My August, and, September Reading Challenge

August has been a typical Winter month: cold every day and rainy most days. But Winter is in my top two seasons, so I don't complain. My health has been a bit iffy again -- still getting over a virus and then a cold more recently. I was able to go out a couple of times though, and kept myself busy otherwise. There's been a lack of regular posts recently, it's true. Nothing felt like it was important enough for a full post, hence why this one has lots of bits and pieces in it.

What I've been reading ...
I completed my goal and finished The Lord of The Rings on the last day of the month. I might write about my experience with re-reading it later. I'm still very much enjoying reading so I set myself another monthly challenge. For September, I will read at least 1/2 hour a day, and try to finish as many quick reads / short books / short stories as I can. My optional challenge ('stretch goal', I guess you could call it) is to finish one book I've had on my 'currently reading' pile for a long time.

Here is the page I made up in my Hobonichi to track my progress. I don't know why I put such a large piece of washi tape on the left side. I guess I can stick a plain piece of paper over the top of it later if I run out of room on the right hand side. Also, can you spot the several spelling mistakes? Writing vertically and coming down with a cold aren't a good combination for concentrating.

What I've been cooking ...
I tried a new recipe ... Japanese Cream Stew, using the recipe from Japanese Cooking 101, here. It's made with a plain white sauce, which I thought would make it taste bland, but the meat and vegetables are cooked in chicken broth, and it ended up being rich and very tasty. I would definitely make it again.

What I've been drawing ...
I wanted to try doing more drawing this month, because if I want to learn to draw, then I have to practice! I only drew a couple of times, and ended up retreating to 'comfort' subjects, like the fantasy maps I used to draw when I was a teenager. I do most of them in my Hobonichi because they have so many spare pages, it fills them up. I quite like the layered effect on the trees in the centre of this one, though it was mostly accidental.

Speaking of my Hobonichi, I haven't been writing in it every single day, but when I do, I've been trying out different styles. On these pages, I layered the washi tapes, and added small notepapers for highlighted points. To be honest, most of the 'notepapers' are just textured backgrounds that I printed off the internet, cut up into the appropriate size/shape, and edged with a highlighter. And also to be honest, most of the time I just end up writing what I had for dinner or what I watched on Netflix. But I think they give the page an interesting extra dimension.

What I've been working on ...
I'm still working on this yet-to-be-named art project. Things tend to take longer than I thought because I tend to get obsessed, go down rabbitholes, try everything, and research every tiny detail. Currently I'm creating a conscript (constructed script) for it, and I'm trying out different shapes and forms for the letters. (Again, using up spare pages in my Hobonichi.)

What I've been growing ...
Here is a plant that my friend had at work, and needed some tlc. I brought it home and put it with my other indoor plants. It's starting to look nice and plump already. When the weather gets a bit warmer, I'll re-pot it.

What I've been seeing ...
I took a trip to the city to have lunch with some friends, and saw this street art in one of the laneways:

Happy Melbourne Day!

Today is Melbourne Day. 182 years ago today, the city of Melbourne was founded.

This year Melbourne has again been chosen as the world's most liveable city, and I'm proud! Sure, it's not perfect: gentrification of the inner suburbs is squeezing out cultural and artistic individuality, and high house prices have led to increasing urban sprawl. As sad as it is, that's happening in most places. On the other hand, the crime rate is relatively low and public transport has vastly improved recently. I've written here about why I personally love Melbourne (though I haven't gotten around to writing that elusive Part 2 yet!).

Unlike many people who can't wait to move away from the place they were born, or wander from place to place never feeling like they fit in, I'm extremely lucky to be living in my home: the place where I belong.

Happy birthday, Melbourne!

Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere

The photos from today's post are unrelated to the text -- I took them yesterday during a trip to the city. I included them to give a general festive feel, and I always like to illustrate my posts. I hope you like my reminiscence of Christmas in Australia.

Christmas is nearly here! The school holidays are a few weeks in; the weather's turning hot. We set up the sprinkler in the backyard, running through it squealing until we get tired and convince Mum to give us an icypole. There's plenty more time for play -- it doesn't get dark until 9pm and we're allowed to stay up late on Christmas Eve. It's hard to sleep in the sticky heat, and even harder to stick to the rule of not waking Mum and Dad up until 6am.

After opening our presents and having breakfast, we dress in t-shirts, shorts and thongs, and pile into the car. The road trip of visitations to various relatives is almost torturous in our old, un-air-conditioned car, and a towel is required to stop our bare legs from sticking to the seats. Our trip ends, mid-afternoon, at Oma and Opa's house. Despite living in Australia for 25 years, they had never quite acclimatised to the Summer heat, and their house is one of the few in the street with air-conditioning installed. At Christmas though, it labours and splutters in the 35-degree heat, not quite able to counteract the oven which has been on since early morning.

We stuff in as much gravy-smothered roast beef, pork and chicken as we're able, not to mention roast potatoes and pumpkin. The table laid out with a straight-out-of-the-oven feast heats up both us and the room even more, until we're sweating. The paper crowns we found in our bonbons stick to our damp foreheads, and our clammy thighs stick to the plastic folding chairs. By the end of the last course, we're itching to leave the table.

