The Brisbane 2013 Festival of male voice praise

Anne finally got me to go along to a concert  -- as above.  She knows I like religious music so she grabbed the chance of the above performance.

It was held this afternoon at the Hillsong church in Mt Gravatt.  There is a huge first-class auditorium there and church members helped as ushers etc.

We arrived just as the choir was filing in and were just in time to hear a rousing rendition of "Advance Australia Fair" as the opening song.  It was a Christian version of Australia's national anthem -- a version much deplored by secularists.  The usual version these days is not the same as the original anyway.  The version given in the program was the orthodox one but that is not what they sang!  All the words of all the songs were projected on a big screen

One of the songs I particularly liked was "Light's glittering morn bedecks the sky".  It was originally a medieval Latin song and the usual tune for it is adapted from Palestrina.  As such, however, there are lots of different versions of it and most are not too impressive in my view.  The version usually sung in Protestant churches is brilliant, however, as is the tune used.  I can't find a decent version on YouTube, unfortunately.  Anyway, the words as sung today were:

LlGHT'S GLITTERING MORN

Tr. J.M. Neale; melody from 1623

1. Light's glittering morn bedecks the sky;
Heaven thunders forth its victor—cry;
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
The glad earth shouts her triumph high,
And groaning hell makes wild reply.
Hallelujah! (x5)

2. The pains of hell are loosed at last;
The days of mourning now are passed;
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
An angel robed in light has said,
"The Lord is risen from the dead."
Hallelujah! (x5) ’

3. All praise be Yours, 0 risen Lord,
From death to endless life restored:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
All praise to God the Father be,
And Holy Ghost eternally.
Hallelujah! (x5)

The repeated hallelujahs are particularly powerful.

As well as the 50 or so male singers there were two attractive young blonde ladies singing duets.  They call themselves the Elan Sopranos.  At one stage they sang a durchkomponiert version of the Via Dolorosa  -- unusual in a Pentecostal church  -- which normally goes for musical simplicity.  There is a recent video of them singing here

The auditorium was pretty full and, looking around, all I could see was pink skin.  There was a fair age range though.  I gather that the audience was mostly drawn from Pentecostal congregations  -- who are good at outreach

The whole meeting was a lot like an old-fashioned revival hour, but I didn't mind that.  Being totally secure in my unbelief, expressions of faith don't bother me.  I rather admire them.

UPDATE:

I have now found a video of that powerful Hymn:



It is Hymn 126 in Hymns Ancient and Modern

Optus never ceases to amaze

Optus is probably not the world's worst phone company.  Some British company would probably beat them for that title.  But they would be in the running.

Would you like to take over somebody else's phone number?  If they are with Optus it is a cinch.  You just sign up with some other company  -- say Dodo -- and tell them that you want the number.  Dodo will then simply ask for it and Optus will give it to them no questions asked.  You would imagine that Optus would ask their customer if he wanted to lose his number or not  -- but no siree!

Sound crazy?  It is.  But Optus have just done exactly that to me.  They cancelled my number and gave it to Dodo -- even though my account was paid in advance and I have had it for ten years without giving them any problems with late payments

I of course protested and it was then that I was told that they perform no checks if another phone company asks for a particular number.  It's obviously a cost-saving measure for them.

After I wrote to Paul O'Sullivan, their CEO, about the matter, they got my number back from Dodo but tell me that they are so hard worked that it will be another week before my account will actually be restored.  Most people who ring me have my mobile number but otherwise it would be a read teeth-grinder to lose my landline for 3 weeks.  It could happen to you.  Change to another provider.

UPDATE:
I have been battling with Optus since the year 1999.  You can read some of the correspondence here

A puzzling event

A cop car followed me home a few nights ago and pulled up behind me when I pulled up.  I hadn't been speeding and the cop did not allege that I had.  But he asked me to do a breath test.  I guess there must have been something about my driving that looked over-confident or something.

Anyway, I had drunk only a small amount of wine with my dinner so would have been within the allowable limit.  Just to be on the safe side, however, I applied my special technique and registered 0.00 on his alcometer.  He looked surprised and I was amused  but that was the end of it.

An anniversary

Anne and I have been together for 8 years now so we celebrated  yesterday -- in a low-key way.  I bought her a couple of bunches  of red flowers and took her that night to the Kafe Meze.

I have been going there for a couple of years so the owner greeted me and we actually snared "his" table out the front. It is an unusual restaurant in that both the very young and the elderly go there.  We arrived just after 6pm so witnessed a parade of fashionably dressed young ladies arriving with their parents or grandparents.

