MY NOVEL: "THE NURSING HOME"

"There is no old age. There is, as there always was, just you." - Carol Matthau

In the densely built up suburbia of Melbourne's outer West, surrounded by a high wall, is the large oasis of "The Golden West" Nursing Home. A beautiful, large garden surrounds sumptuous period buildings of great charm, with excellent amenities, caring staff and a charter to provide the "best possible care for seniors who are used to the lifestyle of the well-to-do".

A cavalcade of memorable residents, carers, administrative staff, relatives and friends, all confront the problems of old age with varying degrees of success. All seems to go well, until a series of deaths amongst the residents puts the Director of the Home and his staff in a difficult situation, and threaten the serenity and restfulness of this microcosm that reflects society outside the walls.

Love, hate, envy, deceit, compassion, selfishness, altruism, guilt, religion, atheism, dreams and harsh realities, all the stuff of life and death, are laid out in a procession of humanity's common concerns.

CORONAVIRUS DIARIES XI

 

“All I maintain is that on this earth there are pestilences and there are victims, and it’s up to us, so far as possible, not to join forces with the pestilences.” ― Albert Camus, The Plague 

And here we are in Melbourne, living in Lockdown #2, back to confining ourselves at home unless it is absolutely necessary to go out. Many people are now jobless, many shops have closed indefinitely, some businesses having closed down for good. Traffic has become greatly reduced, people are staying indoors, the City has ground down to an almost complete halt. International flights can no longer land in Melbourne Airport and Melburnians cannot leave the City on the pain of stiff fines. The police are maintaining the quarantine on all major routes out of the city and people are once again afraid of the invisible enemy, COVID-19, a “wicked virus”, in our Premier’s words…

The number of cases to date: Australia has recorded 11,611 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 122 deaths. These figures are from a national dataset of every confirmed case since January 25, when the country’s first four cases were reported. The death of three more coronavirus victims overnight in Victoria now means that more people have died in our state during the second wave of the pandemic than in the first. A total of 38 Victorians have now passed away since the first case in Australia was identified on January 25. Today, Victorian authorities also announced an additional 363 new cases, pushing the state’s total number of cases to 3,898 since the pandemic started. Our Premier is justly distressed and so should every one of us! 

What next? Come Thursday this week, all people over 12 years of age will need to wear face masks or other suitable face coverings if they venture out of their homes for the only four legitimate reasons they can do so:
1)    To go to work or study, only if they are unable to do those activities at their home;
2)    To obtain medical care or provide medical care;
3)    To go shopping for essentials, but only locally;
4)    To exercise daily under strict social distancing guidelines, and only locally.

Of course some people are self-isolating under quarantine conditions, for example, if they have been tested for COVID-19 and they are awaiting results; if they are positive for COVID-19 and they are symptomless; if they have contacted confirmed cases of COVID-19. Needless to say that hospitalised patients suffering symptoms of coronavirus infection are also quarantined and being given the necessary treatment for their disease. Fortunately, the vast majority of people diagnosed with COVID-19 have not needed to be hospitalised. Of 2,930 current or “active” cases, only 135, or 5 per cent are receiving hospital care. This includes 29 patients in ICU (or 1 per cent of current cases).

As the COVID-19 pandemic resurges in our city, there has been considerable discussion in the media about the impact the virus is having on our psychological state, our mental health, our propensity to abnormal behaviour patterns including suicide. While physical distancing is preventing the spread of coronavirus, it has also created multiple problems, including isolation, loneliness, anxiety and in some cases increased tendency for violent or aberrant behaviour. For those who are now jobless or whose business is going under because of the economic downturn, the impact on the individuals involved, their families and careers is significant, and the uncertainty about the future hard to deal with.

Still, many of us have been able to deal with the tough measures of the restrictions and the home isolation has been a catalyst for relationships to be strengthened and reaffirmed, including developing new ways to work together in order to cope with the new status quo. Students have had to deal with novel ways of instruction, including remote learning and technology-assisted education. Many workers are logging onto their workplace from their home computers and there are even reports that productivity has increased while staff are working from home. Thus there is proof of the renewal and importance of reaching out and being socially connected even while physically separated.

We must acknowledge that both Federal and State Governments have put in place measures to try to reduce the negative effects of COVID-19 restrictions. These measures have included significant initiatives to support employment and maintain financial security. I consider myself lucky to be living in a country where there is still enough social conscience in our politics so that governments are doing all they can to support all who need looking after in these dire times.

As far as we as individuals are concerned, what can we do to support others and help our loved ones, our families, our friends our community? Simple, really:
1)    Look after yourself – be cautious and prudent. Follow the directives of the experts and law-makers, for they will help you stay safe and healthy.
2)    Support the people close to you, first in your household, then your family and friends further afield. Keep in contact – the ways to do this nowadays are numerous and within reach of everyone.
3)    Volunteer to do some work for a mutual aid group in your community (for example, go here: https://www.volunteer.com.au/)
4)    Support local businesses as much as you can by shopping in stores that are struggling to survive. Small businesses have a much tougher time surviving times of economic crisis.
5)    Support the FoodBank if you can (see: https://www.foodbank.org.au/covid-19/?state=vic)
6)    Write a letter to a stranger! Contacting your local nursing home or elderly people’s home you can obtain information on residents who may be lacking visitors while their family and friends stay away.
7)    If you have a garden and you produce fruit and vegetables, consider sharing your excess produce with nearby friends and neighbours. You may also give them seeds and seedlings that you have in excess.
8)    If you can, help students studying at home with some tutoring in your area of expertise (see: https://www.embrace-education.org/volunteer)
9)    Give to charities and support groups caring for those in need: Homeless, people experiencing mental health problems, those who live alone.
10)    Join an online companionship and entertainment group. You can find many of these catering for people with similar interests (see: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-03-17/coronavirus-online-support-groups/12060530)

Keep safe, think before you act, be kind, support those around you, be well!

