"More than a Woman"

 More Than a Woman is by Caitlin Moran and all I can say is"Wow". In a series of essays - sometimes hilarious and sometimes heart wrenching - Moran takes us through the realities of life for the middle aged and menopausal woman, a time which she calls Hagdom. This references the Hag who appears in so many old stories and who is a woman beyond child rearing years,usually wizened and/or ugly but who possess wisdom - hard earned wisdom at that - which she uses to good effect. I'm not sure I want to be defined as a Hag - these women tended to be outcasts of society and often feared - but I get what she means. These are women who have moved past relying on their youth and appearance to live with acceptance of who they are as they age. In another time and place they would be the healers or the wise women of their society but in our youth obsessed world they are the largely invisible glue holding society together.

I found myself identifying with so much of what she wrote that I was reading aloud bits that strongly resonated to my sometimes bemused husband. Apparently a quote out of context can be confusing. Who'd have thought. Moran talks about many of the things that men and women have to deal with in the present world, some of them troubling, others amusing, and shares some very personal moments and experiences along with the ubiquitous To Do List that she quite rightly says every woman has either mentally or written down.

While I'm still not too sure I want to be a Hag I have to admit I have today's To Do List in front of me so maybe I've already missed my chance to be anything else. 

Jokes aside I do highly recommend this book. While it's aimed at women men would also gain a lot from it, if only a glimpse and some insight into the reality of women's lives. 

More Than a Woman is published by Edbury Publishing.

To Everything There Is A Season

I don't listen to the radio much but Pisces has it on all the time. He carries a small radio in his pocket so when he walks past I inevitably get a sound bite. Usually I don't pay much attention to whatever it is because I'm really not into talk back radio and the stations he listens to rarely have music I care about. The other day, though, there was a blast from the past that seemed incredibly appropriate to what's going on in these pandemic days. 

What I heard was Turn Turn Turn. This is a song written way back in the fifties by folk singer Pete Seeger who used (rearranging the order and slightly altering) the words of the first eight verses of the third chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the King James version of the Bible. He added the words of the title - Turn Turn Turn - as a refrain which repeats throughout the song and as well as the words "I swear it's not too late." as the final line of the song to make a connection with the anti war feeling of the times.

It became hugely popular during the sixties when it was released by US group The Byrds reaching number one on the charts in both the US and UK although it had earlier been recorded by folk group The Limelighters and then by folk singer Judy Collins who was to release another version later in 1969. After The Byrds success covers were released by whole host of singers and it is still being included albums today.

I have no idea who that singer on Pisces' radio was but whoever it was it inspired me to go and look at various versions of this song and among them I found a video of Judy Collins in 1966 which I loved. I'd like to share it with you. Enjoy.

Friends In Low Places

 I've had this song stuck in my head for a couple of weeks ever since I watched the Celtic Thunder version with Ryan Kelly as the soloist.

While I enjoyed that performance I have no idea why the song got itself so embedded since I wasn't a great fan of the Garth Brookes original but there you go.  

Then last night it suddenly struck me that it would work very well as a cappella and it turns out I'm not the only one who's had that thought.  Here is country music a cappella group Home Free and their cover of Friends in Low Places. Enjoy.

"The Devil Went Down to Georgia"

I love skilled fiddle playing and so for today's sliver of joy I give you Celtic Thunder's Ryan Kelly performing "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" with Nicole Hudson playing the violin.

Enjoy. 

Forest Xylophone

I've been struggling to find much more than a sliver of joy in life at the moment - although I do have to say having a four year old throw herself onto your lap and wrap her arms around you for no other reason than she is pleased to see you and to have a one year old's face light up when he sees you are pretty pleasurable slivers. 

Given the times we're living in we need to treasure such moments so I've decided - instead of dwelling on the mess we're in - I'm going to share anything which gives me pleasure for a while. The same friend who posted "Those Were The Days" found this lovely video. I gather it's been around for quite a while - it was made made as part of an advertisement some years ago - but this is the first time I've seen it. Here in the middle of a forest a wooden xylophone plays. Enjoy.

"Those Were the Days" sung by Mary Hopkin.

 I've been trying to write a blog post about how time has gone mad during the pandemic and frankly it was just too depressing to finish.  Then a friend of mine started putting up links to songs from way back when and this one by Mary Hopkin came up among them. It struck a chord with me, nostalgia for the "good old days" being something a lot of us are feeling these days. I hope you like it. 

I Haven't Been Ignoring You - Truly

  - although it might have seemed like it. My absence was due to a technology fail. It's quite a saga which left us without a home phone and internet for several weeks. 

I'll tell you what happened - but first for those of you who aren't Australian - a bit of history. Way back in 2009 the then Australian Labor government announced they would be establishing a National Broadband Network which would replace our ageing copper network with fibre to every home giving us internet speeds to bring us up to date. Then Labor lost the next election and the incoming LNP Coalition government said it was too expensive and instead those of us who weren't already fortunate enough to be connected would have to have a fibre to the node system with a node in the street and using the existing and less than efficient copper network for the actual connection to the house. (The LNP are still in government and have decided - now that the predicted failings of this system are obvious to all but with most households connected by it - they'll have to retrofit the whole network at enormous cost - but that's politics for you. It doesn't have to make sense.)

As I said the bulk of homes are now connected and the NBN has finally reached our suburb which meant we needed to connect before November when the current service to the area will be cut off.  The NBN is a wholesaler so you have to work through a retailer which then connects you by modem to the network. I did a bit of research, found a deal that suits us and signed up. There were a number of steps to take over a couple of weeks until the NBN technician came and connected us a week or so ago - except we didn't connect. Nothing worked. No landline, no internet. The only working phone was my mobile. 

I contacted the ISP which ran some tests and informed us that it was a fault with the NBN. They then arranged for an appointment with an NBN technician which took place after another week or so. A very helpful technician came today and finally we are connected. 

So it's all good, isn't it. Well, yes, except our internet outage came at a bad time for us. We had a serious health problem to deal with this week and I needed to do a lot of what was associated with it - like hospital admission forms and dealing with emails from various specialists - online. This meant I had to use my mobile phone as a hotspot. As I only have a small amount of data available on my mobile plan (I don't use my phone much for the internet) it has left me out of pocket because I had to buy a lot of additional data. Sigh. At least the health problem is now being treated and all on that front looks like it will be well in the long run.