Domestica

I've just watched the AFLW final.  Adelaide won, which is great, but I who am not the least bit interested in sport, feel such joy when these women play.  And such relief.  It is as if generations of suppressed rage at abilities never allowed to blossom and pent up energy are finally finding release.  Generations of waste.  This is a theme never far from my mind but I've read two novels recently which capture that frustration perfectly.

The Loving Spirit was Daphne du Maurier's first published novel.  It is not her writing at its most fluid but it covers themes close to her heart, and the expected role of a woman in 19th Century England is one of them.

This one looks like a bodice ripper and it is in that the protagonist wants to determine her own life and break from the confines  of the expected feminine role, in 19th C Australia this time.  Had the book not been recommended to me (and been written by the author of The Dressmaker) I would not have picked it up.  Perhaps a case of a book cover being too clever.  It is one of the very few books that has made me laugh out loud recently, but always there is a disturbing undercurrent of frustration.  The ending at one level is disappointing but is probably as good as it could be under the circumstances.

On my domestic front

Steve sketched our living room yesterday

while I pranced off to a party and wasted nothing.

cast low

Being 66 was looking pretty good as I joined the Seniors' Bus Trip to the Female Factory in South Hobart.  I had never been there before.

Mt Wellington / kunyani looms behind.

Here's part of my gang engrossed in the drama.  The rest of us were in the solitary cells producing oakum from old rope.  Reduce, re-use, recycle.

The play was cleverly written by the two actors.  Of course, it was much grimmer back in the day for, where there is now airy open space, there were two-storey walls where you see the linear paving.  There is no suggestion that cradles were made of metal but it was certainly grim with 100 babies in the nursery but little sound because they were too weak to cry.  Many died.  After a short time for weaning, the mothers were put in solitary cells for 6 months to punish them for becoming pregnant.  The surviving babies were sent to the orphan school.

Such deplorable history didn't spoil our appetite and we were whisked away to the Casino (!!!!!!) for lunch.

I haven't been there for about 30 years.  Back in my day, we would have work dinners then kick on at the Casino disco.  More history.  All this for $35!  I was basking in my seniority until I managed to develop a cold on the bus on the way home to the sunny East Coast.

Happy Birthday to me

Despite my vast experience of them, I still love having a birthday.  Mrs O Henry gave me flowers from her garden.

The Floosie sent me this lovely book.  In a similar vein, Her Majesty the Sun Queen gave me an empty bottle so I can make another watering can.  My friends know me so well!  There was also a huge roast cooked by Steve, and a Coco chocolate bunny from Lady Jayne - but I ate them.

memory lane

I forgot to tell you that, when I visited Stapleton House, I took a Cox's Pippin with me as a gift for Trish.  She was very amused.  She has 3 dogs, one of whom is a Red Heeler called Pippin.

Yesterday I indulged in a little drive to Ridgeway to 'Plants of Tasmania' nursery in anticipation of when I can implement my local plants garden.  Afterwards I stopped at the Bean's to drop off a cuppla plants I'd potted up for her.  She's another one with quite nice views.

This is Mt St Canice where I worked for a few years at the Migrant Centre.  It did not seem so grand at the time.  Now it is an Aged Care residence.

I also thought I'd have a look at the flat I lived in in the mid 70s just down the road from the casino.  It was the one on the left, upstairs.  It was unrendered back then and looked just like the one on the right.  We had to move because the owner put it on the market and we couldn't afford to buy it at $45,000.

I loaned Mel this book and she immediately went home and embellished her couch with fabric and Amber.  I love Amber because she reminds me of both Emma Louise Augustine Touchwood Sunflower Flowerdogolopolis Mars and Rosie Burglar Gladstone-Bag.

Lady Jayne sent me a card with a stirring message, but I can't take my eyes off the shorts.

Just like the ones I wore in Macau in 1987.  Tempus fugit.  And fortunately so did those shorts.

Quite nice

Went to visit a friend this afty.  She lives in quite a nice place...

What is that noise?

I wondered early this morning.  That gurgling in the downpipe. Perhaps Steve is doing some pre-dawn washing.  Perhaps some dirty rotten camper is making use of our facilities.  No, it's RAIN!

Beautiful soft rain

festooning the garden with diamond necklets

and the most delicate crochet.

Other lovely sounds this weekend include ABC Classic playing only women composers.  Last night, 6 hours of Hildegard of Bingen:  https://www.abc.net.au/classic/night-music/music-of-hildegard-von-bingen/10845798  Divine.

the rest of February

The days really do go frighteningly quickly.  Steve spent a cuppla days in Melbourne checking out the Escher exhibition and other arty stuff.

I'm in a bit of a Daphne Du Maurier frame of mind so Rebecca immediately came to mind with this boatshed at East Shelley Beach.  We did a walk because gym was cancelled that day.

Here is the book that got me into the DdM frenzy.  I'll explain more later, if I remember.  Have had a few memory issues, like losing my glasses, the Gatehouse keys and a cheque for $1400. I managed to solve all the mysteries but am still a bit traumatised.

Went to a friend's house for morning tea after Zumba last Tuesday.

Currently we have a traffic light between Triabunna and Orford while they do bridge works.  So there's an opportunity to take a photo from the highway.

A few gratuitous garden shots.  The Lebanese zucchini has got its act together.

First go at growing corn in a long time.

Developing a new bit so I can move the succulents.  Frost may be a problem, so its a bit experimental.

Steve moved a few things to mow the lawn and I think the result is rather winsome.  Note my red Cox's Pippins.

I tidied up this bit at the weekend.  I hadn't realised it was a hotbed of harlequin bugs.  Now the war is on.

unearthed some garlic

Work has started on The Barracks building.  The archaelogical digs are over.  The owners' house is to be built at the back

and the stone buildings are to be B&Bs.  Definitely a space to be watched.