Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2026

Every year the Art Gallery of NSW hosts this exhibition and all of Sydney heads out to see it, discuss it and argue over the judges decisions and the more popular Packer's Prize. It ends August 16, tickets here.

I was delighted to see some of my favourite local charity guys celebrated - Plate it Forward and Wayside Chapel and of course local street art legend Fintan Magee.

Linking with #WeekendReflection

Tell us about...Poetry

I am not a regular reader of poetry, nor do I write about it much. I did write this post last year  about one of my favourite 'poetic' sayings, and not long after I wrote about my Dad's random poetry reciting at bizarre moments, and how it's wired into my brain.

As I looked for some books to make their way to my Street library, I stumbled across this, still unread 35 years later and thought I might give it a go...and my well read friend suggested I listen to Sir Ian McKellen read it on Audible if I chuck it in (which I probably will).

As a child, I grew up with the poems of  A.A.Milne, Ogden Nash and of course Lear's The Owl and the Pussy Cat. I had the Childcraft series and the volume with stories and poems was my favourite.

But then you stop reading it.

In High School poetry reading returns and I loved Browning and Auden and discovered Housman and his ode to getting drunk* (which I can still recite that paragraph...it's so weird what sticks and what doesn't!). I can't recall how I even found that poem but I loved it. It seemed so irreverent.

My blog bio on Twitter borrows from Mary Oliver. I read her much later, in Uni I think but all her poetry is great. Accessible but on point, especially for women.

And of course, Ozymandias who ironically does stand the test of time at least for now - I see the statue and hear the poem  in my head all over the world, when I travel. Rome, Malta, all the ancient civilisations will echo with the wise words. Even when I see certain billionaires desperate for a legacy in the news, I think 'Guess he never read Shelley'.

It's crazy what is suddenly recalled. At Nantes, walking to the chateau, I instantly thought of this poem (and this picture from our Childcraft series from my childhood). I haven't thought of that poem in 50 years, but I saw the flowers and started to rattle it off in my head and thought of the illustration in the book. I guess there is something more to the rhyme or beat than we realise - it cements the words and the images in our heads. A little like songs with built in music. Or rap, I guess...

So why do we stop reading it? Why don't we seek it out more than we do, when we know what enjoyment it can bring and how it paints our world, our inner thoughts and the way we process the world we move through? 

I honestly don't know.

Poems are like concentrated books. They offer insight and introspection in few words. You can dip in and be done, so there's really no excuse, and yet it's a form that we often neglect in our reading...

Writing this, and struggling to get my thoughts together (I found this a very difficult prompt, to be honest), I have reminded myself of how much I enjoy poetry. So I think I will add a poem review in my book reviews. Once a month I will track down a new (to me) poem that meant something, or appealed in to me in some way.

Who do you think I should start with? Or do you have a favourite poem?

Linking with #TellUsAbout

While I said I don't read it often, I am trying to read more - and last year I reviewed two poetry books - here and here.

*Terence, This is Stupid Stuff

Travel Reading - July

Because I was travelling, my reading this month was set in certain cities or countries. First up was French Exit for Paris. I got it out of a street library and I've not seen the movie. I lent it to my Mum first and she did not like it. I have to say, I thought it was funny and kooky though very dark.

So I liked it, but am wary it may not be for everyone.

This is a graphic novel I purchased in Nantes. It doesn't seem to be available in English and the pages I looked at in the shop I could read. It's won a number of awards. I started to read it but needed to translate more than was helpful for plan travel or other spots with no internet, so I will get to it soon now that I am home. (English description here)

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This book is set in Ibiza. I had very low expectations but I actually enjoyed it. Less the club life and more the island life, and the villa visitors. It covers climate change and drought and the impact of foreign money and foreigners and of course family relationships. It's an easy read but I did find myself asking questions to taxi drivers based on things in the book. I was pleasantly surprised with this one.

She has a regeneration farm in Ibiza (and this article made me think it's probably where her idea came from for the book). I think it's being turned into a movie but I can't remember where I read that. As an aside, her photo is that of the Liam Neeson's dead wife in Love Actually.

This book I chose for Tokyo, and I enjoyed it. It's a little look at life and how complicated it is, or how uncertain humans are. It's a lovely look at relationships and what we want, or just knowing ourselves. It has a really lovely line about how for some of us, we spend our whole life just trying to work out what we want to do with it, and that it's okay to take a 'little rest in the long journey of your life'. (It's a great paragraph for those HSCers who don't yet know what they want to do).

This I read in the Library in the Earth at Kurkku Fields.

It's a beautiful picture book and was perfect for a library built around the concept of wonder. I relaxed in my little reading nook, in the cool of the library and revelled in the drawings. As it was in Japanese, I don't know the name of this gorgeous surrealist work, so if anyone can help me, please let me know!

