The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 24 November 2020 - 13 December 2020
"Happy Christmas From Kalorama."
November 24thThe Western Australia election is on in a few months time. The WA Liberals are in shambles . Liza Harvey quits as Liberal leader, after endless terrible polling. Labor leader Mark McGowans amazing approval rating is at 89%-mind blowing.Our lawn mower died, no doubt i will be spending the next few weeks trying to repair it. I am hoping Santa (or my family) give me some Bunnings vouchers this Christmas so i can but a new one- now that would be the perfect Christmas present. A bit pathetic that a new mower is all I want for Christmas. HA! No thought of world peace or a cheque for $2.5 million or a magic box that gives me endless chocolate. November 25thI plant some Gazania flowers in the little pots on our decking. A bit more colour amid all that evil jasmine. It's a good time to plant bits & pieces around the yard. All this sunshine and some rain.Mark is obsessed over my school reports that we found in a box. I was a bit shocked at how well I did at school, especially with all the domestic turmoil happening around me. I looked at some of Markys reports too and they are equally as impressive. November 26thI continue wrapping some of MIMs "100 presents" and each one is numbered. Good they are wrapped, adds more fun to Christmas morning for her.We give Toija and Maz a call on their birthdays- sending Birthday wishes to them both. November 27thVictoria is now 28 days Covid free- no new infections, no old infections and no deaths. Amazing.I decide to have a bus adventure and for the first time i run for the bus. I'm late but also for the first time the bus is late-so i'm happy. I make it onboard. The usual cheery bus driver is on today. he always plays great music for my 6 minute journey. 760 reply emails around ALTs live release this morning. Feels like the old days. November 28thIt's such an incredible time of year up here. Kalorama exceptionally lush and the Covid restrictions slowly going, it seems very alive. The tourist trade still isn't over the top, but you notice the not so locals up here on the weekends.A family of Kookaburras has arrived, one must certainly be related to Andy. She lives a few blocks away in Andys old tree , so probably one of her babies. Looks exactly like her. November 29thI catch up with Andy White and buy 3 copies of his latest CD from him. I get them signed as well, music is always a great Christmas present. Thanks Andy.I spend some very late nights sending and replying to emails. I look up and it is 3.00 in the morning and there is a creature running on the decking in front of the office. I look out the door and it is Mr Fox- and his rather extreme bushy tail. He stops, sits and stares at me . I just say "hello" and close the door. Off he goes into the darkness. I was tempted to sing Sweets "Fox On The Run" but the neighbours would think I'm crazy. November 30th25 years ago today the magnificent ALT played Tramps in NYC. So in honour of that fine performance, the live show is now up on the internet. https://andywhiteireland.bandcamp.comI jump on the bus and head to Olinda. I'm still loving these mini bus rides. I find some cool Moroccan Rice packs at The Deli. Basque company (with love) based here in Australia makes them. Mountain Ash is open today so I find a few more items for Maddisons giant Christmas Box. In the afternoon I plant some of the Halloween pumpkin seeds in the garden and down by the main gates. I've put some aside for Wendy & Doug-mostly decorative. They just add something to the vegetable patch. I hear from Nick Seymour today so that is really nice. I rarely ever talk about Crowdies with him, sometimes a little question will pop into my head so he may get a band related email around that. Sometimes i ask a surf question. The new Crowded House single has disappeared without a trace. I never even checked to see if it had a real release. I'm guessing only an MP3. Which is a bit sad, ignoring their amazing collector fan market. I wish them well. December 1stSticking with our tradition-up goes the Christmas Tree. A hard call this year-a real tree that will eventually be planted in the yard like so many others, our fibre optic seventies tree or my pop art creation. Mark likes the Pop Art one, so I go with his call. I created this a few years ago-made from some of the original boards of Ailsa Craig-which makes it 93 years old! I add things to each of the limbs- micro disco balls, Nepal christmas figures, little felt creations made by our French friend Isabelle. A very old deco star on top. I'm surprised how good it looks. We top it off with some blinking Christmas reindeer/tree on the wooden plantation blinds behind it. I had the first few Christmas cards that have arrived. I find a Star Trek Captain Kirk tree decoration so that goes on as well. It looks ridiculous so naturally I love it.When Mark was in the shower I sneaked off and ordered him Bill Wymans photo book- "Stones From The Inside". Thankfully it will arrive before Christmas. Another present done (tick). December 2ndI catch up with Mary and some mates at Montage. I stuff MIMs giant Xmas present box into the back of Marys car, determined to get it mailed today. One less giant item for the plane. A few other presents are inside so I certainly will be travelling light when I venture home.Montage is rather wild today, not sure if it's some lingering craziness from Lockdown or just the perfect weather outside. The world seems rather frisky. December 3rdMark put together a Bluray of the Ronnie Woods "Somebody Up There Likes Me" documentary. Not bad, I love the pre-Stones footage as much as the main course. Ronnie's such a talented artist.I was going