This House of Grief

The deaths of three children will always make news. The deaths of the three Farquharson boys in rural Victoria in 2005 are particularly memorable for most Australians. All three boys died in their father's car when it veered off the road and plunged into a dam as their father, Robert Farquharson was driving them home after an access visit on Father's Day. He said that he had a coughing fit and passed out, and was unable to save his sons from drowning in the dam. Their tragic, horrifying deaths were widely covered in the media, as were the subsequent trials. It's a grim story, and one that I wouldn't trust to any other author. If anyone else besides Helen Garner had written this book I wouldn't have want to read it. I've read a number of her books before, the most impressive of which, Joe's Cinque's Consolation, was also the story of a murder trial.

Naturally I had read quite a bit about the deaths of the boys, and the trials, and I went into this book with rather strong ideas about who was responsible. Helen Garner shook these beliefs.

two broken people grieving together for their lost children, in an abyss of suffering where notions of guilt and innocence have no purchase.

Garner watches everyone with her expert writers eye.

Cindy Gambino slid in without fanfare, past the seats where her family and Farquharson's sat tightly wedged. How small she was, this woman whose loss was beyond imagining, yet who would not lay blame. Her hair hung past her shoulders in silky falls. Her smooth face with its large, heavy-lidded eyes showed no expression, but her skin was the pale greyish-brown of a walnut shell, as if grief had soaked her to the bone, and she walked so carefully that she appeared to be limping. The raised witness box, near the front of the court, and the dock were only fifteen metres apart. Down the length of the court, above the lawyer's heads, Gambino and Farquharson would have to look straight at each other.

The trial takes up 200 of the near 300 pages of this book. I found myself becoming increasingly despondent at the legal process.

The sheer bulk of technical minutiae induced a hopeless stupefaction. I had to flail at myself to stay alert. Some of the jurors appeared to be nodding off. Even the judge looked blank and stunned; he took off his glasses and fiercely polished them. One journalist near me skimmed the Age television guid. Another was doing Sudoku under the desk. The hands of the high clock seemed to slow and stop. 

There are long discussions on whether cough syncope really exists. It does. I thought it was interesting that more wasn't made of Robert Farquharson's respiratory illness. There seemed to have been no testing done. Did he have pertussis? Was he ever tested for possible causes of his illness, or cough syncope given that this was the basis of his legal defense? More astonishingly in the appeal case was the decision to expunge any mention of his treatment for depression at the time of the deaths of the boys.

What he (the judge) feared, if he should admit evidence from lay witnesses about depression, was that the jury might take it upon themselves to speculate about an imagined link between derision and motive for murder. Speculation of any kind was anathema. 

And yet it was fine to besmirch the character of a witness by pointing out his involvement in a pub brawl to discredit his evidence? Really? This is how we make such important decisions?

The last 100 pages really flew by. The appeal process once again made me question the way that our courts work - thankfully something I've never seen up close. The appeal trial seems much more dramatic than the original trial. Can it really only be on appeal that the 000 calls are played? And it's fine to allow home videos of recreations of the accident site by relatives of the defendant? If your appeal goes all the way to the High Court then there will be a 20 minute session before the Justices! I get that they're busy people, and parts of the other trials do seem to drag on unnecessarily, but then to reduce it all to 20 minutes... Perhaps it is all about the vibe after all.

See other Aussie blogger reviews of this important and intriguing book:
Whispering Gums
Resident Judge
Brona's Books

http://australianwomenwriters.com

Happy Birthday, Madame Chapeau

When I came across Happy Birthday Madame Chapeau in a list of kids book suggestions in the Sydney Morning Herald late last year, I knew that I had to read it, so fishpond was soon delivering it to my door. Paris, hats, birthdays what could be better?

Madame Chapeau is the "worlds finest hatmaker". Naturally her atelier is in Paris.

She makes "brilliantly singular" hats for her customers.

But Madame Chapeau is lonely, despite her success. Each night she dines alone.

I love that Andrea Beaty has drawn her inspiration from the real world of fashion. Madame Chapeau is Isabella Blow reincarnated (who always reminded me of Louise Brooks), and her hats form a veritable history of hats. From design classics such as Elsa Schiaparelli's Shoe Hat, Charlie Chaplin's Derby to that rather disastrous toilet seat that Princess Beatrice wore to the most recent royal wedding.

Madame Chapeau is a sweet picture book for the fashionable young girl.

Dreaming of France is a wonderful Monday meme
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French Bingo 2015

Eat Sydney

In January I had a lovely few days in Sydney. We took in the Sydney Festival and the Lynley Dodd Retrospective at the State Library of NSW. We also ate a few things. 

One day we made a special detour to Woollahra to go to the new Laduree store. It's the second Laduree outlet in Sydney, and a bit easier to get to than the Westfield store in the city.

