If it Ain't Broke ... Don't Fix It !!!

Inspired by Calidore's new template, I thought I would change mine, too. Although I hadn't been too inspired by the Blogger templates, I thought I would have a change of colour for summer - something blue and cooling. I chose my new template, and although the little boxed warning came up advising that I would lose any formatting changes, I wasn't in the mood to dilly-dally and pressed on regardless, telling myself that I hadn't made any formatting changes anyway. WRONG!!

Everything disappeared except my postings. I hastily went back to my old template in the wild hope that somehow everything would still be there. Wrong again. At least my profile and Previous Posts were there but ... my links, WHERE were my links??? Nowhere to be seen, of course. Gosh, I couldn't even remember all of the links I had, so how was I going to reinstall them ... and it's such a tedious process.

Fortunately, I had them all filed under Favourites, which is how I usually access them anyway. So, with some nifty cutting and pasting, and discovering quite a few shortcuts along the way, I had the Aussie links loaded in no time at all. I still have to link up with my overseas friends again, but they are also on Favourites, so I'll do that later. I think I need breakfast after that journey into the technicalities of blogland, and realising yet again that I am ill-equipped for such a venture.

So, until I either learn how to change templates another way, or am prepared to do it all again, it looks like A Growing Delight is neither Growing nor Delightful.

The Dawn of a New Day

It's early morning.

The sun has climbed above the horizon but is not yet warm enough to disperse the mists on the hills. There are no cars to be heard, only the sounds of nature. The blackbirds whistling, sparrows twittering, wattle birds shreiking, magpies warbling and kookaburras laughing - like music on a gentle breeze being carried into my home through open windows.

Oh, what bliss - my favourite time of day!

Rules for Teachers --- 1872 style.

If you are a teacher, perhaps you should be thankful this is 2005, not 1872.

1. Teachers each day will fill lamps, trim the wicks and clean chimneys.

2. Each morning the teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day's session.

3. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils.

4. Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they attend church regularly.

5. After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or any other good books.

6. Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.

7. Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.

8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.

9. The teacher who performs his labours faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five pence per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves.


I couldn't help but wonder if marriage and unseemly behaviour (No.6) were classed as one and the same thing???

Carols? What carols???

Having written about the Australian Christmas Carols in my last posting, and the interest created, I feel that I must confess that the vast majority of people in Australia don't even know they exist. These carols are rarely played on radio, or sung at Carols by Candelight services, or in any other context. You will hear the dreaded "Frosty the Snowman" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" far more often than you will hear any of the carols I wrote about. I'm not sure why this is so.
Most of the carols have a light, lilting melody, very evocative of the summer season, yet there seems to be a reluctance to include them in regular Christmas programs.

I wish I knew how to download the music to the computer so that you could listen to them.

Australian Christmas Carols

With Christmas rapidly approaching, and the airwaves and shopping malls serenading us with Carols and songs of varying relevance to Christmas, I thought our Northern Hemisphere friends may be interested to know that we do actually have our own carols in Australia, portraying a very different atmosphere to those we normally associate with Christmas music. The lyrics, which were all written by John Wheeler, concentrate on nature and the climate at this time yet show that we can still celebrate Christmas without snow, reindeer, and wood fires. Below are just five of fifteen Australian Carols that I have on a record; there may be others that I'm unaware of.

THE THREE DROVERS

Across the plains one Christmas night

Three drovers riding blithe and gay,

Looked up and saw a starry light

More radiant than the Milky Way;

And on their hearts such wonder fell,

They sang with joy.

'Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!'

The air was dry with summer heat,

And smoke was on the yellow moon;

But from the heavens, faint and sweet,

Came floating down a wond'rous turn;

And as they heard, they sang full well

Those drovers three.

'Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!'

The black swans flew across the sky,

The wild dog called across the plain,

The starry lustre blazed on high,

Still echoed on the heavenly strain;

And still they sang, 'Noel! Noel!'

Those drovers three.

'Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!'


CAROL OF THE BIRDS

Out on the plains the brolgas are dancing,

Lifting their feet like war horses prancing,

Up to the sun the woodlarks go winging,

Faint in the dawn light echoes their singing,

Orana! Orana!Orana! To Christmas Day.

Down where the tree-ferns grow by the river,

There where the waters sparkle and quiver,

Deep in the gullies Bell-birds are chiming,

Softly and sweetly their lyric notes rhyming

Orana! Orana!Orana! To Christmas Day.

Friar-birds sip the nectar of flowers,

Currawongs chant in wattle-tree bowers,

In the blue ranges Lorikeets calling,

Carols of bushlands rising and falling,

Orana! Orana!Orana! To Christmas Day.