CORONAVIRUS DIARIES V

“She refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn’t boring.” ― Zelda Fitzgerald 

How is your social isolation going? Are you being good, staying at home like you are supposed to, or are you being stupid and going out and about and spreading virus around? Despite the number of detected cases of infection surpassing the million mark worldwide today and the number of deaths due to COVID19 reaching 54,000, there are those idiots amongst us who still believe they are not likely to be infected and behave as though things were normal. The result is that often, they are harbouring the virus, which is spread to their every contact. Thankfully, the case of the active, deliberate spreader of infection who knows they are positive and go out to infect others, is rare (remember that type in the days of rampant AIDS?).

I was speaking to an acquaintance on the phone today and she told me that she was going out of her mind locked up indoors, with nothing to do, except getting terminally bored. I was not surprised as she is a boring person. Staying at home has been a boon for me as I am now doing many things that I had no time to do before. I don’t mean having ample time to reorganise the pantry, tidy the kitchen cupboards and drawers, polish the silver and wash the crystal; clean the bathrooms, dust the house, mop the floor and vacuum all the rugs (twice). Well, yes one does all of those things and they are out of the way the first few days… Afterwards, there is plenty of time left to do all of the fun, interesting things!

COVID does has a silver lining and staying indoors, I am now enjoying reading many more books than I was normally (currently reading the excellent “Mother Tongue” by Bill Bryson). I am spending more time painting, sketching, and sorting through my art journals. I play more music and have more opportunity to compose. I write, spend time on my computer sorting my thousands of photographs. I have time to talk more with family members and friends (on the phone!). Watch a movie (we saw the wonderful old film “The Education of Little Tree” ) the other night. At home, I can play cards or some board games with family, look at old photo albums with them, reminisce, have a laugh. Luckily we have a garden and it is a pleasure to go there and spend time tending the flowers, or take a cold drink and sit out and enjoy the sunshine. The list is endless and the enjoyment one derives from one’s hobbies and interests is immense.

Fortunately, we are still able to go out of the house and do some exercise. I still savour my morning walks and I see people walking their dogs, or luxuriating in the sun with their children in tow. Everyone is quite conscious of social distancing and they keep a respectful distance from other walkers, although some people are quite ridiculously cautious. I always keep well away from other people when I pass them, but smile at them and greet them with a hearty “good morning”. Most smile back and greet me, but there are a few who scowl at me and either mumble something unintelligible through a face mask or purse their lips and walk on by in silence. Excuse me, people, we can practice social distancing but we don’t have to grow distant from one another!

Here are some things to do at home:
READ!
Explore the Gutenberg free ebooks site, it’s quite amazing!

LISTEN TO MUSIC!
Of course there is YouTube, but searching the net you can find some interesting other sites where you can listen to some genres of music that you have never heard of before!
LEARN TO PLAY A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT!
Take out that guitar that has been gathering dust in your cupboard, or plug that electronic keyboard back into the power point.
Online resources to help you learn are plentiful. For example, Udemy.
SEE A FILM OR AN INTERESTING DOCUMENTARY!
Explore Vimeo, and Popcornflix.
LEARN A LANGUAGE!
Take out your old French, Spanish, German, Indonesian or Chinese language books from school and brush up your linguistic skills. There are numerous sites on the net that can help you.
DRAW, PAINT, DO CRAFT!
Yes, it’s time to take out the colour pencils, paints or crafting tools and get into some fun, relaxing, creative activities. There are plenty of offerings to inspire you online.
COOK SOMETHING NEW AND UNUSUAL!
Lots of cookbooks lying around or masses of stuff online to get your mouth watering!
REDISCOVER AN OLD HOBBY!
Take out that old stamp collection and look through it, you may find a rare stamp worth thousands of dollars! OK, that’s unlikely, but you may be pleasantly surprised as you remember your green years.
LEARN TO PLAY A NEW (OR OLD!) BOARD GAME!
Anyone for chess, backgammon, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Yahtzee, draughts, Dungeons and Dragons, cards? Raid the cupboard in the living room and get those games out.
TALK TO PEOPLE!
Face-to-face with your family, housemates; on the phone with people far from you; online with others.
GET TO KNOW YOUR KIDS
Yes, they live there and you’ll see more of them now. Spend time with them, share activities and discover common interests. Talk with them, listen to them, enjoy their company.
W O R K !
Of course many people are working at home and they may find it difficult to do so with all the other people around being noisy and enjoying all of the above. Please be mindful of the breadwinner trying desperately to do some work and give them the space and the quiet they need!

Stay indoors and see the confinement as an opportunity to unwind, to refill your batteries and to enjoy some of the things that you didn’t have the time to enjoy before COVID came to visit us…

POETS UNITED - MONEY

“It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.” - George Lorimer 

The topic for this week’s Midweek Motif at Poets United is “money”. Here is my contribution: 

The Will 

And finally the will was read,
At the appointed time,
To all interested parties
As stipulated to the solicitor
By the testator. 

“I give all my tangible personal property
And all policies and proceeds of insurance covering such property,
To my son…”
How odd, that he only called me “son” after his death,
While when he lived he simply ignored my existence.

So I have my “father’s” money,
Making his other relatives sour,
Their eyes dripping poison, choosing for me a slow painful death
(Had their eyes been daggers
I would have succumbed to multiple wounds and an easy death).

