The Painted Orchestra

New book! 

The Painted Orchestra is a book of sketches and paintings of The Australian Chamber Orchestra. 

It is full to the brim with illustrations showing how sketches translate into portraits. Read more about it: 

 https://artsmitten.com/artsmitten/books/the-painted-orchestra/

The Painted Orchestra is available at your local bookstore or on Amazon.

Amazon UK – Amazon Germany – Amazon Australia – Amazon USA

2021 awaits

It is 28 December, a Monday but the streets hereabouts are quiet as it is a public holiday. At 8am it is already warm, over 25C but it is overcast, threatening to rain and very humid. You can feel the predicted afternoon storms in the air.

Normally the sun would be shining and the beaches full but I haven't heard a single complaint. Last season's dreadful bushfires are still uppermost in our minds and we know we are lucky not to be mired in waves of virus. 

The political environment feels much like the weather, with storms building, still suppressed but increasingly volatile.

They say being resource rich is a recipe for unhappiness in this world as resource owners are so easily able to pay off those who want power while they pillage unrestrained. We have watched environmental destruction by unrestrained multinationals in developing countries and we watch it in Australia. 

How do we get our recalcitrant government to take climate action? They look away as our youth becomes depressed and suicidal. They look away as we loose our Great Barrier Reef. They have practised looking away for a long time as the Aboriginal community would attest. 

But pressure is building. Governments around the world are looking at our government with increasing distaste, and finally they are beginning to act on this distaste. This may be the only way we can be saved from ourselves. 

I found a large sheet of paper that didn't quite fit in the cupboard, so I took out my pencil to make a new years greeting picture.  This was who popped up on the page.

 

 

Happy 2021 everyone!

 

On the Wings of an Albatross

Woo hoo .... Just published! A children's book, suitable for kids from 3-8.

Children's book: suitable for ages 3-8

This book is available as an ebook or as Paperback. 

This is an iso-book, unplanned but fun to do and here is the back story.

In May I joined an online art group that decided to draw an animal a day. I drew birds. At that stage of the pandemic it was very comforting to join others in a regular occupation. We shared our artwork  for comment and although I didn't know any of the participants personally, by the end of May I felt I knew some of them quite well.

As the month progressed I learned quite a bit about the birds I was drawing and I developed a particular affection for some of them ...the New Zealand Robin for example.

New Zealand Robin

One thing led to another and by mid June I was busy developing this children's book. It took a while to learn how the publisher software worked, in particular how to format for print editions.

But now it is done and I have just heard that the Paperback as well as the eBook versions are available online. I have linked them, but perhaps it takes a while to update the links so you can see both versions from the same page.

I tried to order a couple of copies of the print edition but Covid 19 has led Amazon to suspend deliveries to Australia for the time being, so I will have to wait.

In the meantime, if you have a young friend who would like an A to Z of Australian and New Zealand birds, it is available as an ebook ...and as Paperback in the USA, UK and other places with a local Amazon publishing operation. 

Addendum.

I have just looked at the price of the paperback on the various Amazon sites.
The price of you buy in the USA is extraordinary, even without postage. IIt is much less expensive elsewhere.

Amazon.com (USA) :
Paperback Price: USD 24.68 = £19.76 =€21.91
eBook: USD 3.43

Amazon.de (Germany)

Euro 5.33 ebook

Euro 13.84 for paperback (Taschenbuch)

https://www.amazon.de/Wings-Albatross-Z-Australian-Zealand/dp/0987312251

Amazon.co.uk (UK)

£11.75 Paperback 

£ 4.83 ebook

Breaking point: Australia and Covid19

This morning I woke feeling incredibly stressed after a second wakeful night. Until now I seem to have been able to react calmly to this crisis, practising social distancing for a couple of weeks already and by now in lockdown.

But I heard a doctor on the radio overnight, talking about Australia's unforgivablely slow response to the virus. I have tracked the development of the virus since its inception so this information was not new. What the doctor pointed out, however, was the unethical and immoral reaction of the University sector to the initial ban on those from the epicentre of the outbreak. The Universities brought the Chinese students in via third countries, not only putting their students and staff at risk, but the people in those third countries. It was unconscionable behaviour because they have all the experts on staff so they in knew what they were doing.

