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Today was perfect
Mar. 10th, 2013 09:15 pmCool and rainy after weeks and weeks of blue skies and fierce heat. What better way to celebrate than take a 5 hour walk in the gentle misting rain? Then home to a mug of hot chocolate and to watch the garden breathe.
Good weekend
Feb. 18th, 2013 08:05 pmBecause I should keep a record of such things, last weekend was lovely.
Friday night:
* dinner for one @ Ethos, but not dining alone because I know a couple of the staff and they kept me company. Also, amazingly good pork belly.
* Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra with Friend P, free thanks to werk! Brilliant performance (Dvorack 8th, digeridoo-based pieces by Edwards & Stravinsky's Firebird Suite)
Saturday:
* Epic garden harvest - so many beans!
* Pottering about the house getting on top of things, making stock and putting life to rights
* Sprints session at the pool
* Foraging mission with P resulting in a great haul of blackberries, followed by shared garden harvest dinner
Sunday:
* Hartz Peak (with an early start to avoid the worst of the heat)
* Evening catch-up with Kat
* really good sleep
Friday night:
* dinner for one @ Ethos, but not dining alone because I know a couple of the staff and they kept me company. Also, amazingly good pork belly.
* Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra with Friend P, free thanks to werk! Brilliant performance (Dvorack 8th, digeridoo-based pieces by Edwards & Stravinsky's Firebird Suite)
Saturday:
* Epic garden harvest - so many beans!
* Pottering about the house getting on top of things, making stock and putting life to rights
* Sprints session at the pool
* Foraging mission with P resulting in a great haul of blackberries, followed by shared garden harvest dinner
Sunday:
* Hartz Peak (with an early start to avoid the worst of the heat)
* Evening catch-up with Kat
* really good sleep
A weekend in the life...
Feb. 11th, 2013 08:54 pmSo, this happened:
Highlights:
Lowlights:
Highlights:
- Hanging with my wonderful taiko friends, from ages 16 to 66
- Nailing Matsuri after being moved onto one of the really loud drums at the last minute
- The crowd loving both our performances
- The live music & performances in the Velveteen Lounge
- Carving up the dance floor with Lynden (age 66)
- Jamming @ Camp Taikoville
- All-in musician's jam with Em-Dee (amazing range of noises can be got out of a Japanese hand drum!
Lowlights:
- Hitting a festival already tired after a week-long audit (no personal space for 6 days!)
- No sleep on night 1
- High-speed yatai & my dodgy performance
- Hitting the exhausted, hungry and over-it wall with 3 hours to go until my lift home
- Doof-doof music is noisy and boooooring
Burning...
Feb. 7th, 2013 04:45 pmAh shit...
Everything smells of smoke again.
This one's about a half hour drive from my house, in a pretty place I like to go walking.
I've been on the road for the last couple of days. It's so dry out there. So dry. I've never seen fire weather this bad.
I've driven through 2 of the last fire zones recently. I'm used to bushfire, but I've never seen anything like this before. I've never seen a fire burn so hot. In places there's just nothing left.
How long until it finally starts to rain again?
Everything smells of smoke again.
This one's about a half hour drive from my house, in a pretty place I like to go walking.
I've been on the road for the last couple of days. It's so dry out there. So dry. I've never seen fire weather this bad.
I've driven through 2 of the last fire zones recently. I'm used to bushfire, but I've never seen anything like this before. I've never seen a fire burn so hot. In places there's just nothing left.
How long until it finally starts to rain again?
I am experiencing an inordinate sense of well-being.
Today everything feels right in my world.
<3
Today everything feels right in my world.
<3
Happy-making things:
- Taiko - the people, the movement, the sound, the joy. The brilliant noisiness of playing a drum I helped re-skin (fresh skin = LOUD). Yatai form finally falling into place. Hugs and laughter.
- Garden - escapist chickens & eggs in the pumpkin patch. Making flower sex in the zucchinis. The first sunflower. Dirt under my nails, sun on my skin.
