Mamalade

Oh, what a beautiful morning…..
Spring has really come at last. It was a pleasure to stand in the warm sunshine to hang out the washing this morning. Buddy came and sat on the path behind me, baring his teeth and rubbing his slobbery grin up and down my leg. In case this is your first visit to my site, I had better explain - Buddy is my delinquent tabby cat. Whatever were you thinking!!

Thoughts on washing

Its funny, the things that go through your mind when you are hanging out washing.
I’ve been trying to balance the weight of the washing on the lines since I noticed one day, looking from my neighbour’s kitchen, that my clothes hoist tilted a bit with all the heavy winter clothes on one side. Sometimes we need to look from another’s perspective to see if we are a bit unbalanced….

I always hang my undies on the inside lines so the neighbours won’t see them, though some one once suggested “They might think you don’t wear any!”

When I was first married I used to colour co-ordinate the washing as I hung it up. I couldn’t bear to have clashing colours hanging side by side. I’ve heard of people using matching pegs but I never went that far. Once, my neighbour told me he was up fixing his roof, and looked down on my washing. He said it looked so colourful he climbed down and got his camera and took a photo for his family in England because they don’t have clothes hoists there!

Remember the days when we used to boil the clothes in a copper? Well, I didn’t, but I remember the one my mother had. One of my friends told me how she and her sister smuggled a tin of condensed milk amongst the clothes in the copper so it would turn into caramel as the clothes boiled. Unfortunately they left it too long and the tin burst. Their mother was not very impressed with her caramel flavoured sheets!

I’m not really procrastinating….I’ve written the first draft of my speech. I don’t like it so far, but at least I’ve done something!

Spring at Toastmasters

“Spring” was the theme of our last Toastmasters meeting. I picked some daisies from my garden to put on the tables. It was another good meeting. A new member gave an excellent “Icebreaker” speech and an experienced Toastmaster gave a 20-minute speech that was so interesting, the 20 minutes just flew.

TEAR meeting

For some time I’ve been meaning to visit a local “TEAR” group. TEAR is an overseas aid group (something like World Vision, which I am involved in.) Last weekend I was able to attend their meeting. It was very interesting. A guest speaker talked about her recent visit to Cambodia, where she stayed with a young missionary couple.

She said no one could possibly imagine what it is like to live in a country like Cambodia - the constant fear, poverty, and corruption, etc.

The country is still full of landmines - the ratio is one landmine for each Cambodian. As a result, fields that could be used to grow food have been left unattended because they probably contain landmines.

Prostitution is very common, because it is the only way some can earn money to feed their families and of course AIDS is rife. TB is also very prevalent.

There is practically no sanitation and you have to watch where you walk.

One of the saddest things is, there are no flowers or parks. No provision for recreation of any kind.

We just don’t realise how lucky we are.

We spent the rest of the meeting talking about Jubilee 2000 and writing letters to politicians about cancelling the unpayable debts of the poorer countries.

World Vision meeting

Our World Vision Club also met this week. I got them all to sign the letter I had written at the TEAR meeting.

We discussed the situation in East Timor. World Vision is sending staff and supplies to both East and West Timor.

Our club’s project this month is the Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia. The doctors at this hospital repair the terrible injuries caused by a difficult unaided childbirth. This is one of our favourite projects - ’specially since we borrowed the video “Labour of Love” from the World Vision office and saw what wonderful work is being done to restore the lives of these women. Most of them had been outcasts in their society and will travel on foot for days to get to the hospital. When they are healed, they are given a new dress and are sent home by bus to start a new life.

We had received a letter from the Indian boy our club sponsors. He is almost grown up now and is learning tailoring. It’s good to know that he has the opportunity to become a tailor rather than a beggar.

We are going to have a social morning in a few weeks. We couldn’t decide what kind so it’s going to be a Mystery Morning. Sometime between now and then we have to come up with some ideas!

It’s happened again! Every September, the Minglers Club from our church puts on a really good bus trip. Every September, I put my name down for the trip and buy a ticket. Every September, I come down with a cold or flu and have to cancel at the last minute!

I was really looking forward to going to the Chelsea Flower Show and Art and Crafts Show at Laidley, to spend a day relaxing with my friends, and to have something different to write about. Instead I’ve spent most of the day in bed with a streaming nose and a pile of soggy tissues.

I spent the morning dozing and reading old history books, desperately seeking inspiration for my next Toastmasters speech, “Bringing history to life.” I rashly said I would “do” one for the meeting after next. I have no idea what historical story to tell. There’s so much to choose from.

If I don’t update this Newsletter for a couple of weeks, it will be because I’m working on my speech. Then again, I just might update while I’m busy procrastinating.

Father’s Day. At church this morning, the youth pastor was wearing a sparkling crown - made from bright blue cardboard, orange patty cake papers and sprinkles of glitter. It was a Father’s Day present.

We had a family gathering at Mum and Dad’s today. The kids had fun this afternoon, chasing one another around the Lychee tree in the back yard. Miles joined in, whooping and shrieking with delight. He’s only 17 months old, but he thinks he’s “one of the boys” now. Little Matthew (3 months younger) is quieter. He just stood back and watched the fun with a big smile on his face.

We are having lovely spring weather now. It’s so good to get out of those heavy winter clothes at last. Have you ever thought, just how useful the weather is? What else would we talk about when we don’t know what to say? Yesterday, a man I know only slightly was queued in front of me at the supermarket checkout. What do you say, after you’ve said hello, when you don’t really know the person? It feels awkward to just stand in silence after you’ve acknowledged them. Anyway, one of us said “Isn’t it a lovely day?” and next thing he was telling me how his family had emigrated from England years ago.

I hate conversations that consist solely of small talk. But it sure is useful as a starting point.