Christmas and beach holidays

Great grandmother

The feast cooked by Bec

The choir in action

Well, after all the trepidation, anticipations, build up, trying to pretend it's not happening Christmas is over for another year. And what were the good things about it? Quite a few, however still thinking of doing something completely different next year.

First so far things have apparently got no worse between the two Koreas, so we can all breathe easier for a little while.

Second, my niece brought her daughters along with some friends and their music teacher, to my mother's nursing home to sing for them. What a delightful thing to do and the people their who are capable of showing emotion seemed to enjoy it. Mum appeared to be quite pleased and loved having the kids there. So good to see the girls enjoyed it too and had such confidence in performing and doing something to add pleasure to someone else's day, true spirit of Christmas I would say!

Third, started off Christmas day with a scrumptious breakfast cooked by Raph, and had a lovely beginning to the day at their place, with the kids. Then went to my mates for a delicious lot of crackling which the lovely Norm had cooked on his barbecue, yes it was around pork, but it was the crackling that got to me - cooked to perfection. And...... I cooked my first and second Pav, trialling it with the doona stealing weasel's daughter and family on Friday night then again for A and N on Christmas Day, and, even if I say so myself, it was pretty lovely, forgot to take a photo so will have to make another for a photo opportunity! Thanks to the lovely Stephanie Alexander and her recipe! Is that what Christmas is about sharing good food that has been cooked with thought and care, with people we love and spending time with them?

Then a little downer as Mum was unwell, so went to see her instead of taking her out, she was quite tired and found it hard to even stir from her bed. However, after helping her shower and getting her back to bed with clean PJs, A and I sang to her, dredging our memories for the old songs and she seemed to enjoy that (despite our relatively tuneless voices). Or maybe that's what it's about - remembering the people who are lonely or ill and thinking about what we can do for them?

Fourth the beginning of a whole 7 days down at Rye - what bliss! And even blissfuller is that bec and the kids are sharing it. So we've been down to the beach several times, T went into the water fully clothed despite the cool weather and A ended up taking all his clothes off to go in the water and then made sand angels several times so I ended up with a car full of sand. We all spoke to E on the phone and she sounded like her day was good, so all is well with the world! A has been carrying around the 'rainbow' dinosaur with him that his lovely aunty sent over. In Australia, christmas and the beach can be synonymous - seafood, games on the sand, kids in the water - is that what Christmas is about and making connections with people we love who are far away?

Drank much Australian sparkling wine, bit of red because it's been so cold and have a lovely glass of Cool Woods Eden Valley Pinot sitting by the laptop at this minute. Now that is definitely part of Christmas!

Fifth B cooked us a most delicious meal last night - see pictures, slow cooked lamb shoulder with a zucchini and tomato dish, salad with dill and yoghurt dressing all quite yummy. Then tonight went to my favourite pizza place on the Peninsula, Pizza D'oh who make the best seafood pizza I have ever had - prawns, scallops, calamari and fish with fetta - washed down with a local Pinot Gris. so maybe it just all comes down to food, sharing time with family and friends we love, connecting with people we can't be with and finding time to do the things we enjoy because we have a holiday.

So it would be hard for life to get better, the boys are sleeping peacefully on the loungeroom floor, having decided they wanted to watch Harry Potter, picked up a children's bike for $10.00 at a garage sale and after T's first remark of 'Grandma why did you buy a girl's bike?' he has found he can ride it and says it's a bit like a BMX bike because it has fat wheels.Loved the gregarious ans trusting natureof kids when T decided he wanted to make friends with some boys he saw playing on the street (another great Australian tradition) And, to top it all off, have an excellent book waiting on my bedside table.

Peace and good wishes, may you all find a sanctuary to share with your loved ones and loved ones to share your sanctuary.

The conundrum of Christmas

The apricot throwing street urchins at Beatbox

Some of the lights

First a little debrief, then on to the things that make me happy! In case you haven't noticed, Christmas is rapidly approaching. A time of year that I may have mentioned I find quite tricky. It has been made trickier by a post someone put on my facebook page, basically saying the celebration of Christmas is part of the great Australian tradition and people who don't like it should leave and the person doing the post offered to help them pack. So, the conundrum for me is that I do like celebrating parts of Christmas - giving and receiving presents, catching up with friends and family and, of course, eating and drinking. However I don't like the commercialism, I don't like the tinned Christmas carols played relentlessly in shopping centres and I particularly don't like suggesting that people who don't celebrate Christmas (or other 'Australian' traditions like football, or swimming or whatever) don't belong in Australia and should put up or shut up. The impact of the post has made me not want to celebrate Christmas, to not want to join in the sometimes forced merriment or wish people a merry christmas.

