather gets warmer, a greater variety of fresh vegetables are coming into season and one can find them easily at the greengrocers. It’s wonderful to begin using them in seasonal recipes. Apparently, the greater the variety of fresh fruits and vegetables in our diet, and the more seasonal their consumption is, then the more we lower our predisposition to gastrointestinal cancers. One thing that is seldom missing from our table is seasonal salads. This evening we had a delicious Florence fennel (Foeniculum vulgare var. azoricum, also known by its Italian name finocchio) and apple salad.

Fennel is much like a delicately licorice-flavoured celery. Crisp and crunchy with a distinctive flavour when raw. The inflated leaf bases that form a bulb-like structure above ground are used. Choose large, firm, crisp fennel with creamy white bulbs and bright green fronds that still look fresh and are not wilted. Fennel will keep in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, but it’s best eaten fresh. Remove the fronds (reserving them for use as a herb or garnish) and discard the tough stalks, leaving the tender bulb-like structure to use. Trim a fairly thick slice from the root end and discard. Slice the bulb in half. Slice or chop as desired, or as specified in the recipe.

Fennel and Apple Salad
Ingredients

3 Fennel bulbs
2 small, fresh and crisp peeled and cored Granny Smith apples
A handful of chives
1/2 tsp finely chopped mixed herbs
A handful of chopped walnuts
1/2 cup of home-made mayonnaise
1/2 cup of olive oil vinaigrette
1/2 tbsp mustard powder
Salt, pepper

Method

• Grate finely the fennel and apples, placing them in a colander over a bowl.
• Press the fluid out of the fennel and apples, discard the fluid.
• Place the drained grated fennel and apples in a salad bowl and mix well, fluffing up
• Add the chives, mixed herbs and mix in well.
• Place the mayonnaise in a small bowl, add the salt, pepper and mustard and mix well. Add the vinaigrette little by little until incorporated into the mayonnaise, to form a smooth dressing.
• Pour dressing over the salad and mix well. Some more mayonnaise may be added if the salad looks a little dry.
• Sprinkle the chopped walnuts over the top and garnish with a couple of fennel fronds.

VALE, STEVE JOBS...

“I want to put a ding in the universe.” - Steve Jobs

Pancreatic cancer is one of the worse that can afflict the human body. As the pancreas is deep inside the body, and because it is a rather loose organ surrounded by a thin capsule, any tumour that begins in this tissue tends to grow quickly and spread widely before it causes symptoms. Generally, by the time the cancer causes symptoms, it has already spread to other organs (typically the liver, first) and it is very difficult to treat effectively. Add to that that a great many of these cancers occur in people with no predisposing factors to cancer, so it is difficult to predict who will be affected. True enough, some patients have a history of smoking or drinking (doing both makes it much more likely to develop the cancer) and some others have a history of chronic pancreatic inflammatory disease or of gallstones. However, most pancreatic cancers occur out of the blue in people with no likely pre-existing causative factor.

Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) had pancreatic cancer for seven years. He was classed as a long-term survivor, given that most people with this type of cancer die within one to two years of diagnosis. He battled long and hard, he was given both surgical and medical treatments – during his time at Apple, Jobs took medical leave three times, underwent surgery in 2004 and received liver transplant surgery in 2009. In August this year Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple handing over the reins to Timothy Cook, who was at that time, Chief Operating Officer. For a man suffering from such a terrible, grave disease and having undergone such drastic treatments, it is surprising that he worked so long and hard, almost until his death. Such a man showing such behaviour at a critical time in his life, tells us something about how much Steve jobs loved what he did. He worked with gusto and enjoyed his work, something evident from the Apple new product presentations that he did.

Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco and he was adopted by Californians Paul and Clara Jobs. He never met his biological parents and knew nothing about them until he was 27 years old. His biological father, Syrian immigrant Abdulfattah John Jandali, apparently sent him birthday cards every year. Jobs had to be given up for adoption after Mr Jandali’s girlfriend at the time (an American graduate student and now speech pathologist) refused to marry him.

Steve Jobs was a college dropout, leaving Reed College in Portland, Oregon, after a single semester, but continued to take classes, including a calligraphy class. This, he cited as the reason Macintosh computers were designed with multiple available fonts on the system. After returning from a spiritual trek to India in 1974, he worked as a technician for video game pioneer Atari and joined a club of computer hobbyists with Steve Wozniak, a fellow northern California college dropout. Wozniak’s home-made computer drew attention from other enthusiasts, but Jobs saw its potential far beyond the geeky hobbyists of the time. The pair started Apple Computer Inc in Jobs’ parents’ garage in 1976.

According to Wozniak, Jobs suggested the name after visiting an “apple orchard” that Wozniak said was actually a commune.  Though he did not invent the first personal computer, Jobs certainly made them easier to use. His vision of simple, effective technology came to define the computer industry.  Before the Apple II, one of the first successful mass-produced home computers, machines were typically clunky wooden boxes encased in metal.  With its sleek design the Apple II – encased in plastic – went on sale in April 1977, and earned the company $600 million in 1981, a $598 million increase on the previous year’s sales. The rest is history.

iPhones, iPods, iPads, MacBooks, MacBook Air, a long list of revolutionary products that changed the world and made Apple Macintosh a household name. Jobs created a powerful brand, but more importantly, he created a “lovemark”.  Lovemarks transcend brands. They deliver beyond your expectations of great performance. Like great brands, they sit on top of high levels of respect - but there the similarities end. Lovemarks reach your heart as well as your mind, creating an intimate, emotional connection that you just can’t live without. Ever.  Take a brand away and people will find a replacement. Take a Lovemark away and people will protest its absence. Lovemarks are a relationship, not a mere transaction. You don’t just buy Lovemarks, you embrace them passionately. That’s why you never want to let go.  Put simply, Lovemarks inspire: “Loyalty Beyond Reason”.

