Bad Blogger: Chaos Edition

 

Usually when you have a blog, and you go to the other side of the world on holiday, you write a little something every day to share the wonders and adventures of the place you're in.

I prefer to become paralysed by imagined pressure, failing to write anything at all until a good 30 days in; then I try, unwisely, to unload it all at once.

Here, I've made the unloading even more random by uploading my pictures in no particular order and being unable to shuffle them. I'm going to just write stuff underneath them, and hope you stick with me. 

Good luck to us all. Let's begin.

 

First of all, I love being home so very much.  Australia is such a novelty – which is sad in one way because it must mean I don't fully belong anymore, but happy because everything old is new again.  The shine of it! Kookaburras laughing when I wake up early. Magpies singing as I walk to the gym.  Lemon gum and eucalyptus on the air, Weetbix for breakfast and Australian news on the TV.  Did I mention the amazing coffee??  Yes, yes I did.

My "Australia radar" malfunctioned at first, going into overdrive.  See, back home (which home? America-home) I have a constant scan going on for all sightings and mentions of Australia and Australian things. I didn't realise this until I got here and my brain kept shouting, "Hey! Hey! An Australian accent!  Hey! They just talked about Brisbane on the news!  Hey! That's Powderfinger on the radio! Hey! An Australian flag!  Hey!  A koala sign!  Cuuuute!"  I've become accustomed to it after six weeks, so that I don't spin out anytime someone mentions Melbourne or Milo, but the fun endures.

You know what else is new again?  My friends.  I have connected and reconnected with dear friends, and I just love them so much I want to take them home with me.  It's unreasonable that I can't just drag Australia and America up alongside each other. Why does continental drift take so long, and go in the wrong directions?

Here above: Kristy and Gerrod. I'd actually never met them before this day at Brother Espresso, but they shared a flat with my brother and sister-in-law in London so we were meant-to-be lifelong friends. I'm pretty sure Gerrod knows when my grandparents' anniversary is and how to spell my sister's middle name and stuff like that, so – we're tight. Also, they're funny (the picture at the top of this post? that's me losing my composure next to Gerrod for at least the fourth time).

Here's Kirsty (above), my best friend from Grade 8. I went a whole 19 years without seeing her until we discovered each other on Facebook last year (kudos, Facebook!)  We've been scrambling to make up for lost time ever since, and it's a joy. 

Kirsty's little boy was born the same week as Man-show, so our kids get on like a house on fire. Without the kids, we went to an extra-special-fancy girls' night out with Jodi, who made our trio in Grade 9.  Neither of us had seen her in fully 20 years, and six hours out together barely scratched the surface.

That's Jodi's death-by-chocolate... I blame the borrowed camera for being bad at close range – not me. It's never me.

I have been going to some great restaurants here, that reminds me.  And did I tell you?  I went to the incredible Valentino Retrospective at the Gallery of Modern Art.  It was an amazing exhibit; seeing those iconic gowns together in one space was inspiring. Berry and Mika were keen to find the most-princessy dresses – there was a heated debate over which of them would "get to wear" the pink caped evening ensemble from Winter 1990/91...

Photography was super-strictly forbidden inside the gallery, so you'll have to take my word for all that. But here are the girls standing by the V.

And with that, I've worn myself out.

More randomness soon, featuring animals, the Opera House, midnight at McDonald's, fairy bread, and how awesome it is to see my family.

. . .

There for the taking

My brother Jules is standing at the foot of the Stairway To Knowledge. If you squint, you can see it written on the wall there.

But did he climb the Stairway To Knowledge? No he did not. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.



(Okay, neither did I. You know... it was getting late and the babies were cranky... If it wasn't for these pesky kids, I'd be enlightened by now! )

(You really have to say that in a Scooby-Doo villain voice. Never mind.)

Two at the foreshore

I was four and my sister was two, and Dad took this photo of us in black-and-white and very fetching hats at one of our favourite places – the Wynnum-Manly foreshore.

Fast-forward a couple of decades... Berry is 18 months old, little C is 12 months, and Dad wants to recreate the scene during our Australia visit. What a fiasco! Organising toddlers for a photo is like herding cats. Truly a fool's errand, and in blazing Brisbane heat it's less funny than you might expect. This (below) is one attempt that doesn't have little C powering into the foreground, or Berry throwing her hat somewhere. Or Mum, mid-flight, trying to rein in a stray child or turn them to face the camera.

But oh look – fabulous – there's a shadow of the photographer's thumb in the corner! We won't name names. We also won't try to pose these little rabbits for a photo, ever again.

(We may have our fingers crossed behind our backs, though.)

