It isa bread making morning

and I will say "making" rather than "baking" because we have a bread machine. It is, I suppose, a "kitchen gadget".
I own very few such things. Some time after my mother died I went through the kitchen cupboards and quietly removed a good many things that were never used. My father had (and still has) no idea what is in the kitchen cupboards.
The bread machine came to us after my mother's death. A friend has one and uses hers constantly. She found another one for us in a second hand shop. It looked virtually new, as if the previous owners had tried it and found it wanting. It was a $25 investment we have not regretted although it is a little extra work for me.
Put simply, my father likes what he considers to be "real bread". By this he means wholemeal or whole grain, preferably with the addition of something like sunflower seeds, pepitas, walnuts etc. He likes bread with some flavour and texture. I must admit I do as well.
We do not eat a lot of bread, certainly not the amount of bread that many people I know eat. One slice of our home made bread however can be as filling as several slices of shop bought white and ready sliced. It is also costs us less.
Occasionally I have experimented with other breads. I have made bread with tomato juice and olives. The recipe called for a certain type of sun-dried tomatoes which were not available but the olives made a good substitute. I have made a cheese bread - pleasant but not as cheesy as we had hoped. I have made another bread with olives and parsley and dried onion. I do not know what that tasted like. It disappeared before I had a chance to try.
I have made "bun bread" - bread with dried fruit and nuts in it. That needs an entirely differetn sort of flour.
I have also tried adding other flours in varying quantities to the basic mix. Rye is good. Barley produces a denser loaf but I rather liked it. Cornmeal adds a pleasing grainy texture. Oat flour produces another texture again.
And now I have recipes books to try yet more combinations and flavours. There are things I know I will almost certainly never try, such as a basic white loaf. There are other breads which sound good. I am considering making pumpkin bread and a cheese and onion bread.
My father has invited cousins to lunch on Saturday. The forecast is for cold, wet weather. Does freshly made bread and hot homemade soup sound like a good start to the conversation?

Apparently Cate Blanchett,

Tim Winton and other notables appear in an advertising blitz in support of the government's proposed "carbon tax".
I am opposed to the tax, strongly opposed. At the same time I believe we should be doing much more to conserve the planet on which we live. No, the two things are not a contradiction.
Why? The carbon tax our Federal Government is hoping to get off the ground is not going to change our behaviour. We are not being asked to make changes to our lifestyle. Indeed, the government is planning on compensating individuals for the increased cost of living under a carbon tax. In other words it is a "tax the rich and pay the poor" proposal rather than anything to do with the environment.
The proposals will apparently cut our share of the world's emissions by less than one per cent but, so the government tells us, "it is important to lead by example" - if we are leading by example.
If the government had done something quite simple like require the big polluters to fund the replanting of forests I doubt there would have been a debate. It would be an excellent use of an additional tax. It is something that would have had enormous benefits for everyone. If they had also said to the rest of us "You need to change your lifestyle a little" then people may have felt they were actually contributing something. As it is we are not being asked to use less of the world's resources, indeed the "compensation" being offered will encourage people to continue as before. A government campaign to get people to leave the car at home and take public transport. walk or pedal to work might make more sense. A government campaign to encourage people to engage in leisure activities that do not depend on the use of a car might also help. Requirements to insulate our houses at our expense and not through a failed government scheme (which rewarded those who had not done the right thing) might also help.
My brother-in-law came yesterday. He spent the entire day cleaning our roof ready for the installation of solar panels. We debated long and hard over this. In the end we decided they will be an environmentally sound investment - just. We have taken into account the cost of making them, transporting them and installing them. My father may not see the benefit in his life time but someone else will continue to use them and they will eventually be a bonus to the environment.
And that, I think, may be the problem. The government wants to see a benefit in its lifetime. Assisted by Cate Blanchett, Tim Winton and others it is working towards re-election not restoring the environment.

