And to those that don't celebrate, look how haunted these pictures turned out with some B&W and shadows....
“Pulvis et umbra sumus. (We are but dust and shadow.)” Horace
#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.
What a great month I had! Quite unexpectedly to be honest.
READ I am currently reading the The Friday Afternoon Club. I will do a whole post on this once I've finished but I'm really enjoying it. Griffen Dunne has an openness and honesty in his narrative that makes it so much more than name dropping stories. There are a few very arresting moments, and I am prepared for what is to come, having adored his father's work and read all Dominick Dunne's books, starting as a teen when I worked in a bookshop and stumbled across The Two Mrs Grenvilles. I went to his author talk, purely out of nostalgia for his father, but I can see he is a very talented writer in his own right.
WATCHED Been to a few plays and comedians this month, plus a number of author talks. Saw Jacob Banks and the amazing Gregory Porter.
At the movies, One Battle after another and the Springsteen movie today. It feels like it's been a quiet month, but not really. Just the lull before the (Sand)storm...bahahaha. If you don't have an earworm now you won't get that joke....
HEARD Bunt. A lot of Bunt. I saw him last year at Field Day and my Spotify is teasing me that he is coming back as I just keep getting song after song by him in my Daily Drive. So I'm hoping Spotify knows something I don't as I'm dead keen to see him again! Good vibes!
But I do like her original better. Of course. (Aussies, she'll be here for the National Folk Festival in April. Hopefully with side gigs as I'll be at Bluesfest....though husband is aware I have to travel if I miss her...ha!)
WORE My Luigi bag has been getting a workout. It makes me so happy, especially when the fans ask me if it's from Mario, as they a perplexed by someone my age using it as a serious handbag (they should see me with my Moomin or Hello Kitty bag!)
I got these weird things for my sore toe after big walks or big nights dancing. It does help ease the pain. Cheap and off ebay or amazon or something. Worth a shot.
AND LASTLY My top 3? Too hard to narrow down. Got a family get together for a birthday before the month is out, so even though that's yet to happen, I'll put it down as number 1. Ditto Halloween, just the decorations and the bubbly kids coming to the door sooooo sensational dinner at Mister Grotto with friends - it was AMAZING food! The flavours so interesting. I'm not even a big fish eater and I ate it all! Brilliant restaurant. If you are in Sydney, def go! It is only fish and seafood though, no other options.
Also made it to the last Bake Sale of the year! Winning!
Where did this month go? I couldn't believe it was time to do this again when I saw someone else's post in a link up.
And yet here we are. As the song says 'The years start coming and they don't stop coming'. That wheel spins faster and faster.
Something I loved It's been a great month - fun meals out with friends - Grandfather was sensational, though I was a little melancholic (just a touch of nostalgia) as the last time I sat in that space was the closing service of Long Chim. However, great replacement. The food is 5 star. So flavoursome and delicious.
The new seasons of Diplomat and Slow Horses are making our nights at home fabulous too!
I had low expectations of Sonny Fodera but I really got wrapped up in the high of the music and movement. So good for the soul!
Pub Choir is always uplifting and the song was more fun that I thought it would be. Just what we needed in these globally chaotic times. (Note I've linked a clip from the night before that's been put on the net. Will embed the official video once it comes out).
Something I learned We have a faux moon for a bit - an asteroid is circling in our orbit along with moon. It will move off in about 2083. So we have '2 moons' for awhile. A quasi moon as it's known.
Vegetarians skip this. Australia is the largest goat meat exporter, selling more than $350 million worth of product each year BUT we are one of the smallest producers of the meat as well. This is because Australians are least likely in the world to eat goat. We produce 44% of the world's global goat meat exports. As an aside, pork is the globally most consumed meat (36%) which is interesting when you think of all the religions not allowed to eat it. So all this shows that while I'm a fan of statistics, the full story is in the details. You need the whole picture to get a proper understanding of the facts. And yes, I am talking about Immigration and LBGT issues (don't be tricked when hatefully people throw out random numbers as 'facts').
