still with the blue skies

that was the first thing i noticed. the second as i was pulling my over-weight case (will i never learn?) to the hire car, was how darn hot i was. dressing for a melbourne early morning is not the same as dressing for perth mid-morning. the car doubled as my wardrobe, very versatile. :) the third thing of notice which i could hardly believe, there were still flies about. what?? almost winter and flies?

but oh, what a beautiful morning (to use a lyric from oklahoma). driving into the city along the great eastern highway, i stop for a brownes ice coffee chill, mmm... then stop at the south perth foreshore to text a few people and take some "welcome back to perth" photos.



up to west perth to meet gail and marija for lunch. forgot to drag my camera out with them... damn! but they will be captured before long. nice lunch, fabulous chat and the three of us trying to dodge the moving sunshine. hard life i know. marija went back to work before long, gail and i succumbed to the temptations of a nice piece of park and more gossip. ahh....

i managed a quick swing through kings park for these pics before heading back to the airport to pick up julie and vince...woooohoooo!!!



a drive-by pick-up at the airport (who really pays for parking these days?) YEHAW!! haven't seen julie and vince since their wedding in tahoe september 2007. beautiful and funny people those two. and of course the first thing we did together was a drive-through red rooster visit. ha!! yes, come to australia, eat fast food. :) then over to the house of griffin where melis was im/patiently waiting to drag us off to the subi oval for football. i know, i know... me and football. i think mike has the photographic evidence, by this stage i decided i didn't want to commit myself digitally being blurry eyed and a little wiped out.

anyway, a taxi over to jb o'reilly's to catch up with al (looking less and less the wee brown man i must say), markus, ang and mike. overloaded with familiar faces and voices and hugs. yah to hugs and excitement. and yes, i seemed to be in an irish sports bar, which is a little alarming so i downed a red bull to keep up the pace. onto the game between fremantle and hawthorn. dad would have been happy with the result, dockers fans not so much.



i piked after the game and went to catch a train from leederville into the city. the others caught a cab back to ang and markus' to play on. it was interesting catching public transport in perth, they had been working on the line before i had left so the station was all brand spanking when i alighted from the train. a bit bamboozled to where i would actually exit on the surface though, it ended up being murray street mall. and it was really sad. small, dirty and empty of people except for a few drunk derros. the city centre really isn't a nice place to be after dark it seems. sad really. so much potential. taxied back to griffin and bed... sweet sweet dreams.

ang fang and the doctor

who? no, not this time. i hung out in melbourne an extra day to see the ang fang quartet perform their newest film score the cabinet of dr caligari. a silent german expressionist film from 1921. a surreal nightmarish film (well, at the time it would have been). the sets were incredible. it was a prescribed film at curtin all those years ago and i had watched it silent then, the inclusion of ang fang's music was fabulous. i'm keeping an ear/eye out with the hope that they perform chaplin's, gold rush again soon.




i'd caught up with alex for a quick chat and hot chocolate before the film. then was joined by her chris, jenn, mel, jamie and then jenn's chris. a bite and more chatter after the film. then trammed home to finish packing. i somehow managed to squash everything in. of course there's a high chance i'll only use half of what i packed. really need to use the law of chanel here, but instead of dressing then removing accessories, pack and then take out items. :) but it's done.

kicking my heels up

work is over... time to play.

kerry greenwood

plays the melbourne writers festival later on this year. so all the reading i've been doing on her phryne fisher series will come in handy. yah to writers festivals. first there's sydney, then the emerging writers the weekend after, melbourne will be late august. sigh... words, oh how i love thee.

happy mom's day

i think there really could be a call for a non-mom's day as well. i'm always up for an extra day of spoiling through the year. hmm... will think on it. a beautifully lazy sunday in the city. watched some short docos on women in victoria at acmi.

travelling into lygon on saturday via tram i came across this sight...


this is the st mary's college moose. a group of supporters were on the tram and the mascot was trying his luck with all the ladies. i was told this was the third gal he had sat next too. he wouldn't let me get away without a cuddle either (shocking photo but needed to post as evidence). ha!



late arvo found me at acmi to watch pure shit. an australian movie made in 1975 which remained uncensored until recently. and at the time of it's release, the herald deemed it "the most evil film ever made", no doubt referring to its unflinching look at melbourne's drug culture. i wouldn't have gone that far, definitely not by today's standards but back in the mid 70s it would've pushed some buttons.

there was a q&a with some of the cast and crew which was interesting. some comments from the audience highlighted the generation gap "what's with all the denim?" oh my!! had a bit of a chat with the director bert deling when getting the dvd signed. i wanted to know how the film got included in the screenings at all tomorrow's parties earlier on in the year - he's email buddies with warren ellis. so there you go.

fools make the best lovers

something to remember if ever you're called foolish. :)

may day

and may night... started with drinks at mother's milk on chapel for stu's birthday. cool bar on chapel. couches, a fireplace and pizzas from next door. think i might have to get back there through winter.

then onto the espy to meet jamie for de la soul. the band didn't hit the stage until 1am. yes, an extremely late night/ early morning. the music was totally worth the wait, though the crowd was probably the worst i've ever come across. it felt as though we were standing in the middle of a rapid, being shoved around in all directions. disturbing at times. guys and girls were just shoving themselves through trying to get to the front, there was no gig etiquette. very very strange. had this group of people ever been to a live gig before? half way through things settled down, and we were able to dance. all was good with the world once more.