I've been so busy I have not had a chance to
write much up. This is mostly due to revamping my study, catching up on
writing about Newcastle Writers Festival, and then the storms.
But March started beautifully with a fabulous
afternoon at Bowery Boys in honour of our lovely friend C. A whole bunch of us
ate, drank, and chattered and it was divine. Must plan the next
one!
I finally got to the optometrist and yes I need
reading glasses, I was not at all surprised. I am particular about such things,
I told the receptionist helping me choose frames this, she sort of looked at me
like, yep that's what everyone says, but after 30mins think she conceded I
was, lol! I had a style in my mind, not one I had seen, but one I had made up,
and some came close but not quite. She pulled out an amazing purple
tortoiseshell pair, and I loved them, if only they were in blue...and they were
and she ordered me a pair. When I went in to see them I nearly cried, they were
EXACTLY what I had imagined, so I got the purple AND the blue, cause a girl has
to have options!
March began the great study revamp and declutter,
this is something I have had on my to do list for a few years. I got rid of the
large old dining table I was using as a desk. It was simply too big, but had
belonged to my grandparents, so I was sad to see it go, but hopefully The
Salvation Army gave it to a needy family. I had already gotten rid of a smaller
unit holding most of my CDs, culled and rearranged in drawers that fitted them
perfectly in the wardrobe in that room.
I could now head out and buy a big bookcase, new
desk, and a found a skinny tallboy that I could use as extra storage. Furniture
ordered and desk sitting in flat pack in the garage I could now start to
rearrange my books in readiness. I also had to remove blu-tac from my
wall...this was far more difficult than I realised, but with the aid of a couple
of tins of WD-40, all was resolved, I felt a bit like Banksy up a ladder with a
spray can, lol, and I do think I was a bit out of it for a few days from the
fumes!
I have a lot of books, so it was a huge job going
through them and re-arranging them...but hey, I am a Librarian this is my
job!
Alas, when my furniture was delivered the huge
bookcase wouldn't fit in the house...long story, but they were lovely and they
ordered a custom built piece, but with a long wait, thus the job was halted...so
more on that next month!!
S and I had a great evening at Cardiff Library
listening to Lisa Heidke talk about writing, life, love and everything in
between. We then took her out for supper at Coco Mondo, what fun we
had!
Earlier in the month my fabulous group of gal
pals, A, J & L, met at Carrington Bowling Club with our Ukuleles for a 2
hour lesson. We were freaking awesome if I may say so. Rocking out all sorts of
tunes including Rhiannon. Problem is we have been so busy we have yet to have a
follow up practice. This we must fix stat!
I also caught Absinthe in The Spiegeltent with C
after a fab meal at The Clarendon. Absinthe was remarkable, a little bit
naughty, and definitely death defying. Lots of laughs and loads of
gasps!!!
A few days later M and I saw a local production
of Equus. I had not seen the play before, only knew of it's reputation, but it
is so much more than that. I thoroughly enjoyed the performance, we have some
great local theatre here in Newcastle.
Halfway through the month a bunch of us trekked
up to Nobby's Lighthouse for Go Elsewhere, a concert with Paul Dempsey, Steve
Smyth, Melody Pool, and some other local acts. It was a warm afternoon but up
there the breeze off the ocean cooled things beautifully. The local bands were
laid back and the perfect backdrop as the sun started to drop. We indulged in
the best Nachos I have EVER had from the Casa de Loco truck, drank beer, and
chatted. Melody Pool was lovely, a little bit country, a little bit folk.
We
were looking forward to Steve Smyth, I had seen him a few times before having
'discovering' him on Rockwiz, and think he is an astonishing musician and
performer. As the sun set he came on and performed the most haunting version of
Summertime. I nearly passed out, my love of Gershwin knows no bounds, but this
was sublime. He played his usual blues, rock, ballad music including a heart
wrenching version of The Air That I Breathe. Paul Dempsey was also outstanding,
and a perfect finish to a perfect time.
A & I hit Merewether Surf House for a
scrumptious lunch one sunny Monday, the views there are fabulous, if you have
not gone, you simply must. And if you park over the other side of the road, you
get to walk through the fabulous aquarium tunnel that takes you to Merewether
Beach and the Surf House.
Work was pretty busy during March, with coming
and goings of staff, and me doing a lot of recruiting. I also had another
session of my baby reading group, this time including our ex-trainee who brought
her gorgeous little daughter with her, so exciting. I also got back into my
Taking it to The Streets program, where we go out into the community to talk
about the library and visit our area. This time my colleague and I headed to
Gwandalon and Nords Wharf. We visited preschools, schools, community halls, and
just soaked in that beautiful part of our community.
The month ended with a group of us heading to
Toukley, via Italian at Summerland Point, to The Beachcomber Hotel to see Mental
As Anything for M's birthday. I've not been there before and let me say there
was spectacular people watching at The Beachcomber!!! It was your typical RSL
type club, but had the most magnificent 'shed' out the back for bands. It was a
large hall type shed, wood surround, and tin roof, open to the side for views of
the lake. The acoustics were great and plenty of room for dancing. So the
Mentals are just Greedy Smith, Martin Plaza and a backup band. But they were
tight and sounded great, they just lacked the eccentricity of the O'Doherty
Brothers.
I had been lucky enough to see them live in their
prime in the early 90s and it was great. But you know, this was equally as good.
They just looked...you know...old. Martin looked like he could possibly die on
stage, but sounded fab. Greedy wore a long, grey ponytail ,but again sounded
great and full of energy. I did realise for every fabulous song, they had two
ordinary ones, but that was ok. The fabulous ones made up for it tenfold: Spirt
Got Lost, Romeo and Juliet, Berserk Warriors, Too many times, Egypt. They also
covered some Elvis and other 50s pieces too. When they finished Greedy unplugged
his plastic jug and shook it in the air to us - Rock N Roll!!!! So that really
was tea he was drinking through the concert, lol!!!
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