Greetings,

You'll notice that this newsletter is still coming to you from the same place ... and not from Monaco, St Tropez or Parts Exotic ... in other words, I didn't win Lotto last week ...sigh.

Never mind - we had a terrific time without $16 million! We spent the weekend at a little place (and I do mean 'little') called Ballandean, up on the Granite Belt. This is the wine growing region in Queensland - it's quite cool and both orchards and vineyards do well. The area has only fairly recently gone in for tourism and is earning a well-deserved reputation as a great place to get away for the weekend.

There are dozens of B&Bs, as well as motels and hotels to cater for the tourists - and last weekend every one of them was booked out. The occasion was the annual Opera in the Vineyard - this has been held for the past nine years and started life, as so many good ideas do, with two friends talking over a glass or two of wine. Angelo Puglisi and his neighbour were sitting in his vineyard, watching the sun set over the hills, quaffing a bottle of their best and listening to a recording of their favourite opera.

It occurred to them that if they enjoyed this, so would others and, since both were members of Rotary, they also decided it would be an excellent way to raise funds for a worthy cause. The rest, as they say, is history - tickets go on sale in February and are all sold out within days, and the Wesley Hospital in Brisbane has benefited to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result.

Even though it's held in the middle of the vineyard, it's still a black tie affair and you have to get done up in your best gear - which adds to the fun. The trick is to make a whole day of it, so we took a picnic lunch and a Bocce set to while away the time before the performance started - the sight of our son and heir tossing the Bocce balls all glammed up in his dinner suit like some Antipodean James Bond went some way to erasing the memory of him decked out as Pamela Anderson the week before!

There's a stage set up in a clearing in the vineyard and seats are put out under the trees. The opera begins in the afternoon and the finale is timed to coincide with the sunset - it's magic. There's a composite photo of the venue here - just to give you an idea of the setting. 

The performance is followed by a sit down dinner in the huge marquee you can see in the photo - and dinner is followed by dancing and revelry into the wee, small hours ... 

Since the whole shebang takes place in the centre of the wine-growing district, it's no surprise that the vino flows freely - all in a good cause, mind ... and all jolly good wine I have to say. After twelve hours of chatting, eating, dancing and tasting wines, you may think that we'd drank too much wine and ... Sorry? What did you say?

No, not me ... I know how much I can drink and I drank in moderation, even though it was delicious and I could have drunk much more.

This business of the past tense and past participle causes many writers to come a cropper - but, it's quite easy really. If you're trying to remember when to use the past tense and when to use the past participle, study the verbs below and as you do, pretend that "I have" comes before the Past Participle - you'll soon learn to recognise the correct form to use:

Verb / Past Tense / Past Participle

e.g. I arise early every morning / I arose early yesterday / I have arisen early every day this week.

I go for a walk along the beach / I went for a walk along the beach / I have gone for a walk every day this week.

If you know anyone who would like to subscribe to The Write Way, please send them a personal invitation to join us each Friday, just cut and paste this link and email it to them: mailto:WritingTips-subscribe@yahoogroups.com 

It seems our recent discussions about "Schlimmbesserung" have created a stir in some circles and I received this from Larry:

"Reverting to your April 27 discussion of a German word, considerable discussion has taken place around our office regarding the coining of an English replacement. 

"We have settled upon "bettermess" (it's even homophonously -Whew!!- related to the German word) which could be listed in a dictionary somewhat thusly: 

bettermess [New < E. better (to improve) mess (to bungle)]  (n.) A worsening by improvement. ppr.--bettermessing

to bettermess (v.) Worsen by improvement. past and pp.--bettermessed  

bettermess (adj.) Worsened by improvement

bettermesser (n.) one who worsens by attempting to improve. 

"It caught on quickly around here and is now firmly ensconced in our trade lexicon." 

(Larry Lowrance)

What a great word - between all the bettermessers creating schlimmbesserung these days, it's a wonder any of us survive!

This week's quiz:

This will give those little grey cells a work out! Match the word with its definition: 

2. Jounce
a. Medieval contest involving horsemen with lances.
b. To rip off; swindle.
c. To move jerkily.
d. A unit of electrical energy.

LaVonne found these little howlers:

"This paper needs a few comas."

"When papa passed away they burned his ashes and brought them home in a urinal."

"You shake milk in a big stirrer machine to make it homicidal."

"Rusty Banazek broke his clavichord in scrimmage."

"At the Knights of Columbus dinner, they will serve the same fish as last year."

"Lost: Male cat.  Needs medication. Owner is very worried, neutered and declawed."

"Winners at the card party were William Davenport, a turkey, and Mrs.Trudy Baker, a chicken."

Last week's quiz: 

Match each word with its definition below:

tourniquet, immigrate, irrigation, emigrate, plumage, tributary, famine, ancestor, aggravate, ford

1. to grow worse - AGGRAVATE

2. a bandage twisted to stop the flow of blood - TOURNIQUET

3. a great want of food - FAMINE

4. a system of carrying water in canals - IRRIGATION

5. to leave one country to settle in another - EMIGRATE

6. a shallow crossing at a river - FORD

7. the feathers of a bird -PLUMAGE

8. one from whom a person is descended - ANCESTOR

9. to settle in a new country - IMMIGRATE

10.a stream flowing into a larger one - TRIBUTARY

Word of the Week: Jargogle v. To befuddle or mess up. "Congratulations, dearest; I wouldn't have thought it possible, but you've found something else to jargogle." (Hall of Superior Words)

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