April 25th - Anzac Day

Earler this year one of the guest artists at our Folk Club was
Martyn Wyndham-Read and I told you all about the evening here

Anyway during that evening he sang a song
adapted from a poem written in 1916
about the thoughts Australian Soldiers (Diggers)
may have had about leaving their fallen mates at Gallipoli

This coming Monday is April 25th 2011 - Anzac Day 
Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, and is commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I.
It now more broadly commemorates all those who died and served in military operations for their countries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzac_Day
http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac-tradition/

One of my ancestors served at Gallipoli
unfortunately he died in France shortly after.
This is my tribute to all those who served and never returned home

Leaving Anzac
sung by Martyn Wyndham-Read accompanied by Iris Bishop

This is the poem written by

Cicely Fox Smith
in 1916

Farewell to Anzac

Oh, hump your swag and leave, lads, the ships are in the bay —

We've got our marching orders now, it's time to come away —

And a long good-bye to Anzac Beach — where blood has flowed in vain

For we're leaving it, leaving it, game to fight again!

But some there are will never quit this bleak and bloody shore —

And some that marched and fought with us will fight and march no more;

Their blood has bought till Judgment Day the slopes they stormed so well,

And we're leaving them, leaving them, sleeping where they fell.

Leaving them, leaving them — the bravest and the best —

leaving them, leaving them, and maybe glad to rest!

We've done our best with yesterday, to-morrow's still our own —

But we're leaving them, leaving them, sleeping all alone!

Ay, they are gone beyond it all, the praising and the blame,

And many a man may win renown, but none more fair a fame;

They showed the world Australia's lads knew well the way to die;

And we're leaving them, leaving them, quiet where they lie.

Leaving them, leaving them, sleeping where they died;

Leaving them, leaving them, in their glory and their pride —

Round them sea and barren land, over them the sky,

Oh, We're leaving them, leaving them, quiet where they lie!

Cicely Fox Smith

(pronounced "sigh-sli" as in precisely)

1882-1954

http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/47926-Cicely-Fox-Smith-Farewell-To-Anzac

Edited to add:
This poem was obviously written after the infamous campaign directed by the British in an attempt to take Constantinople during WW1; a debacle that saw the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Forces at the incorrect location at Gallipoli, and which resulted in 11,000 Anzac casualties during the 9 months of fighting the Turks who were well entrenched on top of the steep cliffs at Anzac Cove and Lone Pine

http://iwvpa.net/smithcf/farewell.php

Mooching around and feeling miserable – no monk on and certainly not mardy.

A head cold plus wet weather during the week has meant I have been feeling quite miserable and out of sorts, hence the lack of posts but today (Saturday) was one of those welcome days where the sun shone right from the word go. I was able to have the doors and windows open and not go running for warmer clothes if it went behind a cloud.  So for the first time in a while I took to meandering around the little park close to home – there were benches and ducks to see and paths to walk!!

There was a big choice of benches I could sit on.  Two of which are my favourites. 

Theres this one thats been here for years

 

Its just behind these bushes on the left and has a view of the back of the Community House and the Bridge the goes over the wetlands 

Which is where I can see the ducks!

Or theres this newer one further back in the park

Its from here I get a good view of some of the walking paths and the grassy areas

Or if I look really hard can see the other side of the pond and the children's playground

Click on the photos to enlarge them

Actually today I kept on walking - lack of exercise was making me tetchy

Feeling really off, with no energy and no appetite

So it was good to be out in the fresh air with no need for a mackintosh

and I was ready for a meal when I got home

Many years ago I lived in the East Midlands and not being a native to there found some of the expressions and descriptive words very different to any I'd heard before

 Here's a couple

I wasn't mardy - I wasn't moody

Mardy is a word in some dialects of English meaning: awkward; uncooperative; bad tempered; whiny; aloof; stroppy, moody, miserable or sulking like a small child. Its usage tends to be more common around, but not exclusive to Yorkshire, the West Midlands, East Midlands and Staffordshire

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardy

And I certainly didn't have a monk on

to have a monk on

- to be grumpy, to have a sulky face

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northyorkshire/voices2005/glossary/glossary.shtml

Whats the weather like at your place

and what strange expressions are used there local to your part of the country

Knowing the known and the unknown

Over the past week several ‘friends’ have asked me if Knowing what I Know now – would I have said Yes - to marrying my love. 