CHRISTMAS DAY

The North Wind is tossing the leaves,
The red dust is over the town,
The sparrows are under the eaves,
And the grass in the paddock is brown;
As we lift up our voices and sing
To the Christ-Child the Heavenly King.
The tree-ferns in green gullies sway;
The cool stream flows silently by;
The joy bells are greeting the day,
And the chimes are adrift in the sky,
As we lift up our voices and sing
To the Christ-Child the Heavenly King.


THE DAY THAT CHRIST WAS BORN ON

When the sun’s a golden rose,
And the magpie carols clear,
You can say, and I can say,
On the summer morning,
Here at last is Christmas Day,
The day that Christ was born on,
The day that Christ was born on,
When the wand’ring, lonely sheep,
Find at last a shady pool,
You can say, and I can say,
On the outback station,
Here at last is Christmas Day,
The day Christ brought salvation,
The day Christ brought salvation.

When the ranges turn to flame,
And the winds like trumpets blow,
You can say, and I can say,
Seven times and seven,
Here at last is Christmas Day,
The day that Christ came from Heaven,
The day that Christ came from Heaven.
But when summer’s shining moon,
Dips a silver chalice bright,
You can say, and I can say,
Joyously and airy –
Here at last is Christmas Day,
The day Christ smiled at Mary,
The day Christ smiled at Mary.

NOEL-TIME

Now once again it’s Noel time,
And ev’ry steeple rings;
The sun is like the great gold star
That led the Eastern Kings;
O come with me where hills are brown,
And Christmas Bush grows wild,
So we can make a Christmas crown
To grace a Kingly Child
O let us seek in Noel time,
Through sunshine and through shade,
Until we find the Christmas Bush
His Kingly hands have made;
The fires are burning on the hill,
The smoke is coming down,
But Christmas Bush is blooming still
To make a Kingly Crown.

December Morn in the Garden

Rose (Fragrant Cloud)














Gaura (Butterfly Bush)














Queen Anne's Lace



















Penstemons














English Lavender














Acanthus and Abutilon (Chinese Lantern)














Variegated Virginia Creeper

Champion's Crown to the Netherlands

The Netherlands Women's Hockey team retained their World Championship title after narrowly defeating Australia in the final at the Lyneham Hockey Centre today. The match was drawn at nil all after 70 minutes (full time). There was still no score after an additional 15 minutes play. The result was determined by Penalty Strokes (similar to Penalty Goal Shootout in soccer) and was finally won by the Netherlands. It's never a good way to win or lose a match, but I think justice was served as the Netherlands had definitely been the best of the six teams throughout the tournament. China won the Bronze Medal ahead of Argentina, Germany and Korea.

It was a beautiful day and I was disappointed that I hadn't taken my camera as the hockey centre, which was filled to capacity, looked so colourful with all the flags fluttering in the stiff breeze, spectators in summer dress and supporters' colours, and the players in their orange/navy and yellow/green uniforms. It was a thrilling sight indeed.

Aftermath

The storm on Friday approached, vented its wrath right across the city at 4.30pm, and departed about 30 minutes later, leaving in its wake a trail of damaged houses, cars, signs and trees, and one man dead. The economic cost is estimated at 10 million dollars, and is worst natural disaster in Canberra since the bushfires nearly 3 years ago.

Although the weather was wild here for a short time, we must have really only caught the very edge of it - thankfully.

Storm Approaching!

Some pretty ominous clouds preceded this afternoon's storm which brought strong winds, dust, rain, hail, thunder and lightning and more rain. Calidore - did you send it this way? The rain is always welcome but one can do without the hail and wind damage, although we seem to have escaped unscathed thus far. Fortunately, it is a rest-day in the Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament here. This week we've had storms, hail, freezing winds (14 degrees on Tuesday) and glorious sunshine (28 degrees yesterday). Our Queensland friends are one minute basking in homelike temperatures and frozen through the next. The six top women's hockey teams in the world - Netherlands, Germany, China, Korea, Argentina and Australia - were probably hoping for warm summer weather, but as field hockey is a winter sport I guess they are used to all kinds of weather.

Sound familiar???

My sister sent me this (was she trying to tell me something?) and I thought it may strike a chord with fellow bloggers, especially those around my vintage.

SUBJECT: Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder

Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden.

As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only 1 check left.

My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke I'd been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over.

The Coke is getting warm, and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need water.

I put the Coke on the counter and discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote.

Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I'll be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it
belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.

So, I set the remote back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

- the car isn't washed
- the bills aren't paid
- there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter
- the flowers don't have enough water,
- there is still only 1 check in my check book,
- I can't find the remote
- I can't find my glasses
- and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all damn day, and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.

Do me a favor. Forward this message to everyone you know, because I don't remember who the hell I've sent it to.

Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!

GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY.

GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.

LAUGHING AT YOURSELF IS THERAPEUTIC.