It is perhaps apt to end with some of Steve Jobs’ words. These come from the commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005 - his theme: “How To Live Before You Die”.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Vale, Steve Jobs!

Macintosh |ˈmakənˌtäSH| noun
A line of personal computers from Apple Inc. Introduced in 1984, the Macintosh computer was the first commercially successful personal computer to use a graphical user interface (GUI) and a mouse instead of a command-line interface.
ORIGIN: The Macintosh project started in the late 1970s with Jef Raskin, an Apple employee, who envisioned an easy-to-use, low-cost computer for the average consumer. It was named after his favorite type of apple, the McIntosh.

POETRY WEDNESDAY - FLYING ELEPHANTS

“We generate our own environment. We get exactly what we deserve. How can we resent a life we've created ourselves? Who's to blame, who's to credit but us? Who can change it, anytime we wish, but us?” - Richard Bach

Every week, Magpie Tales publishes a picture and stimulates the creativity of a group of people that use this image to write a short piece, prose or poetry, inspired by it. This week, the image is both fanciful and menacing, playful and serious. This week’s Elephant with Wings looked firstly amusing and whimsical to me, but as I came back and kept looking at it for a couple of days it became ominous and dire. The cute yet improbable flying pachyderm (echoes of Dumbo!) was suddenly transformed into a calamitous admonishment about the destruction of the environment, increasing pollution, nuclear leaks, fallout, mutants and destruction of our planet. The grey-blue skies and sea, the smoking cooling towers of the power plant, the metal derricks of technological progress, and the low-hanging smog made of the elephant an evil portent…

When Elephants will Fly

My genome hurts,
The water burns,
And air corrodes my tissues.

My body shrieks,
Each cell distraught,
As sea turns to acid biting into beach.

My flesh creeps,
And cancers rage,
The wars within diminishing me.

My eyes extinguished,
My touch long-lost,
With oily residue polluting my pores.

Plutonium coats the sand, and cobalt paints the sky;
Iodine seas scintillate and thorium pebbles glow.
Each rasping breath begins a murderous clone of cells within me,
Rampant mutations that make me a freak in a sideshow.

My back sprouts wings,
My bones dissolve,
And thick skin turns to mush.

My life shortens,
My brain is porous
As radioactivity punctures me.

My world is ending,
My dreams defiled
The downfall of my species imminent.

My tribe extinct,
My peers unrecognisable
In monstrous transformations.

Uranium stars and curium moon that poisonously glow,
A rapidly burning palladium sun that turns all to ash.
Each step a torture, each touch an agony,
Liberation only in death, when elephants will fly.

WORLD ANIMAL DAY

“If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who deal likewise with their fellow men.” - St. Francis of Assisi

Today is World Animal Day first commemorated in 1931 at a convention of ecologists in Florence as a way of highlighting the plight of endangered species. Since then it has grown to encompass all kinds of animal life and is widely celebrated in countries throughout the world. It is intended to be a day of awareness, celebration and action for anyone in the world who cares about animals. It is not restricted to any one nationality, creed, religion, political belief or ideology. People around the world are united by their love of animals and their special place in the environment. Conservation, sustainability and environmental issues take front stage today, when we can contemplate the special place that animals have in our lives.

October 4th is the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi who is the patron saint of animals and ecology. His Feast Day was a most appropriate day chosen to dedicate to animals. Francis was born at Assisi in Umbria in 1181. His father was a prosperous merchant, and Francis planned to follow him in his trade, although he also had dreams of being a troubadour or a knight. In 1201 he took part in an attack on Perugia, was taken hostage, and remained a captive there for a year. As a result of his captivity and a severe illness his mind began to turn to religion, but around 1205 he enlisted in another military expedition, to Apulia.

However, he had a dream in which God called him to his service, and he returned to Assisi and began to care for the sick. In 1206, he had a vision in which Christ called him to repair His Church. Francis interpreted this as a command to repair the church of San Damiano, near Assisi. He resolved to become a hermit, and devoted himself to repairing the church. His father, angry and embarrassed by Francis’s behaviour, imprisoned him and brought him before the bishop as disobedient. Francis abandoned all his rights and possessions, including his clothes.

Two years later he felt himself called to preach, and was soon joined by companions. When they numbered eleven he gave them a short Rule and received approval from Pope Innocent III for the brotherhood, which Francis called the Friars Minor. The friars travelled throughout central Italy and beyond, preaching for people to turn from the world to Christ. In his life and preaching, Francis emphasised simplicity and poverty, relying on God’s providence rather than worldly goods. The brothers worked or begged for what they needed to live, and any surplus was given to the poor. Francis turned his skills as a troubadour to the writing of prayers and hymns.

One of Francis’s most famous sermons is one he gave to a flock of birds. One day while Francis and some friars were travelling along the road, Francis looked up and saw the trees full of birds. Francis left his companions in the road, ran eagerly toward the birds and humbly begged them to listen to the word of God. One of the friars recorded the sermon, which overflows with Francis’s love for creation and its Creator: “My brothers, birds, you should praise your Creator very much and always love him; he gave you feathers to clothe you, wings so that you can fly, and whatever else was necessary for you. God made you noble among his creatures, and he gave you a home in the purity of the air; though you neither sow nor reap, he nevertheless protects and governs you without any solicitude on your part.”

