Tuesday, February 14, 2006

saturday night, or ode to the mighty yarra, venice of the south










The owl and the pussycat went to sea
In a beautiful peagreen boat







They took some honey and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.












The owl looked up to the stars above
And sang to a small guitar,
"O, lovely pussy, o pussy my love,
What a beautiful pussy you are, you are, you are!
What a beautiful pussy you are!"











Pussy said to the owl, "You elegant fowl,
How charmingly sweet you sing.










O, let us be married, too long we have tarried,
But what shall we do for a ring?










They sailed away for a year and a day
To the land where the Bongtree grows.
And there in a wood a Piggywig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose, his nose
With a ring at the end of his nose.



"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away and were married next day
By the turkey who lives on the hill.
















They dined on mince and slices of quince
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;











And hand in hand on the edge of the sand
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon, the moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.


















20 comments:

elaine said...

ohmygod!!!!!!!

toasts the wonderful mg and her man john.

sublime-ation said...

This is so exciting...there's such a thing as a Bongtree?

And also, are you engaged?

Melba said...

that's a 10-4 everyone.

ring is on finger.

mg is beaming and keeps looking at it.

john is deservedly pleased with himself.

but still looking for a bongtree sublime. didna see one on the night.

LadyCracker said...

WOW!!!!!!!!

Chai said...

Congratulations!

BEVIS said...

*vomits*

BEVIS said...

Just kidding.

(I of all people can't accuse anyone of being overly romantic, now can I?)

CONGRATULATIONS!!

I'm so excited. It's my first blogger engagement. (By which I mean, the first one that's happened to a friend-blogger since I joined the blogosphere. Relax, I'm not 'owning' this.)

I'm so happy for you, it's almost weirding me out.

NOW you have an excellent reason not to drive Ali to the airport - you're going wedding dress shopping! (Or maybe this would be the perfect thing to discuss as you drove him to Tullamarine ... "So Ali, do you think I should go with the roses or the carnations? And what about the veil, do you think I should wear one? Oh, and you're not invited. Have a good flight!")

BEVIS said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
sublime-ation said...

That's awesome! Congratulations.
I am sharing Bevis' excitement: it's our first blogosphere engagement!

Melba said...

thank you everyone. it's nice to have this support and love in this way. i really do appreciate it.

i'm feeling warm inside.

xxx

Susanne said...

Wow, I've never, ever seen the Yarra look that romantic!

Congratulations! :)

BEVIS said...

I've had a day or so to think about this, and I'm starting to get suspicious.

Tell me, oh Melbourney one, how/why did you have your digital camera with you, taking photos of the whole gondola ride as it unfolded ... did you in fact know where it was all leading (ie, the proposal)? Is this something you and John Travolta had pre-discussed? Who was taking the actual photos? As neither of you feature in any of them, I can only assume that they were taken with the specific intent of them ending up on your blog. So I ask again, how much of the night was pre-ordained?

It would seem that you knew precisely what was to come.

(Not to rain on anyone's parade - I'm still extremely excited and it doesn't detract in any way from the big news - but I'm just practicing my detective work so I can be better at it than Connor on Neighbours.)

:)

Melba said...

hey everyone.

mmmm, bevis you have questions. and you are right to have questions.

but perhaps me saying that i took the photos with my new PHONE which john gave me at christmas, and that has a CAMERA; then you might not be so suspicious.

but having said that, i did take them not only to record the occasion, but also with a view to blogging about it. this is the way my mind works, much to john's chagrin at times i think. but i can't help it; i am a creative beast and though this blog is biographical, and not fictional which is what i really want to write, but have no time, no space, etc etc, so i blog. as my outlet.

wow. she protesteth too much!

as for there being none of us, well with the greatest respect that i show to you, my little green friend, would i put those pics up on my blog? especially the ones of us squinting into the sunlight, with the phone held above our heads so that my chin particularly looks MOST unattractive?? i hate photos of myself at the best of times, and am just not posting anything like that here. only the gigi is truly pictorially represented.

gigi update. she has an admirer; a beau from interstate whose dad read her guest post. there will be a follow-up post to come.

and princess update, i will get princess to do a guest post. she's just awfully over-committed at the moment.

but back to your questions, bevis. what you really want to know is did i have any idea? now, having said that a) it was a phone not a digital camera and b) i am looking at everything as to whether it is blogworthy; i really don't have to comment further. but i will, because you are my friend.

yes, john and i had discussed getting married. yes, i had gone and looked at rings, because i didn't trust him to choose one i would love.

