Piggly Wiggly

My heart hurt this morning when an Australian news presenter asked an American gossip guru "What is a Piggly Wiggly?" All of my southern sensibilities were crushed. So for all of you Australians unfamiliar with this institution of Dixie here is a little info straight from the Piggly Wiggly website in their history section. Piggly Wiggly®, America's first true self-service grocery store, was founded in Memphis, Tennessee in 1916 by Clarence Saunders. In grocery stores of that time, shoppers presented their orders to clerks who gathered the goods from the store shelves. Saunders, a flamboyant and innovative man, noticed this method resulted in wasted time and man hours, so he came up with an unheard-of solution that would revolutionize the entire grocery industry: he developed a way for shoppers to serve themselves.

Saunders' reason for choosing the intriguing name Piggly Wiggly ® remains a mystery; he was curiously reluctant to explain its origin. One story is that he saw from a train window several little pigs struggling to get under a fence, and the rhyming name occurred to him then. Someone once asked him why he had chosen such an unusual name for his organization, and Saunders' reply was, "So people will ask that very question." He wanted and found a name that would be talked about and remembered.Piggly Wiggly always reminds me of going to Alabama as a kid. I loved it when my Mom took me to the grocery store just because I loved saying the name. It is more than just a grocery store, it is a cultural icon. The store is referenced in tons of movies including one of Matt's favorites, Sweet Home Alabama. There is even a novel out called novel Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly by Robert Dalby.

Matt did want me to point out that while Australia doesn't have a Piggly Wiggly they do have a Purple Pig where you can buy all sorts of rubber products, clamps, insulation and PVC piping.

Autumn in Australia

It is autumn here in Melbourne. The weather is getting colder and I have been pulling sweaters out of their summer hiding places. We went with Mick and Bec up to Daylesford and Hepburn Springs (about an hour outside of Melbourne) for a look around at these quaint towns known for their spas and Swiss/Italian heritage. There was actually supposed to be a festival going on but the weather wasn't great so we reached the tents just as they were closing up. We still had a great time looking around at antique shops and vintage clothing stores.

We drove up to the top of Wombat Hill in Daylesford to go to the Convent Gallery. This building was originally built during the 1860's goldrush as a private residence but the Catholic Church acquired it 20 years later and converted it into a convent and boarding school for girls. The building was converted into an art gallery in 1988 having closed in 1973 and fallen into disrepair. One of the nun's quarters was left as an example of convent life. The room was tiny, tiny, tiny. The inside of the building was gorgeous full of stained glass windows. The art displayed was ok. They have a cafe downstairs called the "Bad Habits Cafe" which I thought was rather witty play on words. Get it? Nuns...habits...bad habits?? Anyway, I thought it was cute.

We were looking for the Macaroni Factory in Hepburn Springs and according the the lady at the filling station we must have passed it three times but I never saw it so we headed on to Lavandula which is a lavender farm with barnyards, a vineyard, olive and chestnut groves and a restored Italian farmhouse. The weather was becoming stormy and the lavender plants had been pruned so I wouldn't say we saw everything at the most beautiful stage. I lifted this lovely picture from their website. I LOVED the animal farm. We braved the mud to pet pigs and chase chickens. I was trying to take pictures of the donkey but he just kept trying to chew on my camera so I got a fantastic close up of his nose. There was a sheep shearing stall that had been converted into an art gallery which was pretty cool.

On the way back to Melbourne we made one more stop. We stopped off at one of the hand pumps offering the mineral water the area is famous for. People came with bags full of empty bottles to fill up with this water chock a block full of natural goodness. Bec warned me it may be good for you but isn't too tasty. We filled up a bottle and after a bit of coaxing from my friends and another couple there I finally tasted the spring's mineral water. I should have stopped at the smell. Delicious carbonated rotten egg. Actually it wasn't the worst I've had. Growing up in Florida I've come across some seriously sulphur flavored water. And surprise, surprise there was a sign on the way up the hill with the name of this particular spring, Sulphur Springs. Yummy!

