21 FEBRUARY 2012 : THE WIRES ARE DOWN

That last post was terminated. Everything electrical was terminated for 8 hours or so.  The storms hit and the power went down.

FEDERAL HOTEL, BELLINGEN.

THE YAAN : Back Home after a weekend away. Yesterday was one of my own picture book days. Sun shining. Hours at the swimming pool. At one stage I said to the Cheery Redhead;  Where are the clouds ?  Miss 2 looked a little appalled and searched the endless blue skies for at least one cloud. Her two years on Earth have featured very few blue skied days. She looked more than a little nervous at the lack of clouds. We went uptown and lunched in the restaurant at the Federal Hotel. $10 meals and child friendly. I drove home well pleased with these February Days.

Then the clouds started coming in. My friend N.C. from a little furthe4r south sent me warning messages and I looked up our BOM.  Sure enough – storms coming. They weren’t all that bad here. A tree snapped down and some heavy rain – but they did black out the place for the whole night. All a part of a true Summer.

Now for town on a Tuesday Morning. Tuesdays I go to Urunga for a meeting.  Its maybe 8 kms from here. Not far. Talk with friends and buy some lunch. The small routines are precious. Back later.

11 FEBRUARY 2012 : LEAVING THE SHIRE FOR A DAY

Going North to Ulmarra today.  Here’s the Google Maps Directions.  113 Kms.  1 hour 32 minutes.  Izzy is bringing together disparate elements of the last 5 years and playing with KEL MACINTOSH from out near Muwillumbah. That’s Kel on the Sax. Scrubby is to the left but he’s not coming to Ulmarra today.

1. Head south on Valery Rd towards Old Pacific Hwy  1.1 km

2. Take the 1st left on to Old Pacific Hwy 2.4 km

3. At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit 150 m

4. At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto the Pacific Hwy/National Route 1 ramp 350 m

5. Turn left onto Pacific Hwy/National Route 1 Go through 1 roundabout 29.7 km

6. Slight left to stay on Pacific Hwy/National Route 1 (signs for Grafton)  Go through 1 roundabout 66.0 km

7. Turn right onto Centenary Drive 4.3 km

8. Turn right onto Pacific Hwy/National Route 1 (signs for Ballina) 9.0 km Ulmarra NSW

 

Means I won’t be writing much. Its going to be an interesting gig. Kel is in his 80s – a classic Jazz performer. He’s bringing along PHIL EIZENBERG from STOKERS SIDING. All we know at this time , is that Bob, on the trumpet, is coming along and a double bass player.  We lived in Ulmarra in 2009. Loved it. So here we go on a 2 hour drive to visit old friends, eat good food, listen to music and check the Bookshop.

GLIMPSES OF ULMARRA.

WEDNESDAY BREAKFAST

THE VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TABLE.

ANNI PIPER AT THE BELLINGEN RIVER FESTIVAL

14 NOVEMBER 2011 : THE PROMISED LAND

THE PROMISED LAND TODAY.

 

THE YAAN.

Today I went to the PROMISED LAND, out on the NEVER NEVER CREEK in the GLENIFFER VALLEY to swim in the dappled light and chilled water.  Maybe a 1/2 hour drive from Home.

Its been a hot day. The kind of day which suits me very well. The local community radio station 2BBB was playing SOUTH PACIFIC AND I was singing along on my way up to meet the Cheery Redhead and her Mum, Kati B. The water out on the Never Never is cold and clear and despite the rocky bottom of the Creek, it was one delightful day. A corny word but APT.

http://www.2bbb.net.au/

 

SOME HISTORY SNIPPETS OF GLENIFFER AND THE PROMISED LAND.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nswbelli/genealogy/leantree.html

 

The Australian Women’s Weekly (1933 – 1982), Wednesday 2 July 1952.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51595591

 

 

8 NOVEMBER 2011: A SECOND ORDINARY DAY

THE YAAN.

Ah. There goes another ordinary day. A non-tormented day. A day with a sense of routine and belonging and regularity. Oh my.

I can’t tell you how good that feels. The local post office. The local shops. The local meeting. The local Museum. Sigh. I got 2 parcels today as well as sending one off to Granddaughter No 1. I now have a tartan scarf fresh from the Isle of Mull. My brother sent it to me.

A second ordinary day.  How good is that ?

7 NOVEMBER 2011 : AN ORDINARY DAY

THE YAAN.

I don’t use the term AN ORDINARY DAY lightly. I haven’t had many of them over the last 12 months to 2 years or even more. Life has been in major disarray, A couple of weeks back, I became aware of the ‘boredom’ that assails me following an extended period of excitement, busyness, shocks and variations. Marian once told me not to destroy the boredom because Life would bring enough excitements of its own and she was surely right. Nonetheless, the familiar panic began to rise within and the sense of depression. With that came the urge to see a doctor and be given ‘something’ for it or to do something radical and change the Outside in the hope of altering the Inside. It works sometimes but sometimes it just wreaks havoc.

This time, I managed to do nothing in particular and now I have arrived at AN ORDINARY DAY.

SOME LIGHT SUMMERY HUMOUR FOR LAST THING ON A SUNDAY IN OCTOBER 2011

Yesterday, we took a summery kind of drive South for the day to the Macleay River. More shots of the Macleay will be on SIXTYEYES2011VISION.

