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Australia
I ran away from teaching to the country to grow veggies. There are also some chooks and a pair of troublesome goats who were so much trouble they had to go! My simple green life isn't always as simple or as green as I'd like...but I keep trying!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Excuses, excuses, excuses

I do have some excuses for the dearth
of exciting blog posts.
I have been helping The Editor 
(previously known as The Cook)
with her day job.
So this week I took pictures to go with
her interview of a promising young local amateur local boxer.

He was such a pleasant, fresh faced 15 y.o. with a mouth 
full of orthodontic hardware ...
it is a shame to think of him being punched and damaged.


I researched and wrote a little piece 
about all the shops moving around in Kinglake.
(i.e. changing places, not wavering like in the picture...
I called the article..Shopscotch)

I worked at the op-shop
and took photos and wrote
a tiny bit of copy about the
shop's refurbishment.
(No, that's not me in the photo)



 I jumped out of the car and took some
photos of a row of lovely old cars
from a club that did a 'Rod run' 
up the mountain to the local pub.

Again...more photos and some fun interviewing the
young men (and a couple of women) in the
Flowerdale Ute Club.




We also visited a potter for an article The Editor
is preparing for the April issue about the town of Toolangi.


And we visited the kiwi fruit winery in the same town.
Shame! We had to taste the wine and I bought
some fabulous kiwi fruit cider...
and picked the man's brain about
growing kiwi fruit.


The winery is called Giverny
....for reasons obvious in the photo below.
Claude would have had his paints out and his easel up in a flash!

Then of course there are the tearooms in Toolangi.

The tearooms are situated in The Singing Gardens, ˆ
which are fabulous!

C.J. Dennis - 1876 - 1938, one of Australia's best known poets
lived in Toolangi, establishing the gardens.

He wrote humorous poetry and prose and lovingly
about the moist forests and bush around Toolangi.
He also wrote verse for children.
It is estimated he wrote over 4000 pieces 
in his 40 year writing career.
In 1917 he was Australia's most prosperous poet.
It is no wonder as he has been described as 
the Laureate of the Larrikin, 
and the best-known poet in Australia at that time.

His poems are a record of his life but also 
of the society at that time....
some seem sexist and others racist,
but interesting just the same.

I love this one, that he wrote to stir
the loins of young men
during the First World War.
Check the reference to 'Old Mother Britain'
and the idea that the Germans were 'kicking at the gate' 
(not Australia's gate, that was for sure.)
And what about 'life being short'...
so stop playing sport and enjoying it...
head off and shoot a few people 
and maybe be killed yourself.
Yep! That sounds like a good plan!

I hope you take the time to read and sing...
provided you know the tune of, Onward Christian Soldiers.
Insert your own two syllable expletive where the dashes are....

A Marching Song
Air - Onward Christian Soldiers

Fellers of Australier,
   Blokes an' coves an' coots,
Shift yer --- carcases,
   Move yer --- boots.
Gird yer --- loins up,
   Get yer --- gun,
Set the --- enermy
   An' watch the blighters run.
 
CHORUS:
   Get a --- move on,
      Have some --- sense.
   Learn the --- art of
      Self de- --- -fence.
 
Have some --- brains be-
   Neath yer --- lids.
An' swing a --- sabre
   Fer the missus an' the kids.
Chuck supportin' --- posts,
   An' strikin' --- lights,
Support a ---- fam'ly an'
   Strike fer yer --- rights.
 
CHORUS:
   Get a --- move on, etc.
 
Joy is --- fleetin',
   Life is --- short.
Wot's the use uv wastin' it
   All on --- sport?
Hitch yer --- tip-dray
   To a --- star.
Let yer --- watchword be
   "Australi- --- -ar!"
 
CHORUS:
   Get a --- move on, etc.
 
'0w's the --- nation
   Goin' to ixpand
'Lest us --- blokes an' coves
   Lend a --- 'and?
'Eave yer --- apathy
   Down a --- chasm;
'Ump yer --- burden with
   Enthusi- --- -asm.
 CHORUS:
   Get a --- move on, etc.
 
W'en old mother Britain
   Calls yer native land
Take a --- rifle
   In yer --- 'and
Keep yer --- upper lip
   Stiff as stiff kin be,
An' speed a --- bullet for
   Post- --- -ity.
 
CHORUS:
   Get a --- move on, etc.
 
W'en the --- bugle
   Sounds "Ad- --- -vance"
Don't be like a flock er sheep
   In a --- trance
Biff the --- Kaiser
   Where it don't agree
Spifler- --- -cate him
   To Eternity.
 
CHORUS:
   Get a --- move on, etc.
 
Fellers of Australier,
   Cobbers, chaps an' mates,
Hear the --- German
   Kickin' at the gates!
Blow the --- bugle,
   Beat the --- drum,
Upper-cut an' out the cow
   To kingdom- --- -come!
 
CHORUS:
   Get a --- move on,
      Have some --- sense.
   Learn the --- art of
      Self de- --- -fence.

Oh, and the soldiers did use it for a marching song, apparently.




10 comments:

  1. I love your post Hazel and it reminds me why JOG and I should revisit Toolangi. PA it used to be one of JOG'S favorite and most frequented painting spots.
    HDW

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  2. Oh far out, that afternoon tea spread is my idea of heaven. Cosies and all.............

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  3. I would love to hear what your kiwifruit expert had to say ,my 2 struggled thru the heat...and those scones with jam n cream....num

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  4. Great post Hazel,I might even make scones.

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  5. Looks like an adventurous outing. The afternoon tea looks incredible!

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  6. Sounds like an exciting life at the moment! Love the bridge at Giverny, and those cream scones looks so yummy!

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  7. A marching song- I am sure that the expletives would have been different in 1917 compared with 2012! There was probably a choice of words then, nowadays it seems to be just the one expletive!

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  8. Hazel, your life sounds so interesting and exciting . It sounds like you are enjoying the community you live in so much.

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  9. Hmmm. A very diverse view of contemporary Australian culture, all in one post! Not sure that Claude would have approved of a red-painted bridge though. I thought he was more of a blue man...
    BTW, That cream tea picture in your blog header is superb. Certainly makes you want to tuck in.

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  10. thats awsome my ute made it in your blog cheers Dwaine (Flowerdale ute club)

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