My First ANZAC Day

So waking up at 3:30 am is never high on my agenda but I am so glad I did today. The Dawn Service for ANZAC Day (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp) started at 5:45 at the Shrine of Remembrance in downtown Melbourne. We took the train in from the suburbs thinking parking would probably be hard to come by. The trains were pretty full with families, young people and veterans in uniform. We were all in stark contrast with the groups of sweaty "out all night" clubbers getting on the train to go home. I thought there would be a few people, maybe a couple hundred, but I started to realize I may have significantly underestimated the attendance walking over to the park where the Shrine stands. There were people everywhere. We all walked up a tree lined pathway towards the Shrine as the sun started to come up behind it. During the service fallen veterans from many various battles were recognized from WWI thru to Iraq. Two national anthems were sung, God Save The Queen and Australia's new anthem as of 1984, Advance Australia Fair, along with the bugle call The Last Post. After the ceremony people laid wreaths inside the Shrine and around the Eternal Flame. The wreaths are often made of rosemary and many people were also wearing sprigs of this ancient symbol of remembrance. Rosemary is believed to help improve the memory and is particularly significant to Australians since it grows wild on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

We went for breakfast then back to see the parade which was headed up by men dressed in the tradition of The Australian Lighthorse Regiment of WWI. I was eavesdropping on a lady a few people down and she was telling a photographer the man on the white horse was somehow connected to John Monash (famous General from WWI who is pictured on Australia's $100 bill) but I couldn't quite catch exactly what she was saying.

The people who came next actually made me kind of embarrassed in my lack of knowledge in my own family. Veterans and descendants of veterans all lined up to march behind banners listing specific battalions, wearing medals and carrying photos. I know my Uncle served in Korea and my Grandfather in WWII but I couldn't even begin to guess at what they did, where they were stationed or what unit they served in. There were multiple generations present even a baby who couldn't have been more than a few weeks old. There was a young guy with dread locks and tattoos helping along a well decorated elderly veteran I can only assume was his grandfather. There were bikers, scouts, families, teenagers, all kinds of people. The amount of pride and appreciation displayed by the Australian people was overwhelming. According to the news over 40,000 people came to the Shrine in Melbourne, 30,000 in Canberra, 30,000 people in Perth, 20,000 in Auckland. Thousands of people made the pilgrimage to Gallipoli on the 93rd anniversary of the 1915 landings, the start of the ANZAC Day tradition. In Sydney, to a crowd of over 15,000, Major General Mark Kelly said that Anzac Day was a day for all Australians. "Regardless of religion, racial background, or even place of birth, we gather not to glorify war, but to remind ourselves that we value who we are and the freedoms we possess, and to acknowledge the courage and sacrifice of those who contributed so much in shaping the identity of this proud nation."

We even saw a group of descendants from the destroyer HMAS Quickmatch where Matt's Grandfather served in WWII.

La Soiree Complete

WOOOOHOOOO!!! La Soiree at the Melba Spiegeltent is all finished.

Two-Up

At first sight Australia and America really are very similar ( minus the marsupials and the accents). It is the little things that make me know I am in a foreign country. ANZAC day is tomorrow which is like Memorial Day in the US except Australians are much more enthusiastic about remembering their veterans than anywhere I experienced at home. Not to mention the biggest footy game outside of the grand final is played on Anzac Day. There is one other little tidbit that I find interesting, Two-Up. This is a betting game that is only legal on ANZAC Day. That's right, patriotism thru gambling. Two-up is played by any number of players, standing in a circle and flipping two coins "a reasonable distance (approx. one meter) above his head" hoping to "spin" two heads or tails depending on the bet. According to ozbird.com, these are the terms one needs to know to play two-up.
BOXER: Person handling Spinner's money
SPINNER: The player who tosses the coins
COCKATOO: Lookout who warns players of police raids
KIP: Flat piece of wood used to toss coins
All though illegal, two-up was played extensively by Australia's soldiers during World War I and games, to which a blind eye was cast, became a regular part of ANZAC Day celebrations for returned soldiers. All proceeds from two-up games on ANZAC Day are supposed to go to charity. I really hope to find a game being played tomorrow so I can do a little patriotic "spinning" myself.

Step 3 for La Soiree

So I finally..finally finished the collage part of La Soiree. This is for sure the most time consuming aspect of the art I make. Finding all of the little pieces in various magazines takes up a substantial amount of time. It really is relaxing for me though. Now it's off to pen and ink then a bit of over layed paint.

