A night at the Opera

 

A must do, for anyone in Sydney late March to early April is a night at Handa's Opera on Sydney Harbour. For locals, watch the weather and scout cheap tickets, Hot tips, I usually buy the D-list $99 tickets but get them closest to the stage (not necessarily up the front, but closest to the aisle & the centre block, but in the cheaper block, if that makes sense).  

La Traviata was beautiful visually (as well as musically) but the real scene stealer is of course the back drop of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House all lit up. When the fireworks go off, I really feel I'm so lucky to live in this spectacular city.

Use it or lose it, as they say.

Nothing says farewell to summer for me, as a balmy evening outside harborside, watching the Opera.

Linking this old post with MakroTex on the theme of Good Night, because the Opera on the Harbour is always a good night!

 

Taking Stock - May

From the Harbour Bridge on our walk

Reading: Just finished The Family Doctor by Debra Oswald, which is really engaging. Midway thru The Beijing Conspiracy by Shamini Flint (of the Inspector Singh fam) and enjoying that.

Looking: Forward to visiting the Art Gallery for the Van Gogh after a wedding in Canberra.

Wasting: Time. So much time. I seem to get very little done at the moment. Not entirely sure why.

Wishing: I would write my story for the Grieve competition. I'm fast running out of time and STILL no ideas...it's never usually this hard.

Enjoying:  Getting out for the Sydney Comedy Festival - got a few gigs this week and next. Laughing is so uplifting.

Liking: Going for a 16km walk & talk with friends last weekend, and another on the Bay run with someone today.

Wondering: How the world will ever get back to normal?

Loving: That Handmaid's Tale is back!

Hoping: Youngest's enthusiasm for the clubs and activities at High School continues....I know teens often let great opportunities slide past. Enjoying her excitement.

Needing: To get focused and organised. Becoming so inefficient at the moment.

Smelling: Roses on my dog walks - leaning in over fences to enjoy the fragrance.

Wearing: Jackets - it's getting chilly out there!

Feeling: Tired and run down. Not sure why.

Becoming: Annoyed with online shopping. Ozsale keeps sending the wrong items and it's a pain to send back. Ordered some kids PJ's from another store and one pair came with split. There's no online customer service and I'd popped them in the wash (before use) and only found the split after. My problem is, the returning will be a big hassle and they were only $20 so considering just sewing them up. Also a big hassle but probably quicker than trying to organise a refund...

Delighted: To have had so many catch ups with friends since school went back.

Going: To Spanish Film Festival, a comedy, which I hope will be good after the very depressing Supanova.

Helping: Trying to find out what we can do to help the people in India. What a nightmare.

Staying: In Canberra this weekend for a wedding.

Indulging: Myself with a little time at the spa to read my book!

Happy: To be getting back into the city a bit more for dinners and shows.

Linking the pictures and not the words because this is pretty much what this MAY looks like too. Comedy festival two nights this week. a swim in that pool and walks around the harbour....with 

Joy, or literally floating on air

I googled the dictionary meaning for joy, and the first result was 'Lovehoney sex toys' so that could be the quick answer to how to be joyful, but sorry to disappoint you, I'm taking this prompt elsewhere. Or maybe more appropriately, you'll be grateful to know I'm not going down that rabbit hole...(as an aside, Norton safesearch ruins your search results, you get shops first almost always, no matter what you search for).

The grin says it all.

Joy is more than a state of happiness. It is an expression of great pleasure and delight. It's the mental overflowing into the physical.

And in the holidays I was lucky enough to that.

While planning what to do, I remembered way back in 2019, Santa had taken advantage of an ifly voucher offer, to present at Christmas. The indoor skydiving, while expensive, is one activity that the whole family enjoys, and crosses all age groups. It was a 2 for 1 deal, so excellent value.

Gifted at Christmas, it was unable to used before we went to Norway, and on our return the whole world headed into lockdown and I just forgot all about it.

Not entirely sure what made me remember, but found the vouchers and booked us in.

Now iFly is one of those rare things that is BETTER than you remember it. While I was excited and looking forward to doing it, it wasn't until I was in the air that I realised how good it makes me feel. I was overjoyed in the wind tunnel, and the adrenaline charge when the instructor takes you to the top makes me feel like I could burst with happiness. All stress leaves your body and for a while after, I was exuberant (which is defined as joyously unrestrained). 

I am getting older, and my body is wearing out. I am carrying a lot of loads that way me down, even though overall, life is good. But this feeling, this joyfulness, this overflowing with delight is such a precious experience to be savoured. I said at the time, they need to be able to bottle that feeling. It's far too infrequently experienced. 

Joyfulness and exuberance are indeed the stuff life is made of.

I'm now on a mission to collect those experiences. Can you think of other things that bring intense joy?

Joyfully linking with #FortheloveofBlog

PS Not an ad, I just really, really love it!

Monet & Friends - Digital Art Experience

Linking with #WeekendReflection

Monet & Friends ends Mother's Day, May 9 so get in quick if you haven't seen it. The cute photo op in the waiting chamber is so pretty and heralds the beauty to come inside the exhibition. Guaranteed to make you smile.

