Share Four Somethings - May

What a month it has been! I feel I've only just done this.

I need to think about Something we loved: as honestly it's been a lot of good times. The Writers Festival is always interesting and a lovely little bubble to throw oneself into. Getting friends together with friends before dancing the night away at HotDub...I would say VIVID but my drone show got cancelled so I've yet to offfically get there.

I will pick RONE. He did a brief weekend installation, Another TIME, that I got tickets to. It was so beautiful. I was lucky enough to have some time to myself in there to really immerse myself in the concert, so to speak. I loved the creativity behind putting us on the stage, with the invisible audience watching us. The trick to these installations is finding the movement in the stillness, the shadows from the past, so to speak. When you hit that spot, it is so moving. 

 

His Chadstone Home is being set up now and here's the throw back to the magnificent TIME. He is one of my favourite artists but these immersive installations are always next level. Hendricks Gin launched a new gin though as it was a work day I did not partake (with my time slot) but I did want to say thank you to them for such a beautiful experience. 

Something that sustained us: I've seen a lot of art and theatre this month. I've also been to a good many talks and gigs. I have written before about how the arts nourishes our soul. And it really does. Saviour and Gutenberg! The Musical are both worth seeing. The Illiad is excellent and probably the hottest ticket in town - definitely the best thing STC has done in a while. The staging is fantastic adn David Wenham preforms it perfectly. I came home elated from Genises Owusu and Galantis - something about the combination of the emotional high and physical exhaustion. So I will say enjoying the arts. Free, or paid for, it is almost always worthwhile. 

Something we're carrying forward from this month to the next: While my husband is away, I'm cleaning out my cubpoard. It's a big job. I'm tidying and getting rid of stuff. Trying to be ruthless about clothes I don't fit. My much loved ones I've given to my daughter. They are 20-35 years old but still 'current' so I was clearly timeless in my youth. It's a big job so I will still be at it next week. Just doing a drawer or cupboard at a time...

This dress is from Paris in 1994. I love it so much. I've held on to it even though I probably haven't worn it since 1999. My eldest is as excited about it as I was. That makes me happy. I have memories of swanning about Moanco in it for the Grand Prix. It was such a good time!

Something we're making space for: Obviously I'm making space in the cupboard. Ha! But I also need to make a little time to sort out MY trip. I've been so busy with my husbands that i sort of dropped the ball on my own. So I need to get that happening asap! It's fast approaching. 

The photos are of the Rone exhibition, and if you want to see (& hear) the Opera of lights, there's a few clips on my Instagram here. And some photos from the magnificent TIME exhibition here.

And so the month rolls into the next. Almost halfway through 2026. How has that happened?

Linking with #ShareFourSomethings and #Stylewithasmile for the stories of my loved and now lost clothes...

This song has been on high rotation in the car and I've been bashing the dash vigorously at lights. I think I want to get a stand up drum kit....so I'll need to make space for that! And break it to my husband who will not be impressed....hehehehe!

And this is my version of a RONE....

Sydney Writer's Festival

I spent four days last week at the Sydney Writer's Festival, attending 10 talks. Friends came and went, we ate and chatted and immersed ourselves in books.

I have a huge stack of books added to the to be read list.

I learnt a bit about writing too, which I will put to use if I ever sit down and write another story...ahhh. Not sure why I'm so rusty on this.

I just let friends pick the talks we went to so there were lots of new authors (to me), which was a great way to broaden reading.

There were two highlights that really brought me great joy:

The first, there was a street library there. I took 9 books out of my street library that had been sitting there for awhile and all but one went by the time I left for the weekend.

Secondly, I'd discovered Josh Silver was doing a free talk at our library but it clashed with one of the paid talks I was booked into. Low and behold he turned up at a YA talk we were attending (none of us knew why we'd picked that talk - I thought it was about spies so I was way off! HA!). I was so pleased that it worked out and he did not disappoint. As an aside, I LOVE authors that continue to do the free talks at libraries - especially as a YA author, as a lot of teens have limited access to funds. Review of HappyHead is here. (Liane Moriaty still does free talks at local libraries, which with all that Hollywood money is a real generosity. She's doing it for her readers and to support libraries, rather than for booksales). 

They handed out free copies of the Neal Shusterman series, which I gave to my friend's daughter. My eldest was a huge fan of the Unwind trilogy, so it was nice to share the author with another young person.

Did you go to the Writers Festival? Which talk was your favourite?

Or any auther talk you've been to that hit home for you in a special way?

 

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More May Reading

 A short list of monthly reads....

For Dua Lipa's Service 95 book club, I read this book - except I was actually meant to read So Late in the Day, so after being really confused about the plot for awhile (worring about my brain and how little I seemed to have taken in -ha!) I worked it out and am now in the queue for the correct one. I listened to the interview about Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead as well as I'd just seen the play. It's worth checking if she's covered any books you read as there's a lot of great interviews there.

Back to the story, it's really interesting, and I liked the male protagonist having the attitude he does. I think it makes it really intereresting (but perhaps it's more common in Ireland, or I'm being sexist in my thinking about who has harsher or more conservative opinions. Anyway, it's really just a great short story so worht checking out.