Queen of the Moaners

I have loved Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues, since I was 11 or 12. I did a piece based on events from her life for the Charcoll show "Blue". Happily I sold the piece right away. Unhappily I didn't document it very well. I only got a slightly blurry picture of it.

So, for as many years as I have listened to Bessie's music I never until recently discovered her contemporary, Clara Smith. With a name like that one would think I would have heard of her. She was labeled the Queen of the Moaners which I thought was a bit odd since her voice is much sweeter than other singers of her era. She was not as popular as Bessie but they did work together alot. They were actually close friends until Bessie had a little too much to drink one night and hit Clara. Clara also gave Josephine Baker her first job in show business as a dresser. I love her voice and can't help but like her name. You can hear some of her songs here. http://www.sc.edu/csam/csamaudioarchive_clara_smith.htm

Art Melbourne 08

This weekend Matt and I headed back to the Royal Exhibition Buildings for Art Melbourne O8.

We got half price tickets which was good even though paying to go into a place where art is displayed for sale always kind of rubs me the wrong way. I understand a museum but not a sale. Anyway, I was really excited to take a look but after a few minutes started to get a bit disappointed. I did find some artists I liked but most of these were surrounded by repetitive, unoriginal pieces, lots of work that could easily be hung in a bank or dentist's office because it was nothing but a few strokes of color across a massive canvas....boring, boring, boring (atleast to me). There wasn't much new or exciting in the main gallery section and the couple that I was interested in came along with chatty gallery reps pushing to make a sale.

Things were better in the "new" or unrepresented part of the show. In the "Off The Wall" section there were some ingenious works. I already posted about one of these artists I really like, Madeleine Stamer, but there was also Ralf Kempken. Seeing Kempken's art in a photo doesn't do it justice. The pieces are all made with laser cuts, raising the cut piece away from the bottom. The pieces change as you move because of shadows and were quite beautiful.

Matt and I both really liked the work of one of Australia's established artists, Garry Shead. He is represented by the National Gallery of Australia and in 1993 won the Archibald Prize (Australia's highest prize for portrait painting). His etchings and paintings have a kind of George Grosz (one of my all time favorite artists) quality so naturally I liked them.

The Ever So Scandalous Bicycle

I was looking up pictures of Waratah flowers when I came across an article about the "Waratah Rovers", an Australian bicycle club in the 1890's. I have read a little bit about how the bicycle helped change fashion for women but never really realized what a scandal these new "instruments of perversity" caused when they first arrived on the scene. Women of the Victorian era took the "maxi" dress to the extreme, covered from head to toe, they weren't supposed to look like they even had legs but were simply made to glide, in volumes of fabric and with great difficulty, from place to place. According to Australian historian Peter Cochrane, "The feminine ideal in the Victorian era was a pale, weak, dependent female, relatively immobile and most definitely in need of male guidance and control." Then along comes the bicycle. Clergymen and politicians alike called this new apparatus the work of the devil. Women on bicycles were seen as being vulgar, in a suggestive position not to mention the fact they now had easy transportation to ride around willy-nilly. By far the worst, most scandalous aspect of the bicycle was what it was doing to women's clothing. God-forbid a female ever put on pants. Some of the ladies gave into pressure and forgoing all safety measures did try to ride their bicycles side saddle but happily this never really took off. Almost solely because of the bicycle, lady's fashion would never be the same much to the chagrin of all the Victorian moralists.

Coincidentally I found this article the same night a woman was appointed to what is officially Australia's highest office: governor general, the British monarch's representative in the country. Ms Quentin Bryce, a prominent lawyer, academic, women's activist and former sex discrimination commissioner, will be the first woman to hold the position in its 107-year history. And I am willing to bet sometimes she even wears pants.

Bragging on the Family

I must now take this time to say a big CONGRATULATIONS to my Uncle Buddy! His musical, "Knute Rockne All-American," which he has worked so hard on opened recently just outside of Chicago. I just read the review from The Tribune and it was very good!