Something that went well I took my friends from the UK out on the most marvellous daytrip. We explored Sydney harbour and it really put on the most magnificent show! Full details in this post. It's really lovely to feel that pride in your home town and to be as enchanted as the visitors seeing it for the first time. I never cease to marvel at the beauty of parts of this city. It is glorious to have bushland, ocean and big city lights all in the same place!
Quick reminder for locals, the whales will be almost gone for the year so this is your last chance to catch the tail end of the migration for another year. Don't miss them!
Something I let go of Every month I struggle to think of something for this section. I don't know if I hang on to too much or I let go of stuff without noticing. I suspect the former. So I guess I need to work on that. This morning, I had a sleep in. I decided I was rundown and as my friend was away, I let go of my Sunday walk. I ended up only getting an extra 15 minutes before I naturally woke up, but it still felt good. I will do some exercise later in the day for a change.
I used to really like Twitter - I was in a writing group, I engaged with authors I admired, and I was in a F1 group. I also used it for news and F1 live results...one by one everyone left. I feel I've gotten in the dead internet theory, with me the last person still there. The last reasonable person.
I seem to be surrounded by angry racists, horrible transphobic or homophobic people - or some other shockingly offensive person that I would never engage with in real life.
The final straw for me might be last night's outrage over....wait for it...fairy lights. This woman is trying to rouse outrage over houses festooned in fairy lights. The reason? Because they aren't Christmas lights, they've been put up for Diwali.
It's not a Nazi flag. It's not even a protest. It's the same as putting them up for a birthday party or Christmas. You're just putting them up to celebrate. It's nice for everyone to look at (except the racists, apparently).
It is the most nonsensical thing to get upset about. It's ugly and it makes Australians look stupid. Can we leave that to other countries that are revelling in their xenophobia and racism, thanks...let's not import other countries problems.
I shut off the app feeling worse than when I logged on. It is a sign that perhaps it's time to go. My small cheery corner of that platform gets swamped by the stupid and the ugly. And the not true. So it's harder and harder to see the point.
Simu Liu put up a post awhile back that the algorithm is not real. Don't pay attention to those extremes. Talk to real people - your friends, family, the people around you. That's what people really think. It's a good reminder.
What no longer serves you, let it go.
I will wait until the end of the F1 season and decide....
I have been reminded of the poem in Alice in Wonderland - You are Old, Father William. While the questions were not asked of me directly, I had FOUR instances in a week where I was reminded of my age and at times of my seemingly (to them) inappropriate behaviour.
Firstly, a young man covered in tatts, stood up and moved away from the red seat on the train so I could sit there. Firstly, I don't think I look like a red seat user (for those OS, it is for elderly, physically infirm or pregnant people). Secondly I could have just say next to him on the blue seat. So at best he thought I was old or at worst he thought I'd be scared to sit next to a guy covered in tatts. As someone from the Inner West, that part hurt more. Obviously my vibe I think I have is not the vibe I give off. I am much more conservative and suburban looking than I realise.
Next, I went to Fridayz and when Lil Jon came on, I jumped up like everyone else (He was great, by the way - not in the 'so bad, it's good' way that I was expecting, just really great!). I was dancing frenetically when I noticed the people next to me and behind me were laughing at my enthusiasm. Now, I will take this at festivals from the 18 year olds but NOT from the 40 year old behind me, when I am dancing to music that is 20 years old Anyway, they had to pull their heads in because when all the jumping started, they didn't even try and I am a little bone density ever-ready bunny....In your face. in this case I was not old, I was just OG. (Note the song below has very offensive lyrics, not suitable for work).
And then, at Sonny Fodera, this woman sort of dances in front of us, facing us - so I'm pretty sure her friend was filming her dancing with the weird old ladies. We just ignored her and she went away. She later came back and grabbed me and said "You're my new icon". Now I've heard this enough at festivals to know where it's heading so as I didn't want to kill my vibe, I cut to the chase "What, cos I'm old?" I smiled. She was taken aback and then back peddled like crazy "No, not at all. You're here living your best life. You exude joy". I forgive her because I did feel like joy was radiating off me, I could 'feel' it so I like that concept, even if she had been doing it to laugh at us.... (This clip does have a bare stomach and low cut top but I would say still fine for work...Unless there are rules about that - just normal clothes, not overtly sexual).