This information on top of all the other missteps by government seems to have tipped me over the edge. I am really angry with both the Federal government and with the Universities. This is what happens when money becomes more important than people.

Thankfully our State Governments have decided to act on their own this weekend and not wait for instructions from our incompetent and compromised Federal government. Our PM is a Trump supporter and is acting similarly. Poor Australia.

On the positive side, this crisis is highlighting the things that are important that have been under threat by our neoliberal government: the ABC (still under threat of defunding) and actually all the rest of our community resources.

Across the ditch in new Zealand they have an intelligent and empathetic leader giving clear instructions, being transparent and accountable. We are so very envious.

Time will pass. If we can learn from this disaster we may be able to save the world for our grandchildren.

Banksia flower. Photo taken yesterday on my morning walk.

Magazines - fruitless search

Part of the newsagent shop in Frankfurt Railway Station

Another part of the same shop

Every so often I land in a newsagents looking for something to read, something lightish but not silly. I invariably leave empty handed. All the women's magazine fall into the 'silly' category, the computing/gaming magazines are mainly for beginners or only of interest to people with a particular computer model, ditto cars/caravans etc., home renovation magazines and similar are full of glossy photos of interiors that look like upmarket motels, naked ladies and sports are not in my field of interest, business/economics/newsweek etc. still spruik the tired old neo-liberal mindset, health/wellness mags are full fake news and in Australia there is little from foreign countries on the  shelves.

If only there was a magazine shop in the Sydney Railway station like the one in the Frankfurt rail station. (The pictures above show only half the shop.) My wallet would certainly be lighter each time I visited. 

Coffee in Oz

First coffee back in Australia after nearly two months.

I heard in London that there are several new cafés being started by Australians. I can see why they would be successful. The coffee shops I visited in London all felt a bit like conveyer belt establishments. Slick, perhaps, but lacking that personal touch.

Hot, cold, windy, calm

Brisbane waters - flat calm in December

Summer is meant to be sunny, calm, warm and perfect for the beach but this year we have alternating extreme heat, cold, storms, wind and floods.

December was hot and cold, flat calm one day and stormy the next. January has been even more unpredictable.

Stormy seas on the beach tonight

The first week of January was so wet a lot of people were rained out of their camp sites or, in the Hunter valley, flooded out of their homes.  (The coffee shops did very good trade as there was little else to do.)

Then came the heat.  41C on Thursday was incapacitating and was followed by big winds and thunderstorms that chased away the rest of the campers and cut power to eighty thousand homes in western Sydney.  Temperatures dropped from 41Cto 22C in a matter of hours and yesterday was cold, windy and wet. Today is still cool with stormy seas.

We are not alone I know; Melbourne and Adelaide have been even more extreme and bush fires in Victoria and Western Australia have razed great swathes of land. 

Our recalcitrant government is disinclined to take action against climate change but lack of demand for coal and gas might force the issue. China, it appears, is leading the way.

Three inspiring gentlemen

Today I went to a discussion hosted by the Anglican activist pastor, Father Rod Bower. If you follow Australian politics you might have seen one of his church signs questioning the wisdom of our elected politicians as they are regularly shared on social media.  With him were Julian Burnside QC, well known as a human rights advocate and thorn-in-the-side of successive asylum-seeker-mistreating Australian governments and Professor Patrick McGorry, psychiatrist and mental health advocate and the grandfather of Australia's wonderful 'headspace' program which helps teenagers with mental health issues.

Salar Hs (left) performs with Gosford musicians

The afternoon also included cross cultural music (Iranian/Australian) written for the event by Iranian violinist Salar Hs and Caitlin Yeo. (They got a standing ovation.)

The discussion was billed as being about the impact of past, present and future border protection policies on the well being of asylum seekers seeking protection in Australia. Australia has an abysmal record in dealing with asylum seekers and I would have thought it obvious that ill treatment would have a very negative effect on them but I went because I have wondered at the strength and tenacity of Julian Burnside for some time and was interested to see him in the flesh. 

