Special Day

Happy Birthday to my angel JD today. Gotta love a Piscean and everything about them. And I do!



After a weekend spent mostly apart it was so so lovely to enjoy this afternoon together.



This mother was incredibly protective of her sweey baby.



Just as I was about to take this shot a horse appeared out of the corner of my eye. I went to take it and realised the memory card was full. I'd forgotten to delete the last 1000's of images taken. Excellent. Luckily the battery was charged enough to let me delete a whole bunch so I could continue on the rest of the walk.



This paperbark forest is stunning. i can't believe it is literally a 5 minute drive from my house and I live in the inner city and only 3 km's from the harbour. I feel so lucky to have this nearby - this place has so much beautiful energy.

Jindi is 6

Happy Birthday beautiful girl!

Bondi Blue

Ah Bondi. I love this strip of coast near my home. I lived here once and hope to one day again soon.



Most of these old beauties have gone. Unfortunately the suburb's planners were either at the beach or had absolutely no idea because this most famous of all Australian beaches once you step back from the sand, has one of the ugliest architectural faces and now blatant ugly consumerism is being peddalled along the main strip. They were even clever enough to build an openair carpark behind the promenade running the entire length of the beach. So now it's a hodge podge with every era's worst example competing side by side with each other. Not to mention the multinationals like Macca's and KFC - when they were allowed in that was the beginning of the end.



However, the suburb itself is like a big village. Amongst the locals there is a real feeling of community and I have not seen as much evidence of that sort of thing where I live in the inner city or even in neighbouring suburds. The huge amount of backpackers and travellers and daily tourists may seem too full on for some, but come February every year until around November the crowds ease off, everything gets much cleaner and the real face of Bondi shines through.



Last night we went down for our daily constitutional and found the waters edge littered with bluebottles. Making it impossible to walk down there and we were too lazy and hot to walk in the soft sand. These little stingers are so vivid and beautiful. Also known as Portuguese Man-of-War, these amazing creatures are not a single animal but a colony of four kinds of highly modified individuals (polyps). The polyps are dependent on one another for survival. The float (pneumatophore) is a single individual and supports the rest of the colony. The tentacles (dactylozooids) are polyps concerned with the detection and capture of food and convey their prey to the digestive polyps (gastrozooids). Reproduction is carried out by the gonozooids, another type of polyp. Bluebottles are hermaphrodites, so each individual gonozooid consists of male and female parts. Sorry about the biology lesson but I think they're fascinating.

All the Little Things

Hunting and gathering isn't as easy as going down to the local anymore. Eating organic as much as we can afford it, spelt instead of wheat, goat's milk instead of cow, and then adding all the normal groceries makes it impossible to shop in one strip, or one suburb or on one day a week. Thank god for the choice we have. Thank god for the fact everything is within 15 minutes from my house. And thank god there are so many beautiful things to see and admire on the way.


These wrought iron fences are typical Sydney style. I once heard that they were used as ballast in the ships coming from England way back when, and were also useful once the ship had arrived. This house could belong in London.



Gorgeous tiles adorning a worn out staircase. The house at the end of the staircase is less than pretty.



A children's library got a lovely facelift a few years back. This makes me smile and think of fairies and goblins every time I pass.



I'm always attracted to rainbows.



On my hunt for some pressies, dropped into visit Mum at her work and this was my gift.

Leftovers

And still I've got a few photos left I wanted to share with y'all from my time in Germany at the end of last year.



My main man will be heading back there again very soon. Not for months and months like last time but for about 6 weeks and this time I'm not going - I can't because I start my studies this Friday.



Germany is a real mix of the old meets new. Medieval meets modern. Conservative meets progressive. Reserved meets avant garde. I think this mix makes it one of the more interesting places to visit, especially once you scratch the surface. Germany always gets pushed to the back burner when you think of European holiday destinations because the countries of the south with the warmer mediterranean climates and siesta lifestyles speak more about holiday. But please let me assure you all about this, I spent 4 years and 4 summers there and the 1st 2 summers were HOT. 30+ for almost 3 months day after day - I was shocked. Not every summer is like this, but thanks to the old greenhouse effect I think the beaches of the Ostsee and islands like Ruegen and the lakes around Berlin and Munich will become far more popular and necessary to cool off at.