The stranger who on his deathbed acknowledged me
As his son and legal heir, made me a millionaire.
And yet how poor I feel, when no tears came to my eyes
At his death;
When no sense of loss accompanied his passing…

He left me money, but no memories;
I have no photos in an album;
He taught me nothing, we never spoke;
I know nothing of him, I have no knowledge of his heart;
He spent no time with me, he took no interest in my life.

The money willed to me, is but an afterthought,
A neat sum to buy some ease for his troubled conscience;
Atonement for sins of omission,
A purchase of a ticket to heaven,
Where all good fathers go.

MYTHIC MONDAY - EGYPT 35, HESAT

“The cow is of the bovine ilk; one end is moo, the other milk.” - Ogden Nash 

Hesat is an ancient Egyptian goddess in the form of a cow. She was said to provide humanity with milk (called “the beer of Hesat”) and in particular to suckle the pharaoh and several ancient Egyptian bull gods. In the Pyramid Texts she is said to be the mother of Anubis and of the deceased king. She was especially connected with Mnevis, the living bull god worshipped at Heliopolis, and the mothers of Mnevis bulls were buried in a cemetery dedicated to Hesat. In Ptolemaic times (304–30 BC) she was closely linked with the goddess Isis.

In the Anti (Nemty) myth, this ancient Upper Egyptian hawk god decapitated the cow-goddess (alternatively Hathor or Hesat) and was flayed for his crime. Hesat, referred to as mother of the flayed skin fetish, anointed Anti’s skin with a cream containing her milk, restoring it. This skin, supported by a pole became the symbol for Imiut and thus Anubis. Hesat was identified with Hathor and Isis. In royal birth myths she gave birth to the baby king in the form of a golden calf and suckled him. Thus, in the myth of Hatshepsut’s birth she told the baby queen: “I guide your mouth towards my milk”.

Generally speaking Hesat stood for the provision of the loving care a child needs for growing up. In Heb-Sed scenes such as that of Osorkon II the Isis-Hesat cow is represented both on the side of the Upper as well as of the Lower Egyptian deities.

MYTHIC MONDAY - EGYPT 34, HATHOR

“Not every man remembers the name of the cow which supplied him with each drop of milk he has drunk.” - Shmuel Yosef Agnon 

Hathor (Egyptian: ḥwt-ḥr; in Greek: Ἅθωρ, meaning “mansion of Horus”) is an ancient Egyptian goddess who personified the principles of joy, feminine love, and motherhood. She was one of the most important and popular deities throughout the history of ancient Egypt. Hathor was worshipped by royalty and common people alike. In tomb paintings, she is often depicted as “Mistress of the West”, welcoming the dead into the next life. In other roles, she was a goddess of music, dance, foreign lands, and fertility. She was believed to assist women in childbirth. She was also believed to be the patron goddess of miners. 

The cult of Hathor predates the historic period, and the roots of devotion to her are therefore difficult to trace, though it may be a development of predynastic cults that venerated fertility, and nature in general, represented by cows. Hathor is commonly depicted as a cow goddess with horns in which is set a sun disk with Uraeus. Twin feathers are also sometimes shown in later periods as well as a menat necklace. Hathor may be the cow goddess who is depicted from an early date on the Narmer Palette and on a stone urn dating from the 1st dynasty that suggests a role as sky-goddess and a relationship to Horus who, as a sun god, is “housed” in her. 

The ancient Egyptians viewed reality as multi-layered in which deities who merge for various reasons, while retaining divergent attributes and myths, were not seen as contradictory but complementary. In a complicated relationship Hathor is at times the mother, daughter and wife of Ra and, like Isis, is at times described as the mother of Horus, and associated with Bast. The cult of Osiris promised eternal life to those deemed morally worthy. Originally the justified dead, male or female, became an Osiris but by early Roman times females became identified with Hathor and men with Osiris. The ancient Greeks sometimes identified Hathor with the goddess Aphrodite.

Hathor had a complex relationship with Ra. At times she is the eye of Ra and considered his daughter, but she is also considered Ra’s mother. She absorbed this role from another cow goddess Mehet-Weret (“Great flood”) who was the mother of Ra in a creation myth and carried him between her horns. As a mother she gave birth to Ra each morning on the eastern horizon and as wife she conceives through union with him each day. 

Hathor, along with the goddess Nut, was associated with the Milky Way during the third millennium B.C. when, during the Autumn and Spring equinoxes, it aligned over and touched the earth where the sun rose and fell. The four legs of the celestial cow represented Nut or Hathor could, in one account, be seen as the pillars on which the sky was supported with the stars on their bellies constituting the Milky Way on which the solar barque of Ra, representing the sun, sailed. 

As Hathor’s cult developed from prehistoric cow cults it is not possible to say conclusively where devotion to her first took place. Dendera in Upper Egypt was a significant early site where she was worshiped as “Mistress of Dendera”. From the Old Kingdom era she had cult sites in Meir and Kusae with the Giza-Saqqara area perhaps being the centre of devotion. At the start of the first Intermediate period Dendera appears to have become the main cult site where she was considered to be the mother as well as the consort of “Horus of Edfu”. 

Deir el-Bahri, on the west bank of Thebes, was also an important site of Hathor that developed from a pre-existing cow cult. Temples (and chapels) dedicated to Hathor are:
The Temple of Hathor and Ma’at at Deir el-Medina, West Bank, Luxor;
The Temple of Hathor at Philae Island, Aswan;
The Hathor Chapel at the Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. West Bank, Luxor;
The temple of Hathor at Timna valley, Israel. 