Thomas of Celano records that the birds stretched their necks and extended their wings as Francis walked among them touching and blessing them. This event was a turning point of sorts for Francis. “He began to blame himself for negligence in not having preached to the birds before and from that day on, he solicitously admonished the birds, all animals and reptiles, and even creatures that have no feeling, to praise and love their Creator.”

In time St Francis’s brotherhood became more organised. As large numbers of people, attracted to the preaching and example of Francis, joined him, Francis had to delegate responsibility to others. Eventually he wrote a more detailed Rule, which was further revised by the new leaders of the Franciscans. He gave up leadership of the Order and went to the mountains to live in secluded prayer. There he received the Stigmata, the marks of the wounds of Christ. He died at the Porziuncula on October 3, 1226.

MAMMOTH - MOVIE MONDAY

“Parenthood remains the greatest single preserve of the amateur.” -  Alvin Toffler

At the weekend we watched the 2009 Lukas Moodysson film “Mammoth”. It starred Gael García Bernal, Michelle Williams and Marife Necesito, although there were some good supporting performances, especially so from the three children, Sophie Nyweide, Jan David G. Nicdao and Martin de los Santos. Moodysson wrote the screenplay as well as directing the movie, so he is responsible to a very large extent for this overly long (125 minute - and often tediously didactic) movie.  Don’t get me wrong, the premise of the movie was promising and should have made a very good movie, however, cinematically this is dull and pompous filmic fare.

The plot revolves the idea of parenthood and what makes a good parent. The subplot is affluence in the decadent West contrasted with poverty in the developing East. Leo (Bernal) and Ellen (Williams) are a successful New York couple, he a web wiz, she a surgeon. They have a daughter, Jackie (Nyweide), who is being raised by Gloria, their Filipina nanny (Necesito). Gloria has two children back in the Philippines, Salvador (Nicdao) and Manuel (Santos), who are being looked after by her mother and brother. Gloria sends money to them so they can build a house and live a better life. When Leo goes to Thailand on business, he has a revelation and wants to change his life. Meanwhile, Ellen experiences a revelation of her own when she realises that Gloria has become the de facto mother of Jackie. When tragedy strikes back in the Philippines, Gloria rushes off and abandons both Ellen and Jackie to each other. Just in time for Leo to return, and attempt to salvage their lives, suitably chastened from his experiences in Thailand.

This film preaches; quietly, but preaches nevertheless. It does so heavy-handedly, although only wielding a feather. It is slow and cinematically flawed, but one is immediately aware of the point it wants to make. There are no surprises, no overwhelming climax and the sheer predictability of the ending wearies the viewer. We discussed the film in detail after seeing it and our attitudes were ambivalent. Yes, the film deals with important topics such as the social inequality between rich nations and poor ones, the different types of parents that there are: The good, the bad and the indifferent, and also the way that we each prioritise our lives. However, other films have said it more eloquently and poignantly. Other directors have tied everything together much more cinematically and the viewer was kept interested and engaged.

A comparison begs to be made with Alejandro González Iñárritu’s 2006 “Babel”, in which Bernal also played with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. This was a tighter, more rapidly moving film that tackled similar themes much more effectively. The direction is masterly and the interlocking stories that reveal the common thread that ties families together makes a much better film.

“Mammoth” tries to be ‘great’ and is just mediocre. The actors do a good enough job but their performances are laboured. I had great difficulty with Bernal who was quite unconvincing in his role. Williams was more believable but could not do much with what she was given. Necesito played in a restrained fashion and with dignity in what perhaps was the best performance of the three.

The “Mammoth” of the title refers to a mammoth ivory inlaid pen that Leo is given as a gift by his colleague. It costs $3,000 but its value is nil, as we are shown at the end. This is a movie to watch with caution. If I had to choose between “Mammoth” and “Babel” I would overwhelmingly choose the latter. Watch “Mammoth” if you have heaps of time and patience and forbearance.

ART SUNDAY - THOMAS WILMER DEWING

“He who would be serene and pure needs but one thing, detachment.” - Meister Eckhart

For Art Sunday today, an American Artist, Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938) who had a highly personal style, yet was influenced by impressionism and English aestheticism. He worked around the turn of the 20th century and from his native Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts, he went to Europe and studied at the Académie Julian in Paris and in Munich from 1836-1839. He returned to the USA to settle into a studio in New York City. He married Maria Oakey Dewing, an accomplished painter with extensive formal art training and links with the art world. He is best known for his ethereal, tonalist paintings of female figures situated in moody and dreamlike surroundings. Often seated, these women play instruments, write letters, or simply communicate with one another, Dewing’s sensitively portrayed figures are distant and private, keeping the spectator a remote witness to the scene rather than a participant.

Tonalism as a style resisted the violent surge of modernism and abstraction in art, although the political success of modernism eventually succeeded in branding tonalism as an outdated mode of artistic expression in popular culture. Now that the dogma of Modernism itself is under question, a fresh assessment of tonalism is underway, free of political influence or the sway of his contemporary fashionable trends.

