Perth Words… exploring possibilities.

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The Boffin

bookshops are like lovers

they numb in black & white

then seduce you with colour

titillate and tempt your soul

until you finally let go

find the courage to close

the book ~ pages which leave

you gasping ~ the breath of air

on your face feels like a slap

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2004

#TheBoffin  #Bookshop  #Lovers  #Books  #FrancesMacaulayForde  #Poem

A recent interview with…”  READ the full article by Evie Gaughan.

#IrishTimes  #WritersRealPeople  #Authors  #Publication

Colm Meaney on playing Martin McGuinness: ‘He was born into this’

#TheGuardian  #ColmMeaney  #MartinMcGuinness  #NewFilm  #IRA

Look what just arrived:  “The No I Ladies Detective Agency”  Complete First Season of the TV Series – hopefully it won’t be too long before the 2nd season airs.  It’s based on the amazing series of books by Alexander McCall Smith who writes with humor and honesty about real characters we all get to know and love.

Hubby and I had the privilege of listening to him talk here in Perth a couple of years ago ~ my big fan-girl moment:  Mma Ramotswe  He was hilarious and charming…

I’m sooooooooooo excited!  Can’t wait to put this into my DVD player and watch it again.   (Just the tonic I need to cheer me up after a nasty cold.)

When I watched this series on TV, the feeling, the atmosphere the gentleness of the characters and their happiness took me straight back to the Africa I grew up in.

Although I lived on the Copperbelt in Northern Rhodesia now Zambia, in the 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s, this series is the truest depiction of the Africa and Africans I knew and loved as a child.

If you haven’t seen it (in the words of a well-known Aussie pop guru) “Do yourself a favor!”  Go out and order it today.

#MmaRamotswe  #No1Detective  #AlexanderMcCallSmith  #Africa  #Botswana

#Femoy  #Flowers  #WordlessWednesday  #IrishVisit

When we collected my 7 year old grand-daughter from school yesterday, we talked about ANZAC Day being a ‘holiday’ today and what it means.

“Has anyone in our family been in a war, Nanna?”

I answered that my daddy was in the British Royal Air Force but actually, started as a pilot in an Australian Air Force Squadron, stationed in England: Flt Lt J.A. Forde D.F.C. – Pathfinder Force 1942-1946.   

Ist left: Flt Lt J.A. Forde D.F.C. – Pathfinder Force 1942-1946

2nd Lef Back row: Flt Lt J.A. Forde D.F.C. – Pathfinder Force 1942-1946

Flt Lt J.A. Forde D.F.C. – Pathfinder Force 1942-1946

“Is he still alive, Nanna?”

“No, sweetie, he died a long time ago.  He was my daddy, so your Great Grand-daddy…”

“In the war, Nanna?”

“No, sweetie, he was lucky.  He did meet your daddy though, when he was a very little boy.”

Dad

Mum

Uncle Angus

Uncle John

Uncle Joe

As I was trying to rationalize all the grandparents Sonja is lucky to still have in her life, I was thinking of those she doesn’t… and why we call them ‘Great’.  It occurred to me, they’ve all earned that title, whether they served in the war or managed to survive it as civilians.

I honestly don’t know which would be worse; those able to go and fight – do something about the threat or those who had to wait (often starving and bombed out of their homes) for those loved ones to return.  Not knowing (sometimes for years) if they were even alive or dead.

I think my dad’s generation have earned the title ‘Great’ and will try to explain why I think so, to Sonja, later in another of our very precious conversations.

ANZAC DAY

And we will remember them,
brave soldiers all

who raised the trumpet
and answered the call,

marched in straight lines
to the war, in tin hats.

How many, these days,
have the courage for that?

Can we take heed and listen,
learn lessons or care?

And never send our young people
to die ‘over there’?

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2003

#ANZACDay  #LostFamily   #LovedOnes  #Heroes  #BraveSoldiersAll