In Egyptian mythology, Nebethetepet was the manifestation of Hathor at Heliopolis. She was associated with the sun-god Atum. Her name means “Mistress of the Offering”.

MYTHIC MONDAY - EGYPT 27, ISIS AS DIVINE MOTHER

“If I were going to convert to any religion I would probably choose Catholicism because it at least has female saints and the Virgin Mary.” - Margaret Atwood 

Isis and Horus in Ancient Egypt had an immense cult following and particularly important was the role of Isis as primordial mother goddess. The associations of the Isis/Horus pair with the Virgin Mary/Jesus pair have not been lost on historians, comparative theologians and sociologists. The following is from “The Religion of Ancient Egypt” by William Flinders Petrie, Edwards Professor of Egyptology, University College, London (1906):

"Isis became attached at a very early time to the Osiris worship; and appears in later myths as the sister and wife of Osiris. The union of Horus with the myth, and the establishment of Isis as the mother goddess, was the main mode of her importance in late times. Isis as the nursing mother is seldom shown until the twenty-sixth dynasty; then the type continually became more popular, until it outgrew all other religions of the country.

In Roman times the mother Isis not only received the devotion of all Egypt, but her worship spread rapidly abroad, like that of Mithra. It became the popular devotion of Italy; and, after a change of name due to the growth of Christianity, she has continued to receive the adoration of a large part of Europe down to the present day as the Madonna.

Horus became identified with the sun-god, and hence came the winged solar disk as the emblem of Horus of Edfu (the infant Horus with his finger to his lips was the most popular form of all, sometimes alone, sometimes on his mother’s lap). From the twenty-sixth dynasty down to late Roman times the infant Horus, or the young boy, was the most prominent subject on the temples, and the commonest figure in the homes of the people.  Isis and Horus, the Queen of Heaven and the Holy Child, became the popular deities of the later age of Egypt, and their figures far outnumber those of all other gods.

Horus in every form of infancy was the loved bambino of the Egyptian women. Again Horus appears carried on the arm of his mother in a form which is indistinguishable from that adopted by Christianity soon after. We see, then, throughout the Roman world the popular worship of the Queen of Heaven, Mater Dolorosa, Mother of God, patroness of sailors, and her infant son Horus the child, the benefactor of men, who took captive all the powers of evil. And this worship spread and increased in Egypt and elsewhere until the growing power of Christianity compelled a change.

The old worship continued; for the Syrian maid became transformed into an entirely different figure, Queen of Heaven, Mother of God, patroness of sailors, occupying the position and attributes already belonging to the world-wide goddess; and the Divine Teacher, the Man of Sorrows, became transformed into the entirely different figure of the Potent Child. Isis and Horus still ruled the affections and worship of Europe with a change of names."

MIDWEEK MOVIES - MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” - Plato 

Last weekend we watched film, which could have been better had the writing and editing been a bit tighter and the film cut a little more energetically. As it was, at 137 minutes, it dragged on somewhat, and given its rather “heavy” subject matter it tended to tire viewers rather than lead them into sympathetic introspection and involvement with the plot and characters. Perhaps this was because the writer and director were the one and the same person and self-indulgence ultimately won the day. It was nevertheless a film that we shall recommend for viewing (with reservations).

Manchester by the Sea (2016) Drama – Written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan; starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges. – 6/10

Lee Chandler (Affleck) is a brooding, irritable loner who works as a handyman for a Boston apartment block. One damp winter day he gets a call summoning him to his hometown, north of the city. His middle-aged brother Joe (Chandler), who has had a heart disorder dies suddenly, and Lee has been made guardian of Patrick (Hedges), his 16-year-old nephew. As if losing his only sibling and doubts about raising a teenager weren’t enough, his return to his home town and the re-awakening of the past opens old wounds and makes him ultimately face an unspeakable tragedy that he has suppressed and marginalised for years.

The pace of the film is slow and laboured, and no doubt will depress some viewers who may choose to leave it half-watched. Flashbacks are used constantly, partly to reveal the reasons for Lee’s moroseness and loneliness, but also for dramatic effect. As a consequence, the story starts and stops, backtracks and then hardly advances, making for a weak screenplay. Flashbacks are a devil of a thing to get right… If you’re expecting fast action, car chases, thrills and spills, this is not the film for you. Yes, it is a psychological drama (even perhaps a melodrama as some clichés are used liberally – the use of music for dramatic effect I found a little heavy-handed), and thus prepare to be taken down into the dark depths.

However, it’s not all bad and towards the end as the film reaches a climax, the tragedy of the past is revealed, but somehow the protagonists remain strangely remote and cold, and Lee fails to be transformed or change positively as one would have predicted given the subject matter of the film. Affleck acts well enough for the needs of the script and Hedges is OK. The rest of the cast works well enough with what they’ve been given.

A tad pretentious perhaps, overlong and repetitive, melodramatic and slow, overflashbacked and with an anticlimactic end that leaves the viewer unsatisfied, why on earth would one watch it, I hear you ask. Well, it’s hard to answer that question, but nevertheless I don't regret seeing the movie. There were good moments in it and the plot showed promise, some scenes had great cinematography – enough for me to recommend the movie to someone to watch (with the provisos I have listed above). Would I watch this movie again? – Which is the ultimate test for a really good movie for me, – no, I wouldn’t…

MIDWEEK MOVIES - LION

“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” - George A. Moore 

We watched a very good film recently, and found it involving, heart-warming and quite poignant. Although the story was simple (and some would say, clichéd), the whole package of the film worked well: Screenplay, direction, casting, acting, cinematography, soundtrack, etc, etc. The theme of the movie is home and identity.

