tagged by Mimsie for a Blog Tour
I was honored recently by Mimsie who tagged me to take part in this Blog Tour.
We introduce ourselves, answer some questions and tag three other bloggers to also take part.
I generally don't like talking too much about myself, so don't take part in these things as a rule, but here I am.
1. Introduce yourself
We can include photos if we wish, but I can't find the ones I am looking for.
I am a German born Australian, born in Hamburg in 1952, which makes me a Hamburger, although at very nearly 62, probably a stale Hamburger.
I know nothing of Germany, having arrived in Australia in 1953 and in all that time, I have never left.
I have been married and divorced twice with the first marriage gifting me with four wonderful children, two of whom have further gifted me with grandchildren.
My first husband was in the Army and we spent several years moving up and down the east coast of Australia, living in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Sydney again, then Melbourne again, before coming home to Adelaide.
Even as a child, we moved a lot, beginning in the Bonegilla Migrant Camp in Victoria, going to Melbourne, then Adelaide, then Port Pirie. In Port Pirie we lived in six different homes during the ten years I lived there. After Port Pirie, I moved to Murray Bridge where I met my husband-to-be. Now, in Adelaide, I have lived in ten different homes. I don't plan on moving ever again.
At some point before Adelaide, we briefly lived in Port Clinton, South Australia (I'm told I was three at the time)and from there on a clear day Port Wakefield on the other side of the gulf can be seen. I was convinced I was seeing the other side of the ocean, where Grandma lived (Germany) and one day when the tide was out I took my 18 month old brother by the hand and told him we would walk across the sand to see Grandma. I'm not sure how we were found, but we were rescued by Dad before the tide came in.
A few years later, in Adelaide now, it was my idea again to help my brother over the back fence and tell him we were going to help Mr ? paint his house. I'd seen the buckets of paint and watched him scrape and sand the boards, so I knew what was going on. I don't know how we got the paint open, but we did and we painted wherever we could reach.
Bright green.
The part I remember most from that day was the bath we had after being caught. There was a lot of kerosene involved to get the paint off our skin and out of our hair, then a bath, followed by another bath and being sent straight to bed.
Not too long after that we moved to Port Pirie where I was in trouble again.
All the little girls at school had a fringe in their hair (bangs) and I wanted one too.
Mum didn't like them and preferred my hair long enough to tie to the side with a bow.
I hated that bow, I always had and I still don't like them now.
So I cut my own fringe.
Made a right mess of it too, hacking crookedly and accidentally cutting too much side and back hair. Mum took me off to the hairdresser and I came out with hair short enough to be mistaken for a boy.
Well, at least I no longer had to wear the hated bow.
I learned what little I know about gardening from my Mum who always had a veggie patch wherever she lived and I remember planting carrot seeds that had been mixed with radish seeds. Mum explained the radishes would grow first and fast and when they were pulled out there would be enough room for the carrots to grow properly. I don't know what we did with all those radishes, I certainly never ate one.
Fast forward many years to 2008 when I bought my first laptop after my desk computer got completely fried by a virus.
One day, I read a small article in the Advertiser about "blogs", something I had never heard of before, and the addresses of several blogs were listed. I typed one in and discovered Kath who writes at Blurb From The Burbs. I was hooked. I LOVED Kath and met her in real life a year or so later, just before she moved away from Adelaide, going to Melbourne. She now lives and works in Geneva with her husband and daughter.
I eventually found my way to other blogs by clicking on the name of one of her commenters quite by accident and two years later, May 20th, 2010, I began Drifting Through Life. I'm still drifting....
Q. What am I working on?
A. Not a book, that's for sure. This blog tour is directed at writers, I can tell by the type of questions we have here. I do write, but not much, I'm a reader mostly.
So what am I working on?
Right now, I'm working on my garden. The small patch of community garden right beside my flat, which I have claimed for myself.
Q. How does my work differ from others in its genre?
A. My gardening doesn't differ at all from anyone else's I believe, we all rip out what we don't want and replace it with what we do want. So, same-same.
My writing, the little bit I do, probably differs because it isn't serious work, not a book I'm working towards finishing, not magazine or newspaper articles that have deadlines, it is small pieces written in answer to a word challenge every week, and always just off the top of my head, written quickly with no research whatsoever, apart from looking up some of the words in my Thesaurus to see how they can be used with a different meaning. I write down the words, let the subconscious percolate, then type out a story. Sometimes the subconscious isn't involved at all. I see the words and the story writes itself. It isn't work at all.