While I was in Aomori, I was delighted to find this little book on the Tokyo Toilet Project, as I'd planned to visit all the Toilets in the movie Perfect Days. This project started in 2018 to renovate 17 toilets across Shibuya to make them accessible to everyone regardless of age, gender or disability. It was interesting to learn that Wim Wenders had been approached to make a movie about the project, as I had only learnt of it through the movie.  This is a handy little book for anyone planning their own excursion to all 17, as it has maps, pictures and information on the architects.

I started this book while staying in Shibuya and have about a quarter left to go. I'm enjoying it a lot, Again another book about a woman who doesn't really know what she wants to do in life. It's funny but also a little mean, revolving around the relationship between a young woman who goes to stay with a much older friend of her mother's for awhile. Set in Sasazuka, Shibuya and Shinjuku, it's great to be able to flesh out the scenery and streets in my head.

I only just realised I went to the station that features heavily in the plot, as it is also the location of this toilet.

Do you read books set in certain locations when you travel?

What have been some of the best you've found?

Linking with #TalkaboutitTuesday  #Bookdate #IMWAYR

#SundayPost  #MonthlyBookworms  #SundaySalon #StackingtheShelves

Bear Season

When I was up north in Japan, I suddenly realised I was in bear country. A quick google showed the bears came right into town. I read all about what I should do if I saw a bear and my panic grew (I am carrying a lot more past trauma than I realised from the Polar Bear incident). I had thought I'd walk to the station early in the morning, but as the web advice recommend waiting until 8, I worked myself into a panic. I then decided I would get a taxi, even though it was only a 10 minute walk (I had been told it was a 15 minute walk and google maps thought it was 22 for some daft reason).

I asked at reception and told him I was scared of bears (not lazy) and he laughed but humoured me. The shuttle bus driver dropped me off as it was that close that he could be back for his pick up time (it was minutes in the car). As I watched all the school kids arrive on their own, I was embarrassed. More so when I walked home and discovered it was probably 5 minutes - 6 minutes walk at the most!

In my defence, even the tourist office in town had bear signs!

At a number of the sculpture gardens, I played music and stomped about as loudly as I could (in lieu of bear bells). I was constantly looking around in a panic, as I was the only person in the woods more often than not.

The thing is, I don't live in a place with bears so I didn't realise quite what a problem I had. It doesn't come up. It is something to keep in mind for future travels.

This is a bear bin (and snow) and was in the middle of town. So it was not all in my head. And the app confirmed my worries!

"The past is alive in the form of gnawing interior discomfort". Bessel A. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

#Allseasons linky runs from Thursday to Wednesday each week. 

Link one post that shows something seasonal. Traditional weather wise, a seasonal nature marker or a seasonal celebration or event.  Please link relevant posts only.

Make sure you link back to this #AllSeasons post. 

Please comment on the post before yours and the host. Don't dump and run. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Linking with #NaturesNotes & #SaturdayCritters as it's about bears but as there is no photo of bears, please delete if not appropriate and sorry if it's the wrong sort of post.

The Little Things - July

What a wonderful July this has been - my 2 weeks of travels have been the most marvellous holiday!

READ While away I heard a press conference by some politician who spouted this fact and I just couldn't believe it so I had to google - and yes, it's been true and reported since the 2020s.  1 in 3 adults, of 44% of Australian adults are functionally illiterate. For a country that spends more on education per capita than most, we have really dropped the ball on education. (As an aside, every time we send delegations to Finland to find out how to fix our education system, they tell us to get rid of the private schools and the bigger the affluence divide, the lower the education standards but we aren't interested in that so here we are - Pasi Sahlberg has a brilliant book, Finnish Lessons if you are interested in reading this more fully). This stat is so alarming and before you blame the current education system, the worst figures are in the 65+ and then over 50s. I can see how people are manipulated by certain political parties that are intentionally misleading with 'facts' that are nonsensical. I can see how people don't believe basic science or fall for conspiracy theories. And let's not forget the misuse of they're, there and their. Signs are everywhere. How do we fix it? 

This article expands a little for those that want to read more, but this has been raised in Parliament since at least 2020, because the figures are even worse in Tasmania (1 in 2) so they've made papers specifically to improve literacy in that State, but this needs to be applied to the whole country. I have a lot more reading to do on this, as we really need to make change in this area.