As individuals we all need to know who we are, where we come from, what “home” means. Adopted children searching for their biological parents is a story often told, and can be powerful enough on its own. However, add to that a lost child, who finds himself thousands of kilometres away from home to grow up in a completely different geographical, religious, cultural and societal environment and suddenly begin to be confronted by memories of a former life. Questions arise that need to answered and the quest for answers becomes a gnawing yearning and an emotional journey that can only be satisfied by the real, physical journey in search of the past. 

Lion (2016) Drama - Directed by Garth Davis; starring Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara. – 8.5/10

This is a movie based on the autobiographical book “A Long Way Home” by Saroo Brierley, an Indian who was adopted as a young child by a Tasmanian couple. In 1986, Saroo was a five-year-old child in India of a poor but happy rural family. The mother struggles to feed her children, and Saroo and his older brother help by stealing coal. On a coal hunting expedition with his brother, Saroo finds himself alone and trapped in a moving decommissioned passenger train that takes him to Calcutta, 1500 miles away from home.

Totally lost and disoriented in an alien urban environment and too young to identify either himself or his home to the authorities, Saroo struggles to survive as a street child until he is sent to an orphanage. Soon, Saroo is selected to be adopted by the Brierley family in Tasmania, where he grows up in a loving, prosperous home. However, for all his material good fortune, Saroo finds himself plagued by his memories of his lost family in his adulthood and tries to search for them even as his guilt drives him to hide this quest from his adoptive parents and his girlfriend. Only when he has an epiphany does he discover not only the answers he needs, but also the steadfast love that he has always had with all his loved ones in both worlds.

We thoroughly enjoyed this movie and recommend it most highly!

POETS UNITED - FLOWERS

“You cannot eat apples planted from seeds. They must be grafted, cloned…” - Michael Pollan

I’ve had a break from Poets United for a few weeks as I have had to attend to several pressing work matters and these did not allow my mind to turn to poetry. As things slowly get back to normal, today’s theme of “Flowers” at Poets United inspired this, my offering for the Midweek Motif this week:

Spring Flowers

Looking at Spring flowers in the garden

Blooming recklessly in the cold wind,

Fulfilling with expediency their purpose,

Repaying in full the gardener’s ministrations,

Reminds me of their origin:

Hailing from some humble wild blossom,

Carefully cultivated for years on end;

Torn from the fickle hillside and grown under glass,

Long inbred, carefully tended, crossed –

So that each new generation breeds true.

Once pale and fresh but insignificant,

Now a gaudy, dazzling display of colour,

But lucklessly sterile…

As for their propagation,

They rely on cuttings,

And the gardener’s whimsical affection,

Their seeds but a distant,

Almost forgotten remembrance...

PS: "Double-flowered" describes varieties of flowers with extra petals, often containing flowers within flowers. The double-flowered trait is often noted alongside the scientific name with the abbreviation fl. pl. (flore pleno, a Latin ablative form meaning "with full flower"). The first abnormality to be documented in flowers, double flowers are popular varieties of many commercial flower types, including roses, camellias and carnations. In some double-flowered varieties all of the reproductive organs are converted to petals — as a result, they are sexually sterile and must be propagated through cuttings. Many double-flowered plants have little wildlife value as access to the nectaries is typically blocked by the mutation.

FOOD FRIDAY - WILD GREENS PIES

“True nostalgia is an ephemeral composition of disjointed memories.” - Florence King

I received a couple of enquiries regarding the recipe for my grandmother’s Wild Greens Pies. Fortunately my mother makes them as well and here is her recipe:

WILD GREENS PIES

Ingredients for filling

250 g baby spinach leaves (cleaned and washed, chopped)

150 g green, leafy part of silverbeet (=chard, cleaned and washed, chopped)

150 g of leafy part of mallows (=Malva sylvestris, cleaned and washed, chopped)

100 g green, tender leafy part of dock (=Rumex crispus, cleaned and washed, chopped)

100 g green tender leafy part of wild fennel (=Foeniculum vulgare, cleaned and washed, chopped)

1 bunch of chervil (cleaned and washed, chopped)

1 bunch of parsley (cleaned and washed, chopped)

5 Spring onions (cleaned and washed, chopped)

1 tsp dry mustard powder

Freshly ground pepper (to taste)

1 to 2 tablespoon salt (to taste)

A little olive oil to sauté.

Ingredients for pastry

500 g plain flour

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1.5 to 2 cups of water

Olive oil to fry

Method

Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the Spring onions. Add the chopped greens and stir through to coat thoroughly with oil. Cook well until the greens are tender. Add the mustard, salt and pepper, and remove from heat. Leave to cool and strain for a few hours in a colander lined with muslin. Discard juices.

Mix the flour and salt and add the olive oil and lemon juice, mixing thoroughly. Add enough of the water to make a firm but yielding pastry. Knead well and then lay aside in a cool place for 30-40 minutes to rest.

When ready to make the little pies, take some pastry and roll out a very thin sheet a couple of millimetres thick (you may use some corn flour to prevent the pastry sticking). Use a round pastry cutter (8-10 cm diameter) to cut rounds. Fill each round with a heaped teaspoonful of the greens mixture in one half and fold the other half over the filling to make a semicircular little parcel. Use a fork to press the two layers of dough around the filling to seal and decorate the pie. Fry both sides in hot oil until golden brown, and then drain on absorbent kitchen towel. They may be eaten hot or cold.