Ok the debrief is over, thank you for your tolerance. Now to the things that made me happy. First Melbourne's weather is it's usual changeable self, something I quite love, heaters and snow in the mountains one day then a beautiful balmy evening like tonight and last Saturday the next. I got to swim in the bay on Saturday, came back to look after the kids while Bec helped out in Beatbox, so took the kids to the park for a Beatbox burger - yummo..... washed down with a beer courtesy of Ed. The highlight was watching the kids who were there amusing themselves for hours by picking up apricots that had fallen from a tree, throwing them on to the road then watching to see if the passing cars would squash them. There was something about the simplicity of it all and the confusion and interest of the car occupants who weren't sure why the kids were waving at them excitedly which was quite wonderful to watch.

We had an end of year get together for the team at work and instead of going out for lunch they had decided to use hall in a community centre, have the makings of sandwiches and have a musical lunch. So, we had guitar, ukelele, drums and good and not so good voices. We had words to songs we had enthusiasm, we had the crazy Kris Kringle that we have every year which demonstrates what causes people to become possessive or passionate about objects. And, it was fun, it was a way of celebrating the end of the year and the Christmas season which was about connecting with each other rather than just eating and drinking (not that I am against that of course!).

I went with Bec to a session of Women of Letters, in the very gracious old Thornbury Theater, where a panel of women were invited to write a letter about their best present ever. Megan Washington wrote about what a gift coming to Melbourne from Brisbane as a 20 year old was, Jane Clifton wrote about being given a 1995 Nissan Pintara and being weaned from Volvo driving, Jo from Frankie wrote about the gift of 'Fagnetism' the wonderful Julie Zamiro wrote about the gift of being able to spend Christmas time alone and curled up with a book (and showed off her beautiful French) and Romi did a wonderful performance about love and life. And for me, the afternoon was a gift because it was shared with Bec and she had thought I might enjoy it.

Then last night the boys came to stay. The doona stealing weasel and head chef in our house cooked the most delicious roast lamb (the weather was cold). It was so tender and moist and the boys loved it. I had a new Pinot Noir which had arrived a few days ago which seemed appropriate yo have with it. My brother turned up with some mugs which we have been wanting to get for some time but they are made by a local potter in a small town near Wagga in the back of beyond so we had not been able to. He had gone through and the shop was open and he knew we wanted them so now we have replacements and a bit more for the ones we have broken.

For some reason the people in our street have started lighting up their houses at Christmas, so while I bemoan the waste of energy and am concerned about the impact on the environment I actually enjoy them immensely (like fireworks). They enchant and delight me. However, in this hemisphere they don't make a lot of sense as it gets dark so late and light so early at the moment. I had promised the boys we would go for a walk to look at the lights, so they had to stay up until 9.30 then T insisted on riding his bike. But it was worth it. They loved the lights, we even found one at the end of the street that had lights, nativity scene, christmas tree and even music playing. We went along the street A in his pusher, T on his bike and T sang the Star Wars version of Jingle Bells, A sang the 'straight' version but then started making up his own and it was bloody wonderful. There was general agreement that the music one was the best, though T thought the one with the Green lights in the shape of a 3 dimensional Christmas tree almost beat that. A declared all of them 'wonderful'.

The downside this week has been that there is a bit of craziness again between the 2 Koreas which is introducing a bit of a sour note. So good vibes are constantly being sent to keep the family over there safe and we hope for commonsense to win and peace to prevail. Peace and goodwill to all.......

beaches, carol singing and new cocktail

I got quite excited when the local opshop had all these rubber ducks for sale for only 30 cents each, so bought a few to come and live in the bathroom here. With the addition of the battery candle from the Carols, I thought they made a delightful looking choir.

A bit of kitsch that I managed to stop myself buying at the local market - it's a solar lamp Bridgewater Bay around sunset

Rye beach at dusk
I am currently down at my favourite escape place, the place where I find sanity and peace. It is down on the Mornington Peninsula. Have come down here with a good friend who is over from France and looking forward to enjoying our summer, however we have failed badly as have not yet managed to get above 20C and had cold winds and rain constantly, so today as we enjoyed our umpteenth beach walk, Harriet actually put her gloves on.


