Newport Folk Festival: Stories by the Fire. 5 July 2014

You're invited 

Stories by the Fire at the Newport Folk Festival

This is a time in the Festival when storytellers and listeners gather to join around a crackling fire with Melbourne’s favourite storytellers. There’ll be candles to light the room and spicy chai to warm the heart and loosen the tongue. Bring stories to share and ears to listen.

 Kate Lawrence (Story Wise) and Teena Hartnett will be there to welcome you and curate the evening. 




WHERE: Newport Scout Hall
6 Market St Newport (Disability access)
WHEN:  Saturday 5 july 
TIME: 6:00 pm - 08:00 pm 


ENTRY: Wristband (available at door)

Learn more about Kate Lawrence HERE

Learn more about Teena Hartnett HERE

All welcome but remember this is a storytelling evening for adults.  

Full program and how to get to the NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL

Check out the fun we had last year!

Bell's Parade, Latrobe

Bell's Parade is situated on the Latrobe inlet of the Mersey River. It is named after Robert Bell, who with his half brother Henry Bentinck, constructed a wharf and a store on the site in 1855.
From the 1880's it was the main port on the river, becoming northern Tasmania's second major trading port for a period.
Old English Trees grow along the Parade and provide shelter from the hot sun.

Bell's Parade has Platypus, though I haven't seen one as yet. 
There are several events held at Bell's Parade one being the Henley-On-The-Mersey.
It's also a wonderful place for a picnic or a family gathering, or just a walk.
It's not that far from my dads house, so often if I have time in the summer I divert backwards to view and take some photos.

Winter time.

Re-Decorating

We are doing a few things in this house such as the kitchen, laundry and the en-suite, then into the main bathroom to re-grout the shower.

Tiles for the kitchen floor & splash-backs, new oven and cook top, new dishwasher and an upside down fridge.  Into the laundry, new wash trough and floor tiles.
During the process of the total new en-suite we have moved into the 2nd bedroom and hopefully all will be completed by the end of June.

At the moment we have the fridge and dishwasher on the carpet in the dinning room, with plates, cutlery plus the essentials on the dinning room table.  Eating out is the norm until we can walk on the tiles, hopefully Sunday.

We are still retaining our blackwood kitchen instead of have white, as we both love blackwood.

The tiles just after they were laid.

The oven & cook top which I am waiting to use :)

Heart Shape!

Potatoes are eaten in this house with Dinner in the evening. This particular potatoes graced our presence in the shape of a heart.

I often wonder how many people have seen or had different shapes in their potatoes.

A back road to the East Coast!

About 2 years ago we headed towards the East Coast of Tasmania, Australia via a back country road.  My husband nearly always travels on roads he's never been on, so far we haven't been lost!
So I share a few photos showing one of these roads. These photos were taken in late May.

Now on the Highway on the East Coast of Tasmania, Australia.

Zygo Cacti at home.

These wonderful plants have a botanical name that is difficult to pronounce: Schlumbergera. They are epiphytes (plants which depend on others for support, but not nutrition) from the jungles of southeast Brazil, a humid area with high rainfall. In past years, zygocactus were mostly seen with bright cerise pink flowers. However through the efforts of local as well as American and Japanese breeders, a stunning range of flower colours and shapes can be bought.

These photos are of two of my cacti that are in bloom at the moment. These cacti are known also as Christmas Cacti, but here in Australia they bloom towards our winter time, May/June. Can be grown outside in a sheltered area in Southern Australia or cool frosty area, these of mine were grown as an indoor plant.

I practiced my photography skills.

Letter box & Telephone boxes.

Browsing through my photos I came across some older digital ones of an old letter box and telephone boxes in a couple of places here in the Northern area of Tasmania.

Photo taken at Lake Leak in mid north/eastern Tasmania. My husband and I were just passing through at that time. A great use for unused telephone boxes.

Lake Leak is a fishing area with lots of little 'shack'.

Telephone boxes at Ross, Tasmania, Australia.

A letter box at Ross, Tasmania, Australia.

