Category: The Life of Lara

Microsoft sells 100th Zune.

Mum’s cousin Thomas died this morning. Aunty Emily wasn’t able to rouse him, and the paramedics couldn’t resuscitate. He was 65, and none of us had any idea he was in ill health.

Aunty Emily lived with, and for Thomas for sixty five years, and now she feels like the has nothing to live for. She has another son (famous for saying “it should have been me, I’m the alcoholic”), but Thomas never moved out of home. He was there every day of his life, except the Saturday Sabbath, which he spent at church.

I do hope there is a heaven, otherwise Thomas had a whole lot of boring saturdays for nothing.

There will be an autopsy, and then a funeral, and somehow we’ll have to convince Aunty Emily to move out of her home. And perhaps Cocky will come and join us at Club Denistone. Can anyone recommend a bird rehabber, or a cockatoo behaviour resource?

Please spare a thought for an old lady who has had a terrible shock. No parent should outlive their children, even at 89.

And on a happier note, hereis a little video of TBA doing the cute thing.

The US postal service is celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars with R2-D2 Mail boxes.

Forget the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, here’s the 7 pages of thin peoples habits. Some are useful, but the one that suggests having thin parents isn’t so useful.

The earliest known magicians manual has been found and translated into English.

I’ve received my swap buddies for the Knitters Treat Exchange. My spoiler has contacted me, and I’ve sent an email to my spoilee, but no word in reply yet. This is my first exchange, so i am unsure of what the etiquette is – should I send another email? An e-card? A postcard? Or just wait a few more days?

And here is a picture of Monkey Boy, relaxing after a hard day of being adorable. Apologies for the mess, the bunny houses will get cleaned out at some point. Isn’t that the cutest butt?

And from India, a timely warning – don’t mistreat elephants, particularly in front of large grey witnesses with large ears.

Which I profoundly glad of. I love a loooong weekend.

Friday, we de-cluttered the study. Sarah is an absolute whiz, and if you need a helping hand to get things moving at your place, I can thoroughly recommend her. And her rates are reasonable too!

Here is the room “mid tidy”. Apologies to Sarah – I blurred her face because it wasn’t a flattering shot, but you get an idea of the general chaos. This is the study/craft/junk room. Believe it or not, Simone was actually able to sleep here in comfort, on a fold out double bed just a few short hours after this photo was taken.

Simone came over and we went to Harris Park for Indian (hoping that Hindus don’t close up shop for easter), and had a great meal. Harris Park is a long way from Marrickville, but it’s a much shorter distance when you know how great the food will be when you get there.

Saturday morning the cleaners came, and were able to vacuum an extra room. Joy! I went to Rubi + Lana’s and finally started the edging for the Melon Scarf/Shawl/Stole. Pamela wasn’t there, so I had to work it out on my own…. (yes Emma, I still need hand holding. But I am getting braver.)

Saturday afternoon brought the wedding anniversary celebrations. I won’t bang on about it, but here are three pictures.

Sunday we slept in, and I went to the pub, while Mark continued his campaign to rid the world of orcs using nothing but a 20 sided dice and his keen intellect.

Monday was “tidy up the loose ends” and “prepare for the next onslaught” day.

Breakfast was this bread of indeterminate origin. Greek perhaps? I found it in a greek/middle eastern deli in Harris Park. I sliced and toasted it, and served it with butter. Probably sacrilege, but it was tasty.

I also made Chinese Tea Eggs. No picture, but I may be making more of these to try to eat our way out of the mountain of eggs that have accumulated while I wasn’t looking. We have two small chickens, who must be about four years old now, but they keep laying, and singing the happy “I Laid an Egg” song daily. Bless them. Remind me to post pictures of them one day – Barbara Streisand and Liza Minelli (the two surviving Disco Divas of Denistone) are feathery little gems.

I spent the bulk of the day organising the stash and craft supplies, Andrew came over for moral support and to label things, while Mark tidied and made a divine curry (rendang). Christophe joined us for a few rousing rounds of Mah Jong, and a fine time was had by all.

It’s not quite 10pm, and I am ready for a face plant.

Roll on Anzac Day.

Champagne (pink) is served while guests wait for the ceremony to begin.

Mark sings “Happy Together” as I arrive and walk up the stairs on my fathers arm.

[Celebrant] To last, a marriage should be a consecration of each person to the other, and of both to the wider community of which they are a part. Because Mark and Lara feel a closeness and respect for all of you here, they have chosen you to witness their vows today. Marriage is an intensely personal act, but, in order for their marriage to gain strength to last throughout the years, their union must be supported by their greater society of family and friends.

In this spirit, Mark and Lara ask all of you now: do you support their marriage and accept the new partner into your life as family and a friend of your own?

[Guests (led by family and wedding party)]: We do.  (I should point out that at this point, some of our guests expressed their approval with some vulgarity)

[The celebrant is anointed with glitter.]

Friends of Lara, friends of Mark,

Welcome to this lovely park.

Please now witness what they say

to show their love, this happy day

For they wish to spend their life

Together now, husband and wife

Russell: Will you love her if you’re rich?

Or if you’re poor, and in a ditch?

Will you love her when you’re fit,

And also when you’re feeling sick?

Will you have, and will you hold

From now until the stars grow cold?

Will you love with all your heart?

