Posts

baby teeth

For some time, I've been having dreams about baby teeth. As has a friend. Allan, who has a dream analysis book, snapshotted advice, which as a precis, states that it's a sign of outgrowing old things. I don't recall ever having this dream until very recently, but it has reminded me that time moves on.  Prompts=Generations in Jazz, recent holiday in Hobart, realising you still have a thread to something that isn't needed anymore. Work has been the biggest reminder of this, inadvertently, as current role has brought me into contact with people from a decade ago, and curious how we've all intersected. One of the people is related to someone I knew, long ago, and listening to them talk warmly about their family, I've been reminded I didn't grow up in a warm or affirming family, but I knew families like his.  And, now I'm closer to retirement than 'early career' and thinking about have nots and haves, I'm in the middle, and what it must be like to...

hobart

Hobart was so wonderful.  A rough itinerary-Resilience Fair, dinner at neighbours; early morning beach swim Open House Hobart and homemade pizza; lost day; Rivulet walks and Hamlet coffee; visit to Squiz and evening lecture on co-housing; visit to a childhood friend, watching Chris play Real Tennis, then Sharon Van Etten gig; coffee at Soho after distributing Vote NO to the Stadium posters, catch up with Sab, ramen at Ranita's, wine at Lucinda bar and flight home where uncle and aunt were in town.  Highlights: Sharon Van Etten crouching down to sing 17 in front of me. Squiz's 8 yo niece asking to do a portrait of me (so great).  The free clothes at Resilience Fair.  Walking in misty mountain air and feeling like I was in a Midnight Juggernauts video clip People initiating conversations-to ask for directions, to tell me where the platypus was, to get help.  My friends-old ones I've known for decades and new ones, that remembered meeting me.  Ceramic love, ho...

Little library themes and house husbands and what I think about Halloween

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  Finding 'little libraries' was my most fun thing in Sydney, I did enjoy it.  So, I survived work Halloween dressed in a black Gorman jumpsuit or as a snarky twenty something might put it, "oversize playsuit", nice person lent me a witches' hat for trick or treating- we limited ourselves to the block, child 'educating' about removing cotton wool to protect baby birds out of the nest, a better way to educate than be judgey (though actually it makes me mad to think about).  When I say 'survived', work party was enjoyable, but Halloween has certainly been embedded as another northern hemisphere ritual that does not make sense, weather wise. My first Halloween party was as a teen invited to the big kids goth party, even though I found them scary even after Giles told me the scary ones were the groupies he'd carved pumpkins lit with fairy lights, we sat in a circle and chatted about the blue rinse set being our only allies (Exeter had asked Jeremy ...

happy birthday to my school friend

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G was leaning towards swimming pool; I lean towards piano cake, able to picture myself once making miniature props for my dolls and general 'imaginary inner world'.  Today I spent doing something I love, editing things that other people wrote, so much better than editing something I wrote, and I was in the zone, lulled by the spring sun outside, which made me think of that Dragon song by Paul Hewson. Another school friend sent me an amusing photo of her naturopath's recommendations, which I suspect was intended without a trace of iron(y) (naturopath is onto it!).  Part of what I was editing was, in fact, policy about health. I find that everyone who *thinks* they are beyond the biomedical model, waxes lyrical about 'holistic health' or 'social determinants' when you probe, they're replacing one model with another that is also unsustainable or exclusionary, but wellbeing at a sustainable community/health level would be ability to NOT devote 10 hours a day...

Bird count week: takes 20 minutes

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Patron Saint of Floordrobe

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  I have no idea where I found this picture or who photographer is, but I love how it's Helena BC in residence at her parents' home: phone randomly placed, pile of books, wallpaper matches curtains, use of four poster bed as a wardrobe etc. I've pasted it in the teams team I formed, for pending clothes swap I have organised. By 'organised' I asked around to see if anyone else wanted a clothes swap, floated a date, recruited people.  Is that 'organisation'?  Have been reading The Dakota Winters by Tom Barbash, narrated by the son of a late night TV host, recently returned from Peace Corps to life on the Upper West Side, his younger brother on the tennis circuit, the preppie bohemian next generation culture: everyone on staff at Winter Park is a 'child of'. My friend dated a girl who was vying for selection in an event that I'm going to call lying down horizontal in a small space, but it has a fancy name. I feel bad I didn't start fostering a p...

Little Women and Family Albums

I was watching Little Women, the Greta Gerwig version with Laura Dern and a cool girl that plays Amy, production captured the organic texture of houses and textured colours. This version is not linear, and I was multi-tasking by taking to family photos with the scissors, not to excise people, but resize photos taken by a rellie pointing camera blindly, collecting from store with high hopes, only to discover they're no Max Dupain.