Welcome to Another Weekend Coffee share!
Before I start rattling the keyboard too much with my fingernails which are uncomfortably long for my invigorating stream of words to flow from my head appearing like magic on the blank screen above; let me offer you a bit of warm Australian hospitality. Your choice of tea, coffee, Mountain Dew (our son’s obsession).
Moreover, because I fancy myself as somewhat of a missionary of all things Australian, I’m going to offer you the thrill of trying “Vegemite Tower”. That’s my name for it, and I have no idea whether anyone beyond our family would have any idea what I’m talking about, although it might also be known as a “Jatz Stack”. In case you’re actually wanting to try this in real life and step on the wild side, you need four Jatz crackers. Put a scrape of butter and what you can cope with as a smear of Vegemite (I like quite a lot, but to use a phrase of my Dad’s, “it puts hair on your chest”. So, don’t say I didn’t warn you!!) To make my Vegemite Towers, I build up three crackers like this and a fourth cracker on top to seal it all in. That is my idea of YUM!!! It’s rare for me to get through the day without one, and usually two’s company.
Last week was exceptionally quiet due to a rather unwelcome visitor…Covid. We have been pretty careful and avoid crowds. Geoff has been driving to work instead of joining all the sardines packed into the train huffing and puffing all over each other inhaling goodness knows what germs. However, we haven’t wanted to condemn ourselves to a living death and we have our kids who are out there interacting with the world and swinging from the rafters here, there and everywhere. So, as you may recall, Miss turned 18 in my last post and she went out clubbing and hey presto, let me pull covid out of my hat. She had a couple of RATS but they all tested negative and I wasn’t really of a mindset where I could go through the whole covid thing all over again, and she didn’t isolate and I’m driving her around. I was a sitting duck. While I could get annoyed about it given how vulnerable I am and the rough year I had last year with my lungs, it feels pointless. I’ve explained, she should understand, take precautions, but doesn’t. It’s also very hard when the rest of the world has seemingly moved beyond covid. We no longer have those much appreciated 11.00am TV updates on the spread, and while they did ramp up the fear considerably, they also reminded us to be careful. Reminded the general population to be more careful around vulnerable people and that you don’t want to be the one who passes it onto particularly your elderly parents and kills them. Vigilance has dropped back, but perhaps a bit too far.
Anyway, it seems I’ve not only survived Covid Mark II, but seem to be okay. Again, it stayed in my sinuses and didn’t get near my lungs. Oh happy days!
Meanwhile, Mr turned 20 on Friday! Happy Birthday! He’s been out during the great covid exchange, and somehow managed to miss it. After we turned positive, he stayed overnight at a mate’s place but then had to come home and furtively arrived late at night masked up with his pizza and Mountain Dew in hand. We were still infectious on the big day and so we bought his his favourite Caramel Mud Cake from Aldi, which was safely sealed away inside its plastic bubble. He’d already received a few presents from us but by Friday I was well enough to find where I’d stashed his card, a couple of presents and clear the kitchen table. Containing the endless tide of detritus which flows through this place is an ongoing battle.
While I was down with covid, I was reminded of that great healer from my youth…being home sick from school and watching “Days of Our Lives”. I think four generations of my family watched that show as the sands of our lives flowed through the hour glass. Did you used to watch it? It used to be an institution when I was growing up and the doors of suburbia closed down when “Days” was on, which I think was followed by the “Young and the Restless”. As if that wasn’t bad enough, we used to talk about the shows and Mum would go and visit my grandmother in Queensland and they were ahead of us and it was so so good. You might not want a crystal ball to see what lies ahead in your own life, but this was better than tickets to a Taylor Swift concert back then.
I felt a bit cheated that I couldn’t watch Days while I had covid. Well, not like it used to be anyway. I know there are episodes online. So, I decided to watch a DVD instead and let me tell you I have to be sick to watch a movie right through uninterrupted. I spotted The Goodies on the pile and thought a bit of humour would do me good. Humph! Not so sure about the Goodies these days. Have you ever watched The Goodies? Well, it’s not exactly wholesome viewing. It aired at 5.30pm here in Australia which was considered “after school” and was shown before Dr Who. I think some of the scenes from the DVD had been cut by the censor for TV.
BTW speaking of old childhood TV shows, do you remember Mr Ed the talking horse? I loved that show and have the DVD for that stashed somewhere in the cupboard.
Anyway, I had no intention of writing about old TV shows.
Moreover, I’ve actually been engaged in quite a lot of high brow activity while I’ve been down with covid. I have been working on my grandmother’s career as an international concert pianist, music critic and professor at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. This has turned into an absolutely monumental project now that the old newspapers and magazines have been uploaded. I’ve been working away at it for years but more and more material keeps getting uploaded and then I’m having to correct the text as I go. I’ve been trying to capture everything and now realize I need to pull the eyes out of it and put some highlights together. I’ve done a timeline again with everything in it too, and it also needs its executive summary. Tonight, I was reading through some of the columns she wrote as a music critic and it was like listening to her over a cup of tea and she was back with me again. I’m so lucky to have this. I am working towards some kind of book. I also have a file of photos of her career which I’ll turn into a photo book fairly soon.
Well, I have written so much more than I’d intended. Indeed, I thought I really didn’t have much to say and it’s very late (or should I say early) here and well past my bedtime.
So, before I head off, how are you and what are you up to? I hope you’ve been well.
This has been another contribution to the Weekend Coffee Share hosted by Natalie the Explorer.
Best wishes,
Rowena
Beyond the Flow 
We used to enjoy The Goodies, not sure what we would make of it now. Covid is still around, but we don’t have to test and people are getting other colds and flue things, having not built up the usual immunity.