March 31. Day 90. Let the sunshine in

I'm sure you've heard of SAD... by SAD I don't mean feeling sad as such. It's more that you feel sad because of SAD AKA Seasonal Affective Disorder. Yesterday I was sad. I failed to show at a 40th birthday party. I'd booked tickets to a movie but didn't go. It was raining. I felt shit. The two fed off each other. I stayed in bed. Today when I woke the sun was shining. The pain was still there but less. I felt I could face the day. So having cancelled a planned trip to the Bribie birthday bash yesterday, I decided I should take the drive today. Sun, sand, sea, frolicking dogs, fish and chips for dinner. These things make me happy. These things are good for me although it can be hard to see that when your mind and body are not behaving. A dull sky doesn't help. But today blue skies were shining on me and I felt less blue.
Oh happy days.

March 30. Day 89. Sky fall

Someone gave the weather gods a giant box of coloured pencils today and said "go on, play.".They started down the dark end. I think they were in a bad mood. It was all greys and blacks, layered on top of one another, dark and menacing.
It was like a black and white photograph but more black than white Then the black began to fade. Perhaps they just ran out of the dark colours by repeatedly pressing on them too hard. There was a rainbow breaking through. I think they liked what they saw but it was narrow and contained. So then they splashed colours randomly all over the place. It was a bit like throwing oil on water or knocking water on to a colour palette - colour everywhere, pretty but without any apparent plan or structure or reason. Just because. And some times just because is reason enough or the only reason we have.

March 29. Day 88. Wouldn't that give you the shits

Treatment day 3. I had high hopes. Perhaps that was my big mistake. After treatment #2, I went to Spotlight to buy material. I had barely walked through the door when the pain started. The result was ugly. But surely this was just an anomaly. The treatment should stop the sh*ts not the other way around. Today would be different. I left the treatment to go and have my drivers licence renewed. This time I hadn't actually got out of the carpark before I had to beat a very hasty retreat. I went home with my tail between my legs. I retreated to the bedroom and stayed there.
This was not the deal. I will get the deal even if it means changing the rules or the drugs or something. We have not come this far to quit.

March 28. Day 87. If you've got an itch

Poor Rumple.
Two weeks on antibiotics and his skin infection is not quite cleared.
And to add insult to injury he also has an ear infection.
He's not a happy boy. He is well on the road to recovery but not there yet.
Winkle, being Winkle, came along for the ride to the vet.
She may have wished she hadn't or at least had not chosen to scoot on her bum in the treatment room.
Rumple may have had his skin and ears checked over but Winkle won a gloved finger up the bum to clear anal glands. And I thought my job had some unappealing aspects .... I suppose at least the vet uses gloves.....

March 27. Day 86. Snakes alive

I spend a lot of time Brisbane's cultural precinct. And I can walk there quite easily. And yet I need an excuse to walk through the doors of the museum. That's insane. It really is. the museum is pretty awesome and for the most part it's totally free. I was reminded of this today for a couple of fronts. My friend Alison and her boys were in town and their invite lured me down the hill. But more than that - the boys were already at the museum earlier in the week and they enjoyed it so much they wanted to go back. And why not? Everywhere you turn, there's something new and exciting to discover.
So I got to feed my own curiosity and at the same time feed off their enthusiasm. That's time (and no money) well spent if you ask me.

March 26. Day 85. Feed me!

"I'll have a cup of tea ... and something for the worm."
So says Margaret every time the food trolley arrives. Margaret's "worm" has quite the appetite.
She likes a feed.
On days like today, when we leave the aged care facility for official business, including a food break is always essential.
It is pretty much always fish and chips. Margaret loves her fish and chips.
And that has to be followed by a trip to the bakery for a pack of goodies to take back "for the worm". We always need to stock up on mince because the early birds at Margaret's window get mince not worms.
They were waiting when we got back, ready to go.

March 25. Day 84. City beats

 After a few days exploring Melbourne it seemed only right to have another proper look at my own.
Brisbane is a very pretty city, especially at night. One of my favourite vistas is the Kangaroo Point cliffs.
I like to see the city from either the top or the bottom of the cliffs. Tonight I was at the top ...  at the cafe end.
This might not have the best view of the bridge .... although it is the closest point .... it does have the advantage of the giant pointy thing.
I'm sure the giant pointy thing has a proper name ... but I didn't bother to find out exactly what it is. I did walk inside and take a photograph which is a bit rude seeing I didn't ask its name. It's pretty out there.

March 24. Day 83. Home again

It's most fashionable for us Queenslanders to give Melbourne a hard time, mostly because of its terrible weather. Melbourne never bothers to trade insults partly because I think it considers Queensland below the level worth consideration and partly because most of its proper contempt is reserved for Sydney. But secretly there is an admiration, you only need to look at Noosa in winter to see it. Melbourne when the sun shines is pretty awesome and this weekend it laid it on. We found an AirBnB right in the heart of the action allowing us to enjoy the city but also take the many sleep breaks I need at the moment. It meant that this morning I could walk the very short distance to the Queen Victoria markets and take in the sights and sounds before heading to the airport and home. It was a flying visit but a fun one. Until next time.

