Why Stop At Two? Here's Why.

THERE'S a little lady in pink and purple now living in our house.  In fact, she seems to have brought a sea of pink clothes with her.

Rebecca Jean Whiting. born 20 February 2013.

Our daughter, Rebecca Jean, child number two, was born less than two weeks ago.  Her eyes, beautiful almond-shaped eyes like her mother’s, now gaze about our house, focusing on the lights and shapes around her.

Any parent can go into gooey rapture about their wondrous new child.  What I have written above will suffice for this cloying sentiment.  I want to tell you that I understand why parents often stop at two.

Many of our friends and family have said “that’s it” after the second arrival.  Child number two seems to initiate a state of parental physical exhaustion and zombyfying tiredness. 

Working parents have to summon up all their energy and organisational capacities to meet the demands of two vampiric young humans.

With one child, one parent can look after the other parent: bring food, cups of tea, and the like.

With two children, the other parent must ensure the older child is fed, not standing on the coffee table trying to reach the phone, nor playing with the scissors they found in the bottom draw in the kitchen.  All whilst child number two is squawking for more liquid sustenance.

And child number two usually arrives when the first is in their Terrible Twos.  Or Tantrum-atic Twos.

The Moore kids and the Whiting kids.  Ten kids between two households.

Last night, I treated my family for our first meal out since we became four.  After eating one mouthful, Guy found it more interesting to sit under the table and bang on the table leg with the chopsticks.

When I sat him up at the table again, he started howling that he wanted to go home.  I nearly obliged him when he took his hollering to the front door of the restaurant, clutching at the door handles.

The Prime Parental Unit once again saved the day, providing succour to the Two Year Old Bellower by playing Maisy Mouse on the iPhone.

So two children under three is challenging, enough to make you put up your hand and say “enough”.   And if you can get through this stage, you have the professional skills and abilities to do most any job.

But the diamonds of pure enchantment with your children are scattered throughout your house each day.

Guy now hugs me fiercely and whispers “I love you too, Daddy."  To have the new-born blinking at you, with her mother’s gorgeous eyes, is a reward that will make you endure anything. Anything.

In fact, it’s enough to make you want to do all again.  Let's not give away the pink outfits.  Just in case ...

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Winning Wines at Symphony Hill

Driving into Symphony Hill Wines, your eyes are drawn to the long, clean, elegant lines of their winery.  The wines, too, show a careful and elegant construction that makes them some of Queensland’s best wines.

Thinking seafood? Here is a close friend for it

You can sense Ewen Macpherson’s mind at work here.  The owner and Managing Director is a former computer scientist.  The aura of Symphony Hill Wines suggests studied preparation and systems planning.

Ewen is slim, spectacled, and self-depreciating.  But as a small stream of workers come and quietly get instructions, it is clear he leads with a deft, firm touch.

Still, it is also clear that this computer science graduate operates on gut instinct. Ewen simply launched his family into the wine business when his “gambler’s urge was at its maximum,” he laughs.

As a Queenslander, Ewen was convinced that the Granite Belt was a huge winemaking opportunity.  The Macphersons bought the first 40-acre property on that gut feeling, enchanted by the way the house sat on the block and its views.

As he said, he lucked out that it was right. But then he tested the soil, and studied the climate, and found his instinct was spot on.

That gambler’s urge must have been heightened by Symphony Hill’s first bash at a wine show.  “Our first wine won top gold at the Royal Sydney and we thought ‘wow, that’s very easy’” grinned Ewen.

Symphony Hill Granite Belt wine

Symphony Hill is creating an impressive portfolio of wins, and Ewen says he is aiming to produce some of Australia’s best wine.

Visit Symphony Hill Wines at the Granite Belt

Their Verdelho has made it onto a top 100 Australian wines list.  “It is just sensational,” marvelled Ewen, “a beautiful explosion of flavours, a great acid factor, and a finish that makes you salivate.”

The 2008 Reserve Shiraz is a candidate for the Great Queensland Shiraz, and is also listed amongst the top 100 wines in Australia.

But the 2009 Reserve Petit Verdot he describes as a “big purple monster.”

In recent times the Petit Verdot got 3 trophies at the New England Wine Show, including Champion Wine of Show.

After the screwcaps go back on, Ewen takes us to see the view of the house block that first entranced him.  Clearly, a man who has found his patch of heaven.

