Happy Easter

 

Hope everyone is having a lovely holiday. Just a reminder #Allseaons is here for this week.

I've been having a lovely time - still haven't written my story for Grieve but am enjoying the daily tweet stories (30 words) for Vic Writers.

Been loving the sunshine these last few days.

Just wanted to say Happy Easter everyone - hope you are enjoying the long weekend, where ever you are, and sunshine (finally) if in Sydney!

Linking with #WWOT #WWOAT #AwwMondays #Therandom #BlueMonday #weekendreflection #MySundayBest #Itsasnap #ItsYourMoment #WonderfulWednesday

Hello Kitty Town in Darling Square

Ending this month, so make sure you check it out over the school holidays. Fun dining options in the restaurants or take away, should the rain stop and you be able to eat outdoors....

We are keen to make a return visit to try a few of the other themed offerings. The housemade peach soda was fantastic and my youngest was very excited about the pancakes.

There are special Easter weekend activities and the whole festival leaves on the 29th of April. See the website for further details and more photos of our previous visit  & the art here.

Linking with #WordlessWednesday #PicturePerfectLinky #KeithsRamblings#MySundayBest  #WednesdayAroundtheWorld #MCoW #TravelTuesday #HappyTuesday

#Allseasons and House Keeping

 School holidays is upon us (almost) so I'm taking a break. I'll be on Insta and off on a few adventures so feel free to follow along.

I will keep #Allseasons open for the next three weeks. Come back and add one post a week.

I'll try to come back for #LifeStories and #Whatsonmybookshelfchallenge....of course I have to finish some books for that.

Take care, those driving especially and fingers crossed for this rain to abate a little.

All Seasons is open from Friday 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

Fingers crossed!

 Every year I wait for clear weather and then buy tickets to the Opera on the Harbour - I've been lucky enough to have perfect nights for La Boheme (which was delightfully stunning), West Side Story and La Traviata this way. But with the current weather, and constant rain, I'm not feeling certain I'll get to Phantom of the Opera this year. 

However, one can but hope!

I really feel for the people of Lismore. I can't imagine what they are going through, having only just begun the clean up from the last floods. And my heart goes out for the organiser of BluesFest if he is affected for the third year in a row. So my irritation with the rain is merely that and I should probably count myself lucky!

Back in February, a kind friend took me to the Cinema on the harbour, which I'd never been to before. We had a perfect night and saw The Good Boss with Javier Bardem, which is great. Dark comedy, well done and left me thinking about it.

As always though, it's the scenery that steals the show. Seeing the light change as the sunset and the city lights up is always breathtaking.

So while I'm not the biggest fan of that musical, I've got my fingers crossed I get to see it!

And Sydneysiders, if you didn't know 'The Phantom of the Opera is here!' (see what I did there? Hope you sang it...ticket website is linked)

Linking with #LifeStories #Allseasons  #KeithsRamblings #PicturePerfectLinky #WWOT  #ThruMyLens  #BlueMonday  #WordlessWednesday and #FridayBliss 

(The blue sky and harbour - both of which I haven't seen for awhile!!)

Gum Nuts

 

A few overseas people asked about the gumnuts in this post so when I saw these, I climbed on top of the brick fence to take closer photos. While standing on the wall, it did occur to me that if one of the residents of the complex called the police, I was way too old to talk my way out of it. Old enough to know better. And if I injured myself when I jumped off the high fence, I'd be too embarrassed to tell the paramedics what I was doing, so I'd have to make something up. 

See the things I do for you, dear readers?

These were made very famous by children's author May Gibbs last century, when she gave them personalities in the stories of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.

You can see the spindles bursting out of the pods.

And then the blooms below.

Linking with

Taking Stock - March

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I felt like I just did one of these posts, but realised it was 2 months ago. The blog definitely makes me see the march of time!

Sipping: I've gone Euro mad and sipping on Tallinn. It's the perfect 'dessert'. Just a little shot to sip on....(from Eurodrinks - not an ad, I just buy from them).

Wearing: Jewellery made from recycled plumbing bits that I got in Hobart last week at the Salamanca Markets.

Wanting: The election to be called so they can start promoting policy. This bombardment of personality is insulting. These people are not our friends. We aren't meant to like them. We are meant to respect them and have faith they will look after the best interest of the population. This has been sorely lacking since before the last election. We need a federal ICAC to make sure, regardless of party, these people are accountable to us, the taxpayers, whose money they spend. Come on, Australia. We need to be smarter than this.

Spot the #WeekendReflection (hint table) and #RubyTuesdayToo

Loving: That the Biennale has started. It's free so I can pop in on the way to other appointments if I'm organised. Discovered the Marys diner in the Cutaway so will try to time my return visit better for lunch/dinner or a drink at the bar. The Animal Orchestra is great but I only had the time for one location. Want to pop back and experience the ocean one at least, if not manage all of them over the next few months.

Buying: New Shoes. Nonsensical sensible shoes.

Enjoying: The Wes Anderson-esque travel photography exhibtion and bar at David Jones Level 8. Use it or lose it people.

