A fantastic girl

I am actually writing this on Tuesday evening when I have spent a day with my (now married) daughter Sarah. I am posting this on Sunday because there is a photo of the wedding dress and D is not allowed to see it until the day.

She is like me in a lot of ways. She wants to delegate but in the end believes that it's easier to do it yourself. Then she gets stressed because there is too much to do.

So I have tried, today, to relieve some of her burdens....go with her to pick up her dress; help her buy grog for the 'piccola ricezione' ...drinks after the service; go and pick up the rings...stand alongside her while they try to chase the last receipt (did D do it correctly) then we had jelly cake for lunch... fantastic!!!...Print the services...took an interminable time.

Then Denes cooked dinner...lovely butter chicken and crispy carrots! I gave him his dowry...a dozen really good bottles of wine! She is worth every drop.

How can daughter no 2 be married?

The enculturation of marriage

We have a wedding coming up soon and I am interested to watch the middle S Clark as she prepares to become Mrs N.

This is the first part of the enculturation, I suppose, she will take her husband's name. Having three daughters I feel a little sad that our name might pass into oblivion if her siblings follow suit.

But it was interesting watching Glee the other night, to see two cast members expressing their love for each other by singing loudly and boldly that they loved each other and were (increase the volume) GETTING MARRIED.

I am optimistic for the newlyweds. I was actually asked for 'permission' (which I was pleased to give) on the day that Mrs C and I announced we were not going to live together any more.

It seemed to me a great statement of optimism and hope.

Here's a You Tube( "Shop Vac") which sings of everything that you have to take on

Good thing

It was a good thing to hear Tim Costello at one of our local churches last night. The CEO of World Vision Australia was congratulating the local Blackwood community for last year's support of the 40 Hour Famine and inspiring us for this year's (see the You Tube clip below)

Whilst the worship was nothing like my cup of tea (despite the younger S Clark leading the worship team and the youngest S Clark singing alongside her) Costello spoke gently and persuasively. It was in fact good to be allowed to hear him, a Baptist minister, address the Gospel; so often he has to speak in a secular context that ti was good to hera him preach.

He spoke about Luke 8:26-39. An exorcism story in which Jesus casts out a whole lot (legion) of demons into a herd of pigs who then career into the sea of Galilee. Almost worthy of Monty Python!

I found myself wondering how he was going to connect it. His point. It is not until we go over the other side, and prick the bubble of our sheltered lives that we even begin to understand these complex problems.

His point being that the 40 Hour Famine (as tokenistic as it might be) goes a little way to prick the bubble. An interesting and, I thought, helpful point.

It was also good to see the young Greens' Senator Sarah Hansen-Young there and have a little chat with her. I'll tell you about that in the next blog

Nothing you can do can take you away from My School

Like hundreds of thousands of others I looked at My School this morning.

I first of all checked that the youngest SC's school was where it should be. I then checked my local school of greatest interest, then I checked the little local school....yes I was making my own league table. I checked the middle SC's school where she has just begun teaching...no way of telling how they go at music (her speciality)

The information is OK but we are kidding ourselves if we think that folks aren't going to use it to make comparisons. And these comparisons will inform choices, and some will be able to respond to those choices. Those most affected (the bottom of the heap ) will probably be least able to move kids into other systems or schools. They won't really have choice.

Lots of questions not answered, principally questions about funding. What I called above "my local school of greatest interest" has peculiar funding issues.

They are the new middle class poor in a way. Unable to access disability or indigenous funding, special needs or other extraordinary grants...because they are really socially in the middle...the funding is an issue.

That school is good. Kids are bright. Staff work hard. Facilities are mixed.

But you can't tell anything from the website that lets you know that.

There is a lot more discussion to be had about that.

the eagles have landed

having left snow capped UK and passed through -8 in Incheon, the weary travellers did make it back...to be back here for a 41 degree today and 43 tomorrow!

Both churches are stinking!

The final countdown

Despite managing to be (yet again) in the wrong place at the wrong time; this time to be in Dublin when they were supposed to be in London.Trapped over the water with heavy snow preventing air traffic ...my present belief is that they have probably managed to catch their flight to Korea and thence to Sydney.