Despite that it has been a lovely few days. I have done lots of work around the house, with good advice from H, visited the local markets and lots of trips to Bunnings! And we have had lots of walks along the beach, despite the cold it has been quite beautiful. We were lucky enough to be here when they had the Carols down on the foreshore, the music was a bit forgettable, except for a 13 year old who was quite amazing, but the atmosphere was great. Kids running everywhere waving their (battery operated) candles, with the sea in the background, lots of enthusiasm and to top it off, fireworks, which of course traumatised poor old Jack (the dog) completely. I had to sit down and hold her, her little heart was beating rapidly and I felt quite bad for not thinking about how it would effect her, although I had not expected fireworks. I found myself next to a woman who was holding her spaniel who was just as traumatised as Jack. I think she has finally forgiven me for subjecting her to such torture.


One of the finds at the markets was a woman who makes ice cream and sorbet. When I tried her lemon and mint sorbet, my first thought was what a wonderful drink it would make, particularly in summer. So last night we tried this delightfully tangy sorbet with Prosecco. Filled the glass 3/4 full with the sorbet and then poured the Prosecco over and it was to die for. Last night was a bit cool, but on a hot summer evening it would be perfect. Despite the tendency towards freezing last night it was still quite enjoyable, so it is on the list for the festive break down here. One of the lovely things about the market is the reassurance that it is still a bit country style down here. the woman who makes the icecream/sorbets, gave us her address and said if we want any flavour in particular to ring her and let her know and she will leave it in the freezer she keeps in her driveway and we can pick it up and leave the money... I love that sense of trust in people.

celebrations, campari, weather, mustard making

Mustard making

The flooded bike path

A sunset on the way down to the beach



This is the season of celebration, so we are told. The season of what sometimes feels like endless invites to drinks and work 'end of year' festivities. Every meeting that happens in December seems to have the obligatory mince pies and everyone wishing each other a happy Christmas and asking what you are doing over January. Somehow in December there seems to be this imperative to cram into your life time to see people you haven't seen all year.


It's good that people want to make connections, it's good that there is a common sense of wanting to celebrate, but sometimes it all seems a bit contrived and artificial, so this year I have decided to focus on what I think is good about this time of year. In the words of the wonderful Tim Minchin, I do love Christmas because of that coming together of friends and family,and because even if you don't see each other you do take the time to think about the people you are not with. I think about what I can give that might create a moment of joy or surprise and therefore a connection over the distance with Em and her other family. I imagine it like some sort of rainbow with coloured ribbons that go from my head or heart to wherever they are and connect to them.

Tonight I particularly thought of my daughter Em jorpin. We went out for dinner and my predinner drink was Campari with pink grapefruit, Em always seems to have Campari on hand and it is a perfect drink I decided for a sultry Melbourne day, where the black clouds hang ominously overhead, the bureau is warning of more storms and rain rain rain, and the weather is hot and sticky.

In the spirit of the season I decided to revisit times past and make mustard as gifts. Love soaking the mustard seeds and grinding them up and finding just the right size and right shape jar for them. The bloke of the house reminded me of a find I had one year of beautiful little jars with a little handle and a perfect mustard size wooden spoon to hang on the handle. I am not a great cook so love finding things I can do simply that are guaranteed to work each time.

I have also been inspired by one of Em's posts where she talked about traditions, and I love that we can make our own traditions, that we don't have to carry on with the same ones year after year. For many years I shared my children's Christmases with their father,so it was quite common for me not to see them on Christmas Day. Instead, we would make our own celebrations and give presents before or after Christmas, luckily our extended family christmas get togethers were always before Christmas Day. As they got older, we had breakfast at our place and the girls came with their partners then went to their dads and later Bec and Raph came with Tykie, my grandson..

However, over the last few years we have taken advantage of having a house near the beach and the doona stealing weasel and I have a lovely relaxing morning. We ring Em to talk to her and feel a bit sad because she is not here, but also okay because we know she is with people she loves. . We usually spend some time with friends and then head down to the beach house where we are joined for dinner by Bec, Raph and my grandsons and usually a few of their friends as well. The best thing is they love to cook, Raph is now indulging that passion with his new food venture Beatbox Kitchen. So they take charge of the food and I spend time with the kids and have the occasional glass of wine. We set the table up in the backyard and Bec with all her designer cool, for proof see here, Beci Orpin puts lots of thought into the layout of the table, last year we had strawberry plants in pots with candles in small glass bottles from the opshop. If it's cool enough we light the outdoor fireplace as it gets dark and it is a lovely family time.