JB Rowley: stories, songs, rhymes and activities (early childhood) 2014

In response to requests from people who have attended my storytelling sessions in libraries, I decided to provide themed storytelling programs for young children through a blog called: Oral Storytelling: storytelling solutions for those who work with young children. The blog is still in the early stages as I find it hard to get the time to add regular posts. However, the idea is to gradually add posts until the blog becomes an extensive resource with a wide variety of themes.

At this stage there are eleven themed programs. Each program consists of a simple story ready for telling as well as a rhyme, a song and an activity linked to the program’s theme. For example, the latest post is Teddy Bears; a program consisting of a story about four bears who go on a picnic and discover the importance of a bear hug. The additional elements are the words to the rhyme Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear; Turn Around, a link to the song Teddy Bears’ Picnic, and a link to a simple craft activity on how to make Tiny Teddy, one of the characters from the story. 

It is a simple blog as I do not have advanced skills as a blogger, but I believe it is easy to navigate with a list of the programs on the right hand side and a search function.

Oral Storytelling: storytelling solutions for those who work with young children: HERE

JB Rowley 

Gael Cresp: Stories for Grownups: Wonthaggi June, July August 2014

Gael Cresp loves to tell stories to adults. You are invited to come and listen to a selection of modern, ancient, tragic, funny, strange, historically accurate stories, that existed in spoken word long before they were written down. This special series of oral storytelling will be held at lunchtimes once a month during the winter months.

Where: Wonthaggi Library 

When: Fridays 13 June, 11 July, 8 August

Time: 1:00 PM to 1:45 PM

FREE

Location and bookings (essential): HERE

or call 5622 2849

Gael lives in the beautiful coastal town of Kilcunda in the traditional country of the Bunurong. She is one of the early members of Storytelling Australia (Vic) and over the years has been tireless in her support of the group taking on the roles of president, treasurer and secretary. She has guided us through the muddy waters of a name change and incorporation - those things that befuddle most storytelling mortals! Gael's knowledge of traditional storytelling runs deep; her curiosity and thirst for her subject has taken her to conferences around Australia, strengthening relationships. She is a Victorian treasure!

Gael’s website: HERE

On my way to Devonport, Tasmania, Australia.

On my way to dads this week I managed to take two photos from the highway because the road was being worked on. To refresh memories, and for those that visit my blog, my dad is legally blind, 90 years of age and lives in his own two story house at Devonport, Tasmania, Australia.  I go to my dads every week which takes me about 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Sometimes my husband comes with me.
Dad has Meals on Wheels 3 times a week, a Registered Nurse comes once and week, then a lady with training (of course) comes 3 times a week to shower my dad.  Then the cleaning lady comes once a week, the shower lady takes dad for a drive about every fortnight, and I do the remainder!

The small town of Sassafras is of a rural nature, and obviously many potatoes are grown along with many kinds of vegetables for Australians to buy from the supermarkets, of course after being processed.

The Big Spud at Sassafras, Tasmania. 

The poor Spud needs revamping.

A view of the hills from the highway.

The old Elizabeth Town Hotel which is now ETC. been modernized and good eating, tea & coffee. ETC is very popular, and the carpark is always nearly full.

CONFERENCE: THE ISLAND WAY: STORYTELLERS OF CANADA July 2 - 6 2014

Every time Storytelling Vic tellers open their mouths, they seem to make new friends. In the process of celebrating World Storytelling Day we strengthened our relationship with the storytellers in the Netherlands. The Dutch are great friends of the Canadians and that's how come we are enjoying collaborating with Karen Gummo!

Karen has recently made us aware of a storytelling conference on Prince Edward Island. Yes its a long way! I would love to work on a plan to subsidise Vic Tellers to represent us at some of these international gatherings. Thinking caps on please!

And thank you Karen for letting us know.

Details for THE ISLAND WAY: HERE

Jackie Kerin

From the Gates! Launceston, Tasmania.

Don't know how old these gates are and can't seem to find out. The main entrance into the City Park.

Many functions are held inside those gates.

City Park Radio Museum plus a small broadcasting room upstairs, it's there I volunteered years ago and did a stint on the radio.

