Most of the horses will be Australian

Greetings Weather Watchers,

I refer to observers of the cold-spell currently underway and not to those wondering which way the wind will blow on the first Tuesday this November.  And, on that date I refer, of course,  to The Horse Race and not the rabbit run in the good ole US of A.

 

 

 

The Flemington roses will be in full bloom, I assume, for once, that most of the horses will be Australian, the track will probably be heavy but there will be no crowds cheering in the stands, no champagne for the dollies on the greens nor corporate tents where deals are brokered and careers can be made and lost on the day of days: it will only be the trainers, jockeys and the spirited creatures that run like the wind.

 

 

I am not a horse person or a frequent racegoer, but when I do venture to the course there is nothing more wonderful than watching the horses parade around the ring prior to the race – much more interesting than the race itself. Thoroughbreds are truly magnificent animals of extraordinary bearing – even those fated to come last. Watching the horses walk the ring, you can tell they know they look good.  Degas, Lautrec, Gaugin all responded to the elegance and animal beauty of race horses and painted them …..I can dream one day to paint them too.

 

Gallery News:

Your new 2020-2021 Committee met recently and surveyed the entries for the new logo. Herding cats? What can I say: we are a group who each have our own opinions. However, in truth, we work together well and can freely state those opinions and be listened to and then work together towards a consensus. Soon there will be evidence of this in the form of a new logo for Gallery One. We will let you know the outcome shortly.

 

 

There was quite some fanfare about the publication of this book when it was launched. Too Much and Never Enough by Mary L. Trump was heralded as the inside story of the Trump clan and how the incumbent American president came to be the man he is.

Firstly, Mary Trump is a clinical psychologist which gives her credibility as someone able to offer a professional assessment and opinion on the President. Secondly, she is Donald Trump’s niece, daughter of his older deceased brother, Freddie. This status gives her even more credibility as inside witness to the family and social environment that spawned a president like Donald Trump.

I admit I was looking for Mary Trump to dish the dirt on Donald for an entire book but she does not do this. I should have paid closer attention to the rider of the main title of the book which reads, ‘How my family created the world’s most dangerous man.’ The book is the story of the Trump clan itself and deals mostly with Fred Trump, Donald’s father, and Freddie Trump and the senior Trump’s influence over his sons and daughters and in particular how his behaviour destroyed the character and life of Mary’s father, Freddie. We learn and hear much more about Fred and Freddie as people than we do about Donald. Fred Trump was unambiguously a rich and nasty, manipulating tyrant who cast his middle son, Donald, in his own image and the world now has what it has in the form of Donald Trump as president of the USA. The last few short chapters were, it seems to me, added as a sop to the likely reading public (like me) although it is always very clear that Mary Trump does not believe her uncle warrants the title of president and is indeed, quite a dangerous person.

An interesting read where Fred and Freddie Trump emerge with a psychological completeness but where Donald Trump seems to float on the pages as one dangerously uncontrolled phantom.

 

 

 

 

Photo Credits

Photo by Zosia Korcz on Unsplash Roses

Photo by Christine Mendoza on Unsplash Horses

Photo by Elijah O’Donnell from Pexels Rabbit

Photo by Philippe Gras on Unsplash Horses running