Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The origin of species.....




Wow! Fully two thirds of the year otherwise known as 2009 has disappeared down the cosmic gurgler. My aunty Narelle once warned me about this phenomena, that the older one gets, the faster life seems to speed by. She was right. She usually is. She’s a very smart woman, Narelle. I will write about her more here one of these days, but today’s blog, boys & girls, is going to be about Grandparents.
I would like to preface by saying that where we come from, how we grew up, and the values that our parents & grandparents instill is us are the pivotal , almost inescapable forces that drive us to become what and who we are, for better or for worse. Unfortunately, also , for a lot of the population that means living with a whole lot of left over weird arse depression era mentality , and in Tasmania, specifically, a lot of the recycled shame and class consciousness surrounding our origins as convicts/free settlers/gentry etc. , as well as the comparitive colloqialism and poverty and different era’d ness that Tasmania is renowned for. This little island, no matter how hard we try to update our buildings to look like federation square in Melbourne, is unique in this regard.
My father’s parents, Lillian & Neil Watson, are now both deceased individuals. Neil was a big tall strapping bloke with strong Irish potato crunching convict strains (My dad & I have taken after him) . Lillian, when she first arrived on the island in the 50’s , was a stunning blonde Queenslander with a razor sharp intellect, deadly maternal instinct from a large Mormon tribe. Quite a pair. They had six offspring, of which my father Ray was the eldest child, and I am the eldest child of his three. So we’re pretty bloody domineering in the birth order stakes, which is fine by me, I wouldn’t be anywhere near as accomplished as I am today were it not for the fearlessness and bolshiness instilled by being the torturer and gang leader of two younger brothers growing up!
My dear Mum’s family are from the north of Tassie, around the Launnie/Cressy areas. Grandma Shirley has strong Scottish origins, originating from The Mackerill tribe and the Border Welsh/English reeving (theiveing) tribes in Scotland. We didn’t end up on the ship out for nothing, y’now, and I try to continue these traditions, having been sentenced for dealing in the proceeds of crime when I was eight months pregnant with Minerva last year (Yes , readers, I have a criminal record!!) It was a pretty bloody dramatic time, I can tell you, getting a suspended jail term when you’re about to drop your bundle is not the most fabulous thing in the world. Anyhow, I have done me time & am off probation, and am a reformed internet pirate now, so no need to lock up your sons or your briefcases….
Grandpa Ray was an electrician called Sparks (ahahahah) hence all our fascination with incredibly complex pursuits like cake decorating, playing the devil’s trill sonata backwards on the violin, and impersonating police officers. Not sure exactly what his ethnice origins were , but I detect a hint of Latino in his skin colouring and mannerisms. He’s the most wonderful great grandfather to Minnie, loves her to bits, and can often be found herding up his granddaughters when they are in town…..Love you, my grandies xoxox

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

camera works again...yay


hopefully I can upload these photos ok......
baby girl is 1 in 5 days time....its gone so fast (mostly!)

Monday, July 13, 2009

the muse has left the building........

well, dear readers (yes both of you)
I havnt really added to this blog very much of late because I am finding life to be singularly uninteresting. I'm back at work two and a half days a week, and the harder I work, the more bills I seem to get,(massive power bill, broken washing machine, heaps car repairs, broken tooth, etc etc etc,,,,,) and the sicker the baby And I seem to get. In the space of a few months, we've had projectile vomiting (Min) , blocked eustachian tube (ear) me, a cold & sinussy thing that took the nest of 3 weeks to go away, and today Min came home with a green crusty eye. I give up. I really just want to stop doing everything outside the house and just cocoon us both and eat good things and catch up on sleep and exercise and good food and funny movies and soul enriching books. But......
As I am a working class single parent with bills to pay , none of this is an option. I need a break. I feel like running away. I am constantly tired. Help!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

a drunken hazard...email trawling....

Oh well, if anybody's interested I thought it was pretty flipping funny. But then I am a bit drunk, so bear with me.........

