Tuesday, 21 February 2023

Taking a break


I am off to Japan so this #Allseasons is open until the 8th of March.

I will be offline but on Insta if you want to follow along.






I will be chasing Kusama (and every Louis Vitton collab display I can).





Happy Mardi Gras. See you on the flipside.


 It's time for #Allseasons for another week (but this time for 2 weeks).

All Seasons is open from Saturday through Wednesday 5pm, Sydney Time. 
2. Please link one  'seasonal' post a week. 
3. Make sure you link back to this  #AllSeasons post.
4. Please comment on the post before yours. Don't dump and run

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter


“Real museums are places where Time is transformed into Space.” ― Orhan Pamuk, The Museum of Innocence

 

Many years ago, I went and saw a Daniel Kitson show (66a church rd -that's it's name, you don't need to go there) and he talked about (bear with me butchering it) the word nostalgia coming from nosta meaning going home and algia meaning pain, and it's not the whimsical reminiscing that we often mean, but the aching pain of not being able to go home -in the sense that what was home no longer exists. It's a type of fear of never being able to go back...

The Do Ho Suh exhibition at the MCA made me think of that. He made paper rubbings of buildings, including his chilhood home which he then recontructed. It's astounding but he points out if captures his father, as well as himself.

These buildings are not just the bricks and construction, but the marks of those who lived there.
We can never truly go back but we do carry that around in us. We mark them and they leave a mark on us.


This fabulous exhibition ends this weekend so if you haven't been, don't miss it! Buy tickets here.
 Linking with #WWOT #ThruMyLens loopyloulaura



Friday, 17 February 2023

What's on my bookshelf? - February

I'm late to the link up but I couldn't miss two months running!




For book club we did Our Missing Hearts. It took me a while to get into it but once it was more about the libraries and the rebellion, I was more into it. That how society feel apart and then fought back kind of thing. I imagine it's a pretty popular read, so while I enjoyed it, it's not something I'd say 'you must read'. But I think most people will like it.

My other bookclub did the new Nick Hornby 'Just like you'. It's a bit of a mess, looking at everything - age gaps, race relations, Brexit (or political polarisation) and so much more - but it's sort of too many things so it doesn't quite work. Easy to read but light on. I found the Brexit stuff really interesting, as from over here I hadn't realised what it had done to people in the lead up. (But it's similar to the vax 'us & them' mentality). One thing that was pretty funny is the young man gets embarrassed when his much older lover dances and the women in my bookgroup, were saying that they found that ridiculous and over the top and I got to tell them that it was actually what happened to me at festivals. Complete strangers would loaugh at me and copy me dancing because I looked so weird. Ha! One for the Hornby fans...





Fight Like A Girl. I really enjoyed this. I somehow have missed the whole Clementine Ford wagon and while I know the name, don't really know who she is or anything else about her. I found her very smart and the book looks at many aspects of feminism. Intersectional & inclusive feminism. It prompted me to write this post as I noticed I'd done one of the things without ever questioning it. Good book and very interesting with lots to think about.




The Vanishing Act - Mette Jakobsen. This is a gem of a book. It's delightful. If you like Tove Jansson, it's a simillar style. It's strange and poetic, quirky and sad. It's a child piecing together her isolated existance and the relationships around her. Loved it. (So did my mum).

I'm sure there's been more but for the life of me I can't think what they are....?

loopyloulaura


My Random Musings

Wednesday, 15 February 2023

Mardi Gras and World Pride

Linking this pic with #WeekendReflections

I had to duck into the city to swap something over in Marrimekko - I already had my gorgeous Valentine's Day present, so I raced past David Jones and into Westfield.
The city is festooned for World Pride, and it made for a really cheerful expedition. 


Just outside Marrimeko in Westfield is this instalation. You go inside and listen to stories. I only popped in for a minute as I was pressed for time - you really need more - and heard the speaker saying that in the Religious Freedom Bill Campaign, the trans community was singled out and illogically attacked. They continued that if one of the LBGT community is under attack, they all are and they need to band together and not be divided. 






If you get a chance, it's worth checking out. We are going away so I'm afraid I won't get back in. 




Mardi Gras is usually a big deal in Sydney but with Covid it kind of went quiet. Or maybe I just didn't go to the shops at that time? Anyway, it's nice to see it back and the city come alive with colour and sparkles.

