April 7. Day 98. Your world view

Flipside Circus members Cassidy, 12, and Alana, 14, after the show. (They were not in this cast but they rock just the same)

"When you change the way you look at things, the things that you look at change". This was the take-home message of Kaleidoscope, a Flipside Circus production at the Judith Wright Centre until Saturday. Kaleidoscope is the story of Ethan Wharton-Langridge a 12-year-old circus obsessive who has Asperger's. It's based on a book by his mother Joanna who describes Ethan's world as "the joy of walking through shafts of colour and light; a dazzling kaleidoscope". Ethan also stars in the show. There is no doubt that kids with Asperger's see life from a different angle. They follow a set of rules and conventions that put them out of step with those around them. I've always seen as though the person with Asperger's is looking at black and white view of the world and everyone else has colour. But maybe a kaleidoscope is a better description - the world view is fragmented and disjointed compared with how others see it but non-the-less very, very beautiful. Not wrong. Just different. In any event that's what Kaleidoscope is trying to say and circus is a perfect medium for that. Circus doesn't follow normal rules of gravity. The performer's angle of the world as they flip or hang is different. In this show an innovative use of multimedia was especially effective. The performers lay on a horizontal mat on the floor with the image projected vertically on the back wall of the stage. They looked like creatures on the walls of the Gravitron pinned by centripetal forces in positions that defy gravity. Add to the fact that they were wearing PJS and rolling and tossing like someone trying to wake up and you have a crazy dream like state. It was a beautiful and creative way of explaining the world of someone whose world view differs from the majority.

April 6. Day 97. Circus skills

 Think about the most powerful human emotions. Take someone in severe emotional agony. How might that look? I suspect a body contorted. And love has you doing somersaults. Joy is light and like dancing on air. If you break it down like that La Boite Theatre Company's decision to work with circus masters Circa for the first show of the 2016 season makes perfect sense. The work is described as a fusion that combines three turn of the century classics Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler and A Doll's House and August Serindberg's Miss Julie told in circus form. At their heart these stories about Nora, Hedda and Miss Julie are stories about powerful women wrestling with past trauma as well as love, desire and sex. If we think about power plays we might describe someone being forced to jump though hoops. Bodies are entwined in passion or swinging off the chandeliers in wilder moments. They tumble. People throw themselves at another in a new relationship or are cast aside when things sour. We use these metaphors widely. They are all physical. They all describe that the stock moves of a circus performer. So while my initial reaction to trying to tell classics as a circus was one of skepticism, I was won over. Don't see this if you expect a retelling of any one or all of these works. It's not that. It's more about the essence of the women. It's about the rough and tumble of life. The juggle. The balancing act. It's about the days you think you are hanging on only by a thread and the days you think you are about to be hit by a wrecking ball. It's about times when you are hoisted on the shoulders of friends and days when you are dropped from a great height. It's funny and sad and sexy. The soundtrack provided by Sydney-based composer Oonagh Sherrard was  a perfect accompaniment to the bodies. And it's quite possible I got every bit of that wrong and missed what it was trying it say totally. But it's described as a non-narrative mash-up so I'm okay with that. Right or wrong it looked beautiful and the performers were extraordinary. At 90 minutes it was a little too long but certainly well worth the effort. Watching it made me excited for watch Circa's Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz may pull out in his role as Creative Lead for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. When One Door Closes plays at The Roundhouse Theatre at Kelvin Grove until April 23. Tonight's performance was the final preview before the official opening tomorrow.

April 5. Day 96. My pampered pooches

It is just possible that people saw my two pooches walking across the Eleanor Schonell Bridge this afternoon and decided they are just a little bit spoilt. Seriously some people will jump to conclusions based on nothing more than freshly groomed coats and matching bows. Of course to assume can be a dangerous business and as the saying goes is likely to make an ASS out of U and ME. It is also true that sometimes jumping to conclusions saves a lot of time later. I freely admit my dogs are among the most loved creatures to walk this earth. They are also, in my completely unbiased opinion, among the most loving. The bows and the grooming are just outward signs of dogs living the good lives. I am totally okay with that. And now if you excuse me, I just have to go and poach chicken breasts to serve with rice for dinner - the dogs dinner that is. I have no idea what the humans will be having. Priorities people.