- Hobart - magic, crazy little town, home to my friends and a thousand little quirks.
- Friends - birthday plans, BBQs, car-pooling, camera-swapping. Inclusion, being part of something, feeling loved and connected.
- Petrichor - the smell of long-awaited rain.
Island living
Jan. 21st, 2013 03:45 pmTonight I am going to this: MONA Bushfire benefit concert.
Yup, MONA, our crazy-beautiful private museum (MONA) and arts festival (MoFo) people are putting on a bushfire benefit concert tonight on the waterfront and I've just bought myself a ticket.
I could have gone for free entry. Our top-end taiko drummers are performing, y'see, and I was down to be a roadie, but given I was sick yesterday and I'm still limpy from the gimpy knee acting up I passed on my place to someone more able-bodied and was just going to go home and sleep tonight. Friends are catching the concert though, and it'll be ace to see my friends up on stage, the only Tassie act in a show featuring the likes of David Byrne and Neil Gaiman (MoFo just wound up and most of the acts are still in town). It makes me feel a bit better about missing the entirety of MoFo this year too. So after work I'll hobble down to the waterfront and spend a lovely evening in the wonderland I call my home town.
<3 Hobart.
So, yesterday, I started to feel a little less virus-ridden by the afternoon so I hopped into the car and took myself off for a scenic drive in lieu of the walk I'd planned. I picked up a pair of European back-packers in the city and let their destination dictate my route. They were headed out Margate way, so after dropping them off I continued down to the Channel.
At Kettering I stopped off at Nutpatch, a chocolate shop run by a family with a hazelnut plantation. It's a tiny shop and all the chocolates are made on site. I'd been planning on checking it out for months, only to find I'd arrived a little past closing time. The owner-chocolatier was still on site though and insisted I come in, handing me a creme-brulee choc as I entered and happily chatting away. After 3 free samples and a chinwag with Giovannni I bought more than intended and went on my way, following the coastline around to Cygnet in the golden late-afternoon light then shooting home through the Huon Valley.
One day I might buy myself a little place down the Channel somewhere. Perhaps the village of Woodbridge, so pretty nestled between the hills and the water and only half an hour to Hobart. I could have my own cottage and a garden big enough for a veggie patch, some fruit trees, a dog or two and some chickens. It would be lovely, and in my mind's eye I can see it, beautiful.
It's not what I want right now. For the moment adventure is calling and I want to immerse myself in the wider world. I think I'd want to come back here though. This place is home. Not Brisbane, not Melbourne, but my lovely little Tasmania with her wild country and kooky inhabitants, with more artists and scientists per capita than any other Australian city, balanced out by the most narrow-minded NIMBYs and uber-bogans. This strange little island where magic things happen and the Mountain sings to my soul.
<3 Tasmania.
Yup, MONA, our crazy-beautiful private museum (MONA) and arts festival (MoFo) people are putting on a bushfire benefit concert tonight on the waterfront and I've just bought myself a ticket.
I could have gone for free entry. Our top-end taiko drummers are performing, y'see, and I was down to be a roadie, but given I was sick yesterday and I'm still limpy from the gimpy knee acting up I passed on my place to someone more able-bodied and was just going to go home and sleep tonight. Friends are catching the concert though, and it'll be ace to see my friends up on stage, the only Tassie act in a show featuring the likes of David Byrne and Neil Gaiman (MoFo just wound up and most of the acts are still in town). It makes me feel a bit better about missing the entirety of MoFo this year too. So after work I'll hobble down to the waterfront and spend a lovely evening in the wonderland I call my home town.
<3 Hobart.
So, yesterday, I started to feel a little less virus-ridden by the afternoon so I hopped into the car and took myself off for a scenic drive in lieu of the walk I'd planned. I picked up a pair of European back-packers in the city and let their destination dictate my route. They were headed out Margate way, so after dropping them off I continued down to the Channel.