You may freeze the uncooked pies and fry them unthawed on a later date (ensure the flame is medium rather than high if frying the frozen pies).

This post is part of the Food Friday meme.

SPECIAL FLAVOURS...

“Memory believes before knowing remembers.” ― William Faulkner 

I was reminiscing about my grandmother and the special dishes that she used to cook when I was holidaying at my grandparents place in Greece when I was young. One of the wonderful tastes/aromas I remember were the “wild greens pies” (hortópittes) that she made. These were based on stewed spinach leaves from her garden, to which had been added Spring onions, leeks, silverbeet leaves, and more importantly, wild greens and herbs that were collected from the hills near their house. These greens were fragrant and according to the season they were gathered and the various types and quantities included, gave a special taste and aroma to the spinach.

Included in these wild greens and herbs were: Greek dock (Rumex cristatus); wild fennel (Foeniculum vulgare); common mallow (Malva sylvestris); chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium); common stinging nettle (Urtica dioica); wild poppy (Papaver rhoeas); red dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum); red valerian (Centranthus ruber); Mediterranean hartwort (Tordylium apulum). All of these were harvested fresh and only the tender green parts were gathered. They were stewed together with all the other ingredients and then used to fill parcels of dough, which were fried in olive oil. One of the herbs I have not found elsewhere is the white hedge-nettle… 

Prasium, common name white hedge-nettle, is a genus of flowering plant in the Lamiaceae family, first extensively described in 1982. It contains only one known species, Prasium majus, first reported for modern science in 1753. It is native to Madeira, the Canary Islands, and the Mediterranean region of Europe (Italy and Greece, especially), North Africa, and the Middle East, as far East as Turkey and Israel.

 This is a small spreading herb found on rocky ground. The purplish stems are square in cross section, a feature typical of the mint family. The bright green, nettle-like (but non-stinging, i.e. “dead” nettle) leaves are arranged in pairs along the stem, as are the flowers. The pretty white flowers have fine purple lines leading to the nectary. The protruding stamens are also purple tipped. Prasium majus is often found in thorny underbrush, scrambling through bushes. The flavour of this herb is lovely and contributes greatly to a number of dishes, including my grandmother’s “wild greens pies” (the recipe for them is here)…

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Food Friday meme.

POETS UNITED - THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

“It is justice, not charity, that is wanting in the world.” - Mary Wollstonecraft

This week, Poets United in its Midweek Motif challenge has as its theme, “The Kindness of Strangers”. I was in two minds about this as soon as I saw it. Kindness is a virtue and we should all be kind to one another, be they family, friends, acquaintances or strangers. But although I have been the beneficiary of the kindness of strangers, I have also been a victim of it. If I were to choose, I would choose the tough love of family, rather than the charitable kindness of strangers…

The Kindness of Strangers

My mother drank and beat me blue,
No tenderness in her stirred;
My father swore and stones he threw
He never had a kind word.

My brothers ran away from there
And from them nothing, ever;
My sisters screaming harpies were
A kiss, a hug? No, never.

I grew up stunted, gnarled and bent
Silent, scared of all the dangers,
And learned, alas, to be content
With kindnesses of strangers.

Our house a place of hellish strife,
Screams, beatings, evil torture;
I would be killed by gun, by knife
My fate as black as vulture.

Abused, defiled, and sold as flesh,
My life a nightmare hateful;
My anger born each day afresh,
My loathing greatly baleful.

And when I managed to break free,
And when I ran to shelter,
It was to strangers that I’d flee
But in their kindness welter.

For strangers may be kind and good
And their deeds may be well-intentioned;
But like a mother’s love for brood
None other can be mentioned.

A stranger’s kindness is not love
And may have many reasons;
It waxes, wanes as it behove
And change, as change the seasons.

I’d rather have my kith and kin
Look after me and love me;
A home to be so safe and cosy in,
With a snug loving roof above me.

MOVIE MONDAY - STILL ALICE

“Those with dementia are still people and they still have stories and they still have character and they're all individuals and they're all unique. And they just need to be interacted with on a human level.” - Carey Mulligan 

At the weekend we watched the excellent  Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland 2014 movie “Still Alice” starring  Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Hunter Parrish and Kate Bosworth. This was a touching and emotionally charged movie that despite its melancholy topic somehow made its point without excesses of emotion and without cheap and maudlin appeals to shallow empathy.

Alice Howland (Moore) is a renowned linguistics professor happily married to John (Baldwin) with three grown children, Anna (Bosworth), Lydia (Stewart) and Tom (Parrish). All that begins to change when Alice starts to forget words (the bane of a linguistics professor!) and then much more… When her doctor diagnoses her with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease, Alice and her family’s lives face a harrowing challenge as this terminal degenerative neurological ailment slowly progresses to an inevitable conclusion they all dread. Along the way, Alice struggles to not only to fight the inner decay, but to make the most of her remaining time to find the love and peace to make simply living worthwhile.

The cast is excellent, especially Julieanne Moore who gives a stellar performance. I also enjoyed the supporting role of Lydia, played by Kristen Stewart. I don’t like Baldwin much as an actor, but in this film he plays the role of Alice’s rather “neutral” husband quite well.

Richard Glatzer, one of the directors and co-screenplay writer suffers from ASL himself (ASL = Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rapidly progressive, invariably fatal neurological disease that attacks the nerve cells responsible for controlling voluntary muscles). It is no surprise then, that the film gives such sympathetic and amazingly accurate portrayal of a person suffering from a progressive nervous system illness.

This is a wonderful film to watch, somehow uplifting (Alices speech at the conference about her personal experience with dementia is brilliant!), even though it deals with one of the most dreaded diseases of our society. A must-watch movie!

