Paint the Town Red

 From 4pm onwards, there is a red glow around town during Dark Mofo. The shops and buildings, whether officially part of it or not, get in on the action. It makes it a lot of fun to walk from one event to the next, regardless of the hour.

I loved the strange figure watching over us. One of the many decorated buildings around Hobart.

The art installation locations are obviously spectacular too.

The boats on the harbour are into it, and this year the large Spirit of Tasmania ferry lit up the water as well. 

Wherever you looked, something caught your eye!

The red glow warmed the spirits, making the amble home in the cold seem elating as we caught reflections everywhere.

My favourite shop window was the bookstore - well played, Fullers Bookshop!

The hotels were equally festive....

Tho on the first night my hotel switched it's red for Green & Gold for the Socceroos game at 5am the next morning...

Dark Mofo can be enjoyed with or without the ticketed events. It is in the streets, pop ups around town and of course a lot of free events! 

The red glow helps the newbie discover with ease....

Red is for revelry, and so is Dark Mofo.

Have you been to Dark Mofo? Did you love it?

Linking with #WeekendReflection

Hobart from my Window

I stayed at the Grand Chancellor Hotel Hobart because of the location for Dark Park and Winter Feast - and would have also been good for the Purge and Oogh-Oogh Parade had I still been there. I booked using Hopper as I had points and credits so got myself a suite for the bath, which I ended up not using. If your credit card is with CBA, you get points to use and cashback so check it out through your netbank. (Not paid, just got a number of free hotel rooms this way - you have to pay for breakfast but in a lot of places, you want to hit the bakeries anyway).

It did however give me lovely views of the waterfront and all the activity outside.

I could lie in bed and watch the sunrise.

I could watch the red glow at night as I made my tea.

And of course, I had an early start for the unfortunate Socceroos game. (Fingers crossed for today tho! And to clarify, I thought I took a picture of the Australians in play but didn't check the pic and notice I'd got the sub instead. HA!)

Light makes all the difference - the foreground stays the same but its the background that changes every time you look. It touches everything.

“The sky grew darker, painted blue on blue, one stroke at a time, into deeper and deeper shades of night.”
― Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance

And here lies the lesson - things may look like they are staying the same, but moment by moment, there are almost impercetible changes and difference, you just need to pay attention. So when you feel stuck, don't be discounraged that change isn't noticable. Look for the tiny shifts, notice the little things - and the might colour your whole outlook!

May the hues of change be enough to keep you motivated!

“There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

Linking with #Skywatch and #GaleriaHimmelsblick

More June Reading

 

I really tried to get into this, but at Chapter 25 I chucked it in (8 hours in, 10 to go). Just too slow. I did like that the central relationship was a love between siblings - younger adoration of the older, starting as very young kids, then aging. That's quite different from most books that centre aroung love and marriage. I think she made wonderful asides and comments on life and philosphy, quite ahead of her time.  Even on simple things of human nature like the keenness of Tom to be able to shave to show his manhood. I really loved the bit where Maggie runs off to join  the Gypsies. That whole scene was hilarious, and insightful on youth and naivety. 

I think there is a modernity in the portrayal of women and the narrator's asides. 

However, it just took too long to get there. By the time we hit the hard times and the money problems, I just felt I couldn't push through. I did read the summary and I feel I probably quite when it ramped up, and perhaps if I started at book 2, I would have read the rest.

We did this for bookclub. It's good but I found it very heavy going. So it's a good book but it's not a fun read. It is clever so if it wasn't based in reality of millions of people, it would be an engrossing read, however, it's all too real so distressing at times. It's an excellent read, but I would recommend it if you're not already overwhelmed by the state of the world. I would say it's full of hope and quite positive. I learnt a lot - either I didn't know or I just hadn't thought about it. 

 If you do read it, here's a talk by the author. 

This little book was making it's way to the street library so I gave it a read. It's a small picture book, there are 12 in the series and this is the third. It has questions for creative writing and also for drawing at the end. It has fun library facts at the end. My favourite being the longest over due book was out for 288 years - 1668 and returned in 1956!

The story itself I think is to inspire creativity and imagination. It's left for the reader to do the work, or take it further. I think this would be great for teachers, actually. 

I heard about this when my library emailed about a Queer Bookclub they were starting. I was curious what the book would be about.

It's actually more about a bad affair (married man, young women) from the woman's point of view. It starts out fun junk romance book and becomes in the second half more interesting in it's complexity. I enjoyed it and read it quickly (listened to it quickly).

This is a children's book but I will admit I found one of the puzzles too hard! I got it in Hobart for the plane home, thinking I need to do more puzzles as I'm becoming stupider by the day. I thought it was an adult book but it's not. It's a choose your own adventure, solve the puzzles mystery book....Good fun for young and young at heart.

Linking with #TrafficJamReboot #MonthlyBookworms