penneylaneonline

Respectability is an odd creature. Especially because of the lengths we might go to capture it. We have a moth-like fascination with it, get caught in the headlights of its high beam and lose our bearings altogether. Strange that fascination isn't it! It's suicidal behaviour at best and probably at worst as well and all at the same time to boot! How could that possibly be? Perhaps it goes to conformity Perhaps that's really what's at the heart of our compulsion to pursue it, to capture it, to... Sign in to see full entry.

I started reading Thomas Hardy's 'Tess of the D'Ubervilles' (A Pure Woman) again last night. I've read it before so you'd think that knowing the end would dissuade me from reading it again. But it doesn't. It's an instructive piece and I suppose from time to time I feel the need to go back to that place of instruction to relearn the lesson it provides. The story is a great tragedy, in parts, the unforgivable (to me) hypocrisy (especially by Angel) stares back at me like my reflection in a... Sign in to see full entry.

By comparison, Winter this time last year was warmer, balmy some days. This year, there seems to have been more rain and colder days than I recall. The soil in the backyard seems to be soaking up the moisture anticipating a sweltering summer. It's a country of extremes this red-dust land. I visited Lucas yesterday (whose artist-in-residency here in the 'sham ended a month or two ago), his garden is looking a little overgrown but nothing that a dedicated afternoon in it wouldn't fix. The earth... Sign in to see full entry.

When I was younger, I learnt the art of spit polishing shoes. It's an exacting art, an all consuming one. There comes with the forward one, backward one swish motion a conscious sense of being lulled into a quieting submission by the sound alone. There occurs between those motions a distinct reprogramming of the over-programmed mind. We don't simply feel it, our minds know it. There is also something deeply satisfying about hearing brush against leather. About seeing tired leather being brought... Sign in to see full entry.

Do you have a maroon umbrella story? I do. It would be truly unbelievable if I didn't have the umbrella to show for it all these years later. But I do. I thought you might like this short story. I remembered it during my walk today, under my maroon umbrella. It made me smile. My friend Linda (Linny)and I were travelling home from Edgecliff on a train, Linda to Summer Hill and me to Ashfield. It was a miserable day. Bone chilling wind and bitterly cold. The walk up the hill can be like walking in... Sign in to see full entry.

My network card is giving me grief and the modem is tiffing with the laptop, streuth! Over the back fence fighting. Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Wasn't it Dylan Thomas that wrote, "...breathe deep the gathering gloom." War is insulting. It's about wresting power away from someone and ceding it to someone else. It has little, if any, regard for anyone who gets in its crossfire. It's insulting because it truculently defies a common human decency. That is, regard for another human life. I'm scratching the... Sign in to see full entry.

My neighbour tells me that Larry aka Lazza (a DSHT, that's a domestic short-haired Tabby) hasn't taken to convalescing very well. Infact she says he's as cranky as a dog with a plastic container collar round his neck so it won't itch. That's cranky! The good news I suppose is, they [dogs, and I suspect Lazza will have some rather disparaging remark to make relating to their inferior make-up, he can be so catty sometimes] do eventually get used to it and afterall, it's for their own good.... Sign in to see full entry.

Do you ever feel humbuggerish? Strictly speaking there's no such word. The noun humbug has one of a number of meanings but I refer to it here by this meaning: nonsense. I use humbuggerish here as a more colloquial slang. My way to describe a feeling, more than say, the name of a thing. One of my favourite Children's Books is "Kickle Snifters and Other Fearsome Critters" by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Glen Rounds. It's a doozey! "Would you know a timberdoodle if you saw one? Or a... Sign in to see full entry.

I often wonder what I would be today if I had truly followed my dreams. Perhaps a writer. Instead, I've been everything else and still I dance around the edge of my dream. Have you ever placed your dream on hold for the reality of a lesser life but one that in your mind pays the bills. It's why we take that path in the end. To pay the bills. And maybe because as time goes by we feel less courageous about pursuing the dream that we or rather I have forgone the pursuit of it. My High School motto... Sign in to see full entry.

Charity they say begins at home. But how do we understand charity? Most people believe that charity is something we give others, what we do to others and in this day and age it also seems to be what's left over. It's the small change. The kind of charity I'm talking about is the sort that you give from your abundance. More like the cream off the top. And it's given with an open and full heart, not some stingy insincere show or display to call attention to yourself for so called good deeds. Have... Sign in to see full entry.