Dewing was a member of the Ten American Painters, a group of American Impressionists who seceded from the Society of American Artists in 1897. He spent his summers at the Cornish Art Colony in Cornish, New Hampshire. The artist was quite fortunate in having a pair of wealthy patrons who were devoted to his work. The New York insurance magnate John Gellatly was convinced that Thomas Wilmer Dewing was “the greatest living painter” and consequently acquired thirty-one of his paintings, most of which were bequeathed to the Smithsonian Institution. The Detroit businessman and railroad-car manufacturer Charles Lang Freer was sufficiently enamoured of Dewing's “decorations” to have purchased twenty-seven of them for incorporation in his eponymous gallery of art in Washington, D.C. Though their subject matter no longer fulfills its original inspirational intent, the rich painterly skills of the artist continue to delight the eye and mind. Dewing stopped painting after 1920

The painting above is his “A Reading” of 1879. The interior space in this is softly painted, tonally fairly uniform and the colours muted and gentle to the eye. The two women depicted are typical of his oeuvre, prominently placed in shallow space. They are elegant, detached creatures, elusive, idealised, and contemplative. The woman reading aloud concentrates on the book in front of her and the faint suggestion of a smile may be discerned on her face, which is otherwise closed to the viewer, as her eyes are downcast and concentrating on the book. The woman listening is also introspective and toys with a flower she has plucked from the vase, the colour of which is in harmony with her gown. This is highly civilised and restrained art, almost decadent in its sensibility and detachment. There is elegance and distance, excellent draughtsmanship and colour-handling, but quite dispassionate – which perhaps contributes to its attractiveness.

As one critic observed, “…the Thomas Wilmer Dewing type was intellectual enough to be worthy of Boston; aristocratic enough to be worthy of Philadelphia; well enough dressed to be a New Yorker, but seldom pretty enough to evoke the thought of Baltimore – but always genteel enough to insulate the viewer from disturbing thoughts of the tumultuous changes that were taking place in the real world of commerce and industry.”

OLD AND WISE

“The disappointment of Manhood succeeds to the delusion of Youth: let us hope that the heritage of Old Age is not despair.” – Benjamin Disraeli

Having spent half the morning in hospital after an acute onset of lower back pain (which proved to be musculoskeletal in nature rather anything more sinister), once again cause me to meditate on my own mortality and the years that advance inexorably. The body’s machine begins to fail: Today a gear wheel wears out, tomorrow a belt snaps, the next day a crank breaks, all causing the machine to slow down, to work less efficiently, to stop and start again and again, more reluctantly each time, until finally it stops forever. Death approaches and each day I get more chances to contemplate it and become accustomed to its ever-closer arrival. Such is life and may all who live it reach a ripe old age free of sorrow, devoid of regret.

We rested today, coming back home from the hospital and relaxing without doing much at all, watching a movie and taking it easy. I feel better this evening, but there are still twinges of pain there, just reminders that I am no longer a Spring chicken and that I should not behave like one, putting excessive strains and stress on the machine that has started to wear out.

Appropriately then today for Song Saturday, “Old and Wise” by the Alan Parsons Project, from the album ‘Eye in Sky’:



Old and Wise

As far as my eyes can see
There are shadows approaching me
And to those I left behind
I wanted you to know
You've always shared my deepest thoughts
You follow where I go.

CHORUS
And oh when I'm old and wise
Bitter words mean little to me
Autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time
When they asked me if I knew you
I'd smile and say you were a friend of mine
And the sadness would be lifted from my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise

As far as my eyes can see
There are shadows surrounding me
And to those I leave behind
I want you all to know
You've always shared my darkest hours
I'll miss you when I go.

CHORUS
And oh, when I'm old and wise
Heavy words that tossed and blew me
Like autumn winds will blow right through me
And someday in the mist of time
When they ask you if you knew me
Remember that you were a friend of mine
As the final curtain falls before my eyes
Oh when I'm old and wise.

As far as my eyes can see…

VEGETARIANISM FOR FOOD FRIDAY

“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.” - Paul McCartney

As tomorrow, October 1st is World Vegetarian Day, Food Friday today is devoted to vegetarianism! A vegetarian is a person who does not eat meat or fish (and sometimes other animal products), especially for moral, religious, or health reasons. A vegan is someone who does not eat or use animals or animal products at all. This is generally because of moral reasons and many vegans are active animal liberationists. A vegan diet includes all grains, beans, legumes, vegetables and fruits and the nearly infinite number of foods made by combining them. Many vegan versions of familiar foods are available, so you can eat vegan hot dogs, ice cream, cheese and vegan mayonnaise. Soy bean protein can nowadays mimic all sorts of animal meats and products, as well as masquerade as milk and cheese.

Many religions around the world are very proscriptive about diet and several religions prescribe strictly vegetarian diets. Hinduism’s teachers and scriptures often expressly encourage a vegetarian diet, though not all Hindus are vegetarian. Hindus almost universally avoid beef since they consider the cow (Krishna’s favorite animal) sacred. Vegetarianism is expected practice among Jains (1% of Indians), who hold that it is wrong to kill or harm any living being. Buddha was a Hindu who accepted many of Hinduism’s core doctrines, such as karma and he explicitly taught vegetarianism as a component of his general instruction to be mindful and compassionate. Practicing Buddhists are vegetarians.

The Chinese religion of Taoism holds nature as sacred, and this view also favours vegetarianism. Taoism teaches that yin and yang are the two fundamental energies in the world, and Taoists have always “taken the accomplishments of yin [the non-violent, non-aggressive approach] and rescue of creatures as their priority.” For example, the famous Taoist Master Li Han-Kung explicitly prohibited “those who consume meat” from his holy mountain.