It's like a little corner of Paris in Sydney.

So pretty. And you're allowed to take photos!

We couldn't buy the treasure chest
of 200 macarons this day

We may have come away with some goodies though

Laduree

111 Queen St

Woollahra

Sadly you can't just eat macarons all the time, as much as you might want to. One day I took Master Wicker and a nephew for vegan yum cha at Bodhi Restaurant. I didn't manage to take many pictures, I think the boys were gobbling too quickly as soon as food hit the table. 

It was pretty good, better than I was expecting
but I do prefer carnivore yum cha

Bodhi Restaurant

Lower Mezzanine Level, Cook and Phillip Park

2-4 College St

Sydney

Yum Cha 11-4, 7 days

Dinner 5-10, Tues- Sun

This day was rather hot, and after baking at Sydney Festival we headed off to Gelato Messina in Surry Hills. Sydney has many excellent purveyors of gelato, this was my first visit to Gelato Messina. It won't be my last. 

Pear and rhubarb, and caramel yoghurt

Gelato Messina
389 Crown St
Surry Hills
There are 6 Sydney locations, 1 in Melbourne, 1 on the Gold Coast, and soon to be a store in Las Vegas.

Another first for me was a visit to Bourke St Bakery in Alexandria for breakfast one day.

Ham and cheese toastie

Ginger Brûlée Tart, impossible to resist. 

Bourke Street Bakery
474 Gardners Road
Alexandria
7 days
8 locations in Sydney

I hadn't been to see Adriano Zumbo in ages, so I made a quick stop at the Rozelle store on my way home.

Zumbo lamingtons for Australia Day
Belgian chocolate and Salted Caramel!

And of course I couldn't leave without some macarons. I did know that the vegemite and avocado on toast would be a mistake. It was. But everything else was great- I especially liked the redskin vs musk stick, bread and butter pudding, berry brûlée and of course the two varieties of CBS.

114 Terry Street

Rozelle

7 days

5 locations in Sydney, 2 in Melbourne. 

Another successful, edible visit to Sydney.

Saturday Snapshot is a wonderful weekly meme
 now hosted by WestMetroMommy

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking
a fabulous weekly meme at BethFishReads

50 Books That Every Child Should Read by 16

Another excellent list of must read books, this one generated by a survey of 2,000 readers by Sainsburys for World Book Day 2015.

1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

2. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

3. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis

4. Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne

5. Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

6. James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl

7. The BFG - Roald Dahl

8. A Bear Called Paddington - Michael Bond (see my review)

9. Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

10. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

11. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K. Rowling

12. Matilda - Roald Dahl

13. The Railway Children - E. Nesbit

14. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

15. Five on a Treasure Island - Enid Blyton

16. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (see my review)

17. The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle

18. The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling

19. Charlotte's Web - E.B. White

20. The Tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter

21. Watership Down - Richard Adams (see my review)

22. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien (see my review)

23. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling

24. Lord of the Flies - William Golding (see my review)

25. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 3/4 - Sue Townsend

26. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

27. The Cat in the Hat - Dr Seuss

28. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (see my review)

29. The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank (see my review)

30. The Twits - Roald Dahl

31. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum

32. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne

33. Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery

34. The Tiger Who Came to Tea - Judith Kerr

35. Green Eggs and Ham - Dr Seuss

36. The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

37. Bambi - Felix Selten

38. Tom's Midnight Garden - Phillipa Pearce (see my review)

39. Little House on the Prairire - Laura Ingalls Wilder

40. Funny Bones - Janet and Allan Ahlberg

41. Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak

42. Carrie's War - Nina Bawden

43. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon

44. The Magician's Nephew - C.S. Lewis

45. Northern Lights - Philip Pullman

46. The Story of Doctor Dolittle - Hugh Lofting

47. The Story of Tracy Beaker - Jacqueline Wilson

48. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (see my review)

49. Curious George - Margaret and H.A. Rey

50. Each Peach Pear Plum - Janet and Allan Ahlberg

32/50 not bad, although I'm just past 16.

I think it's delightful that Roald Dahl has 5 entries- i.e. 10% of the books. It seems only fitting.

July 2015 33/50.

June 2018 34/50

Redwall

I just knew that I wouldn't like Redwall. I knew it wasn't my thing, and put off reading it for ages. Years, probably. Fantasy. Blech. Talking mice. Oh ho hum. And then I started reading it. I didn't just like Redwall- I loved it!

It isn't really fantasy, well not what I think of as fantasy, not map at the front fantasy, and Brian Jacques didn't like his writing referred to as fantasy either. He preferred them to be called old fashioned adventure stories, or good yarns. And a good yarn it certainly is. The action starts very early on, with the first death on page 21, and rather unusually Brian Jacques isn't afraid to kill off some of his major characters along the way. Perhaps Redwall is the Game of Thrones of children's literature?

