morning tea and afternoon dip

i had the day off today. my nan's service was in boulder this morning so i decided to head off to brunetti's in carlton to celebrate her life with a cup of tea and pastries. yes, it was 43 degrees and i was drinking hot tea - the sacrifices you make for those you love. :)



it was bit of a pampered day for me. hair appointment, a swim in sophie's cousin's pool. then into the city to meet good friends at the rooftop cinema for the year my voice broke. i haven't seen that film since it came out in the eighties. i'm looking forward to re-visiting the sequel to that sometime soon.

there was a break in the hot weather... finally...

steps in staying cool

1. refuse to leave your office all day (meetings can be cancelled)
2. when you do eventually leave the office, go swimming at the campus pool
3. walk quickly to car (still wet) and put on air-conditioning
4. go from car to shower (now just slightly damp - but i suspect from humidity)
5. sloth-like, move slowly to couch in front of fan, use water spray bottle to cool air
6. pick long movie at a cinema with working air-conditioning, buy choc top

it is after this point that the plan failed. i somehow managed to lose my car keys. when i say lose i mean i left them in the ignition with the radio on. this wasn't such a bad thing being only 15 minutes walk from home, the bad thing was that my house keys... well, they were with my car key. yes, in the car. now normally this situation would still be redeemable however, it being such a gross day sophie had decided to also go to the movies and had chosen the longest film imaginable, yes, australia. so by the time i had got home around 9.15, she wasn't due back til about 11.30. i got cozy with the stoop, snoozing even. luckily enough soph got home in time to let me into the house to get my spare car key and back to carlton in time to get my car before the garage closed at midnight. phew... so that attempt at staying cool?? it failed me this day.

100's and

a thousand long nights deep
- Rainer Maria Rilke -

a thousand kisses deep
- Leonard Cohen -

kidnapped!!

this morning i was stolen away. honestly. i was hijacked. sophie whisked me away to places unknown. okay, so she took me on a tram into the city, waited while i got the pre-requisite mocha frappacino and then led me down swanston street. so there was no actual gagging or binding but i still had no idea where we were off too.

being australia day there were bands and parades aplenty, pipers in kilts, ladies in saris, multiculturalism in abundance. and still we walked. ended up nearing the botanical gardens where there was a racv fete of some kind on... a whole lot of vintage cars on display (as you will note the photos that follow i got carried away), food, drinks and "aussie activities".









this beautiful mustang will be mine one day... mine, you hear...?




















but where we were heading was to government house. sophie had read in the paper that it was open for people to walk through, and knew that i would appreciate it. so YYYAAHHHH, off we went. it was really interesting. we trekked in with lots of other people and got to wander sedately around the first floor of the building. it was built in 1872-76 and the ballroom is spectacular, wouldn't mind attending a dance there - the floor is definitely suitable for a swing out or two. :)








we walked back through fed square where we were privileged to witness the running of the speedos. ha! we had noticed a dozen guys in various blue singlets, boardies and zinc cream sounding the national call of the yobbo, aussie aussie aussie OI OI OI in the beer garden of transit. then a few minutes later a cry goes out... and they have all stripped down to their speedos and are running along swanston street. the camera was away at this stage and they were just too quick. it was a moment though. sophie appreciated it. haha! we walked through some of the city lanes to catch the tram home. an absolutely beautiful australia day.

big kitchen in the sky

my nanna passed away early sunday morning. mom rang about 8am, waking me, she thought i would have already started into the day. i'm thinking that nan took off when she did (not only was it the only moment she had to herself) but because she wanted to be at the front of the line for the first cuppa where ever she was headed too. truly. it would've been a cup of tea that she craved after nearly a year without being able to drink or eat. i can't imagine it. then i reckon she'd have had a look around and seen all our family and friends. so she's doing okay now.

mavis duca, i've had her all my life. she's never missed a birthday, easter or christmas. one less present at each of these events. :) (yes, she'd appreciate the humour - probably with a smack in my direction).

nan at 206 wittenoom street in boulder was my constant star. i started out there and kept going back over the years. i lived with her in the late 70s for a time, mulberry trees and mulberry stains, the swings across the road, mr whippy sundaes on sunday, riding home after school to an afternoon snack of icy milo and sandwiches, tucked into bunk beds with the smell of aerogard in the summer, jack frost on the lawn in the early hours of the morning when visiting the outside loo in winter.

while we were building our first and only house in the early 80s she put up with us again, me in first year highschool. my mum buying my first bra and the two of them saying "you're a woman now"... yes, the joys of that humiliation. fun times. ;) then in my last year at highschool, the rest of the family moved away and i got to stay with my nan. we looked out for each other. she helped me pick out a dress for the mid year ball, and came to my graduation. you know the big things in that final year of school.

a few years later she was my rest and recreation when taking breaks from university. my point of call before taking trips overseas and interstate, always wondering why i couldn't be happy to stay in one place like everyone else (i blame my dad for this).

