Thursday, 21 October 2010

A New Voice


Photo: iStockphoto

"The stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own."
— Mary Oliver

You know how little kids walk around and talk gibberish? And you say, "Yes sweetheart, that's right ... Buzz went around the corner and now he's eating bicycles for dinner. Clever guy!"

Nonsensical things. Well, for days now, Rocco has been saying to me, "Mum, I put it in the wall. I put my socks in the wall." Or .... "I put the udder one in the wall." And I'm all distracted and agreeing with him - yes sweetheart, good boy you put it in the wall.

Until, last night, Tim was chopping a salad and feeding Rocco cherry tomatoes. I heard Tim saying, "Rocco - where are you putting the tomatoes?"

"I put dem in the wall."

Suddenly, it all became terribly clear. I took Rocco's hand. Darling boy, where did you put them in the wall? Can you show mummy?

We walked into his bedroom.

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Rocco. Has been putting. God knows what. In his wall. And telling me.

Dave said he will fix it this weekend. The hole that has been there for, oh, two years now. I don't want to know what's in there.

Unrelated - do cherry tomatoes go mouldy?

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In other news ..... oh I have so much other news. A few months back, I took the BlogHer ads out of my sidebar. Much as I loved being part of the network, it was a huge chunk of my blog real estate I was giving up. I'm not sure where I stand on taking ads on this Edenland blog .... something about it doesn't sit right for me. Maybe because I let it all hang out, balls blowing gently in the breeze? Who wants to advertise next to balls? Why do I even have to take ads here? Answer ... I won't. Simple as that.

My personal blog is to remain ad-free ... I like not having to answer to anybody but myself. I like this blog to stay as it is - a creative effort in understanding myself better. An outlet for frustration/grief/showing-off/pain/joy. Part performance art, part idiocy, part embracing the unbalancednessness.

You're welcome.

But .... I have been working on something, with my friend Sophie. An online-type thing, that's really cool. I like it. A lot. I really believe in its potential and where we can take it, and I'm inviting you over there to let me know what you think. Anybody is welcome to throw me some ideas, contribute, guest blog-post, give us tips on what you think we could do better. We'll be taking ads over there, if you'd like to spruik your blog/etsyshop/mailorderbridebusiness.

It's called Jack and Jill Lifestyle.

And it's pretty freaky to put it out there. It feels like I'm blowing a dandelion out in the world, trying to spread it far, hoping the little blowy things settle in nicely somewhere.


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I have one more secret ..... I am a blogging freak. Specifically, mummyblogging. More specifically, the recent explosion of mummyblogging in Australia and what that means and where it can take us. (Nervous laugh). I find it all so very fascinating - never will I forget immersing myself in IVF blogs and then realising one day ... that you didn't even need a REASON. You could blog about anything if you want to. What?

I accidentally learnt a whole heap of stuff about blogging. So much so, I've been asked to talk at the Inaugural Sydney Bloggers Festival. (Shhh, stop laughing or they'll give the gig to somebody more ..... better.) My topics are, how to have a mental breakdown in public .... what to say when your husband asks you, "what the hell is a blog?" for the 100th time .... and how to hold your head high when all the mums at school know you used to drink yourself into oblivion, many moons ago.

(My topics aren't really those - but if they were, I'd *totally* ace it.)

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The scab from the burn from the motorbike exhaust in Bali is all ... scabby. I'm pretty sure there will be a scar. It was such a terrible time. I've learnt, sometimes, terrible isn't a "bad" thing. Some events in life are terrible ... and they crack you open in a way that you would never be cracked open ordinarily.

Thank goodness.

14 comments:

  1. can't wait to read more from your new site and sadly, yes, tomatoes get moldy. and the damn seeds are so hard to scrap off of any surface.

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  2. Yep, tomatoes do go mouldy. So do socks that have tomatoes on them. Kids like to post things. Luckily I lost all the cards in my wallet to the gap under the TV. Once I discovered them, they were easily retrieved. It could have been so much worse.

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  3. I'll check out the new site after I stop laughing about the hole in the wall ...I've been guilty of that only to discover my error ( not the hole in the wall but the theme of saying yes and not listening).

    Ps have you heard about the little girl (2) who made Daddy cups of 'tea' with her new teaset when he was 'on duty'...but distracted by his stuff. Well cut a long story short Mummy comes home and says honey you know the only place she can reach water is ....

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  4. PS - the new site looks fabulous .

    PPS We lost quite a few things to the video player (pre DVD's)- it stopped working one day .Eventually...years later our friend opened it up to find all sorts of treasures (dried sandwich/biscuits/small toys).Around the same time when my husbands tape deck on his car stopped ...he left it for months - then found keys, curtain rings, coins & food in it.
    (it was our now 17yr ...we learnt our lesson).

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  5. I loved rococo 's very own hole in the wall.

    And you know I love mary Oliver right?

    I bought three of her poetry books just last weekend.

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  6. Congrats on the new site, Eden!

    And woohoo the mummybloggers are taking over Australia. Hehe.

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  7. OMG. My keys (the ones with my car remote --sob -- and sixty frequent buyer tags on the ring) have been irretrievably missing since summer. We went out to dinner. Mike and I drove separately because we met him at work one night. I drove into the garage and went straight up to bed after because I was exhausted -- the kind of exhausted where your nerve endings are all screaming at you. Barely stopped in the kitchen, direct path to the pillows. Figured the keys must be in the kitchen or the bedroom -- where else could they be? (crickets) But they haven't turned up. Things like this have been going missing for months. I ... I ~thought~ it was the sleep deprivation and harriedness ... IQ-50. Geezus. It never occured to me to check the VCR. ?? We had a kid-proof plug to block it after BIL's twins did some nasty things to his. But none of our kids ... none of them ... There's a new thought ....

    Congrats on the speaking gig! I'm a fan of accidental learning. Very cool.

    XXOO

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  8. Intact tomatoes kind of just wither up and dry out (like sundried tomatoes). Half chewed tomatoes will get moldy. If you haven't smelled it yet, that's a good sign.

    Yeah, my daughter's good for telling me things she's done and I usually respond with a "that's nice, dear....Wait a minute, What did you say????"

    Can't wait to check out your new site...

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  9. Oh Rocco! I love that he's been telling you all about it the whole time :).

    Congrats on the new site - it looks fantastic!

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  10. I agree that yes, tomatoes mold. Hoping they don't get too smelly.
    That's fabulous that you were invited to speak at that convention. How cool.
    Now I'm off to check out the other blog.

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  11. Congrats on the new site, it's great!

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  12. There is really too much to say about that last post. So I will just say Oh! and if you read it as a sigh it is about Rocco and if you read it as excitment it is about the new site and the conference.

    Oh!

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  13. oh yes dear, tomatoes mould. They break down and go all oozy and disgusting. Can you tell I have a child who "forgets" where he left his lunch? Can you tell I very often come across bits of food in the most unusual of places? I could tell you what a month old half eaten pear looks like but I'm fairly sure you don't need to know that. I'm fairly sure no-one needs to know that.

    i am intrigued by this explosion of australian 'mummybloggers'. Where do I find these rare creatures? And why the hell has it taken the rest of the country so long to join us? I'd love to find some awesome people here down south...

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  14. LOL- yes, they go moldy. Um, I would love to know what else he has jammed in there. Reminds me of the cold half-eaten hot dogs my brother used to hide around the house until they were fossilized.

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Write to be understood, speak to be heard. - Lawrence Powell

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