How time flies, my first blog post was 2017 and ideas for blogging still somersault around in my head. On this calm Sunday in May 2025 it is Mother’s Day in Australia.
I am a mother and thoughts of my own dear mother and that of my aunts and women I know flash through my mind. I recall their varied roles in my life, and women who shape the lives of others in millions of families and societies around the world. It is possible to write about the wealth, poverty, injustices and generally low standing of women in most countries including Australia, but what is their true status? What is their role in the history of the universe?
In my opinion, one of the most powerful roles for women, in the world as we know it, is the eternal internal creation. While not ignoring the biodiversity of Mother Nature, without human females, women who give birth, there would be no world. There would be no evolution, there would be nothing ahead. Of course men play a role but generally stand back when events are underway.
Perhaps this creates jealousy? Why bigoted, misogynistic, cruel, political, rule-making men of our current world order put women and mothers at risk by keeping them out of sight, in second place, give them menial tasks, overlook females for promotion, make derogatory comments, portray them on television, in movies and books as the trivial second character, the support, the one answering phones, at home doing the laundry, tidying up or cooking dinner. You can add more diverse roles to the list but usually not a complete reversal although caring sharing life partners do exist.
In 1971 a childless Germaine Greer is quoted as saying: “Bringing up children is not a real occupation, because children come up just the same, brought up or not.” A rather shallow look at the future, I think.
With or without conception, the women of Mother Earth are versatile people. Today there are strong female roles and powerful women in all walks of life who do rise above. When they do, it’s a novelty in the press, on social media, and invariably a TV chat show host asks “How do you cope with a family and work?” A man’s world not an equal world yet.
Today I shout out Thanks Mum, Happy Mothers Day because without mothers there would be no living breathing humans in the world today. Including you and me.
💓 Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025
NOTE: My opinion piece acknowledges birth mothers, first mothers, adoption, surrogacy, LGBTQIA, IVF, child reunification. Parenting is precious. 🌼
COME ON, admit it. The majority of us have a container, a bowl or tray, on a side table where we toss things. Car keys, door keys, hats, toys, cards, pens, books, name tag, USB, junk mail, countless small items like Lego, and possibly your dog’s lead. They all get thrown, tossed, dropped into this repository, usually near an entry door. Next time you watch a domestic drama series, check how many times the house keys are tossed aside while the actor says ‘I’m home.’
THIS CASUAL receptacle is handy for coming home tired, but hopeless when you are in a hurry in the morning. I have discovered that annoyed pitching never works and requires the effort of fishing the item up off the floor and trying again.
OF COURSE, we are cautioned by Neighbourhood Watch not to use this careless form of storage because thieves can take your car keys on their way out with your Edwardian silverware.
DIFFICULT to disguise a set of car keys—good on you if you have keyless entry—but I hang unmarked keys in separate locations. At least that way the burglar has to scurry around trying to find the right set of hooks holding the right key to your vault or whatever. Naturally a door key may not be necessary if the entry point is used to exit.
THANKFULLY on the night my domestic dwelling was genuinely plundered, I was out, so my car was not there to ‘borrow’. I went to live theatre for the first time in years; you can read my anguish on a past blog post Stolen Jewellery Anger and Sorrow.
THE AVERAGE household uses only one or two different keys and bowl storage works out pretty well until someone wants an unused key necessary to unlock a side window in the spare bedroom. The relevant key is finally located from a neglected bundle at the bottom of a woven tray on the kitchen sideboard. It has been transferred to another storage facility, i.e. drawer. We humans know how to waste time searching for small things.
KEYS offer something primitive and satisfying about locking a door. It is real, it makes a solid locking noise and creates a tangible barrier between you and the world. For me, a beep doesn’t cut it. Do you hear an electronic click when you issue a ‘lock door’ command? Do you hear a thunk like a garage door closing when you tap a screen? I guess the modern manufacturer is well versed in consumer psychology and pre-programs various locking noises. Kind of like phone ring tones but different.
“I hope I could get an electronic sound like a warden pushing an ancient castle door closed, one which grinds and crunches as it shuts tight against rampaging possums”
GBW 2021
A LOT can be said about smart key entry, finger print identity, voice commands, internet-based security, eye recognition, tomographic motion detection, etc, but since I don’t know how most of that technology works, I am sticking with my metal keys. Of course, the family has keys so I check to see they have ‘properly’ locked the door at night—blame scary movies.
DOMESTICsecurity is important… millions of people don’t have a door to lock… or a home…
St Vincent de Paul
Vinnies Winter Appeal 2021
Over two million people live below the poverty line in Australia, including over half a million children. This winter Vinnies Appeal will provide emergency relief to families at risk and experiencing homelessness.
When you are stuck at home for weeks on end, the stuff and junk around your home can become unbearable.
It does at my place.
Shelves seem crowded, cupboards appear to bulge, clothes hang on available doorknobs, and too many cardboard boxes hold bits and pieces of my memories.
During my Covid-inspired clean-up, I unearthed one particular item decades old.
Sieve flour, rice flour, sugar into basin, rub in butter and knead until smooth paste formed. Turn on to floured board, make shape or shapes as desired, prick with a fork. Place on cold greased slide, cook in a slow oven ¾ hour to an hour, until a pale brown.
MY FATHER’S FAVOURITE SHORTBREAD RECIPE
Reproduced in original style from my mother’s PWMU Cookery Book 1976 Printed in Australia by Simpson Halligan Co Pty Ltd Distributed by Jolly Book Supplies, Brisbane Twenty-first edition revised and enlarged with over 200,000 copies issued
Mix 227g (1/2 lb) butter and 113g (1/4 lb) fine white sugar or icing sugar; add pinch salt and .45kg (1 lb) plain flour; knead all well together; roll out to the thickness of about half an inch, cut into rounds or finger lengths; prick with fork. Note 340g (¾ lb) flour and 113g (1/4 lb) rice flour may be substituted for .45g (1 lb) flour. Bake in slow oven about 40 minutes until fawn colour.
Thoughts Become Words 