I am so proud of my Uncle and just wanted to share in his triumph. For those of you in Chicago the show is open until May 11, Theatre at the Center in Munster, Indiana. Here is the link for tickets. http://www.theatreatthecenter.com/

Also here is the link if you want to read the review from the paper.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-ovn_0412rockneapr12,1,1918076.story

Fitzroy Gardens

I have been in Fitzroy Gardens oodles of times but always at night since this is my favorite place to feed possums. Matt and I went for a walk there in the daytime and it is gorgeous. I liked this aerial shot of the gardens on the City of Melbourne website. This heritage listed park is 64 acres in the middle of downtown Melbourne. The Gardens are filled with fountains, statues and a Spanish style conservatory known for spectacular floral displays. The Gardens also provide a natural
sanctuary for native wildlife such as the black swans, eels, bell birds (the most annoying sounding birds in the world), cockatoos, kookaburras and of course my beloved possums.

Fitzroy is also home to Captain Cook's Cottage. James Cook was a Captain in the British Royal Army and thought to be the greatest explorer and cartographer of the 18th century. He explored Australia's east coast and circumnavigated New Zealand disproving Aristotle's theorized continent, Terra Australis. He added many new islands and accurate coastlines to European maps. The cottage was from Yorkshire and is believed to be where the captain spent his childhood years. In 1933 the structure was dismantled and shipped to Melbourne in 253 packing cases. The lady who sold the Cook family home to Melbourne did so grudgingly as she wanted the cottage to remain in Britain. She was persuaded since the cottage would be staying in "the Empire".

Another favorite in the gardens is the Fairies Tree by Ola Cohn. Ms. Cohn carved her sculpture into the trunk of a dead 300 year old red gum tree, making gnomes, fairies and many Australian animals. She dedicated this sculpture "for the fairies and those who believe in them." Many years later the tree was pulled out of the ground for preservation work. A 40 year old mummified brush tail possum was found perfectly preserved in the trunk.

Sarah like I have never seen her

Matt and I were looking for wedding songs and came across some stuff by Sarah Brightman. Being a good little high school thespian I definitely knew of her. She was the muse of Andrew Lloyd Webber, the inspiration for his Phantom of the Opera and later performed the beautiful duet with Andreas Bocelli, "Time To Say Goodbye". What I did not know about her was she had a chart-topping disco hit in 1978 with "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper". Fabulous Video! Thank God for Youtube!!

The Blog with the Blank Page

I still am not able to upload photos. I have been trying to get a response from the help team who hosts this site but haven't heard anything back so for now my posts will remain desolate and void of pictures. Sad. Ah well..... We had lunch with Al, Cheryl and Cooper yesterday then decided to go for a walk to a neighborhood festival. We stumbled onto an art opening at Kustom Lane Gallery. This "gallery" was part garage, part gallery, part tattoo parlor and the art on the walls reflected all of these influences. There were pieces using pinstriping that is done on custom cars and bikes. Speaking of bikes there was a lovely West Coast Chopper outside that was all spruced up and if I didn't have such bad balance I would love to spin around on. But me driving a motorcycle would be a recipe for disaster. The car guys (Matt and Al) liked the show especially the scorpion which was made from engine parts that were welded together. I liked Doug Dorr's Kool Tool collection http://www.dorrskustomkreations.com/KoolToolGallery.html
and Greg Vaughan's Killer Krabs http://www.vaughanarts.com/krabs.html .
Both of these artists just happened to be from the USA.
Hopefully someday soon I will be able to put pictures up here again. As for now I am at the mercy of the blogger team.

Rebecca's 21st

(I originally started this post one week before the listed date thinking my uploading problems were over. It was all a fluke. Finally, tonight I think I am back in the picture game. April 8)

Yay!! I can finally upload photos again! Happy Day!

Last weekend was Matt's sister's 21st birthday. We all went out to Riddell's Creek for Rebecca's birthday lunch. I got to meet alot of Matt's family including his Aunt, Uncle and cousins.

We had a wonderful time. Happy 21st Birthday Rebecca!

Still No Pictures

No Uploading for CB....no pictures, no video, no youtube clips. Sometimes I love technology and some times not so much. I want to put up picks of Rebecca's 21st birthday (Matt's sister) but I must wait for the little computer pixies to work their magic. Meanwhile I am drowning my shortcircuit sorrows in my new favorite melancholy song, Heart of Chambers by Beach House. I came across them while searching for an email address for my old friend and rummy playing partner, John John. No luck on the email but I found this group so that's a good thing. For those of you who live in NYC they are playing tomorrow night at the Bowery Ballroom. http://beachhousemusic.net/Beach_House/Home.html