Well, I said it hadn’t all been a bed of roses and tried to explain to her how over time we had both learnt to take the known ‘good’ and the known ‘bad’ and to work on it and then as I tried to explain what I meant it all got out of hand and we fell about laughing.  What I was trying to say sort of began to sound like that Donald Rumskeld thing - which I don’t think anyone really understood lol

Does anyone know the knowns and unknowns that life has in store for them?

There are known "knowns." There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don't know. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donald_Rumsfeld

Its Joke time

When my mind isn't working too well and I have no idea what to post about I usually resort to a joke - hence todays post

A young Chinese couple gets married.  She's a virgin.
Truth be told, he is a virgin too, but she doesn't know that.

On their wedding night, she cowers naked under the sheets as her husband undresses in the darkness.

He climbs into bed next to her and tries to be reassuring.. - 'My darring,' he whispers, 'I know dis you firss time and you berry flighten.

I promise you, I give you anyting you want, I do anyting - juss anyting you want.. You juss ask..

Whatchu want?' he says, trying to sound experienced and worldly, which he hopes will impress her.

A thoughtful silence follows and he waits patiently (and eagerly) for her request.

She eventually shyly whispers back, - 'I want to try something I have hear about from odda girls... Numbaa 69.'

More thoughtful silence from him.

Eventually, in a puzzled tone he asks her..... - 'You want...... Garlic Chicken wif snow peas?

IF

These are the words of a favourite poem - just right for the I day

It makes fabulous reading but unlike many I enjoyed from my school days

this is one I could never memorise lol

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,

If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!

–Rudyard Kipling 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936  

Honouring your forefathers

Travelling in Alaska last year I discovered a very new staue/monument in Ketchikan that was a lot bigger than many I've seen before.

Called 'The Rock' it does just that - it honours the lives of citizens who formed the population of the town in the early years

'The Rock' was designed to honor in life-size 7-figures from Ketchikan's past: Chief Johnson, The Logger; The Fisher, The Miner, The Aviator, A Native Elder Woman, and an Elegant Lady. The principle artists were David Rubin, Terry Pyles and Judy Rubin.

http://www.sitnews.us/0710news/070610/070610_unveiling.html

It sits on the dock close to the town centre near to where the cruise ships are moored

Salmon fishing and gold mining brought their forefathers there and this was a great way for the town to honour them

It is a lovely work of art and certainly brings home to visitors the sort of people who were the pioneers and early residents of Ketchikan

Do any of you have such memorials in your town?

G Words and Guess What

Looking for G words has been fun - I thought you'd like to see some weird and wonderful ones I found and have a guess at their meanings. 

Guess

To predict without sufficient information

Gadroon
The embossed decoration or flurting on silverware

Gambrinous
Being full of beer

Gelasin
The dimple in the cheek that appears when one smiles

Geloscopy
Fortune telling by means of laughter

Guess - theres that word again
To predict without sufficient information

So - do you think you could you guess when this photo was taken?


If your answer was 50 years ago your guess was correct lol
April 8th 1961

I don't think we've weathered too badly do you??




My Mother had her doubts about it lasting
I can safely say we proved her wrong 

Finding Family

Even tho I'm not actually doing the A-Z challenge I thought I'd publish some of the posts I'd prepared so todays is about a favourite subject of mine - Finding Family -

My father told me once he didn't mind where I went or what I did as long as I remembered where I came from. 

That seemed to be his take on an old saying:-

There are two things you should give your children - roots and wings.

For a few years now I've tried to gather facts and figures about my side of the family to pass down to my children and their families but it sort of went on the backburner for a while.

Anyway I started looking at things again in earnest after our last visit to Dh's 'Canadian' aunt (Sept. 2010) - now we've visited many times over the past 20 years but this time she seemed to want to talk more and more about the family she left behind in England.  She had gone to Nova Scotia as a war bridge in 1945 and apart from one occasion has never returned.