In this scaled back world, do what you can while you can. Use it or lose it is my new mantra.  

Book here to travel through Europe visually and musically.

(See more photos here)

Linking with #PicturePerfect #WonderfulWednesday #WordlessWednesday #PictorialTuesday  #Allseasons #WWOAT #RubyTuesdayToo

 

Shrinking

The blogging world has changed enormously since the heady days when I first started. For me, a tiny blogger, I was getting 1000 - 3000 views on posts. We had #IBOT,  #FYBF and #ThankfulFriday and many other regular hang outs where we met other bloggers and grew to become friends.

Over time, many big names left the scene and the numbers dwindled. The readership for my little world is smaller and now spread across the UK and US as well as here, and still a fraction of the numbers once achieved. 

Deep Fried Fruit announcing her departure threw me for six. In my head, I saw her, Denyse and me as the last of a core group who wrote for pleasure and would continue forever, even though I take regular breaks that seem to get longer and longer...

I am sad for what once was, but happy for all that I gained out of it.

I guess the best thing in this life is connection, and goodbyes should merely remind us to maintain them.

Feeling very much the last of an old guard, perhaps how people feel when they feel society is evolving faster than they can keep up. But you know this old dog is happy to learn, adapt and not shout "It's PC gone mad" as if I can't see the old days have gone.

Here's to the old times, and happy new times.

Shout out to anyone beginning to rattle around in an ever shrinking environment. 

Linking a little farewell ode to Deep Fried Fruit for #LovingLifeLinky. #WeekendCoffeeShare and #AnythingGoes

Note I'm still on a break but I couldn't not link up with you for the last time!

“You can hide things from the world, but you can never hide things from time.” ― Kim Dong Hwa

 I'm okay getting older, and I'm more or less okay with my aging looks. However, it's the decaying body that is becoming a problem. I had an alarm bell moment this week that made me realise that my body would put a stop to certain activities in time, whether I wanted to do them or not.

For years we have done those rope courses with the kids. Big groups of us going to Treetops in Ourimbah or Minmi in the school holidays. I would be one of the supervising parents on the high course while one of the other parents would watch my baby/toddler/six year old on the low rope course.

I always found it fun and fairly easy. I didn't think twice when I decided to take the youngest and a friend to do the Treetops course at Pennant Hills this week, as she was finally tall enough to do the high course. It would be some fun forest bathing for us inner city mice.

But in the six years or so since I'd last done it, something had changed. My body had aged. I found even Green easy course tricky and less enjoyable because I lacked confidence. On the Blue course I got into the rhythm and thought "Oh, I'm just out of practice. I just needed to warm up." However on the Red course, I really hurt myself slamming into some wood posts and couldn't hold my weight on the swing rope and was exhausted by the time we finished. I had fun but it was hard and I was aware of my frailness. I am aware my days of this type of activity are finite. There is an end date, not set by my will or desire. It worries me.

I said to my husband, "They want to do the Black course when they turn 16. I don't think I'll be able to do it in four years time." I can't tell you how sad this makes me. Not specifically about the ropes course, but I am reaching the point in life where my body dictates my limitations.

While dangling from a rope, trying to pull myself into the climbing web, my daughter's friend apologised for picking the hard* route, not the easy route. I yelled at my daughter "When you are really hating my guts, just remember I did this for you". The two guys behind me laughed. 

Later at the lockers, one of the young men came up to me and said "Good on you. Mum of the f#cking year if you ask me!"** So I'm taking that title and owning it! Might even get it made into a tee for such occasions when I'm physically out of my depth.

I am looking at this endless COVID time with the same sadness, knowing I'm on the clock in terms of what I'll be able to do physically by the time we get the big festivals and travel and other fun stuff back. All I can say is make hay while the sun shines, because it gets cloudy sooner than you think.

Now off to do some agility training, in an attempt to steal some time back into this body.

* Always do the Hard route. The Easy route looked lame, even to me. Notwithstanding my fails, I would have regretted taking the easy route

** I suspect he knew I wouldn't be upset by the emphatic swearing due to what he may have heard coming out of my mouth when I slammed into the poles...

Linking with #FortheloveofBlog

https://lifeloveanddirtydishes.com/’> https://lifeloveanddirtydishes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Blog-linky-image-static-1.png’&gt

;

Life, Love and Dirty Dishes - I've left it as is because I thought you might be able to let me know what I need to do. When I past the code in HTML, that's what appears?

“Mistakes are the portals of discovery.” James Joyce

 

Not all mistakes are bad. When I was doing the Katoomba Night Walk, both my camera and mobile had issues with the dim light. My mobile, decided to sort of over-pixelate the shots, and what occurred was strangely alluring, though not good photography.

I love the one of the Three Sisters with a rogue cloud floating in. The melting trees in the bottom photo look like they slid off the rock face...Orphan Rocklooks like it's in Minecraft.

Not everything has to be perfect for you to like it.

Linking with ##WWOT #Random #WordlessWednesday