The Torah (Hebrew Scriptures) describes vegetarianism as an ideal. In the Garden of Eden, Adam, Eve, and all creatures were instructed to eat plant foods. (Genesis 1:29-30)  The prophet Isaiah had a utopian vision in which everyone will once again be vegetarian: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb … the lion shall eat straw like the ox … They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain” (Isaiah 11:6-9). Although the Torah states that, after the Flood, God gave humans permission to eat meat (Genesis 9:3), God also restricted humankind’s exploitation of animals.  The Jewish people are especially obligated to keep kosher dietary laws and detailed laws requiring humane treatment of animals.  Most (but not all) kosher laws deal with meat.

Islam shares many religious and dietary laws with Judaism (Quran 2:172) and therefore Muslims share with Jews the teachings against cruelty to animals. Islam also teaches that people should only eat healthy foods. Many studies have shown that the products of modern factory farms, high in fat and laden with hormones and antibiotics, harm one’s health.

Christianity as it first developed had many dietary laws and if one looks at the Eastern churches, for example the Greek Orthodox faith, there are elaborate rules about fasting and what can be eaten when. This provides for a mainly vegetarian diet, perfectly suited for the Mediterranean countries. It is interesting, however, that there are certain feast days in the church calendar when fasting is prohibited! The Catholic faith used to be more proscriptive in the past, but generally even devout Catholics nowadays rarely fast.

There are four major fasts during the Greek Orthodox Church year:

• The Great Lent, which begins on a Monday, seven weeks before Easter. This Monday, called Kathari Theftera (Καθαρή Δευτέρα, pronounced kah-thah-REE thehf-TEH-rah), translates to Clean Monday. Fasting restrictions are eased on weekends (not abandoned), and Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday (the weekend before Easter), restrictions to meat and dairy foods still apply, therefore fish is usually consumed.
• Fast of the Apostles, which lasts from one to six weeks, begins on a Monday, eight days after Pentecost, and ends on June 28th, the day before the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul.
• Fast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Mary, Mother of God), from August 1st to 14th.
• Christmas Fast, from November 15th to December 24th.
• Individual Fast Days: January 5th - eve of the Theophany (Epiphany), August 29th - the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, September 14th - the feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross, and all Wednesdays and Fridays.

Days When Fasting is NOT Permitted: Between Christmas and Theophany, the 10th week before Easter, the week after Easter, and the week after Pentecost.

It is not surprising that many traditional Greek meals are vegetarian or vegan. Here is a recipe for vegan stuffed vine leaves, a popular spring dish from Crete. It is made when the vines begin to sprout leaves and when one can collect the young tender leaves to stuff.

Vegan Stuffed Vine Leaves
Ingredients
500 grams tender young vine leaves (each about 10 cm in diameter)
1 medium sized white zucchini
1 medium sized eggplant (peeled)
2 large ripe tomatoes
2 medium sized onions
1.5 cups calrose rice (i.e. not long grain)
1 heaped tbsp tomato paste
1 bunch fresh parsley
1 bunch of fresh dill
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil to thoroughly coat ingredients (see below)
Juice of two lemons

Method
•    Wash the rice and soak it in a bowl of water for about 15 minutes.
•    Blanch the vine leaves in hot water and put in a colander to drain.
•    In a colander inside a bowl grate the onions, tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant (reserving the fluid draining).
•    Chop finely the washed and cleaned parsley and dill and add to the vegetables.
•    Add the salt, pepper, tomato paste and the drained rice, mixing all well.
•    Add enough olive oil to coat all the components, but not to excess, mixing well all the while.
•    Take each leaf and cut the stem off, laying it on the palm of your hand, the shiny side down.
•    Fill the leaf with a spoonful of the stuffing and wrap the leaf neatly around the stuffing to make a small parcel like a little rectangular box.
•    Place in a heavy saucepan (25-30 cm diameter), tightly packing the vine leaf parcels in a circular fashion, layer upon layer, half-filling the pan.
•    Continue until all the stuffing is used up.
•    Pour the fluids from the grated vegetables in the pan and add about 2-3 tablespoonfuls of olive oil as well.
•    There should be some vine leaves left over. Lay these on top of the pan, covering the vine parcels well.
•    Place a shallow, heavy china plate on top of the vine leaves, to press them down while they are cooking.
•    Simmer for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until they are cooked ( you can take out one out and taste). 10 minutes before the end of the cooking we add the lemon juice.
•    These can be eaten hot or cold.

For the non-vegans amongst you, some Greek-style yoghurt can be served on the side so that each diner can add to taste on top of the stuffed vine leaves. I also like to add some extra lemon juice on these on my plate.

HAPPY ROSH HASHANAH!

“Committee - a group of men who keep minutes and waste hours.” - Milton Berle

I’ve had a very busy today, most of it taken up by two meetings, one of which was a monumental one lasting for five hours. Although there was a short break in the middle of it, at the end I was completely exhausted. Fortunately, all went well, including my presentation. I attend many meetings as part of my job and generally, if I am chairing them I try to make them short, efficient and keep them to the points set down on the agenda. However, a couple of meetings that are chaired by other people tend to drag on. I delicately try to speed things up, but one has to be respectful of the chair and one’s fellow committee members.

My 6:18 a.m. train this morning was 25 minutes late because of weather-related problems at the station before mine. Consequently, I got in later than normal at work, at about 7:15 a.m. and I was surprised at how much later than usual it seemed to me. By the time I was ready to go home, it was raining, cold and quite dark. When I got home this evening it was 6:30 p.m., which made for a 12-hour day.