Back home in October, after telling her I'd try to find her roots and document them and armed with loads of facts gleaned from chats over the years plus various bits and pieces told to me by my mil (her sister), I started to piece her family together. 

There were a few names and dates thrown in by Dh but as he'd left home as a young man to travel the world with the airforce he was a bit vague about the whole thing so it wasn't till I visited various family history sites in the Internet the information really came together.

Having worked my way through several generations of the family it has become obvious that one half of the tree really and truly had their roots deep in a very small area of an English county - the same went for the other half 'cept in another county about a hundred miles away.  In the 1800's that was a fair distance and I'm blowed if I can find how the link was made between the two but I'll persevere - the reason could be in the next census I look at lol

Of course with the advent of the Internet it has become very easy to gather information such as this but please all of you take the time to write things down, names dates and places get forgotten especially as families drift apart and think its not important.  You'd be surprised what can be gleaned from just a scap of paper or a photograph with a name on the the back tucked into an envelope and forgotten.

Roots and Wings - we all have them. 

When you fly away don't forget the way home!

Endurance Walking

Definition of Endurance

Endurance - the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions; stamina

Endurance is the ability for an animal to exert itself for a long period of time

I'm sure you've heard me talk about the long walk one of my daughters takes part in each year.

Called Trailwalker - this is how Wikipedia describes it:

Trailwalker or Oxfam Trailwalker and the related Trailtrekker are endurance walking events run across the world by Oxfam, in which teams of 4 competitors must complete a course of 100 kilometres (62 mi) in a set time limit - typically between 24 and 48 hours. .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailwalker

This past weekend was the time for the Melbourne Trailwalker 2011 event and true to her word our eldest daughter along with three friends left Jells Park early on Friday morning to take part in this Oxfam fundraiser

http://www2.oxfam.org.au/trailwalker/Melbourne/team-info/default.aspx

They had fabulous weather for the event - warm and sunny during the day turning quite cool in the evening and overnight but they rugged up well and by sheer luck missed the rain that came down during the night.

Her father and I went up to see them at the closest check point (No4) - just up the road from us at Olinda - and were greeted by hordes of walkers coming and going along the road.   

The girls, (aptly called Team funbags), had been walking since 8.30 that morning and I expected to see four weary souls but they were all bright and cheerful, laughing and smiling.  Not a blister to be seen unlike last year where one of that team suffered miserably and had to withdraw.  

Having checked in, had some nice warm food and drink, changed into their overninght clothes they were on their way again an hour later.  This is their happy faces as they were about to leave at 7pm and start the next leg of the journey. 

 So how did they do?

Not bad at all - they finshed just after 9.30 the next morning having taken nearly 22 and a half hrs (which included rest stops) to walk the 100kms. 

And heres the proof they arrived at Wesburn all safe and well - and still smiling

Now I know J (second from the left) won't like it when I tell you she is 48

Honestly she has energy to spare and is alreasy planning next years event

I love her to bits - she is a real inspiration to all those around her

http://www2.oxfam.org.au/trailwalker/melbourne/news/index.php#ItsawrapforTRAILWALKERMelbourne2011

Just a Days Drive

We had a very early start this time so it was only just getting light an hour into our journey across the city to the Western Highway for the days drive to Adelaide - over 700kms away

Now bear in mind I don't do mornings and leaving home at stupid o'clock is not my idea of fun so its well into the first hour before I come to lol

Dawn in the western suburbs

Big roads now so we are on our way:)

I'm just waking up properly - enough to use my camera lol

2 hours from home - Ballarat Turnoff

Out on the open road again

Happy farmers in this area

Full dams and Cut hay

Tootling on, still in the passenger seat

Nearly time for a break

We pass this distance sign - one I always get antsy about

Dadswell Bridge is home to this enormous Koala

He's quite a touristy thing - lots of travellers stop to take photos there - we've driven past him countless time but there was one time I sped through and passed a remark about the amount of cars on the side of the road

Thought no more about it till a week later and a note from the traffic  police arrives

Seems one of those cars had a speed camera attached and it appears I didn't see this speed sign just before the town

Learnt my lesson that day and always get a bit toey when we are in the area lol 

Lunch at Horsham and then its my turn in the drivers seat so no more pictures till we stop at Tailem Bend

Look how high the river is - the Murray in flood is good in one way but bad in another

Then with dh at the helm its all go -

over the very nondescript kilometre long Swanport Bridge 

The river is high here also

On to the South Eastern Freeway - 66 kms to go, then we are in the hills and near our journeys end

Look there's another Grey Nomad in their van ahead of us

There are oodles of them on the road -We saw loads of them that day - all enjoying their retirement travelling round Aus

Wonder where they are heading to - are they coming or going?