I believe you don't have to be part of the community to stand with them. It's easier for people with no skin in the game to defend the vulnerable in the face of bigotry than those personally under attack. As even Bob Katter said 'Let there be a thousand blossoms bloom' before seguing into his issue of crocodile attacks....(which I think was a fancy way of saying Live & Let Live).

For those interested, I got a new 'festival' bag. Just in time for Tiesto. Yip yip! Countdown is on!....(it's a Year of the rabbit outside pocket - cross body bag but with a handle too).






It's time for #Allseasons for another week.
All Seasons is open from Saturday through Wednesday 5pm, Sydney Time. 
2. Please link one  'seasonal' post a week. 
3. Make sure you link back to this  #AllSeasons post.
4. Please comment on the post before yours. Don't dump and run

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter



State of the world, state of mind

I have hit the wall on the bad news in the News. I have actively avoided hearing about Syria and Turkiye, though I have donated to the White Helmets, MSF and am trying to find someone useful on the ground in Turkiye to donate to - I just can't get my head around the devastation and the thought of it all. Even the survivors will have PTSD. Everyone in the country will have lost someone, no matter where they live.

Over the weekend there was a dreadful murder in the UK in public in broad daylight. There is a total irrational persecution of trans people being played out on the internet and in the media over there and that's the result. Children killing children. It makes me sick. They tried it in Australia, it's a trick to distract you from the state of the economy and the hospital system (our medicare) being gutted. It's to get you worked up so you don't notice the real problems you should be angry about. The Austrailan public didn't fall for it, so it's very easy to see when it's being done elsewhere.

Yesterday, my feed was filled with the flooding in New Zealand and then the earthquake. It's just too much for me at the moment.

I woke this morning to this pink cloud. It is carefree and playful.

It is hope.

But really, it's just a cloud and if I look at my phone, all the dark troubles of the world will pour in. I'm not sure if I'm overly hormonal and fragile, or if it's just too horrible nowadays?  Last night I wondered if I could be the kind of person that didn't read the news. I've never understood how people live like that, but now I can see why.


I'm sorry for this outpouring of doom. Just focus on the cloud.

What do you do when your mood sinks for no personal reason? Any tips on keeping this stuff in perspective? 

Any tips on who to give to help people in Turkiye or New Zealand?


Linking with #Allseasons #WordlessWednesday #TheRandom #WeekendCoffeeShare #SkyWatch  #GaleriaHimmelsblick



Thursday, 9 February 2023

Revelations from the lost years....

 I feel I've lost all sense of time over the last three years of Covid. I can't tell how long ago anything was or when it happened. Three years have been compressed into one in my head. I've been aware of this but it doesn't ease any confusion for me.

Last year I had to see a plastic surgeon to get some BCCs cut out of my head...I am sure I had a full body check while we were at it. I remember it clearly. I discovered another raised bump in Bali and on my return made an appointment to get it checked out. The receptionist asked if I needed a full body check and I said no, I had it last year. However, while with the dr, he looked at the notes and announced that while I had the surgery last year, the full body check was 2020. 

I keep discovering revelations from the lost years like this.

So, this is a short warning that any preventative tests you need to have regularly, you probably need to book it in now, because it was probably last done less recently than you think, if you live in Sydney or Melbourne where lockdowns dragged on for years.


Photos are from the magnificent production of Amadeus at the Opera House, but I feel they visually reflect my distorted concept of time and it's elasticity, folding into the present.

Linking with #WWOT #WordlessWednesday #WWandP #FriendshipFriday



Wednesday, 8 February 2023

Monkey Business

While at breakfast on the first morning in Bali, a little visitor came to snatch the food off the table while we ate....we were more prepared than the table next to us, and my squeals upset the little boy on the next table, who started crying. His sister, who lost her breakfast to the fast felon, was wide eyed in confusion and their mother, thankfully, was laughing at me and the chaos...however, having arrived close to midnight, it was a wake up call that we were indeed in another country.


For the rest of the trip I kept an eye out when in 'monkey territory', scared to lose my glasses like I have on a previous visit.




I was amused that a literal truckload of bananas was safe when coissants on the breakfast table weren't...