At Kettering I stopped off at Nutpatch, a chocolate shop run by a family with a hazelnut plantation. It's a tiny shop and all the chocolates are made on site. I'd been planning on checking it out for months, only to find I'd arrived a little past closing time. The owner-chocolatier was still on site though and insisted I come in, handing me a creme-brulee choc as I entered and happily chatting away. After 3 free samples and a chinwag with Giovannni I bought more than intended and went on my way, following the coastline around to Cygnet in the golden late-afternoon light then shooting home through the Huon Valley.
One day I might buy myself a little place down the Channel somewhere. Perhaps the village of Woodbridge, so pretty nestled between the hills and the water and only half an hour to Hobart. I could have my own cottage and a garden big enough for a veggie patch, some fruit trees, a dog or two and some chickens. It would be lovely, and in my mind's eye I can see it, beautiful.
It's not what I want right now. For the moment adventure is calling and I want to immerse myself in the wider world. I think I'd want to come back here though. This place is home. Not Brisbane, not Melbourne, but my lovely little Tasmania with her wild country and kooky inhabitants, with more artists and scientists per capita than any other Australian city, balanced out by the most narrow-minded NIMBYs and uber-bogans. This strange little island where magic things happen and the Mountain sings to my soul.
<3 Tasmania.
My capacity for masochism appears to be limitless.
Despite serious efforts to do better at taking care of myself I am run-down and sick again after a string of late nights sorting out South America flights and various other things.
It's not insomnia; my body clock is just broken at the moment, jammed on not quite enough sleep.
So here I am, with a day kept deliberately free to get some much needed forest time now spent stuck at home. But to make me feel better my knee has mysteriously swollen up and jammed so I couldn't go walking anyway.
*headdesks*
I turn 34 in a week. Enough. This has to stop.
Despite serious efforts to do better at taking care of myself I am run-down and sick again after a string of late nights sorting out South America flights and various other things.
It's not insomnia; my body clock is just broken at the moment, jammed on not quite enough sleep.
So here I am, with a day kept deliberately free to get some much needed forest time now spent stuck at home. But to make me feel better my knee has mysteriously swollen up and jammed so I couldn't go walking anyway.
*headdesks*
I turn 34 in a week. Enough. This has to stop.
Happy-making things, January 2013
Jan. 14th, 2013 08:22 pm- The beautiful buttery light this morning that helped me forget how dry and brown and sad the environment is right now.
- Making new friends my age who are as dorky as I am and share my excitement over veggie growing and other such things.
- Dragging my arse back to the pool after months and months of injury an still being able to make my old minimum distance of 1.2 km (though slowly).
- Noticeable improvement in the bung knee, although there's still some way to go.
- Fresh eggs from the chickens and the pleasure of creatures in the garden (I'll miss them when the go home next week, even if their occasional escapes have done some serious plant damage).
- The joy of digging up fresh potatoes, which hasn't got old yet.
- Watching the Tasmanian community pull together in response to the fires, and being part of that.
- Sorting out my friendship with Kat and spending a lovely Sunday evening just enjoying each other's company.
- Having a work-mate's Chilean scientist wife agree to translate my resume for me for a fair fee after the local translation company quoted me $740 (or 50 cents a word!)
- Berry season!
- Neighbours who have become real friends.
- My bushfire photos turning up all over the place.
- New challenges and responsibilities at work.
- Realising I'm actually making real progress on changing ingrained old behaviours, slow as the process may be.
- Amazing, wonderful friends who give me confidence in people and love and humanity.
- Actually reaching for a dream instead of choosing the safe path.
=o)
Edit
Unhappy-making things:
Trying to book flights from Santiago to Lima and having LAN airlines site reject my credit card payment and the guy on their help line disappearing on the call then hanging up on me. Grrr!