This is the second day of bad weather we have been having, with yesterday afternoon and evening thunderstorms dumping nearly 5 cm of rain on the City, making it the wettest September day in Melbourne for many decades. Airlines were still working extra hard today trying to clear the backlog of passengers at Melbourne Airport, many of whom had slept overnight at the terminal while flight departures were suspended. It’s still raining tonight, but at least no thunder and lightning – Spring with teeth bared!

Today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah starts on the first day of Tishrei, which is the seventh month in the Jewish calendar, and is sometimes called the Day of Remembrance or the Day of the Sounding of the Shofar. Rosh Hashanah is one of the holiest days of the year for many Jewish Australians. Some Jewish communities celebrate the event for two days, while others celebrate it for one day.

Jewish New Year is the time when God reviews and judges a person’s deeds in the past year, according to Jewish belief. It is also a time to look ahead with hope, and for personal growth and reflection. Some people visit cemeteries on the eve of the holiday to pay their respects to deceased loved ones.

Many Jewish families gather for special meals to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, which commences at nightfall the day before the actual holiday. The celebrations begin after the evening prayer, when family and friends join in to reflect on the past and make a fresh start for the New Year. The challah bread, pomegranates, and apples dipped in honey, and carrot stew are popular dishes during Rosh Hashanah. Some people eat fish during Rosh Hashanah, while others abstain from fish.

Many Jewish Australians spend their time in the synagogue at some stage during Rosh Hashanah. The shofar is blown like a trumpet in the synagogue during this time of the year. Another activity that occurs during Rosh Hashanah is performing the casting ritual (tashlikh), which involves reciting prayers near naturally flowing water and “throwing sins away” (for example, in the form of bread pieces).  Some people of Jewish faith may take the day off work or organise time off during this time of the year, to observe the belief that no work is permitted on Rosh Hashanah.

The challah bread, which is eaten during Rosh Hashana, symbolises the continuity of life. The apples that are dipped in honey symbolise sweetness and good health throughout the New Year. Some people also eat fish heads, which symbolize their desire to be on top, not the bottom, of life in the New Year. Pomegranates symbolize an abundance of goodness and happiness. The shofar reminds people that God allowed Abraham to sacrifice a ram instead of Abraham’s son, Isaac. The tashlikh is an act that symbolises throwing one’s sins in the water, so people believe that they are freed from their sins.

Happy Rosh Hashanah to my Jewish readers!

shofar |ˈSHōfər, SHōˈfär| noun ( pl. shofars or shofroth |SHōˈfrōt, -ˈfrōs| )
A ram’s-horn trumpet used by ancient Jews in religious ceremonies and as a battle signal, now sounded at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
ORIGIN: From Hebrew šōp̱ār, (plural) šōp̱ārōṯ.

POETRY WEDNESDAY - VENGEANCE

“Something of vengeance I had tasted for the first time; as aromatic wine it seemed, on swallowing, warm and racy: its after-flavour, metallic and corroding, gave me a sensation as if I had been poisoned.” - Charlotte Brontë

Magpie Tales stimulates the creativity of her followers weekly by choosing an image, which fires the imagination and results in a swathe of poems and short prose pieces in its succession. This week the image was dark and evocative of witchery and the black arts. It appears that this image was very popular with Magpie’s readers as there seem to be a large number of participants!

Here is my contribution – a sad story of love and trust betrayed, with a terrible vengeance wrought, complete with a spell in an arcane tongue of my own invention. Now if you are to use this spell, do so wisely for it is full of terrible power and can wreak great havoc! Enjoy this week’s tales of mystery and imagination as the supernatural never ceases to fascinate most of us and come to think of it, it has repeatedly stimulated the creation of some good stories, poems, paintings, drawings and other flights of the imagination!

The Vengeful Spell

“Aléa bánna dítta zom
Perés ambón maréa dom;
Filíz anés pería mar,
Andrôn mané cadíz a dar…”

She rises tall and speaks the spell
Her figure dark, her hair so long.
Her raven black, hearkens the knell
Of distant bell and silvern gong.

“Adél, períz calón gervain
Marísen por, felón fervain!
Adár, cadíz pería star,
Gedrón pané filíz azar.”

Her fury matched by lashing rain
Her tearful face all haggard, drawn.
Her spell a terrible refrain
Her voice resounding till dawn.

“Callé, alíz perfór allón,
Deníz, mané seníl a son.
Senné filíz adór selím
Pané ranné cadén a plim.”

He left, she cried; alone, bereft;
He fled at night, his sojourn brief –
He cheated her with wiles so deft,
He robbed her love as would a thief.

“Aléa bánna dítta zom
Perés ambón maréa dom;
Filíz anés pería mar,
Andrôn mané cadíz a dar…”

His hours short each second’s fleet
Her spell is cast, and now complete.
The raven rises, quickly flies
The faithless lover gasps and dies.

The woman smiles her work’s all done
Her witch within the spell has spun.
With frightful magic she’s avenged;
The wrongs he’s done are now revenged.

POSTCARD FROM SYDNEY'S CENTRAL RAILWAY STATION

“Railway termini are our gates to the glorious and the unknown. Through them we pass out into adventure and sunshine, to them, alas! We return.” - E M Forster

I am in Sydney for the day for work and I have had an interesting, full day once again, very busy, but at the same time quite satisfying. This is largely because of several good meetings, but also because of a successful audit by the government regulators. I did not have much time to myself nor did I get a chance to go out into the City at all (hopes of a lunch off-campus were rather unrealistic!), however, much work did get done, which was the whole point of the trip in to Sydney after all!