The church was overflowing. More chairs were brought in and still more, but there were still people standing. Despite it's activist pastor, Gosford as an area is not known for being particularly progressive and seeing the church so full of people wanting to hear about this difficult subject was heart warming. If there are so many concerned people here in the boonies, then there is perhaps hope yet for Australia.

Patrick McGorry

McGorry spoke about mental health and told us about a woman he treated and continues to treat who was a refugee from past horrors in South America. She still needs periodic treatment 20 years later. 

How the young men (and women and children) on Nauru and Manus are going to fare is hard to imagine. The worst of it is that the Government is torturing these people deliberately, as a sign to others  not to try to get to Australia.  McGorry said he had been in the UK recently for the world cup between NZ and Australia and was startled to discover that every one of the neutral observers he met were backing New Zealand. Such is international distaste for Australia nowadays. As several people said, our reputation is being trashed for a great deal of money and at the cost of people we should be protecting.


Julian Burnside, a man who has agitated for asylum seekers for years is an inspiring and passionate speaker. When people asked afterwards what one should do, he said "don't vote for either of the major parties".  (The Greens Party is the only major party with a humane asylum seeker policy.)

Julian Burnside

There was some discussion about whether Australia's unresolved issues with aboriginal people might be part of the problem. I am inclined to think it is a significant factor because if someone already has a scale for humans and ostracises one group it would surely be easier be easier to persuade them that another group is similarly unworthy.

I had thought that the discussion might have been an exercise in preaching to the converted but afterwards my seat neighbour turned to me and said with a horrified look on her face, "My eyes have been opened. I can hardly believe what I have heard."

It seems that this issue is one that will have to be won person by person because what it needs is a change of heart from that mythical silent majority we all hear about. The media is caught between a rock and a hard place as our government refuses to answer questions about asylum seekers, but perhaps a tipping point is being reached. (Burnside said he will be delighted to represent any doctor who breaks the most recent law past by the government which makes it illegal for doctors (or anyone else) to disclose abuse to children they may observe on Manus or Nauru.)

The discussion was filmed, I understand for the ABC TV Compass program, so hopefully many more Australians will hear the arguments of these inspiring people.

Travelling with the Syrians

I had not expected to be travelling with the Syrians yesterday, but life sometimes delivers the unexpected.

Earlier in the week railway staff in Maribor told me it was difficult to predict whether there would be delays getting from Maribor to Munich via Salzburg but to give it a go. However when I got to Graz yesterday I learnt that the border between Salzburg and Rosenheim was completely closed and no trains were travelling that way.

'"Go to Salzburg anyway and from there you can catch the connection to Innsbruck, but you'll have to be quick," said a young conductor.
"And where would I go to from Innsbruck?"
"I don't know the connections but it takes three hours to get to Innsbruck."
I did a quick calculation and realised my seven hour trip might turn to fourteen hours or that I might be spending another night in Austria ... or perhaps longer? How does one get over a closed border actually?

An elderly conductor had heard my question and as I climbed onto the train I saw him discussing animatedly with his colleague, so when he was free I leaned out the train door and asked if there was an alternative.
" Yes via train, bus and train," he said. "I'll come and tell you."
He climbed into the carriage next door, the doors snapped shut and we were off, but he was as good as his word and came through to explain.

He said I would probably miss the Innsbruck connection anyway if we were a couple of minutes late and my best bet was to get off the Salzburg train at Selzthal, take the railway bus to Kirchdorf as there was track work today, then a regional train to Linz where I could catch an ICE (Intercity Express) to Passau which is in Germany. From there I could find my way south again to Munich.

Leaving Kirchdorf on the bus

I have much to thank that gentleman for,  as I took his advice and made the ICE without a hitch. On the way I saw a good deal of picturesque countryside (and the inside of tunnels) as we wound our way through the back alleys of Austria.