This should see them home (and 41 degrees) tomorrow afternoon....the Lord being their helper. Which he surely is.

But here is also a truly amazing weather photo of what this is all about. Not a corner of the homeland without snow!

Shopping spin

I tire of the drivel that passes for genuine comment by those who constantly bemoan that Adelaide shuts down for public holidays. The usual comment is that "Travellers think we are a backwater".

With two daughters having traversed three continents in the last 3 - 6 months, and they have just spent Christmas in London I make the following observations:

You cannot surely call Rome, Turin, Florence, Paris, or London "backwaters". Yet in all of those places there have been times when touristy stuff and/or shops have been closed. Indeed the transport system in London seems to almost shut down for 48 hours over Christmas. My prospective son-in-law traipsed all the way out to Greenwich to find it closed, and Regents Park Zoo closed early on the particular day he wanted to go. In Italy, and often in France, the great museums and galleries are almost always closed on Mondays. The department stores are not open 24 hours a day.

I observe, too, that though the supermarkets were open on Sunday, at Blackwood it was almost dead

I always think when these chamber of retailers whiners (or who ever they are) go on about this it is clear that they are not going to be the ones who are going to have their festive season broken into by having to staff endless unregulated shopping. It will be people like my niece E who works for Myers and who has a young son who delights to have his mother round. She's not complaining, but sometimes we all seem a bit tired from too much opening.!

eating..praying... and... loving

I read the populist book by Elizabeth Gilbert.."Eat Pray Love" recently and preached about it at Christmas (here)

Because Christmas is about God in the ordinary stuff of life we do well to remember that it is the ordinary eating together that is so important. One of the sad things about the breakdown of the relationship between S & I is the loss of the daily opportunity to sit down with other people at least once a day. Turn the TV off and, however briefly, often ungratefully, maybe testily to actually have to try and converse.

Christmas Day we try to do this. I was interested that the three travellers spent their day together feasting in London. (They walked to Buckingham Palace in the afternoon...good thing to do!) and cooking for each other. The fruits of their travels. Belgian Chocolates, little French things. Lvely roasts. They also made our favourite dessert Apple Crumble...and they were having trifle and Glühwein. There is a lot of stuff going on here. Recreating childhood Christmas, but sharing time with the blood relatives (even though they drive each other wild... how will K and I go for two weeks in Asia) Making some of their own traditions. Reminiscences of stuff passed down through the generations. Seems quite important.

Not laughing now

They have done well so far, but Sarah and Denes, are not laughing today. Having hoped to cross the ditch today by Eurostar they are stranded on the foreign side.

Stuck in Amsterdam airport waiting for a plane to London.

They have have, as I say, had success so far with their arrangements and I hope it won't be too long for them

Daughters

I wrote this poem for S's birthday

A daughter is a cherished thing
at once young
and
bold
then shy and
sometimes sad.
One sings
one shouts
one laughs.
All cry.
And then they sing again.
A daughter is a cherished thing.

A boyfriend is a risky thing.
But a good risk
to take.
He could teach the cherished one
to be a risk taker
he is
invited in
to jokes and tears
and other things
where father cannot go.
Yet this risky man
is God’s gift to my daughter
that both may blossom,
and, so, I yield but
he is, nevertheless,
a risky thing.

A daughter is a risky thing.
She will touch the heart
you have so carefully hardened
and make it burn
with pride
with joy
with song!
If ever singing stopped
now that would be
a dangerous thing.
A daughter
(and I am blessed with three)
is worth the risk
is the risk
must take the risk
and love

and be loved.
A daughter is, indeed, a risky thing

February 10, 2009

The presumption of it

This fine young man coralled me on Saturday and asked for the hand of my daughter. (I assured him that biblical tadition insisted that eh had to marry the eldest daughter first but he demurred, and I let him get away with it.
He romanced the second born on a day when, in our family, it did not seem auspicious to so do. She is a wonderful person, and he is lucky to have her [but I am her father]. He also is (in my opinion) a wonderful young man. On a day when things were really tough in our family it was seen by some to be inappropriate but I rather interpret it as an act of courage and conviction and I am glad that this might be the character of their relationship

The Mondegreen green grass of home

All of us us have experience of the mondegreen or the misheard lyric. [I sang for much of my childhood It's Mobil Castor Oil... heaven knows why anyone would think such a song line would exist...have you guessed it yet?]

