Eggceptional Eggs!

Some lovely non-traditonal eggs from all around the world.......

Mary Gauthier- Relinquished Child

Last night I went to see a gig at the East Brunswick Club with Mary Gauthier - an American folksinger/ alt-country singer from New Orleans. To be honest I had never heard of her before but her performance was amazing, inspiring, comical, reflective and passionate!! It was certainly a journey......

Her newest album "The Foundling" from which she played the majority of her set, reflects the journey of a relinquished child. As I lack the ability to sum this experience up myself, I will take the liberty of using words from her website:

"Those familiar with the bones of Mary Gauthier’s life may find it difficult to choke back the emotion of the album, from the Gypsy-flavored opening of the Gypsy-flavored opening of “The Foundling” (“a baby unwanted, unloved, and unblessed/ Left on a doorstep, an unbidden guest”), to the upbeat bluegrass groove on the bittersweet “Good Bye” (“I hit the wall then I hit the highway/ I’ve got the curse of a gypsy on my soul”); from the crushing phone conversation with the mother who refuses to meet her, “March 11, 1962” (“You say that I’m a secret, nobody knows/ And you can’t talk about it now, and you really gotta go,” co-written with Liz Rose), to the final epilogue of “Another Day Borrowed” (“I shook my fist at my father’s rage, I cursed my mother’s sadness/ But every home I tried to call my own, washed into a river of madness,” co-written with Darrell Scott)." (www.marygauthier.com)

I think you get the feel! What was interesting about the night too was that my friends mum came all the way from Frankston specifically to see Mary Gauthier. The reason being, she is a relinquished mother, giving up her son in the late 60's/early 70's (bit unsure of details). She was catholic, unwed and when she gave birth was convinced by the nuns and partially drugged up to sign him away for adoption. She has since made contact, but I believe her son has a lot of identity/relationship issues perhaps due to his so called "abandonment". I think Mary's songs would have resonated deeply......

That being said, we all had a wonderful time.... It was a night of good people, wonderful music, a story of a life journey and the infinate human capacity to believe in love!! :)

Love and light

Briony

Urban Hunter Gatherer

Sorry for being away so long... I think I lost some inspiration and the world took over and I kinda got lost in just living.... Summer was a wonderful time full of beaches, pools, warmth, light, gin and tonics and lovely people but obviously now the wheel of seasons has turned and it is Autumn. So here goes.... back on the wheel and ready to spin for the rest of the year!!!

Urban hunter gatherer.... not sure about the hunting bit, but gathering is certainly quite possible in the urban nooks and crannies of Melbourne and surrounds. Hard rubbish collections are one way to collect all those treasures that others may consider junk. I know in the past few months, I have gathered a table, a block of sandstone to rest a potplant, a great garden ornament made out of an old skateboard painted in designs, a green lush velvet chair and quite a significant toy for my son....its just a matter of keeping your eyes open!

But what got me so excited today was a site called Feral Fruit Trees, http://feralfruitmelbourne.wordpress.com. What a wonderful initiative, now in your local area you can source fruit that is ripe for the picking. I quickly discovered, that I have plums and grapes ready to eat right near my local railway station.... yummo!! Obviously this site will only work broadly if people continue to put up locations where fruit is to be found, but as an idea it rocks!!

On that note, if you are around and like the idea of eating fruit.... there is a great festival on this Sunday called Petty's Orchard Antique Apple Festival. It runs from 10am-4pm at Petty's Orchard- Cnr Monckton & Homestead Rds - Templestowe. Obviously lots of apples to taste, apple cider to buy, local produce stalls etc.... But it is also a family friendly event with music from Zucchini and Peter Combe. Another highlight for me would be a presenation by David Holmgren! Adults $10, Children $2 and Family $20.

Apples, apples, apples .......

Written by Briony

Daffodowndilly

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;

She turned to the south wind

And curtsied up and down.