April 4. Day 95. Who let the dogs out?

If two's company, three's a crowded bed. This week we became a temporary three-dog family. With my brother Michael and his family away, their fur friend The Fed - a regular border at our place - is back. The last time The Fed came to stay we were the permanent address of one less canine so this visit was always going to be "interesting".  There has been a little bit of butt sniffing to work out who's the top dog but with that out of the way they are operating as a happy little pack. Happy or not there was no way I was going to try and walk all three of them alone. It would be crazy at the best of times, a situation not helped by the fact that mine have spent three weeks under house arrest because Miss Winkle's went on heat. They have been going stir crazy and letting the dogs out now without help would be asking for trouble. So I recruited my nieces Cleo, Lucy and Amelia as assistant dog walkers. They decided to bring along Gavin to join in the fun. It made for an "interesting" car ride to Roma Street Parkland (and an even more interesting ride home as we were joined by Drama Teen at the conclusion of his day's study). Still it was a great way to burn off steam for every woman and her dog.

April 3. Day 94. Where there's smoke (there's a shit load of candles)

There was a lot of smoke today. There was the steam train at Roma Street Station when I went to collect my sister. There was the garlic bread I left in the oven too long and there was the candles on my birthday cake. I am officially old and if I didn't know it before the totally lame attempt at blowing out the candles proved it. I blame a rather nasty cough caused possibly by a chest infection or possibly by asthma induced by all the smoke.  Still this old dog does know a few new tricks. I was able to teach my sister, the one who delights in telling me how much younger she is than I am, how to reference an academic report. The business of correctly referencing websites was not a "thing" when last she studied. In addition I cooked salads which included such things as  pomegranate molasses, bulghur and quinoa. I know, how positively young and trendy I am. They also tasted pretty good at least when compared with charred store-bought garlic bread. Anyway, it's the thought that counts and I thought about putting the bread in the oven I just didn't think about removing it before it turned to ash. I am clearly getting forgetful in my old age.

April 2. Day 93. Peace (not quiet)

Walking through the Springbrook National Park the other day I took the unusual step (for me at least) and read one of the signs. It said something along the lines that one shouldn't be fooled by the quiet, the forest was alive with wildlife. Fooled by the quiet?  That would be somewhat unlikely given how noisy it was. There may be none of the sounds of the city and the suburbs but the inhabitants of the rainforest were hardly giving the world the silent treatment. Peaceful it may be, quiet it was not. It was pretty much the same deal in the city Botanic Gardens today. I had to pick up Drama Teen from a theatre workshop in the city so I took the opportunity to walk the dogs in the gardens. The birds were creating quite a racket and that was before the dogs arrived to spur them along. I will be the first to admit that a gardens in the middle of the city is a haven to escape the city sounds and to be at peace with the world. It is not, however, a place where all you hear is the voices in your head (which is a good thing). Silence may be golden but the noises of birds at play is a winning formula just the same.

April 1. Day 92. Happy Birthday to me

 It almost sounded like a bad taste and badly timed April Fool's Day joke when people asked what I was doing on my birthday and I said "going to a funeral". While comedians will say that no topic is off limits to make jokes about, timing is everything. Also, if you are going to make a joke you have to be funny and I find nothing much to laugh about at funerals. I do, however, find them to be important. They are a chance to celebrate a life. They are a chance to share memories and stories and to let those left behind know that there are people who love them and care. Today's service did that perfectly. There was the right amount of laughter and tears in a beautiful no-fuss sort of service that was just right for a no fuss sort of bloke. I will have other birthdays (well that's the plan) but this was the only chance to say goodbye. And later there was time to get together with family and friends for a meal and a drink because there's nothing like a funeral to remind you that life's too short not to make the most of these opportunities.