Miss Minda’s Neighborhood

I am a bad blogger, I haven't written anything for ages, mainly because I've been rather busy doing other things, like celebrating Christmas and the New Year. 

Went to the country today. We drove to the country town of Gatton about 45 minutes from our home in Brisbane, and had lunch at their new "cultural" centre. Knowing the local "culture" a little bit too well, I was somewhat concerned about what we were going to experience, but I need not have feared at all. It was very well done, and though relatively newly opened, and obvious that there is still work to do on the landscaping etc, it was equal to any other "cultural" center we have experienced within Australia.

Cultural Centre

Many years ago, back in the early 1970s, a very forwarded thinking gentleman from the local agricualtural college lobbied very, very hard for a lake to be created in a swampy area just outside the town. The local people thought he was a "mad bastard" in the Aussie vernacular, but he kept at it and eventually won the local council over. Now look at it! The birds have such a haven and many of the locals take their daily walks around the lake. The centre was built in 2009 and houses the library, an art gallery that displays local artists and a truck museum. The town of Gatton is the hub of a rich agricultural area "the salad bowl of the Lockey Valley" and so the trucking industry is a major employer for the town.

So, the center not only has a trucking museum, but on a slight rise next to the lake they have created a monument that lists the names of all the local drivers that have died - too many in accidents, but also as part of the cycle of life. Families pay a small amount to have the name of their loved one inscribed.

Lights on the Hill memorial to deceased truckers

There is a lovely sandstone carving outside the cultural centre that commemorates the agricultural pioneers of the district.

Gatton, Lockyer Valley, Queensland, Australia

sandstone pumpkins or "punkin" as the local might say!

sandstone potatoes - staple crop!

and next door to the centre is the local historical village :

historical village

Not far away, on the other side of the historical village, a terrible murder was committed at the end of the 19th century. Three members of the Murphy family - two sisters and a brother- were murdered on their way home from a local dance. Their murder was never solved and to this day all the locals have theories about who killed them - irish family vendetta: a jilted lover; incestuous relationship; vargrant who diappeared into the night?  I guess now, no one will ever know for sure.

egrets in the trees

Lights on the Hill - song lyrics by Slim Dusty

It's a long straight road and the engine is deep

I can't help thinkin' of a good night's sleep

And the long long roads of my li-ife were a callin' me

These rough old hands are a-glued to the wheel

My eyes full of sand from the way they feel

And the lights comin' over the hi-ill are a-blindin' me

It's a long tough haul from a-way down south

A man's gotta find a little bread for his mouth

And a home for a girl as swee-eet as my honey can be

So it's down through the gears, she's a-startin' to pull

The gauge on the tank is a-showin' they're full

And the lights comin' over the hi-ill are a-blindin' me

There's rain on the road and I can feel the load start a-shiftin'

I-i-in a dance

Too late, I see the post and I haven't got a ghost of a chance

Ah-hah-hah-no

The windscreen wipers are a-beatin' in time

The song they sing is a part of my mind

And I can't believe it's a-really happenin' to me

Oh, but I'm over the edge and down the mountain side

I know they'll tell about the night I died

In the rain when the lights on the hi-ill were a-blindin' me

Hey!

There's rain on the road and I can feel the load start a-shiftin'

I-i-in a dance

Too late, I see the post and I haven't got a ghost of a chance

Ah-hah-hah-no

The windscreen wipers are a-beatin' in time

The song they sing is a part of my mind

And I can't believe it's a-really happenin' to me

Oh, but I'm over the edge and down the mountain side

I know they'll tell about the night I died

In the rain when the lights on the hi-ill were a-blindin' me

In the rain when the lights on t

Lake Superior State University has released its annual list of "banished words"; words they consider trite, overused, annoying, or a combination of all three.  Following below is the list, with my comments in italics:

SHOVEL-READY

"Apparently, the generally accepted definition of this phrase is to imply that a project has been completely designed and all that is left to do is to implement it...however, when something dies, it, too, is shovel-ready for burial and so I get confused about the meaning. I would suggest that we just say the project is ready to implement.” – Jerry Redington, Keosauqua, Iowa.

"Stick a shovel in it. It's done." – Joe Grimm, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

I'd like to take a shovel upside the head of the person who coined this obnoxious phrase.

TRANSPARENT/TRANSPARENCY

"In the lexicon of the political arena, this word is supposed to mean obvious or easily understood. In reality, political transparency is more invisible than obvious!" -- Deb Larson, Bellaire, Mich.