The ICE from Linz was packed. In the corridor just ahead of my seat a young English woman and her husband were caring for their baby among those standing but ten minutes into our journey a young  man in the seat behind me stood up and offered her his seat.
" Yes please, I insist," he said."Sit next to my wife and son"

The Englishwoman sat down gratefully and the two mothers chatted as their babies ( both 18 months old) kept each other entertained.  People around them were charmed by the two children and we couldn't help overhearing the conversation between the the two women. The English woman and her Austrian husband were taking a weekend away to celebrate her birthday. The other young woman said that she was from Syria and travelling with her husband and son to Germany. The English woman asked if she had travelled long and the Syrian said yes, first by boat then lots of trains. It had been exhausting and once in Europe her son slept through two whole days.  (I could see the young man yawning as he stood in the corridor, so he was tired as well.)
"Where do you want to go in Europe?" asked the Englishwoman.
"Anywhere safe," was the reply.

I sneaked a peek at the women behind me. They were both lovely, one blond and one dark both holding their almost identical babies who were sharing pieces of the Syrian child's apple.  Then I looked around me and realised there were other Syrians in the seats nearby. Perhaps they were travelling as a group.

So these were the refugees we all had heard about. The young woman spoke excellent English, as did her husband who had given up his seat. I had thought he might be English himself before overhearing the women's stories.

The English woman got her husband to bring a baby book from the luggage which she gave the Syrian mum. She expressed in this gesture what those listening would like to have done. We all smiled at each other.

The Englishwoman told the Syrian not to be worried about all the police who would be in Passau, that they were there to help and often had translators with them.

There were indeed lots on black clad police in Passau but they were chatting and relaxed and very non-threatening despite their uniforms.  I couldn't help comparing them to the thuggish 'border force' officers travellers have to deal with going through Sydney airport. A group of Australians in Maribor had shared their airport 'border force' stories one evening and every single one had had an unpleasant experience with them.  I felt so proud of Germany (and so ashamed of Australia) on that train. These people would warm the hearts of any observer.

I left the train at Passau and took a regional train back south. All the train staff on both sides of the border were very understanding about me travelling on trains for which I had no ticket. On the Passau train no one inspected tickets at all.

Rainbow in Bavaria

As my final regional train chugged its way to Munich it rained as the sun was shining, then out the window we saw a brilliant rainbow.

I took the rainbow as a good omen for those refugees and I think it must have been because this morning on the news I heard a local politician say that yes, all the refugees would change Germany, but it would be a change for the better. Go Germany!

Little sketches from the train

On the way south in the train from Hamburg to Slovenia I occassionally took out my sketch pad as the landscape whizzed past the window.

Just south of Hamburg

From the flatlands in the north we reached rolling country.  Then suddenly near Rosenheim in Bavaria, there were the Alps.

Just south of Rosenheim. 

Once in Austria you roll past Salzburg and along the river to Bishofshofen and then you start climbing.

The train slows as it climbs up and up, past big wooden sheds and houses with window boxes. Behind them are the towering alps.

Austrian Alps

First Dog tells it like it is

Oh the humiliation!

Australia has been captured this last week by the controversy about crowds booing the aboriginal football player Adam Goodes. Goodes one of the best players in the game and was Australian of the Year in 2014, an honour he used to support his people and agitate for a change to the way Australian aboriginal peoples are treated.

Football fans have taken to booing Goodes and it has become so virulent and hateful that it is clear to everyone (no actually, not everyone - there is a sizable proportion of the population who thinks it is just fun) that there is a racist element to it. Our government has been acting as if there is nothing amiss and now Goodes has taken a break from football (for excellent comment see this interview with Stan Grant.)

From the cartoon by First Dog on the Moon

Now First Dog on the Moon has weighed in to the controversy. First Dog understands a thing or two about the Australian psyche and I am sure I am not the only New Zealand Australian who is reading today's cartoon with a wry smile.

There is intense competition between the two nations on sports fields which can become less than friendly.  In 2011 when New Zealand played France in the Rugby World Cup I watched the game at a local pub with an Australian friend. The jeering against NZ, the glee when a New Zealand player was injured and the savage anti-NZ venom spoiled the game for us and we decided not to watch games at a pub again.  (Her actual comment was, 'Now you understand why I don't identify with my own country.')