What is it about a three and a half year old monster that brings out the best in us? Oh did I mention he was red? Apologies, small oversight on my part. Actually that's human years. Three and a half, human years. In monster years that makes him... umm... much older! We're talking about Elmo of course! I love that he has such lovely manners and a wonderful chuckle. That chuckle just makes you want to laugh right back too. A full, right from the heart of humour, belly-chuckle that's infectious to... Sign in to see full entry.

Here's one for the sweet-tooths among us. Try this Slice (Sal, Imogen and Magnus AND Mede and Lizzy if you're reading). No fuss, no bother, and no oven cooking. Simple. Refrigerated Apricot and Lemon Slice Ingredients 125g butter 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind 1 cup coconut Half cup sweetened condensed milk Lemon Icing 250g packet malt biscuits crushed 2 tablespoons coconut (opt) 1 cup dried apricots (finely chopped) Method 1. In a small saucepan, add the butter and condensed milk. 2. Stir over a... Sign in to see full entry.

What is it do you think that makes some people complain more than others about their lot? Even if their lot were eminently better, than say, their neighbours? See, the thing about our lives is they can be so small in comparison to everything else. Small but not invaluable. It's because we don't know everything that goes on behind closed doors. If we knew, do you think we'd act or behave differently? Like care more? Or help more? I lived on a street like that once, a street where people cared and... Sign in to see full entry.

I get a real kick out of finding a treasure among the oddments of a second-hand shop or an Estate sale. It's the fact that these things have been pre-loved. I love that they have their own story to tell and hearing it can be so humbling. Take my wooden calendar clock with it's linen cloth numbers and months in distinct black lettering. How anyone could have overlooked it for so long until I found it is beyond my comprehension. It has a rustic beauty about it. Simple, uncluttered in its design.... Sign in to see full entry.

Inspiration is a funny thing. It flits in and out of our minds and lives with little or no regard for timing, ours usually. And often it has its own time-table, it's own sweet time for making things happen or not. Do you think sometimes that it [inspiration] takes particular satisfaction in dictating when it will decide to visit or even if it will? I have an inkling that would be an affirmative. I need it, inspiration I mean. I need to pull something out of the hat and feel that it will have... Sign in to see full entry.

Pulling up the roman blinds that peer sleepily into my back garden, I come upon the early morning sun kissing *Himself (the Macadamia Nut tree outside my window) on both cheeks, in the warmingly European manner. Left cheek, right cheek and left cheek again. *Himself has seen me looking and blushes wildly. They're so funny these men from the Pacific basin, so easily embarrassed by such public displays of affection. It's such a pity really, the feigned resignation. The "oh gawd, let's get this bit... Sign in to see full entry.

I like the enigma that is life, well, sometimes. I like the fact there are parts of it that require deciphering. I fancy myself as a code-breaker. I like that while some days may be filled with many small codes that are easily cracked, there are others that require painstaking scrutiny as to how they might be opened. I've battled for days with this puzzle of how to unlock courage. With every turn of the dial now I've become half-hearted in my attempts. Back 2, forward 6, pause, 1 to the right 3... Sign in to see full entry.

Day After Day Lead Vocal - Jack Harris "Gaze at the sky And picture a memory Of days in your life You knew what it meant to be happy and free With time on your side Remember your daddy When no one was wiser Your ma used to say That you would go further than he ever could With time on your side Think of a boy with the stars in his eye Longing to reach them but frightened to try Sadly, you’d say, someday, someday But day after day The show must go on And time slipped away Before you could build... Sign in to see full entry.

From time to time I wonder if I met an everyday hero in the street whether I'd recognise them without their full kit on. Well, would you? Then I realise, I probably wouldn't. Why? Because I have this caricature image in my mind of a comic book 'super hero' whose larger than life and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! How could your everyday hero compete with that? The truth is they can't. And they don't. Your everyday hero is sometimes craggy, like Fred was. A crusty New Zealand-born... Sign in to see full entry.

It's an interesting habit we have, this one, of stowing old loves (their letters and or their pictures usually or both) between the pages of some much-loved book or somewhere equally safe. Why is that do you think? To keep the memory of them warm or keep them from standing out in the cold all this time? Who knows the heart. There's no real rationale is there, well, not one that I can fathom anyway. If you're anything like me there's a tendency to forget such a one or ones that previously held... Sign in to see full entry.