The food was good as usual and again we over-ordered.  One thing we had was a REAL Greek salad.  They also offer an "Australian" Greek salad.  The Greek one does not have lettuce in it but has lots of other good stuff.

Afterwards, we repaired to my place, which was something of a milestone as it was the first time Anne had tackled a flight of stairs after her knee operation.  She did OK.

The day was also Father's day but the only greeting I received was from little Suzy. She is always a dear heart.  I was grieved to hear recently what a rough trot she had delivering dear little Dusty.  I paid for her first confinement so she could go private and I would have paid for her second if she had asked.  I paid for big Susan's recent confinement and, despite a difficult birth, both she and her babe emerged unharmed from the experience -- thanks to top flight obstetric care.  But you have to go private to get that level of care.  I am very fond of both my stepdaughters so am sad that little Suzy was hurt when my money might have prevented that.

An adventure with mince (aka ground beef)

I have got lots of packets and bottles of stuff in my kitchen for making "easy" meals.  Very little of it ever gets used. I think I have had some of it for over 10 years.  So I decided to do something about it.  I would become a packet cook!

My first effort was to get out my little tin of Keen's curry powder, which was once found in every Australian household.  It made curry suitable for people who were used to "plain food".  I cooked up some mince and onions, added Keen's toward the end and got a passable meal of mince.  There was only the faintest taste of curry to it, however.  So I tried again

My theory was that I should first marinate the mince in Keens.  So I converted a pound of mince into a slurry by adding water and stirring with my fingers (Indian!).  I then added 4 dessert spoons of Keen's and left it to marinate for about 8 hours.  I also added salt, two small chopped onions and a handful of mixed dried fruit.  I was looking for some stock to add to give it more body but I could not find any so added a dessert spoon of Bisto (normally used for making gravy)

I put the lot into my electric frypan with water and butter, stirred until everything looked to be cooked through (about 10 minutes).  And I STILL got no real curry taste in the result.  It was very nice mince though. So my mad methods did produce a good result -- just not the result intended.

Master two

Matthew has just turned two.  So Susan and Paul put on a party for him.  There was a good crowd and lots of good food.  Sandwiches cut into jigsaws were a novel approach.  Susan is a very creative caterer.

Baby Lizzie got a lot of attention as she is still only days old.  I think all the ladies in sight got a cuddle.  She was passed from one lady to another without a break.  So she slept well.

Matthew spent a lot of time on the trampoline with the other children.  One of Susan's friends brought along her two little blonde daughters and both of them enjoyed the trampoline too.  The 5 year old was particularly pretty and I said to her mother that she will probably be a model when she grows up.  But her mother said that she wouldn't make the height.  She is a bit small for a 5 year old and models have to be at least 5'8', preferably taller.

Dusty quietly wandered around by himself in his usual amiable way.  Sahara and Russ were absent with the 'flu.  Davey and Olivia turned up with their little daughter.  Davey looked well, considering.

Ken was very involved with political discussions and Paul was appalled at Palmer and Katter giving the Greens their preferences in the Senate.  You have to understand the Australian electoral system to understand what that is all about, however.

Pia mater

Even the birthday cake was in jigsaw shape

Who is that old guy in the background as Matthew is opening his presents?

More visits to the babe

I arrived at the hospital yesterday at about 4pm to find Ken, Maureen and Matthew already there.  Ken and Maureen are minding Matthew while Susan is in hospital.  Matthew's speech has much improved recently.  He speaks intelligible sentences now and can even say such hard words as "avocado".  And he never stops talking (Paul's son!), which is wearing Ken  and Maureen down a bit.

Maureen grabbed the babe as soon as she could and cuddled it for the rest of the time she was there.  She is a good baby-cuddler!  The big feature was introducing Matthew to his new sister and there are a couple of videos of that below.





Paul and Susan have the Presidential suite at the hospital so are living as if in a first class hotel.  Paul and I spent a fair bit of time talking politics, as we usually do.

After my hospital visit, I drove straight to Anne's place, where I was greeted by a roast lamb dinner.  Very nice!

I again went up earlier today at about 6pm, arriving just before Jenny and Nanna.  And I got to eat there.  Susan had ordered two dinners for herself so gave me one.  I got a dessert too!  I even ate my vegies.

The babe was good.  Susan's milk has come in so the babe was a keen feeder, which kept her pretty pacified.

We also had Von with us via Skype.  Von had wanted to be at the birth but Skype had to do.

