(no subject)

The old roof tree : letters of Ishbel to her half-brother Mark Latimer (August-January). (1900)
by Catherine Martin


I skimmed through this book, finding it very odd for the following reasons:


1, you get no introduction about who Ishbel is and what she is doing.
2, there is no plot, just a series of musings about life in a cathedral town.


It turns out that contemporary readers felt exactly the same way. Here is a review from *The Spectator*:


The Old Roof-Tree: Letters of Ishbel to her Half-Brother, Mark Latimer. (Longmans and Co. 5s. net.)—Something of an introduction to tell us the point of view from which " Ishbel " observes the things and persons that she writes about would have been useful. She has something to do, it would seem, with Australia, for she resents the "astounding ignorance" which some people show of that country and its institutions. More than this we find it hard to discover. It would not be profitable to discuss the opinions which she formulates from time to time. These might

be significant if we knew the conditions under which they have come into existence. Still, the book may be read with pleasure. There is some force of expression ; there are fine touches of description; there is a certain originality of thought. The Old Roof-Tree: Letters of Ishbel to her Half-Brother, Mark Latimer. (Longmans and Co. 5s. net.)—Something of an intro- duction to tell us the point of view from which " Ishbel " observes the things and persons that she writes about would have been useful. She has something to do, it would seem, with Australia, for she resents the "astounding ignorance" which some people show of that country and its institutions. More than this we find it hard to discover. It would not be profitable to discuss the opinions which she formulates from time to time. These might

be significant if we knew the conditions under which they have come into existence. Still, the book may be read with pleasure. There is some force of expression ; there are fine touches of description; there is a certain originality of thought. One petty criticism we must make, because it touches on a thing which recurs in books of this kind with a quite incomprehensible frequency. Wby is Latin almost invariably misquoted in them

Renovations

I have ‘renovated’ my bathroom. In the sense that I checked out the price of renovations and decided that I was not willing to pay for even the cheapest option. If I am going to spend my money, it has to be on something that gives me more pleasure than tiles do.


However, the girls really had grown too big for a baby bath. So I went to Bunnings and found a builder’s tub, quite sturdy and 60cm across so it fits inside the shower. I planned to drill a hole in the bottom to use as a drain (and to block it up with bluetack). When I explained my plans to a woman at playgroup she was horrified and demanded that I give her the tub so her handyman husband could do a proper job.


He did, in fact, a magnificent job. He even put in a proper drain and plug and a tiny little drainage pipe. Then he built a wooden frame to rest it on, so the drainage pipe can go down.


The girls adore their new bath and have 45 minute baths. They consider it to be the lap of luxury.


I am not sure if this home ‘renovation’ is a demonstration of excellent lateral thought and independence or if it is the nadir of white trashiness. I only wish the shower recess was slightly larger so we could get an even bigger tub so I too could take 45 minute bubble baths.

(no subject)

Thank you to those who attended the kids' animal party. The following was raised:

* Cheetah - $10.90
* Panda - $11.55
* Gorilla - $16.20

And by far the most popular animal was our own, local Western Swamp Tortoise, the most endangered tortoise in the world:

* Western Swamp Tortoise - $34.85.

You can see some baby Western Swamp Tortoises hatching at the Perth Zoo website: http://perthzoo.wa.gov.au/conservation/native-species-breeding-programs/western-swamp-tortoise/