WATCHED I like everyone else, went to The Odyssey as soon as I got back. We just went to Hoyts but will go to IMAX once the frenzy dies down. Given the carry on from some people, I find it interesting how little they understood the film (though from what I can gather, the ones complaining didn't go and see it, like those that dismissed Wuthering Heights without watching it). He even says it's 'based' on The Odyssey - like Butch and Sundance is based on historical events but they totally changed the ending and how they died (rather than the heroic blaze of glory depicted in the film, butch killed Sundance in a murder suicide...but that doesn't make for a good movie). To me Nolan's Odyssey is a critique of modern society & politics - the hypocrisy of those mouthing religion as a belief but not upholding the charity and generosity of it, the behaviour when a society functions purely in self interest rather than thinking about the country as a whole, the ugly side of war - there is no such thing as a righteous army, and as Helen shows, the spoils of war are indeed spoiled. The childhood stories (for some of us) create the frame work. Now I grew up with these stories; I even had a record where some were set to classical music as a way to introduce children to the music rather than the stories. So for me, I'm never quite clear which story is Homer and which is Virgil as they were presented to me as children's stories, not as a whole but short tales that wove together. And this is probably why I loved Jean Giraudoux's The Trojan war will not take place when I read it in French at Uni, as it was the familiar presented in an unfamiliar manner - the well known events from a different view point, saying something meaningful to present day society, rather than a tale from long ago that means nothing to us now. If you are not seeing our current global disarray when you watch the movie, I'd say you are missing the point. (I would also say that play is why Casandra is my favourite character of all the mythology and my only disappointment is she did not make the film!) So if you've yet to see the film, my advice is go looking at it as present day failings and you will see it is indeed a very clever use of those stories of old. 

Last night we went to a screening of 150, about an Australian woman who ran 150 marathons in 150 days, from the top of the East Coast of mainland Australia to the bottom (In the Q&A she added that about a month after she finished she ran Devonport to Hobart as people pointed out she'd missed Tasmania - so she has run the whole east coast of Australia now). It's funny but also amazing. You can organise a screening through Fanforce or it's still showing at a few places around the country.

HEARD In Ibiza we say Robin Schultz who I've wanted to see for about 2014, so it was wonderfully to finally make that happen. My heart was bursting with joy and I frenetically danced for his whole set. I just adored it! So his playlist was the soundtrack for much of my trip (when not Alle Farben used to scare bears away in Japan and calm my nerves while scouting for bears...but that's a topic for another post). 

MADE Such fabulous memories! It was such a great trip! I had the best time!

WORE When I finally did stop moving, and have 3 nights up in Misawa, I spent a good deal of time getting around in the room pyjamas and the slippers they gave you for inside, that you wore to the onsen and dinner (bathroom slippers stay in the bathrooms). It was like a cult uniform as the whole resort wandered around in them. Arriving late the first night, I went to the show in my normal clothes, and out of 130 of us, there were maybe 10 not in the pyjamas. So, when in Rome...(or when in Japan more accurately). That's me with the onsen basket, which you took your towels etc down to the Onsen in...

MY TOP THREE MOMENTS FROM THE MONTH GONE BY This is really hard to narrow down and the more I think about it, the more it changes....My day in Nantes following the green line was so joyful and elating, Parookaville and the nights in Ibiza - both felt like my heart would burst open with happiness and I think I'll go with my delight in the Towada Art Centre - I walked around with my grin getting bigger and bigger with each discovery and experience. What a magnificent collection!

That's been my July - slowly playing catch up on all the work that built up while I was away....

Linking with #WordlessWednesday #TalkaboutitTuesday #TheLittleThings #MosaicMonday, #TheMonthlyWrapUp  and cheating a little for #AwwMondays  as there are a lot of creatures in my pics, just not real - but elephant, dogs and a big bear!

Nantes

 
Just a little housekeeping. #Allseasons linky this week (Thursday).Was struggling a bit with jetlag so not getting up early enough to write....

Linking with #PictorialTuesday #MySundaySnapshot #SundayBest #WeeklyWonder #WeekendReflection #Skywatch  #GalleriaHimmelsblick #WordlessWednesday #WaterThursday #WordlessWednesday

Share Four Somethings - July

Something I loved My travels! I had the best time - and while predominately alone for it (I did spend 4 days with a friend in the 2 weeks), it was such a luxury to travel at my own pace (which is more intense than my family can deal with) and cramming so much sight seeing in - I was still roaming around sites at 10pm some nights - there was not a wasted minute! 

Seeing Alle Farben at Parookaville, neither of which disappointed. He was so great with a choir, brass section and violinist at times, as well as live singers. It was such a joyous set and my heart was full!  

   

Something that sustained me My travels! I saw so much beautiful art and interesting history and culture. I was filling my mind every day with things to think about and learn. It was so invigorating!

Something I'm carrying forward from this month to next I read three books in the two weeks I was away. I really hope to keep that pace up, making time to physically read. There's a real joy in that, plus relaxation of getting lost in another world.

Something I'm making space for I think I say this every month but exercise. While I was away I was walking around so much, lugging heavy bags and really just getting a work out daily. I need to keep this up as I think I felt better for it....

Pictures are from the trip...this and that.






Linking with #SeniorSalonPitstop #MuralMondays #FloralFridayFotos for the Sunflowers at Kurkku Fields (Near Tokyo) #ShareFourSomethings 

#TalkaboutitTuesday

 #TravelTuesday (Europe + 1 pic in Japan) #TforTuesday for my welcome drink in Paris....#WordlessWednesday