Since we don’t live by politix alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? And indeed since Christmas Eve? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
The New Farm festivities kicked off with a deeply spiritual mood before Midnight Mass (Italian style, described here) @ Casa Bahnisch. Surrounded by angelic presences we were! You can see the Holy Spirit church steps where we enjoyed pannetone and sparkling wine here at flickr.
<img src="http://larvatusprodeo.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/christmas1.jpg"
And the next day was lovely and relaxed on a back deck somewhere in the leafy Western suburbs. Turkey, more turkey, desserts, turkey sandwiches and pressies – including (but not limited to) a bottle of Bowmore Islay Single Malt.
<img src="http://larvatusprodeo.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/christmas-2.jpg"
Boxing Day saw a road trip to the Sunshine Coast, visiting rellos of my friends, and then a fine pitstop in Mooloolaba for some restorative briney air and healthy vego food at Raw Energy Cafe (which I thoroughly recommend). And then topped off with some beers and good company and a storm on another New Farm back deck.
Not a lot at my end, which is how I like my Christmas to go. Got up a bit before midday, breakfast, gift opening, dinner around 6, gave Mum the use of the widescreen TV to watch the Cliff Richard DVD I got her for Xmas (I shall probably have to do the same again sometime today to let her watch her new Andre Rieu DVD a friend got her). Spent Boxing Day mostly sweltering in the heat, spent yesterday afternoon taking photos of the thunderstorm that was building up (and blew up around half past five or so) then went to a crap club at night. Have spent much of this afternoon looking for stuff on DeviantArt.
I intend to spent the rest of the upcoming week programming the first two or three editions of my radio show for this year, and quietly celebrating the fact that I won’t need to go and actually record them until the week after, and probably getting kind of drunk on New Year’s Eve in the middle of it all.
As usual, I went to midnight mass at the old rite Church of the Holy Name, St Peter’s in Adelaide. It was the first Classical Latin mass of the newly ordained Dominican Fr Mannes, a solemn high mass complete with incensation of the crib and special music. We heard Victoria’s motet ‘O Magnum Mysterium’,his mass setting of the same name and the organ was played for the first time since the beginning of Advent. The servers wore cottas with lace borders (which I don’t much care for) and seemed wider awake than usual. We had half an hour of carols from 11.30, mostly traditional English with the congregation of around 250 joining in,although there were a few mediaeval carols for the choir alone. Fr Michael McCaffrey preached eloquently on the Incarnation as God’s greatest gift to Man. Fr Mannes has a fine singing voice — last time I heard him sing it was as sub-deacon intoning the Epistle, done in a festive Mozarabic chant like nothing any of us had heard before. He did pretty well with the special Preface to the Sanctus with the difficult chant around ” sending his only Son to be born as at this time for us”.
For a description of the after-mass party chez moi, see my column in last Saturday’s Australian.
Beware of cheap Christopher Pearson imitations! “……like nothing any of us had heard before…” (?) Please.
The original is beyond parody:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24844942-5013596,00.html
WTF! To think I’ve survived all my life without a real Panama hat. Sure it isn’t a parody column?
Latin Masses? Aren’t they a no-no?
Will comment on other stuff tomorrow. Off to watch Cambridge and Oxford pretending they’re Vikings.
Oh no! No no no! Latin masses are back!
Christmass Day was big family dinner.
Next day, Boxing Day, walked it off
http://www.jovialmonk.com.au/images/TLP/TLP2.htm
Today woke up at 7.00am, decided that was too late to walk the next stage of the Torrens Linear Park, the Adelaide parklands stage. So to the dogpark to give the dog a walk and to practise dog obedience–trial is Wednesday evening.
Back home. breakfast, to Farmers Market for pint organic milk, some veges & fruit. while there decided day wasn’t hot, so me and Demi drove to the brewery and started walking. For four bloody hours! Good fun, took lots photos and dog fell into the creek! Will process photos and create a blog of the walk later.
It is a very sorry day indeed when the Internet is plagued with cheap Christopher Pearson imitators. I was almost fooled, but for the lack of references to Vatican II, Julia Gillard, or how to influence adolescent boys with your choice of neck wear.
And who could beat the original when he can offer Christmas advice like this (and on December 27):
Yesterday we walked back down to Auchenflower from Mt Coot-tha. Mrs T.Rex is hard at work trying to get an article finished for a tier 1 journal by Jan 1, so I doubt much of anything else will be done in terms of outside activity before new years eve. lots of new music to write.
http://www.jovialmonk.com.au/images/TLP/TLP3.htm
Todays walk.
From tomorrow the walks etc files will be in a new folder–tom– not images.
http://www.jovialmonk.com.au/tom. . .