We talked about politics for a while.  Everybody was down on the Greenies and down on Kevvy.  Somebody asked me for a definition of Greenies and I replied:  "People haters".  I was also asked for a definition of Leftism and I repled "People who hate the world around them".  You can see why Greenies and the Left get on.

And while I was there Paul managed to get all the pictures off my old cellphone.  Their quality was poor, however.  The picture I most wanted, however, is recognizable and I add it below.  It is of a fig tree that sprang up out of the brickwork of my front  fence.  I admired such survival and flourishing from such small resources.  It eventually put down roots that were cracking the concrete, however,  so I unhappily had to remove it.  The picture is my memorial to what I saw as an heroic tree! I must be a Greenie of sorts!  More likely a Buddhist, actually.  I am a great respecter of life.  I even avoid killing ants if I can.

A babe is born

Elise Daphne was born to Paul & Susan last night at 10pm. Susan had an expert obstetrician in attendance at a local private hospital and so suffered no tearing or other injury despite some initial difficulties.  And the babe was born in the best of pink health.  So it was a perfect delivery.  She was 54cm long and weighed 6 pounds 14 ounces ....

Elise at about 2 hours old. Already good-looking like her mother

I paid for Susan to go private so am getting some of the credit for the excellent result of the delivery.  In my view every cent was well spent if it helped to avoid harm to Susan and her babe

Elise is a name well known to all lovers of classical music after Beethoven wrote a beautiful short piano piece ("fuer Elise") for a little girl named Elise who was learning to play.  It has been used as a learner piece ever since so is sometimes not appreciated as the masterpiece that it is.

Elise is actually the continental version of Elizabeth (pronounced eleeza in German) so there is a possibility that she will be nicknamed "Lizzy".  I imagine that Susan hopes not.

Parents often have different ideas about the version of their child's name that should be used.  My son has convinced most people to call him "Joey" but I call him "Joe".  I think his mother mostly calls him "Joseph" when referring to him.

Another picture of the beautiful babe

Mobile phone blues

Mobile phones (cellphones) have definitely exceeded my understanding of them.  Ten years ago I could send text messages on them but I got a new one about three years ago that did so many things that I have never quite dug text messaging out of all the available functions.  I was pleased that my new phone included a camera and took some photos with it but I have never figured out how to get the pix out of my phone and into my computer.  I imagined that some sort of USB cable to connect phone and computer would be needed but none was supplied.

Recently, however, my phone began to play up so I needed a new one.  Obviously, the thought came to me, I needed to upgrade from my old button phone to a new-style touchphone.  Experience of not understanding my phone, however, had made me wary.  Before I bought a touchphone, I needed someone to show me how to work it.  So I went to three different retailers, including Dick Smith, and sought to have the product demonstrated to me before I bought it.  Nobody had the time to do that.   They all told me that I would "pick it up".

"Phooey to that!" I thought, and walked out of the store with my money still in my pocket.  So I went down to the post-office and bought myself another old-style button phone for $49.  Maybe I will work IT out one day. At least I can make and receive calls and I can at least read text messages.  It's got a horrible ringtone that I would like to change but I don't know how to do that either.

Romance and turning points

I think that those who know me would agree that I am not a romantic type of person.  And I have no problem with that.  But anyone who has been married 4 times would seem to have some claim on being romantic.  So let me wander a little through my past.  At age 70, such wanderings are, I think, par for the course.

In my teens I was too much concerned with religion to have any interest in women but I do remember two married ladies from my congregation as thoroughly admirable women.  I imagine that both Ruth and Sylvia Reynolds of Cairns are by now deceased but I retain my high opinion of them both.

When I was about 19 or 20, I became a member of Ann St. Presbyterian church in Brisbane and joined the PFA group there.  I was rather taken with Kay Houseman.  I liked the way she did her hair and admired her beautiful blue eyes.  But am not sure if I ever got to take her out. She is still known at the church and I believe is now a married and divorced lady.

I did however take out fellow PFA member Rhoda Roberts.  She was a sensible, good-natured, down to earth girl.  When we were  walking past a pub once, however, I said to her that maybe we should go in for a drink.  Since we were at the time both teetotal in the best Presbyterian way, it was a joke.  But Rhoda mentioned the utterance to her mother -- who thereupon forbad Rhoda to have anything more to do with me.  So no romance at that time.