We also usually have my mum there for dinner. The sadness this year is I don't know whether we will, as she has alzheimers and is fast losing the ability to connect with her surroundings. She can be quite confused when there are lots of people around and will tell my 30 year old children that they have grown since she saw them last. So I might create another tradition and have a quiet picnic with her on the way to the beachhouse.

Just to finish off and show you what an amazingly talented family I am surrounded by, my niece Susan D'Arcy also is a great phtographer as you can see if you click here Susan Darcy

occasional drinking and eating: Rain, sun and swimming

occasional drinking and eating: Rain, sun and swimming: "Well, life is pretty good at the moment. First have had a few email comments about my blog and, to quote one of my delightful daughters, th..."

Rain, sun and swimming

Well, life is pretty good at the moment. First have had a few email comments about my blog and, to quote one of my delightful daughters, they 'happify' me.

Just came back from a couple of days down at the beach. Found a new beach I have not been to before, unfortunately did not have the camera with me. It's down on the Mornington Peninsula on the ocean beach side near Blairgowrie. Called Monterey beach, one of those beautiful little coves with rocks and cave - have to take the boys down at low tide, they will love it. It's great for swimming at low tide, though would be a bit nervous about rips at high tide. About 20 minute walk to get there, but through the National Park so quite lovely and nice sandy path. Did take the dog although one is not supposed to after 9.00am, but she did love it, and had her first experience of the surf beach, so funny to watch, her running into the water, then a wave coming and crashing over her and her running back to the beach looking like a drowned rat. Then when I went for a swim, she got quite concerned running up and down barking. Our isolation was broken by four surfers arriving but they went to the other end of the beach after experiencing Jack's letting them know she wasn't scared of them and was hell bent on protecting me. Very comforting.

It's been very warm and slightly humid here, so the only possible drink is white wine, although I did feel compelled to celebrate being down at my little retreat with some Prosecco which I enjoy immensely. And to complete my little circle of happiness, it was the first Saturday of the month, so the foreshore market was on down at Rye Pier. I love the market. It's quite daggy, lots of local produce sold by the people who grew it, the best plant seller I have come across, everything I have bought from there has done well. And we found an egg poacher, which Erwin has decided is a must have at the moment. Will keep you informed about how it works. And it's right next to the beach, which I love.

The water was sparkling today, still a little cool to swim in, but once you are in and start moving it's fine. The foreshore also has a great camping ground between the mainroad and the beach and people are starting to arrive. Some of them are bagging the best spots for the summer with tents opening out on to the beach view and a hop step and a jump from a swim in the bay beach. I do love the democracy of camping grounds, across the road are houses worth well over a millon dollars because of the beach view and proximity to the sea and here are the campers enjoying being even closer with their deckchairs and lounges all lined up for their view of the beach.

Came home to my grandsons staying the night at my place with their father, as my Melbourne daughter is having a 'ladies dinner' (no men allowed) at her place. Another thing that happifies me - to see her enjoy the company of women. I have to say it is generally the women in my life who keep me sane and on track and actually make it possible for me to have a relationship with a bloke.

So now the boys are in bed, the 7 year old having fallen asleep while watching Iron Chef and the 3 year old, gone to sleep after being allowed to play Dino Dans Digs and Dora and then having several books read to him. And I can relax with the Pinot Grigio which arrived at my door the other day as if by magic..

Hope anyoen reading this finds as much peace as I can in doing the things I do....

Food and Sth Korea

I realise that, despite the title of the blog, I have had very little focus on drinking and eating, so thought I would remedy that today. Recently I visited my daughter http://jorpins.blogspot.com/ who lives in Sth Korea and discovered that the country has the most delicious food.

My favourite I think was Bibimbap, a dish with rice at the bottom with a slightly tangy sauce then a mix of fresh chopped vegetables, or chicken etc, mushrooms, whatever. It is very healthy and absolutely delicious. The other favourite was the dumplings, in soup or just on their own with a sauce. When I came home I so much missed the food that I tried my own version of bibimbap, after I found a great Korean supermarket where I could buy the sauce and (joy or joy) frozen dumplings.

So I tried my hand at Bibimbap. Had the rice in the bowl, added the sauce, some julienned lightly cooked carrots and snow peas, cooked some spinach in sesame oil with garlic and pine nuts and added that and some chopped spring onion. It was not as brilliant as the ones I had in Sth Korea but was pretty good.