Someone throw a blanket over "transparent".

CZAR

Long used by the media as a metaphor for positions of high authority, including “baseball czar” Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, appointed by team owners as commissioner-for-life in 1919. U.S. president Woodrow Wilson had an “industry czar” during World War I. Lesser-known “czar” roles in government during the last 100 years include: censorship, housing and oil czars in 1941; rubber czar in 1942; patronage czar (1945); clean-up (1952); missile (1954); inflation (1971); e-commerce (1998); bioethics, faith-based and reading czars (2001); bird flu (2004); democracy (2005); abstinence and birth control czars (2006); and weatherization czar (2008).

I thought the Russians took care of "czars" in 1917.

TWEET

And all of its variations…tweetaholic, retweet, twitterhea, twitterature, twittersphere….

Jay Brazier of Williamston, Mich. says she supposes that tweeters might be "twits."

Personally, I'd go for "twats", myself.

APP

"Must we b sbjct to yt another abrv? Why does the English language have to fit on a two-inch screen? I hate the sound of it. I think I'll listen to a symph on the rad." -- Edward R. Bolt, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Put "cr" in front of "app" and you get crapp!

SEXTING

Sending sexually explicit pictures and text messages through the cell phone.

"Any dangerous new trend that also happens to have a clever mash-up of words, involves teens, and gets television talk show hosts interested must be banished." – Ishmael Daro, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada.

A "word" spoken by those who aren't getting the real thing.

FRIEND AS A VERB

Came into popularity through social networking websites. You add someone to your network by "friending" them, or remove them by "unfriending" them.

"'Befriend' is much more pleasant to the human ear and a perfectly useful word in the dictionary." – Kevin K., Morris, Okla.

I pretty much hate any noun that is made into a verb and vice versa. 

TEACHABLE MOMENT

What might otherwise be known as 'a lesson.'

"It's a condescending substitute for 'opportunity to make a point,'" says Eric Rosenquist of College Station, Tex.

So, portions of time are now capable of being taught, hmm?

IN THESE ECONOMIC TIMES….

"Overused and redundant. Aren't ALL times 'these economic times'?" -- Barb Stutesman, Three Rivers, Mich.

I think this stuffy phrase has outlived its fifteen minutes of overuse.

STIMULUS

"Everything in the news is about the stimulus packages...it is no longer a grant, it's stimulus money, stimulus checks, etc. I think it is just being over-used." Teri Heikkila, Rudyard, Mich.

I've got your "stimulus package" right here! 

TOXIC ASSETS

"Whatever happened to simply 'bad stocks,' 'debts,' or 'loans'?" -- Monty Heidenreich, Homewood, Ill.

This list wouldn't be complete without an oxymoron.

TOO BIG TO FAIL

"Just for the record, nothing's too big to fail unless the government lets it." Claire Shefchik, Brooklyn, NY.

Tell this to the owners of the Titanic!.

BROMANCE

"I am sick of combined words the media creates to make them sound catchier. Frenemies? Bromances? Blogorrhea? I'm going to scream!" – Kaylynn, Alberta, Canada.

I've been lucky to have never heard this one before.

CHILLAXIN'

"Heard everywhere from MTV to ESPN to CNN. A bothersome term that seeks to combine chillin' with relaxin' makes me want to be 'axin' this word." – Tammy, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

What?  Does this mean to put an axe into the refrigerator?

OBAMA-prefix or roots?

The LSSU Word Banishment Committee held out hope that folks would want to Obama-ban Obama-structions, but were surprised that no one Obama-nominated any, such as these compiled by the Oxford Dictionary in 2009: Obamanomics, Obamanation, Obamafication, Obamacare, Obamalicious, Obamaland….We say Obamanough already.

Let's bomb all the Obama coinages.

My personal contribution to this year's list would be:

FAIL used as a noun.

For example, a football team loses big in a game and it's dubbed "an epic fail".  This one made me grind my teeth the first time I heard it.  It may be an "epic failure", but it's NOT an "epic fail".

What's your New Year's resolution for 2010?

I don't make resolutions other than the one I make every year and have no trouble in fulfilling: to get laid as often as possible!

Mr FD and I were discussing whether to watch a particular program on teleivsion when Mr FD said we didn't need to as "I have the VD."

I burst out laughing at his delusion of grandeur.