About a year later I met Janet at a folk-music place. She was my first real girlfriend.  She was 16. We did have a rather intense relationship but was it romance?  The relationship went on until her parents forbad it so I think it had some claim in that direction.  Her parents did not like that I had a beard.  I still think Janet was/is an exceptional lady.  She used to play me Chopin's Fantasia Impromptu on her goanna. I can still hear it.  Surely Chopin is ineluctably romantic?  She now lives in France with a French husband whom she greatly admires.  Lucky man!

Life after Janet had a lot of ladies in it but the next one that stays in my mind is Isabella Schmidt-Harms.  I met her at a Goethe Society function at the University of Sydney.  She had the bloom of youth upon her and fitted the Scots description: "a bonny lass".  She was the daughter of the West German Consul in Sydney.  I took her to a musical  -- Man of La Mancha, I think  -- but basically did not know what to do with her.  I get on easily with English and Australian women but I don't really understand German women at all.  I think that German women expect German men to order them about whereas I am more used to good old Anglo-Saxon "signals" to guide behaviour.  So I never asked her out again.

I felt rather foolish about that at the time.  It would not really have been hard to progress matters further and if romance had developed I might well have followed her back to Germany.  My German wasn't too bad at that stage and I would have been fluent within 6 months.  And there is a lot of German in my personality -- Prussian punctuality etc. I am even a devotee of sausages!  And a diplomat's daughter would have socially elevated contacts so I might have ended up among the movers and shakers in Germany.  And Germany is a much more important place than Australia.

I saw all that at the time but deliberately opted out.  I could have been a very good German -- the high culture would have suited me greatly -- but it was a lot easier to be a relaxed Australian.  I was lazy and unambitious.  Still am. So that was a turning point  -- a road not taken.

High culture:  Dr. Merkel, above, at the opera.  She is Germany's "Kanzlerin".  She attends the opera regularly.  Classical music is widely followed and esteemed in Germany (most of it is German anyway).  Most German federal politicians have doctorates (some dubious)

Another such turning point came my way when I was in England and met Margaret.  She was/is a member of Britain's hereditary aristocracy  -- a genuinely upper-class person.  She was/is a lovely lady and wanted to marry me at the time.  I seem to have very good acceptance among the upper echelons of English society so I have no doubt that I could have developed my standing in England to whatever degree I wanted if I had married Margaret.   But again, life in Australia seemed a lot easier.  Margaret is very tall, too, which I like.  We have stayed in contact, though very infrequently.

The next possibility of romance is probably my second wife, Joy.  Joy was/is a very good natured lady with a very good figure.  I met her at Mensa so she was/is bright too.  We were together for 7 very amicable years so I think some romance has to be allowed there.  We used to dine out every night of the week.

And then there was Jenny, my third wife.  She was the only woman to whom I ever gave total committment.  But she let me down.  She gave me a fine son, however, so there are no hard feelings.

Then there was Geraldine, whom I still think of as my little sweetheart.  She let me down too  -- repeatedly.  But there is still a strong feeling between us. We just don't do anything about it any more.

I met a lot of nice ladies after Jenny and I broke up and I even married one of them!  I married big Kath (she was a 5'11" tall redhead and looked great generally) 6 weeks after we met and the marriage lasted 3 weeks!  I think that was a romance in the best Hollywood style!

And then there is the present lady in my life -- Anne.  I have told her -- and mean it -- that I am with her to the end so maybe that counts as romantic -- in my stiff Anglo-Saxon way.

So I now live an obscure life in an obscure part of an obscure city and am quite happy about it.

Nanna's 89th

Nanna's trip on this earth still rolls on with Nanna still getting about well and with plenty to say for herself.  She is an example to us all.

We had a small backyard lunch to celebrate her 89th birthday today.  Jenny and Nanna wanted to keep it small so only Nanna's descendants plus spouses were invited.  I guess I was there on an honorary basis.  Von went back to NZ about a week ago and Jenny herself was out of action with a nasty cold.  So it was a small gathering.  Nanna however had 3 grandchildren present:  Joe, Paul and Suzy.  Great grandchildren were Matthew, Sahara and Dusty.

I had a present for Dusty  -- a dustpan and brush.  He showed such a liking for one at my place that it seemed an obvious gift.

The food was some good Chinese bought in from a nearby Chinese restaurant.  Susan as usual provided a cake -- a very "naughty" cake with layers of cream etc.  Nanna blew out the candles on it.

I talked mainly with Paul, mostly about the inimitable Mr. Rudd.

Surgery

For some years now I have not bothered to note here anything about the various surgical procedures that I undergo with some regularity.  None of them are pleasant but a lot about them has become routine.