It got me thinking about Summertime and SWIMMING so I’m hunting through the TROVE for some light hearted summery humour from the past.

The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), Wednesday 31 March 1954,

Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW : 1888 – 1954), Tuesday 20 July 1954, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49959250

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1956), Monday 1 August 1955, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71670978

The Australian Women’s Weekly (1933 – 1982), Saturday 17 January 1948, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52258548

The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 – 1933), Saturday 22 December 1928, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21340516

27 OCTOBER 2011 : STAYING PAST THE BOREDOM

STAY PAST THE BOREDOM.

That’s what my brother told me years ago when I asked how he created the artworks he was making at that time.

YOU HAVE TO STAY PAST THE BOREDOM.

THE YAAN

We are again having grey, misty, moisty days. Way into Spring. My familiar restless boredom is again upon me. I just bleached the towels  and slept for hours in the afternoon. Boredom is upon me with the thin membrane lying between me and the next breakthrough. My life this year really fits the Terry Pratchett concept :

I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE DIFFERENT.

Nonetheless, I am staying PAST THE BOREDOM. In all areas for the moment. Because I am in doubt. Therefore I do NOTHING. Just wait a little longer. It would be nice if it were a case of not leaving 5 minutes before the miracle.Might be. Might not.  I am just staying past the boredom.

Wonder what its been like at this time of the year, in other years.

2005. Up on the Tweed River at Bilambil. I don’t recall being as bored as I am now. Mind you, I don’t think I am actually bored. I think I am grieving and coming to terms with areas of my life which are NOT working for me. The boredom is in not making the breakthrough in my thinking and emotions which would enable me to ACT. The Charade was still shining in 2005 and in the care of Murwillumbah Michael who maintained her, loved her and put Sai Baba stickers on her to keep her safe. Doug mowed the lawns and of a night I had a necklace of lights on the opposite hill where Bilambil Heights was. I had morning meetings most days and grandchildren over in Kingscliff and I lived alone and answered to no man.

2006. I was in Sydney for some of the October. I can’t recall why. I was visiting my daughter. That I do know.  We took the JetCat across the Harbour to Manly.   I like being on the water. I was hoping to go out on the River here but the Water Rat washed out to sea in the 2009 floods. Sometimes, sometimes – there’s not so much to do.

2007. I was living between Brisbane  and Bilambil. I knew next to nothing of Brisbane so I wasn’t bored there. I was EXPLORING.

2008: Well – maybe I haven’t been bored as long or as often as I think. 2008,I used to lunch at ILNAM ESTATE WINERY up in CAROOL on the TWEED. It is truly a beautiful place.

2009: Living in Ulmarra and not at all bored. My sister and I were reconciled. I turned 60. My daughter was pregnant for the first time. My Mob visited often. Good times indeed.

2010 : Torpor. Maybe its TORPOR. Maybe I am chocolate boxed out for the moment. The JACARANDA blooms – AGAIN. There is the Essential Alcoholic.  The sun is shining – AGAIN. The river is flowing – STILL FLOWING. October is here and the damned jacaranda is blooming – AGAIN.

2011 – I do not even have a photograph. One long dreary day.

 

11 OCTOBER 2011 : ON THE eBENCH EARLY IN THE DAY

BELLINGER RIVER LINKS

Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1853 – 1872), Saturday 3 January 1891

http://pool.abc.net.au/projects/bellingen-river-festival

http://www.facebook.com/bellingenriverfestival

http://trove.nla.gov.au/result?q=BELLINGER+RIVER

1891 ‘Notes and Sketches on the Bellinger River, N.S.W.’,Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1853 – 1872)  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63611959

Good Morning to you all. Now that I have been home almost a week, some of the semblances of comfort have resumed their usual positions in my life. The man I live with has gone to work. The daughter and the Cheery Redhead are to go to Singing in Bellingen and I have time to sit at the eBENCH quite early in the day and return to Yaaning rather than problem solving or quick posts. Today, Pearl from ABC POOL in Bellingen is coming to visit. She has baked a cake for me. We are going to talk about my memories of the BELLINGER RIVER. At the end of this month, the Inaugral BELLINGER RIVER FESTIVAL is to be held and people are gathering tales and pictures and whatever else they can.

Pearl rang me the other day to see whether I would like to talk with her and having said YES, I have come to the conclusion that I know very little about the River especially further up in the Bellingen area. I do a lot of scrounging through the old newspapers and a lot of googling and I have listened to many people over the years, but I don’t actually know a lot, myself.

Well, that’s how it seems to me right now.  I do, however, know that History is often wiser when gathered in small pieces from various sources.

What is happening on the Bellinger River today will become part of its history tomorrow.  Now, that’s a comforting thought.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

REGATTAS ON THE BELLINGER.

The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), Friday 6 January 1911	The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), Monday 30 January 1922,

IZZY’S PLACE IN THE FOREST

VALERY ROAD RALEIGH IN THE BONGIL BONGIL STATE FOREST 

SUMMERTIME THOUGHTS

I have had a few coloured silhouettes this week with the Sun blazing as bushfires burn. I saw whales, as well. Off the Beach on my birthday.

AND MEANWHILE – AS I DREAM OF SUMMERTIME.

http://www.archive.org/stream/summertimeamidmu00musk#page/n1/mode/2up

http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924022193076#page/n9/mode/2up

http://www.archive.org/stream/solitarysummer00arniuoft#page/n11/mode/2up