SEPTEMBER ROUND UP

September was crazy busy, with work, travel, illness, and challenges.

 

It started beautifully with J and I attending Lizotte’s to see Vince Jones. My friend V had tickets but was sick, so J & I went for him. What a sublime evening that was. Jazz and red wine, and great company...what more do you need! Vince may have aged (I didn’t recognise him), but his voice certainly hadn’t, rich and smooth, with a divine backing band, this was perfection indeed!

My nephew had his first ever Grand Final for Soccer, and what a match it was. They went down by 1, but fought hard, and that is all you can expect.

I

 attended my school reunion, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, lol! Caught up with some lovely people I hadn’t seen in years. I am glad I went, as the evening progressed it was interesting from a sociological pov, as some seemed to revert back to the school yard behaviour. I try not to judge, you don’t know what fresh hell people are walking through to revert like that. But nonetheless, it was a far less stressful evening than I thought it would be.

 

I did wake the following day with a horrendous headcold, who knows from where, the wind and shouting at the soccer, or kissing too many people at the reunion. It came quick and fast and went down hill fast too...sigh. It  was Father’s Day though, and we gave Dad and my brother-in-law a great day at my sister’s property!

The following week, my headcold turned to bronchitis and a strong chest infection.

 

And the following weekend I flew to Melbourne for a long weekend break. I was pretty sick most of the trip, but I managed.

I had flown in especially to see the Scorsese Exhibit and you can read about the rest of the trip here.

 

I flew back a little better than when I left but not much. I had one days rest before managing a two day whirlwind visit from the lovely author (and friend) Anita Heiss. I collected her from the airport and we had a chance to catch up. The Friday evening we had a lovely girls night out dinner with her in conversation with Carol Duncan at Custom Espresso at Speers Point. What a great night we had, the cafe were spectacular. After we headed out for drinks and dancing, and a good time was had by all.

 

The following day Anita came to my lovely Swansea Library for a well attended talk and we had a great lunch after at Caves Beach Hotel before I took her back to the airport. What a delight, and inspiration Anita it, I adore her so.

Despite still feeling poorly I soldiered on.

 

E, C, and I had pizza at Foghorn before being blown away by Eight Days a Week: the Beatles documentary and concert. I cannot speak highly enough of it, what pure joy it gave me!!!

A, L, and I took a trip to The Regal to see Hello, My Name is Doris starring the eternally youthful Sally Field. What a delight this film was, about an aging woman dealing with life after her elderly mother dies. 

The third film I saw this month was Bridget Jones Baby with my gals at gold class. I enjoyed the movie, it was fun, but felt the storyline had strayed from the original character we loved so much!

 

I finally caught up with the lovely J for a sublime lunch at Rustica. Oh my, the food was great, but the company better and fun! 

 

My lovely niece turned 9 and we had a large family celebration at the restaurant of her choice...she choose the all you can eat at East Maitland Bowling Club, bless her little socks, that way she could have pizza, and chips, and all the foods at once!

 

Despite work still continuing to be challenging on one small but very time consuming aspect, we managed some great work, with school holiday activities, Goosebumps Party, Tai Chi for Seniors, Shelving changes, and of course the visit from Anita Heiss.

 

The month ended with fun at The Edwards for their inaugural Gilmore Girls event, where a group of us watched episodes, ate up big, and played bingo and trivia. What fun!!!!! 

You can read all about what I've been reading, watching, listening to here.

And as always some pics from around and about!

Melbourne 2016

I’ve written so much about Melbourne, you all should know the drill by now!

It’s my favourite place to holiday in Australia and if I do not get there at least once a year I get very antsy.

I have a month off in November and had planned a week down there but I realised there were a few things I really wanted to see and they would be finished by Nov.

So I just had to do a little long weekend run down.

For the past decade or even longer I have always stayed somewhere around Collins Street near to Flinders Station and Degreaves, and in private apartments. This year I got a deal on a newish boutique hotel at the top of Little Bourke Street right on Chinatown and around the corner from Parliament and The Princess Theatre.

How could I resist!?!

And what a great spot it was, in the midst of way too many eateries, and that was before Chinatown!!! Right near my fave bookstores, and I could even see Madam Brussells from my view.

I flew in on the Saturday late afternoon, and was still very sick with a chest infection. I had a wander and got my bearings, and then grabbed some amazing Chinese takeaway for dinner and had a big night in.

Sunday I walked to Fed Square, not far at all, to meet my lovely friend M, who was my ‘date’ for Scorsese. You can read about our experience here. We caught up properly over lunch at Taxi Kitchen and then I headed back to my hotel for a rest before the evening’s proceedings.

It took me one whole minute to make my way to The Princess Theatre from my hotel. I was seeing Matilda and just loved it. It was a great adaptation of a favourite childhood book, I believe that Dahl would have been thrilled with it. The acting (mostly kids...urgh!) was superb and Minchin’s soundtrack was perfection. If you haven’t had a chance to see it, you must. Very funny like the book and not just for kids!

I had a lovely sleep in on the Monday and then grabbed a tram to NGV to see the Degas exhibit. I don’t know much about Degas, except his lovely Ballerina paintings. Well I found out he is so much more than that, he etched, drew, painted over a long time and therefore many varying styles, and ended up a photographer late. He even sculpted, and they were spectacular. It was a very large exhibition and I was totally in my element.

Also a cool, drizzly, typical Melbourne day, which meant I spent a fair amount of time in the gallery. Firstly daydreaming, meditating under the cathedral window ceiling. Then I quick dash upstairs to see my fave gal, The Weeping Woman.

Afterwards it had cleared a little so I made a dash for Degreaves for a late lunch and zigzagged through the laneways to the mall having a lovely browse at the shops.

That night I had some more Chinese, when you are that close to so much amazing Chinese, how can you not!?

My final day was a bit of a washout, raining heavy and I was still unwell. BIg sleep in and just enjoying my lovely room before heading across the park – or rather around the park by tram – to the Melbourne Museum. This time I was seeing the Jurassic World Exhibit, mostly for kids, it was fun though. Animatronic Dinosaurs that were almost realistic. It was all over fairly quick, but still worth seeing. 

I spent some time wandering the museum before heading back to the city for a late lunch at The Elephant and Wheelbarrow pub. I had a little shop but ended up back at the hotel for a nap. I was exhausted after a hectic couple of days fighting this chest infection. That night I ‘discovered’ a great Italian cafe, that did the best pizzas, and everything else from what I could see.

I slept well, had a great breakfast in the hotel, and then made my way to the airport to fly home.