Bali Hai's blog

Even the palms seem to be swaying.

It has been some time since I have posted here but I am back.  Hurrah! 

I was daydreaming today (imagine!) at my new desk, which is under a large window overlooking a couple of plum trees in full bloom, sipping tea.  My thoughts wondered to a place far away where the warm breeze rustles the palms and the sea gently laps the white sands.  It's funny really how cliched that is, yet so irresistible.  I looked through some of my recent additions to my photo collection and found this lucky fellow:

Yes, that is where I want to be!   What, standing on a palm tree in madras on an Hawaiian beach in the 1940s?  Why, sure! 

I won't be going back in time, not this week anyway, but I will be looking for a short sleeved madras shirt for summer and maybe some crystal framed sunglasses.  I'll be there in spirit, at least!

As I continued to sip my tea, I realised that even my mug was telling me to find Bali Hai.  This was a gift from my best friend and it comes from an etsy seller, YogaGoat in the US:

My reverie complete, I got back down to work.  And, I'm sure I could smell gardenias.

(photo from my collection)

Antipodean Dandy - Charming to a Degree

The postcard below was sent to a young lady living in Strathalbyn, a rural town south of Adelaide in South Australia.  The back is undivided, which, I understand, means that it is likely to have been printed before 1902 (assuming the card was printed somewhere in the British empire) and the original stamp has been removed.  There are no other clues on the card to tell me where it came from or when.

There is, as you can see, a message on the front:

"Dear Flo
The latest in P.P.C.s Eh?  'Get off his nook.'  Am pleased to see you got ahead of the Strath Cricket Club.  Some of the men look 'charming to a degree' don't you think?  Shall probably land in Strath end of year & expect to have a good time.  Kind regards to all not forgetting 'Billy', Yours etc  Charlie".

The quality of the painted background suggests it was not one of the better photographic studios - maybe it was another nearby town, Victor Harbor, for example?   He's an interesting looking fellow.  If the photograph was taken in Australia, he would have been quite the man-about-town; not too posh, but careful with his appearance.   Gloves, button hole (a daisy type flower which looks the same as those in the flower arrangement on the table), large soft-brimmed hat, slim fit suit.  He has pale ghostly blue eyes and fleshy features.  And his name was Charlie.

Purchased at a junk shop in Adelaide.

In the Company of Beasts

This week my sister asked me if I wanted to take care of a kitten.  At the moment, I don't have a pet (the wild semi-feral cat that I feed but won't ever come near me doesn't really count as a pet) and I have decided for the time being that it will stay that way until things settle down later this year.  But I was torn.  Of course I wanted the kitten, it was looking for a home.  After a restless night I told my sister I couldn't take the kitten on.  

It just made me think of the pets I have had - Otterley, Lily, Georgie, Ralphie - and the other animals I've been close to - Hattie.  They each gave me a lot of trouble and a lot of joy.  It's such a big deal taking on an animal.  I certainly miss having one around. 

Flicking through my box of snaps, I came across a couple of animal photos which I thought were cute.  So here's a little tribute to pets of the world, the little beasts.

From my private collection.

It's off to work we go...

Less 'hi ho' than 'ho hum' really.  So it's back to work for another year. 

But this year is going to be different, isn't it!  I'm not one for new year's resolutions, but I did make something of the sort when we returned from overseas in October last year.  I just didn't want things to be the same again.  But since I am a meandering daydreamer instead of a go-getting doer, I haven't really worked out what that will be yet.  At least, not properly.  Maybe it doesn't have to be 'properly' at all.  I'm happy at the moment with a changed mindset.  I've started this blog, for instance, which I am sure you are all grateful for (hehe) so it is a change of sorts. And I've been taking more photographs too, and collecting more cameras.  Doesn't sound like much, but it's more than I was doing a while back!

So, I hope to continue to make the most of this changed mindset and report back to you all on my progress (what a thrill for you!) and I welcome any similar stories of change that help you make the most of being in the coalmine.

Happy new year, all...

Both from my private collection.

Some Christmas Reading

I came across this sombre photo some time ago and it just sat amongst other nondescript snaps in a large box until one day I was idly sifting through the box and decided to take a closer look.  

I think the reason I bought the photo in the first place was because it seemed so quiet.  It reminded me of the times when I've been alone at home - no tv or radio, no company, no sound at all, or at most the distant sound of the street - and I had a very strong sense of isolation, of being aware that I was alone in the room.  Sometimes it was pleasant, like a meditation, but other times it was like being buried alive where no one knows where I was.  The photo also made me feel slightly uncomfortable because it was prying on this man's quiet time. 

Then I took a closer look at what he was reading. and I laughed out of surprise; it is his quiet time and I am prying!  I love this photo.

From my private collection.

What Your Grandfather Got Up To

I came across a series of photographs (real photograph postcards really) in a junk shop some years ago featuring a troupe of men dressed up in various costumes.  Obviously a music group, a glee club type thing.  In most of the photographs, there is one guy in some costume, such as a rustic farmer, surrounded by a number of other guys dressed in female costumes, such as the Dutch dairy maids below:

I love the costumes, of course, but I love most of all the serious, steady faces of the men.  Big moustaches, heavy eyebrows framed by pretty confections of caps.  Go grandad.

I think we don't dress up enough nowadays.

From my private collection.

Take Me Back

I have a shockingly poor memory.  It's a miracle I find my way to work every day.  Some things just don't stick.  But my memory is kind to me and will occasionally feed me a glimpse of forgotten moments.  These glimpses are unsolicited, uncontrollable and unpredictable.  Today, while sitting in a two hour meeting to hear about the latest in performance management,  I was taken back to some happy moments while travelling recently through Northern California.  Like a multi-dimensional photograph, I at once saw the sweeping road ahead of us and the golden afternoon sunlight shining in our faces, smelt the pines and grasses and heard the sound of the sea.  My mood immediately changed, though my interest in the meeting was as low as ever, and it left me feeling - and this is going to be the corniest thing anyone has ever written, and no doubt so many people already have - alive!  There it is, I said it, but it is the simple truth - it's the small things.  So here's to daydreaming...

From my private collection.