Nadine Williams

women’s artistic works inspire

We women need to learn how to buy things for ourselves rather than always buy gifts for others.

I mentioned this thought when I opened the latest exhibition at the Burra Regional Art Gallery which was filled with exquisite women’s artworks.

There were 15 women artists exhibiting in Parallel 1930, which exuded a strong theme of feminine resourcefulness captured in Dorothy Henderson’s “The Humble Pinny’’. 

Burra’s own Glenys Christopher joined Clare Valley artists Christian Vocke,  potter Jill Foster and Ronda and Jim Dunstan, who drew from images of the natural world.

However, the main reason I travelled to Burra was to open the exhibition of one of Australia’s most renowned naive artists, Marie Jonsson-Harrison, a wonderful personal friend.

Her colourful, dynamic and playful naive art filled the main art space at Burra Gallery, itself an exciting, historic bluestone building from where John MacDougall Stuart began his epic journey across the continent. Read more »

Fabulous Food by Fred

Take the gourmand’s good oil of French taste – truffle and inject it between the skin and flesh of chickens and marinade .

“la truffe’’ in Kangaroo Island honey.

And Voila!.

These titillating treats reflect how  French chef Frederic Boussard  will marry his traditional culinary skills with “amazing’’ South Australian produce at this year’s Bastille Day Gala Dinner at the InterContinental Hotel on July 14.

France’s national day will be celebrated with a grand gastronomical four-course banquet of 20 dishes and four fromages for the French community and Francophiles alike at the annual  dinner organised by the French/Australian Chamber of Commerce.

The InterContinental’s executive sous chef, who was a finalist in the 2009 Restaurant and Catering Awards of Excellence, Chef of the Year, has created a mix of flavours for his dishes, which all carry delightful French names such as “terrine de giblet avec sa confiture d’oignon, Gratin Dauphinois and Civet de chevreuil.

His poulet roti a la truffle is pure French cuisine. “It is a very classical French dish with truffle inserted between the skin and the flesh…it is very good,’’ he says in impeccable English.

All ingredients – game, onions, potatoes, venison, carrots and chickens will be local produce. And local cheesemaker Denise Riches of Hindmarsh Valley Dairies has her SA product

Fromage de chevre cendre presented along with fthree other French favourite fromages including blue d’Auvergne.
Read more »

A check-up in time

Mallala plant operator Robert Angus had no idea he was a dead man walking around with chronic heart disease until he made a snap decision to visit the doctor on his day off.

It was the Monday before the Australia Day holiday in January and he had been a tad too puffed walking over the weekend – a brisk walk along the Port Broughton jetty on Saturday and on the Sunday during a stroll down Semaphore Road.

“I was quite short of breath and alarmed enough to think I had better check this out, said Robert, who is  57.

His GP organised for him to have an EEG at Bensons in Gawler, which was unremarkable and Robert resumed his daily life for a few days until the GP telephoned telling him to return for a stress test with a cardiologist.

“He said he needed to search more for the reason for shortness of breath.  I only lasted at the most two minutes when he pulled me off and packed me off for an angiogram,’’ recalls Robert.

He was booked in for his test at the Wakefield Hospital and was told if they found anything they would insert a stent in which case he would remain in hospital overnight.  “But I was awake and they didn’t do anything, so when they said I would be admitted I asked “Why, you didn’t do anything?’’ 

“They said the cardiologist would visit me the next morning.’’

 “The surgeon came and said I needed heart surgery and I said I had better be well enough to attend the Clipsal 500.

“Next thing the cardiologist arrives and reckons I’m not taking this thing seriously enough and that I needed a triple bypass. Your heart is in a very bad way and you could have a fatal heart attack any minute’’.

“I reckon if I was going to have one it was right then I was so shocked.

“Three of the arteries  to my heart were totally blocked and the other two were blocked 80 per cent and 70 per cent respectively,’’ he said

“I shudder thinking that I hiked for two days in the Dolomite Mountains and my arms ached terribly and then across the shoulders, but everyone said if it’s your heart,  it’s only your left arm that aches. Wrong!

