Tis the season of goodwill
Hello Friends
Goodwill greetings of the Season to all,
Welcome to “Belle Vue”, our beautiful new home, where a Christmas wreath on the front door heralds the festive season. Step inside to admire our big new Christmas tree – a picture of twinkling lights, tinsel and baubles with a pile of wrapped gifts underneath.
The family of adult children are visiting from Darwin, Melbourne and Brisbane so the household is hectic, the drinks fridge is depleted and we say farewell to the spell of Christmas for another year.
But this week’s merriment has masked the fact that 2011 has produced a mixed bag of blessings and we are thankful that we have survived our “annus horribilis’’. Because the great achievement of building our lovely new home has been tempered by the shock of husband Olivier’s diagnosis of advanced prostate cancer, his treatment and hospitalisation. There is more detail in November News in My Journal. It was an awesome task to move from our island home at Hindmarsh Island back to Belair in late September, but here we are all settled and I share it with you.
No man is an island at these times and many wonderful friends helped clear the garage of its forest of boxes and to hang our art collection. Now we are engrossed in our new garden a huge task for the landscape contractors, who have given the space definition, drippers for new plants and an instant lawn. Enjoy snapshots of all of the above in My Journal.
December heralded our eighth anniversary from when our liaison and you can enjoy an excerpt from my autobiography From France With Love on that first dinner party in 2003 with the exciting anniversary we enjoyed together on December 3. In My French Kitchen Olivier shares his favourite recipe for Pork Rillette and in Travellers’ Tales, Cathy Portas continues her journey in Spain.
Lastly, my floral arrangements will delight you in Life and Style by Nadine Williams.
Cheers, Nadine Williams.
24 Comments to “Tis the season of goodwill”
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By Rod gregory, 26/05/2010 @ 4:49 pm
Hi, I heard you on 891am radio the other day,I am a retired farmer who has just taken up stand up comedy in my retirement,the grand kids love it, the missus ??,I love it, you can catch me most Saturday nights at the comedy theater in dacosta arcade. would not be dead for quids. regards Rod Gregory
By Lena Thumm, 09/06/2010 @ 10:49 am
Hi Nadine
Lovely to talk to you the other day, very keen to book you for celebrating women for July 27th. Once you have confirmed can you supply all the informaiton so we can send it out ASAP. Looking forward to it. You can contact me on my mobile or via email.
Kind Regards
Lena
By Di Mulvihill, 12/06/2010 @ 9:00 am
Hi Nadine,
Great to see this style of website appear in Adelaide. “Vibrant Nation” has been operating in USA for some time now and has an enormous following. I have often participated in discussions associated with women’s issues via that wiki style site. There are so many of us with so much experience…. unsure that it necessarily equates to wisdom as such but life experience must be of value to someone other than self…. I have been on twitter for some years and find it useful for gleaning the latest technology associated with my career as result of colleagues posting useful URLs to blogs and websites. However, it appears to be predominantly a site that up until now attracts the it savvy 25year olds in Adelaide. I havent managed to ‘find’ a group of like minded, like experienced people who use it. This could be, and probably is, associated with privacy issues and fear that disclosures will be akin to putting a banner down the middle of King William street!! I will watch with interest to see how this one develops. Diana.
By Di Mulvihill, 12/06/2010 @ 5:15 pm
This is the vibrant Nation website:
http://www.vibrantnation.com/
By Di Mulvihill, 12/06/2010 @ 5:22 pm
Here is another website that is very positive, proactive and a tad spiritual. It may appeal to some:
WomenOnTheEdgeofEvolution.com
By Helen Orr, 16/06/2010 @ 9:20 am
Hi Nadine
Your energy and enthusiasm for life constantly amazes me – it inspires me to do more – but aren’t we supposed to be relaxing at this age? Congratulations on this achievement which I’m sure will provide us all with great enjoyment and entertainment over the years.
By Janet, 24/06/2010 @ 7:04 am
Dear Nadine,
I remember reading a long time ago that Australia’s national cuisine would be totally different if the french had colonised it, as the french tend to use what is native to a region rather than import all their ingredients.
What do you and Olivier reckon the national dish would have been? Kangaroo rilette? Wombat cheese? Would love to hear a recipe for something that might have been a candidate for french australian national dish.
Am enjoying your website,
Janet
By Janet, 24/06/2010 @ 7:06 am
Dear Nadine,
I am an expat living in London and my daughter has seen an ad for a publicly run course teaching 16-year-old girls to walk in high heels.
I have said a categorical no, and have offered instead to pay for a course which would give her a real skill, but she says I am being oppressive.
What do you think?
