Tell us about....Festivals.

I'm a big festival goer - not just music ones, but also ones on ideas. I just saw Zadie Smith talk at the Opera House's All about Women festival for International Women's Day. Yesterday I got all my talks booked for the Sydney Writers festival. I got with different friends, them coming and going, while I'm the constant. I find it a great way to get inspired about reading. My friend has just lined up a stack of nights at the comedy festival.

“Festivals are the fireworks of the soul.” — Sanober Khan

My annual trip down for Ultra is booked. As my husband doesn't like to do anything for NYE, my celebrations start on New Years Day with freinds at Field Day, as those that follow me on Insta would know. Harbourlife herlds the start of the party season and in my head, summer, though it is a few months earlier...

VIVID is one of my favourite festivals - now not just dazzling lights but music, food and ideas. It brings the city alive and makes it a joy to be out and about in the winter months. 

The Festival of Dangerous Ideas really pushes my thinking and engages me on a level that the other festivals don't. I find that so invigorating, so it is by far my favourite of the intellectual festivals.

I love Bluesfest because it's a great way to see bands I would never think to see and it's one that my husband also enjoys so we can share it together. It's a great holiday, though rather costly. It's the longest one that we go to, and I love being in that routine of the festival, passing the free time until it's time to head to the grounds.

I've only been once to Wanderer festival and WOMAD but had a brilliant time at both - I would love to go again.

The Festival of Sydney brings the city alive in January, and there's Volume to get you to the Art Gallery and you could even say the Biennale has a mini festival. There are film festival screenings so you can throw yourself into a culture or language from the ease of a cinema seat.

So why do I love festivals? You get into a bubble of exprience, be it lights, music, food. You see things previously unknown, your senses are stimulated. For a brief time - a day or few days, it's all you think about, all you plan. It's a shift in your being, if only momentarily. If you go with other people, you get into a rhythm. If you go by yourself there is a whole crowd of people to share the experience with. One time at FODI, this woman sat at my dinner table, the only spare seat, and we discussed what we had just seen and what was next. It was as if we were long lost friends. When dancing, people will just join in. There's a shared joyousness. There's an energy that all the attendees have, a tangible bubbling on the surface that excudes in smiles, chatter or movement. Festivals are not just a break from reality, they offer a break from yourself. Your normal life, your day to day living, your obligations and routines are all cast aside and your focus is directed into this one moment.  Your thoughts and discussions change, your interactions with friends and strangers change as everyone else there has done the same. It's a voyage from your daily life into the world of the festival.

“A festival is a celebration of community, culture, and connection.” — Amit Ray

I am off to Parookaville this year (flights permitting) and it refers to itself as it's own country, and you get a 'visa' to go. I feel this is exactly what festivals are. Another country not my own (at least not my normal). You travel into another world, but alas the visit is brief. Then it's back to mundane thoughts, words and deeds...

“Festivals are an opportunity to pause and savor the sweetness of life.” — Anonymous

Linking with #TellUsAbout

"Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear." Corrie Ten Boom

Worry is when we see what isn't there (yet). It may be coming, though it may not.

There is a lot to worry about these days.

But this is not a post on that. This is a post to remind you to look directly in front of you. Live in the moment and no further. If only for some respite.

"Do not worry about the past or the future. This moment needs your attention, for this is where your life exists".Leon Brown

Which is not to say bury your head in the sand, take action on the things you can control to make a difference. Make sure you see the full picture and understand what can or should be done.  Sometimes what you see is actually the result of something else, it is the shadow of other actions.

The door to the bar

But don't let worry take over. Don't miss what is right in front of you. Remind yourself that not everything is as it seems.

"There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will". Epictetus 

Linking with #WordlessWednesday

A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short. Andre Maurois

We had our wedding anniversary this week, and it's hard to believe we've been together for 34 years all up. Where did that go?

It doesn't feel that long but I really don't remember 'before'.

There are now adult kids.

An emptying house.

Talks of plans needed to be made that only aging people make.

So we know its been a long time. It just doesn't feel a long time. At all.

"But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls".Khalil Gibran
Linking with #TalkaboutitTuesday #HappyTuesday #FloralFridayFoto #HappyNow

#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.

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Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse

I was not happy when I walked out at 7.30 pm to see nothing but clouds. I knew it was at it's peak at 10.30 so I had time, but I was not hopeful. When the whole world got the aurora, Sydney was covered in cloud so did not. THe Universe does like to mess with me on such things....

However, come bedtime, there it was.

"It is a beautiful and delightful sight to behold the body of the moon." —Galileo Galilei

I messed around with my camera but it would not focus the darker the moon got. And so, I was stuck using my phone. It also couldn't pick up the colour.

I do quite like this one - as if it's falling...or bouncing...Ha!

There was a bright star nearby - I'm guessing a planet? Mars maybe? Too small for the phone to pick up.

Aren't we lucky that something so beautiful and fascinating is free to us every single night?

“When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands".  Mahatma Gandhi

Linking with  #AwwMondays because it filled me with Awe (& made me go Aww!) #NaturesNotes #GardenAffair (nature) #Skywatch and #GaleriiaHimmelsblick

“Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne

I don't know what has happened with this year - I seem to have already got behind in the commenting on the link ups. I'm barely able to keep up with the blogging. No writing at all is being done and in February, no reading was done!

I missed the Lunar New Year in Chinatown - though I was lucky enough to see the Thai Town decorations a little, only becuase I went to a show at the Capital theatre.

I completely missed Mardi Gras - I drove past Fair Day but that was it. I took these pictures on the way to the Belvoir, but other than the shop windows, they are normally there in our area, as a show of support rather than for Mardi Gras.