Q. Why do I write/create what I do?
A. Why? It's fun. I enjoy it. If I didn't, I wouldn't do it. And I like the reactions I get from commenters and from my neighbours about my garden-in-progress.
Q. How does my writing process work?
A. See that long passage just up there? That's it, that's how my writing process works.
Now I'm supposed to tag three other bloggers.
This is the hardest part. Who to choose that hasn't already done this?
I'm not going to choose.
I will leave this up to you, dear readers.
If you would like to be part of this Blog Tour, please feel free to take this and pass it on.
We introduce ourselves, answer some questions and tag three other bloggers to also take part.
I generally don't like talking too much about myself, so don't take part in these things as a rule, but here I am.
1. Introduce yourself
We can include photos if we wish, but I can't find the ones I am looking for.
I am a German born Australian, born in Hamburg in 1952, which makes me a Hamburger, although at very nearly 62, probably a stale Hamburger.
I know nothing of Germany, having arrived in Australia in 1953 and in all that time, I have never left.
I have been married and divorced twice with the first marriage gifting me with four wonderful children, two of whom have further gifted me with grandchildren.
My first husband was in the Army and we spent several years moving up and down the east coast of Australia, living in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Sydney again, then Melbourne again, before coming home to Adelaide.
Even as a child, we moved a lot, beginning in the Bonegilla Migrant Camp in Victoria, going to Melbourne, then Adelaide, then Port Pirie. In Port Pirie we lived in six different homes during the ten years I lived there. After Port Pirie, I moved to Murray Bridge where I met my husband-to-be. Now, in Adelaide, I have lived in ten different homes. I don't plan on moving ever again.
At some point before Adelaide, we briefly lived in Port Clinton, South Australia (I'm told I was three at the time)and from there on a clear day Port Wakefield on the other side of the gulf can be seen. I was convinced I was seeing the other side of the ocean, where Grandma lived (Germany) and one day when the tide was out I took my 18 month old brother by the hand and told him we would walk across the sand to see Grandma. I'm not sure how we were found, but we were rescued by Dad before the tide came in.
A few years later, in Adelaide now, it was my idea again to help my brother over the back fence and tell him we were going to help Mr ? paint his house. I'd seen the buckets of paint and watched him scrape and sand the boards, so I knew what was going on. I don't know how we got the paint open, but we did and we painted wherever we could reach.
Bright green.
The part I remember most from that day was the bath we had after being caught. There was a lot of kerosene involved to get the paint off our skin and out of our hair, then a bath, followed by another bath and being sent straight to bed.
Not too long after that we moved to Port Pirie where I was in trouble again.
All the little girls at school had a fringe in their hair (bangs) and I wanted one too.
Mum didn't like them and preferred my hair long enough to tie to the side with a bow.
I hated that bow, I always had and I still don't like them now.
So I cut my own fringe.
Made a right mess of it too, hacking crookedly and accidentally cutting too much side and back hair. Mum took me off to the hairdresser and I came out with hair short enough to be mistaken for a boy.
Well, at least I no longer had to wear the hated bow.
I learned what little I know about gardening from my Mum who always had a veggie patch wherever she lived and I remember planting carrot seeds that had been mixed with radish seeds. Mum explained the radishes would grow first and fast and when they were pulled out there would be enough room for the carrots to grow properly. I don't know what we did with all those radishes, I certainly never ate one.
Fast forward many years to 2008 when I bought my first laptop after my desk computer got completely fried by a virus.
One day, I read a small article in the Advertiser about "blogs", something I had never heard of before, and the addresses of several blogs were listed. I typed one in and discovered Kath who writes at Blurb From The Burbs. I was hooked. I LOVED Kath and met her in real life a year or so later, just before she moved away from Adelaide, going to Melbourne. She now lives and works in Geneva with her husband and daughter.
I eventually found my way to other blogs by clicking on the name of one of her commenters quite by accident and two years later, May 20th, 2010, I began Drifting Through Life. I'm still drifting....
Q. What am I working on?
A. Not a book, that's for sure. This blog tour is directed at writers, I can tell by the type of questions we have here. I do write, but not much, I'm a reader mostly.
So what am I working on?
Right now, I'm working on my garden. The small patch of community garden right beside my flat, which I have claimed for myself.
