The week that was
Jan. 26th, 2010 09:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapeofthingsI was going to write a quick update about the weekend so recently past, but realised I'd best record the whole last week as I finally managed to do a few things worth recording. I'm definitely making progress on the living life project. So here's what I've been up to:
Wednesday: Laneway feast dinner
Thanks to the marvels of the internet, the boy and I have recently met a very cool couple, formerly of Fremantle, now living in Hobart. K & A are warm, welcoming, genuine, interesting and adventurous people, and on Wednesday night we discovered they have a massive contingent of similarly-natured friends. For the occasion of A's birthday, the laneway behind their place became the venue for a communal feast around a massive, hand-made table. Everyone contributed with amazing food (with plenty of gluten free goodness), interesting conversation and wicked senses of humour. These are a fantastic bunch of people that we hope to get to know better. Now we just need to convince them that we're not too normal ...
Friday: Eight Hands piano concert
Despite both being chronically under-slept, the boy and I dragged ourselves out to this concert on Friday night and were very glad we did. Part of the Mona Foma audio and visual arts festival, four pianists were playing their interpretations on the theme of variation, and three of them were brilliant: Andrew Legg's thundering gospel pieces, Gabriella Smart's modern classical pieces evoking city soundscapes, and John Cale's amazing live fusion of piano and synthesiser sounds (I could have blissfully listened to that all night). The guy who played an abstract jazz variation of Bach I could have lived without.
What I've seen of the Mona Foma festival has been excellent, stretching my understanding of sounds as art. I didn't get along to much of it, but next year I'll be making a real effort to see as much as I can (assuming I'm still based in Hobart). Props to Brian Ritchie for creating something so rich in this strange little city.
Saturday & Sunday: Sojourn to la casa del![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
flinthart
Friday night was good, but the highlight of my week was definitely the weekend. The boy and I packed up the Little Red Car that Could and trekked up to the north-eastern corner of Tas with the plan of taking Mr. Flinthart and the boys down to the local river to do some Science! But, as I suspect frequently happens, things escalated and we found ourselves heading a group of eight down to the river in search of bugs aquatic. Thankfullyflinthart took wrangling duties, leaving me to the Science! end of the day. We collected a sample from different habitats in the river before hunting through the mud, leaves and sticks for critters, all in the name of biodiversity. To my pleasant surprise, the kids really dug it and managed to find all the different critters in the sample, including some beautiful fat maggots that were especially popular.
Of course, I managed to fall in, with characteristicsmileyfish aplomb, sending my sunglasses burbling down the river to a watery end. Nothing out of the ordinary there then. =o)
Once the Science! was done with, we headed back to la casa delflinthart for gay blue drinks[1] and the BBQ of smokey goodness. Excellent company, food and discussions were had, and bed was retired to far too late. We rose late the next morning (one of us with a somewhat bruised posterior) to be greeted with a breakfast of fluffy GF pancakes with fresh blackberries and home-made icecream that has ruined me for life. Eventually we piled everything back into the Little Red Car and headed home, taking the long route along the east cost (via a rather nice winery and Kate's berry farm).
Sadly, I have no photos from the weekend, despite taking the camera along. I was far too busy actually enjoying the experience to think about documenting it. Ah well, we'll just have to go back again sometime soon. ;-)
Monday was back to workplace monotony and the ongoing issue of office boredom. Today, however, has been a day off in the name of nationalism, and I have spent the day showing my dedication to Australia by listening to the Hottest 100 whilst cleaning the house. :-p I also made blackberry muffins with the haul of berries I brought back fromflinthart's, before capping the evening off with an all-Aussie dinner of take-away curry and red wine. Almost as good as the year we celebrated with a sushi party. ;-)
Tomorrow it's back to the grind, but with only three days until the weekend and the boyo's birthday, hopefully it won't drag too badly. Plans for the weekend are yet to be made, but the weekend after we're planning a multiple birthday celebration in the fine city o' Melbourne. Always good to have things to look forward to.