Janet
By nadine, 25/06/2010 @ 2:07 pm
Dear Janet, Many thanks for your question. When my daughter was 16 she wanted to be a fashion model and while I initially said “no” to a self-improvement course, she attended and I still remember her beautifully made up and adorned with jewels sitting in the back seat of the car. As she tottered down the catwalk, I admit I felt a wave of pride and I, too, was delighted when she was chosen as the one with the most potential as a photographic model. But I had warned her that modelling is a transient career and she should finish her studies first. She was a scholarship student and I remember saying “I do hope you don’t get your highs from strutting down a catwalk”. She became a journalist and a political media adviser and is now the mother of three small children. About thge high heels. Rethink but also place around as much material about the dangers of curvature of the spine and any other nasty from wearing high heels too young. It’s a win win situation which mothers shoulod always strive for.
By Linda Harkins, 07/07/2010 @ 3:20 pm
Hello Nadine,
I, along with the Vice President of Para District Area Zonta club, heard you speak at the Zonta Club of Adelaide Flinders. Your talk was inspirational and I was wondering if it would be possibly to book you to speak at the December meeting of my club. I apologise for using this forum but there doesn’t seem any other way of getting in touch with you.
Thank you again for an inspiring talk.
Linda Harkins
By Suzy Tilley, 17/08/2010 @ 11:39 am
Hi Nadine,
Just wondering where you are. Have been trying to contact you.
Currently I am in the process of organising the “Finale Party” for my first ever Solo Art Exhibition being held at Crema Cafe on Jetty Road Glenelg which is part of the SALA Festival here in Australia. I was hoping you could come and celebrate with me.
Look forward to hearing back. Suzyxx
By Alain Rozanes, 29/09/2010 @ 4:45 pm
Bonjour Nadine! Congratulations ! Your site is fantastic! All your articles and comments are very interesting and charming
We appreciate specially “Dimanche, in Paris in Automn” where you describe “la magie parisienne” its people , its roads and its monuments.But we can say that all subjects are very attractive. Thank you also for your comments of french tales.
See you soon to continius to enjoy of your productions
Kind Regards
Elsa & Alain Rozanès
By Dr.Simonne Jameson, 14/10/2010 @ 9:11 am
Bonjour Nadine,
Felicitation, votre “website” est fantastique.!
Je me rejouis de lire ce que vous avez ecrit, j’ai plein de temps, car je rentre a l’hopital le
26th Octobre.
Vous avez certainement fait a long chemin sur le territoire francais. Chapeau!
Je pense a vous et vous adresse mes meilleurs voeux de complete reussite.
Amitie sincere.
SIMONNE JAMESON
By tbeare, 25/11/2010 @ 2:22 pm
Hi Nadine,
I have just you book – a rollicking good yarn. Insightful, pathos, tears and a little bit naughty. When can I expect to see it on the big screen?
Toni
By nadine, 22/12/2010 @ 9:39 pm
Hi Toni, I have sold the film option rights to an Adelaide film-maker, Peta Astbury. She has hired a sdript=-writer, so watch this space!
By Marie Theron, 13/12/2010 @ 7:38 pm
Hi Nadine, your friend, also Marie, directed my attention to your site and I will follow it from now on. Your language and style is beautiful and sophisticated! I run a West Coast painting- and history blog on the area where I live in South Africa, and has recently started a ‘fun’series of ‘French Belles’ paintings with little snippets of the Twenties thrown in. I put a link to your website there and hope as my blog grows, some people will be directed here.
By nadine, 22/12/2010 @ 9:41 pm
Hi Marie, I love your site too. It is so colourful and interesting and reflects a very stylish lady. We can help each other here to build our traffic. My Marie Jonsson Harrison is a wonderful friend whoreally believes in my work. cheers, Nadine
By Sandy Matz, 22/02/2011 @ 2:23 am
Nadine
Your words are always so positive and have been a source of energy for me. You will be needing that personal energy in the coming weeks and i assure you from my experience that it will come like a force that you didn’t know you had within yourself. If you remember me (the 4 generations of women) I remember such a day as you had and when my husband and I emerged from the doctor’s rooms after looking at x-rays and discussing multiple myeloma and never the word cancer used… on the radio was a discussion/interview about uthenasia which was topical and trying to be legislated as legal in Darwin at the time… The discussion was on in the car when we went into the surgery and I took no notice of it, and then when we came out and I then realised the content I thought “is this a message?”. But we both joined closer together in our love for each other fought for every day we had together and for strategies to enjoy those days with good quality of life. I know now still, that what I had, what we had is much better than what some people have never had… which makes you realise how much of a quality husband you have/had…. And so it will be for you, you will work these things through together and your love will just become deeper and even more meaningful and more fullfilling…. and yet you didn’t think you could love him any more than you do at the moment, but you will and you don’t think you can grow any more as a person.. but you will. So I guess I am not saying enjoy the journey, but I think to savour and cherish the journey… I wish I had written journals as the journey was undertaken as it all becomes a bit of a blurr but then a memory and a moment occurs and the tears well or a smile comes. I wish I was still experiencing that journey but I am on another trip now.