POETS UNITED - SOCIAL STIGMA

“Tolerance, compromise, understanding, acceptance, patience - I want those all to be very sharp tools in my shed.” - CeeLo Green 

The mid-week motif for Poets United this week is “Social Stigma”. In western societies around the world we take pride in touting our tolerance and acceptance of diversity, we quote our laws that protect minorities, and are ready to lecture anyone who dares question our broad-mindedness and understanding of all of those who don’t conform to society’s “norms”.

Yet it is in enlightened countries such as these that we see racial discrimination still raging; we still see ethnic minorities failing to advance socially and professionally because of prejudice against them; we still see inequalities based on gender and patriarchal role models; we still see people victimised, bashed or killed because of their sexuality; we still see people ostracised because of their age; we still see stigmatisation of teenage mothers; we still see demonisation of the unemployed and the homeless; we still see the isolation and marginalisation of the mentally ill…

My poem is based on a true story that affected a family acquaintance. The young woman central to that story made what I believe to have been the right decision. However, it is not explicitly stated in my poem. There are so many young women who find themselves in a miserable quandary and the decisions that they make (or that they have made for them), in so many cases are dictated by the threat of social stigma… Yes, even nowadays in enlightened societies like ours!

The Quandary

She cried her eyes out when he left
She knew she’d never see him again;
And now alone, with all her dreams
Turned into nightmares.

She had believed him and she had loved,
She gave him all and he took even more.
And now alone, whom could she turn to,
But her family?

She had confessed all and she had trusted them;
She hoped that they would give their love, support…
And all she heard were screams and shouts,
Cries, threats and accusations.

She put her hands on her belly and she felt –
She tried to feel what she knew was growing there.
And she sensed that the new life that stirred within
Would bring her turmoil.

She heard her father shout: “Have an abortion!”
She heard her mother cry: “Have it and give it for adoption!”
Within her belly “it” stirred and said:
“Keep me, love me, raise me…”

Small town morality would stigmatise
The tell-tale swelling in her belly;
Her child, if born, would have its own battles to fight,
Wars to lose, perhaps…

She knew what shame, disgrace and isolation
She would have face if she allowed nature take its course;
And then how could she live,
With that blemish of: “Single, underage mother”?

Whom would she listen to?
Who gave the wisest counsel?
Who spoke from the heart?
Whom could she in her green years put her trust in?

MOVIE MONDAY - ORPHAN BLACK

“Twins have a special bond. They feel safer with each other than with their peers.” - Jeanne Phillips

We are watching the 2013 TV Series “Orphan Black” created by John Fawcett and Graeme Manson, and starring Tatiana Maslany, Dylan Bruce and Jordan Gavaris. It is a Canadian science fiction thriller and focusses on human cloning. The series raises issues about the moral and ethical implications of human cloning, and its effect on issues of personal identity.

The plot centres on Sarah Manning (Maslany), who is an orphan, an outsider and street-wise grifter. After witnessing the suicide of a woman who seems to be her twin, Sarah assumes the stranger’s identity. Sarah wants to clean out the dead woman’s savings, but instead Sarah is thrust into a deadly mystery as she realises the unbelievable truth: She and the dead woman are clones. Sarah searches for answers that will help her survive, and she discovers that there are plenty more women like her out there – all genetically identical individuals who were planted in unsuspecting birth parents and nurtured in completely different circumstances. With no idea who created the clones, she’ll need to discover the reason in a hurry as an assassin is killing them one by one. Her foster brother Felix Dawkins (Gavaris), an eccentric, gay, over-the-top, artist helps Sarah in her quest for the truth.

After watching the first few episodes we were hooked. The series is well-written, well-produced, with extremely good acting and direction and a perfect blend of mystery, comedy, drama, science fiction and poignancy. Tatiana Maslany is amazing in her depiction of the clones, each of which has her own personality, quirks and mannerisms. Jordan Gavaris does a great job in depicting the unconventional Felix, but so often provides comic relief, making the sometimes “heavy” plot roll along. Maria Doyle Kennedy who plays Sarah’s foster mother does a great job with a character that hides many surprises.

We are up to Season 3 at the moment and still enjoying it immensely. The series received generally favourable reviews, with the first season scoring a 73 out of 100 on Metacritic; season 2 scoring a 79 out of 100; season 3 scoring 70 out of 100; and season 4 has a score of 80 out of 100. The fifth and final season will be aired in 2017 and I look forward to watching this series to the end. I am sure it will not disappoint.

MOVIE MONDAY - THE DAUGHTER

“If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.” - Virginia Woolf

We watched Simon Stone’s 2015 movie “The Daughter” at the weekend. It starred Sam Neill, Miranda Otto, Geoffrey Rush, Paul Schneider, Odessa Young and Ewen Leslie, with a story based on Ibsen’s “The Wild Duck”, adapted by the director, Simon Stone. The story is updated to modern-day Australia and there are some quite fundamental changes to the plot, including (possibly) the ending.

The film is set in Tasmania although it was filmed around the very atmospheric Snowy Mountain towns of Tumut and Batlow. A timber mill belonging to a wealthy landowner closes the greatly dismayed workers are sacked while the aloof owner Henry (Rush) plans to marry his much younger former housekeeper. His estranged son Christian (Schneider) returns for the wedding looking for someone to blame for his mother’s suicide. When Christian learns of his father’s previous infidelity he feels compelled to reveal all to his childhood friend Oliver (Leslie) that his wife Charlotte (Otto) had an affair with his father. Oliver is devastated his up till then excellent relationship with his daughter Hedvig (Young) is affected. The thoughtless and irresponsible revelation of the truth by Christian (whose own life is immersed in lies) leads to a tragic consequences that will affect everyone’s lives.