Went visiting an old schoolfriend on 23 December, and got a flat tyre on the way home. Discovered that tyre places are all shut on Christmas Eve. Had Christmas lunch at my sister’s, with the extended family, on the 25th. Went home and mowed the lawn.
Worked on the 26th. Laundry Saturday. Worked today — now typing in a motel room whilst ignoring the late-night movie on the ABC.
Flew back from Brisbane a few hours ago on a plane that was overcrowded even by 2nd world standards. As were Brisbane and Melbourne airports. However Australian airline, airport and security staff remain cheerful, unflappable and pragmatic like few others globally.
Anyway, now toasting, squeezing and generally preparing some quality opium (An Xmas present from Tassie) to poke down a H. Upmann corona (“Pass me my syringe Holmes”) while sipping a rich coffee brew spiked with the jar juice from brandied apricots.
Now I’m gonna light this sucker up while listening to Supreme Beings Of Leisure and/or Chas. Mingus… and see what happens
lite
And having just got round to reading the rest of this thread, what exactly is wrong with a Panama hat pray tell?
I have one m’self and it’s a very effective and stylish piece of headgear – especially when that relentless Mediterranean or Pacific sun is beating down upon you. A good hat band can also store all sorts of stuff that could suffer water or authority damage.
And while we’re banging about how to disport oneself during the festive season, thanks to Geoff for drawing my attention to how Chris. Pearson proposes we spend the festive season.
Looking immediately beyond his brillant parody of Peregrine Crouchback, I can see that Christopher still remains somewhat detached from the rest of us mortals, especially when discussing gentleman’s tailoring.
“Norfolk [Island] is also a good place to find French, Italian and Bond Street men’s silk ties in timeless colours and designs.”
Yes, we’re talking about a man who wouldn’t cross his own country’s borders in search of some good schmutter. Another one of these antipodean scrivners putting on airs by self-consciously refusin’ ‘em.
Shit, this opium-laced cigar is starting to kick in. Time for a little Bach or Pink Floyd I feel. I feel. I feel.
Also how many ties do you need on Norfolk Island?
This comment brought to you by JS Bach’s “Inventions and Sinfonias”
And is not Sinfonia 3, the perfect asssembling your neckerchief action soundtrack ever? Aside from Siouxsie Sioux’s “New Skin”.
Oh lordy, that JS Bach is a bit of a transcendental number cruncher isn’t he. ?
Now this, his finger wavering in front of your nose, should be screened big and loud.
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=-zvCUmeoHpw
Bach just had to imagine that kinda AV budget.
Now securing all means of ingress against any bloke from Porlock.
I had a panama hat years ago. One consequence was that I was accused by a rather unpleasant drunk of looking too raffishly bohemian (which is a bit of an advance on derelict
) Gave it away to a teenager living in the flats next door
Now – to what this thread is really supposed to be about – over Xmas finished reading Tom Holland’s Millenium. After that spent most of my time reading and taking notes from Anne Hulton’s Letters of a Loyalist Lady. Found it fascinating.
Dipped into various other history books I’ve just got from Amazon etc.You know the way it is when you get a pile of new books at once – you’re never quite sure where to start.
Sat. reading, watched The Bill. Reqading etc again.
Sunday ditto. Watched Princes in the Tower. (Why is holiday TV programming so repetitively boring. Have the ABC run out of money?) At least the new Dr Who set in Dickension London with 2 Dr. Whos and battling the Cyberman looks interesting. Due in January on ABC. (Believe me the various clips on YouTube are of a ghastly quality. Pirates, I suspect.)
oh yesterday i did manage to make this – http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=0rKHfO9NRXo
Tyro, that was brilliant. Have sent it round to a few people to cheer them up after Xmas. Much appreciated.
A Holiday Hypothetical for y’all:
On the day after Boxing Day you’re driving alone from Robe back to Adelaide after a delightful 24 hours in a beach house with friends. Halfway up the most remote stretch of the Princes Highway, you see a turnoff sign saying ‘Pelican Observation Point’. You think you might as well observe some pelicans, a bird you find hilarious, and also have a proper close-up look at what’s left of the Coorong before it completely dies.
At the end of a meandering two km limestone gravel road, you come to a turnaround by the water. You grab your camera and open the car door, whereupon a stench as of two or three acres of very salty human shit, under the blazing midday sun, sickens, stuns and disorients you: the stink of the tail-end of a murdered river. You stumble down to the “water” and take two or three pics of the sandy and watery places where birds used to be, and halfway back to the car you realise that the only thing you have in your hands is your camera.