[1] Gay Blue Drink: Shot of decent gin, shot of blue curacao, splash of lime juice, tonic water to taste -- over ice.
Wednesday: Laneway feast dinner
Thanks to the marvels of the internet, the boy and I have recently met a very cool couple, formerly of Fremantle, now living in Hobart. K & A are warm, welcoming, genuine, interesting and adventurous people, and on Wednesday night we discovered they have a massive contingent of similarly-natured friends. For the occasion of A's birthday, the laneway behind their place became the venue for a communal feast around a massive, hand-made table. Everyone contributed with amazing food (with plenty of gluten free goodness), interesting conversation and wicked senses of humour. These are a fantastic bunch of people that we hope to get to know better. Now we just need to convince them that we're not too normal ...
Friday: Eight Hands piano concert
Despite both being chronically under-slept, the boy and I dragged ourselves out to this concert on Friday night and were very glad we did. Part of the Mona Foma audio and visual arts festival, four pianists were playing their interpretations on the theme of variation, and three of them were brilliant: Andrew Legg's thundering gospel pieces, Gabriella Smart's modern classical pieces evoking city soundscapes, and John Cale's amazing live fusion of piano and synthesiser sounds (I could have blissfully listened to that all night). The guy who played an abstract jazz variation of Bach I could have lived without.
What I've seen of the Mona Foma festival has been excellent, stretching my understanding of sounds as art. I didn't get along to much of it, but next year I'll be making a real effort to see as much as I can (assuming I'm still based in Hobart). Props to Brian Ritchie for creating something so rich in this strange little city.
Saturday & Sunday: Sojourn to la casa del
flinthartFriday night was good, but the highlight of my week was definitely the weekend. The boy and I packed up the Little Red Car that Could and trekked up to the north-eastern corner of Tas with the plan of taking Mr. Flinthart and the boys down to the local river to do some Science! But, as I suspect frequently happens, things escalated and we found ourselves heading a group of eight down to the river in search of bugs aquatic. Thankfully
flinthart took wrangling duties, leaving me to the Science! end of the day. We collected a sample from different habitats in the river before hunting through the mud, leaves and sticks for critters, all in the name of biodiversity. To my pleasant surprise, the kids really dug it and managed to find all the different critters in the sample, including some beautiful fat maggots that were especially popular.Of course, I managed to fall in, with characteristic
smileyfish aplomb, sending my sunglasses burbling down the river to a watery end. Nothing out of the ordinary there then. =o)Once the Science! was done with, we headed back to la casa del
flinthart for gay blue drinks[1] and the BBQ of smokey goodness. Excellent company, food and discussions were had, and bed was retired to far too late. We rose late the next morning (one of us with a somewhat bruised posterior) to be greeted with a breakfast of fluffy GF pancakes with fresh blackberries and home-made icecream that has ruined me for life. Eventually we piled everything back into the Little Red Car and headed home, taking the long route along the east cost (via a rather nice winery and Kate's berry farm).Sadly, I have no photos from the weekend, despite taking the camera along. I was far too busy actually enjoying the experience to think about documenting it. Ah well, we'll just have to go back again sometime soon. ;-)
Monday was back to workplace monotony and the ongoing issue of office boredom. Today, however, has been a day off in the name of nationalism, and I have spent the day showing my dedication to Australia by listening to the Hottest 100 whilst cleaning the house. :-p I also made blackberry muffins with the haul of berries I brought back from
flinthart's, before capping the evening off with an all-Aussie dinner of take-away curry and red wine. Almost as good as the year we celebrated with a sushi party. ;-)Tomorrow it's back to the grind, but with only three days until the weekend and the boyo's birthday, hopefully it won't drag too badly. Plans for the weekend are yet to be made, but the weekend after we're planning a multiple birthday celebration in the fine city o' Melbourne. Always good to have things to look forward to.
[1] Gay Blue Drink: Shot of decent gin, shot of blue curacao, splash of lime juice, tonic water to taste -- over ice.