[awaits outcry]

i gave him the shortlist (of one, mind you. very short. yes, i am a control freak. yes, i am working on this.)

as to the timing of it, he did catch me a little off-guard. i hadn't thought he would ask me just then. i thought he might wait another few months, until perhaps our half anniversay of meeting in june... but no, he did catch me there. i was a little suspicious when i saw him getting dressed into a long-sleeved shirt, with tie and jacket. this is highly unusual. and when i commented he said it was part of the agenda... i did wonder a little, but knew we were going to a posh place for dinner (the brasserie) and thought maybe it's one of those really formal places.

so there you go, bevis. don't ever say i don't hold your hand and pour out all my guts into your lap.

how nice...

hope this satisfies your most detective-ish of instincts!

Fluffy said...

Warmest congratulations, MG.

xxx

BEVIS said...

Wonderful!

You make me laugh, MG.

Remember, none of my suspicions in any way take anything away from the engagement itself! I can tell from the photos that it was a magical moment / evening and that you're both deliriously happy. (Even though you're not in the photos.)

:)

Yes, I understand about you not posting pics of yourself - very few of us do. I was just razzing you about that a bit, but figured if you were just taking happy snaps of your St Valentine's Day evening out, one or both of you would feature in most of the pics (and maybe you did; clearly you wouldn't include those on your blog, though). But the idea that you took photos specifically for blogging purposes shows that:

(a) you're a champ;
(b) you're committed to bringing us, your readership, the best quality blogging fodder you can (and you're always on the look-out for new potential blog subject matter);
(c) John is very understanding and patient with you for this;
(d) we are very lucky to read your blog, considering the effort you clearly put into it.

My truly superb detectivey powers of deduction feel quite satiated now, thanks. I'd make a great PI.

I was also amused by the shortlist of one ring. Brilliant!!

I must go now. I'm glad you liked the photos post I did on my blog, and I look forward to your version of the same. Sorry I wasn't very spot-on with my pics of you and Princess, but when I found those two matching images, I couldn't resist. :)

Congratulations to you and John once again!

magical_m said...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

So thrilled for you...

You're not being a control freak by having a shortlist of one ring... I decided on the engagement ring I want years ago and will accept no substitutes.

Tiffany's Lucida, platinum, 2cts.

In case anyone ever needs to know.

So will the Princess get to be a flowergirl? I bet she's chuffed.

Melba said...

ah the lucida. m_m, i went to tiffany's but because i had decided against a solitaire (had one for the first marriage, to ali. you know. him. and it took me 4 years of marriage before i got it too! huh.) so i wanted something different. tiffany's was very spesh but they didn't have anything like what i wanted.

only one place did. and now i've got it on my finger.

yes princess is going to be flower girl. she is also insisting on a limo and five figurines on the wedding cake (bride, groom and three children). but i'm not sure we'll do a wedding cake. it's a cute idea otherwise and i would indulge her.

magical_m said...

I went to a wedding recently where they had individual cupcakes on a a three-tiered stand so it looked like a wedding cake.

Very cute. And easy to distribute!

Riss said...

That's fantastic news, mg. From previous readings you seem to be experiencing good things with john, in stark contrast to ali.

I'm certain that you deserve this. Congratulations.

May you have the wedding you want to have and that it be gorgeous just like you three.

Melba said...

thanks riss. but there's five of us!! john has two kids. they and princess get on well and it's all hunky dory in our house right now.

but it is a lot of work!