JULY ROUND UP

July started with a dash into Cooks Hill Books to secure a rare copy of Nirvana's Nevermind with blue vinyl!

The following weekend, C and I had a girlie day at Olive Tree markets, brunch on Darby, Art Gallery exhibit, a little shop, then drive around the beaches whale watching. We saw some, but too far away to photograph.

Work was busy with school holidays, staff on leave, many extra projects, and a special staff planning day.

We celebrated Bastille day with French Cuisine, and a screening of Contempt at the Towers.

Our Annual Kate Bush Wuthering Heights Day came around again, and with a new red dress and very tight red tights, I tried my very best to dance like Kate with many others at King Edward Park.

Game of Thrones returned mid month, so along with Twin Peaks, Mondays have become mind bending days, thank goodness I get every second Monday off!

I did something rotten to my neck at the beginning of the month and have been seemingly living at the Osteo and Remedial Massage. Getting there, but not a quick fix, getting old sucks!

At Bookclub we discussed Stan Grant's amazing, Talking to my Country.

J and I had a lovely meal at The Clarendon before seeing the play, The Age of Consent. This was a wonderful production, two characters doing 10ish minute monologues, about 4 or 5 each. The woman, a stage mother who may or may not be inadvertedly putting her child at harms way. The man, in jail since 12 for murder and about to be released as an adult. Both gave upbeat stories but sinister and murky lay beneath the surface. Compelling and chilling.

I ended the month with a long weekend - between my anemia and neck/knee issues - I needed rest. I started by heading up to Lochinvar for a Kinesiology session, had a drive through the vineyards and finished with a massage. In between I napped, read, daydreamed, caught up with friends for lunch at Awaba House and visited the amazing Diane Arbus exhibit at Lake Macquarie Art Gallery. Hence I started August feeling rather zen!

Here are my usual reviews.

And some pics:

APRIL ROUND UP

April was a little quieter than usual, but I still managed to fit in plenty of fun. Just trying to pace myself and fit in time for more reading and writing.

 

Easter was quiet and I had a well needed break after so much happening. I finally finished my study revamp and had plenty of time to sit back and admire my work. 

L and I caught the fabulous French movie Samba, and then on Monday I had a lovely evening seeing What We Did on Our Holidays followed by Vietnamese for dinner with my gals.

 

Samba was about refugees in Paris, in particular Samba Cisse, (played by Omar Sy from The Untouchables) and he is helped out by Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg) who ends up falling in love with him. Samba was a gripping and dramatic film with moments of humour and joy. Well worth seeing. What we did on our Holidays was a black comedy starring David Tennant and Rosamund Pike as a separated couple taking one last holiday with their family to Scotland to see Tennant's dying father (Billy Connollly) for his birthday. This was incredibly funny and incredibly sad, much pathos and drama and beautifully shot. I'd love to say more but that would be giving away what happens.

 

I also had a lovely day with family at my sister's property on Easter Sunday.

The following weekend I was out and about, markets at Speers Point park, shopping, walking in Newcastle, and caught the movie A Little Chaos, starring Kate Winslet as a fictional female gardener at Versailles, it was beautifully filmed on location, and Alan Rickman, who also directed the film, was King Louis. It was wonderful to see Kate back in a corset, and if you love a easy paced period drama with beautiful gardens, then this is the film for you!

 

I had a busy Sat in the middle of the month going to soccer for both my niece and nephews (at different locations), collecting my Civic Theatre subscription, and checking out the Capital and Country exhibit at Newcastle Art Gallery which was superb, followed but a bit of shopping on Darby.

 

Then of course the storm hit, I was lucky to have no damage (bar a few fallen branches) and had power the entire time, but by day 2 my anxiety levels were very high, it was stressful being by myself in such a situation. I think it took me a few weeks to recover. The library was ok (bar a leak over the DVD collection), but with no network access and roads unsafe, we were shut for two days so when we reopened on the Thursday it was a bit insane. The storm also meant L and I could not get to Sydney to see Noel Fielding, which was really sad, but better to be safe.

 

Other work events were hosting Blackbutt for the school holidays, kids got up close and personal with tortoises, lizards, snakes and such. It was a blast. I did my Warden review and put out an actual fire which was freaking terrifying, and our movie this month was Moulin Rouge where we had a full house on the Friday after the storm for that.

 

After Moulin Rouge I met friends at The Cambridge for Steve Smyth, who was magnificent as always. At one point he moved from the stage to the 'barrier fence thingie' between the stage and us and grabbed for my hand to steady him as he stood there singing...sigh...I have washed said hand...but the memory lingers.

 

That weekend ended up being almost as bad as the storm, so a family dinner to celebrate my sister's birthday and a quiet weekend was had.

 

Here's what I have been reading, watching, and listening to.

 

And here are some photos.