On my silence

I started a blog and I started to write. I wrote the blog and I wrote a book. I wrote when the babies were sleeping and I wrote when the toddlers were playing. I wrote when the big kids started school and I wrote when the little kid started school. I wrote a book and rewrote a book. I would say that I got rejection slips but I never even got acknowledgement of submissions. I kept writing then I started working again. I put the book away and got busy with life. I worked a couple of days a week when the kids were in school then I got another job and worked most days of the week while the kids were in school. Then the biggest kid finished primary school and it was about time to stop treading water and remember that I had a mind and aspirations to a career.

I got a job of the kind that might lead to something, not just one to fill in time and pay bills (though those kind are good too). I found out that there was really only time for a few things -- work and being a mum and partner. So the writing petered out and the blog fell between the cracks and friends started to write to me to ask if I was okay. I am okay, more than okay. But I'm not blogging though I do still write. I have ideas for books and even occasionally write them down or read other books. I have a job that requires a lot of thought, energy, writing and reading but can delightfully be left behind when I walk to my car and drive home. When I am home, I'm busy spending time with my family and doing the things that keep the household somewhat messily and chaotically lurching forward.

I'm going to leave the blog here though as it is a chronicle of my writing and research over quite a few years. I hope that people might find it and even learn something about the Rosewood Scrub and German migration to Australia. I will occasionally pop in but please don't depend on me to update it. It's become an archive rather than a diary. If you are specifically interested in me - I do tweet at intervals at twitter.com/follysantidote but it is necessarily succinct and possibly frivolous. And I can always be reached by email at follysantidote[at]gmail.com and via my personal email if you know it.

A wedding frippery

I recently found out that the white wedding dress was an innovation of Queen Victoria. She didn't want to wear a heavy brocade gown and wore something lighter and more summery for her wedding. Somehow it become first the fashion and then the tradition to wear white. So the bride wearing white at a wedding is hardly a tenet of Western civilisation or indeed, even a very long tradition.

From The Royal Collection

A new exhibit on the history of the white wedding dress is opening at the Bendigo Art Gallery and the ABC recently featured a short piece on the collection. Here's the 5 minute news story on the exhibit. I especially enjoyed the Australian focus and the now-elderly bride who was so thrilled that her wedding dress made by her mother was included.

I also like the emphasis on the stories behind the dresses. For me, it is always about the stories.

Dancing gal

For those of you who know Blithe Girl, you may enjoy watching this clip from YouTube. She's in The Brisbane Gang Show this year. They did a flash mob to promote the show in Queen Street Mall which is the main shopping area in Brisbane. It was great fun to watch.

Click here to watch the clip. And click here to purchase tickets.

Who would have thought my daughter would ever be dancing in Queen Street Mall (or to be honest, able to dance at all?)

Signs of the times

I was in Sydney on the long weekend to catch up with family. It was a lovely visit. I very rarely see my brother and his family and it was great to spend some time with them. Now that we are "all grown up" (and I put this in quotations because I at least very intermittently feel adult) it's a different kind of relationship. Although there was a moment in the car with my Dad driving when he was cranky at us for not being ready on time then told us off for chattering too much. We caught each others' eye, started to giggle and nudge each other and I felt about 12 years old again.

I love to search out good signage when I'm travelling and post here for your enjoyment my favourite of this trip. My father doesn't like crass mentions of bodily functions so let me just say that this was in a small public room and that people might have wondered about the clicking going on in the cubicle. Not only is the sign funny but it's also a neat little reminder of cultural difference.

Writing slump

I've lost my writing mojo.

Somewhere between Easter and now, I've lost the motivation to write. I've started a handful of posts and done the digital equivalent of crumpling them up in my hand and tossing them in the bin.

Maybe I'm just tired. Maybe I'm just discouraged. Or maybe I'm just not meant to be writing right now.

I'll keep trying. Thank you for your patience.

If you're looking for something to read about Marburg, Queensland, please take a look at our Marburg news site. There's stories there ranging from new coal exploration leases being applied for in the Marburg area to fund raising morning teas and the enduringly famous Saturday night Marburg dance. Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale reputedly met his wife at one. What better endorsement can there be?

Splat!

Just coming out of the strange Easter/ANZAC Day/school holidays calendar mash-up. I've been meaning to do so many things but so far have managed only some rest, large amounts of chocolate consumption and some long-delayed excavation of my bedroom floor. But in response to a special request from my friend Ms AbsurdBeats, two photos of recent wildlife. First, tongue-in-cheek wildlife: our windscreen after a nighttime drive through the Lockyer Valley. And second, a classic Aussie welcome to Girraween National Park.

Happy Easter everyone.

Photo glee

What I really need to do is a list as long as my arm of chores and obligations and writing. What I actually am doing is playing with my new camera. Its arrival was a saga of parcels sent to the wrong place, enquiries unanswered and persistence. But it is here and I am very happy. Officially it is for work. I actually have a photo shoot job coming up. Unofficially I might just use it occasionally for myself and here for you...

Autumn, Two Tree Hill

New leaves on what we call the vanilla flower bush because the flowers smell just like the vanilla air freshener in cars.