I reread Daddy LongLegs for the podcast book group - I really loved this book as a kid and I've been quite scared to go back as I just felt it aged really badly. And in many ways it has but it was interesting to see that it is an adults book, not a children's book as I thought it was (reading it from about 8 to 14). It was interesting to see that it would have been quite a feminist novel at the time of publication in 1912. Hilariously I learnt Jerusha is a name - I thought it was just made up in SuperStore. Certain aspects however, just made me uncomfortable. Overall, I was glad to revisit and see it with a different lens. So much I missed as a child, and growing up in a very different time. The bookclub podcast is always worth a listen here.

While clearing out some books, I came across my copy of this. I've decided I'm going to start reading plays again - I used to do a lot of that in my teens and 20s. This one I really 'enjoyed' (though that is not the word for it) and I'm going to track down the televion series (film?) that stars Judy Dench. I think it's on a few streaming platforms and SBS. Having read They are All My Family, I was well aware of a lot of the moments covered in the play. The lesson is watching how decisions are made and why. Or why not. War is a mess. The people in leadership are just people, with foibles. The dialogue is sparse but the impact if heavy. I look at the current state of the world and see it happening all over again in the reporting of the news. Saying one thing when we know it's another. Everyone knows.

I was looking on the library site for Cannon, the Stella Award winning graphic novel and this popped up so I thought, why not? It was written in the early 70's and it shows. As a cold war secret agent thing, the plot line is a little like RED and I'm fine with that. However, the women. I am really struggling and don't know if I can get to the end. They are always naked. Sometime naked with boots and guns. But pretty much naked and either being assaulted or having sex as a means of entrapement*. Twice so far a character has said to a naked women "There's no time to put your clothes on" to explain why they are now running through the jungle naked. It is of it's time, and while I'm no prude, the overt sexism stinks. I am still deciding if I get to the end. I'm about 60 pages in. There is often a lot of graphic nudity in comics but this is kind of stupid to the point of offensive. I can't really recommend it but I know there's a cult/historical aspect I'm ignorant of in the comic world.

I LOVED this book. I laughed out loud; I giggled at so many kooky bits. It's part gumshoe style adventure - that person unwittingly stumbles into a mystery, and at times beautifully written, almost poetic, but mainly it's a nutty absurdist romp. It was quite different to what I was expecting. He really was such a talented writer. I did spend a bit of time wondering if you could even get it published today. It's so irreverently absurd.

That is all until next month! What's been your fave book of the month?

*Can I say, I have less of a problem with the women being naked for sex. It's all the other stuff that it just seems creepy or like a 14 year old boy wrote it. It's ridiculous However, I understand the 70s had a lot of comics and even novels that were like this...just not for me these days.

Linking with #TalkaboutitTuesday #TuesdayTwirl #Bookdate #AnythingGoes and I think older teens might like the Bradbury, though not written for teens so linking with #IMWAYR 

From my window

When staying at the Little National Newcastle, I was quite mesmerised by the view from my window.

It had been years since I'd been in Newcastle and this area had been transformed. It's a lovely part of town, and I enjoyed being near the water. I took morning and evening walks along the foreshore.

The shift from day to night did not disappoint.

"Look out of the window and you have a finer sight than any painter has ever placed on a piece of canvas.”

― Iain Pears, The Portrait

Linking with #PictorialTuesday  #ThruMyLens #WeekendCoffeeShare (public Art) #ILikeTHursdays #WaterThursday

“Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.” – Ernest Holmes

We are growing pretty ugly politically, and I'd say nonsensical half the time. I'm not going to get into it but whenever a party says they are cutting immigration, you need to demand to see the costings. With our ageing population, that can only mean higher taxes, medicare cuts or both. 

The submarines are already taking rumoured 25% of our taxes (not this is not factual nor verified, just hearsay). So something has to give. Something gets cut or we have to pay more.

Remember how the education section was our third biggest export after coal? Then a few bad comments, budget slashes and COVID and now it's our fourth. We don't want to be killing our economy through racism and stupidtiy.

When parties mention they are doing something - stopping something, reducing something, adding something - demand to see the costings of how they will do this. Where will the money come from? No government service or policy works in isolation.

We need to think and see clearly. And the parties, ALL parties, owe us that.

Linking just for the pic with #WordlessWednesday  #WeekendReflection #GardenAffair #WordlessWednesday and #NaturesNotes

Chasing Rainbows

 Long time readers will know how delighted I am with the rainbows that pop up around the house. They still delight me!

I was beside myself when I saw this one so dark and strong on the wall - the first in a long time. I couldn't help myself. In my defence, I work alone at home. It gets very dull.

As a kid I absolutely adored Alice Cooper, and weirdly the sad songs, like You & Me and this one. I've no idea why I loved this song so much, but it's wired into my head when I see the rainbows on the wall.

Lastly, this one was on the road, caused by my car somehow. I don't think I've ever seen that before?

Linking with  #HappyTuesday #TalkaboutitTuesday #SundayBest #WordlessWednesday and #ThankfulThursday because I'm thankful for this small joy!