SPT: None of Me

As I've just said over at Kath's, I'm not partaking in this challenge. I have major issues with putting my whole self up there for everyone to see. To turn from anonymous to out there doesn't sit right for me or my husband or loads of my family and friends. We come from a non-computer world, and most people think this blog world is weird. I however think this blog world is cool. So if it hasn't already been obvious to you yet, I don't post photos of myself that are clear cut representations. I like to leave things kind of fuzzy. Sorry if this seems like major party-poopering. But I'm doing what sits best with me.



Please check out madness rivera's SPT this week - it is seriously the funniest thing I've read in a long time.

Productive

Ran into a friend this morning that I haven't seen for a couple of years. He is the best barista I know. But I didn't give in, even though I know how good his macchiatto can be, and insisted on a chai instead.



Discovered there is a real hole in the market for cool kids presents. I went to 3 shops that in the past have always been good and found nothing.



Visited my Mum during her lunch hour. She is seriously the hardest working person I know. She's 66 now and still works 3 days a week. And I can't see her quitting anytime soon.



Loved walking around the 'hood this afternoon. Everything is practically shut on a Monday which means less people, less cars and more opportunity to take it slow and take photos without creating too much attention.

Love

The Shipping News is still one of my most favourite books. Annie E. Proulx is an absolute genius. I remember that book falling off a shelf in a bookstore at my feet. I hadn't heard anything about it and after reading the blurb on the back, flicked through and was mesmerised and totally taken with the chapter starts - the knots - the little pictures. I devoured it and made everyone I knew read it.

The movie version however, did not do this story justice. How could it? And after seeing Brokeback Mountain and absolutely loving it - I'm rushing out tomorrow to get the story (although which book is it in?) and I wonder how I'll view the film then.

My god what a sad story. I'm sure everyone has already seen it by now so I'm not going to bang on about it - apart from saying that this is one of the most real love stories I've seen. I loved it, I thought both the lead's were great together, there was passion happening between them. You so totally fall in love with these 2 characters. The photography was beautiful. The country was stunning. The music is cool. Ang Lee is a genius.

But how fucked up is the world to have let that crap happen then in the 60's and let it still happen today. It makes me sick to my stomach to think that in some communities in the world, there are people who aren't living out their love with another in an open and honest way, instead they live miserable lives pretending to be something or someone else and probably hurting many other people on the way.

I hope Heath Ledger wins the Oscar. He is gorgeous. I think he did an awesome job and likewise Jake G. and Michelle Williams.

Enough said, just go and see the film if you haven't already.

Observations

swimming in the ocean was the only thing that cooled me down.

flinching from pain at the doctors whilst getting some skin damage lumps burnt off.

sleeping with just a sheet on felt too hot.



crying at the movies, and trying to suppress sobbing was difficult and resulted in that huge ugly pain you get in your throat and chest. ouch.

feeling guilty for having more than 4 or 5 showers in a day.

connecting with jd about life and love was sublime.

enjoying milo again after such a long time.

sleeping in is good. although harder when the sun is bouncing off the building across the street burning straight into your eyes telling your subconscious that it is way later than 6am.



seeing blue bottles on the beach wasn’t enough to deter diving in. albeit rather quickly today.



watching the girls faces smiling and laughing and splashing and chasing and just being is divine.


completing my first ever suduko. i promise i won't get addicted - it's far too time consuming.

realising anatomy & physiology is like learning a new language and enjoying learning again.

sweating just sitting here typing.

Feeling Good Feeling Bad

All summer I've been waiting for a huge dramatic afternoon storm and yesterday something similar came. Clouds and humidity had been brewing all day, making the air tense - and then it got all black, and then the thunder rolled in and tada....rain. It lasted half an hour but the intensity wasn't there and the rain fell gently rather than the normal torrential type of huge heavy raindrops that flood the streets because our drains can't handle it. This my friends is another obvious sign of climate change - how many more signs will we ignore?



Last night we were treated to dinner at The Red Lantern by our good friend GD. It's fantastic Vietnamese nouvelle cuisine. It was full when we arrived at 7.30pm, and then there was another sitting again while we were there and it was full when we were leaving. Amazing trade and they've been open a few years now. But I'm feeling rather seedy today, eeeeeeeeeerrrk. Hate feeling seedy.



The food was divine but we had too much wine and then went on to a pub and GD smokes ridiculous cigars and so passive smoking those pushed me over the edge. Cigarette smoke is revolting but cigars - absolutely offensive and disgusting and should be banned.



Must. Go. Now. And. Get. More. Water. And maybe a panadol.