The procedure I had today does however warrant a small mention, I think.  I had a large red and intermittently bleeding cancerous spot on my nose.  It was most unsightly and must have made it a little difficult for people to look at me on occasions.  I thank those who put up with it.

As the lesion was shallow, I had thought that freezing with nitrogen would always get it -- and it did.  But then it came back bigger than ever.  So my dermatological surgeon persuaded me that it was time for an excision.  The only trouble with that was the difficult position of the lesion.  There is not much loose skin on my nose so where was the skin to come from that would cover up the bit that had been cut out?

It was a difficult problem but dermatological surgeons often have to deal with cancers on noses so there was experience to call upon.  So when I was finally on the operating table I asked the surgeon if he was sure he could get a closure.  He was not sure at first but after moving the skin on my nose around in various directions with his fingers he simply said:  Right!  -- and got on with it.  He had seen in his mind how he was going to do it.  And he did it!  Even his nurses were impressed with how he got it all back together.

So that was my major fear put at rest:  Was the job actually possible?  If not a graft would be needed and I did once "lose" a graft so I was not keen on that.

My next fear was infection.  I seem to have some rather pesky skin bacteria that survive all aseptic procedures and so get into a surgical wound occasionally.  In a previous job on my face they got so out of hand that my face swelled up almost to the point of blinding me.

Clindomycin seems to beat the bugs concerned, however, so I took some of that shortly after I emerged from surgery. It is now 9 hours later and there is no swelling so I am fairly optimistic at this stage.

Because of the fear that I might be temporarily blinded, I got  Jenny to come over and stay the night at my place.  Anne would normally be able to help in that way but she is out of action at the moment, being in the Wesley rehab unit after a knee replacement.  I called in on her briefly on the way home as my procedure was on the same campus.  I took Jenny to an Indian restaurant for dinner.

The procedure cost me well over a thousand dollars, which is a lot in an Australian context (but chickenfeed in an American context) but it was well worth it to get such outstanding skill deployed on my behalf.  I believe that health insurance gives me some of that back but not much.

Instead of spending all my money on beer and cigarettes in my youth, I saved and invested.  So in my declining years I can afford any medical care I need.  And the declining years are certainly when you need it!  I am also in a position to pay for some others to get private medical care, which I have done on some occasions.

The standard of medical care in government hospitals is so poor in Queensland that there are private hospitals all over the place in Brisbane.  Where I normally go -- the Wesley -- the service is impeccable.  And I can usually get an appointment with my surgeon with only a week's notice.  It can be months and years in the government system

UPDATE: 24 hours later and all is well.  I think I am out of the woods now.

Another birthday celebration

I put on a rather humble dinner in celebration of my son's birthday tonight.  At his request, it was another of my champagne and pizza events.  I like to have such events downstairs in my back yard and I had the party flares all up and ready to light but it turned out a rainy day so we had to have it upstairs. But the Seaview Australian "champagne" was good, as was the home-delivered Pizza Hut pizza.  So all was not lost.

I ordered 8 pizzas and that seemed about right.  It took a while for it all to vanish.  Von got the last piece.  I was as usual complimented on the champagne despite the fact that it is a rather humble drop.  People at these parties are not big drinkers however.  I had 4 bottles in the fridge but only 3 got opened.

I had given everybody only short notice of the event so, as expected, the turnout was down a bit on the usual.  Paul, Susan, George and Timmy were particularly missed.  We nonetheess had 15 adults present plus littlies so it was a good gathering.

Dusty (Dustin) distinguished himself by wandering out onto my back balcony and discovering some cleaning materials there.  He came back into the room wielding a dustpan and brush convincingly. Dusty with a dust pan!  I think I know what to give him next Christmas.  Surely he deserves no less.

Hannah did her usual act of cramming food down at a great rate while at the same time mysteriously staying slightly built and slim.  Her mother is also a miraculously slim big eater.

I spent most of the time talking to Von.  She is very articulate these days, which should be no surprise considering that both her mother and father are also good at putting words together, but I still have memories of the silent child that she once was. We talked mainly about New Zealand.  A place where there are no snakes, cockroaches or mosquitoes sounds pretty good.  Almost like science fiction.

When it came to toasting time, Saharah expressed a wish to be toasted so I was happy to oblige by giving her the first toast.  She seemed pleased.  I said very little to go with my toast to Joe and he was equally concise in reply.  He did however thank all those who helped bring him up.  There were 5 present in that category by my calculations.

A small reflection about children

When I arrived at the party for my 70th birthday, I was immediately grabbed by the 3 year old Saharah and led through the house to where the presents were.  How come?  Was that not a rather ignominious entrance?  How come an old gent was being led around by a 3 year old?  Should I not have been greeting my hosts  and other adults present?