You run the rest of the way back to your car but really you already know that 17 years of living in Melbourne inner suburbs have left their mark: the car is locked. You always unconsciously lock it when you get out of it. Clad only in a sleeveless dress and non-sturdy sandals, sunglassesless and sunblockless, you gaze longingly through the windows at the keys in the ignition; at your handbag on the passenger seat, which contains your spare car key and your mobile with the RAA’s number in it; at your lovely big hat, full water bottle and comfortable walking shoes. There are no trees and no other shade from the blazing midday sun. You are fair-skinned and prone to sunstroke, dehydration and skin cancer. You have had all of them. They are all not just horrible but potentially life-threatening.
After half an hour, only one car has appeared. The people in it, including at least one adult male, have taken the frantic ‘Please wind down the window and speak to me’ gestures of a sunburnt 164 cm middle-aged woman in a hippieish dress as the mad spasms of a murderous serial killer and have driven away again without stopping. Did I mention the blazing midday sun?
What do you do?
Smash a rear passenger window with a rock.
Paul Baurns @ 19 : glad you enjoyed it!
PC, that’s dreadful. I’m afraid I’d have broken the window (and then fibbed to the insurance company in order to get it replaced).
“You are fair-skinned and prone to sunstroke, dehydration and skin cancer. You have had all of them.”
Check. On all counts, yor honar.
Also paranoid, as an any ex- Melbournian, and knowing my capacity to mindlessly lock the keys inside, I have installed a spare key in a magnetic case under the car. It would probably take me about five minutes to find where I have so cleverly concealed it. I could pretend I was looking for an oil leak if there was a crowd around.
I keep a “right sized” piece of wire stashed on the outside of the car so I can break in to it if I lock me keys inside, without smashing a window. Can take me a while to jiggle the button up, but it works.
Don’t know how to break into your car? Check first – some modern cars have theftproof door locks. Most older ones don’t.
Well indeed. I was so angry with the people who drove away that this was quite a satisfying thing to do, too. Fortunately there were plenty of rocks to hand.
WWKD? (What Would Keanu Do?): Shoot the hostage. I hope the window made a satisfying crunch.
I also suffer the hereditary Sun-Curse of Whitey, and I’ve wanted a Panama hat for yonks. I’m persuaded by people who care each time the urge comes over me that it’s a garment forever tainted by Brian Burke… but then that’s really why I want one.
Dirk Bogarde in Death in Venice killed the Panama hat for me well before Brian Burke, Liam.(see below) Come to think of it, …no I wont go there.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/images/issue/420/death-in-venice_420.jpg
Maybe you could just build a brim onto the beret or just settle for a Pork Pie.
Dear Dr Cat,
You’ve always struck me as a convert to “the great indoors”, someone who needed no reminder that nature is red in tooth and claw and that summer landscapes can turn into chaos and existential terror at the drop of a hat. I think you’d look very fetching in a Panama, talking of hats, but no doubt a straw picture hat with black or dark blue ribbons would suit you better and doubtless provide more cover.I tend to associate Panamas with the wonderful film version of ‘Our Man in Havana’ and very delicate linen-like shades of cream.
Smash the passenger side rear seat window. Reach in, open the passenger side front door. Climb in, retrieve key. Open driver’s door. Climb in. Drive away.
So what DID you do?
Tick.
This assumes a reach. Alas, it’s 2-door car with front-door locks way up towards the dash. Fortunately I was able to hoik the spare-key-containing handbag off the front seat and finagle the key out of it without severing an artery.
Indeed, but not before removing several tiny yet painful splinters of glass from my person with the tweezers thoughtfully provided in the small first-aid kit I keep in the car, and cutting off the flapping bits of window-tinting film with shattered glass stuck to them, using the small scissors thoughtfully provided etc.
See comment #25, and immediately above.
CP @ #28, is that really you? I should’ve connected the dots between holiday dramas and Panama hats in the original saga, n’est-ce pas?
I was thinking that P.C. rubbed two sticks together, created smoke signals that alerted the passing R.A.A. who always carry a coathanger or a brick.
Dear Dr Cat,
Yes it is…see second item. The phrase “the great indoors” comes from Gordon Barrett, now bewigged and a judge, who grew up at Warooka and famously has no patience with the coutryside whatsoever. While the cool weather lasts, let’s have lunch.
This is supposed to be LAZY Sunday, PC.
The Coorong haunts me. My best friend from Adelaide, who died in 2000, loved that place very much and used to camp there a lot. If she were alive today she would be beyond unhappy.
@32 – we really do need to get some social network functions in LP next year! If people are going to eschew FB and use us for making lunch appointments, then we should go with the flow!