ANZAC Day musings

I realised something this morning. It suddenly came to me as I was lying in bed thinking about getting up and how I should have gone to an ANZAC Day service, that I really don't know much about my grandparents and their war service.

 

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I mean, I know that they served - all four of them. I know that Grandpa B, Nanna A and Nanna B were in the Army, and Grandpa A was in the Air Force. I know Grandpa B fought with in PNG, and was at the Battle of Milne Bay. I know Nanna A was a nurse and Nanna B was in the records office. Grandpa A was in the NT at an air base.

So I googled. And I couldn't find much - how sad next to nothing of their time in the defence force is digitised! And yet I know there are photos of them all, somewhere, from this era. I have seen pictures of them in uniform - Grandpa A looking like Errol Flynn with his dashing mustache and rakish Air Force cap, Nanna A in the most surprisingly enormous stiff white nurse's cap. I'm going to make it my mission to root out the old photo albums, and scan some things.

 

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They never really talked about it. Grandpa B told me only one thing about his time in New Guinea - that the rivers in the jungle were icy cold, as they came straight down off the mountains. He never talked about the fighting, or the Japanese, or his mates that died. Nanna B would sometimes mention the records office, but only how sad it was when they got the KIA and MIA lists, and they would have to send all the telegrams out to the soldier's families. Of them all, I think Grandpa A may have told me some things but I never asked him before he died.

And now I'm married into an Army family - both C's parents served (his dad for 20 years) as did his half-brother. C tried many times to get in but was rejected because of a dodgy knee. I think it broke his heart, that.

 

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It makes me wonder - what can I do to serve? Should I do more for my country, my community? It's not something we think about much in peacetime, but it dovetails nicely with a thought I've had lately about volunteering and getting more involved.

So, as I watched the Dawn Service from Gallipoli this morning, my thoughts were not only with my family members that have served and gone, but also of what I can do besides buying a badge or a poppy.

Camera phone baby

My iphone crashed yesterday. Hard. Apps kept failing and then it had a total spack attack, trying to reboot itself and not quite being able to. It was like it was stuck in an infinite loop that only The Doctor could understand.

Anyhoo, tonight I'm backing up my photos (over 3000 of them now! WTF!), then the whole phone, then upgrading to the new iOS. Because that is a thing I should have done weeks ago.

While doing this, I noticed I take lots of photos of the same stuff. Like...

New buildings

 

Old buildings

 Stuff I see

 Stuff I wore

 

 The ground

 The ceiling

 What I ate

 What I drank 

What I baked

 And, of course, too many selfies,

What do you take photos of the most?

Local, Secondhand, Handmade: The Kustom Krafts Brisbane Retro & Vintage Markets

Yesterday I dragged my mum to the Kustom Krafts Brisbane Retro & Vintage Markets. I had been looking forward to it for a long time - I went to one a few months ago and loved it!

Unfortunately the weather was terrible and by the time we parked and got there we were soaking wet thanks to an insufficient umbrella. Due to the rain, all the outside stalls had been crammed inside the Sandgate Bowls Club and it was extremely crowded!

Though I loved the actual market, I felt rushed and crowded the whole time - there was always someone bumping or pushing, and I felt I couldn't linger over the stalls as there were always people behind waiting to get through. And so, uncharacteristically, I didn't buy a thing!

As I drove home, I resolved to search online for as many stallholders as I could. Here are six of my favourite businesses that were there - all local; all making or repurposing fabulous things. You all know I'm a huge fan of stuff like this!

Ella Mobbs Design & Illustration

I've admired this talented lady's work for a while - she combines cool art with vintage china to create unique pieces. She also makes brooches and hair clips; and artwork is available as prints.

Huis Design

It wasn't only the wooden jewelry that caught my eye - this brand also had for sale on the day soy wax candles in vintage tea cups. Adore!

 

Call Me Old Fashioned - Vintage & Collectables

What a great range of quality vintage items! My mum bought two plates, while I drooled over the kitchen canisters and a Staffordshire trio. Stalls like this make me happy.

Rag Top Vinyl

Who can resist a good repurposed record? Rag Top Vinyl makes everything from bowls to cake stands. Their items and not only unique, they're retro cool!

SUGAR

SUGAR makes handmade soaps, funky vintage and retro-inspired bags and accessories. I fell in love with the hawaiian-themed bags. So cute.
 

The Attic

Instantly fell in love with the paper ephemera from this local business. Hand-bound journals, cards and gift tags that will amaze you - featuring actual vintage photos and book illustrations, no reproductions. Just divine. Wish I had bought something from here now! My mum got some gift tags which was promptly put in the most darling gift bag - old sheet music sewn into a pocket. Amazing.



What's your favourite market purchase lately? Any places you'd like to recommend?