Redwall is the story of a tumultuous time at Redwall Abbey, a rather medieval, commune type of institution that is home to a peace loving band of mice mainly, but with assorted other friendly rodents and woodland creatures- Constance the badger, a hedgehog called Ambrose Spike. 

Down long ages the beautiful old Abbey had stood for happiness, peace, and refuge to all. Diligent mice tended the neat little vegetable patches which every season gave forth an abundance of fresh produce; cabbages, sprouts, marrows, turnips, peas, carrots, tomatoes, lettuces and onions, all in their turn. Flowerbeds, heavy and fragrant with countless varieties of summer blooms from rose to humble daisy, were planted by the mice and husbanded by the hard-working bee folk, who in their turn rewarded Redwall with plentiful supplies of honey and beeswax. 

Very early on danger literally rolls into town in the form of a gang of rats under the charge of Cluny the Scourge. Cluny of course sets his sights on becoming lord and master of Redwall. Cluny is an excellent villain. 

Cluny knew the value of fear as a weapon.
And Cluny was a fearsome figure.
His long ragged black cloak was made of batwings, fastened at the throat with a mole skull. The immense war helmet he wore had the plumes of a blackbird and the horns of a stag beetle adorning it. From behind the slanted visor his one eye glared viciously out at the Abbey before him. 

Cluny's rats have great names. Scumnose. Skull face. Mangefur. The hero of Redwall is a young mouse called Matthias, he's ernest but clumsy. It is no accident that these are stories of mice. 

"Mice are my heroes," Mr. Jacques said, “because, like children, mice are little and have to learn to be courageous and use their wits." Source

As an adult reader this is easy to see.

Matthias felt that he had grown up overnight. Duty was a mantle that he had taken willingly upon his shoulders. 

It's classic good versus evil stuff, and it's been wildly successful, selling more than 20 million copies worldwide and being translated into 28 languages. As well as duelling sides there are secret passages, secret messages in code and Brian Jacques gives young readers plenty of delicious food descriptions too, in a similar way to Enid Blyton. The bounty of an English summer, suited to mouse tastes. They eat nutbread, quince pie and some mice are more fond of nut brown ale than others. Brian Jacques also uses a sophisticated language, with lots of magnificent words- sibilant, ululating, legerdemain and milksop. 

As with many writers Brian Jacques took inspiration from his own childhood and life to create stories for children. Brian Jacques left his Liverpool home at 15 to join the Merchant Navy. Years later Jacques wrote Redwall as a story to read to the deaf children that he would visit at Royal Wavertree School for the Blind when he delivered their milk. He didn't like the books they had at the school to read to the children, finding them too real, too much divorce, too much teenage angst and misery. He based his Redwall animal characters on human characters that he had met over time. Cluny and his sea rats are based on merchant sailors. and the unionised shrews are based on Liverpool dockworkers. Even the red walls of Redwall Abbey drew inspiration from the red walls of Stanley Park in Liverpool. 

A mouse is the child, and the child is trying to resolve something, to be better, to be a warrior, to be a hero, and if the mouse can, why can’t the child?

Brian Jacques is fantastic, and so is his Redwall universe. I'll read more of it one day. Redwall is definitely a book I wish I'd discovered when I was still reading aloud to my son. I know he would have loved it.

257/1001

Paris Revealed

Paris Revealed is a fascinating three part documentary detailing three of the most visited sites in Paris- The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and Montmartre. It's especially fascinating if you've been there, or useful if you're planning at rip. 

The first part is naturally The Eiffel Tower, Paris' most recognisable landmark. The Grande Dame is the most visited paid monument in the world, and remains the tallest building in France over 120 years after its completion. 

It was interesting to ponder how amazing an experience it would have been in 1889 to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. People at that time did not routinely take off in planes, and seeing their city from such a height was completely new. Eiffel Tower experts and staff become rather philosophic at times. 

Seeing things at 300m from the ground somehow brings us down to earth. We realise the ground beneath our feet is complex, maybe fragile.

The behind the scenes glimpses are particularly fascinating. The intricacies involved in repairs to the structure itself and the elevators- the youngest of which was installed in 1964. The structure of the Eiffel Tower is still 95% original 1899 construction of "puddled iron" and rivets. Most repairs need to be done to the newer already-replaced pieces. These repairs are done at night, whatever the weather, after the tower has closed for the day. Paris Revealed was filmed during the recent redevelopment of the first floor. 

The beacons that pierce the night sky were only installed in 2000, but Gustave Eiffel included a lighthouse type light on top of his tower too, so it was part of his original vision for his tower. 

I had no idea that the elevators had conductors until 1986. I can't believe that I'd never seen this detail before!

I can't believe that I've never noticed this guy!
Maybe because I'm always taking the private lift to
Le Jules Verne?