Will you love till death you part?

From this day on and ever more

Whatever life may have in store?

Mark:  Yes, I will love for my whole life

This lovely woman as my wife!

Russell: And as your wife, please answer true

Do you take Lara?

Mark: YES. I DO!

Russell: Will you love him if you’re rich?

Or if you’re poor, and in a ditch?

Will you love him when you’re fit,

And also when you’re feeling sick?

Will you have, and will you hold

From now until the stars grow cold?

Will you love with all your heart?

Will you love till death you part?

From this day on and ever more

Whatever life may have in store?

Lara: Yes, I will, and it’s no joke,

I’ll take this man to be my bloke.

Russell: And as your husband, answer true

Do you take Mark here?

Lara: YES. I DO!

[THE VOWS]

Mark: I Mark, take you Lara to be my wife, lover, friend, and buffoon.  The one I will live with, laugh with, and dream with.  I promise to love, humour and care for you, with tenderness, tolerance, and affection, throught our lives together.

Lara: I Lara, take you Mark to be my husband, lover, friend, and buffoon.  The one I will live with, laugh with, and dream with.  I promise to love, humour and care for you, with tenderness, tolerance, and affection, throught our lives together.

Together:  You will never walk alone, for my heart will be your home.

[RING CEREMONY]

Russell: May we have the rings ?

Mark:

I will love you on the sea

I will love you in a tree

I will love you here and there

I will love you anywhere.

Lara:

I will love you every day

I will love you come what may

I will love you more than pie

I will love ‘til I die.

Mark: On the sea, in a tree

Lara: Every day, come what may.

Together: I will love you here and there.

I will love you anywhere.

Inasmuch as you Mark and Lara have here in my presence and the presence of these witnesses, each freely agreed to marry, by the powers vested in me by the Commonwealth of Australia, I now pronounce you husband and wife.

You’ve said your vows,

now have a kiss.

May your future

bring you bliss.

You may now have a snog.

[SNOG]

[PAPERWORK + SEPTIMUS (music sung by Coro Innominata)]

[MORE CHAMPAGNE]

The wedding party.

And then there were festivities of a most tasteful and classy manner.

And there was cake for all.

PS.  I know I said I’d be out celebrating tonight, but due to an excess of snot, and a dearth of wit and charm, the celebration has been postponed till the weekend.

PPS. My dress was hot pink, with a sparkly orange tulle stuff over part of it. The veil was made of the same orange stuff, and we cut and sewed some orange paisleys on to the front of the dress. I know it looks red in the pictures, but it was pink and orange, honest.

It was three years ago today that Mark and I stood up in front of our nearest and dearest, and publicly affirmed our love and commitment to each other.  Marriage* has had a bad rap over the years, but both my parents and Marks parents are still together – and still seem to like each other.  We have high standards to emulate.

It’s rather a pity I didn’t start this blog until after the wedding, because it was a very interesting time of my life.  We decided to get married in a fairly spontaneous manner, and decided to do it quickly.  I can’t remember the reasoning at the time, but it had something to do with Uni holidays for Mark.  Or something.  We quickly found a celebrant – the only one in Sydney that had a website, and didn’t seem to take himself too seriously (he was prepared to dress up as Elvis and sing, but that cost extra), hired a park ($165 for the rotunda, or $4000 for a marquee, we took the rotunda), and found a vegetarian restaurant.  Andrew recommended a great seamstress (I often found her passed out on the floor when I arrived for a fitting, but you get that), and my aunt made a beautiful cake that was perfect for the day.

The best mans father supplied the wedding car.  It was to be a Jaguar XK120, but the brakes failed the week before the wedding, and they had to get parts from the UK to fix it.  So we ended up with a 1970’s Porsche.  Not my favourite, but the colour was great with my dress.

The shoes came from Target, as did the fluffy slippers I slipped into for the reception.  The tiara was borrowed from a friend (and she has since given it to charity which is a pity).

The flowers were bought from the Sydney Flower Markets the day before the wedding – you have to be there well before 6am to get the best stuff, and I bought roses for all the (13) bridesmaids, and dahlias for my bouquet.  Can’t recommend dahlias for a bouquet – they stink, but the photographs look interesting with my big floral cricket bat.

Miriam, Christine, Andrew and I spent a fun evening glittering some ikea glassware for tealight candle holders, and a shipload of mirror balls were purchased at a DJ shop – this and some leftover rose petals provided all the decoration we needed for the reception.

A few cases of champagne were purchased for pre and post wedding park drinks, the hotel supplied a table and some chairs for the oldies, and aside from a few more details that everyone pitched in to help with – we had a wedding.

I’m about to post our vows – in case anyone is interested.

*Back in 2004, the Australian marriage laws weren’t as explicitly exclusionary as they are now.  We were married in April, the laws changed in August.  If we had done the traditional thing, and had a long engagement, we probably wouldn’t be married today.  In August, the law was changed so that the words of the monitum (the official words a celebrant must say to make the ceremony legal in Australia) must now state that marriage unites “a man and a woman”.  I know most people wouldn’t be upset by those words, but I would.  Having known many people who would be excluded by this statement, i would see this as devaluing marriage.  I might have held a “Commitment Ceremony”, but it doesn’t have the same seriousness as marriage.  A commitment ceremony doesn’t ask as much of you as a marriage does.