And, of course our meals in Sth Korea were always accompanied by beer, or Soju, a sort of rice wine that is eminently drinkable.

The Victorian election result and Jack my dog

Well there you are I managed to upload a photo, here is oneof the loves of my life, the lovely Jack... A constant source of amusement and comfort. Her sheer joy in the park when she finds a dog who will play with her is absoltely contagious and her constant cheerfulness and deisre to get close makes me feel incredibly good. I know I know, she is only a dog, get over it, but there is something so lovely and unconditional about a dogs love that is like no other.

And it's just as well I have her otherwise finding a number of things to be happy about would be hard this morning otherwise I would be desolate at the possibility of the coalition claiming government in Victoria, policies about women's rights are non existent, their response to child protection is blaming and unhelpful and their applling law and order policy would have the numbers in prison increasing.

So feeling somewhat dejected I have still worked on noticing things that give me joy. The first was we shared the election night with a number of our friends who are very like minded so we were able to share our disappointment, and several reds and lots of great food contributed by everybody. The second is my grandsons stayed overnight so I woke up to their laughter and enjoyment of life and went for a walk in the park with drizzle and had a great time. The bike path was flooded and looked quite beautiful and we had the joy of watching a cyclist pedalling his bike through the flood with water going just about to his knees, but he was not deterred! And then of course there was Jack. So, life can still be good, something which we might need to keep reminding ourselves of over the next few years.

Noticing what gives us joy and happiness

Well I have just come back froma conference on Children, Community and Connections in Adelaide - the city of sun it appears. It was inspiring and reinvigorating - thanks have to go to Margaret Sim from UNE, who introduced me to epigenics - the influence of the environment on the brain. And specially to Paula Barrett www.pathwayshrc.com.au who passionately provided gems of information and wisdom, including that parenthood should not be a search for perfection but that if you are a 'good enough parent for the child in front of you' and love and support your child then that will create healthy children. She also said beign aparent was hard work and that all children will have bad times and good times.

But one thing she said which particularly resonated (after the maudliness of my last post) was that for us to have healthy lives we need to notice the things around us that bring us joy. And we shoudl do that at the start of each day. So, my goal now is to do that every morning. This morning I woke to the sound of rain and the drought here is still close enough to celebrate every rainy day knowing our tanks are filling and the trees and plants are soaking it all up.

I looked at the giant oak tree on our nature strip, a tree that even after 30 years being in this house brings me joy with its size, its changes with the seasons and its provision of a haven for possums and birds. And then of course there was my dog Jack, who came and jumped on my bed and curled up at my feet. I have only had her for six months and she is a constant source of happiness, always cheerful, always happy to see me.

And while he drives me bonkers sometimes there was a happy Erwin, tidying up the mess I leave behind everywhere, The other suggestion to keep our aging brains active is to do something new to stimulate our synapses. So this blog is for me a new thing, I am trying to teach myself to play the ukelele and can now play Mary had a LIttle Lamb and then, inspired by my amazingly creative daughters I have started to draw - when I work out how I can download photos on this thing I will share my drawings with you.

Anyway enough for today, the dog is restless and the wet park awaits. I'll take my camera this time so hopefully will catch the flooded bike path which looked os beautiful last time it happened. Remember to think positive thoughts!

what to drink when feeling maudlin

Well, this is my first blog post. I am thinking I will write about wine and food appreciation with a bit of life, love and family and a bit of politcs and thrown in. This is because I thinking drinking and eating is what life revolves around.

So to start off tonight I am feeling a bit sad because of the news of the NZ miners and because one of my delightful daughters is in Sth Korea while we all wait in anticipaiton to see what other madness can be created by the North. It would be so much easier if she were safely here in Australia, the country of low crime rates and no wars on its soil except of course for the war against the original inhabitants when my predecessors blythely took their land and massacred them at will.

So I had thought that a little gin might be appropriate, given it is associated with a bit of maudlinness, however I did have a case of a new Pinot Grigio delivered today and the weather is slightly warmish so I have chosen to indulge in that instead. It is a Richland Pinot Grigio and very drinkable. I should say I don't see the point of spending inordinate amounts of money on alcohol, which does not mean I am a cheap drunk! So instead I have these lovely people who ring me every now and then and tellme what they have available that is reasonably priced and then 'hey presto' a couple of days later it appears at my door by magic as it were.

So far I have found it eminenetly acceptable and has helped me feel slightly more at peace with the world, except I have a nasty fly buzzing around. Have to remember to close the fly wires next time.