Hoping: People pay attention to the policy platforms. Was complaining to Mum about the $2500 we are going to have to pay for a colonoscopy this week, that was previously covered by Medicare and she was shocked the rebates had been gutted. Morrison was upfront before the last election that he wanted a health system more like the American one, so how did she not know that? She reads a newspaper every day (albeit The Australian). I am stunned people vote without understanding the most basic part of the platform. How did I know and she didn't? How can we make policy clearer to people prior to the election? Sadly, whatever has been cut - cardiac, hip, shoulder and hand surgeries among others, will probably never come back regardless of who gets in, but I'm sincerely hoping I'm wrong on that. Realistically, start saving. I also did a comparison of my private healthcare because I think the one I'm with is hopeless and after 25 minutes on the phone, the health check guy came back and told me that the one I'm with, and the policy I'm on is actually the best for my family. I can't imagine how this is going to effect people because ours covers barely anything. Yes, it gives you something back but $25-$73 back on a $300 bill is useless. 

Cooking: Not much. In fact, going to great lengths to avoid it. Lockdown really killed that for me....but I did get my daughter this Gudetama macaron in Galeries Victoria. 

Reading: Still reading Violeta and Queer Stories discussed here. Prior to that, I listened to All Saints Hotel and Cocktail Lounge, read by the author (who is neurodivergent and uses minimal editing in the audio). It's an entertaining book but a real insight to see the world viewed through the millennial lens. You can see why they are angry and lost faith in society (and expectations). Parents should read it because the world we see is not the world our kids are seeing. As an aside, my youngest started talking about interstate housing prices yesterday (she knew the average in all the capital cities) because she's never going to be able to afford Sydney. She's 13. How do you deal with that? Apparently, her friends all talk about it. This world weighs heavy on the young.

Thinking: That this formatting glitch needs to fix itself soon because it's doing my head in. Apologies for the visual mess.

Listening: To the happiest beat you'll here at the moment from the ever fabulous Max Frost - and if you aren't following him on Facebook (Insta?) he regularly does songs by one artist in the style of another artist - it's AMAZING. There's no one cheerier on SM to follow! 

Wishing: Covid and the war would go away. Want to stop thinking about it. 

Watching: Sextortion on SBS. Funny comedy out of NZ and feels pretty applicable in this election time....And also Our Flag Means Death is kooky and gorgeously funny. A cast of who's who of the acting world as a bonus.

Appreciating: Being out of lockdown.

Walking: Not as much as I should. But I did get out to my old lockdown 5km radius walk on the weekend and it felt good to see the people about and businesses buzzing. 

Hearing: A lot more F1 talk now that this podcast has appeared. Good to get more in-depth sports chat than I get off the socials. Looking at booking Singapore this year but still waiting on the whole COVID fiasco to decide...If you are wanting entertainment in the Sydney traffic now that Coronacast is weekly, check out the Idiots of F1.

Considering: An OS trip. Thinking Iceland or Japan, trying to work out the when, and just worried about the covid implications if one of the kids gets COVID there - will we be split up? What happens? Husband off to Boston for the marathon so won't do anything until after that, in case that reveals some unexpected hurdle to be managed.

Feeling: Confused about Covid. Going out and doing a lot of stuff but still masking in crowds. Nearly everyone I know has had it or their kids have had it. It seems to be ripping through schools which means it's only a matter of time before it walks in our door. I am very nervous about seeing my nieces' little babies at Easter. I will RAT beforehand but still. It's a concern.

Pining: for my camera to be repaired. It's been 2 months. I really want it for the school holidays!!!

Saving: For the aforementioned colonoscopy. Thanks, Australian voters. Well done. 

This post has turned into yet another downer. Really hadn't intended that. Got a few treats in store this week so I hope my next posts are less angry and gloomy...what's that saying? We can't expect to go through life unaffected by the world?

*I did tell her not to worry about it yet and just enjoy being at school and all the fun things offered, and that things will be different by the time she leaves. But really, I suspect that all fell on deaf ears. What a world we have created. Shame on us (and our parents).

Linking with 120f12   and #YourMoment

Share Four Somethings - March

 

Well, that month rolled around fast. How time flies, as they say....

Something Loved:  I went to Hobart with my bookclub. First time away from my family in over 2 years. First time since 2019 when I only had me to look after and only had to think of myself. It was rejuvenating. 

Something Gleaned: We went to Bruny Island, which was fabulous. I learnt that it is half the size of Singapore with only 800 inhabitants! I also enjoyed learning our history with a bit of a new slant on how we tell it (compared to I was a kid and it was VERY whitewashed). Most of what we were told was from the Indigenous viewpoint of that historical experience, of Truganini and the Black Line and dispossession. Having listened to Debutantes, I became aware of how distorted our 'knowledge of history' is.

These 2 trees are in the paintings made when Cook was there.

I learnt that there are 12 species of bird only found on Tasmania - I also learnt they are called endemic birds - given how much we use that word at the moment, I didn't realise it applied in this sense too. My favourite line was when the tour guide was talking about the flora and fauna on Bruny, and Joseph Banks. "I know there's a lot of shade on Cook but when you look at Banks, what he did was amazing.  He took back 12000 new species of plants and shared this with the European Scientific world. He incomprehensibly altered their knowledge". 

Something Braved: Going solo to a nightclub where I was at least 30 years older than everyone...discussed in detail here and here.

Something Achieved: I don't feel I've achieved much this month. I hope my Furious Fiction story did ok, then I can amend this. Didn't write as much as I should. Didn't exercise as much as I should. Did manage to get tickets into Phoenix which I've been dying to see since it was built so very excited about that. So not so much as achieved as got lucky. But let's go with that.

You can see the two trees in the top photo and the 4th photo here, in the George Tobin painting of 1788.

More Tasmanian photos on my Insta.

Linking with #ShareFourSomethings  #LinkUpPotPourri  #WanderingCamera # #YourMoment