The Wisteria Vines were planted in 1837 are one of the oldest ever planted in Australia. This was also when the cottage was the Caretaker's of the City Park.

This is the only Red Letter Box of this shape left in Launceston as far as I am aware.  Days of old!

The town clock from the Gates

Boags Beer!

James Boags & Sons - Beer!

Interesting to note that this Beer is made here in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia since 1881 not far from the city centre.

James Boag 1 the elder (1822-1890) was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire Scottland and in 1853 he with his wife, Janet, and their four children immigrated to Australia. After three months in the Victorian goldfields, they came to Tasmania.
He worked at several local breweries before entering into partnership with his son James Boag II to run Esk Brewery. The brewery later became what is now known as Boag's Brewery.
The last James Boag died in 1976.  The company is not now family owned.

In 2010 J. Boag and Son employed over 150 people and produced over 76,000,000 litres (17,000,000 imp gal; 20,000,000 US gal) of beer annually. (approximately) They make many types of beer from the pure waters of Tasmania.

Drawn from the Ground. Sand Stories from Central Australia 2014

Drawn from the Ground

Sound, Sign and Inscription in Central Australian Sand Stories

By Jennifer Green

This book is hot off the press; a unique and impressive contribution to the literature about Australian Aboriginal storytelling.

Sand stories from Central Australia are a traditional form of Aboriginal women's verbal art that incorporates speech, song, sign, gesture and drawing. Small leaves and other objects may be used to represent story characters.

Although this is an academic work, it is accessible and will be of great interest to many of you who are curious to learn more about Aboriginal storytelling. But more than that, this study of Arandic sand stories takes a multimodal approach to the analysis of the stories and shows how the expressive elements used in the stories are orchestrated together.

The author, Jennifer Green is a Research Fellow in the School of Languages and Linguistics at the University of Melbourne. She has over 30 years' experience working on projects documenting indigenous languages, history and visual arts.

Drawn from the Ground is published by Cambridge University Press

Autumn in my yard!

A Wedding Anniversary has passed, another birthday of mine will arrive in the middle of the month, and many things are changing in the backyard as Winter approaches on the June 1. Being a lovely sunny day I ventured out to take a few photos of our autumn colours of the Nanadinas, Nandina domestica plus a couple of other plants.  We have a small and a taller one, the cooler the Autumn the more colour in the leaves.

The taller Nandina with it's flowers.

The small Nandina

There are a few roses still blooming, this one is Crespucle.

Potato Vine which seems to bloom near enough all year round.

The Laborastory: Stories of Science 2014

Teena Hartnett’s eye was caught by an event in Melbourne called ‘The Laborastory’. Passionate and intrepid story lovers that we are, we ventured forth on a cold, wet Melbourne evening to the Cider Bar in Brunswick Street to investigate.

The night we attended was particularly exciting as The Laborastory was celebrating its first year of success. The brainchild of Dr Andrea Bedini and Natalie Collard, the concept sits at the point ‘…where science meets storytelling’. The stories may be serious or funny; they are brief, and interesting (with a capital ‘I’).

Five storytellers (and if they are not scientists, they are deeply connected to the discipline) step up to the mic and let rip on their subject. The night we went, the theme was ‘Heroes’. We learned about the surgeon in the 1750’s who discovered that what we eat ends up in our bones; Thomas Midgley the inventor of leaded petrol and CFCs (thanks Tom); Gertrude Elion (Nobel Prize winner), the chemist whose work transformed the way Leukemia is treated and whose lab developed AZT; there was a musing on the difference between managers and leaders, and finally Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler or Hedy Lamarr, film siren and co inventor of a technique to spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping which paved the way for today’s Wi-Fi.

The storytellers read, rather than said their stories and in that way, they differ from the telling as practiced by Storytelling Vic tellers.  With that caveat, The Laborastory was a very enjoyable evening and one, the two of us can recommend.

They are keen to hear from people who have a scientific tale to tell.

Jackie K and on behalf of Teen Hartnett

Learn more about The Laborastory HERE