The nine gift shops are restocked every morning, with daily deliveries as there is no storage, and they sell up to 4 tonnes of souvenirs each day!

The procedure for food to arrive at Le Jules Verne was particularly fascinating for me. I've eaten lunch there three times now (and have shared two of those experiences with you, lunch in 2010, and lunch in 2013). It's amazing to see their vegetable and seafood deliveries to the Champs de Mars each morning, the produce is then taken to an underground preparation kitchen where they fillet and cook the fish, all to cut down on the weight and volume of produce that needs to be taken up to the kitchen in the restaurant. All flame is prohibited on the tower, so the cooks must use electric stoves and even candles on birthday cakes are forbidden. 

Musee d'Orsay holds the Eiffel family archive. There is a fascinating segment about the early construction of the tower- opposition from the few nearby residents (NIMBY early adopters), how it was built in prefabricated sections. Gustave Eiffel held the concession for 20 years until the tower was given to the city of Paris. Gustave kept a guest book of all the famous people who visited. 

The Eiffel Tower segment ends with Bastille Day celebrations, which made me reminisce our Bastille Day 2013 spent on the hot and sweaty Champs de Mars waiting for nightfall.

In Eiffel Tower news this week they have installed wind turbines as part of Paris' impressive goals for greenhouse emission reductions.

To The Heart of Notre Dame is equally fascinating. Notre Dame is the most visited monument in Europe. 

A prayer in stone. 

I have visited quite a few times, but last year I climbed the tower to enjoy the view, an absolutely incredible experience, and one that I should share with you some time. The gargoyles that are so famous to us now are a mid 19th century addition.

Documentaries like this can access places we visitors can only dream of. They visit the spire and look down on Viollet Le Duc (who restored the spire in the 19th century) looking back at them.

They show us the making of the holy oils in the cathedral basement, choir practice in the lead up to Easter, the inner workings of the organ (they have lungs!) 8000 pipes and 115 stops. It's astonishing to see the 13th century wooden roof structure is still there.

Big doors have big keys!

The incense for Notre Dame is made in house by the sexton, he varies it for the season and the occasion, and it is much more like a perfume than I had ever imagined. 

They visit the Treasury, a particularly fascinating section of Notre Dame, and well worth the small entrance fee (entry to Notre Dame itself is free). The Treasury recently found a 13th century jaw bone that they hope may belong to Saint Louis.

Montmartre. Sacré Coeur Basilica is the second most visited monument in Paris with 10.5 million visitors per year.

They always all seem to be there at the same time as you are.

Largely completed in 1914. 7 architects and 44 years to complete. The location was decided in 1873 at the site of the martyrdom of Saint Denis, the first Bishop of Paris who famously walked carrying his head for 6 kilometres. Underground pillars were needed for preparatory work as the area is riddled with old quarries.

The stone is "self cleaning" and secretes a white substance when rained on. Sacré Coeur's bell tower (which somehow I seem to have never noticed before) holds the largest bell in France, Le Savoyarde, weighing 19 tonnes. Sadly it is cracked and can't be rung at the moment.

A particularly fascinating aspect of life at Sacré Coeur that was new to me is nocturnal worship. Up to 170 pilgrims can stay at The Guesthouse of the Basilica and commit to spending at least an hour of prayer during the night, these prayer sessions are rostered to give continuous worship round the clock, and over the years.

But you get cracking views from the bell tower.

Montmartre is not my favourite area of Paris, and I now realise that I've never visited Place du Tertre, the famous open air art market where Picasso and Renoir worked at one time. I've felt uncomfortable on my two visits to Montmartre, both were brief it's true and we didn't really stray beyond the very crowded, awful area around Sacré Coeur- the only place I've ever felt the crowds to be too much in Paris.

Paris Revealed visit several Montmartre characters, Michou who is all decked out in blue and a collector who only collects objects related to Place Pigalle.

An old stained glass window from Le Rat Mort

I found each of the 50 minute episodes very enjoyable. Of course my favourite was the Eiffel Tower, but all were enjoyable and informative. Paris Revealed is well worth seeking out.

Dreaming of France is a wonderful Monday meme
from Paulita at An Accidental Blog 

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Sydney Festival

I had a rather quick trip to Sydney in January. Quick, but still fun. Sydney Festival runs every January, we had time for a little look around Festival Village in Hyde Park.

 There was a great library. Free books to go.  I liberated five....

You could bring books in from home to donate.
Many were surplus from the City of Sydney Library. 

 Higher Ground is said to be part art installation, part photo playground.

It does make for some cool photos

But as an experience in the HOT sun of an Australian Summer
It was HOT.

Baking really. 

Staff retreated under umbrellas. 

We retreated for an ice-cream. 

Saturday Snapshot is a wonderful weekly meme
 now hosted by WestMetroMommy