I in fact regarded it as a great honour to be led in by a child.  And those who know me well would not find that surprising.

When I arrived I was met at the door by several people  -- one of whom was Saharah.  In my usual way it was the child I spoke to first.  I said "Well. We've got a pretty little girl here", or something to that effect.  Sahara likes me these days anyway so she took that greeting as her cue, grabbed my hand and towed me through the house.

So it was just a reflection of the way I get on with children. I talk to them and give them attention above all.  Children often have difficulty in getting the ear of their parents but when I was helping to bring up Paul  and the twins, I talked to them a lot.  I discussed things with them.  I would sometimes say silly things in fact.  And they would get great satisfaction correcting me.

I am not very good with the littlest ones  -- though I adore them of course -- but once they can talk we get on well.

I am so in favour with Saharah these days that when I was leaving she also helped to carry my presents out to the car!


Opening my presents with Saharah observing

And, after all, a great teacher once said:  "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matt.: 19:14 NKJV).  Jesus was a good guy

A lunch and NZ food

Joe came over at 11am Wednesday and we went for lunch at my usual haunt.  In conversation, we explored the options for his future a bit more. He seems pretty set on coming back to Brisbane around this time next year and staying with me.  Part of the reason for that is that he wants to help me lose weight.  As I have already made some moves in that direction, that could work.

I was due to go in for some rather pesky surgery on Wednesday afternoon but got a bad cold that morning so had to cancel. I suspect that all colds are bad colds at my age.

I had however made arrangements for that night which were predicated on the surgery.  Von & Simon were going to come over and make me NZ food for my supper and Jenny was going to join us and stay overnight in case I got into any difficulties that night.

I  saw no point in cancelling the supper so I was pleased to have Von and Simon come over.  Jenny couldn't eat the food because of her gluten allergy but brought her own version with her.  Von demonstrated her idea of how best to have NZ Marmite and Simon made us some NZ cheesy rolls.  And it was all very tasty.

My nose had stopped running by that stage so I was able to engage in the conversations fairly well.  Jenny brought along some Lego for Hannah, which Hannah played with devotedy.  Hannah's mother and grandmother had fun with it too!

A birthday lunch

Paul and Susan put on a  great lunch in honour of my 70th.  Susan is one crafty lady so had decorated the dining room with lots of photos from my life plus various things commenting on the number 70.

She also as usual provided some very good food.  At my request the food was sandwiches but Susan did a variety of American ones that we don't normally see in Australia.

About 30 people turned up, including people I don't often see, Henningham, my brother Christopher, cousin Shirley, Jill & Lewis.

I had a good chat with several people,  mostly about politics.  We were all wondering whether Kevvy will stick to his new conservative line.  Joe found himself among a wholly conservative gathering, which must have been a contrast to university.

I got lots of presents, all of which were good but Vonnie's present of a whole selection of NZ groceries was particularly interesting.  I now have a jar of NZ Marmite! Plus other rarities.

I am really in Saharah's good books lately.  She met me at the door when I arrived and led me by the hand though the house to where the presents were.  Being well regarded by a beautiful blonde 3-year-old is definitely a privilege.

As I was departing, I noted that Henningham is still a devoted customer of the Ford Motor Co. of Detroit.  I arrived in my 1963 Humber Super Snipe.  Detroit iron vs. good taste?

Many thanks to Prof. Henningham for the photos immediately below.

Cutting the cake

Joe with his old father

Blowing out the candles

With Prof. Henningham

With my brother -- looking his most skeptical

Joe, Sahara and the Humber

My short speech


And now for some pix from Susan, the hostess with the mostest:

 Cuban sandwiches

 The Photo wall

 Schwarzwalderkirschentorte -- my ideal birthday cake

 Jill with our hostess, Susan

Opening the prezzos with Saharah observing

Joe and Nanna with Sahara in her pretty dress which she loves

Lunch with Joe

I took Joe to my usual hangout for lunch today.  He updated me on the progress and prospects for his studies and shared his thoughts for his life ahead.  He also told me about his new Chinese girlfriend and how she acquired him.  Asian patience paid off!  Joe is hard to impress when it comes to ladies but this lady broke through.

After lunch we went back to my place for tea and cakes on the verandah, where we mostly discussed politics.  I updated him on the facts and history that you don't normally hear -- about apartheid, early 20th century politics etc.

