Why is a Manse called a Manse?

Was talking to someone the other day about the manse and they asked me why it was called a manse? A good question and despite living in one for some time, I had no idea why it/they are called Manses. So I went to my good friend Wikipedia and culled the following information.
“A manse (ˈmæns; from Latin mansus, "dwelling", from manere, "to remain") is a house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of a Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist or United Church. The implication is that the minister has been called by God and will remain until he/she is called elsewhere.
When selling a former manse, the Church of Scotland always requires that the property should not be called "The Manse" by the new owners, but "The Old Manse" or some other acceptable variation. The intended result is that "The Manse" refers to a working building rather than simply apply as a name.”
So now, you and I both, know why a house occupied by a Church minister is called a manse.
Just as a footnote of sorts, in some other denominations, it would/could be called a Parsonage or a Vicarage.

The 2010 Diary/ planner.

The wife and I and our two girls, took a cruise earlier this year and liked it so much that the wife and I are taking another one next year. In appreciation of us booking with a particular Cruise company, they sent me a lovely and impressive A3 size Diary planner, complete with a few maps of the main capital cities of Oz. A wonderful and seemingly useful little gift.
However I am a small size diary man myself. You know: the size that fits into my shirt pocket. So although very impressed with this diary, I could not really see myself ever properly using it. So when my son started to enthuse over it too, I offered it to him. However he refused, saying he already has a diary in the shape of his I-phone (Or whatever it is) and so didn’t need or wouldn’t be able to use my diary either. So here I am with a very impressive product that I have no real need of, and unlikely to actually ever use for its proper purpose either.
Which made me wonder how many otherwise wonderful and useful products or objects we might have that we really can’t or won’t use for their proper purposes, but neither can we find proper homes for them either, but are also reluctant to otherwise get rid off?
What about you now, what good things do you have that you can’t or won’t ever use, but you are still reluctant to do away with? Perhaps there is an Op-shop or some Charity shop near you that might benefit from your unusable Gifts that will otherwise be wasted if you continue to hang on to them now? What say you now?

Croydon Market now and then.

Recently a friend and I got talking about Croydon Market and how it has changed over the years. So much so that it can hardly rightly claim to even be called a market any more, in my humble opinion.

Although it has been going for a long, long time, my memories of Croydon Market only go back to 1962, and specifically after the 62 January Bush fires, when a mate of dad's had some Sheep but no sheep dog, so I as a recently turned 11 year-old, often became his sheep dog and loved it. And as a perk, got to go to Croydon Market every Monday I had off from school for many years. Yes it was a whole different world back then. They had roughly 3 main Auctions going almost at once, as well as other more permanent stalls and such. Firstly there was the Junk auction; where all sorts of stuff, from tools to real junk was auctioned off. Then there was the poultry section; which also included pets such as dogs/pups, ferrets, guinea pigs etc. And finally the larger livestock action: such as pigs, sheep, cattle and even a few horses. A real fun place for a wide-eyed country boy to be, I can tell you.

Later, in the late 70's, when I had a home of my own and my own Chooks, I also used to go to the market and buy and sell chooks, and some Pheasants that I had hatched from eggs obtained from one of my Aunts. As well as some pigeons I had at one stage, (which I think most if not all, except the few I bred form captured stock, all came from the Alpha Laval factory over at Reservoir where I worked for a brief time before going to Safeway's Fruit and veggie departments).

However even in the late 70's, Croydon Market wasn't a patch on what it was in my earlier years as, apart from the Junk and Poultry sections; little other livestock was being sold there then and the face of the place was already changing as stalls and business started moving elsewhere.

Of course even what was there in the 70s & 80’s is long gone now and apart from a bit of Junk sold at auction on Mondays, it is just another Flea market on Sunday and Mondays and a car park the rest of the week for the small shopping centre now built on its former site, which also bears the name (But little else) of the original Croydon Market. Such is progress, I guess!

However what is true for Croydon Market, is also true for most things of our youth isn’t it? Very few things ever stay the same, do they? So how do we handle those changes? Moan and groan and complain over them? Or just get on with life and accept the changes and move on with our lives?

What about you today as you face a constantly changing world? Do you moan and groan and complain about it too? Or do you just get on with life, accept and adjust and live with these changes and live a happy and productive Life in the present ? Remember, much of a happy and successful life, is not in what is dealt out to you, but in how you respond to that which is dealt out to you!

Just to close, when life hands you lemons, do you moan and groan and put on a sour face? Or do you go out and make lemonade out of what life gives you? Again what say you?

Second Opinions often Help.

The other day I needed to go to our Kids place to borrow a Drill while they were not home. So I e-mailed them all at work asking if there was anything they wanted while I was there, half expecting a certain result. Which I got from my first-born! (See Safety Restraints.)

However I got one from my son that I wasn’t expecting. They are in the process of re-painting the inside of the house and he had just repainted the joining wall in the lounge Dining Room area and wanted my opinion if the last coat was sufficient on the one wall which had previously been a light blue. He was wondering if the Blue was still coming through or whether that was just his imagination.

Well when I saw it I too decided that that wall at least needed a second coat as I too could see the blue coming through.

Some times we just do need a second opinion because sometimes we are just too close to things to see them in their true colours. (Pardon the unintended Pun!)

Sometimes we will need to do further work on things, but on others it will be fine, and is just that we are too picky and actually seeing things that no one else can or ever will see.

So if in doubt about something, always seek a second opinion from someone whose opinion you do trust and from someone who should actually know about the subject in question. Again, what say you? Walter

Modern Technology! Weird, Wonderful or both?

