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Memorabilia? Mess or Matter?

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Author Nate Berkus in his new book The Things That Matter asks a poignant question which has me pondering about how to rid my life of clutter. “Does Your Home Tell the Story of Who You are?’’ he asks. And I would respond with a resounding “yes’’ except for the fact that the fourth  bedroom […]

Shriver writes a shattering book about Kevin

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Review By  Fiona White. We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver is a shattering book and tackles many taboo questions head on:  Is mother love a totally natural instinct?  Is it Nature or Nurture which determines a child’s character?  Are some people just born ‘bad’?   By choosing to write in an epistolary style, […]

Judy’s Art Life in Shades of Grey

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  One of Australia’s eminent neuro scientists, Associate Professor Judy Morris, has taken off her  white lab coat to draw intricate art of the natural world and the human body. She, who once used special dyes to see brightly fluorescent light in human nerve cells now prefers to use shades of grey – charcoal and […]

Garden awakens to greet early Spring

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With the arrival of an early August  spring, I seem to be living in a bird aviary, so prolific is the birdsong.  The plumber who is installing a tap in readiness for summer, comments; “Those birds are the noisiest I have heard.’’  And ,speaking above the chorus around us, I agree. The sun shines in […]

King of Magic Mountain Still Reigns At 70

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  Adelaide’s own ‘ silver bodgie’’, former rock star and amusement industry entrepreneur, Frank Sebastyan has turned 70 with a karaoke night for family and friends at the Stamford Plaza Crystal Room.   Nowadays instead of handling a microphone, he swings a tennis racket with great successful for a late bloomer at the sport. And […]

French TV program triggers Ghan Deja Vu

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It was so thrilling to see a dose of Australia on French television on 20 Heures, the daily news/current affairs program  which filmed a segment on The Ghan trip to Alice Springs. The program goes to air on SBS  daily at 8:40 am to 9:20am as a repeat of the night before screened in France. […]

A Cauldron of Emotion in Jill’s Poems

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Sometimes it takes serendipity to reach out to strangers and decide on the spur of the moment to meet them at a local coffee shop to learn something of another woman’s difficult life. Such is the story of how I came to meet local poet, Jill Gower, who has written the story of her life […]

Father’s Day family fun

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Fathers Day is a continuum of family fun from lunch in father Frank’s nursing home to watching entranced as Scarlett took her first three steps.   This big step forward for a 13-month-old was a show-stopper for her doting dad, my son Tyson. At the other end of the life cycle, Father Frank, on the cusp […]

Paris Pockets Packed with History

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In his grand tome entitled Paris, Edward Rutherfurd describes the site on the Left Bank where the Romans established their town, named Lutetia, as ”a low, flat hillock, like a table overlooking the water”.  Here on this gentle rise of land, they  had laid out their town, building a large forum and “the main temple covering […]

Frail Frank soldiers on at 95 years.

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My frail father, Frank, turns 95 today and my sister Anne and I are with him as he shuffles on his walking frame to Kafe Schulz, the restaurant in his nursing home where we will buy him a chocolate drink and cake. Frank has always been a chatty fellow and talks as he walks. He is […]

Joy of Life “quotidien”

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I am trying hard to nudge out grief from my mind by paying attention to the joy of life around me. There is delight simply by walking down my street with Oscar on his lead sniffing at every blade of grass and piddling to claim his territory. It is strange to do it alone, but […]

“Flamby’s Angels” or “Hell’s Angels”

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Here is a gem of a photograph from France which reflects the sexual politics of the moment. However, has anyone ever seen French president Francois Hollande smile? Must be heavily photoshopped because he is not a smiley fellow. He must have something mysterious though to trigger such a bitter war of words for his affections between […]

Poverty, violence worsens for world’s women

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On International Women’s Day we could be complacent and think upon the amazing advances made by women into powerful leadership roles in the world today. Particularly here in Australia, we have had the first woman Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and our first Governor General, her Excellency the Honourable Quentin Bryce who is about to retire. […]

A beautiful big baby boy is born – Zachary

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Our family has welcomed a big, beautiful baby boy following the safe delivery of Zachary Graham Williams, first son – and second child – of my son Tyson and his wife, Vanessa in Melbourne over the weekend. I have had a splendid time being caring grandma to 22-month-old Scarlett and we have spent much time […]

Beautiful baby Zachary brings blessings

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April has been a month of  high excitement. Baby Zachary Graham Williams, born the first week, presented as my fifth grand-child, a big baby boy weighing 4.12 kilograms and 51 centimetres long. A fine specimen and a beautiful brother to grand-daughter Scarlett. Records are important newsmakers when a new baby arrives and Zachary weighed more […]

Hollande’s private life pales his presidency

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There’s always something happening with ‘sex’ and the French! And presently, French president, Francois Hollande is the star act. He continues to court emotional and political disaster because of his sex life – or should I say lack of it of late. In France, the Prime Minister, Manuel Valls has the power to install whomever […]

Some Days Are Diamonds for Sisters

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My sister Anne has a crammed life, but today we shared some incredibly uplifting sisterly events. On the eve of Mothers Day, we bought chrysanthemums from a road stall and visited our mother, Florrie’s grave at the Enfield Memorial Park.  This is the first time in many years that we have joined our hands to […]

World-famous women must inspire teens

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News about three outstanding women of the world today deserve attention as female role models – Hilary Clinton, Dr Catherine Hamlin and world renowned primate expert and conservationist, Dame Jane Goodall.  One thing which inspires me is that they are all ageing women, and are still planning and working for the good of others. The […]

Security skipped in scramble to leave Paris

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My dear French friend, Dominique Bievre, who lives in Valance, France recently visited Paris and then got caught in the crippling SNCF rail transport strike.  As soon as he arrived home, he sent this gem of an email, which sums up French society in a manner which only a native-born French person could. “I manage to […]

Hicks gives goss on Hollywood stars

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Oscar-winning Welsh actor, Anthony Hopkins can be “really stroppy’’, Clive Owen brings “a laugh onto the movie set’’, and Catherine Zeta-Jones is “so unpretentious’’, says renowned Australian film maker and screenwriter, Scott Hicks. These titillating snippets were among tales of Hollywood stars from Hicks in an entertaining Q & A with Dr Nick Prescott at […]
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