Valentines Day

We don't overly celebrate this day I have to say - a hand made card, sometimes flowers, sometimes a swish dinner, but nothing concrete or routine or defined as celebrating V-Day. But when I found out that JD's work had organised a conference call with Germany for 6pm-8pm last night I felt irritated. But I guess we've already spoiled ourselves this week with Indian on Monday night and tomorrow night should be Vietnamese.



Oh well, it made it possible for me to babysit my nieces and give my sister and brother-in-law the chance to go to a friends film premiere.



The girls were great, but I couldn't get them to sleep. I think they were waiting for JD to arrive, and when he did, the little smiles on their faces and pure joy (they love him) was so sweet I couldn't really get angry that they were up so late. In fact I can never really get angry with them - I'm a total pushover. Jindi had lost her 1st tooth the day before and she was so proud of the gap and the slight lisp she has now.



15 minutes later we were picking them up of the lounges where they'd crashed and put them in their beds. It seemed like one of the nicest things we could have been doing on Valentines. And hopefully a good omen too. XX

Self Portrait Tuesday

Here's one finally, suiting the theme. Knobbly, short nails, dryness, bent pinky toes. I've never had a pedicure and probably never will. I wear birkenstocks every day, except in winter - my feet prefer to breathe and be exposed - they feel better this way.



I loved the striped paintwork on the front of this restaurant in Bondi. And then I noticed the mirror.



This one I forgot to post for the reflective surface theme - it's from my time in Schonebeck, Germany last year.



More SPT'ers here and here.

The Summer Breeze, Came Blowin' in, From Across the Sea....

It's afternoons like this you want to scream out loud and shout to the universe "Thank You".

Newness

On Friday night I made my decision to study Kinesiology. I've been trying to make my decision for a few weeks now, not knowing if this was the right thing for me to study but also trying to find the right place to do it. It feels great to now have the decision behind me. I am very excited!



Congrats also to our good friend AJ who has just bought a new house near the beach. It's a great pad and on Friday after the royal tour I dubbed it "new party house". For decades now he has been the quintessential bachelor and been more a guest than a host and I think things are about to change big time. Well, they better!!



Didn't get up to a whole lot more this weekend other than the beach for a swim, a walk in yesterday's heat - yuck - too hot for that, a visit to the cemetary with my Mum to light joss sticks and lay flowers on Brian and my grandparents, and the ongoing process of some minor renovations. Oh and realised too late that I'd forgotten about getting tickets to see Nigel Kennedy and his jazz band from Poland at the Basement this week. What an idiot. Somehow I thought I'd bought them. I am majorly bummed about that.

The One, The Only

Happy Birthday Brian!!!! Today you would have been 75. I miss you!!!!

Almost 11 years ago my step-dad died. It's really hard to believe that many years have passed.

Now more than ever I miss his presence, his wisdom, he's participation in my life, all our lives. But what has become even more apparent to me of late, is the fact that he is always with me, always has been and will continue to be and I need to be open to him and all his love and guidance.

I found this Maori proverb about messengers recently that really hit home:

My greatness comes not from me alone

It derives from a multitude, from my ancestors

The authority, the awe, the divine, and the artistry,

I inherited these gifts, from my ancestors.

Brian is of course not a blood ancestor, but he came into my Mum's life for a reason and then ours, and has been to date the most important male role model in my life. There are so many gifts he gave unconditionally, love being at the top of the list.

And so I will mark this, your 75th birthday, to start afresh my relationship with you.

This Past Week....

JD brought these home for me a couple of nights ago. It made my night. There were so many of them I have another vase full of them on the fireplace. I took this at around 7am, and the morning sunlight coming into the back of house was so beautiful.



If only I could swim like this. I'm hopeless, but it's on my list of things to achieve this year. I just can't get my breathing right and end up half drowning. And I certainly don't have a pretty style happening either.



Doll is growing up so fast. She's become so eloquent. She is such a sweetie and I love being in her company. It's such a pity her skirt is covering her red and white polka dot rain boots - she had insisted on wearing them, on the wrong feet and watching these little out turned feet clomping along was hilarious.



This colour is energising. And peaceful. And just divine.



Our back yard needs a colour overhaul. This is the place we bought the colour from last time, but the shop didn't look like this back then. It's been totally revamped and styled up. It's a huge open space with just colour on the wall. Testament to the popularity of their products. These guys have stone paint and milk paints and special finishes. I thought I knew the colour I was going in to buy but now they've got a whole new range and their old colour cards just confused me. I came home with 2 sample pots of a blue that once painted on the wall looked so revolting - way too purple for my liking, so back to square one.