Red the full article at winegroover.com

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Explaining The Social Contract (Via Abraham Lincoln and Mexican Drug Cartels)

REMEMBER signing the social contract?  ‘Course not: the rest of society has signed you up for this contract, on your behalf.

At a time when people are signing multiple contracts for cars and iPhones, not to mention huge cavernous houses, this unstated and assumed contract about how we are governed is probably the most important of all.

If you didn’t waste your partying years by studying political philosophy at uni (nerd disclaimer: I did), let me briefly rattle this explanation by you.

The social contract is the hypothetical agreement between the ruled and their rulers, defining the rights and duties of each of us, says the Encyclopedia Britannica.

That’s right: you didn’t sign up for it, but you have an expectation that it is in place.  It is one of the great assumed foundations of our society, like driving on the left hand side of the road or expecting to see Test cricket on TV during summer.

The Social Contract & Lack of Vampires

Elect me, and I will rid you of vampires. And slavery.

In this social contract, we allow politicians to rule and make decisions, in return for looking after us.

For making sure that brigands and vampires don’t roam the streets at night (nerd disclaimer: just watched Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter*), we don’t exercise violence to replace the pollies we don't like.

By the way, you’ve consented to give up a few freedoms in return for this social order and security.  For instance, you do not have the freedom of choice or expression to screech abuse at the police and lob beer cans at them.

If you do exercise your free will in this futile manner, you will be deftly manhandled into the back of a police car and driven away.  And no-one will give you any sympathy whatsoever.

In fact, the rest of us will breathe a sigh of relief to see your pale upturned face through the rear window of a police car as it speeds away.

They do the social contract in different ways in different parts of the world.  In a part of the Mexican state of Michoacan, the narcotic trafficking Los Caballeros Templarios essentially are the law and order of the place.

The Mexican Army, trying to reclaim Michoacan.

Many of the people have consented because, well, they do a better job than the government in keeping the peace and generating jobs ...

In Australia, there’s a part of our social contract, I think, that is also a bit different to other parts of the world.

One.  If our politicians make sure we are employed or cashed up, we allow them some self-enrichment.

Two.  We allow them to make laws for us, but the pollies have to be accessible to us.  We have the right to go into the office of our local member and call him a bloody idiot. (Brian Hayes, I’m talking about you).

And this is the crux of this post.  Our social contract is fraying because these two conventions are being breached.

Lobbyists, Mining Leases and the Social Contract

The news that Eddie Obeid and Ian MacDonald allegedly looked after each other really well and abnormally enriched themselves has infuriated many working class voters.

The news that cashed up lobbyists can get to see Queensland Ministers – all the time and any time, it seems – has steamed up Queensland voters.  You try and get to a Minister to complain about job cuts: you will be waiting a long time.

The breaches of these conventions don’t signal the end of the great Australian social contract.  Australians don’t resort to violence to enforce the social contract, apart from brief flurries such as the Eureka Stockade and the Kelly Outbreak.

And I’m not advocating turning to Mexican cartels as an alternate source of security and employment.  We have mining multinationals that can fulfil that role.

But if the pollies aren’t keeping their end of the social contract, this great unspoken bargain, they can’t expect us to co-operate when it comes to things like belt-tightening and job cuts.

*Footnote*  I had foolishly high expectations of the movie Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.  I had enjoyed the book, and allowed some “suspension of disbelief”, because it stuck to basic historical accuracies, apart from the assumption that the Confederate South was run by vampires (there’s an odd social contract for you).  But the film just waved good bye to historical veracity.  I mean, making Lincoln’s best friend a black slave he had freed?  And Joshua Speed, an anti-slavery hero in real life, but a vampire collaborator in the movie?  And Mrs Lincoln, somewhat hysterical in real life, personally leading to the battlefield a slave "underground railroad" train loaded down with silver?  I quite like vampire movies and adore Lincoln biographies, but this was a lesson for me never to mix the two again.  I will watch Abraham Lincoln Vs Zombies just to confirm this judgement.

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Golden Grove Estate Wines & Gold Medals

IT IS a wonderful Queensland story.  In the 1930’s, Mario Costanzo, a cane cutter from Ingham, stopped in Stanthorpe as he travelled to Sydney.

He met Nita, another child of Italian migrants, and married her.  They settled onto her father’s property, started producing grapes and making some wine.

They were soon selling it to friends, family and other Italian settlers.  That same property has now evolved into Golden Grove Estate, one of the most awarded and recognised Queensland wineries.