 “I am only here because I had a day off work before Australia Day and went to the doc to be checked out. I reckon I saved my own life.

“Two of my uncles dropped dead before they were 50 and my grandfathers both died of strokes when I was very young, so I’m lucky to be here.’’

He has told us his story over breakfast at the Cook-O-Burra café in Burra and his post-op lifestyle has dramatically changed also. He cut all the fat off his bacon, saying “I don’t  do fat of any kind anymore or salts.’’

Meanwhile, his mate Bryan Harrison said he was “shit-scared’’ when he heard Robert’s story and went to the doctor for a checkup. “I’m fine, but I’ll keep having regular checks,’’ he said.

Fitness for longevity

The icy wind bites right through one’s bones on this freezing June dawn and the sea is ink black as Zina Meredith begins heaving herself up off the cold, damp sand. counting her push-ups.

A burly bloke, with all the charm of a drill sergeant, is barking orders and somehow one is not surprised to hear her answer a “Hooya Sarge’’.

Surely she should be cursing him for the punishing regime and the sheer physical pain he is putting her through, but Zina reckons she is addicted to Boot Camp and has attended three times a week for the past two years.

“It is the only fitness program I could stick to,’’ says Zina, 59, who is North Haven Primary School’s librarian.

It is 6 am and this morning there are three rows of  “recruits’’ – the Rangers, the Seals and the Deltas – lined up on the sand at Henley Beach – about half a kilometre south of the jetty. And right now they all call out in chorus “Hooya Sarge”.

For one and a quarter hours Sarge is boss and Zina is put through these gruelling paces each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning for a cost of $200 a month.

And yes, she admits the trainer’s  behaviour is “along Army lines’’, although he is not regular Army sargeant. Read more »

Julia casts shadow over justice

What a great pivotal moment in Australian politics. Former South Australian, Julia Gillard is Australia’s first female Prime Minister, made even more momentous when she visited the first Female Australian Governor General, Quentin Bryce to be sworn in.
Surely, as a nation we can boast we now have gender equality in politics.
And with a minimum of fuss, too! There is now a lady in the House to clean up what has become a right royal mess caused mainly by men. Sweet revenge.
Or is it? At what price to the very foundation of our society – precious democracy – has this been achieved?
Former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd whatever his failings or perceived weaknesses was democratically elected by the people and he has been politically executed behind closed doors by a few powermongers within his own Labor Party. It was an unprecedented – and what some people say, an unconscionable act of betrayal. It was most certainly undemocratic.
Surely, the Prime Minister whom Australians voted into power with such excitement in 2007, deserved to be judged by the people for his performance on election day. Don’t the people deserve to be the judges of his performance?
Isn’t that what the democratic process and the whole voting system we treasure all about? Read more »

Relationships are Cornerstone for Healthy Men

Close relationships can form the cornerstone for a man’s whole life but friendships with other men are also an important source of support and understanding, says the Adelaide Northern Division of General Practice.

In a handout prepared for Mens Health Week, the ANDGP recommends men need at least three other close friends and mates who they can talk to and feel comfortable sharing their lives.

Healthy relationships are not limited to those men have with their wives, partners and family, but also the ability to talk man to man to a close friend is one of the important planks of health and longevity.

“Often the harder something is to talk about the better you will feel when you finally express it,’’ says ANDGP board chairman, Dr Simon Hall.

The value of friendship is self-esteem is often usurped by the importance of the primary relationship, but the Australian Men’s Shed Association believes community-based Men’s Shed groups provide a valuable place for men to build on mateship and fulfil some important emotional needs.

The broader the ripple effect that men have built for themselves beyond the nucleus of family, the better equipped they will be to overcome conflicts and stresses – the other side of every healthy relationship, says ANDGP.

“Being able to handle and deal with these differences is part of establishing and maintaining a healthy relationship and part of being a man,’’ Dr Hall, a northern suburbs GP, says maintaining good relationships builds a stronger mental attitude and resilience.

 By NADINE WILLIAMS

Contact Mensline Australia on 1300 78 99 78.