Anne had a rather awful surgical procedure today so I went up to the hospital in the evening to see her.  Getting old is no fun.

Another dinner!

Joe arrived back in Brisbane today so I organized a small impromptu "Welcome Home" dinner for him on my ever-useful verandah.  We got takeaway Indian food as usual and washed it down with some of my champagne reserve.  Joe didn't say a lot but he was obviously pleased to be back.  Like me he is on the taciturn side.  But he did update me on how his Ph.D. studies are going.  He is now thinking of taking a Master's first.

Vonnie took a lively part in the conversation, which is surprising when she was such a silent little girl.  When she was about 10 or so, I used to take Von on short outings which we both enjoyed but not a word would pass between us for the whole time.  We understood one-another and it just didn't seem necessary, somehow.  But we were talking about old times and the kids tonight, which are favourite topics for her.

After dinner we retired to my sitting room for tea and coffee.  Hannah and Matthew then discovered the joys of running around in circles in the corridors of my "Old Queenslander" house and it was good to hear the thunder of little feet again.  There was plenty of happy squealing too.

Jenny made our tea and coffee as Anne is out of action at the moment.  She has a surgical prodedure on her knees tomorrow morning.

Simon made himself very useful. I told him last week that there was no jack in the Toyota Starlet and suggested that he chase one up while he was driving it.  He did.  He found the missing jack in its own special compartment inside the Starlet!  Apparently, no-one had ever opened the compartment concerned!

My birthday observances have begun

For reasons of convenience, my birthday observances generally stretch out on either side of the actual day.  Since this year is my 70th., people are being extra kind.  Tonight, Jenny put on a Dhansak dinner for me -- always impressive but so much work that she does them rarely.

And Jenny went the full hog tonight, not only offering the Dhansak itself but also Kachumbar (an amazing Parsee salad), Parsee pillau, green chutney and various other accompaniments.  If you think you know chutney you don't until you have had green chutney.

Present were Jenny & Nanna, Paul & family, Von & family.  We  dined in Nanna's granny flat as it was a bit too nippy for our usual rendezvous on the back verandah.

Paul is a bit given to excess on occasions and he suffered for it tonight.  He likes "hot" food so bit into some chillies Jenny had.  But they were REALLY hot so he had a very sore mouth for a while.  He wasn't as talkative as he usually is for a while after that.

In the circumstances a lot of the conversation was about food and I got the impression that both Susan and Simon had some interest in learning how to do a Dhansak.  The one Jenny does is the real thing, not the bland curry you usually get under that name in Indian restaurants.


The Dhansak. It tastes a lot better than it looks


At table

Welcome home to Vonnie and family -- and Timmy's birthday

Von arrived back in Brisbane from her happy home in New Zealand on Tuesday and Paul and I tried to arrange a Welcome Home dinner for shortly thereafter.  But work commitments and such things meant that today, Saturday, was the earliest date that suited everyone.

It so happened that today was also Timmy's 30th birthday so Timmy elected to join in the Welcome Home dinner rather than have something of his own.  And he certainly had a real family birthday.  Not only were his mother and father present but so were both his brothers and both his sisters.  In these days of people moving around, that was pretty good.

Seeing it was a 30th., I decided that it was a good time to tell stories about Timmy's childhood.  Nearly everyone has heard them all before but Jade (Timmy's colourful partner) had not and everybody enjoys hearing old stories about their past anyway.  So I told the story of Timmy being knocked over by Pepper the dog, of his dash for the biscuit barrel, of his squeezing his scratches to get blood, of his wonder at being talked to by a fireman, of his hatred of being "little" and his cartwheel on reaching 3ft. tall.  Paul and Ken also told a few stories.

I forgot to tell of his delight at getting splotches of "red stuff" (mercurochrome) over his bumps and scratches.  It is only meant to be an antiseptic but with Timmy it cured everything!  I was a sort of witch doctor who could dry all tears.  He was a great little kid and we all have fond memories of his childhood.

We went to the Bollywood as usual and the curry was good as usual.  There were about 16 of us all told.  Nanna and Anne were missing for health reasons.  I sat beside Suzy for about half the time so that was a good opportunity to hear something from her.  Dusty and Sahara were both being charming so she was a rightly proud mother.

In fact the kids spent a fair bit of time running around the restaurant with much squealing etc so it was a proper family occasion.  We all like seeing the little ones enjoying themselves and for most of the time we were the only ones in the restaurant so I doubt if the kids bothered anyone.  The restaurant is quite nicely set up but most of their trade is takeway.