there are a handful of my friends who have met this grand lady, those who have stayed at wittenoom street, in the old fibro house that has squeezed so many people into it over the years. and then there are those that have briefly met her when in a few hours notice i've asked her to whip me up a chocolate cake, so someone can pick it up and ferry it back up to me 400kms away.

i can't begin to thank her for all the delicious kitchen memories of my life, waking up on sunday mornings to the smells of roast lunch or scones. oh her pasties and trifles. actually anything she found in the cupboard or fridge she could combine into something tasty. i've never quite managed that, probably won't at this stage but she had that knack.

and so, after 84 years (she just had a birthday) my nanna decided it was time. she was a great friend to have, i loved hearing her stories, she put up with listening to my insane ideas of life. she was the best ever nanna. i couldn't have dreamed up a better nan and i will miss her so very much. she may be gone but something that time or distance won't ever be able to take away is that i will always be her favourite eldest grand-daughter. always.

into the weekend

jill's birthday on thursday found a group of us dining at cookie in curtin house. what a fabulous spread. and lots of laughter. definitely need to get back to that restaurant, a nice vibe.

friday was the breakfast club at the rooftop cinema. jill, mark, nat, flic, jamie and myself met for drinks and crepes before the feature. it was fabulous seeing it again on the big screen. no rain this time. might try and get back for the year my voice broke later on in the week, there's a slew of australian films playing. if nothing else crops up before then of course. :)

i got to the queen vic markets early saturday morning to gather up victuals for a picnic. a small group of us drove up to the rochford winery for a day on the green. leonard cohen was headlining, supported by paul kelly and also the black eyed susans. i am tempted to say that leonard is the best entertainer i have been lucky enough to see as yet. yes, he was that good. unbelievably good and at times i was overwhelmed with emotion by his voice, lyrics and the stars above. there were moments i thought my heart would break from the beauty. corny but true. oh and the banter... "i love you" is a call from the crowd, "and i'm quite fond of you too" replies leonard. yeah, he's cool.


we got back into town about midnight and headed to a party... sometimes the nights never want to end. or is it just that i don't want them too? ;)

dispelling boredom

in the way that richard hannay decides to spend a carefree evening at the theatre, i too found myself invited along to a show at the arts centre playhouse. the 39 steps. but unlike hannay i didn't end up with a dead blonde across my lap nor heading north to scotland to solve a puzzle that would save the country. (not that i wouldn't mind a trip to scotland right now).


alex is back in town so we caught up for a quick bite in the "dreaded southbank foodhall" before meeting friends of hers for the show. loved the way it was staged, now to read the script. a fabulous night, thanks af.

a long weekend before the official one

believe it or not i was at a cricket game on friday. no really. i'm not stretching the truth one bit at all. gail was visiting from perth and some how in a weak moment i said i would attend a day-night match between australia and south africa with her. it was 8 hours long. and i managed to get sun burnt - and not from watching the game but the walk to the MCG.



and then it got cold. very very cold, you wouldn't believe it's summer. and if you hadn't heard already, australia lost. but gail is determined they will claw their way back in perth in the next couple of weeks. :)



8 hours.


drinks anyone?? this thing got more flaccid on each outing. i should've taken pictures and created a flicker book. :)


and this is the famous B13 stand.. i think gail said the stands are where the old hill (i prefer to call it the grassy knoll) used to be, so all the larrikins hang out here. there were quite a few beach balls popped by the authorities and the mexican wave also originated (on the day) from hereabouts. did i mention the cricket was 8 hours long??

saturday was brunch with gail at babkas on brunswick - georgia beans and fetta followed by a shared plate of blintzes. oh yeah - heaven. a bbq at andrew's in the afternoon, where a vicious water-fight took place (not me) and i got to roll around with a gorgeous 1-year old labrador, buddy. a quick change in a nearby phone box before sitting in fitzroy gardens to the black sorrows play a free concert. then onto penny's for birthday drinks. i think i crawled into bed around 2.30am.

today being sunday i managed to drag myself out of bed to miss the tram before meeting gail for breakfast. she headed back to perth just after noon. we wandered around the arts centre markets for a bit, shared some dutch pancakes and walked in the sunshine around the city.

had an appetite for a new book or two in the early evening so walked over to readings in carlton and walked out with three books and one on order. ha! it's a good thing i've planned on buying another bookshelf in the near future. ah, sweet words.

marija's birthday this day... i tried calling.... left messages even... yeah... happy birthday girlie.

the saints are no longer coming

they've been and gone. as part of the "don't look back" series of concerts where bands are asked to recreate a seminal album, the saints played (i'm) stranded to me in a crowd at the forum. a fabulous venue, which until now, i've only attended for film festivals. supporting the saints were X - an australian band from the early 80s. it was novel to see their lead singer hadn't seemed to have progressed style-wise since then.


what was also interesting is that i was home and in bed by midnight... and who says punks rock hard? :)

tonight is throwing muses at the corner hotel, supported by hope diamond and baseball. who needs sleep?