Ah well, I have flight numbers and prices now, at least, and have worked out the logistics of getting from Santiago, Chile to Cusco, Peru and back again without having to leave Santiago airport, pay the $90 entry fee, convert money into pesos and spend a night in a city I don't much like.
Having flight logistics sorted also means I can finally confirm my enrolment with the language school too! Oh sweet progress.
Today:
Never have I been more grateful for Tassie's crazy weather.
Actual temperature 15.2oC
Apparent temperature 8.1oC
Scattered showers, highland snow.
Never have I been more grateful for Tassie's crazy weather.
(no subject)
Jan. 8th, 2013 10:53 amEverything is burning, everywhere. Over 80 000 ha of my beloved Island is fire and ash, and now the fire weather is wreaking havoc on the Mainland too.
I just want it to stop. I want it to rain. I want to know my Uncle and Aunt, trapped on the Tasman Peninsula and uncontactable, are ok.
I want everything to stop smelling of smoke and my stupid lizard brain to stop registering a state of high alert in response.
http://emergencytas.info/
http://emergencynsw.info/
Fire scar, Tarkine region, North-Western Tasmania.
I just want it to stop. I want it to rain. I want to know my Uncle and Aunt, trapped on the Tasman Peninsula and uncontactable, are ok.
I want everything to stop smelling of smoke and my stupid lizard brain to stop registering a state of high alert in response.
http://emergencytas.info/
http://emergencynsw.info/
Fire scar, Tarkine region, North-Western Tasmania.
Fighting fire with sorbet
Jan. 6th, 2013 07:46 pmI've just had "we all got caught up the fires and survived" drinks with the neighbours. Have I mentioned how awesome my neighbours are and that they have become good friends? I am so damn lucky to live here.
Anyway, they were caught down in Primrose Sands, which was cut off and under severe risk from the fires. I got in touch with them by phone yesterday and was very pleased to see them home today. My uncle and aunt in Lewisham are fine and prepped to evacuate should the fires worsen in their area. My friend in Bicheno is fine and the fire there is now under control. Likewise for the friends in Hamilton I was staying with on Friday night - all calm there now and no immediate threat. An uncle and aunt are still out of contact in Port Arthur, but there's no fire there at present so I'm not worried; just no power or phone communications or any road access.
Of course it's not over yet. The Repulse and Forcett fires are still out of control and if conditions worsen they could take off again. They're both huge too (~10 000 and ~20 000 ha respectively), with massive fire fronts. There's no rain in sight and conditions will remain warm for the rest of the week, though not as insanely hot as Friday, so the fire risk is still very real for a while and the firies are still working very hard.
Someone I know is coordinating the feeding of the fire-fighters up at the Repulse blaze. I've donated four-dozen eggs and some baked goodies and am on duty to keep supplying special-dietary-requirements-friendly treats for the week ahead. They're doing an amazing job and the least we can do is feed them well. Hopefully the garden will recover enough that I can also supply some veggies too in a couple of days. Although I've only lost a few young herbs, the growth tips and leaves are burnt on most everything in my garden, so we'll see how well it all recovers.
The Ladies are doing fine after spending Friday on ice bricks. The two brown girls are even still laying! People are chipping in every way they can to help those who've lost everything in the fires. Humans can be utterly brilliant sometimes.
In a few minutes I'm going to walk down to see Hobart Kat and take her some home-made lemon & raspberry sorbet. Kat's family home burnt down a few years ago, and although the whole family survived, the smell of fire is not a pleasant experience for her. Right now Hobart is hazy with smoke and everything smells faintly of burning. Sorbet will help.
If you want to help out those who've lost their homes to the fires, you can donate here: http://www.redcross.org.au/tasmanian-bushfires-appeal-2013.aspx (as you can see, I've donated my photos - hey, it's a start!). In the meantime, please send rain!