The movie is well made, the acting is excellent and the cinematography wonderful. Geoffrey Rush has a relatively small role and I found Sam Neill’s acting much more commanding and masterful. The real honours are deserved by Odessa Young, playing the daughter of the title and also an excellent presence by Ewen Leslie. Paul Schneider’s character was a real stinker and I found that he suited the role as he was quite an unlikeable actor (or maybe it was the role?). The music by Mark Bradshaw was suitably atmospheric and appropriate, while the cinematography by Andrew Commis suited the plot well.

Ibsen can be quite heavy and his ponderous plays are often depressing and hard to digest. Although this movie was hardly a laugh a minute, there was the odd scene where the mood was lightened without detracting from the melancholy and dramatic story. We found ourselves involved in the action and we felt the pain of the characters’ plight. The claustrophobic family situations and the hidden truths that are slowly and recklessly revealed create a great tension and lead well to the film’s dramatic conclusion. As far as the actual ending is concerned, there is ambiguity and the viewer may opt for Ibsen’s tragic conclusion or a more optimistic and happier one…

A wonderful Australian film with a great bunch of actors, good pace and plot and enjoyable (although uncomfortable at times) to watch. Not one for you if you like fast-paced action thrillers and adventure stories. This is quiet and melancholy, exploring people’s feelings and their damaged psyches.

MOVIE MONDAY - BIR ÇOCUK SEVDIM

“Vulnerability is the essence of romance. It’s the art of being uncalculated, the willingness to look foolish, the courage to say, ‘This is me, and I’m interested in you enough to show you my flaws with the hope that you may embrace me for all that I am but, more important, all that I am not.’ ” Ashton Kutcher

We have finished watching a 2011 Turkish TV series called “Bir Çocuk Sevdim” (literally “A Child I Loved”, but it could be also interpreted “A Girl I Loved” or “A Boy I Loved”). This was a well-produced and well-acted show with a host of talented stars and supporting cast. There were veteran actors like Çetin Tekindor and Bülent Inal, but also new talents like Gulcan Arslan making her TV debut in the starring role and Hakan Kurtas, the young male lead. We particularly enjoyed the performance of Sefika Tolun as the mother, Arzu Gamze Kilinç as the politically active aunt, Onuryay Evrentan as the psychologically challenged sister and the very talented youngster Ilayda Alisan. The series is set in Istanbul and there are many gorgeous external shots of this beautiful city making for some memorable scenes.

The plot is familiar enough for watchers of TV soaps, but there are several interesting subplots, which are developed well. The unfortunate thing about it is that the series finished abruptly (presumably because the plug was pulled) and the last episode finishes with a couple of cliff-hangers that are not resolved. Despite of its good quality of production and acting, the ratings must not have been high enough, or I wonder if the political subplot was one of the reasons that it was stopped…

In a nutshell, this is what it’s about: Turan (Çetin Tekindor) and Esmahan (Sefika Tolun) have three children: Emine the unmarried oldest daughter (Onuryay Evrentan), Erdal, a silly son (Ulas Torun) and Mine, the younger daughter (Gulcan Arslan) who is beautiful, clever and romantic. They seem to have a happy lower middle class family, notwithstanding some issues arising from Emine being jealous of Mine and being unable to get married. Mine is in love with Sinan (Hakan Kurtas), a young man from a rich family. Mine gets pregnant with Sinan’s baby and his parents send him away to the USA before he finds out about it, while Mine thinks he has abandoned her. Although Sinan tries to contact Mine, Emine scuttles this attempt.

Mine’s father is furious with his young daughter and conscious of the family’s reputation confines her to her room. His boss, the successful car dealer Timur (Bülent Inal) falls in love with Mine and proposes marriage, promising to look after her and the baby and telling Mine he does not expect her to share his bed. She accepts and she moves into his house having a separate locked bedroom. Timur has a teenage daughter, Merve (Ilayda Alisan) who resents Mine moving in and who proceeds to make life difficult for her.

The two important subplots centre on Mine’s aunt Sureya (Arzu Gamze Kilinç) who has lost her political insurgent husband after he was arrested for anti-government activities, and Emine the older sister who everyone takes for granted and acts like a spinster. Sureya’s search for her husband (or his grave) raises the issue of political freedom in Turkey and this may not have made the series too popular with government agencies. Emine’s transformation from a “spinster” to a predatory “vamp” is quite interesting to watch, and she plays the psychologically disturbed woman magnificently. A third thread in the plot follows the relationship of Mine’s father and mother and how they fare with the strains of having to deal with Mine’s (and Emine’s!) lapses from “socially acceptable” behaviour.

The Ibsen triangle of Mine, Timur and Sinan is interesting to observe, as is Mine’s transformation from a simple, romantic young girl into a mature, realistic and deeper thinking woman. Sinan, as the victim of a plot to foil his love and separate him from his son, is perhaps the most innocent of all the characters, but he remains relatively immature and perhaps the most devoted to the ideals of romantic first love. Timur as the worldly older man who nevertheless is not only in love, but loves Mine, will stop at nothing to ensure her happiness. He nevertheless does believe in the maxim “all’s fair in love and war”.

We enjoyed watching this series but the last (78th) episode was a little disappointing in that it prepared the ground for a second season that was never made. As I have written here previously, the Turkish TV series industry is fiercely competitive and the rating system is uncompromising as to dictating the fate of the shows that progress to multi-season hits.