And I was greatly privileged in that Sahara came and wanted to sit on my lap at one stage.  Not long ago she was always frightened of me.  But now I get lots of smiles.  Times change!

Von came and talked to me for a while but we had already had long chats on Thursday so it was more important that she talk to others -- which she did.  With her usual wisdom she seated herself in the middle of the table where she could talk to most people.  Aside from Suzy, I mostly taked to Ken, as I usually do.  We predicted the result of the next Federal election!  Despite Kevvy's strong showing at the moment, we foresaw a close Abbott win.

I have used the word "usually" rather a lot above and I imagine that some people might think it boring to keep doing "usual" things.  But our dinner was in fact nearly identical with lots of previous such dinners and we always enjoy them so the familiar can have its charms.

UPDATE:  Something I should have mentioned above:  I had of course been told that Saturday was also Timmy's birthday but when I arrived and sat down near Suz she was very quick to remind me of that.  She clearly wanted that to be acknowledged.

So when I got up to do the toasts, she got up too to say something in case  I missed out.  I did of course toast Tim and it was as  soon as we had done that that Suz led us all in the "Happy Birthday" song.  She really is a little dear heart, full of love.  She went through a fiery furnace in her teens but we are very lucky to have the original Suz back among us.

A celebration of American independence in Australia

From an Australian viewpoint, the initiation of America's first civil war by the declaration of independence does not seem a good idea.  The declaration by itself does not bear close scrutiny -- as Canadian Conrad Black points out.  It was mainly a complaint about more laws being needed and the King not allowing them!  Read it here if you doubt that.

And Australia gained its independence from Britain just by a few old guys signing some papers -- without a drop of blood being spilt and no disruptions of any kind.  Which is why Australia is still a monarchy with Queen Elizabeth as head of state.  And the basic cause of the American dissatisfaction -- a request that Americans pay a small tax which the British themselves were already paying -- hardly seems worth mass bloodshed.

Nonetheless, inauspicious beginnings have led to worthy results in the long term and, up until recently, America really was a light of liberty for all mankind.  Whether the slide into Fascism accelerated under the Obama administration will ever be reversed is a moot question.  The land of the free has become the land of the regulated.  Will a third civil war be needed to re-light the beacon of individual freedom?  Many American gun owners are bracing themselves for that possibility

But respect for the individual in America has already survived such assaults as Abraham Lincoln's totally unnecessary war -- in which he limited  government "by the people" to Northerners only -- and the fortunately foiled dash for Fascism by FDR  -- who described dictator Mussolini as "That admirable Italian gentleman'.  And in that context the birthday of the USA is well worth celebration.

So I invited a few family members over to my place for a small celebratory dinner earlier tonight.  I hoisted Old Glory from my flagpole out the front, broke out the champagne and ordered in some food.  The dinner was held on my front verandah so we ordered in food from our local Indian restaurant.  Indian food on my verandah has become something of a family tradition.

Even though she is at the moment heavily pregnant, Susan cheerfully did her usual highly appreciated job of taking our orders, phoning them though and then going to pick the food up.  Vonnie went with her to help with the pickup.  Girl talk ensued, no doubt.

Curry is not exactly an American food but Susan brought along an excellent apple pie ready to go into the oven so we had hot apple pie to round off our dinner.  That at least was iconically American.  If you get the impression that Susan is a treasure, you are right!


A good pic of Susan, Paul and Matthew on an earlier occasion

As we all know one-another very well it was a very relaxed and congenial meeting with discusions mainly about family matters and the children. As they often do, little Matthew and Hannah played very well together.

Paul kept up his usual tirade against Leftism and Simon was his usual paragon of taciturnity -- though he did enlighten us at one stage about the New Zealand sheep-meat trade.  Anne talked mainly to Susan and Vonnie -- about secret women's business.

It has emerged recently that Vonnie is at least as big a sentimentalist as Paul and I are so we discussed Vonnie's little collection of keepsakes that remind her of special times, places and events.  I mentioned that I still had Joe's tricycle and ride-on toy so Von and Paul asked to see those -- as they too remember Joes's childhood in which he used those things.  So there was a pilgrimage to the garage to view those.

My house is of the "Old Queenslander" type, a  big timber house with a central corridor.  And when Paul and the twins were little they loved running around in circles INSIDE the Queenslander I had then  -- something made possible by  verandahs and the corridor.  Tonight Paul realized he could do the same in my present house so he revisited his youth by doing so, running around in partnership with Matthew, who enjoyed it greatly.


The gathering


The trike -- untidily stored away in my garage