WHOOPEE! 76 COMING UP.

LONG, LONG AGO, IN THE LITTLE TOWN OF CLARE, in South Australia, around 4:30 AM, on Saturday, May 29, 1937, I began my journey.

It seems that I am a country lad at heart.  My folks had a small farm some 12 miles north of Clare and I lived on that farm for the next four years, long enough for me to have some memories of my humble beginnings.  My folks were what we, in Australia, call 'little Aussie battlers'.  When I was born Australia was still in the grip of the Great Depression, farming was hard, and there was little cash.  Two years after the Second World War began, my father gave up the battle and rejoined the Army. He moved his family (my mother and two sisters) into Clare where, I am glad to say, I had a generally happy childhood.  This despite that we were at war and everything was in short supply, with petrol and food rationing well to the fore.  In fact, a polite form of swearing when things went wrong, was to burst out with, 'Well, wouldn't that rip your ration cards!'

The enduring lessons of my childhood were to save, rather than spend; waste not, want not; that it is possible to be happy with very little.  My father was away for seemingly long periods and I cannot recall seeing him more than three or four times for the duration of the war.  The second time I now recall with tongue in cheek.  I had returned home from school to find my mother speaking with a strange man in uniform in the front garden.  Who could this man be, I wondered.  Gradually, the thought crept over me that he was, in fact, my father!

I think that folk of my generation grew up in the best of times.  There was little about which to worry, once the war ended and friends and relatives returned home from active service.  One of our family friends who had worked from time to time on the farm had been for three years a prisoner of war in Germany (he missed the last boat out of Greece).  Through the Red Cross, we knew he was alive.  When he returned he had lots of stories, many told in a droll fashion as only Aussies can affect, of life in the Stalags. But the great thing was, he was now home.  My father got de-mobbed and my brothers returned from service in the Navy and Air Force and then there was a new 'normal'.  My father never returned to farming.  Eventually, the farm was sold to a more prosperous neighbor.  My folks went into a series of small business, general grocery stores and we seemed to move about every two years or so.  No longer a country lad, I now lived in the suburbs of Adelaide, the state capitol and center of population.

Despite so  much change, I went to excellent schools and had very good teachers whom I greatly admired. Soon I was in High School, then University and Theological College.  I got an excellent grounding in the basic sciences, then in history and philosophy. I was, and remain, an extremely curious person and it might be said that it was not quite the best choice to enter a theological college.  However, it also has to be said that I really enjoyed the work of a pastor. Until, that is, I was overtaken by a serious attack of atheism!  I eventually solved my vocational problems by taking a further degree in Psychology.

It may be that psychologists, despite their formal training and knowledge of human nature, do not make the best of fathers. Perhaps, though, the constant change of my first two decades did not really fit me out for a settled life. Of that I have had two marriages (both to very nice and admirable women) and lived with two other women, equally good and admirable, my first wife recently aptly remarked, 'Perhaps you are not suited to marriage!'

I have been fortunate to have, in my mid-life, to have done quite frivolous things (examples, flying various sorts of aeroplanes, learned aerobatics, skied and cycled a good bit, sailed a bit, and traveled to interesting places.) I have managed not a few distinct careers (five of six at last count).  Despite a somewhat mercurial existence, I have managed to acquire good friends who seem to endure me and even to appear glad when I come by.  My children, bless them, manage to love me, or seem to and six beautiful grandchild carry some of the genes that ride about in me.  Well done, genes!

Nowadays my atheism appears to be in remission but I am not quite sure what has replaced it.  Certainly, despite appearances (I attend the local Episcopal Church with faithful regularity), it has not be a case of revival of orthodoxy.  I think it has to do with the search for what it is to be a 'good person' and a conviction that this beautiful universe is also spiritual and that there is great joy in contemplating seriously its regularity and perfection.  And, since I am made of the same stuff, it must be that there is a spirituality to be found within.

On his 70th birthday, my father drew me aside and said, 'I have had a full life and I am well pleased with it.'  I thought, 'What a thing to be able to say that of oneself!'  As it turned out, he was to be dead less than a year thence.  I suppose that, if not in my last days, I must nonetheless concede that the longer one lives, the closer is the end of it.  I have settled a bit but I sense there is lots more in store.  My father's words continue as a beacon to me, an invitation to live as best I may.

And so may it be for you who read this little bit of autobiography!

TRANSITIONS, TRANSITIONS, TRANSITIONS!!!

'SOMETHING OF "THE FIDDLER ON THE ROOF" HERE', do I hear you remarking?

With almost three months since the last posting to this Blog, it might seem that there has not been much 'life according to Roberto' and that, in some respects, is almost the case.

I came back from Oz  to Winter in Corning. I have learned that one cannot appreciate the force and the joy of Spring without first endured at least something of Winter.  So...a calculated move on my part.  However, the Winter here turned out to be longer and colder than expected (as my heating bills testify).  Eventually, Spring has turned up although, as of this writing, those who live in the Mid-West seem still to be waiting for warmer weather and must be wondering if ever it will come.

Forbidden by the cold outside, I turned to the 'modest kitchen remodel', which story I have told in another blog.  This turned out to be quite demanding and became a very large part of my life; life according to Roberto became very much rising to the demands of that project.  Much of the work was done down in the Potting/Sun Room, or in the adjoining Laundry/Workshop.  With the approach of Spring it was touch and go that I would finish that work in time to begin 'garden work'.  It all worked out, the kitchen work is done and the potting work is well under way.  I will even have some offerings for the Garden Club's Mothers' Day Plant Sale!

Some of life continued as before.  Visits to the Gym, Sunday Eucharist at Christ Church, coffee at the Soul Full Cup or Heavenly Cup.  I bought some new Cross Country skis (most of my ski stuff is at my daughter's in Colorado) and even found some skiing over near Ithaca and would have done more had it not been for the demands of the 'modest remodel', and that it was a bit late in the season and 'good snow' has been scarce, despite the prolonged cold.

Now Spring really is here and the transition has been to garden work.  Four compact ( I think Arctic Firs) tees have been transplanted from their unsuitable original placement in front of the house to near the sidewalk, beginning my assault of the endless lawn and the first move to create a miniature forest about the house or, if you like, to make the house more part of a natural environment. 

Here you can see the first efforts.  I will tell more of the garden story in another blog, of course. For a bigger picture, just click on the images at the left.

I am now replugged into Netflix and Amazon streaming video and have buried myself in various science documentaries and TED talks since my return home.  I suppose that this is what TV might have become but, since I am not connected to any form of TV, what matters?  I do love what the Internet can provide by way of education and learning and am planning to take one course on energy use via Coursera.

I do admit to being slack in relation to French and Italian.  Amazing how Winter affects motivation!  However I feel the stirrings to return to this study, especially in regard to French, as I have in mind some cycling around Quebec, during Summer, where few folk speak English.  On the other hand, I have had some exciting reading in neurology, food, and religion, some of which I will relate in a future posting.

And...I have been back to cycling, so I am truly 'on the road again'!  Until next posting:   Here's to Life.