Sunday Night Television

I fear I'm about to become a Sunday night television junkie. I'm already completely addicted to Robin Hood. Now I think I might be hooked on East of Everything. Did you watch it? What did you think?

Robin Hood is deliciously old-fashioned - even if it does have a much-discussed 'modern sensibility'. But it reminds me of the television I used to watch. Self-contained episodes. Gorgeous boys. A feisty woman (or, in this case, two). This was in the days before the mini-series and reality television. It's the formula that worked for shows like Eight is Enough, Valley of the Giants, The Hardy Boys. Even The Flying Doctors. And then there was Magnum PI. Ah, it takes me back. And let's face it: the men in Robin Hood are all gorgeous. Even the wicked ones.

East of Everything has some similar elements. Good-looking men, for one. A couple of feisty women. Plus it would seem to be well-written and the location is blissfully and beautifully Australian. The first episode wasn't at all creaky. Oh, okay, yes, the plot does seem a bit contrived. I mean, three months to re-open the resort that hasn't had a booking for years? Where will the two brothers find the money for that? But unlike the almost-dreadful Emerald Falls which was on last weekend, East of Everything has a lot of appeal. I'm already intrigued. I do want to know what will happen to Lizzie and Bev in particular. Their stories seem to hint at some originality, even if Art feels like the kind of television character we've met before.

So don't ask me to do anything on a Sunday night for the next few weeks. I have a date with the tv set. It makes such a change from watching the only other highlights of my tv week: The Collectors and Stuff (yes, there is a theme there). Oh, and ABC Kids. I love ABC Kids. Children's television is so much more imaginative than the adult stuff. But don't get me started.

Dallying at the National

It has become our habit to spend Easter at the National Folk Festival. Mr M attended his first when he was barely six months old. This year was his fourth festival and it made taking a tiny baby look easy-peasy. After four days (and three seasons - we froze on Friday, sweltered on Sunday, and were rained on today), we are all exhausted and I'm convinced a leash is a very good thing.

Unlike previous years when we'd find some good music, find a chair and sit and listen for the best part of an hour, this year we struggled to listen to any music at all. Partly, this was due to Mr M who just couldn't or wouldn't sit still. Each time we entered a venue, he'd ask if The Wiggles or Hi-5 were going to be there. As the answer was always 'no', he was always disappointed. So, we managed to hear:

• three songs by the Dujks
• one song by the haBiBis
• most of a concert by slide guitarist Richard Steele
• maybe three songs by George Jackson and Davydd McDonald
• two pieces by the Griffyn Ensemble
• three pieces by Jim Conway's Big Wheel
• one and a half songs by Mr Fibby
• three, maybe three and a half songs by Trouble in the Kitchen.

Not a huge amount of music spread over four days. We did, however, do lots of 'kiddy' things. We queued for face painting (once), for balloons (twice). We sat on asphalt and watched street theatre. We chased a pair of 'ducks' around the festival on at least two occasions. We bought hot dogs, strawberry ice-cream, and donuts (not simultaneously). We sat on the asphalt again to watch Irish drumming workshops. We played marbles in the kid's tent. We watched the Morris dancers more than once. Mr M loved the Morris dancers - although when asked whether he liked the dancing or the music best, he said it was the music he loved. And we watched a fantastic, traditional Punch and Judy show.

We also 'lost' Mr M at least twice (hence the attraction of the leash) and lost forever his current favourite hat. So we spent quite a bit of time visiting lost property, which entailed going up and down stairs. And we spent quite a bit more time going to the toilet (a slow process at the best of times because someone likes to take off all his clothes).

Still, the thing I like best about the folk festival is the sense of community it generates. And although this year we ran foul of the folk Nazis (one of whom complained about Mr M playing with the game pieces left on tables for people to play with in one of the venues) and crossed swords with the chair Nazis (one of whom really did need SEVEN chairs, not one of which was sat on in the 20 minutes J was waiting), we met some lovely people. Sharing tables, we chatted to Max, one of the founders of the Gympie Muster, and his wife. We also met two blokes from Sydney, who didn't object at all when Mr M helped himself to their prawn chips. And we ran into many people that we rarely see these days (as well as many that we do see) and so enjoyed lots of brief, catch-up conversations.

And now Easter is over and we still haven't reached the end of March. Happy Easter.

Anniversaries

Today, it is 12 months since I had surgery.

Tomorrow, it will be five years since Louis died.

And Tuesday will be Louis's fifth birthday.

The Week in Lists

Three Things I've Bought This Week

1. Shampoo and conditioner. The first I've had to buy since before my hair fell out. I guess J and Mr M don't use a great deal of either. In fact, Mr M is completely averse to shampoo at the moment so we do the best we can in the bathtub.
2. Mr M's winter wardrobe. Last week, Mr M put his knee through his 'best' jeans. And then I discovered he'd worn through the soles of his lace-up shoes. Time to go shopping. In one morning we managed to buy two long-sleeved Wiggles t-shirts, a pair of black jeans, a pair of navy cargo pants, and a new pair of lace-up shoes (in size 10). And all of these items were on special. If only shopping for my winter wardrobe was as easy.
3. Hermione Lee's biography of Edith Wharton. It has been selling for $75.00 in hardback. Today, I found it in Clouston & Hall's for $24.95 - in hardback. I'm buying it mostly for the biographer - her biography of Virginia Woolf was simply stunning.