I have been listening to my daughters mis-singing the Abba song Lay all your love on me!

Blithely they sing the mondegreen. Don't go wasting your devotion! Now forgive me but don't the lyrics say...Don't go wasting your emotion, Lay all your love on me...then you are allowed to sing ...Don't go sharing your devotion

Both sentiments are challenging!

But it does strike me that my children think that the correct attitude of others towards them should be "devotion". Good luck to them

Becoming one's father.

Sarah made dinner on Wednesday (an event in itself) she made Goulash...having just been to Hungary it is now only ever pr0nounced Gooiyash!
It was good, though ther noodle/dumplings were rather like casino betting chips.
My dad used to like to cook and when he discovered Mexican food we had chile con carne every other day. Tonight I have peeled onions, crushed garlic, sung Brahms (those awful Hungarian folk-songs, I once sat through a concert of 35 of them) chopped meat and crushed tomatoes.
Yes! We are having Gooiyash. I will use shell noodles rather than Casino chips!
Then maybe Sunday night too!....Then on Monday I'll change my name to Harry!

Homeward bound

We leave Singapore today, just as Sarah and Denes arrived there on their way back to Adelaide.
It was wonderful to see her, and I think she thought likewise.
We met between two airport terminals and had pizza and ice cream in a cafe before they charged off into Orchard Road. What a time they have had. Stunning views of Budapest from their apartment window...and they heard Santana...free for gratis...makes us old hippies jealous.
I am just (incidentally) waiting to board the plane for Bali...just about to go and buy a bottle of gin!

What are the odds?

Having traipsed the continent last year saying "You always bump into people!", we met no one we knew.
So it is pleasing to hear that Sarah bumped into my godson Scott in Wien yesterday!

Growing up

One daughter rang from the US to say "I think I am in New York. We were driving to the Mall" (one of her all time dreams) "and I said to the people 'Is this New York?'"
Not New York City but (maybe) Middletown New York State, not far from Milford Pennsylvania, which is not far from the back of beyond Camp Netimus, where she is working.
Her German sister meanwhile when she heard that K had driven on the Highway with a capital H screamed (by SMS) "And she has driven!"
Yes, driving on the highway ...I mean Highway...is an achievment
She said she had been to Dachau and it was fairly confronting to stand in the gas chamber.
I could only reply (via SMS) that was indeed so! And it was good to stand in a gas chamber!

All my little chicks

Well number two left yesterday for Singapore and thinks it is Wicked. And number one left today for LA (where the big jet engines roam).
I am amazed at how exhausted I feel just getting them out of the house. Looking forward to a quiet weekend!!

Thespians

Two of our number are in theatrical productions at the moment so it is not without its trials. Little do most attendees at theatre note what performers go through in the weeks prior to performance.
Long hours standing around while others do what they might have to do.
Families have to hear the songs over and over again... you hairy bunch of Ishmaelites (here)
And to put up with trying to run cars in four different directions whilst building a barricade (here...incidentally if you haven't got your ticket for les miserables then it's too late...sold out...fantastic)

Baking a cake

There is something good about baking a cake. Anyone wityh children knows what a bonding experience it is.
So it is good to see the penultimate S experimenting with a German Shepherd Cake for D's birthday (it still remains to be seen whether she will clean up to my satisfaction)
To make such a cake from scratch shows a great devotion. D will be delighted (he is easy to delight)...but it sort of shows you the magic of cake. It is a gift to another for their enjoyment, there should eb more of it.
PS No German Shepherds were injured in the actual making of the cake

Be Musing, Be Very Amusing

Sarah's graduation today as a Bachelor of Music. One down!
Another one next week! It never rains...but looks overcast this morning!

SARAH CLARK. B. Mus.