Anyway, they were caught down in Primrose Sands, which was cut off and under severe risk from the fires. I got in touch with them by phone yesterday and was very pleased to see them home today. My uncle and aunt in Lewisham are fine and prepped to evacuate should the fires worsen in their area. My friend in Bicheno is fine and the fire there is now under control. Likewise for the friends in Hamilton I was staying with on Friday night - all calm there now and no immediate threat. An uncle and aunt are still out of contact in Port Arthur, but there's no fire there at present so I'm not worried; just no power or phone communications or any road access.
Of course it's not over yet. The Repulse and Forcett fires are still out of control and if conditions worsen they could take off again. They're both huge too (~10 000 and ~20 000 ha respectively), with massive fire fronts. There's no rain in sight and conditions will remain warm for the rest of the week, though not as insanely hot as Friday, so the fire risk is still very real for a while and the firies are still working very hard.
Someone I know is coordinating the feeding of the fire-fighters up at the Repulse blaze. I've donated four-dozen eggs and some baked goodies and am on duty to keep supplying special-dietary-requirements-friendly treats for the week ahead. They're doing an amazing job and the least we can do is feed them well. Hopefully the garden will recover enough that I can also supply some veggies too in a couple of days. Although I've only lost a few young herbs, the growth tips and leaves are burnt on most everything in my garden, so we'll see how well it all recovers.
The Ladies are doing fine after spending Friday on ice bricks. The two brown girls are even still laying! People are chipping in every way they can to help those who've lost everything in the fires. Humans can be utterly brilliant sometimes.
In a few minutes I'm going to walk down to see Hobart Kat and take her some home-made lemon & raspberry sorbet. Kat's family home burnt down a few years ago, and although the whole family survived, the smell of fire is not a pleasant experience for her. Right now Hobart is hazy with smoke and everything smells faintly of burning. Sorbet will help.
If you want to help out those who've lost their homes to the fires, you can donate here: http://www.redcross.org.au/tasmanian-bushfires-appeal-2013.aspx (as you can see, I've donated my photos - hey, it's a start!). In the meantime, please send rain!
A dark day in Tasmania. Fire everywhere. People I know are still unaccounted for. Everything smells of smoke.
Edit: everyone accounted for now. Relieved!
Too Damn Hot
Jan. 4th, 2013 04:44 pm4:30 pm and it's still over 40oC (that's 105 F for the 'Merkins). Blah.
There are currently 41 fires burning around the State, according to Tas Fire Service, with two rated as severe with property at risk.
I worked from home today so I could keep an eye on the chickens. Just as well really, as the ladies have been feeling the heat and I've had to break out ice-bricks and the sprinkler for them. I suspect I won't be getting any eggs for a few days.
I haven't got any work done since the temps hit 40 as it's just too hot to think (yup, I'm a bad employee). My place has good thermal design and it's significantly cooler inside than out but it's still got to be over 30oC inside. I'm going to head off for a cold shower shortly in an effort to revive myself.
The garden is a very sad place right now. The beds I managed to soak for a couple of hours last night as well as mulch look like they'll be ok, but the ones that only got a hosing and mulch aren't doing so well. Still, I think I'll only lose a few young herbs and everything else will recover (though my harvest will be less), which is better than I was expecting. I'm really glad I got out there yesterday and spread around a couple of bags of stable straw despite the heat and wind.
I'm hoping to head up to Hamilton to spend the night with friends tonight, but I'm waiting for the heat to ease so I can give the garden a decent watering, plus we're keeping a close eye on one of the severe fires that's out that way. The air conditioning in my car is really only useful for de-fogging the windscreen, so it won't be a pleasant drive (especially as I don't have a garage, so my car has been baking in the sun all day) but it will be really nice to see D and to get out into the hills. If only it wasn't so damn hot!
If this is the climate change future, I think I need to move even further south!
There are currently 41 fires burning around the State, according to Tas Fire Service, with two rated as severe with property at risk.