(approx a year ago):
hi Betty,
glad to hear all sounds good, was a little worried things had crashed & burned with boy (goddamn I've forgotten his name, not that's that's a rare thing these days..)YES you have to make all the decisions, its a female only chromosome didnt you know........anyway , it would be worse if you were both leaders . Dont make for a very comfy dance sometimes. I am practising being assuaging and "yes dearish " & it seems to work sometimes. Of course once Miv is born & am a hormonal leaky banshee with no cash it will be a different story. and god help him if he tries to tell me what to do during birth!! Am having a partylites show thingy at mine at 2pm saturday week, Mel said you were into candles and I'm going to have am crack at working for myself again doing them, they look & smell gorgeous, anyway come along & havesome wine & cheese (the demo lady's name is Cinnamon, isnt that cool............) Dept of justice hey? Cool. What doing? I am really over work, would like to pack it all in and just read in bed all day but money situation wouldnt work....... they increased my hours again too so better stick it out until I reeeally cant function any more. Went to the bank to plead poverty & see if I could get some of my super back, forms , forms & more forms......

Mum is down for a few days on Monday , have been really resentful & woe is me in regards to having little support lately so she will probably cop a guilt trip or three, that or she'll decide its time to kidnap me again and I will head north for a while. would have to board the kitty though, which she hates...........she's getting a bit stressed since I started playing her cds with screaming baby noises on them to adjust her and wee'd in my beanbag. (the cat , that is, not Mum)
NOT IMPRESSES!!!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

cars and the falling apart nature of things

Well the trip didnt exactly go as planned. But then, nothing has of late, so am not terribly surprised about that. The baby got sick (REALLY sick...projectile vomiting the poor little munchkin), we missed the party, and the car decided it needs a new alternator that I can ill afford right now. I've only just forked out $320 for a new windscreen from the last attempt at returning to work when some bastard sideswiped my car which I'd parked outside the childcare centre after abandoning it for the day due to the presence of a large hunstsman I wasnt prepared to share the commute to work with....NOW THE FUCKING ALTERNATOR NEEDS REPLACING!!(Excuse the french but the car goddesses have turned a blind eye of late)
I just cant seem to break even, let alone get ahead these days.
Still. I am grateful for: Having a devoted father for Min who is prepared to mollycoddle her back to good health when she is poorly, my beautiful accomodating and concerned mother who refuses to send me off in any danger and with a beautifully packed lunch for the trip home at the ripe old age of 32 and who I wish lived closer, that Spence is a year older, regardless of whether we could help him celebrate or not, that we are alive to see gorgeous , perfect cobwebs on a misty
Winter morning, that we have good books to read, music to listen to and a warm house to come home to, that I can have a laugh at work with another fabulous single mum and side splitting stories of her terribly bright four year old.....

Life could be so much worse. Happy solstice, all.

Friday, June 19, 2009

its life jim, but not as we know it.......

Well life moving onwards ever slowly. Am up at 2.30 in the morning contemplating dishes and washing, housework getting on top of me....nothing new there then! Worked two days this week, Wednesday and Friday, and having to be up by 6.15am and not getting home in the tassie mid winter until 5ish is slightly depressing. Still, it had to happen. and much better than the attempted graveyard shift and friday night chaos which I discovered I wasnt up to at all quite quickly. Was ok when I was a carefree single gal who lived three blocks away from work, not quite so workable now.
I have dicovered the joys of Facebook and re connected with quite a few old friends/lovers/artistic collaborators which has been fun. Good distraction from my now quieter and emptier house since Linds has been gone.
Have almost registered with mersey leven in home care to become ...ahem...an in home carer...should just about adequately supplement the income and possibly eventually replace current brainless unchallenging and too far away job, and utilise already gained skills and interests. also have enrolled part time in distance learning through curtain uni to do primary school teaching. the next study period doesnt start until the end of august and is only two subjects per semester so will take four years all going well and is flexible re starting and stopping for life events (and lord knows I always seem to attract my fair share of major life disruptions!!)
Tommorrow we pack up and head north for little Spencer Best's 1st birthday and naming day celebrations (his mum Mel and I were celebrating our very pregnant bellies together at a baby shower about this time last year, so will be a nice little milestone hopefully!) He's a delightful wee sprite and I look forward to knowing his Mum & seeing him & Min get to know each other as they grow up. Also looking forward to some quality out -of -the -house time with the Revered Nanna in Devonport for a couple of days and a Aztec chilli hot choccy at Anvers in Latrobe, and catching up with a friend in Carrick and her three gorgeous sprites. There are SOME good things about winter in Tassie!!