Pretty at the gallery (II)

This installation is part of The 5th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at the Queensland Art Gallery.

This'll make me seem like I have no artistic insight whatsoever, but I'm going to say it anyway: I like this because it reminds me of lollies.

So there.

We love a good wedding

Aaron and Sue got married! It was the event that launched this April trek around the world, and it was so worth the distance!

You know how much more fabulous weddings are when you really, really like the couple and truly see that they're meant to be together? Well, this was one of those weddings.




A gorgeous, sweet bride, my three brilliant brothers looking oh-so-smooth in their suits, and lots of happy people in very pretty places... perfect.

How cute are the little bride-and-groom corks? My brother Dan's artist girlfriend Zoe created them – hilarious, genius...




Berry did put on a bit of an uninvited performance in the second row of the chapel during the first prayers. Nothing bad or noisy really – she just saw no reason why an 18-month-old in a special dress shouldn't be allowed to caper around among the guests, and made every effort to get out there... Zoe distracted her for a few minutes with her special kitten brooch (note to girls with children: Zoe is a treasure trove of magical decorations guaranteed to fascinate children – sit near her!) ...unfortunately in the end I spent most of the ceremony standing up the back at the doors, with Berry scampering around on the grass outside. Lucky the chapel was cosy; made it easier to hear.

I loved the musical for Aaron and Sue's bridal waltz. No idea what it was called, but I loved it. And the speeches were excellent (this is rare at a wedding, I don't care what anyone says).

Pretty at the gallery

Our trip to the Queensland Art Gallery: we saw this amazing light sculpture hanging over the reflecting pond in the Watermall.

(The chandelier was created by Chinese artist Al Weiwei and has more than 300,000 crystals (!) It's part of The 5h Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art.)

Last time I was there – two years ago – the pond was filled with thousands of baseball-sized polished silver balls, and it looked magical.

It makes me wonder what I've missed in between visits.

Signs of home (V)

{abandoned house, Redlands, Queensland}

This old house says "home" – Australia – to me in so many ways. And the big blue sky and the telephone pole and the brittle brown grass, the red dirt and the power lines and that little bit of loneliness. All, somehow, home.

Signs of home (IV)

{Boxing kangaroo flag, New Farm, Queensland}

I love that they're using it for a curtain. This New Farm house sits near the end of a street full of other characters ... the kind that make me think the homogeneous whitebread residential developments we're building now are a serious mistake.

Bring on the kangaroo flags.

Signs of home (III): Kangaroos

{Aussie kangaroo souvenirs in a Chinatown shop window, Fortitude Valley, Queensland}

I spent a morning taking photos around Fortitude Valley, for the new cards I'm working on and for ...hmm... I have a feeling I'll use them for something else, I just don't know what it is yet. I think I'll spend a while looking at the images, playing with them, and see what comes of it.

It's strange to see all these Australian souvenirs now, as a non-tourist "tourist". I find myself looking at plush koalas and thinking "Awwwww..." then– "waaait a second!" Seriously, I almost get sucked in.

It's even stranger to feel like a stranger in your own town. But that's a whole other conflict.

Beach baby

The lagoon and beach at South Bank are man-made, but a one-year-old doesn't know that! It was a very sandy and fun adventure, all the way up until some kid crashed into her in the shallows. Knocked her over, then it was tears tears tears...

Happily, grandma and a cup of orange juice and water fixed everything.

Signs of home: II

Ah, Australia Post and Coles trolleys... this reminds me in a funny way of my uni days. Toowong and St Lucia were always littered with shopping trolleys abandoned by uni students who didn't have cars, and didn't want to carry their groceries all the way home.

And I still think red is a much easier colour for spotting postboxes than blue (think about it, USPS).

Signs of home

Little things I've realised I miss about Brisbane, since I've been here: kookaburras at dawn, lemon gum, magpies, heavy rain on hot bitumen, rowers on the river, and old Queensland workers' cottages like this one.

I'd love to know the lives that have been lived here...

Brisbane: pretty in a frame

We stopped in Highgate Hill on a sunny afternoon at a park with sweeping views of the Brisbane CBD. Next to the park is an apartment tower that my brother says was once the city's tallest building. Happily, it seems very small now.

Highgate Hill is an unpretentiously charming mix of the uniquely Australian house styles I've been longing to see again (with a few spectacularly ugly errors thrown in... otherwise how would we be entertained?).

Such an excellent afternoon.

Behind bars

Yesterday I went on a photography adventure around the city, getting material for more in the chopsueycocktails line as well as some inspiration for images to screen-print. There are always scenes I can't resist capturing along the way, even though I can't think of any particular use for them at that moment. This is one.