Some time ago I discovered Carla Rockmore and I fell in love. She’s FAAAAABULOUS! Here she is. Carla is my age. 53. She’s a fashion and jewellery designer and creator. She’s been collecting clothes, shoes and jewellery over the years and has a wonderful collection that she throws on and talks about. Everything on her […]
When You Want To Say Something But…
I think I’ve reached the toughest age in a woman’s life. Actually, given that I’ve never been through giving birth, maybe I don’t really know if I have but based on my own experience, I would say this phase of a woman’s life in her 50s would be the toughest. Physically, mentally and emotionally. Everything. […]
Waking Up on the Wrong Side of the Bed
I woke up this morning with pain all over my body. A different kind of pain from the body aches yesterday post vaccination. For example, I couldn’t swallow – it felt like something was stuck in my rib cage. Anyway, that abated after a while. Then I had a bit of numbness in my left […]
Sick and…Some Comedy
Well, the vaccinations I had yesterday hit me. I had both the flu vaccine (right arm) and Covid 4th booster (left arm). At the moment, the fourth booster is for those over 65 and there’s little to no advertising about it. Covid seems to be a long and distant memory (but that’s not really the […]
The World Has Changed
So I’m back home now after a short trip away and took the time today to catch up on errands. I took the day off work today because I worked on one of my days off last week, so it’s a day in lieu. Today was meant to be the start of our landscape work […]
Villa Triste
As I tap this out on my phone, I’m sitting on an aisle seat on a plane heading home. Holding my head in my hand, I feel my breathing escape from the mask that sits uncomfortably on the bridge of my nose fogging my glasses. I’ll be home soon. I’ve just finished Patrick Modiano’s novel, […]
Last Day in Brisbane
And so we come to the last day in this lovely (but humid and hilly) city. This morning I headed out to Ascot. Before I went there, I went to Central Station to query something about my public transport Go Card. I had to get it topped up to the exact amount of the price […]
Brisbane’s Maritime History
After a breakfast of poached eggs and avocado on toast in one of the mall’s cafes, I dropped into the Queensland Tourist Information centre. I had heard that there was a Heritage History Walking Tour however, apparently I had to book it in advance as they didn’t accept drop ins. Part of me was thinking […]
Third Day in Brisbane
I had a better night sleep last night and woke up at 6:30am to get dressed and head out again to explore the quiet Brisbane streets. This time I walked the opposite way from my hotel and found another smaller park called Cathedral Gardens. Market stalls were being set up ready for trading. Green grocers, […]
Roma Street Gardens
This morning about 6:15am after a difficult night sleep (it’s always this way the first night away from home), I got up and donned my runners and headed out for a bit of a jog. The jog was useless as I kept stopping to take a photo of the wonderful sights of tropical plants, palms […]
Scare in the Air
I started this morning at 4:30 am with anticipation. For the first time in a few years, I was going to travel interstate for work! I had been mentally preparing for this event having packed medications and RATs first into my bag. After hearing the horror stories of airport mayhem with lack of staff and […]
Time Without Clocks
I’m reading the memoir of Joan Lindsay called Time Without Clocks and it’s wonderful. It’s a glimpse into the world before the Depression, of how writers and artists spent their time. Joan Lindsay was born in 1896 and you may have heard of the Australian movie Picnic at Hanging Rock about some school girls from […]
Simple Pleasures
Cup of strong hot tea with milk Playing and chasing the cat every morning Hot buttered (real butter) on toasted sourdough bread First cup of coffee brought to me to bed by Andrew every Saturday and Sunday morning Sunny mornings sitting outside enjoying sunshine with my parents; dad playing classical guitar; mum picking herbs and […]
Pud’s Not Entirely Happy With Tessa
We recently bought a second hand lounge suite. We’ve been on the lookout for this type of Tessa lounge suite for a few years. The reason it’s been hard to find is that the hipsters seem to grab onto them once they get on the market. They are a well sought after brand after the […]
Learning To Fly a Drone
Our 21 year old nephew, Oliver is staying with us for a few days as he’s here to enjoy the football. At this time of the year, many Melbourne locals love going to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG or “The G”) for the ANZAC Day (25 April) match between football teams Essendon (The Bombers) and […]
The Art of the Wasted Day
This morning at around 5:00ish, I finished up reading Patricia Hampl’s book The Art of the Wasted Life. Thanks to Euan Semple for the prompt that got me downloading this book. What a wonderful book that celebrated solitude – getting and keeping that space that allows us to be by ourselves and our thoughts. I […]
Block Eleven
Oh my. I do love this solitaire card game. A few nights ago, I checked online to see what other card games for one person I could learn. Ever since lockdowns (which introduced me cards and other games to pass my time indoors), I’ve been playing cards because they keep my mind active, I’m learning […]
Little Bit of This, Little Bit of That
It’s a dreary grey wet day in Melbourne. I feel as if the weather has finally turned. I was meant to meet up today with my friends Fiona (White Owly on Twitter) and Megan Strant but I postponed because of the weather. It had been raining here since 5am and ever since we had the […]
Hedgeley Dene Gardens
During our lockdowns, we were unable to travel beyond 5km (and then later, 10km) from home so I took it upon myself to act like an intrepid explorer of my local surrounds within that radius. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon this beautiful park set amidst some stunning period homes. It’s called Hedgeley Dene […]
Brownie Points for Being a Cool Aunt & Some French Stuff
Today I headed over to my parents where we had a family lunch with my brother, his wife and my young nephew. After lunch we all headed over to the park to get out of the house a bit. It was a stunningly beautiful day, 27 degrees and without a cloud in the sky. The […]