Guerilla Gardening Granny

Well it's nothing like three months, but here I am again.
I can't resist crowing from the rooftops (or at least from this blog) that I am now a grandma. Last Saturday, to the delight of our younger son Alexander (Alix), his partner, Jode, gave birth to baby Jhonan at the Women's Hospital here in Melbourne. Jhonan was around 7 pounds at birth, is long and dark-haired and a study in miniature perfections. And his timing was impeccable.
This is a household of Geelong supporters and Saturday was the Grand Final, where, unless you've been on the moon you will know, Geelong were the victors. Obviously Jhonan didn't want to miss the top sporting event of the year and was keen to take up his position as the youngest fan of Geelong.
He is a gorgeous-smelling and cuddly baby and already has brought great joy to family and friends. There are so many emails, presents and good wishes to pass on to his exhausted but thrilled parents that I haven't stopped smiling all week.
I was also smiling back in August when Yarra's street farmers had a coup. Yarra, together with a few other inner city districts, is increasingly dotted with community-initiated gardens. These include council-supported community gardens, planter boxes and guerilla gardens, established by residents on abandoned public land.
I'm involved with the flourishing Windmill Foodgarden @ Tramstop 22 on Queens parade. We were shocked in early August to receive a council notice stating that we either raze our plants within 30 days or the council would do it for us. We later learned that this notice had been sent to all unauthorised street gardens across Yarra.
Gardeners responded immediately, organising strategy-planning meetings and blitzing the council with emails and phone calls. And at the next council meeting, on 18 August, around 60 of us arrived to challenge the draconian proposal.
To our delight, faced with this level of community opposition, the council did a complete about turn. It now supports community-initiated gardens, and hopes to inspire other councils to do likewise.
We didn't need trams or cars for transport after the meeting; we all went home walking on air.

Scribblings

Some people, like Clive James, come up with things to say on their blogs every single day. While I imagine I've only just written and then discover the last posting was nine months back.
Although I've been a quiet blogger, I've kept busy scribbling elsewhere since the summer, working in a variety of different genres.
There's been a travel article on New Zealand's old 'cream trip' in the Bay of Islands and an essay about St Kilda entitled 'Fashion Victim Savaged by Bow Tie at Luna Park'. A therapist's response to the impact of the conflict in the Middle East - 'Bridge Across the Wadi' - proved very controversial.
I was thrilled to hear a piece I wrote last year on climate change - 'Sign of the Times' - has been doing the rounds of the Climate Emergency network. And although I was extremely nervous, I accepted the invitation to read a shortened version at Pen's inaugural winter salon at the Athenaeum.
The young Afghani activist, Malalai Joya, who presented to a packed audience at the Abbotsford convent, most appropriately on Bastille Day, inspired me to write a piece called 'The Bravest Woman in Afghanistan'.
I've also accepted commissions from an e-magazine to write on topics as disparate as 'Farmers' Markets', 'Big Birthdays', 'Learning a language at any age' and 'The Stages of Grief'.
As with my therapy practice, where seeing a combination of individuals, couples, families and supervisees from a range of different agencies keeps me on my toes, so too mixing it up works best for me with writing. Also the articles that pay subsidise those that don't.
I'm not tempted (yet) to write another book, mainly because it puts you out of the action for ages, particularly if you only write part-time. And changes seem to be happening in the world at such a pace that I want to be in the thick of them, and have my say.
Until next time - it won't be tomorrow, but maybe in three months...

My Web-site Makeover and Melbourne Pen

I am thrilled that at the start of a new year I have a new look web-site. No doubt any of you who have visited my web-site before will notice the difference. My son Luke offered the makeover to me as a recent birthday present, or to be more correct, I asked him for it.
We collaborated on the practical aspects but the aesthetics are all his. And as orange is one of my favourite colours, he couldn't have got it more right. I can't stop admiring the way he has presented my writings, so the web-site now doubles as a state-of-the-art artist's folio. Thank you, Luke.
I couldn't help but contrast the ease of this project and how I just take it for granted that I'm entitled to speak my mind with another writing experience I had recently.
Last year I joined Melbourne Pen. This local branch is part of International Pen, an association of writers, with 145 centres in 104 countries, dedicated to promoting literature and defending freedom of expression.
One of Melbourne Pen's regular activities is an annual meeting where members gather to send messages of greeting and support to imprisoned writers.
Just before Christmas, twenty or so of us met at Cafe Italia in Carlton. That evening the focus was on Cuba, the Ivory Coast, China and the Basque region. Sitting there chatting and scribbling in comfort amidst the debris of a pleasant meal, it was shocking to think how different life is for the recipients of our cards. Many have been in prison for years for speaking out, and in some cases that has merely been for expressing their opinions on their blogs.
It did feel a bit like flinging messages in bottles into the sea - especially as a circuitous route is usually necessary and there are plenty of rocks en route - so that some messages never reach their destinations. But we know that people do sometimes receive our cards and are heartened to know that fellow writers on the other side of the world feel for them.
If you'd like to join, Melbourne Pen always welcomes new members.