Our Campus is directly opposite the Sydney Central Railway station, which is a very central location and easily accessible by public transport, buses as well as trains. Furthermore, it is so easy to get to and from the airport via the airport train. This is not only an economical way of travelling, but it also is the easiest and fastest way to get to the City from the airport. A very convenient and environmentally friendly alternative to catching a taxi into the City.

The Central Railway Station (also known as Sydney Terminal) is the largest railway station in Sydney, but also the largest in Australia. It is located on the southern end of the Sydney CBD and it services almost all of the lines on the CityRail network (all except the Cumberland line). It is the major terminus for inter-urban and interstate rail services, 27-32 trains per hour each way, and additional trains during weekday peak hours. Central Station houses the operations of New South Wales Railways and sits beside Railway Square, officially located in Haymarket. Central is the station closest to the University of Technology Sydney at Broadway.

The building is a Sydney icon and is definitely one of my favourite old buildings in the Sydney CBD. Despite its name, Central Station has never been at a central location within Sydney. It has however long been central to the operations of New South Wales Railways. The remoteness of “Central” from the true commercial hub of Sydney stimulated the construction of the Sydney underground railways at an earlier date than the equivalent in Melbourne, where all of the main stations were in the CBD.

There have been three railway stations on the current site. The original Sydney Station was opened on 26 September 1855 in an area known as “Cleveland Fields”. This station (one wooden platform in a corrugated iron shed), which was known at the time as Redfern, had Devonshire Street as its northern boundary. When this station became inadequate for the traffic it carried, a new station was built in 1874 on the same site and also was known as Redfern. This was a brick building with two platforms. It grew to 14 platforms before it was replaced by the present-day station to the north of Devonshire Street. The new station was built on a site previously occupied by a cemetery, a convent, a female refuge, a police barracks, a parsonage, a Benevolent Society and a morgue! This new 15-platform station was opened on 4 August 1906 and is still in use.

The Western Mail train that arrived in Sydney at 5:50am on 5 August 1906 went straight into the new station. Devonshire Street, which separated the two stations, became a pedestrian underpass to allow people to cross the railway line and is now known by many as the Devonshire St Tunnel. Sydney station has expanded since 1906 in an easterly direction. A 75-metre Gothic revival clock tower was added at the north-western corner of the station on 3 March 1921. This tower is currently draped in hessian to cover the scaffolding that is allowing restoration work to proceed.

Central Station as it stands currently is probably better thought of as two separate, but adjacent, railway stations. In the days of steam, the station was regarded as being divided into “steam” and “electric” parts. The western (“steam”) half of Central Station, which was formerly known as “Sydney Terminal” and is often referred to as such by Sydneysiders (although it is no longer the official name), comprises 15 terminal platforms and was opened in 1906. This section is dominated by a large vaulted roof over the concourse and elaborate masonry composed primarily of sandstone, the most common rock in the Sydney region. This western section is popularly known as the country platforms, even though only four platforms are commonly used for long-distance trains. Most of the 15 platforms are used for CityRail's intercity services that terminate at Central, also known as Sydney Terminal.

The eastern (“suburban” or “electric”) part of Central Station, formerly known as “Central Electric”, consists of 12 through platforms, four of which are underground. These platforms are used by suburban CityRail services, and by a limited number of through intercity services during peak hours. The eight above-ground platforms were opened in 1926 as part of a large electrification and modernisation program aimed at improving Sydney’s suburban railway services. The four underground platforms were built as part of the Eastern Suburbs Railway. Construction commenced in 1948 but the underground railway line was not finished until 1979. While the plans called for four platforms, two were found to be not needed and are currently used as archival storage by the New South Wales Railways.

The architect of the Central Station was Walter Liberty Vernon, who worked on the plans from 1904 to 1906, while the terminal building was designed by George McRae, who finished its construction in 1921. The style is Federation Free Classical, an energetic vibrant and confident Edwardian Australian genre. Stone, steel and glass are freely used in the construction and the whole complex is reminiscent of large railway stations of the period in most major cities around the world. The building is a lovely reminder of Sydney’s history, yet bursting at the seam with life and vitality, contributing to the vibrancy of the City’s atmosphere. It is a wonderful building to view from our Campus windows, not to mention its usefulness as a public transport hub!

MOVIE MONDAY - THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VÉRONIQUE

“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death” - Albert Einstein

We watched a DVD that we bought at a market at the weekend. I had been looking for this film on and off whenever I remembered it, as I had heard a lot about it, and I had found it once in a DVD shop, but at $36 I was not going to buy it. At about a quarter of the price, it was much more attractive to buy at the market, and we finally got to watch it! I am glad that we did, although I can now understand why the comments I heard about the film were a little controversial. It is a typical “European Art Film”, which description would put many viewers off straight away! The other thing that may put off some people is that it won two prizes at the Cannes Film Festival in 1991, and several other international film critics’ prizes – that is another negative for many!

The 1991 film is Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “La Double Vie de Véronique” (The Double Life of Veronica). This is a Polish/French production and it stars the youthful and luminous Iréne Jacob who for this role won the best actress prize in Cannes. She is supported by a Polish/French cast and the film is set in both Krakow, Poland and Paris, France. As the title suggests, Iréne plays a double role, the Polish Weronika and the French Véronique. The whole film is based on the premise of the Doppelgänger (an apparition or double of a living person). Weronika and Véronique never meet, although their paths cross once, but their lives show some curious intermingling and amazing connections.