Three Things I've Done This Week

1. Been to a wedding. I can't remember the last wedding I went to! On Friday afternoon, at 5pm, one of the girls from work married her partner at the National Botanical Gardens. The wedding was to take place on the Brittle Gum Lawns but ... it rained. Drizzle began at at 4.45pm, became a light shower as the bride arrived at 5pm, gave way to heavy rain during the vows. We huddled under the verandahs and permanent umbrellas of the cafe, trying to stay dry and enjoy the ceremony. And then the skies cleared and the party began. Those of us who worked with the bride enjoyed champagne and blew bubbles and departed as the bridal party and family members entered the cafe for the evening's reception.
2. Been to a party. My brother is turning 60 this week so the family gathered last night to celebrate. Four generations of us. Three of his four sisters were there. All five of his children and all four and a bit grandchildren. We spent the evening eating (of course), playing cricket and lego with four small boys, and having the kind of shorthand conversations that only families or friends of longstanding can have with each other. Ones where all the back story is already known.
3. Took my nephews to school and picked them up at the end of the day. A hint of the future, Mr M and I had fun doing the school run and taking the boys to afternoon tea at the 'blue shops', as Mr M calls them.

Three Things I've Read This Week

1. Addition by Toni Jordan. A debut novel that has received tremendous press, it's about Grace who counts obsessively. I wanted to enjoy it, I really did. But I'm not entirely comfortable with the way a serious condition was portrayed in a novel being sold as intelligent 'chick lit'. I can imagine the film, though, starring Toni Collette.
2. The Pocoyo books. We have four Pocoyo books, based on the television series and all with 'flaps' to lift. Mr M loves them and can almost 'read' them himself now. I love them because they don't have a lot of words and, at the end of a long day, you can read them quickly and easily.
3. Heat magazine. The current issue is called 'Luminous Gerberas'. Gorgeous. It took me a while to track it down but I was keen to as one of the creators of a blog I read regularly, Stephanie Trigg from Humanities Researcher, had an essay published in it. The essay was terrific - and so is the journal. It's full of interesting reading.

Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake

This is a not-so-great photo of the Wiggles cake Mr M and I made to 'celebrate' his return to playschool after our holidays. Well, really it was a bribe to get him to go. Mr M loves to bake. He loves putting the ingredients into a bowl, doing a bit of stirring with the smallest spoon he can find, and then using the biggest spoon he can find to conduct a taste test. He's also very concerned with the kinds of cakes we make - Wiggles' cakes are popular and often requested. So, too, are Bob cakes, Thomas cakes and Spiderman cakes. These requests have created some challenges - then I realised that all I had to do was put a picture of the Wiggles, Bob, Thomas or Spiderman and that would satisfy our director of cakes. He's quite explicit about what colour the icing should be too. The cake above was originally going to have purple/Jeff icing, then the request was changed to blue/Anthony icing. I was very relieved when the final request was for white icing.

I have been doing quite a bit of baking lately. This week alone I have baked Nigella Lawson's blueberry muffins (which have to be one of the world's most forgiving recipes), banana and chocolate cakes for a work afternoon tea, and Vicki's wickedly delicious chocolate slice (it's incredibly easy to make but incredibly difficult to resist). Partly it's the result of having been on leave and having a bit more time to potter in the kitchen but also I just love to bake.

I blame Sheridan Jobbins who, when she was eight-years-old, made a television show called Cooking with Sheri. That was in 1967, the year I was born. So I must have been watching re-runs when I was three, four or five. Her cookbook, my copy of which is still on Mum's bookshelves, was published in 1970. I remember baking simple things like scones from that cookbook while pretending I was filming my own cooking show. Sheri was probably the first 'celebrity tv chef' and, until 2006, she held the record for being the world's youngest television host (this is according to Wikipedia. I suspect Bindi Irwin stole her crown).

It was baking that precipitated my cookbook collection. I wasn't really into buying cookbooks until I discovered How To Be a Domestic Goddess and Nigella's style has influenced the kinds of cookbooks I buy. I'm not particularly interested in those that just list ingredients (although I do have two of Donna Hay's books that follow that style). But I am a sucker for those that include a bit of narrative - I've been known to sit up late into the night just reading Nigella. You've got to love a woman who writes about baking like this:

The trouble with much modern cooking is not that the food it produces isn’t good, but that the mood it induces in the cook is one of skin-of-the-teeth efficiency, all briskness and little pleasure. Sometimes that's the best we can manage, but at other times we don’t want to feel like a post-modern, post-feminist, overstretched woman but, rather, a domestic goddess, trailing nutmeggy fumes of baking pie in our languorous wake.

(From How To Be a Domestic Goddess)