On and on we go 'till we pop out at the end of the Heysen Tunnels

Then its down into town

and by 4pm we have made it over to our friends place at West Lakes.

If you'd like a better view of the photos just click on them and they will enlarge

Change of seasons - Winters coming ready or not

Yes its that time of the year again

We changed our clocks last night - Autumn has arrived - well actually, officially it has been Autumn since March 1st here in Australia but once those clocks are changed (backwards in our case) as far as I'm concerned everything seems to go downhill - in my mind that time change really means that Winter won't be far away lol

This past week or two the days  have been very changeable - some fine and sunny and quite warmish and then others really cool and leaving us wondering if it was time to turn the heating on:(

The cricket season is over, the winter sports season has begun and it will be a while before I can walk the beach in shorts and tshirts, like I did in Adelaide recently, wondering who had walked there before me.

I can never phathom out how bare feet can make a raised imprint in the sand

Does anyone know the answer?

And look at the size of this footprint lol

No, now I'll be indoors wondering whats for dinner and how long is it going to take to cook.  Soup is good all year round but especially when its cool and you need something warm and nourishing. 

Yesterday we finished all the Pumpkin Soup I made back at the end of February so with half a butternut ready to be used I decided to try a different recipe this time.  And for fun I used one from another of the cook books that fell off the shelf lol

This time it was Deliciously Natural by Prue Sobers  - from the same era as Taste of Life that I used last month.  The cooking style and food ideas are similar - lots of good healthy recipes and ideas - why I gave up using it I don't know, the recipes certainly haven't gone out of fashion. 

A much simpler version and I didn't go as far as adding the milk.  After I'd blended the soup I divided it and popped it in the freezer - managed to get four good helpings each which was great.  When I defrosted the chicken stock I remembered I'd tossed in a handful of McKenzie's  soup mix as it was cooking so along with all the chicken meat I scrapped off the carcass the soup will be really filling.  I'll add the milk and nutmeg when we actually come to eat it. 

Bye for now

I'm off to plan a trip to Queensland - we are 'wintering' there this year and I can't wait.

Oh I know its a while off yet and Winter isn't here yet but I have to iron all those shorts and tshirts I wore recently and get them ready to walk the beaches in Bowen - in July that is.

Winter up there is definitely warmer than winter down here in Melbourne!

Its nice to be home and the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2011

Well we've actually been home a few days now but you know how time gets away - not sure where it goes to tho  - so there seemd to be less of it around to use for the good things in life.  Sitting here writing is one of those good things and as I said it had to go by the wayside for more days than I like

First of all and most importantly for some of my visitors is that even tho I signed up for Arlee Bird's 2011 April A-Z challenge (quite a while ago) I just won't be able to do it.
Some of you regular readers may remember the challenge from last year where we posted for 26 days in April - six days a week with Sunday off - using the letters of the alphabet to provide the daily topic.  It was great fun and made me realise there was more to blogging than just sitting down willy nilly and writing whatever came into my head.  Great for some but I just couldn't have kept my side of the bagain if I did that for a month.  I will say it certainly stretched my mind and imagination for that month lol

Anyway I realised with days away last month and other commitments this month and even with the best intentions and preparation it just wasn't going to happen this year so I advised him of my decision and pulled out.  Hopefully I'll be able to visit some of the many entrants from this very very long list - many more than the 100 from last year - more like 900!

And of course I can ask some of you also to pop over and read the daily posts of many of the blogs listed there - I'm sure you'll find lots that will interest you as there are oodles to choose from

I promise regular service will resume soon lol