I thought maybe the pub crowd had been extreme, but in July this year I read about the art of 'niggle' in the Guardian and suddenly understood a lot about Australia that I had not understood before, despite living here since 1987. The 'niggle' is what I hadn't understood.

So for the booing public the thought of being sent to New Zealand to learn would be the ultimate humiliation.

New Zealand has been on a steep learning curve regarding race relations over the past forty years and it's cross Tasman friend has a lot of catching up to do.   I hope First Dog's treatment facility has accommodation for long term guests.

Addendum. 2/8/15 The Sydney Swans crowd today gave Goodes a standing ovation. A thousand T shirts with the number 37 printed on them (his number) were handed out and the crowd was a sea of red and white carrying messages of support. When our leaders don't lead, it is up to us.

Tony Abbott a Post Turtle?

Post Turtle

Our beloved Prime Minister a Post Turtle? Well that is what he has been called in response to the news this weekend that he had wanted to invade Irak a second time.

"While stitching a cut on the hand of a 75 year old farmer, whose hand was caught in the drafting gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to politicians and their role as our leaders. The old rancher said, "Well, as I see it, most politicians are Post Turtles”. Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'post turtle' was. The old rancher said, "When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle." The old farmer saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. "You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, he's elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ar*e put him up there to begin with." 
(This explanation is from the Facebook page of Michael Trant  , a longer version of that found in the Urban Dictionary.)

Misogyny in Australia

One women is killed every eight days in Australia by her partner or former partner.  They call it the silent epidemic. Why is it silent? Why are we blind?

We are a society where the pay gap between men and women is now 17% , where business characteristically overlooks women when appointing board members (still less than 19%) and where half the population is represented in the Federal Government Cabinet by a single solitary woman. That solitary woman is vocal about 'not being a feminist'.

Misogyny has become so much part of the political fabric that parliamentary commentators were caught on the wrong side of the fence when Julia Gillard defended herself from charges of misogyny by Tony Abbott in Parliament. They wrote articles chastising Gillard for her speech while the speech video went viral, shared by men and women across the country who were sick of the misogynistic venom that Gillard had faced. Later a choir made music to the speech and I like to think this might be the turning point, a point where we start to rethink our values. 

The State of Victoria Changes Government

In Australia the State of Victoria has just voted and is making history by changing government after only one term. The toxic federal Government is being partly blamed for the more than 3.5 - 4% swing to Labour but there have been lots of local issues as well - including the reignited and very polluting fire in a coal mine in Morwell where the people feel forgotten by their government and where there was a >13% swing against the government. Both major daily newspapers in Victoria told people to vote Liberal/National, but the people have obviously not listened. Many are probably like me and, facing increasing right wing stridency in the main stream media, have migrated to online news.

Not only has the government been changed (from Liberal/National to Labour) but the Greens are in the lower house of parliament for the first time. At the moment it looks as if they have won at least one and perhaps two inner Melbourne seats after a campaign based on climate, public transport and fairness. That is a significant win in a 'first past the post' system like ours.

Greens candidate  Ellen Sandell has just commented to cheering supporters: "You have told us you don’t want an $18 billion toll road ripping up our city, you want a 21st Century Public Transport network"

Kissing reluctant baby

The most commented photo of the election has to be this one that is being shared around twitter. It shows the Foreign Minister, Liberal Julie Bishop and Victorian Liberal State Premier kissing an unimpressed child. Ms Bishop is known for her pre-political career as an aggressive lawyer fighting against those seeking compensation for asbestos poisoning. One of the first things she did when becoming Foreign Minister, before even being sworn in, was to rescind  Steve Bracks position as consul General in New York. He had been Premier of Victoria for eight years and was eminently suited for the job. It was a portend of things to come.

Journalist whistleblower

The respected journalist  Dr Udo Ulfkotte, a former editor of one of Germany’s main daily publications, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, has written a book accusing the media of being 'bought'. He gives some examples in the interview in English (below) from German media coverage of the Russian/Ukrainian issue.  (His interview in German is much more detailed and gives many more examples. See it here)

Dr Ulfkotte details exactly how journalists are corrupted into telling lies. He has long been under pressure not to reveal these secrets, but has finally had enough. He wants to save his country from another war.