Ray Costanzo, Golden Grove Estate

Now their grandson Ray meets Jeff and I from Wine Groover at the Golden Grove Winery.  Ray is slender and in his mid-30s, his dark eyes piercing and seemingly weighing us up.

When it comes to wine, Ray Costanzo can be described as passionate.

“The thing that drives me the most is getting a product onto the shelf that is the best it can be,” he explained.   “I’ve never wanted to be any else other than a winemaker.”

In any conversation with Ray, you clearly see he is determined to create a good wine and show how it can be done in Queensland.

I suspect he has only small patience for doubters, and may not easily tolerate naysayers.

Other winemakers talk of Ray in respectful tones.  The prize-winning record of Ray and Golden Grove might well be intimidating for some.

Their record of pioneering Mediterranean wines that soak up the sunlight is another part of their Queensland story.

His father Sam planted the once-exotic Barbera, Tempranillo, Mouvedre, Durif, and Vermentino varieties, awaiting Ray for his return after studying in Charles Sturt University.

Once Ray steps behind the tasting bar to pour some wine and explain its lineage, he becomes animated with intensity and focus.

His 2012 Vermentino, a Sardinian wine, is partially wild fermented and crafted in a richer European style, as opposed to Australian sauvignon blanc style.

Although just four years old, the Golden Grove Vermentino has won three gold medals and two trophies, and anyone eating seafood or pasta in Queensland should get a few bottles.  As Jeff did.

Ole for the Tempranillo

The Tempranillo is a Spanish variety that just loves the soil and climate of the Granite Belt.  “I don’t have to fiddle too much with Tempranillo,” said Ray, “it gives me good colour, flavour, tannin, year in and year out, through good and bad.”

The Golden Grove Tempranillo has won four gold medals in a row over four years.  “I make it in a bigger, richer style,” said Ray.  “You’ll get that nice cherry, savoury taste and the tannins are quite firm and rich.”

At Golden Grove Estate, Ray Costanzo has the foundation that allows him to take a lead and leap in.  And a big part of that foundation is the long family history of the Costanzos on the site.

Go out to Golden Grove Estate and experience a small part of this Queensland story.

For the full review, go to winegroover.com

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Mr Darcy Vexed by 14 September Election

"Mr Darcy wants to talk to me? Hmmm ..." photo smh.com.au

ANOTHER election!  I'd like to say 'get ready for it', but that would be condemning you to the campaign equivalent of an ultra marathon.

It is decidedly unusual to announce an election so far away, but it seems there were so many circumstances to meet, and so many events to dodge.

There was the agreement with the Independents to meet, the Senate half election requirements, and the need to avoid footy finals.

"I await your response, Ms Gillard"

One event the Prime Minister failed to consider was the annual 'Picnic At Pemberley', a Jane Austen-themed event at the Abbey Museum.

This gracious and elegant fundraiser will happen at the Abbey Museum on 14 September, the same day as the Federal election.

Mr Darcy, who will be hosting the event, has therefore called on the Prime Minister to help keep the guests in the tent.  Here's what he said in a blog on the Abbey Museum website:

Mr Darcy calls for polling booth at Picnic at Pemberley

Mr Darcy has appealed to Prime Minister Julia Gillard to set up a polling booth for the Federal election at his ‘Picnic At Pemberley’ on 14 September 2013.

Mr Darcy will be holding the annual ‘Picnic At Pemberley’ in the grounds of the Abbey Museum at Caboolture also on 14 September.

“I confess I am astonished that Ms Gillard has designed to call this ballot on the same day as my ‘Picnic At Pemberley’”, said Mr Darcy.

“I do understand the need for an election.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a country in possession of good fortune must be in want of regular democratic elections.

“I do not blame Ms Gillard for this oversight.  I do ardently admire a woman of strong opinions.

“However I find it vexing that she has imposed this election upon us at this important date.

“My annual picnic is one of the most important fundraising events for the highly esteemed Abbey Museum.

“I am willing to suffer this election, this triennial trooping of politicians whom I suspect occasionally profess opinions that are not their own.

“But I am not willing to endure my guests being wrenched away from their festivities to cast their votes.

“I shall apply henceforth to Ms Gillard for the indulgence of creating a polling booth at “Picnic at Pemberley” on 14 September,” said Mr Darcy.

You can find the original blog here.

For more information about ‘Picnic At Pemberley’, visit us at
http://www.abbeymuseum.com.au/event/picnic-at-pemberley or
http://pinterest.com/abbeymuseum/picnic-at-pemberley/

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