Piano Virtuoso

~ Laurence McKinney

From Western Coast to Eastern Seaboard

Rages the battle of the keyboard,

For storming the piano-forte

Is famous as an Indoor Sport.

Surrounded by a hundred men

Like Daniel in the Lion's Den,

The virtuoso takes his seat

Preparing to resist defeat.

A few stray shots, with unconcern

He ducks, and coolly waits his turn,

It comes, and shooting flats and sharps

He knocks them for a row of harps.

Courageous as a stag at bay,

He's up, he's down, he's got away -

The fighting stops, the music ends.

They usually part as friends.

Pies, muffins and general craziness

I think that I could never spy

A poem as lovely as a pie

A banquet in a single course

Blushing with red tomato sauce

A pie whose crust is oven kissed

Whose gravy scalds the eater's wrist

The pastie and the sausage roll

Have not thy brown mysterious soul

The dark hues aborigine

Is less indigenous than thee;

As round and rich as Zara

As tasteful as Patrick White

With a glass of purple para

You're the great Australian bite.

BARRY HUMPHRIES, Piece in the Form of a Meat Pie

***

Actually that would be a picture of a muffin.  So what can I report? Watching too many Modern Family back episodes.  We all love it.  We are the Dunphys. Back to school this week.  Trying to learn times tables and maintain discipline over music practice. Rondos, lullabies and bell chimes.   Final semester of primary school for Charly.  Gasp.  Still haven't reconciled myself to the choice of high school. Grieving for what could be.  Not the least interested in the Olympics but will undoubtedly get excited over the big finals and the cultural opening and closing ceremonies. Heavens, completely forgot about Guides tonite.  So best off.

Ode on Solitude

~ Alexander Pope

Happy the man, whose wish and care

A few paternal acres bound,

Content to breathe his native air,

In his own ground.

Whose heards with milk, whose fields with bread,

Whose flocks supply him with attire,

Whose trees in summer yield him shade,

In winter fire.

Blest! who can unconcern'dly find

Hours, days, and years slide soft away,

In health of body, peace of mind,

Quiet by day,

Sound sleep by night; study and ease

Together mix'd; sweet recreation,

And innocence, which most does please,

With meditation.

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;

Thus unlamented let me dye;

Steal from the world, and not a stone

Tell where I lye.

***

Funny how the children appear to have far more fun-filled days during the school holidays when Dad stays home.  He's not as easily distracted by over-brimming laundry baskets, dirt encrusted floor rugs or general untidiness.  While I would be sorting and tidying as I go, he can devote his singular attention to having a good time.  While I feel slightly awkward being the only one who heads out the door to work in the morning (in the knowledge that this is not just a holiday fix), it is rather splendid to come home to a warm and busy house, the aroma of a cooked meal, children chirriping about what they have done during the day and a glass of wine standing in readiness on the island bench.  It's a perverse role-reversal.  The strange solitude of the working mother.

 

May Day 

by Sara Teasdale

A delicate fabric of bird song

Floats in the air,

The smell of wet wild earth

Is everywhere.

Red small leaves of the maple

Are clenched like a hand,

Like girls at their first communion

The pear trees stand.

Oh I must pass nothing by

Without loving it much,

The raindrop try with my lips,

The grass with my touch;

For how can I be sure

I shall see again

The world on the first of May

Shining after the rain?


***

Still here.  Where did June go?  What's happening to July? Since the loss of my camera, a major restructure on the work front (his not mine), two birthday parties, extreme angst over choice of high school (apologies to all the people - including complete strangers - I've lynched seeking opinions) and now the school holidays, there's not been much time left over to tend to this little creative space.  But here we are, back from a week in Melbourne which included visits to the marvelleous Napoleon exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, the Mesopotamia exhibition at the awesome Melbourne Museum and a night performance of Annie the musical at the grand Regent Theatre. So much to tell about these experiences (for another time). The children are growing like topsy and I've nothing but dodgy iphone v.1 photos to show for it.  My visual diary effectively stalled in May. 

Photo: Fly past over The Australian War Memorial, Anzac Day 2012.

At night when the winds arose ...

Discord in Childhood

~ DH Lawrence

Outside the house an ash-tree hung its terrible whips,

And at night when the wind arose, the lash of the tree

Shrieked and slashed the wind, as a ship’s

Weird rigging in a storm shrieks hideously.

Within the house two voices arose in anger, a slender lash

Whistling delirious rage, and the dreadful sound

Of a thick lash booming and bruising, until it drowned

The other voice in a silence of blood, ’neath the noise of the ash.

***

Still on the cusp of change with uncertainty whistling around in a delirious rage {in my head at 4.00 am} when not diverted by the practicalities of the school/work routine.  My mind is also racing with plans for three home-hosted birthday parties in close succession.  I managed to survive the first this weekend with a delightful bunch of eight-year-old girls and a husband stoically on duty by the oven warming party pies and sausage rolls.  The Nigella Feasts classic chocolate cake with sour cream icing was a hit, and thankfully looked presentable adorned with delicate flower confections and pastel candles.  My theory is that if the cake's OK, it will all turn out fine.  As it did.  Sometimes you just need to close the oven door and trust the universe. 

Woman To Child

You who were darkness warmed my flesh

where out of darkness rose the seed.

Then all a world I made in me;

all the world you hear and see

hung upon my dreaming blood.

There moved the multitudinous stars,

and coloured birds and fishes moved.

There swam the sliding continents.

All time lay rolled in me, and sense,

and love that knew not its beloved.

O node and focus of the world;

I hold you deep within that well

you shall escape and not escape-

that mirrors still your sleeping shape;

that nurtures still your crescent cell.

I wither and you break from me;

yet though you dance in living light

I am the earth, I am the root,

I am the stem that fed the fruit,

the link that joins you to the night.

Judith Wright

***

Crazy unsettled times in the gull's nest these days. I think I'm repeating myself. There's the ongoing uncertainty over the Strong Silent One's future employment options.  Hopefully next week will provide some clarity. There's the lingering indecisiveness over choice of high school.  Pressures of preparing for multiple mid-Winter birthday parties.  The inability to find time to sit and discuss Important Issues uninterrupted and sensibly before 9.00 pm. General tiredness with the whole she-bang. All underpinned by a keen awareness that time is passing and This Is It.  Thank heavens it's a long week-end with the possibility of scraping out some time to accomplish something useful.  If only to inscribe birthday party invitations and clean the mildew off the bathroom ceiling.    

Ingredients:

• 150 grams butter
• ¼ cup of honey
• 2 cups of quick cook oats
• 3 tablespoons of seeds – I use pumpkin and flax seeds
• 1 cup of dried apples chopped
• ½ cup sultanas
• ¼ cup dried cranberries
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 3 eggs lightly whisked

To make:

1. Line slice tray with baking paper.
2. Turn the oven on to heat to 160 degrees.
3. Melt the butter and honey over low heat in a pan.
4. Add fruit and dry ingredients to a bowl.
5. Add the melted butter and honey and then the eggs and stir to combine.
6. Pour the combined muesli bar mixture into the slice tray.
7. Smooth the top of the mixture and give it a shake backward and forward on the bench to settle it evenly in the pan.
8. Bake for 20 minutes until golden on top.
9. Remove from the oven and allow the muesli bar to cool completely in the tray.
10. When it is cool, gently turn it onto a board.
11. Use a sharp knife and cut into the desired length.