The film operates on many levels and can be interpreted in a variety of ways, as its texture is rich and the story simple enough. However, it is full of beautiful images, complex incident and overlapping viewpoints. The personality of the two Veronicas is quite different, yet they do share many sensitivities and their interactions with the other characters provide much to explore for the viewer. The film is slow and the lack of a forward driving storyline with a definite introduction, build-up to a climax and a strong dénouement will put many people off. However, it is an engaging film where the viewer shares in the creative process and just like one of those “join-the-dot” pictures, it is only when all the dots are joined that the final picture is revealed. It is the viewer who needs to join the dots in this film (and some of the harsh critics may say that the viewer has to number the dots as well!).

Weronika in Krakow is a very talented singer who also has a heart condition. She decides to become a professional singer and is successful in her audition to join a prestigious choir as a soloist. Véronique in Paris is a musician also, but on a whim decides to abandon her singing lessons and prospects of a professional career, and rather continues teaching (rather untalented) children the rudiments of music. Her life seems to be the complete opposite of Weronika’s, and this is also seen when one life ends tragically, while another continues rather more optimistically. As one may suspect, music plays a key role in the film and the music score is quite beautiful, written by composer Zbigniew Preisner who has collaborated with Kieslowski before in his “Three Colours” trilogy, especially so in the remarkable “Three Colours: Blue” with Juliette Binoche.

Weronika sings an amazing solo in her first performance and this is the beginning of the second Canto of Dante’s Paradiso:
“O voi che siete in piccioletta barca,
desiderosi d’ascoltar, seguiti dietro
al mio legno che cantando varca,
Non vi mettete in pelago, ché forse,
perdendo me, rimarreste smarriti.
L’ acqua ch’ io prendo giá mai non si corse;
Minerva spira è conducemi Appollo
 è nove Muse mi dimostran l’ Orse.” - Dante, Paradiso, II, 1-9.

“O Ye, who in some pretty little boat,
Eager to listen, have been following
Behind my ship, that singing sails along,
Turn back to look again upon your shores;
Do not put out to sea, lest peradventure,
In losing me, you might yourselves be lost.
The sea I sail has never yet been passed;
Minerva breathes, and pilots me Apollo,
And Muses nine point out to me the Bears.”

Dante describes the ascent to heaven and Iréne Jakob really looks angelic as she sings the soaring verses. It is easy to see how she became Kieslowski’s muse (she starred again in his “Three Colours: Red” of 1994). This scene together with some others relating to stars, and Veronica’s name itself, have prompted some to interpret the film on a Christian theme (I had difficulty with this interpretation). Others view it more as an existentialist flibbertigibbet that can be seen as substantial or as lightweight as one cares to make it.

The cinematography is stunning and the use of colour quite beautiful. The film presages the “Three Colours” in this respect and one can see the germs of ideas that Kieslowski incubated in order to arrive at the later films (1993/4). The full colour interspersed with an almost sepia effect, the dated, almost hand-tinted look and the images of almost no colour at all push and pull us into the story and propel the narrative forward. The scenes with the performances of the marionettes has a pivotal role in Véronique’s discovery of herself and the discovery of her double, but is also catalytic in moving her life forward.

An enjoyable, memorable film, deceptively simple on first viewing, but I am sure can be seen again to discover yet more hidden more depths. I don’t generally like seeing films again, but this one I would enjoy seeing again next year. Come to think of it, it’s time I watched “Three Colours: Blue” again!

ART SUNDAY - MONET'S TULIP FIELDS

“Dutch tulips from their beds, Flaunted their stately heads.” - James Montgomery

Today we went to the Tulip Festival in Silvan, in the Dandenongs, which is an annual event held at Tesselaar’s Bulb Farm. The paddocks had burst into bloom with over a 150 different tulip varieties on display and over a million spring flowering bulbs. It was a glorious Spring day and the Festival was very well attended with hundreds of people filing through and admiring the fields of spring bulbs, but especially so the tulips, of course. The Dutch Tesselaar family has had a nursery business since 1939 and they have become one of the prime bulb nurseries here in Victoria. It was a fantastic display of blooms, which inspired today’s Art Sunday offering.

Frenchman Claude Monet (1840 –1926) was the prime exponent of impressionism and his oeuvre is replete with colourful canvases, many of which have flowers as a theme. During a visit to The Hague in the Spring of 1886, Monet painted the tulip fields close to Sassenheim, between Leiden and Lisse. Prominent in these polders is the archetypal feature of Dutch landscapes, windmills! Monet was enchanted by the tulip fields and windmills, but as he communicated to his friends, he found the vibrancy and colour of the tulip fields maddening to render on canvas.

Born in Paris, the son of a grocer, Monet grew up in Le Havre. Contact with Eugène Boudin in about 1856 introduced Monet to painting from nature. He was in Paris in 1859 and three years later he entered the studio of Charles Gleyre, where he met Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Frédéric Bazille. Edouard Manet was an influence on his figure compositions of the 1860s, while the informal style of his later landscapes originated in works such as 'Bathers at La Grenouillère', painted in 1869 when Monet worked with Renoir at Bougival.

Monet was the leading French Impressionist landscape painter. Like Camille Pissarro and Charles-François Daubigny, Monet moved to London during the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871). After his return to France he lived at Argenteuil (1871- 1878). He exhibited in most of the Impressionist exhibitions, beginning in 1874, where the title of one of his paintings led to the naming of the movement. A period of travel followed in the 1880s, and in 1883 he acquired a property at Giverny, north-west of Paris. Thereafter Monet concentrated on the production of the famous series showing a single subject in different lighting conditions, including poplars, haystacks, Rouen Cathedral, and his own garden at Giverny.