Singular Scene

Red asked me the other day were there any places I hadn’t lived? There are a lot, but I got to thinking that I am a member of the “fellowship of the fortunate”. Of the 7 countries represented by the flags on the left I have lived in 4 and visited 1. I didn’t go to Canada though I had opportunity; for the sheer terror of not being allowed back in to the US because I had outstayed my visitors permit… Neither have I been to Kuwait.

The other reason my thoughts have been of an international flavour is having had the opportunity to participate in the Great International Secret Blog Exchange (GISBE) which I mentioned this morning. It was a great exercise to send a care package to someone overseas of all the things you would miss if you no longer lived where you live now! Actually, because Vivi and Tracey are expatriates I think the genesis of the exchange was to give expatriates an opportunity to exchange from home and receive some of their favourite treats. Or, of course, an opportunity for other people who want to receive something from other cultures…

Anyway! The point is that I was thinking about missing things, local foods that you don’t get anywhere else and because I’ve lived in these other places I am surprised to realise that there is quite a list!

You want to hear it, right?

Good. I’ve limited to the top 5 (in no particular order)… for the sake of saving time!

From NZ…

1. Cadbury Chocolate Marshmallow Easter Eggs… with the orange yolk. Nothing says Easter like these babies!
2. Mr Hubbards Feijoa Cereal, and all his other cereals too.
3. Now that you mention it: feijoas. I never seem to be at home when they are in season… Disappointing
4. Cookie Time Cookies… the little ones that come in a bucket at Christmastime… nothing says Christmas like them…
5. Kumara – not that stuff they serve up here … the Purple Ones with yellow middles…. Yeah

From the UK

1. Potato Cakes
2. Bassets Licorice Allsorts
3. Walkers Oat Cakes
4. Fortnum and Mason’s Ginger Cookies
5. Coconut Boost Bars (which I believe are now, sadly obsolete)

From the US

1. Milk Duds
2. Cheese in a Can (I actually doubt I could eat it now… gross… but memorable)
3. Dill Pickles
4. Tuna Salad
5. Subs – good ones… not the microwaved Subways we have here.

If I left Australia I would miss

1. Tim Tams
2. Mint Slices (and all the other slices)
3. Cherry Ripes
4. Gelatissimo Ice Cream
5. Max Brenners Hot Chocolate (and all his other chocolates and Belgian Waffles)

So, there you have it… everything that’s good from where I’ve lived. But should you have imagined this was a cunning ploy to alert my secret blog exchanger all the things I could possibly want… she has already sent it.

I was just thinking out loud.

Well.. for the first time in Singular’s history my biggest referrer is someone other than the wibsite.

So…

Hello to all who have come visiting from Superegglplant! It’s very nice to see you here.

[for regular readers Singular Scene appears at Super Eggplant because of my recent participation in the Great International Secret Blog Exchange]

I had the pleasure of being taken out to lunch today.

Nice… Dining at a Dee Why Cafe is one of the Northern Beaches greatest pleasures!!! Waterfront views – stunning food. Mmmmmm.

I went with 3 significant members of the women’s department. This may not be unusual given that I am a girl woman and all. Still, as I have mentioned before I’m not especially girly… not given to interests in fashion or shopping, reasonably domestic but not an interior decorating style guru etc.

So, I’m sitting at the table with 3 girly girls, one of them a former model… one of them the head of our women’s department and the other a young girl who is all giggles and smiles and prettiness and all of them sold out to women’s ministry… a ministry I steer clear of for the sheer estrogen factor. And they’re taking me out for lunch. Now, don’t get me wrong, they are all awesome chicks! Fabulous in fact, it’s just that I just felt a little out of place!!!

There was common ground… Family, travelling, work and our joint project, the women’s dept e-zine which is how I ended up there, I did the tech stuff for it and they were saying “Cheers love!”

To be happily honest it was a great lunch. You know, kind of relationship building…

Yeah.

Still, I doubt I’ll be at the next Women’s Ministry event.

There’s just not enough technology or crime drama.

I am posting once I got home from work rather than waiting until I am ensconced in my bed and fading as it gets later…

Brisbane Discoveries

1. Paddington – a suburb with very funky shops well worth spending a day to browse. We hit the antiques end of the main drag and didn’t get out of it….
2. Belgian Hot Chocolate with Chili – As prepared at “Hot Chocolate, Cool Coffee” in Paddington (see above). To die for… really. Went back 3 times … note to self… closed on Mondays.
3. Queensland Black House Ants – Project one for Bliss… KILL…THEM…ALL. Had to shake them out of my toothbrush before attending to my teeth at bedtime… eeeewwww
4. Heat – Queensland is Hot… Daaaaamn Hot…
5. The Welsh Lady – Mmmmm… ’nuff said.

Bliss’ Place in the World.

It was brilliant to see Bliss and to hang out in her new home. It’s a gorgeous wee house and just perfect for her! There are bits and pieces that need doing to it… not the least of which is blocking all the entry ways into the house for the ant colony… But it has all she needs and the fun part is going to be turning it into HER house. I am glad to have been to see it, to see what she is doing, to just plain hang out and to go to church with her.

Part of the reason Bliss moved was to support her friends Mack ‘n Shaz as they plant a church in the western suburbs. What a mission… not one I am cut out for, to be sure… I may have issues with my church sometimes, and more often than I would like lately, but at least there are enough people around to share the load… 47 people in a congregation are a few less than I could get used to… Still, if they keep adding 7 a week as they did last week it won’t be long before it’s big enough to find air conditioned premises…

Running Away

The reason I left town so quickly was to put some distance between my life and me and see if I could get some perspective. I’m not sure I did… My life was still here when I got back. I am really fidgety at the moment. So many of my relationships have changed as people have moved around me and I wonder at times if I too am needing a change. It was Tez who said to me “I am sick of expecting different results from doing the same thing repeatedly”. It’s a good quote and a fair one I think. He was talking about touching God at church and there are elements of that which affect me though I suspect though that my tenuous relationship with God is more to do with me than church. I don’t seem to find him there at the moment which makes attendance a bit of a chore. Still, He wasn’t at church in Brisbane either. It would have been nice if he was, and he was for other people but not for me.

Truth is if he did show up I’m not sure I’d want to see him anyway… Hmm, not true, I would, but would hate for him to see me. Not in the state I’m in. And before you all go adding comments about grace and how he doesn’t see me like I do, please refrain.

My life is a constant tension between yearning for intimacy with Him and fighting against it, yearning for intimacy in an human relationship and freaking when it’s offered.

Sigh. Oh well… tomorrow’s another day. At least work is challenging and terribly interesting at the moment… It’s keeping my head above water until I go to NZ.