"I don't care what happens to me", he says, "I have had two heart attacks and I don't have children. And I am sick of the lies."

Brave man.

What he says about media-bias makes sense to me because a German friend told me in September that she just didn't understand the current media bias against Russia.

"Germans and Russians understand each other because we are so similar," she said. "We both carry the worries of the world on our shoulders. We cry easily and tend to be maudlin. But the press is acting as if  the Russians are completely different from us."

If you listen to the video below you will see why the media does not reflect reality.  You can also see why people have drifted away from the mainstream media. If what they are reading does not accord with their own experience, then they will look elsewhere for their information.

The issue of media bias against Russia is pertinent in Australia today, with our Prime Minister Tony Abbott one of the first to blame the Russians for shooting down MH17. Later he said he would 'shirtfront' Mr Putin when he sees him at the G20 meeting. In Beijing this week told the Russians they should apologise and offer compensation. What information is he basing his actions on I wonder.

A different green

When you travel from Australia to northern Europe the thing that impresses most is the greenness of your new environment. Green green green, rushing past the train windows, green when you look out your window, green everywhere ... apart from inner city Berlin where green becomes grey.

European green

Australian green

Coffee in Australia

Favorite coffee in favorite coffee cup

Ah coffee! Yum, swoon!

One of the best things about being back in Australia is the coffee. We prefer a bitter brew here, real Italian coffee.  Germany prefers a smoother less bitter roast.

The cup and saucer in the picture are a favourite of mine. They were bought in Wanganui in about 2003 during a last trip there with my already very frail father.

Watching Jonas Kaufmann sing

For those Australians who saw Jonas Kaufmann last week and need another little fix, try the link below.
The thing I found most fascinating about his live performance was being able to see (or perhaps feel) how he adjusts his body in preparation for singing. It is as if he adjusts the strings of his internal cello, holds it all in place, inhabits the role, then breaths - and suddenly the air carries vibrations of such beauty you feel like weeping.

Quite extraordinary ... and perhaps ones own body mimics his, because it makes you feel as if you are part of the performance in some odd way.

Just plain 'yuck'!

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's minders must have had their job cut out making him look like a man you could trust.  After presenting a budget that punishes the poor, the young and the sick he is getting extra scrutiny and revealing his true colours. Australians are discovering he is much worse than they had ever imaged: a congenital liar, a sleaze and just plain yuck.

We hear that at uni he was a far-right misogynist thug who took pleasure in terrorising women.
"He was a very offensive, a particularly obnoxious sort of guy," said Barbie Schaffer, a Sydney teacher who was at Sydney University with Mr Abbott.

Abbott amused by grandmother's plight

Now a video has emerged showing he hasn't changed.   On a radio show a grandmother asks him how she was going to make ends meet after July when Abbott's budget cuts come in.

She said to pay the bills she works on a phone sex line, at which Abbott winks, smirks, giggles. Then he catches the eye of a minder and tries to look serious. He tells her he is getting rid of the carbon tax but she can keep the offset she received.

Can this be a Prime Minister? Not for long one hopes.

To quote the Sydney Morning Herald today:

• " The wink video is also not the first time the Coalition has been caught up in a "footage issue" in recent days. Last week, there was much controversy about whether Christopher Pyne said "grub" or something else in the House of Representatives chamber. And then again, when footage emerged of him apparently signalling Speaker Bronwyn Bishop to shut down applause for Bill Shorten's budget reply speech."

Australia Tea Party

Australia is still in shock after a budget driven by vindictiveness and a pro-coal agenda. No wonder headlines such as this are being seen in the newspapers (though not in the pro-Abbott/coal Murdoch papers).

You read a lot about sociopaths (people unable to empathise with other people) doing well in business. Obviously they have done well in the Liberal Party too and are transforming it into an Australian Tea Party.  Problem is, they kept their Tea Party aspirations secret before the election. No wonder there is a back lash. Even the business world is rattled.

Demonstrations in larger cities are planned for tomorrow:  March in May