She turned to the sunlight

And shook her yellow head,

And whispered to her neighbour:

"Winter is dead."

This is a little poem that kinda summed up today for me...... The sun was out, the flowers are starting to bloom, the little green leaves on my grapevine are starting to unravel, and the jasmine outside my front door smelled so sweet and delicious and I thought to myself - winter is over- spring has begun.

People were outdoors with their children, running around with their hats on, in their pretty little floral dresses with their shoes off and dirt caked on their faces..... These children seemed so happy to be in the sunlight, their parents lolling around in the grass chattering away to other people.

Sometimes I think sunlight and sociability go together. Warm days are always conducive to meeting up with people and doing things. Invitations start to trickle in, for all sorts of occasions and happy times. Even yesterday, for the first time in ages, a group of my friends and I sat happily in a local beer garden, sharing a beer and some food and catching up.

I am happy it is spring........ it is a time of warmth, renewal, a time of possibility and a time for our urban landscape here in Melbourne to become awash with colorful flowers. However, may the rain continue to fall well into summer (but maybe just at night :)!!

Poem by A.A.Milne

Painting by Usha-N

By Briony

Some Tasty Hot Drink Recipes for Cool Winter Nights!

Here’s a thought for a cool winters night- a hot yummy drink to sip on….mmmmmm. I reckon it might be nice to make one of these and sit down on the verandah with a warm coat and rug and read a book. I might even try one of these myself. Warning I hope that these recipes actually work out but they sound awesome!!

Mulled Wine

Combine 1 ½ cups water, 2 ½ cups sugar, 4 dozen whole cloves, 6 sticks of cinnamon,3 crushed nutmeg, and the peel of 3 lemons and 2 oranges. Boil for 5 minutes. Strain the syrup into a large pot, and add 4 cups of hot lemon or lime juice. Heat well. Add the 4 bottles of red wine. Keep covered on lowest heat. Serve with lemon slice and/or cinnamon stick.

Mulled wine for small numbers
Apparently a “quickie” is to boil a teapot of chai (eg. T-2 brand chai) add water to a small pot and add half a litre of red wine. Simmer and serve like tea and add 1 teaspoon of honey per cup/mug (courtesy of Deb at CERES- thanks mate)

Hot Buttered Rum
To make one drink, rinse a mug in hot water and shake it dry. Put in one and a quarter teaspoons of caster sugar, one inch of cinnamon stick (or a pinch of ground cinnamon), a measure of rum and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Pour in hot milk, add half an ounce of butter, stir well and top off with a sprinkle of ground nutmeg.

Hot Toddy
In a saucepan, combine 1 cup freshly brewed Darjeeling tea, 1/4 cup whiskey, 1/4 cup ginger wine, 4 cloves, and a pinch of freshly grated cinnamon (a stick will do, too). Warm gently over a low heat; be careful not to boil. Allow to infuse for about 3-5 minutes. Strain into mugs and serve straight away.

Spicy Cardamon drink
Try this hot infusion of cardamom pods. Apparently this drink also aids digestion. To make this drink, put about 12 whole crushed pods into 6 cups boiling water. Add a strip of orange peel and brew for about 10 minutes. Add 2 tbsp black tea leaves, leave for 5 minutes more, and strain. Serve straight away with hot milk and honey.

Fluffy Hot Chocolate
In a saucepan, combine 8 teaspoons raw sugar, 4 teaspoons baking cocoa, 4 cups milk and 1-1/2 cups miniature marshmallows. Cook and stir over medium heat until the marshmallows are melted (about 8 minutes). Remove from the heat, stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and ladle into some big mugs.

Mulled Wine for a Celebration (again courtesy of Deb at CERES). This recipe was used at the Winter Solstice Festival this year and was delicious!!
To make the "bouquet garni" (like a big tea-bag); boil a 20cm-squared piece of unbleached calico. To the cloth add 9 star anise, 9 tsp of ground nutmeg, 9 tsp of ground cinnamon, 9 tsp of ground cloves: Tie the "bag" with unbleached "cooking" string.

