The last month or so...

in pictures!

It's a nice day for a white wedding... 

Three beautiful girls (and a boy).

The bride and groom... onya Shell & Will!

Yes, we grow zucchinis! Bit proud of this one. Gave it to the worms in the end though, not exactly an edible specimen. (Sigga, this one's for you!)

T'was my nephew Tom's first Wigilja. This time last year he was still called Cashew... and wasn't much bigger than one.

Ho ho ho... getting into the spirit of the season.

The spread on Christmas Day. Mighty impressive.

Even wee Angus got in on the meat-eating action.

Me, after several wines and egg nogs, trying to explain to my friend's dad the fundamental importance of forgiveness. Yes, we Poles do small talk very well!

The vegie patch(es)

One month and one day ago, my new housemate and I (and her new fella) planted a bucketload of little baby plants out in the backyard.

Now look at em! 

That's the spinach and zucchini and lebanese cucumbers.

Here are three of the 12(!) tomato plants and a couple of basils.

And the pieces de resistance...

Tomatoes, thyme, cos lettuce, strawberries, more tomatoes, dill, more tomatoes, snow peas and coriander (which went to seed almost the second after we planted it... little bastards)

Best. Intro. Ever.

A man who was almost drowned by a kangaroo, after he dived into a dam to save his dog, says he will never be able to watch Skippy again.

(Sadly I could only find it in the print edition, the online version isn't half as good)

Chirp chirp, croak croak

A bend in the river at Lerderderg State Park

Lerderderg State Park

My first wee bushwalk in quite a while. Very wee, an hour return, but still so nice to get out among trees.

Was promised koalas but they were hiding. Loads of frogs though, which were also hiding, but making plenty of noise.

Lerderderg River

Grahams Dam

Floating river weeds (am sure that's the scientific term)


Fence, near Gisborne.

All Saints

I only really “got” the saints this year. Before then, I knew these were important and impressive people that were honoured by the Church but I didn’t really have any kind of personal connection to the concept.

But one of the fruits of my Retreat in Daily Life this year (ie. the Spiritual Exercises by the 19th Annotation) has been getting that intellectual concept out of my head and discovering it had found its way into my heart. It’s not just that they’re important and impressive, these are real people who really lived. They made mistakes (sometimes big ones) but also made choices that changed not just their lives but the lives of countless others, for years to come.

I suppose a turning point was getting away from this mass concept of “All Saints” (as celebrated every November 1^st) and discovering individuals whose experiences resonated with something in me.

St Augustine, for example, who also came to faith late in life and who also spent the years before his conversion indulging in the “good” life (before learning about a greater “good” than he could have ever imagined).

I was so excited when I started to read his Confessions earlier this year and discovered that was the book where he writes one of my all-time favourite quotes: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Then there’s Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who was not only absolutely devoted to the poor but was also just plain fun and silly (and it must be said, just a little handsome…

...that's him in the middle)

Pier Giorgio's very short life is such great proof that “holiness” isn’t about “seriousness”. This was a guy that climbed mountains, that played practical jokes, that prayed and laughed (a lot). I love that.

The other notable person who helped me understand this whole saint business is St Maximilian Kolbe. In his life, he used methods of mass communication to spread the Word, starting up Catholic journals, newspapers and a radio station (which is why he’s the patron saint of journalists, among other things). But it’s for his death, in Auschwitz, that he’s known.

I’d heard the story before – how he’d volunteered himself for execution in the place of another – but it was coming across photos of the man whose life he saved that somehow made it real.

Franciszek Gajowniczek survived the concentration camp and was reunited with his wife, though their two sons perished in the war. He died in 1995, thirteen years after witnessing the canonisation of the man who saved him.

I think about St Maxilimian and I think about his courage, faith and love in a place of such horror. And I think, “I want me a piece of that kind of courage and that faith and that love!”. So I ask for his help, like I would any of my friends, particularly when I’m feeling low on those qualities.

I think that’s the change that helped me “get” the saints. When I started to come to know these individuals and learn about their real lives and real personalities, I started to feel drawn to them in the same way as I feel drawn to anyone I meet who is inspirational or warm or wise or funny. I can’t go have a coffee or a beer with these guys. But they can still be part of my “circle of friends”.

My favourite 20th century dictator...

I read this story about the Obama administration's battle with Fox News with some interest but the thing that stopped me in my tracks was this throwaway line a few pars in:

White House communications director Anita Dunn, who rates Mao Zedong as one of her favourite philosophers, said of Fox: "We're going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent."

Pardon?

Seriously?

Well, apparently so.

Now the clip I found was from a slightly nutjob right-winger on Fox but that doesn't take away from the fact that yes, in a speech to high school students, this woman describes Mao and Mother Theresa as two of her "favourite political philosophers".

She then proceeds to use those "favourite political philosophers" to illustrate her point that we are to fight our own fight not someone else's.

In Mao's case, she tells the story of a time in China's civil war when he had all the odds stacked against him - with his opponent holding the cities and controlling the army - but instead of backing away, he boldly declared: "You fight your war, I'll fight mine".

Again, seriously?

Who the hell in their right mind cites a man whose philosophy and policies were responsible for the deaths of 70 million or so people as a "favourite" anything? It's not a bad quote for the point she's making but I guarantee that someone equally famous who has a little less blood on his hands has said something similar at some point in history.

I'm sure Hitler had some good quotes in Mein Kampf that you could employ to make a useful point, but why would you? Well, in fact you never would, because you'd know that you would - rightly - be torn to pieces. You can't just search for quotable gems and ignore the full reality of what someone did with their life.

On a related point, I do find we have a strange tendency of skimming over some horrors while keeping others taboo. It's why an ultra-cool bar here in the city can get away with having a big portrait of Mao as a kitschy feature, while another has a giant Stalin splashed across its wall. But noone would dare use images of the Fuhrer in their interior decoration. Even though his death count is the least of the three.

It's all quite puzzling.

And rather worrisome, to think the woman who heads communications for the most powerful man in the world fails to see there's something wrong with quoting Mao in an inspirational speech. Bloody hell, wonder if she also pulls out Goebbels to motivate her team... "c'mon everyone, just think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play."