Q. How does my work differ from others in its genre?
A. My gardening doesn't differ at all from anyone else's I believe, we all rip out what we don't want and replace it with what we do want. So, same-same.
My writing, the little bit I do, probably differs because it isn't serious work, not a book I'm working towards finishing, not magazine or newspaper articles that have deadlines, it is small pieces written in answer to a word challenge every week, and always just off the top of my head, written quickly with no research whatsoever, apart from looking up some of the words in my Thesaurus to see how they can be used with a different meaning. I write down the words, let the subconscious percolate, then type out a story. Sometimes the subconscious isn't involved at all. I see the words and the story writes itself. It isn't work at all.
Q. Why do I write/create what I do?
A. Why? It's fun. I enjoy it. If I didn't, I wouldn't do it. And I like the reactions I get from commenters and from my neighbours about my garden-in-progress.
Q. How does my writing process work?
A. See that long passage just up there? That's it, that's how my writing process works.
Now I'm supposed to tag three other bloggers.
This is the hardest part. Who to choose that hasn't already done this?
I'm not going to choose.
I will leave this up to you, dear readers.
If you would like to be part of this Blog Tour, please feel free to take this and pass it on.
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Terrific read and there were bits of your life I did not know. I did not come across Kath until she was in Melbourne, but maybe the connection was through you.
ReplyDeleteAmazing you can recall everywhere you've lived. Wonderful trip over the back fence.
ReplyDeleteWell I understand why your family had to move a lot!
ReplyDeleteYou were an adventurous little tyke wren't you?
ReplyDeleteI love this. My father was born in Hamburg too! Though it was my mother who cut my fringe sooooo badly a trip to the hairdresser was essential. Kath was one of my early blog finds too - and you not far behind her.
ReplyDeleteAndrew; possibly, we both used to comment on JahTeh's posts, which is where I found you.
ReplyDeleteJoanne; there are a couple of places I've heard about but can't recall. The good memory is a curse, because I remember living places my mum swore we'd never been, then years later she'd mention something that happened in that place and I'd know I was right all along and mum and dad had both lied to me.
joeh; you say that like it was my fault. :)
Delores; I was just helping out, I'm a people pleaser. Trouble was, people weren't always pleased.
Elephant's Child; so you're part Hamburger too. Do you brown up in the heat like a proper hamburger should?
I go a truly attractive red shade in the heat, perspire a huge puddle - and if I am foolish enough to stay in it I peel.
ReplyDeleteElephant's Child; oh dear! Best to stay in the shade then. I brown up quite easily, although since menopause I find my face burns pink instead, something to do with the rosacea I'm told. So my face gets a good covering of sunscreen all summer and a good part of the winter too.
ReplyDeleteEC; forgot my joke-you're a medium rare burger!
ReplyDeleteYour early life was pretty interesting! Love the paint story - wow your parents must have been mortified!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post, River...thanks for the outline on your life; on who you are.
ReplyDeleteI loved your tales about your childhood. I also would've loved to have been a fly on a wall (not one just painted and still wet with paint) when you and your brother became apprentice painters.
Your attempt at walking to Germany fortunately failed otherwise you wouldn't be here to tell the tale!
I started blogging back in 2006 after being urged to do so by a friend in Texas. I knew little if anything at all about blogging until then.
Bravo Ms River, what a life. I wish you no more moving.
ReplyDeleteI know a lot more about Germany than I used to, now that I have done family trees for 2 very different families. Go to this blogger Wayne Knoll who has logged all the German pioneers of Victoria. All great reading.
Sir Marshall Stacks; welcome to drifting. I'll probably never move again, unless I win the lottery and buy a house of my own.
ReplyDeleteI'll have a look at Wayne Knoll's site.
My apologies for running so late but you know why and will understand.
ReplyDeleteI thank you for accepting my nomination of your blog and you have done a wonderful job in response to it. All you wrote was so very interesting. You have such a wonderful way with words.
I too have lived in many different houses, about 16 in all but we have been here in Hammy Hill since 1974 so possibly our last, or last but one if we ever have to go into a retirement village.
It's a pity you were unable to nominate any blogs but I do understand it is difficult and I am sure everyone will understand.
Mimsie; it's hard to nominate other blogs, which is one of the reasons I usually don't do these things. They go around and around and it's hard to know who would do them or who might have already done one or even who might be offended at not being asked. So I left it open by inviting anyone who chooses to go ahead.
ReplyDelete