Place the garni into 1L of water in an (approx) 10L pot. Then add 5L of red wine (Swords - Cabernet Sauvignon), 1L of white wine (Swords - Chardonnay), 125ml (half a cup) of (Stones) Ginger Wine and 100ml (approx) of your local honey. To top it off add half a sliced lemon sliced and half a sliced orange to float on top. Simmer and ready to serve in around 5 minutes.

Enjoy and may your hands, heart and stomach keep warm this winter!!

Briony

The North Wind and The Sun- An Aesop Fable

Here is an age old fable from Aesop, that I recently stumbled upon. With all the wind around yesterday and the sun shining brightly today- it got me a thinkin' about the elements and us mere mortals :)

The North Wind boasted of great strength. The Sun argued that there was great power in gentleness.

"We shall have a contest," said the Sun.

Far below, a man traveled a winding road. He was wearing a warm winter coat.

"As a test of strength," said the Sun, "Let us see which of us can take the coat off of that man."

"It will be quite simple for me to force him to remove his coat," bragged the Wind.

The Wind blew so hard, the birds clung to the trees. The world was filled with dust and leaves.

But the harder the wind blew down the road, the tighter the shivering man clung to his coat.

Then, the Sun came out from behind a cloud. Sun warmed the air and the frosty ground. The man on the road unbuttoned his coat.

The sun grew slowly brighter and brighter.

Soon the man felt so hot, he took off his coat and sat down in a shady spot.

"How did you do that?" said the Wind.

"It was easy," said the Sun, "I lit the day. Through gentleness I got my way."

Initially when I first read this fable I thought, well now that is "wise". However, somehow I think it is a little more complicated than using gentleness to get your own way rather than brute strength!!

I don't mean to give poor old Aesop a hard time- but where is the moral. I mean both the north wind and the sun were exacting their "power" on a mere mortal for their own amusement. In the end both made the man feel uncomfortable- too cold and then too hot. Like the wind, the sun had exactly the same plan- to "force" the man to remove his coat.

Isn't getting your own way by gentleness, somehow more manipulative when ultimately the person you are trying to convince to change is negatively affected? Now the poor man is hot and sweaty, and has to carry his heavy winter coat around for the rest of the day!

I guess it just proves that no matter how gentle or how brute, us mortals here on earth are really at the whim of the elements. We have no control over them, and they constantly alter the environment in which we live in- we just endessly adapt to their power!!

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this little tale and my little verbal vomit of an analysis - enjoy the weather :)

Briony

An amazing artist - Andy Goldsworthy

The other day, a friend of mine introduced me to the world of artist/naturalist Andy Goldsworthy. He is a British artist, working directly with nature to make his creations. Often he works with whatever comes to hand- be it twigs, stones, leaves, snow, icicles, pinceones, reeds or even mud. He produces site specific sculptures, some permanent, some transient in both natural and urban settings.

Some of his creations are transient, which I find particularly interesting. In these instances, he is working with nature, and nature like the seasons, inevitably change. He photographs these transient or momentary artsworks as soon as they are created to capture the moment when the work is "most alive". These artworks don't have any permanency- they reflect on the passage of time and the imminent decay of his work by the forces of nature.

One interesting project was when he placed 13 giant snowballs made in Scotland, through the streets of London on Midsummers Day 2000. As they melted, they left behind all sorts of natural and not so natural wonders- like elderberries, barley, pine cones, barbed wire, chalk, pebbles and even highland cow hair. The melting process was all documented through a series of photographs.

Look him up on the net. He is amazing!! Please note I have really only placed his winter related pieces here to view. However I think some of his most beautiful work is that done with Spring flowers and other found objects throughout the seasons. I think I might just revisit his work in months to come!!

Written by Briony

Art by Andy Goldsworthy