I worked from home today so I could keep an eye on the chickens. Just as well really, as the ladies have been feeling the heat and I've had to break out ice-bricks and the sprinkler for them. I suspect I won't be getting any eggs for a few days.
I haven't got any work done since the temps hit 40 as it's just too hot to think (yup, I'm a bad employee). My place has good thermal design and it's significantly cooler inside than out but it's still got to be over 30oC inside. I'm going to head off for a cold shower shortly in an effort to revive myself.
The garden is a very sad place right now. The beds I managed to soak for a couple of hours last night as well as mulch look like they'll be ok, but the ones that only got a hosing and mulch aren't doing so well. Still, I think I'll only lose a few young herbs and everything else will recover (though my harvest will be less), which is better than I was expecting. I'm really glad I got out there yesterday and spread around a couple of bags of stable straw despite the heat and wind.
I'm hoping to head up to Hamilton to spend the night with friends tonight, but I'm waiting for the heat to ease so I can give the garden a decent watering, plus we're keeping a close eye on one of the severe fires that's out that way. The air conditioning in my car is really only useful for de-fogging the windscreen, so it won't be a pleasant drive (especially as I don't have a garage, so my car has been baking in the sun all day) but it will be really nice to see D and to get out into the hills. If only it wasn't so damn hot!
If this is the climate change future, I think I need to move even further south!
Yesterday...
Dec. 26th, 2012 11:16 amRodway Range, Mount Field National Park
Safety: The track to this peak follows high exposed ridges and suitable footwear and water-proof clothing are essential. Some warm clothing should also be carried. The walk is only suitable in fine weather - be prepared to turn back if the weather changes. Do not attempt this walk if it is snowing or when cloud covers the range.
- Day Walks Tasmania, J & M Chapman.
Follow the steep road from Lake Dobson to the Mawson ski field, take the boardwalk trail across the peatlands then climb the boulders up to the start of the Rodway Range.
Stop to enjoy the view over Lake Seal & Tarn Shelf.
Shelter from the wind a while amidst the rocks of Lion's Den, marvel at the twisted vegetation holding onto life in the cracks.
Feel the full fury of the south-westerly wind as you descend to K Col in low-visibility conditions on the epic boulder slope.
Stop a while and wait to see if the weather will clear and wonder if you've got the ability to continue any further.
Watch the magic unfurl as slowly the view is revealed then, feeling tired but happy, begin the journey home.
From high alpine plains back down to the pandani groves of Lake Dobson, the end of the trail. Safe and warm.
I was aiming for the 16 km round trip to Mount Field West, described as a challenging 8 hour walk. I made it to K Col and back - 10 km - in just under 6 hours (with a few stops to shelter from the worst of the weather). Given the tricky terrain, the leery weather (I was nearly blown terminally off-balance on the boulder slopes a few times) and the state of my various injuries I'm happy with that!
Merry Christmas!
Follow the steep road from Lake Dobson to the Mawson ski field, take the boardwalk trail across the peatlands then climb the boulders up to the start of the Rodway Range.
Stop to enjoy the view over Lake Seal & Tarn Shelf.
Shelter from the wind a while amidst the rocks of Lion's Den, marvel at the twisted vegetation holding onto life in the cracks.
Feel the full fury of the south-westerly wind as you descend to K Col in low-visibility conditions on the epic boulder slope.
Stop a while and wait to see if the weather will clear and wonder if you've got the ability to continue any further.
Watch the magic unfurl as slowly the view is revealed then, feeling tired but happy, begin the journey home.
From high alpine plains back down to the pandani groves of Lake Dobson, the end of the trail. Safe and warm.
I was aiming for the 16 km round trip to Mount Field West, described as a challenging 8 hour walk. I made it to K Col and back - 10 km - in just under 6 hours (with a few stops to shelter from the worst of the weather). Given the tricky terrain, the leery weather (I was nearly blown terminally off-balance on the boulder slopes a few times) and the state of my various injuries I'm happy with that!
Merry Christmas!