March 23. Day 82. Star spotting

I admit. I love an opening night. And I have done more than my fair share in my time (that may not be fair but someone has to do it). Tonight I was more like an uninvited guest or an accidental tourist or something.

I bought tickets tonight because it was my only spare night in Melbourne. The fact that it was opening night was a very happy coincidence. The fact that the first people we ran into in the lobby were the same as we normally see in Brisbane says a whole lot about the industry, or the people we hang around with or something.

But then there were the Melbourne crowd. These are the beautiful people we don't see in Brisbane. But hell, that's part of the beauty of travel, right? I must say that the old theatres of Melbourne are beautiful and full or charm whereas QPAC feels like it was assembled from an Ikea flat pack. But, and it's a big but, the actual views, seats, acoustics, toilets, access and all that jazz are far superior in the modern facilities. But most of the is forgotten by the time the first strains of Abba's music sound and we hear "You're terrible, Muriel" for the first time. Happiness is ....

March 22. Day 81. New heights

 Melbourne. Day 2. Time to explore a city of about 4.5 million people. Well, we could do that or we could end up running into a good friend from Brisbane while we were both randomly walking through a shopping centre.
In Brisbane we say there's only ever about two degrees of separation. In Melbourne you'd expect a bit more distance. But there Tash was, walking out of Cotton On. I may have missed her as I was looking up at the fusion of old and new in the shopping centre. I like what they did there. Housing an old tower in a metal and glass spire. Impressive. I was looking up until Oliver pulled me back. "I think that was Tash," he said. So we turned around and we went and investigated. It was her all right. We hugged. I took a photo to send to her mother. Small world, all right.

March 21. Day 80. Soaring

I don't care what anyone says, the wizarding world created by JK Rowling is really special. I am a Potter-head through and through. So today Oliver and I boarded a plane bound for Melbourne or Hogwarts as we prefer to refer to the journey. His Potter obsession is in part due to his generation and in part due to the fact that I read all the books to him as he grew up. It's my fault. Still I can make him love the wizard but I can't make him a wizard. Whether that is fortunate or unfortunate  can not be known. What I do know is that wizards have better forms of transport. Aircraft are better than other alternatives we Muggles have but they are far from ideal.  They kind of suck. Portkeys or floo powder, they would be cool to just transport you from one place to another in an instant. But perhaps it's a broomstick I'd really like given my love of clouds. For now staring out of a plane window is the best I've got.

March 20. Day 79. Another brick in the wall

I love a home improvement show. I love improving my home but I actually hate the process. I'd be exceptionally happy to move out and someone else do it (within reason, obviously).
I mean some times you look at the home improvement shows and think "seriously, why would you do that?"
Wall treatments are often where my will to experiment stops.
I'm not a real fan of decorative wall paper feature walls. In fact, while there are exceptions, I don't much like feature walls at all.
I'd rather a really solid piece of art to draw attention to a wall rather than the whole wall.
Less is more. That's a mantra for decorating and more.
But some people can get it right. I spent lunch at a cafe at Coorparoo looking up at a brick wall. I loved the textures and lines. Where it was in an outdoor eating area it was perfect. Elsewhere it would be ridiculous.

March 19. Day 78. Out of this world

If you go down to the park today, you'll never believe your eyes.

If you go down to the park today you're in for a big surprise. For every spaceman that every there was is gathered there simply because today's the day the aliens had their picnic. Or something like that. When I first saw the Curiocity  Brisbane signs I thought it was something like Open House where you get to discover things about the city you didn't know existed. It isn't. It's about science, technology and art and where they intersect and it's in some of the most high profile sites in the city.

There are installations at South Bank, the CBD, Gardens Point, Howard Street Wharves and The Powerhouse. And under the Story Bridge, where I was today, space is the final frontier. Which is pretty cool. There were astronauts, moon rocks and a model of Di Vinci's flying machine. 

Out of this world really

f you go down to the park today, you're in for a big surprise.

March 18. Day 77. Lovely weather ... for ducks

 See those ducks, swimming upstream? It would look like a tough day at the office even if you didn't know that isn't actually the stream.
Where the ducks are swimming is the footpath.
There was another spectacular afternoon storm today. It was short, but it was really, really sharp. I was at the GP at the time and the bucketing rain made it quite hard to hear. The rain finished not long after the consultation. Then on the way home, I decided to call in to see Margaret. I hadn't made it the short distance before she called me. She wanted to tell me about the brook level just as she had yesterday. I don't need the weather bureau when I have Margaret. But to give her her due it was pretty spectacular.

March 17. Day 76. The wash up

 A phone call at 6am can only mean one of two things. 1. Something bad has happened or 2. My former neighbour Margaret wants to tell me something and has held off until a decent hour. Today was option 2. We live in this country of drought and flooding rain and in the past 48 hours we have moved from the former to the latter. From her window on the second floor Margaret is well positioned to bear witness to the impact the rain has on Kedron Brook. This morning she was so impressed by the brook which had broken its banks and covered the bridge and the path that she needed to tell someone. She also needed a witness. I was the chosen one. The thing is for 20 odd years of my life I lived in a house overlooking that same brook just down stream. I know exactly how it looks. But I went and check it out anyway (well about four hours later. I don't tend to visit anyone at 6am on a Sunday). By then the tide had turned and while the water was rushing the flooding had largely subsided. What was left was a trail of debris. It was pretty unflattering. But I took photos and returned to Margaret's room with evidence of exactly what could be seen down below. She was impressed. Job done.

