A SPRING BOUQUET

Margaret's first painting for 2010 uses pastel and acrylic to portray a collection of nasturtiums, daffodils and daisies.

A FINE BOOK

Eight years ago, I joined a book group commencing at the Carlton Library. We meet each momth and have read about eighty books. It's always interesting to hear the reactions of the nine or ten who make up the group. Over the years we have got to know one another well and it is sometimes possible to predict fairly accurately how individuals will react. But this is by no means always the case.

This month's book is THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS. by Kiran Desai. I started reading it last month and after ten pages was totally un-engaged. A friend's reaction was similar. However, I have a strong sense of obligation to read the prescribed text, so a few weeks ago I started again, reading more slowly and taking more care to identify the various characters, who are introduced with glimpses but who are not easy to know well.
I continued in that manner and slowly began to feel a bit more involved. By page 200 I was beginning to enjoy the story By page 300, I was deeply involved, fascinated with the way Desai had woven a number of different personal journeys into a tapestry of colonial hisory, Indian geography, immigrant life in U.S.A., lonely adolescence lived with a withdrawn grandfather and a host of other matters, some global and others exquisitely local and almost microscopic.

When I finished, at page 324, I sat a in stillness, a little stunned, and realised how appropriate was the title and how extraordinarily well Desai had painted a whole set of pictures of people experiencing loss. I was left with a certain sadness tinged with an appreciation of the beauty of her writing. I want to read more of her work.

A DECEMBER CELEBRATION...AND SOME MEMORIES

FROM THE CARLTON HOUSING ESTATE.

On a December Friday evening in Carlton, during the Parliament of World Religions in Melbourne, an unusual event was staged on the lawns beside the local Uniting Church, which is on the same block as three very large high rise Department of Housing towers.
John Evans, the UCA minister and Omar Farah, a local Somalian Moslem leader, organized a gathering to demonstrate the diversity of religious backgrounds of people who live and work on the Estate.
Following a barbecue, a group of present and former locals shared something of their faith and their experiences of living in a multi-faith setting. Speakers represented Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism and of particular significance for me was the presence of Malcolm Cormack, an artist from the hills, who was our minister when we first arrived in Carlton as a young couple in 1965. At that time, Malcolm, his wife and three sons lived on the 15th floor of one of the towers and Malcolm made a strong contribution to community building on the Estate.
I remembered how in the 1960’s, a group of Albanian Moslems had bought property in North Carlton and how some of the locals were upset and opposed to the plans to build a mosque there, in Drummond Street. Malcolm spoke of the attempts that had been made in those early days to establish a spirit of mutual support among residents and I remembered how strongly he had argued for the right of our Moslem newcomers to build their place of worship
When I sat on the grass on the Estate on that Friday evening in December, among a mixed group of young and old, rich and poor, people of our faith, people of other faiths and people of no faith, I was deeply moved to sense that at least, in a small way, we as a community in Carlton have made some progress in our openness to the stranger and the newcomer in our midst.
Earlier last year, members of the Carlton community were invited to attend the Mosque to help to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its opening. On that occasion I had an opportunity to speak with the chief Imam in Australia, Sheik Fehmi, and to inform him of the role that our minister, Malcolm Cormack, had played at that time of local opposition. His appreciation was evident. Sheik Fehmi is a friend of our former Moderator Rev Jason Kioa, who has worked hard to build good relations with our Moslem brothers and sisters in Melbourne.

The photo shows Malcolm Cormack speaking to the gathered group of Carlton residents on the evening we celebrated the diversity of faiths and ciltures on the local Housing Estate

Church of All Nations, A Uniting Church congregation, has provided a welcome to people of many cultures and faiths, and a number of these people have been linked with our CAN community through its welfare and community building activities. An article I wrote last year [entered on this site in March,2009] spoke of the employment programme and of the strong connections between an Eritrean Christian woman and and an Eritrean Moslem woman who are neighbours on the Estate.

LETTER BOXES AGAIN

In September, 2009, I wrote some reflections on letter boxes I have encountered.
On my most recent tour of the area's letter boxes, in December,2009, I found myself designing in my head the perfect letter box, and I realised that our own box fell rather short of my ideal.
The perfect letterbox should allow the one delivering to insert the mail with one hand ,without having to hold open the box with the other. It should be large enough to hold large envelopes without them having to be folded. It should be safe in wet weather, because soggy mail brings lettle joy. What other qualities would youi add tho my list?
With our Christmas mail we received a card from friends who had read our www.nicollprintandpaint.blogspot.com website and who sent a copy of their letter box in a north-eastern suburb of Melbourne. i enclose a copy and ask you to consider its merits. I am impressed. I wonder where we might buy one and how it could possibly be fitted into our front fence!