There were nine of of us

yesterday. Until now the knitting group at the library has had seven or eight. It is about the right number for the tiny space which is made available.
We have half the meeting room. A book group has the other half. There is a concertina like "door/wall" between us.
There were four people at the bookgroup. When the knitter opposite me went into their half to make a cup of tea she reported that they were talking about their grandchildren rather than the book - and one of them was also knitting.
We can squeeze nine or perhaps ten into the space available. Two people are knitting "beanies" - one a complicated cabled affair, the other a quick-knit one for her husband. Two people are working on pullovers. Two more are working on socks. Like another member of the group I have taken my "small" project, fingerless gloves for a friend. I am half way through the first one.
Sitting next to me is someone about to start on a shawl. She needs to learn something new to her in order to cast on.
The knitter on her other side and I work between us. We tell and show her what to do. We get her to do it. Then we make her undo it and do it again. When she has done that she begins the rest of it. Like all knitting it grows rather slowly but the result has been a neat, invisible beginning. "Just the way I wanted it."
Later in the afternoon another technique is taught at the other end of the table and a discussion is carried on about the wisdom of doing one thing or the other. Someone goes out to the shelves and comes back with a book that illustrates her point.
As this is going on a male member of the library staff comes in to get something from the cupboard. He stops for a moment and watches our expert sock knitter.
"I don't know how you do that," he tells her. She offers a lesson and he just shakes his head. "I didn't know knitting was so complicated or that you had to learn such a lot."
Yes there is a lot to learn. The library is a good place for such learning. Libraries are about far more than books.

If you are not on Twitter

or Facebook you will have missed the wicked and timewasting "game" started by the Crabbit Old Bat (more kindly known as Nicola Morgan). It is called "less interesting books" and consists of people endeavouring to come up with twists on book titles such as "Lady Chatterly's Liver" and "Three men in a coat" or "Harry Potter and the Half Price Mince".
You need to know your books in order to participate and appreciate the fun. It could even become a book in itself - one of those small "gift-books" given as a birthday present to someone who has everything, including a sense of humour.
But, as I said, you need to know your books in order to appreciate the game. "Lord of the Files", with which Nicola began the game, is not funny unless you recognise "Lord of the Flies" within it.
This is all part of what is usually termed "cultural literacy"
Wikipedia defines "cultural literacy" as "the ability to converse fluently in the idioms, allusions, and informal content that creates and constitutes a dominant culture. From being familiar with street signs to knowing historical references to understanding the most recent slang, literacy demands interaction with the culture and reflection of it. Knowledge of a canonical set of literature is not sufficient in and of itself when engaging with others in a society, as life is interwoven with art, expression, history, and experience. Cultural literacy requires familiarity with a broad range of trivia and implies the use of that trivia in the creation of a communal language and collective knowledge. Cultural literacy stresses the knowledge of those pieces of information that content creators will assume the audience already possesses."
I read Hirsch's book on "cultural literacy" when it first came out. Although I did not agree with everything he said he raised some interesting ideas. Since its publication in 1987 however the world has changed dramatically. The internet is now used by millions and the amount of information available has increased dramatically.
I doubt my nephews would have any understanding of the "less interesting books" game. They would be quite unfamiliar with the books - apart from those which were required reading at school. They read but they do not read what I have read or what my father has read.
I sometimes find myself explaining things they do not know which "should" be part of their cultural heritage according to Hirsch and others. My father will look at them in amazement and say "hasn't anyone told you about that?" He will then explain. My nephews have gone on to explain that nobody else they are acquainted with seems to know about a certain reference to the Bible or Shakespeare or an event in history either. My father then asks "what do they teach in schools these days?" and discovers that small children are no longer taught the poems of AA Milne - although they might know the Disney version of Winnie-the-Pooh.
It makes my collection of children's books all the more valuable. I now have two great-nieces and they may yet help to preserve our culture by reading the books. With respect to these it is a matter of "Tried and Prejudiced".

Australia's "Biggest Morning Tea"

is an annual event intended to raise money for cancer research. The idea is that individuals and groups host a morning tea and people pay something to participate.
My father and I were both invited to events yesterday. He went in one direction and I went in another.
I had to go to the bank first. It is quite a distance away and takes about thirty minutes of pedalling time. If I am lucky I time it just as the bank opens. Yesterday I was a couple of minutes early and there were two men waiting ahead of me. By the time the bank opened another five people had arrived. They all belong to the same ethnic group. They all know one another and they all talk among themselves in their mother tongue. I only know enough of the language to be able to say a polite greeting, please and thankyou. I am therefore, understandably, ignored.
As the bank doors opened however the official unlocking them made an announcement about "morning tea". They all surged ahead of me. Their eyes were on the table attractively laid out with cakes, biscuits, tea and coffee. They grabbed their tickets to be served and headed over to the table. Then, they had to pay? They stepped back. Heads were shaken.
I took a ticket after them and watched quietly. Not one of them was prepared to pay as much as a dollar to participate in the attractive display. They had missed their numbers being called to be served and began arguing about that as well.
My turn came. I know the girl who served me quite well. I was going to morning tea at a library when I left the bank. We chatted about this as she dealt with what I needed. As I was about to leave she said,
"Can you wait a moment?"
She went and spoke to the floor manager for the morning. He nodded. An entire Swiss Roll was wrapped and handed to me. I put it gently into my bag and took it off to the morning tea at the library where it helped to raise a good sum. Just before I wrote this I wrote a note for the bank staff. I want them to know their donation was appreciated.

