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‘Lies’, ‘Once’ and personal clips

Last night I went to see ‘Once’, I have reviewed it on ‘Falling Brick’.
This is a track from the film called ‘Lies’.
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This YouTube clip is a scene from the film that particularly touched me. On IMDb I read about the film, it mentioned in the trivia the clip was of the director, John Carney’s real girlfriend. This added to the appeal of the film for me. It was a very real and amazing film.

I love to make clips for people I love. I have just finished making one and sent it to Andy in Tasmania. I want to edit it already! Little snippets of our time together through my eyes. He probably hasn’t even seen it yet. Lucky he never reads my blog – would blow the surprise.

Last Christmas I made one for Jane and we added a Christmas message to the end of the collage. She lives interstate, so it was fun to do. I love that too. I made one for my Pa’s funeral that is particularly special to me. I have promised family members to distribute it to them. I must do that soon.

I started off making them for my homeroom class and giving a copy to each child as a gift for the end of the year. A couple of my year 9s have told me they still watch them and treasure the one I made for them in year 7. They are just really collages of photos and small videos taken with a still camera. The limitation of 30 seconds that my digital camera has, makes for easy editing. I then edit them in Microsoft Movie Maker. As I said, it is a very simple and inexpensive way to give a meaningful gift. Microsoft also have a program called Photo Story, if you only have photos.

This year at school, my digital storytelling class is making a clip for each homeroom. They are doing a great job. Some of them are using Flash and I am getting them to teach me about it as I haven’t used it before.

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Today I am Grateful for my Grandparents

Tomorrow it will be two months since Pa left the planet. I visited his wife this week because she had a birthday and I wanted to be there for her at such a difficult time. She’s a wonderful person. She cared for him so well and misses him too.

After my Nana went in 1999, my pa remarried at 80. He had such a positive loving relationship with Nana, I don’t think he would have known how to live alone. The year he was alone was terribly sad. It was great to see him setting off on adventures again with a companion to care for him. He was a big traveller.

Today I have been thinking how lucky I have been to have a grandfather, that I enjoyed being with, until I was 41. I lost my Nana when I was 34. They were both really important loving forces in my life. I lived with them (and my parents and Auntie) for the first 5 years of my life. Pa used to say to my boyfriends, “She’s a wonderful girl, bit spoilt though!”. He should know, they were the one who couldn’t let me cry as a baby so my parents tell me and endless other kindnesses in the years to follow.

When my daughter was two months old, my husband and I moved in with Nana and Pa for some months whilst we looked for a house. Nana had just had a hip replacement operation, so I cooked for Pa and helped out whilst she was on the mend. It was a beautiful time of my adulthood and I cried when we moved. Everyone was astonished thinking I’d be delighted to be buying my first home, but I didn’t want to leave their warm and loving home.

My children were old enough to know both of them and loved them as I did. I think we were incredibly lucky.

They were really there for me for such a long time. I remember as a child asking my Nana to promise me she would never die. She never would make that promise. She reassured me telling me I would be fine when it happened, I would be ready. I wasn’t, but I can’t complain how long they stayed nor the quality of their presence in my life.

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Father’s Day

I adore my dad. I have just returned from spending time with him. I get to see him quite a bit luckily. He is a very good man and I know I am blessed to have him in my life.

He has retired and is loving it. I’m pleased he has this outlook as I have seen people retire and be miserable. He worked so hard during his life. He would be gone by 6.00 and return after 6.00 each night. He had a sand quarry and was in partnership with my pa. He told us that they never had an argument whilst they were in business for over 30 years.
It’s hard to buy for my dad as he never suggests anything and always says he wants for nothing. He is not a drinking, golf playing, fishing kind of dad. He doesn’t have any interests other than his wife and family. He takes photo’s and has all the old family photo’s. He already has all the equipment for this hobby. He buys what he wants, when he wants it.
Still, I found a PC Chess tournament game. I was never able to beat him at chess, not that I am much of a player. I hope this will provide a challenge and I am also trying to get him to use his computer more.
He has never had to use a computer for work, so his usage has been limited to checking bank statements online. He wants to scan all the old photo’s he has onto disk and fix some of them. He has boxes and boxes of great photos. It will be a great resource for the family.
This is one of my favourite photo’s in the world. It is from left to right, my great grandfather, grandfather, dad and godfather, Uncle Jack. Dad is the only surviving member of this hardworking team. This photo was taken before I was born and we lived on the farm near Yarragon.