I’m cool
To the kind people who have been expressing empathy about the climate I live in here in Alice, I should report that today was the second in a row that did not quite make 40 which is a blessed relief. This means I could sit outside and watch the sunset tonight which is the highlight of the day here. The mountain glows orange and the gums glow white as the blue of the sky softens. Also, my air con is fixed. I spent a lot of money for a man to come out get it going again by switching it off and then on again at the power point. At least it wasn’t the first thing he did and he was almost as surprised as me.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)Breezes, baptism and bungie jumping
We had this marvelous phenomenon today I believe is called a “cool breeze”. This meant I could actually sit outside for breakfast, have coffee on outside on Todd Mall in the morning, and sit outside again in the evening with our neighbours who have just given me some bush medicine they made using some of the erimophillas growing on the property we all live on. Stephanie has arrived but is staying in town for a bit. Hopefully she will be a neighbour soon. All her stuff has arrived too and is filling the big round room. It won’t all fit in the cabin. I went to the Uniting Church this morning with Stephanie where our wonderful woman minister took me to a deeply healing meditative space. After coffee with Stepahnie, I went to the Catholic mass that heaps of indigenous people go to. I was really moved in both services which were both totally different. Both services addressed the fact that today is the day in the church calandar we focus on the baptism of Jesus. In the Catholic service Father Russ, a Fijian priest, decided to take the angle that baptism is a kind of initiation ceremony. This was quite timely as now is the time of the year where young indigenous boys become men in traditional initiation ceremonies happening around the place. Father Russ spoke of different islander initiation ceremonies including one in Vanuatu that involves bungie jumping. It’s based on an old Vanuatan story about a couple that had a fight and the man started hitting his wife . She ran away and found a long vine and then ran up a very tall tree and tied the vine around her feet and to the tree and waited. According to the legend, her husband followed her and called her down from the tree saying he was sorry, but she would not come. So he climbed the tree and just when he nearly got to her, she jumped. He then felt obligated to follow her. Of course, the vine saved her and his skull was smashed. So now Vanuatan men bungie jump at initiation, but unfortuately not to learn that they should never hit their wives, but so that they will never be decieved by a woman again. This shed a totally different, if not altogether clear, light on the baptism of Jesus. I love multi cultural church services.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (5)Hot in the Centre
I’m back in Alice and it sure is hot. We’ve been getting to over 40 each day. And the air conditioner in the bedroom is not working and I am on a waiting list for a repairer to come out. I am surviving. After work I go to the pool and at home I do little else other than lie under the fan and read. I have a stack of Christmas books I have to get through. And I’m trying not to eat and drink too much because I did so much of that spending the festive season in Sydney. I think this is now my season for hibernation.
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