There is an oval

in the centre of Adelaide. It is just across the River Torrens from the CBD - which makes it almost within the CBD.
It is almost adjacent to our main railway station and Adelaide's only tram line - which runs next to the railway station. Multiple buses pass by the gates of the oval and many other buses are within easy walking distance - and I mean easy.
I am judging all this on my capacity to access some of these things. Aside from the issue of crossing wide city roads even I could walk that distance given a little time and effort. Most people would find it no effort at all - except that apparently they do.
The Adelaide Oval is the home of the South Australian Cricket Association - SACA. Cricket, like Australian Rules Football, is almost sacred in South Australia. It is so important (to a minority of people) that the government is spending at least $535m on upgrading the facilities at the oval. This has been the subject of much controversy.
My own view has always been that, if you like this sort of thing, watching sport is entertainment and should be paid for by those attending. It is not something the taxpayer should subsidise. People who play sport "professionally" get paid well (even if only for a short playing career) and so do the many people who manage them, train them, run the tribunals and clubs etc. Taxpayer money should not contribute to this. It is a business. Apparently however I am wrong and the taxpayers of South Australia are going to foot the bill.
Now that the money for the oval redevelopment has been granted however there is a new controversy - that of carparking.
The Adelaide CBD is also surrounded by parklands. They were given to the people of South Australia in perpetuity when the state was founded and Colonel Light laid out what is now the CBD. The parklands are used for a variety of purposes. The southern parklands are, reluctantly, used to park cars for the week of the annual Royal Show. The northern parklands are different. There are lawns and memorial gardens. They are adjacent to several hospitals, the Anglican cathedral and several other places of worship. For many they are, in fine weather, a place to eat lunch, take a quiet stroll or sit in quiet contemplation. There is remarkably little vandalism.
The oval redevelopment has now raised the question of "where is everyone going to park?" Ah yes of course, on the parklands. We can put in a car park. The government can grant an 80 year lease to SACA and the football code which will now run the Oval. Several thousand cars can be parked on Friday evenings (at a cost) for a match that lasts a few hours. The rest of the time that area will be nothing more than a car park.
This move is being made out of a fear that people will not attend matches if they cannot come by car. It is almost certainly the reason that the other football venue in South Australia, Football Park, has failed. There were transport and parking problems there. The car park was not big enough. The venue was seen as "too difficult" to reach - despite some dedicated bus services.
Adelaide is a small city. Melbourne, one of the biggest cities on earth in terms of distances that need to be covered, manages to attract much larger crowds but it seems the people of South Australia cannot manage without their cars.
My father and I manage without a car. He stopped driving some years ago. I cannot drive a car. It is not always convenient but we manage. Yes of course we sometimes accept the offer of a ride but we make sure we offer something in exchange - garden produce, some other service the driver needs, petrol money for a longer distance. Other than that we travel by gopher/scooter or taxi (my father) or tricycle and train (me). We manage and we are both far less mobile than most people.
But it seems that sports fans are not able to manage and that the rest of us may lose our beloved parklands because of it.

Have you chosen your

Desert Island Discs yet? Yes? Right. (You might let me know. I will endeavour to get the supplies in.)
Now, please choose your Desert Island Books.
You may have eight books. Yes, I know it is going to be far more difficult than choosing eight pieces of music.
This is a serious business. You may have just eight books with which to spend the rest of your life. Are they going to be reference or fiction or a mix?
Mmm...is it cheating if I ask for a full version of the Oxford English Dictionary? Please let me know.
Looking around at all the books I have here this would be a very, very difficult decision to make.