Lastly, I was at Harris Farm with just a basket, that was pretty full but nothing too crazy. I have spindly little muppet arms so it doesn't take much for my muscles to strain. This guy comes up to me and asks if I need help carrying the basket! In what universe does that happen? How old do I look? I laughed and said no thank you, but I wish now I'd said yes, just to see how that played out - was he seriously going to stroll around the supermarket with me while I shopped?
This was in a seven day period. It is deeply disturbing. Clearly, how I think I look is not how I look to others.
Worse, apparently how I feel is nothing like my outer shell.
"We are always the same age inside" Gertrude Stein wisely said, but she forgot to mention it's the outside that everyone else sees, and there's no hiding that! Worst of all, they want to remind you of it!
The Cane was a book club pick. I thought it would be terrible, as the cover was really junky looking. It's actually okay crime. A lot of different viewpoints of a girl that goes missing in the cane in Far North Queensland. It's set in the 1970s so I found the racism and the sexism and the attitudes a little hard going. I know it was the characters being offensive but it just made me recoil a bit when they used certain slurs or said gross things. Not saying that wasn't realistic, just not for me (and today's standards, and obviously the author was critical of those characters). Anyway, it was interesting enough. I thought it was better than The Dry which I didn't really like at all and worked out straight away, this one there were many suspects and it was unclear until the end.
Thought this book would be an interesting update - it's good if you are worried about HRT (It's called MRT now I believe). It has interesting personal stories littered throughout. I don't know the author but I gather she's famous. I still recommend Dr Jen Gunter's book over this for interest, history, sexism and medical advice but this might be more appealing to some. She did this weird bit about self esteem and included wearing matching underwear and I just found that so odd (especially when she implied everyone wore the same bra for three days - no one in Australia could ever do that! Too hot!) Small point but it really made me stop and wonder!
This Agatha Christie was a bit of fun. Hercule Poirot - it's funny how we have preference to the stories with certain detectives, even by the same author. In it is this wonderful bit where one of the racist witnesses says they fought in the war so that everyone could go back to where they came from and stay there and Hercule comments to himself that he had learnt 'that every single individual had a different version of the theme "What did we fight the war for?" '. It was interesting to see all the 'migrants are criminals' and other tricks of racism that are being used today were also used in 1948 when the book was published. This book also looks at the role of women and that many went off to join the Wrens to get away from marriage expectation and felt that they changed on their return but that those that stayed home did not. Both psychologically and societally, it has some interesting insights, even if the crime itself feels vaguely familiar to another of her works.
I went to the Writers Festival Talk on Feminism and the affect of pop culture on it. It was really interesting and while I hadn't intended to read the book, I think I will track it down. I think often about why we (I) didn't react to Sinead O'Conner or Monica Lewinsky more appropriately at the time. It sits very uncomfortably with me and who I was. I wonder how we were raised to never question a lot of sexism, or rather, to notice it was abnormal. So this book is added to my TBR list.
Love the panelling of the auditorium that cleverly looks like bookshelves!
A week to go before I can decorate the house....kiddo loves it, husband hates it.
I would have a party as it's on a Friday but I suspect I'll be on pick up duties so next year will be the year when the annual party returns.
For now I'll just enjoy the enthusiasm around us in the community.
Do you celebrate? Did you?
#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.
While having lunch at the Scarsborough Hotel on the way down to Coledale (or perfect stop after walking across the Sea Cliff Bridge), there were so many cockatoos joining us.
I had to try to get photos (with varying success).
The pub has a bell to ring if you see whales, which I guess is getting a workout at the moment. None the day we were there though.
So we had to be content with sunshine, views and the entertaining birds.
Every time a table would leave, the birds would swoop in for the scraps before the staff could get to it.
Which proved entertaining enough for me!
A few action shots!
A few resting shots....
which was the only time I could get them close up.
