Dreams

A recent Sunday drive took us through the hinterland area north west of Brisbane. It's a place of dreams - buy a little farm, a few solar panels, self sufficient garden and watch nature in action.

Glasshouse Mountains in the background.

Cool kids

My nephews stayed entertained at breakfast while the adults talked girl talk.

Janet & Alex's Wedding

Janet and Luke aka Alex married on Saturday 8th November at the Treasury Conrad Hotel in Brisbane to a flurry of Medieval trumpets and the release of 500 white doves. Well, maybe I made up the bit about the trumpets and doves. With 50 guests, the location ensured that it was a classy and tasteful affair and yet the ceremony and reception managed to capture the happy couple's relaxed and stylish approach to life. The bride beamed like the sun on a scorchin' summer's day and the groom spent most of the cermony with a faint blush upon his cheeks and leaking eyes. It was a delight to watch them exchange their vows, Alex whispering and Janet loud and clear, while the celebrant managed to get Janet's name wrong almost every time.

I was even more delighted to have been asked to give the reading during the ceremony. 'What would you like me to read? I asked the bride when she personally asked me (by email!) to be part of their special day. 'Oh, anything you like. You can write something if you like'. Great, no pressure then. In accordance with all such important tasks I left it till the last minute and spent part of the day before the wedding writing the little piece below.

Now, I've given readings before. I'm made public speeches. I was MC at my sister's wedding and it's been many a family celebration where the three sisters have collectively risen to the challenge of speaking before loved ones. So, it was great surprise that I walked down the aisle to stand before Janet and Alex, and faced the other guests, only to find Janet looking like an excited possum in a fruit shop and Alex visibly emotional. As I read, my voice wavering in a couple of places, I kept thinking 'Remember to look at the bride and groom and out at the audience'. As I tried this I found that everytime I looked at Janet I just wanted to touch her and embrace her. And everytime I focused on Alex he seemed to cry even more, which almost triggered my tear tendency in sympath.

The whole evening was lovely. Fifty guests was a lovely size, the location was wonderful, the food impressive and the DJ's music very danceable. A couple of warm speeches from siblings and cutting of the cake secured the formalities of the evening.

The thing that struck me the most was just how totally happy they both looked. Let's hope that our best wishes and their genuine love keeps them on that path as (as Janet summed it up in a text message) eternal partners.

Janet & Alex’s Wedding Day Reading

May your marriage today be born from the desire to love one another,
With a purity of heart, soul, body and mind.
May you love with open generosity and intimate gestures.
May life grant you patience, tolerance and understanding, and
Together may you embrace true compromise, caring and commitment.

May you recognise that when you love someone, you do not love them all the time,
In exactly the same way, from moment to moment.
Knowing that, may you have faith in the ebb and flow of the tide of life, of love, of relationships.
And so may you trust in each other, and the continuity of your love,
Knowing the only truth is the continuity of change and growth.

May you delight in the mystery of each other, physical and spiritual,
May you reveal secrets knowing they won’t be held against you,
And love when the other is unlikeable
Learn that to listen is the key to the equality and synchronicity you already share.
May your partnership not so much fill the emptiness as to help you discover your fullness.

May you share happiness and may you find it making each other happy
May you have love and may you find it loving one another.
May you have the humility and strength to take the first steps towards each other if you fall.
And may you never neglect the little graces.

May you remember that marriages do not fail, people fail
When they enter into marriage expecting another to make them whole.
Knowing this, may you take full responsibility for you individual selves
And may you take half the responsibility for your marriage,
For together you create a marriage

May you have a life lived simply and passionately, and may you experience a marriage fully alive
May this partnership, blushing with potential, mature into a golden marriage of which this wedding day can only hint at.

This day is your gift to each other, as you stand here today full of that potential and these promises.

Marinated Eggplant Recipe

Here it is, the recipe that friends have been chasing for years now. Make and enjoy.

 

Ingredients: eggplant, chilli, garlic, parsley, salt, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil

 

1. Cut a large fresh eggplant into thin slices straight down from the top to the base. You can choose to salt eggplant if you like but we don't bother.
2. On a hot plate/grill cook the individual slices until well cooked and browned. This process dries out the eggplant and prepares it for the marinating.
3. In a large flat dish (eg lasagne dish is good) place the sliced eggplant down in layers with generous amounts of finely cut garlic, parsley and chill (fresh red chillies or dried chilli flakes are okay) (to taste) dispersed through it. Salt to taste.
4. Drown the eggplant in equal measures of balsamic vinegar and good quality extra virgin olive oil. Mix through. It must be covering all of the eggplant.
5. This is the hard bit. You need to wait, let it sit and marinate, overnight preferable, in the fridge.
6. Before eating it take it out of the fridge, mix again and let the olive oil etc come to room temperature so the flavours enhance.
7. Great eaten with fresh crusty bread before a meal, as a snack, as part of a salad or on a sandwich.
8. It will keep in the fridge, covered, for some time, but it hardly lasts any time whenever we make it for friends.

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Kebabs at Nonno's

We've moved

We're into our new "villa apartment" and the boxes are unpacked. With a suite of new furniture and a new mattress arriving on Saturday we are flush with materialism and consumerism. The internet and electricity are connected and we have free local and national calls. If only I didn't spend all day at work answering the phone I might feel inclined to use it after work.

We have taken to walking to and from the supermarket, just as we did in Naples. The street turns into a farmer's market strip once a month, with fresh produce and other goodies just waiting to be snapped up in the sunshine.

The Thai restaurant just across the road does a decent green chicken curry. The local bakery makes a mean apple turnover too. There are a couple of cafes so with time we'll check our their coffee making ability. The Mexican, Swiss and Chinese restaurants look interesting but not very vegan friendly for Gigi. The fish and chip shop keeps calling my name but still I resist.

I'm very excited about the public transport links. The train station is 4 minutes walk away and the trains run every 10 minutes or so. The bus connections are also very handy.

It's all coming together slowly, thanks to some great friends who have helped us move and the generosity of my parents who accomodated some of our more treasured belongings while we were in Italy.

We will be having a house warming soon. But for the friends that live out of Brisbane come and stay sometime. Visitors are always welcome.

Dinner with Nick and Connie

Paddington Pleasures

Esther, Gigi and I met at Paddington for a stolen lunch at one of the local cafes. Here are some of the happy snaps of a pleasurable moment in Paddington.

Enoggera Reservoir

There's a little waterhole near Mum and Dad's house at The Gap. It's called the Enoggera Reservoir. Gi and I went for a Sunday walk recently and it was fantastic to see the water and local birdlife. We are told that during the worst of the drought it was dry and the surrounding wildlife was struggling. It is now full of the flurry of bird activities, bell birds, whip birds and wild ducks. During our walk we witnessed the damage done by bushfires and drought, with a row of trees uprooted and fallen into the water along the edge of the dam. I took Esther to the reservoir and we wandered along the bush track.

I pointed out the golden wattle and Esther was surprised to learn that it is our native floral emblem, featuring on the crest underneath the kangaroo and emu.

Such wonderful natural green and water spaces in your backyard.

Esther enjoys the Enoggera Reservoir.

Australia's native Wattle, features on the national emblem.

Bushfire damage, and trees uprooting due to drought damage.