Food glorious food

The 100-mile diet, organics, slow and gm(genetically modified) food - I've had articles published about them all in recent months. I've also talked on Radio National's Bush Telegraph about urban farmers and street farming. And next month I'll be reporting for The Big Issue on the inaugural Growers and Eaters forum - an entire day set aside for spades and blades to talk to each other.
Although cooking for people I love and eating have always been amongst my favourite activities, I never imagined I'd find myself writing about food. But when I heard that the ingredients in a typical North American meal travel on average at least 1,500 miles from spade to plate I couldn't resist. I believe we need to totally reassess the impact of what we're putting into our mouths three times a day (if we're lucky) on the planet.
These days I'm likely to consult the food miles before the price of produce at the wonderful Ceres farmers market, where I shop. And although I'm a big city girl through and through - fifty kilometres beyond the CBD and I get breathless - I'm also spending more and more time planting heirloom vegetables, Indigenous edibles and anything else I can rescue from the possums and the snails in my small inner-city garden. Think the '70s British sit com 'The Good Life': Barbara Good - that's who I'm turning into.

No to Notoriety

I can't believe it's almost a year since my last post. But here goes...
All of a sudden 'nesters' are everywhere. There's a reality TV show, based in Sydney, called 'The Nest', which includes a home visiting family therapist. And just this week Channel 7 launched a show called 'Packed to the Rafters'. I haven't been directly involved in either project though the wording for the promo used for 'The Nest' sounded uncannily/suspiciously like the wording in my book. One day last week I was bemoaning to a friend how I'd been overlooked. But you have to be careful what you wish for...
The very next day I was called by a producer from Channel 7's Today Tonight programme inviting me to be involved. I'd never seen Today Tonight. (Where does she live? you might well ask. All I can say in my defense is that I can't bear ads. But I do recognise there's a yawning gap where my knowledge of popular culture should be.) Anyhow, in my innocence, I agreed. And it was only my 21-year-old daughter's response 'Mum, you can't possibly go on there!' that alerted me to the fact that it mightn't be such a smart career move. It wasn't easy saying no or convincing the producer that I'd prefer to forgo the opportunity to publicize my book. But in the end I felt greatly relieved, particularly knowing that I wouldn't have to wear that false beard in public after all.

'The Crowded Nest' on Life Matters

Yesterday I was on Radio National's Life Matters, on a programme devoted to the Never-Empty Nest. It amazes me that over a year since the book was published, all of a sudden the crowded nest has become a hot topic. Or that's how it seemed yesterday.
The ABC switch board was jammed with callers of all different ages and those who managed to get through presented a fascinating range of issues. (Perhaps it's time to stop worrying about the fate of my book. I could cope if it ended up 'remaindered', I'm sure. I just didn't want it to be 'pulped' - a harsh word for a harsh process, and I'm not even thinking about Tasmania. In fact no body had ever mentioned the 'p' word, but that didn't stop me worrying. But maybe the time has come to relax.)
Anyhow, I enjoyed being part of the show (and not just because since the hair/makeup fiasco at 'Sunrise' I've always been a huge radio fan). For one thing, I got to talk face-to-face with a real live person - the presenter Richard Aedy - instead of to a disembodied voice on the end of a phone in the 'Tardis Booth'. And it was great to hear from people from distant parts of Australia, who are struggling with similar issues, but who might now feel a little less alone.

Travels and Travails

I LOVE travel writing. The piece about Mozart was followed by one on Venice, as seen through the eyes of the wonderful Commissario Brunetti (Donna Leon's creation). Then I wrote about being a WWOOFer - a willing worker on organic farms. I was very pleased when both articles were accepted for the upcoming issue of YL (Your Life) magazine. Another piece - on Freud's Vienna- is scheduled to appear in 'The Australian' before Christmas.
Writing travel articles requires you to be succinct, to create 'colour' with only a few words. It's also a real challenge to come up with fresh angles on heavily visited areas. But because it gets you remembering and researching, you can extend the holiday feeling indefinetely. My partner's photos have been featured too, which is a real buzz.
To something quite different- in October, I attended a meeting hosted by the Victorian Women's Trust on 'Water'. The featured speaker was my hero, the Canadian activist, Maude Barlow. Inspired by her, I wrote an article - 'Water: Drawing a Line in the Sand' - for my local family therapy journal.
As for 'The Crowded Nest', since its small homegrown publisher (Lothian Books) has been gobbled up (or maybe that should be axed) by the huge multinational, Hachette Livre, I've felt totally unsupported. All the publicity has fallen to me, and I must say I've felt like a very small minnow in a huge roiling sea.