How do you feel about Modern Technology? Do you think the whole thing just too weird to worry about? And if you miss out on anything new, well tuff! After all you have lived all your life till now without it, and see no need to try anything new.

Or do you see modern Technology as wonderful and have all the latest creations, no matter how much they cost you? Whether you really need them or not?

When it comes to keeping up with the latest Technology, I am definitely a needs only follower. For a long time I had resisted both the Mobile Phone and the computer. Eventually I was introduced to various functions of both that I came to accept. However, a mobile phone is still only for taking and making necessary phone calls and not for every day usage. There is still a land-line for that. As for Text Messages? What are they?

It is similar with the computer; I truly believe it is a wonderful piece of equipment and has a myriad of wonderful uses. But! As for me, I only know how to open Word, and e-mail, and as that is all I perceive I need to know, that is all I want to know. Also it works for me. Well most of the time that is. The only problem is that when I have a problem, I have a major problem and I have to wait till my son is available to solve it for me.

Recently I became aware of the benefits of Blog sites, and after thinking of it for some time, eventually had my son create one for me to put my musings on. Which he did, lovely boy that he is! And every thing went fine; until early this past week, when for reasons I have yet to learn, I became unable to open up to my own site. Unfortunately my son was away for a week leaving me stuck with my problem.

As I was on holiday this week and as it was a non important matter, I was reasonably happy enough to wait till he gets back. However had this been important, I would have been in BIG trouble and would have had to hire some expensive outside professional to do that which is probably a very simple task.

Enough of me, what about you? Are you making the most of what is available around you? And are you taking the trouble to learn all you need to know about it? Or are you like me? Only making do which what you have to use, and with no idea how to maintain it? And as there is little need to know, refuse to learn?

Remember, despite our hopes and wishes, there won’t always be someone around able to help us out all the time. If we are going to use something regularly, then we really should learn the basics about it. Even if that is like how I am learning. One step; or rather one problem, at a time.

So, if you are reading this on my Blog site, you know I have just learnt one more valuable lesson in modern Technology and its uses and problems! Walter

Why didn’t they see what I saw?

Melbourne Victoria is currently on stage 3 Water Restrictions and every one is being enjoined to save water and to use Grey water on their Gardens instead of fresh tap water.

Being on holidays I am currently pottering about the garden when it is not too hot; and using the Grey water from the Shower and Washing machine for the garden plants. Earlier today I was out in the backyard and did a bit of tidying up about the yard there. Later my wife did a load of washing and my daughter came home from work and took the dogs out into the yard for a short play and run around with her. Later I went out to empty the washing machine water onto the area where I had been working earlier. Before I got that far I glanced over at the side of the garden bed and so called lawn area and wondered why there was a large damp area there. At first I was suspecting a broken pipe on our side but it was damp not flooding. Then I thought it must have been run off from next door, but climbing up on the fence revealed only dryness on that side. Climbing back down I noticed that the damp area actually ran from across the other side of the yard and down to this low spot. So following back across and up the yard to the far corner, I discovered that a heck of a lot of water must have flowed quickly from a back neighbour’s through the compost area cutting a well washed path through there. Climbing up onto that very high fence and risking the wrath of the two yappers that live there, I saw an above ground swimming pool further up their yard and although from my distance it looked okay, I ‘m guessing that the liner gave way somewhere and sent a tidal wave through our yard diminishing as it went and stopping at the lowest spot where I first noticed it.

My problem is that both my wife and daughter and walked around the yard at some point after this must have happened, and although they didn’t go in the far corner, I can’t understand why they hadn’t noticed the damp areas?

My only guess is that they didn’t see it because they were not looking for it and it wasn’t really their area of expertise or concern.

What about you? Are you aware of what is going down around you or are you only cognisant of your own areas of expertise and concern? Has a temporary tidal wave past your way recently completely unnoticed?

In this case the consequences for us are negligible but maybe not so next time, Hey! So be alert to what’s happening around you.

Till next time: Walter

Brushy Fence. Obstacle or opportunity?

Our back wooden fence is in very poor condition, as is a small piece of a side fence dividing the backyard from the front. So a little while back, when I saw some cheap brush fencing cover rolls in the Reject Shop, I bought a few to cover up these weak spots in the two fences.

The Brush fencing rolls aren’t that strong but they did what I wanted them to do. Cover up those eye-sores.

However, lately the two spots where I put them, have bought them under attack. Up the back, the brush fencing is under attack from George the dog, as he is trying to bite his way through it to find a weak spot in the fence to get out. Yesterday, to get around that problem, he moved on and dug under the door under the house, to get under the house, and because, out the front of the house the dirt has been removed from the boards in preparation for restumping in the next week or so, he was able to get out and wander up the street. Much to his delight but greatly to my wife’s anguish! (And so to our first born, when she got home from work and found that her dog had gone walk-about alone.)

Back to the brush fence piece between the front and the back. It too is under attack but not near the bottom like the other from George, but at the top. The culprits? Two Magpies! Apparently they think this light Ti-tree type brush is ideal for their nest. And they are only to happy to help themselves to this free and readily accessible material.

Moral of the story?

One man’s beautification scheme can be another’s (The dog’s) obstacle or another’s (the Magpie’s) housing opportunity. It all depends on how you look at it! In the case of the dog, it was an obstacle that when he found that he couldn’t eat his way through it, he found another way to avoid it. In the case of the Birds, they made every advantage of it.

How do you react to the obstacles that every day life places in front of you from time to time?

As an insurmountable problem? Or as one you can either find a way around, or even take advantage of and use to your advantage? It all depends on your out look, doesn’t it?

Walter