Castlemaine Revisited

I actually wrote quite a bit when I was in the country. I might post some later, I think. Or at least, I shall put up the terrible poetry which was written while my brother was loudly playing Guitar Hero (best Christmas present ever, by the way, for I have discovered that I am passing good at it. As long as I have the guitar with the cheat slider-tap thing, which allows me to put my ancestral rhythmic prowess to good use).

Also, we've had a boom in family. It sounds rather odd, for it to have happened the way it has, and yet... I was buried under a veritable avalanche of new family while I was in the country. Where to begin? I think I might actually have to make some kind of list. Let us begin with my step-brother, and we shall work our way from there, shall we?

- The first amongst many is Ricky son of my step-Dad, who has a rather charming partner and a daughter, who is seven years old. I'd not met him before, but as he is spectacularly flamboyant, we hit it off. He also has a sister (and I suppose, so do I, in a step-sense) who lives in Brisbane somewhere, I think. The last time I saw her was at Mum and Rick's wedding. When I met Ricky, he was surrounded by friends (one of whom insisted I call 'Aunty') and her daughter, her daughter's partner and their friends. We also decided to call the dam on their bush property 'Lake Licker' due to the large amount of lesbian bathing that went on during the weekend. Oh, I'm so proud.

- Ellie's family. Ellie is my brother's girlfriend, and yeah, they're probably going to get all married and cutesy, something which I think would be spectacular. Ellie is awesome, and I met her family on Saturday. They were tremendously welcoming, of course, and pretty much refused to let us leave until they'd fed us. They're Greek, which means that I was more than happy to stick around for lunch. Well, I would have been happy to stick around anyway, but my god, the food. I suppose they're not real family yet, but perhaps soon they will be.

- Thirdly, my Grandmother's half-brother and his family. My Grandma was adopted, and has, at the age of 78 just discovered (through some tricky detective work and a series of beautiful letters) that she has a brother, who was overwhelmed and happy to discover that he has a sister. He's flying over from WA with his partner in February. They have a whole brood over there, who I suppose are rather distantly related to me, but still. We also found out that we have some Irish in us. I knew that the Latvian parts couldn't be entirely responsible for the ability to drink. Nor my love of potato.

We sent him a video message from my MacBook over the weekend. I love technology. He was delighted.

I also saw my younger cousins for the first time in a few years. Oh, and my uncle is having a baby in Hungary next year. Told you. Family explosion. It is slightly overwhelming, but definitely positive. I wrote about it.

--

We have a sudden extended network,
A splayed framework of easy embraces and
Interminable generosity.

We open ourselves in new directions,
Find solace beyond unmarked stoops &
Orchidaceous china plates.

--

I also wrote about the landscape. Erika drove me up to Castlemaine which was lovely of her. It meant that I saw a lot of things that I usually miss, as I take the train most of the time. They've put a new bypass in around Elphingstone, which completely whacked out my sense of perception. I knew that I was in Elphingstone - a place that we would frequently visit, as my Nan and Pop lived there - but I didn't know where I was at all, until suddenly we were on the tiny, winding roads and I could orient myself. That was completely strange.

Also, we drove around quite a bit over the break, and it was quite astonishing to be reminded of just how different the landscape is in general. It is an entirely different world from the city. You have vast fields of sun-hammered yellow grass instead of cracked concrete and faded buildings. The bush itself seems impenetrable - everything is so weathered, so solid and unyielding. There are gnarled, stubborn gums with leaf-litter clustered around their bases and broken, jagged branches half-fallen into the mess, with coffee bush sprouting around them. Even the earth is worked-over hard clay, full of bits of quartz and all over lumps and ditches from being mined. It's harsh and timeless.

I grew up there, it was a second home. Dale and I would build things, climb trees (and fall out of them, rather painfully) run around in the dark and catch lizards. Now, all I can think of are snakes. We saw them as kids, of course, but somehow they were just part and parcel of everything else. I suppose they're roughly comparable to an old, hidden mineshaft in terms of danger.

It was something to think about, in amongst seeing everyone.