I am busy and happy but just not organised or on top of things. I just don't have enough time.

Time isn’t the main thing. It’s the only thing.” – Miles Davis

I am going to work harder this month to be focused. Less distraction and more purpose. 

Wish me luck!

 

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

To all it is relevant to, Happy New Year and Happy Mardi Gras!

Linking with #WordlessWednesday & and another #WordleeWednesday

February reading

 I've really struggled to sit down and read this month. Not entirely sure why. So a very short one!

Prophet Song. We did this for book club. I'd not heard great things about it. I normally don't like Booker Prize winners. This though, what a great book! I really loved it. In terms of writing - it has some really lovely phrasing and ideas. One inconsequential one that stuck with me (probably because it's where we are at) is the mother saying they used to be a family of five but were now 4 and would soon be only 3. I feel that shirnking and the little people lost (to the wonderful adults they've become). 

The book is a mother trying to keep a family together when their country is thrown into war under an authoritaian regieme, let's say. I loved at the start she's still thinking they've got a holiday in Canada booked and the disbelief of what was actually happening. I found it all very realistic.

It's written in the present tense (I think I read somewhere it's written in the tense of doom, and I thought that was perfect). It's urgent and uncomfortable a lot of the time. I thought it was such a brilliant and engrossing read.

It makes you re think your understanding (lack of) of Syria and other countries, of refugees and war when it hits a norm city like in Ukraine. I really enjoyed it intellectually. (I listened to the audio on Borrowbox).

"The world gives to chaos, the ground you walk on flies into the air and the sun shines dark on your head."

I mentioned in this post my questions on White Bread, so am currently listening to this on Audible. It is fascinating. History told by a food historian. Here are some of the things I've learnt:

It was women who stormed Versailles (and the now fabled ‘let them eat cake’ moment was because the women were from the markets and there was no bread to sell). It was the women’s march that forced the French Royalty into house arrest (more or less) in Paris. When lead to the guillotine the women put bread on sticks and waved them at the carriage as it went past. I had always been told it was farmers or ‘the people’…

Modern plant breeding (in part due to the requirements of industrial food processing) has increased the amount of gluten in wheat.

At the turn of last centurywomen's hemlines went up for reasons of hygiene and contagion- it was part of embracing science and medicine (as was the term Home economics, to focus on the science behind running a household, feeding a family and so on).

Sliced bread appeal was because of the symmetry - having each slice exactly the same; white bag bread was made so soft as it’s softness was associated with freshness (bags were not clear plastic but paper, so you couldn’t see but you could feel).

The move from home made bread to store bought was slightly before that (sliced) and in part because it took a lot of time to make bread everyday but also for hygiene. Having bread made without hands touching it, by machines, was viewed as healthier, less risk of contagions (& typhus? That was unproved but rumoured).

Then it became cheaper to buy bread than make it and that meant you could afford other foods, so bread went from being 80% of the diet to 20% (beer is a bread related product in dietary terms apparently).

There is a whole lot of purity and racism attached, the reason the vitamins got added was in part because a lot of the American population had night blindness and scurvy and other diseases from lack of adequate vitamin intake and that was no good for the people being called up for war to be soldiers. And that stuck.

I've still a little to go but it's fascinating, and also got me realising that history is just a story we are told and the details often tell a very different version. The reasons behind the event may be different to what you think it is. 

And yes, I didn't not read a single page this month! Must get back into the routine.

Linking with #SeniorSalonPitstop #TrafficJamReboot #TalkaboutitTuesday #Bookdate #AnythingGoes #AgoodBook #StackingtheShelves #SundaySalon #SundayPost . #SundayBookends #MonthlyBookWorms

Share Four Somethings

something we loved: The Olympics! It was so exciting and I really loved the skill of all the athletes in events I watched, my loyalty shifting as my favourite ones went out of contention. I have to say the Men's Dual Moguls was my favourite event that I watched - it was so exciting and totally wild! What skill those guys have (as I'm sure the women do too but I didn't get to see that).

something that sustained us: Lots of fun dancing with friends. We had a big group at Sofi Tukker and on The Jackson which was nice, though I always have a lot of fun when I'm with the usual trio. 

Also the family playing at Hijinks was great. Laughing with the kids, hearing all their stories, stealing looks with my husband sharing how much we love and are proud of our people - literally our people we made together.

something we're carrying forward from this month to the next: This month has been huge - so many things on...it will be hard to beat...BUT...next month I have so much to look forward to with friends. Starting with Alok, which I now realise must be a Mardi Gras recovery thing, is a great way to open the month. I have some great restaurant meals booked, some dancing planned and theatre. So I guess I carrying forward that feeling of joy and bonhomie that I felt a lot this month. 

something we're making space for: Singing. The first choir I'm in is finally getting back together after a few months off and I've signed my husband and I up to a one off at the Opera House, as he likes to sing too. At Maverick Sabre, he kept asking his 'Sydney Choir' to sing, and we all belted out the songs. It was such a lovely feeling. I think we need to sing more, even if we aren't that good, it feels so good. I've been singing loudly in the car ever since and it really is elating.

Linking with #WeekendReflection for both the city on the water and the tiny reflections in the windows of the streetart. #ShareFourSomethings. #TalkaboutitTuesday and #NaturesNotes for the sunrise and #ThruMyLens just for the pics

Sharing also with #MuralMondays - there's some new outlines on the walls in Newtown and I'm wondering if they're completed or will be painted in. I sort of like them as they are. Very olde timey!