Saturday, 29 December 2012

Auld Lang Syne

I'm possibly 6-7 years old..i think..and it is New years eve .the clock strikes 12 and every one at the party,young and old,hold hands and sing along to the song Auld Lang Syne in the back yard...under the Hills hoist...its very emotional and I  never understood why...i never understood the words,but we all new the chorus.Every year,my parents would repeat this tradition...
You see,my Grandmother was Scottish.And Auld lang Syne was written in Scotland in the 1700's.Lizzie would have been 100 this year,and its not until now that I'm older...do I appreciate her tradition.And that of all our "uncles and aunties."
Last year was my first year to appreciate this tradition.After a beautiful dinner out with our close friends,and then neighbours,we were home before 12.
I quickly  searched for the song and John and I got to cross over into the year 2012 to this beautiful song.My heart was so full it was over whelming.Memories of the past,dreams and hopes of the future,friends and family lost and gained....Who needs to write down their resolutions?Just surround yourself with those you love,listen and let the Scots remind you.
"Auld lang Syne" loosely means TIMES GONE BY .
And now I get it.And I will endeavour to try and keep this family tradition alive for my future and those around me.....
I have searched this for you.And unfortunately will not be able to dance and sway to this beautiful song with you on New years eve but I..." will drink a cup of kindness yet for times gone by..."
To all my beautiful friends and family all over the world I wish you a happy new year filled with enough strenght to handle the sorrow....enough laughter to share with others and enough peace to be content.

 
and my only new years resolution is to remember to blog regularly.
 
Love love love.xxx
 
 
 
 

Saturday, 22 December 2012

Penny for your thoughts..


Find a penny  pick it up    and all day long     you'll have good luck   right?
I still do it.Even if I am alone and I spot a coin on the ground,in my head i am saying this little verse as i pick up the coin.
Which is why I was so curious about the coins in Rundle street.
When I started work,the council was repaving the street and therefor some of the coins were ripped up.
Michelle and her team were to come back and re-lay the coins and I was lucky enough one morning to catch this.Michelle herself was pretty humble and didn't say much....I guess every tom dick and harry ask her  the same questions all day long...


Adelaide sculptress Michelle Nikou started this project in 2006 in Rundle street.Randomly placed down the street in clusters are coins.



." The artists’ rationale for the numerous gold and silver coins was to pave the streets of Adelaide ‘with gold’. The daylight along Rundle Street in early morning and evening provides natural illumination that reflects off the gold coins especially well. The selection of coins (current and antique) represents as many countries as possible. The use of international currency acknowledges the cultural diversity within the street and is in part, a welcoming symbol for tourists and new residents of the City. The art work invokes curiosity, and images and memories of foreign places. The artist aimed for the artwork to make sense in small sections that you can see through the legs people congregating on the street, as well as the art work as a whole. The result of embedding a range of old and antique, national and international coins into the new paving has created an artwork that is unexpected in form and location. Of the over 1000 coins, 60% are predominantly Australian, with the remaining coins sourced from around the world. The majority of the coins are gold. The coins are spread randomly over 110 pavers – some pavers have numerous coins (looking like a handful of coins have been dropped from a pocket) and others just a few – the average number of coins per paver is 5 to 6 coins."
Just another fine example of Adelaides support of public art.






Missing in action




               Three weeks ago ,at approximately 4 am in the morning we were awoken to the loudest crack of thunder I have ever heard.The following morning we had no hot water or internet.Panic set in.
The hot water was easy.Call the plumber.
The internet ,call Optus.
Can't find the problem.Think the lightning hit the power box.
Long phone calls after long phone calls,technicians visiting  the premises ...still no solution.
Meanwhile we resort to cracking the code of neighbors internet.Niamh is experiencing end of the world emotions as she can't  face time,instagram,kick and whatever other social media programs there are.
"we owe her 28 hours of internet time"is her response as generally she is limited to an hour of the ipad a day.
The world is definately ending.
The next appointment,due to Christmas and the back up of work(or the holidays of the Optus crew...)is the end of january.
Oh dear.
The neighbours will catch on
niamhs friends will forget her
john can't search swell net every hour and I can't blog.
How do we pay the bills?
And google things?
Then...a thought.Maybe its the modem.If every other person in our block is still connected to the internet why aren't we.?
I race upstairs to the neighbors who internet we have been stealing and ask if i can try our modem in there connection.
IT DOESN'T WORK.
A trip to Harvey normans,buy a new modem,call a few people and bobs your uncle.
So easy even the husband can do it....
Back on line.
The world didn't end
Niamhs friends didn't forget her
Johns been on swell net since 5am this morning and I'm back blogging with a back log of stories and photos for you.
Phew.