When Beach Photography Goes Bad

On the weekend we did something I have been looking forward to for ages - went up the Sunshine Coast for a night with my parents. They'd rented an apartment so we were going to sponge off them.

I took my fancy camera and decided to take some lovely ocean photos. It was overcast and rough but I was undeterred.

I love the ocean. I love the sound of it the most. On Friday afternoon, I had a cup of tea on the balcony of the apartment and just listened to it crashing onto the sand.

On Saturday morning after a big fry-up breakfast I wandered down to the beach with my hubby and dad. Dad was braving the waves, I was going to take photos.

I don't know what I was thinking. But as I was snapping away somehow the unthinking, spontaneous side of my brain decided it would be a good idea to climb on the rocks, which were covered in green algae. It was only when I slipped and went down like a sack of potatoes that the logical side of my brain decided to pipe up and say THIS WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA.

I sat there, trying not to cry and realising that there was no way I could get back up on my own with my camera and bag, so I texted hubby on the shoreline: "HELP". How embarrassing.

He came and helped me, and only laughed at me a little bit. I have an epic scrape on my knee and bruising on my foot and toes. And a good story.

Have you ever had a mishap while in pursuit of the perfect shot?

A year of wedded bliss

Today, C and I have been married one year. 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days. Many hours. Lots of minutes.

To be honest, to me, time has flown. It seems only yesterday I was cramming my gigantic train into the truck (our wedding car was a F150) and trying to calm myself before walking down the aisle.

Our wedding celebrant sent us a card, isn't that nice?

I have little to say about the institution of marriage that hasn't already been said. Except perhaps that it is quite different on the inside than it appears on the outside. Same goes for long-term relationships: whether you're married or not, it's always about love and compromise. The love part gets tested by the compromise part. I asked hubby if he had any wisdom to share about marriage for this blog post and he shrugged and grunted. So there you go.

For our anniversary I tossed up going out to a fancy dinner. Then I realised that would be something C wasn't into but I was. So in the end I settled on a movie date - but a posh one.

So Gold Class it was. I must admit the Gold Class lounge was pretty intimidating - all top shelf alcohol and dim lights. There were couples sharing bottles of Champagne. But then some more folks showed up in shorts and thongs so I relaxed a bit. After all, if you can buy a ticket to it, it's not that an exclusive club is it?

We saw the new Die Hard movie. It was pretty good. I thought the action sequences were some next-level stuff. And the fact we could enjoy it from the comfort of big puffy armchairs and have a waiter being us fries with truffle aioli made it just that much more enjoyable!

What was your best date ever? Do you celebrate anniversaries?

In praise of Slow Blogging

Below was my favourite tweet coming out of the Digital Parents blogging conference today. I saw it and went "Me too! Wait, there's a name for that?"

Because I'm sick of placing pressure on myself in an area of my life that I indulge in purely for my own pleasure. A few months ago I decided that I was going to stop feeling bad if I hadn't blogged for a while. I gave myself permission to blog only when I felt like it.

It was so liberating! Not worrying about constantly creating content and coming up with new ideas was great. It gives me time to ruminate, and as an added bonus, what makes it into my blog is only writing that I have felt I simply must share!

I guess this whole Slow Blogging thing isn't going to work if your blog is monetized, or you want it to be. But if you're like me, and are doing it purely for yourself - for those myriad inexplicable reasons that drive us to share - then I highly recommend it.

Like Slow Food, Slow Blogging may just catch on.

A collective love of old and used

Each year, the Darling Downs Veteran & Vintage Motor Club Inc.holds a Swap Meet. Over time it has grown in size to be the biggest in the State, and one of the biggest in the country!

As soon as I got there, I could not believe that I have never been before. This event is a vintage-lovers paradise!

Hundreds of stall-holders, thousands of objects from the rare and collectable to the common and ordinary! And thankfully for my mum and myself, it's not all about cars. Oh no. There's a solid second-hand bric-a-brac contingent that makes up a lot of the stalls. I was in retro heaven at one point scoping out a stall that had everything from Shelley china to old bakelite radios and sheep shears!

One thing that mum is always on the lookout for is Automobilia and old garage relics. The big sign below caught her eye because her father had a COR garage way back when. But it was $400! Man oh man these sellers knew their prices. There weren't many bargains to be had, but if you are a serious collector and know your prices, the swap meet was your oyster.

In the end we only spent a few hours there - we went on the Sunday because the Saturday was so crowded that you couldn't get into the showgrounds to park for hours, the traffic was that bad. I really had a ball but next year I'll be going early, and packing my most comfy walking shoes and plenty of water! 

And if I happen to come home towing the shell of a 1920s roadster, well then, hubby is just going to have to deal with it...