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December 30, 2004
Summer in Melbourne
Our first full day on holiday and Melbourne recorded it's coldest minimum between Christmas and New Year since 1968. It got down to 9 degrees. It was snowing in Alpine Victoria! We had the wood heater going over night.
Tuesday wasn't quite as cold but it certainly wasn't anywhere near warm enough to even think about going to the beach.
Wednesday started off fairly cool with a fresh southerly coming right off the ocean. But then mid afternoon the wind dropped to nothing and the sky cleared. Suddenly it was summer and everyone headed for the beach
Posted by chriscurnow at 1:49 PM | Comments (0)
December 29, 2004
Look what Elise got for Christmas
Guess what Elise got for Christmas
(1.4Mb
- requires Quicktime)- an iPod
(I might get around to doing a WMP version if there is any interest)
Posted by chriscurnow at 12:08 PM | Comments (1)
December 28, 2004
What do you do on holidays
Well. If you're reading this, you, like me, got past Christmas.
For me this year it was a really wonderful family time. A really good Christmas. Sad, but good. Christmas has always been an important time in my family. First as a child and then starting our own family we have continued the tradition. I'll be posting a short clip of our Christmas in the next couple of days.
But now, for thinking about the year that was and what might be the year to come. I always take leave immediately after Christmas for two weeks. I nearly didn't this year but I am really glad I did. This is sacred time.
Being a creature of habit, we also have our family holiday in Anglesea on Victoria's South-West coast about 1.5 hours from Melbourne. (I'll be posting some Anglesea pix in the next few days as well.)
When we got here on Sunday night and after we had finished unpacking the car, setting up the rented house and had some dinner, I went down to the beach. When I got there and walked along the beach at about 10pm, I realised why I keep coming back here. The Anglesea beach - the Pt Roadnight beach to be precise - is a sacred site for me. It is invigorating. It is soulful. I have spent many hundreds of hours on this beach in all kinds of weather at different times of the year. When I walk onto this beach when there is no-one else around, I re-connect with a very deep part of myself. I re-connect with my personel rasion d'etre. It brings me back to my purpose in work.
Blogging was one of my greatest discoveries this year. It cost me dearly in financial terms because I got caught up in it and dropped the ball on cashflow. But personally, I was in heaven when I was posting every day.
My half hour at the internet cafe is about to run out so this story will continue...
Posted by chriscurnow at 1:35 PM | Comments (0)
December 25, 2004
Christmas without Mum
Today I celebrated my 52nd Christmas. It was the first Christmas I have celebrated without either of my parents. So it's now up to Mum and Dad's three surviving children to keep up the tradition by ourselves.
It's happy sad. On the one hand it is really sad that our parents aren't there for the annual event they enjoyed more than any other. It's sad that we can't ask them questions about Christmases past. It's sad we can't squeeze their hand and give them a kiss and say "Merry Christmas" any more. It's sad we can't see their smiling faces as they give out presents. These last three years Mum has been less and less able to participate. But she knew she was there and she knew that she had provided something towards a gift for each of us. We could still say "Thanks Mum" and know that it warmed her heart. Giving to her children and grandchildren was more important to her than anything else she did.
In a way though it is also happy. It's nice to know that we are still here to carry on the tradition and it is now our responsibility alone. It is like we are now being trusted to fly solo with Mum and Dad watching from somewhere else in the Universe. It's like being a child growing up again - doing something for the first time. Being trusted to do something new. It's a long time since I felt that feeling.
In that way, it's nice to be a child again at Christmas - a grown up child.
Posted by chriscurnow at 10:40 PM | Comments (0)
December 24, 2004
Christmas Eve
After a hot Christmas Eve eve in Melbourne, it's been a relatively cool day today. I can't believe it. I have time to reflect. All of a sudden, time to reflect seems like a very precious commodity.
Posted by chriscurnow at 10:37 PM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2004
Orgdyne Team Mirroring online workshop
Orgdyne's next online workshop, "Team Mirroring, Understanding the Socio-Emotional Dynamics of Group Coaching and Team Building" starts January 24 2005. This is a six week on-line workshop and you can expect paricipants from all over the world. You can get the brochure here.
Posted by chriscurnow at 11:58 PM
Marjorie Veronica Curnow
Just before 3pm on Wednesday 15th December, on a beautiful sunny afternoon opposite the Fitzroy Gardens just to the east of Melbourne's CBD, Marjorie Veronica (Billie) Curnow's spirit left her stroke ridden body behind, flew out the window and entered the next life.
Born, in Ultima in North Western Victoria on the 28th March 1916, the youngest of seven children, she was the child of an Irish community. She remained proud of her Irish heritage throughout her life. Although she loved her father, his English/Scottish lineage didn't seem to enter the equation. His death when she was only seven, must have been a major part in the formation of her self image. Regardless, being 'Irish' was always figured strongly in our upbringing.
In true Irish tradition, Mum knew both great happiness and great sadness during her life. The great tragedies of her life were the death of her father, her handsome young husband returning disfigured from the war, a series of miscarriages and the death of our brother, Roger, from a long illness in 1975.
Despite these events Mum found time to be happy. She would tell us stories of fun and hijincks as a child. When her mother moved to Melbourne and took over a cake shop in King Street they took rooms in the People's Palace. Years later Mum had a good giggle telling us they later found out the top floor was used by 'ladies of the night'.
Happy sad is the story of her walking with her younger sisters from their home in Lennox Street, Richmond to visit her eldest sister in Ascot Vale. Mum's mother had only one useable leg, having being dropped as an infant and never had the injury properly set. Because of this, her mother had to take the tram this day but couldn't afford the fare for the children.
Christened 'Marjorie Veronica' her dad nicknamed her 'Billie' apparently after Prime Minister Billie Hughes. The nickname stuck and she was known by it throughout her life. It was a term of affection but I always thought it a little sad that she did not use Marjorie more often because she grew into a very attractive young lady.
And as she grew up so came the next series of happy events for her. From all accounts she wasn't short of suitors although she was quite choosy. There was the young man with one arm. One day they were out driving with her sister, Nancy and brother-in-law Jim who also had only one arm. At one stage they had a minor accident. Mum thought it was extraordinarily funny when the driver of the other car nearly fainted when his first thought was that two men had lost their arms in the collision. Finally Mum met Dad. Joy will continue that story.
Mum's abiding happiness , though, was found in her children and grandchildren and providing for them. After three boys, Mum's happiness is remembered always in the name she gave our little sister 'Joy'. Even though money was always tight, Mum made sure that birthdays and Christmases were always happy times at 17 Henry St, Highett.
As her children we will always be grateful for the 20 years of happiness that Mum and Dad had following Dad's retirement.
Mum's memory will live with me always. She has been the single most import influence on the formation of my beliefs and values
Posted by chriscurnow at 4:37 AM