March 16. Day 75. Music to my ears

If music be the food of love, play on. God Shakespeare had a way with words. You can't deny it. The fact is that beautiful music like a beautiful sunset can make your soul smile. Today I experienced both.
I will not pretend, I can not pretend that I know anything about classical music. Unless you count the triangle, I can not play a single classical instrument. In fact I can not play an instrument at all. And yet I know beautiful music when I hear it. I sat in the audience of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra's performance of Rossini's William Tell Overture, Ginastera's Concerto for Harp and Orchestra and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet Suite. I was swept away in a tide of emotion. The instruments whispered and soared. At times it was like a gentle drizzle and then more like a tidal wave or music was hitting you as it gushed through the Concert Hall. You can listen to the recording of the event on ABC Classic FM. But I promise you no matter how good your sound equipment is nothing compares to being there. Watching the musicians make the music come alive is captivating and being engulfed in the sound is without comparison. Yes, this is the food of love. Play on.

March 15. Day 74. We can be heroes

One of my all time favourite songs is Heroes by David Bowie.
I, I wish you could swim,
Like the dolphins
Like the dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, forever and ever
Oh, we can be heroes just for one day  
Some times being a hero, takes doing something really heroic. Some times just getting out of bed in the morning or getting through the day should earn you a medal.
Heroism, like just about everything else, is relative.
I saw Heroes tonight, by which I mean I saw the Tom Stoppard by of the same name. It's a 2005 adaptation and translation of Le Vent Des Peupliers by Gerald Sibleyras. The action is set in a French retirement home for First World War veterans in 1959. The wikipedia page defines it as a comedy. It's true, it is darkly funny , but it is also biting in its observations and sadly poetic. And it says a whole lot about how we define heroism. I liked it a lot.
You can hear just ho much in our review here

March 14. Day 73. Lights .. camera, action

Metro Arts is one of those quaint little venues in the heart of Brisbane that the city could use more of. It's a heritage-listed  building which is charming, or probably was.
But think carefully about that drink you are considering before the show or at interval. Remember what goes in must come out and that will mean a trip to the facilities. De sure not to leave it until the last minute and perhaps leave a Hansel and Gretel trail of breadcrumbs. You'll need to go down their stairs through the restaurant and past the bar. The you go out the back door and up the rickety fire escape stairs. It's far from ideal and impossible if you have a disability. There is a lift - but it's not working. These are among the many and expensive issues that will see Metro Arts sell up and seek a new home. It will be a sad day but is a necessary step.
We need theatre spaces like this in the city but not this space any more.
Let's just hope they find a new space somewhere close by.
So says Susan who loves both theatre and a convenient, accessible, clean toilet.

March 13. Day 72. All the colours of the rainbow

Matilda Award judges meeting tonight at the Powerhouse.  As anyone who knows me knows, I hate meetings with a burning passion. But not the Matilda's meetings. I look forward to these two hours once a month or so. What's not to love about sitting in a room with people passionate about theatre talking theatre? Nothing. We don't always agree. In fact that's an understatement. But everyone is smart and funny and bitingly insightful and I like that. Also I like that everyone is respectful even if they find what they are heating fundamentally flawed. Colourful people. Colourful opinions. Colourful language ... and snack. Perfect really

March 12. Day 71. Prickly people

This kind of describes  how I feel much of the time at the moment - prickly and a bit spewy.
Weeks and months of a seriously dodgy belly kind of do that to you.
The new revolutionary drug treatment should be taking hold but I must say the jury is still out which is pretty frustrating but ...
I'm not sure what the but is. Perhaps it is that I rest a lot and try to focus on doing the things that make me happy and centre me as much as possible. It's the best we've got. So today that was a quick trip into the Botanic Gardens to pick up books from the QUT library and to visit my friends the lizards. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love lizards. A man was feeding them bread, totally ignoring the signs that say not to feed the wildlife.
I took advantage of his crimes against lizards and took photos.
Yay me

March 11. Day 70. Indian summer

Remember the deodorant ad? The one that said "I can get by without anything except my mum?" Well there's a real truth in that, especially when you are not feeling so good. Even a big girl needs her mum. My mother has been in India, as you do when you are spending the kids' inheritance. She came back yesterday so I wasted little time going to visit. (I probably shouldn't have chosen to see Hotel Mumbai while she was away but I did.) Anyway she had a mind-blowing trip and loved it but is happy to be home and I'm sure pleased to see her. We went next door and visited Clare and the birds and Clare made me a toasted cheese sandwich because I hadn't had lunch and it was 4.30 in the afternoon. Some times it's okay to revert to being a child who likes pretty birds and her mum and someone to make her a sandwich ....