His reply was "there is no way out of this is there?"

Best laugh I have had all year (you didn't think I was going to miss the opportunity to say that did you really?)

And Mr FD didn't watch the program as he has the DVD.

2009 hasn't been one of my better years.  My finances have become increasingly tighter this year -- I'm nearly as broke now as I was in college -- and I remain underemployed in a state with a high unemployment rate.  I've spent much of the year robbing Peter to pay Paul just to barely make minimum payments on my bills.  My son also lost a good job this year, and he has yet to find permanent employment.

I ended an important relationship this year out of necessity, yet I still miss her to this day.  Intellectually, I know it was for the best, but my body tells me differently.

I also lost one of my cats this year and I likewise mourn his loss.

On the plus side, I remain healthy, and no one has died in my family or among my friends this year.  That's always something to celebrate.

I finally paid off my car loan, so that should help to ease my finances a bit in the new year.

Plus, my "social life" is still as active as ever which is, again, always a reason to celebrate.

But I can safely say I'll be glad to bid 2009 good riddance and I look forward to see what 2010 will have to offer.  I offer no resolutions, as it's not in my nature to do so, except to say that I will be alert to whatever opportunities present themselves  in the new year.

I'm not sure how long I've done the Photo Quest but it has been awhile.  Each week I search the web and my photo books to find a topic that I think will appeal to all the members.  For this quest I would like you to tell me what you would like to work on for 2010...any thing about photography or your camera you would like to learn or practice.

Do you want to learn about layers in Photoshop?

Would you like to practice cutting out photos and changing the backgrounds?

Are you interested in photo enhancing your photos to improve focus, blur, colors etc?

Do you want to do some collages?

Are  you interested in learning to resize photos, cropping photos?

Tell me what you would like to learn etc. so I can work them into the Quest for 2010.  Have a wonderful New Year and be safe.

See you in 2010!

Oh my gosh the Questers out did themselves for this Christmas Quest!  We have entries from Germany, Australia, Japan, Thailand, Colorado, Utah, Missouri, Oklahoma, Montana, Tennessee, and Georgia!  Sorry Amy Sue I think you are located in a far north state but you don't have it in you profile so I don't know where you are located.

This quest is a new record with 11 entries!  Here are my picks for the Christmas Photos. The photos all tell wonderful stories of family, food, decorations and great times.

• My favorite family tradition was Darcy's children moving the The Journey. 
• My favorite gift was Jacolily's family Cookbook. 
• The most creative photo came from Amy Sue with her photo of Christmas 2009 Taylor's School Performance.
• The best Christmas landscape came from Cap'n Stephel with her wonderful photo Dscn0030 of the Christmas snow and lights.  This should be her Christmas card for next year.
• Best photo of getting ready for Christmas goes to Freedom Smith with her photo of her two Sons making chocolate house.  Great captured of these boys working hard on their house!
• Oh the best photo of Christmas goodies is from Spike of her cookies IMG_7318s.  If you have ever tried to take photos of food you will be able to appreciate the great job she did on this photo.  Nice focus and great presentation of the plates of cookies.  Oh I sure wish I lived closer so I could have a taste!
• We had two members do collages.  My favorite collage from Maiu was Christmas collage with frames and text.  Very creative with the background. 
  Antrogrrls collage of her Christmas ornaments is wonderful Christmas decorations collage, I'm sure she will treasure this collage for many years.  What a great idea for all of us to take photos of our favorite ornaments to keep.
• Then we have Yancunyong who is in a style of his own!  Yan's photos of his Christmas parties are great!  I like the one of the three ladies singing  IMGP9208.  This photo shows great emotion and fun.  All Yan's photos seem to show us what a fun guy he is.  Yan shows us the fun in his life through his photos.
• Best Christmas tree goes to Realworld for his photo of Oh Tannenbaum!  Beautiful tree!
• I'll end with the wonderful photo of the candle  IMG_0217.JPG - Vox and her lovely description of how the photo represents Christmas!

All in all I so enjoyed seeing Christmas through your eyes..thank you all for this year of terrific photos and best wishes for a Happy New Year!

May peace, health and happiness be yours throughout 2010!

 No chance of missing the New Year in the Flamingo Dancer household as the neighbours had some very illegal fireworks that they exploded right on time. Happy New Year! Now to bed!

If you want to see fireworks, catch a replay of the fireworks at Sydney Harbour - incredible is the word.