to the post office box but got side tracked by Ranger Rick and some blackberry picking. Not much on yet, going to be a late blackberry season. I end up with enough for a mere 12 jars of Blackberry Jam. I scraped the cooking pot for the final bits to have on some toast. OK it is a really good batch. Oh well 12 lucky presents. Thankfully Marks plant rash is finally going. It's taken weeks. He sounds happier too. Now if he will just stop itching. December 4thWe watch "JUDY". A lot better then we expected. Renee Zellweger was terrific as Judy Garland.Also "The Flight Attendant" debuts. Good ol' Penny from Big Bang Theory as the lead. Kaley Cuoco plays it perfectly. Pass another Vodka someone! December 5thThe lawn mower is still stuffed. I'm kind of avoiding it. The East lawn is now rather high! The best part is that thousands of Summer daisys have exploded everywhere, so they kind of make the lawn area look magnificent.December 6thLots of birthdays today and my parents would of been married 61 years .We spend the evening watching the AACTA awards. The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts. The first part which was Film was really good, the second part-Australian TV nowhere near as good. Still it was our first time watch the AACTA's and we enjoyed it. Covid and social distancing added something to the show, not sure what but I think it may of been a positive. Think we both should sign on up for the AACTA. It's on my 'to do" list. December 7thI mail the Kim and Kelly sisters the last 2 copies of Wings Off Flies. They are sample copies we used at the book launch and record fairs, so the covers a bit dented but the content mint. Signed and tidied up a bit- they both love music so hopefully these final "Wings" will go to good homes.An excellent new episode of "Euphoria" . Just Rue and Ali in a Diner but it's potent. Great music as well, as always. It will be a good day for TV when they can finally film entire seasons of this fine show. Trump is acting like such a spoilt prat, just lying and delusional now and the courts continue to turf out his legal challenges. One has to laugh, his brain dead sheep keep donating money- to a Billionaire. Suckers. At least he will go down in history as the President who "lost the most times". Awesome Christmas Card arrives from Liz Logan. Love it! December 8thBig thanks to David Jones. A $20 Voucher arrives. I rarely use my DJ's card but this is cool. I find something online and it works out to be $19.95. Cool.There is a really ancient dead wreath on one of the trees in the park. Maybe from an Anzac day long gone. So i get into the Christmas Spirit and head on down with a golden angel and hang it in the middle of the wreath. Now that looks much better. People walking by might get a smile from it. happy Christmas. December 9th"A True Revolution Has No Allies"!I wake up very early, and escape to Olinda for a coffee. Montage is very different in the mornings, the staff poking fun at each other, at me, at the world. Bruce & Jean arrive early so they score one of my Blackberry Jams. I do some solo yard work around the vegetable rock area. A young lizard appears and sits on a rock and just watches me for an entire hour. He's sunning himself but keeps one weary eye open on the human digging about nearby. December 10thI dig out Mums recipe and start work on a Christmas Pudding. I like that bit of tradition. I remember the family lucky sixpences formula and put in 4 sixpences this year. With the pudding on the boil it certainly is feeling like Christmas. Even a wreath on the door encircled with Kalorama holly. My Mum calls several times-just checking that i haven't "stuffed up the pudding". She is great. I can't imagine a day when she isn't on the phone and having a laugh with me. That will be a sad moment.I scribble down a few ideas to help a few charities this christmas. Just secretly with no fuss. Maybe mentioning it on hear means 'some fuss'-hope not. December 11thWe get a card from Sally in the UK & a cute picture of her little pink suitcase. It would always accompany her on Sals visits to Oz. Cute!Fen and Giles visit at 1.30 and it's laughter from the moment they arrive. A massive armful of Christmas presents- all incredible. We head off for a late bite to eat and I shout everyone. I go for a quick shop with Fenella to Butlers and Mountain Ash. The boys are chatting away still at Montage when we finally return. It's great to see F+G and a nice way to spend the afternoon. Marks clicks on the laptop and the terrible news that 300,000 are now dead from Covid in America. That would be the equivalent of our entire hometown Wollongong having it's entire population die! A sad day for America. December 12thDonald trump loses his Supreme Court bid. Good! Looks like his back up plan to fill the Supreme Court with his own people backfired. This is what happens when you have no real evidence, just delusional dribble.Congratulations Samuel Blake and team for cracking the Zodiac Killers 340 Cipher. Melbourne based mathematician did it. After 51 years of people trying, and Americas technology etc all failed. Amazing! December 13thJust 11 days till Christmas. Not long eh? 2020 feels a lot like a dream, some may say nightmare. There are some good things coming from Covid- less car pollution, a lot of families actually get to sit around the dinner table and talk, a lot of us appreciate things that we probably previously took for granted, maybe Covid deaths helped turf Chump from the White House?, Australians got to appreciate their hard working Premiers a lot more. I'm just happy that so many of our friends and family have so far survived this pandemic.On that note- have a great Christmas, stay safe and be kind to a stranger! Peter & Mark (Kalorama 2020). |