some answers

Yikes, now its my turn. I volunteered via Loving the Question. I've also seen it on others but have been to shy to have a go, but Laura Janes responses were so, soo considered and interesting and whizz bang. She inspired me. I dont usually do this. So now ya know.

It works like this. Bloggers volunteer to be subjects, then you send them five probing questions by email. Here are my answers to the five questions Laura Jane asked me. In return, I invite any of you to email me or leave a comment saying ‘interview me’, and I’ll ask you five hopefully mildly thought provoking, if not incredibly nosy questions.

1. What do you collect and why?

Dust. Quite well on on every skirting in every room and we do a pretty good job on most static surfaces. i have more enjoyable and more necessary things to do than dusting. Seriously though, Im not a collector of anything on a scale where you would think it was a 'collection'. I love glass and have bits and pieces of hand crafted glass stuff, but on the whole Im pretty picky where i choose to spend my money and having 'stuff', for me, means that i have to get dedicated about searching for something and paying for stuff that just hangs around, invariably needing dusting.

So, if i can include collecting 'experiences' then thats what i would claim to collect, and definitely plan to collect a lot more of. Life is short. Collections seem indulgent and organised. Buuuuut, if i were to go out on a limb, collect something that i could justify spending the money on, something I covet, something that i do keep an eye on and search online for, just to look at at sigh, is antique Lalique jewellery. The line, the detail, the colours and the natural organic forms appeal to my sensibilities. I love the art noveau/deco period. The Lalique exhibition was the one 'cultural' experience, beyond le Louvre, I insisted on visiting on our 'moon in Paris.


2. Collections aside, your passion for low-impact living, environmental awareness, and local produce consumption is well documented. Is there anything on which you will NOT compromise/adapt in the name of the environment?

Ohh, thats a curly question Laura. Im seriously thinking about not answering this question, only for boring readers with a long drawn out sanctimonious response. Well i would have to say, for all that i do, its not enough, not by a long shot. I buy computers, drive the car, have kids, consume stuff: cd's, cameras, shoes, most second hand, but some not. I use until it wears out, buy most things on a needs only basis. Being enviro-minded means making about 50 calculations before you set a foot down. which ones better, plastic or glass? but its local product in a plastic container..which wins out?...its organic and local in plastic...on and on it goes.

Structural limitaions in the organisation of our society make it pretty impossible to live up to ones own ideals short of living a life that is virtually unrecognisable to us all. If there is a good argument and a way to incorporate it, nothing in my life is so sacred that it's non-negotiable. Except my kids wellbeing, but thats subjective. But no, i would compromise/adapt pretty much anything if i can. I have a will to do what i can, and the question as it reads to me speaks to my dogma. We dont each much processed foods at all, except pasta, noodles and sometimes bread; our shopping at the supie always fits into a basket, we dont 'do' trolley shops. I lug bags of vegetables home. We eat wild meat, farmed organic as a treat. We use green electricity, 3kw of solar panels get installed next month, we now have one small car, bus to school and work and walk to the local shops. We buy second hand clothes, new ones at Christmas, products in paper over plastic where we can, luxury goods and foods are just that. We eat pretty basic foods, tasty but basic. Aggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! But i would say that i wont compromise our health. Living a 'carbon neutral' life takes time and effort; that cheese from the market thats not in plastic, and bulk foods from one store only. I look forward to the day when we legislate in those areas which will make it easier for us all to choose to live a more sustainable life. Oh, i travel. Planes. nasty things they are. Future: take our boat! wind powered.


3. What would the adult Kelly tell the 10 year old Kelly?

Lighten up ( see Q1 and Q2), laugh more and do way more random things. Dont worry about what your mother will say. Lifes an adventure, live it. Dont waste a drop of life. Follow your dreams and listen to your passions. Hang around with good people, funny people, caring and considerate people. Dont settle for second best. You CANT change him. Go play. I love you. You deserve it. Oh and that body of yours. Love it. Bless it. Worship it. Own it. Feed it. Work it. Respect it. It takes you places girl. Also, dont fear getting older. Its aownderful thing. As the body ages the mind grows, the self matures and the spirit opens. Self acceptance is priceless.

4. What is your guilty pleasure?
Umm , this is a public space right? OK.. pleasures, i have many. Ones with guilt attached...well Ive been trying to let go of guilt for years so this question sucks...ok, guilty pleasure ...so on an annual basis, a bunch of lovely women (waving, you know who you are) try and leave our children behind and fly to Melbourne from wherever in Australia, where we stay in a hotel or apartment, go to breakfast, go to dinner, walk the shops, 'do' the culture, hit the hot spots and spend an afternoon in a Japanese bathhouse, where we bathe, chat, compare bits and then have shiatsu massage in turns, whilst we wait sipping green tea and miso on floor mats in a calm clean space and chat some more. Hows that for indulgent? loads of GUILT on every level and VERY pleasureable.

5. Your descriptions of your boybean's homebirth are very moving and powerful, and the birth with a severe shoulder dystocia sounds dramatic and sobering for those last few minutes. How does this contrast with your first two births as a birth experience?

Ohh. birth stories. I love birth stories. Well as you say the boy beans birth story was dramatic. Truth be known, and i have never actually acknowledged this before, i was anticipating 'something' akin to a problem late in the pregnancy. I thought it had to do with age and insecurities of birthing well but i had doubts about my ability to 'do it' this time with the boybean. Having a third homebirth felt very different. My first homebirth was a 30 week decision after another routine antenatal at the hospital. i came home and decided it was just too weird to be going into this big cold space called a hospital to 'do' the most intimate beautiful thing i could imagine. Too weird to leave my place. my home, without a baby and return one day with a child. I remember saying it seemed like going shopping - out with a bag and back home with a load. It seem incongruous, discontinuous. My first home bith was 2 weeks 'over' with a painful and posterior 9.5 pound baby, but only 6 hours, with my mother and midwife and partner in attendance. It was an incredibly empowering expereince and i had no questions of not having another homebirth with my second baby, being healthy and fit with no pre-natal conditions. Baby no.2 was a 40 minute planned homebirth of a 10 pound baby in the pool in my sunroom with B1 and partner and friend present. Quick, painless and with a ceasar salad bagel somewhere in between. So compared to boybean, the first two were a confident walk in the park, neither of which i ever harboured any doubts of my capacity to birth well. Beanboys birth although traumatic and anticipated with some trepidation, was full of blissfull care and was my best birth in terms of love and attention in both the birthing and post natal period. I felt really loved, i mean REALLY loved and sharing it with a partner and grown children is something really special.


A spare question if any of the above are too personal.

6. If Australia was unavailable as a home base, where else in the world would you live?

My second chance question. one word. Paris (but I'd have to have a 'pesonality change').

So, if your brave, even if you're not brave, just curious and adventurous , Id love the chance to do this for you. What are you waiting for? Lets get to know each other.
Post a comment saying ‘interview me’.
I will then email you with five questions that I choose.
You can then answer them on your blog.
You should also post these rules along with an offer to interview anyone else who emails you or comments that they want to be interviewed.