thinking of you both
Sandy Matz
By Annamarie Causer, 25/09/2011 @ 9:58 pm
Hi there Nadine,
I am a facebook & email friend of Marie Johnston Harrison (from Austalia) and write poetry in response to a variety of her Naive Art topics…esp; on the diverse subject of naughty cats. She recommended this webpage & I am glad I traversed same. The subject matter is very dear to my heart as I find myself traversing the same journey, along this precarious path of ill health, as your hubby & so many others….1 in 3 they claim. I am almost positive I spend more time @ clinics, Macmillan & The Maggie’s Centre than @ home. Are there any such support establishments in France? The ‘cauldron of emotions’ you touched upon is a very real topic indeed, especially when one cannot help but view the looks flitting through the visage of one’s husband…. loss amongst them.I do believe he is suffering (perhaps not physically, except in the lack of a decent night’s sleep) but emotionally, more so than I. I hope you respond, ‘twould be good to know how you deal / dealt with such horrendous subject matter!
Yours in all good faith
Annamarie Causer
By nadine, 10/01/2012 @ 12:29 am
Hi Annmarie, How are you faring since your comment? Do read my latest update on Olivier in My Journal. cheers, Nadine
By Frank& Christine Sebastyan, 17/12/2011 @ 3:21 pm
Wishing you a very wonderful Christmas in the new home. Hoping the new kitchen serves you well! Enjoy!
By nadine, 10/01/2012 @ 12:28 am
Thx lovely friends.
By Diane Colton, 29/01/2012 @ 12:30 pm
Hi Nadine,
My daughters Julia and Yvette Colton would like to extend an invitation to you and your friends to the exhibition of the Colton Collection at Penny’s Hill winery on Sunday 5th February from 1.30pm.
As some background about them:
Yvette Colton:
Yvette works with the mediums of conté, charcoal and water colours to create classical images of nudes, figure studies and portraits. She experiments with the movement of shadow and light in her art works, and enjoys an exploration of expressions and curves. The compositions she chooses to explore aim to show the beauty of the female form by using classic dramatic poses. She has gained inspiration from various styles and disciplines and has aimed to develop her style and technique through working from life studies and photographs.
Yvette was a partner in foundering the Colton Collection at Chilli Art Design Gallery in Blackwood with her sister Julia where she has regularly exhibited art works and began establishing a name in the hills art circle. Yvette has also exhibited in other exhibitions and venues including the Rotary Victor Harbor Art Show, SALA festival on King William Road, PAC Art Show. Yvette won the art prize for her works, “blue women” and “female torso study” in her final year of school at Adelaide Senior College where she commenced her interest in the charcoal medium and examination of the female form.
Yvette compliments her artistic talents as a harp soloist and plays at private and public functions including many of her art exhibitions. Her website for her harp can be located at http://www.yvettecolton.webs.com.
Julia Colton:
Julia’s medium of choice is oil pastels and mixed media to create bold, colourful and expressive pieces. Growing up with an Art teacher for a mother, she was encouraged from an early age to pursue her creative skill. After finishing matric she pursued a Visual Arts degree at the University of South Australia and continued the degree at Adelaide Central School of Art. Julia focuses generally on the female form, using many drawing methods from oil pastels to experimenting with mixed media to create a classical female nude. As well as her figure studies she also has a selection of abstracts and more recently 50’s style children’s paintings and caricatures.
Julia is currently a resident Artist at Chilli Art Design Gallery in Blackwood which she also manages together with the four other resident Artists including her sister Yvette. Art work is also displayed regularly at the Victor Apartments in Victor Habor, serviced apartments and bed and breakfasts Julia manages. Other exhibitions have included participating in the SALA festival in various locations, PAC Art show, Rotary Art show in Victor Harbor, the Glendi Greek festival and many café’s and wineries in the Barossa and McClaren Vale region and Smart Art Gallery.
Please join us for the
Art Exhibition of the Colton Collection
Sunday 5th February 2012 from 1:30 – 3:00pm
Penny’s Hill Winery Cellar Door in McLaren Vale
Wine tasting and tasting platters provided
Bookings for lunch can be arranged with Penny’s Hill Winery
Please RSVP by 1 February 2012 for catering
This is an initiative of Julia and Yvette Colton
Yvette and Julia’s art work can be viewed online at: http://www. greenhillgalleriesadelaide. com.au/
Penny’s Hill Cellars is approximately 2.5km south of McLaren Vale on the road to Willunga.
http://www.pennyshill.com.au
By Dominique, 31/01/2012 @ 3:43 pm
I am so please to see you both at the door step of your new house preparing to enjoy a good Christmas and a Happy new year. 2011 was a hard one, I wish you a peacefull 2012. I shall see you soon (Mid March). Here the weather has been mild until now but the forecast says snow for this week… I might just stay home