10th Oct – This morning I typed for an author writing about an ancient document written in gold, emerald and purple. Tonight I translated a passage about an ancient manuscript written in gold, azure and purple.
11th Oct – Read that almost half the population of the Pacific region is living in poverty.
12th Oct – Got locked out when I was doing some gardening.
13th Oct – Today I completed the first draft of my first book translation. Woo hoo!
14th Oct – A Sydney teacher has just received a Guinness Book of Records award as the oldest active teacher in the world. He’s 99.
She’s asked us, too, to find a photo of a display that would be good to share.
Strolling through Paris one Sunday afternoon, heading for Place Vendôme to see where the rich do their shopping (though not on Sundays when everything’s closed, as I found), I was stopped in my tracks by this window display. Someone with an eye for the beauty of repetition has found a new use for old Singer sewing machines, technological marvels that produced clothes faster than human hands. Their black and gold and curvy bodies fill the windows to the ceiling on both fronts of the street corner.
When I was 5, I was taught to sew by a professional dressmaker (my sister), but I had to wait until I was 12 to get my own sewing machine, a Singer treadle. I made clothes on it until I started work at 15 when I bought an electric one, which I still use… That Sunday, the sight of all these old machines had me believing this was a tailor’s shop, and I would have gone in if it were open. But a little Internet research this morning reveals it’s a clothes shop. I’ve found photos of similar window displays in the US for the same company, All Saints Spitalfields.
Next time I’ll stroll down Rue Etienne Marcel during the week, and go in, but not to buy. I want to look at the window display from the inside.
Window display of Singer sewing machines, All Saints Spitalfields, Paris
5th Oct – Heard this morning that Rwanda has more females in parliament than any other country – about 56%.
6th Oct – At the clothing shop where my son works, several members of the Rebels bikie gang came in to buy jeans, black only. And shirts, also black. And long-sleeved – “Don’t wanna look like a faggot.”
7th Oct – Today I read a blog written in three languages. http://lespetitspasdejuls.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/oh-my-god-im-a-teacher/
8th Oct – Met a girl today in the flesh. I’d previously claimed I hadn’t met her, though we’d been introduced on Skype. Can you say you’ve met someone if it was on Skype?
9th Oct – Asked 2 libraries to get me books from interstate; both of them charge $16.50 for 2 weeks’ borrowing. But I’ve also found the books for sale online and can buy second-hand copies for less than the library charges, and they won’t take much longer to arrive from overseas than books from interstate.
30th Sep – Listened to a beautiful voice singing ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’ to the tune of Bette Midler’s ‘The Rose’. This can also be done with ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘House of the Rising Sun’ and the theme from Gilligan’s Island. Keep the tunes, change the words.
1st Oct – Watched one of many episodes of a documentary about the Amish. It’s unusual that so many thousands of people manage to remain separate from the rest of the Western world. But for a safe and healthy life, the price is living with motorless transport and gas lanterns and fetching water. Not to mention hands-off courtships.
2nd Oct – After watching several episodes about the Amish, I chose not to drive my car today because I have a perfectly functional pushbike. I didn’t regret riding it.
3rd Oct – An author I work for always closes the door to the room where we work in her house, even though no one else is there.
4th Oct – Read about King Solomon’s 1000 women. ‘Solomon held fast to them in love,’ the writer of 1 Kings tells us. For a thousand nights he could hold fast to a different woman each night, then start again. Wonder what the Amish think about him…
25th Sep – My son recited pi to 81 decimal places.
26th Sep – My Chinese student gave me a box of Moon Cakes to celebrate mid-autumn (in mid-spring). Normally they have a dried raw egg at the centre – that’s the moon. Mine are moonless.
27th Sep – In my husband’s car, a song title, incorrectly entered by someone in the process of ripping my CD, appeared on a digital screen in the centre of the dash, in big letters, as “Chest of Draws” instead of “Chest of Drawers” by Jenny Biddle. It’s one of my favourite songs so I looked out the window until it was over.
28th Sep – Read on a French news site that J.K. Rowling’s new novel was released in English on Thursday and in French on Friday. That’s confidence in her writing. And the translator’s.
29th Sep – At the National Portrait Gallery today, saw a new and amazing portrait of the Queen in a reflective mood, painted by an Australian artist, Ralph Heimans.
I have no idea what season it is in my photo (or rather, my father’s photo), but I’m guessing that in this boy’s part of the world it’s always warm enough to climb a tree. In bare feet! The photo suits not so much a foliage theme as a trunk theme. But if the boy climbs for long enough he’ll get to the foliage and more importantly to the dates.
20th Sep – Looked at a lagoon and a lizard on a log.
Frill-necked lizard, Korora Bay, NSW
21st Sep – Saw four dead gum trees on the clifftop boardwalk in front of a mansion with million-dollar views. A huge Council sign says: “These trees have been POISONED”.
22nd Sep – After 14 months of searching for an out-of-print book, I’ve obtained an 1867 edition, its spine broken, back cover torn, but entire.
23rd Sep – Heard on a documentary that enough sunlight falls on Australia in two days to power the whole world for a year.
24th Sep – An author sent me a manuscript to read and is eager to know if I’ll translate it. Oh yeah!
15th Sep – At a chocolate shop/café my cup of coffee came with melted chocolate dribbled, apparently decoratively, down the outside of the cup. It ended up on my fingers in a great mess.
16th Sep – Went to a church in this seaside town where we are holidaying. It looked conservative from the outside but the music was hypnotic, the last song line repeated 16 times, and the preacher didn’t preach; he prayed for troubled souls until they fell on the floor. I’ve heard of this but never seen it before.
17th Sep – Walking to the beach we passed a refugee and his sons. We smiled and said Hi; he hesitated, nodded ever so slightly, but didn’t smile. I wondered what he was thinking.
18th Sep – Found out that a short piece I submitted to a magazine has been published, including two photos which I had taken for this blog. Only, they attributed the writing to another Trish! The editor promised to place a correction in the next issue.
19th Sep – Went to the porpoise pool and got kissed by a dolphin and a seal.
Some people, she says, observe a minute’s silence at midday, but that time has already passed for me. It’s just after two in the afternoon and I’ve just received her email. Still, I can observe it with my photo of two white figures on the steps of a white church, Le Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, in Paris. As I stood watching this scene (2 years ago), it was mid-morning mid-week which confused me when I saw the bride. She posed for so many shots that I wondered if she were modelling. If she had indeed just been married, then her husband must have been a very patient man.
The other figure that looks like a white statue isn’t. He’s another very patient man.
10th Sep – Early in the afternoon, went to a beach where there were 4 people on the sand and 3 in the water. Late in the afternoon, went to a Point recommended for its sunset, where 4 people were watching it and 3 were gutting fish.
Zenith Beach, Port Stephens, NSW. The figure on the sand is me.Sunset, Soldiers Point, Port Stephens, NSW. The figure on the rocks is a stranger.
11 Sep – In a park, beside a sign declaring it an alcohol-free zone, a group of people were drinking tallies under an old fig tree.
12 Sep – Currently reading or listening to 4 novels: The Brothers Karamazov; The Pickwick Papers; Spiridion; Le Bouclier rouge. Sometimes I confuse the plots.
13 Sep – Had coffee in a converted church called ‘The Flying Nun’. The woman behind the counter looked like a man and the man looked like a woman.
14 Sep – On a small truck with ‘Outback Queensland’ plates: Bugger this. I’m goin piggin.