Sometimes at dusk, we go for a leisurely walk around the neighbourhood to help digest our dinner, shuffling along in our thongs, wishing Merry Christmas to neighbours watering their gardens. Other years, it's just too hot, and we lie slumped on the couch, staring at the Christmas tree and losing the battle to stay awake.

We might play listlessly with our new toys for a little bit, leaving sweaty fingerprints on them, before slipping gratefully under crisp white sheets in the spare room and drifting off to sleep.

My Trip to the Beach

A few weeks ago I went on a little outing to the beach. I remember writing about a year ago that I didn't like the beach, that I wasn't a 'beachy' person. For some reason, I felt bad writing that, as if I hadn't given the beach a fair go. Is that strange? Anyway, I decided to give going to the beach another try.

After looking up an article on the best beaches in metropolitan Melbourne, I chose Sandringham beach. It's very easy to get to on the Sandringham train line, about 25 minutes from the city centre. The beach is only one block from the train station. The article said that the most popular part of the beach is the Northern area, so of course I turned South for my walk.

It was very difficult walking along the sand and I had to stop quite a few times to rest my legs. The few other people I saw powered along at twice my pace, so perhaps it's something that gets easier with practice. It was when I stopped walking though, that I started to realise the magic of the beach.

Always when I come to the beach, I like to imagine the vastness of the ocean and the immense distance to any other land mass. Looking out into the distance is like a meditation, calming to the mind.

I also spent some time looking for shells and anything else I could find. I even found some precious sea glass!

Aside from that, I was impressed at how clean Sandringham Beach is. The cliffs are beautiful and have been the subject of many paintings over the years, as this display at the entrance to the beach shows.

I've changed my mind about the beach, and I think it's because I've realised that you don't have to do anything while you're there. Ever since I was a little girl, trips to the beach were always long journeys that meant hours in the car. Even now, takes me over an hour from where I live to get to the nearest beach. The mind tends to assume that you have to make the most of your time while you're there, cram in as many activities as you can. But when you let go of all that and just experience it -- that's when the beach is at its best.

I wish I'd taken a photo of my outfit that day. I wore my newly-finished blue shawl and crocheted necklace. I used to do "What I Wore" drawings to capture outfits I particularly liked. As well as good drawing practice, they enabled me to show outfits while avoiding showing photos of myself. At some point though, I stopped finishing them, or I would list the items I wore to draw later and never got around to it. The obvious solution is just to take a photo, but I'm too self-conscious. I want to start working on that aspect of myself.
And I do want to return to the beach again one day.

No. 9 : Walk the Golden Mile

Yesterday I completed No. 9 on my list of 101 Things in 1,001 Days -- walk the Golden Mile! (Actually, it's a misnomer, in reality it's over 2.5 miles, so I'm even prouder of myself.) The Golden "Mile" Heritage Trail is a walk designed to showcase Melbourne's historical features. It starts at the Royal Exhibition Building (the single World Heritage-listed feature in the state of Victoria) and ends at the Immigration Museum at Old Customs House, just over the road from where the first port was founded on the Yarra River.

As I walked, I took photos here and there, though I have to admit I wasn't quite as enthusiastic when passing the landmarks I've already seen hundreds of times on the way to work! As it turns out, it was also a tour through Melbourne's four seasons in one day, as it started out misty and raining, and ended up sunny (and windy!).

I'm not in a writing mood today, so I'll just caption the photos briefly.

1. The pond in Carlton Gardens, not far from the Exhibition Building.

2. An old warehouse behind the Princess Theatre. This used to be the dodgy end of town!

3. Council's growshow vertical garden, with Government buildings in the background.

4. Collins Street near Russell Street. I like the contrast between old and new architecture.

5. The Capitol Arcade. I've never been in here before. This cafe looks interesting!

6. Mosaic floor in the Block Arcade. I come here often as my favourite spice shop is here.

7. Golden medallions set into the footpath guide walkers along the trail.

8. More old vs. new on Collins Street. This is a popular photostop for tourists!

9. King Street. This vintage brewery is now a strip club.

10. Another old building near the original port. I think it's been turned into apartments. I'd love to see the inside!

11. Outside the Immigration Museum, new vs. old, the transport edition! The skyscrapers of Southbank are in the background.

I made it!

My Day in the City

AKA Christmas in Melbourne AKA The Heatwave AKA I Went to the Cat Cafe Again ??! AKA Severe Photospam

It was more like a half-day really, and it was very hot (it reached 39oC / 102oF), but it was one of the most enjoyable days I'd had in a long time.

I had a coffee at Melbourne Central and picked up a book from the Little Library before heading out to the Cat Cafe. (The book was The Stone Menagerie by Ann Fine.) There were several of these neon Christmas trees throughout the shopping centre. It wasn't as dark in there as it looks in the photo!

A sign of things to come ...

This lovely pastel wreath in the window of a bar caught my eye on the way there:

The cats were all sleepy and sluggish in the heat -- who can blame them! I spent the time sitting with them, researching a few things on the internet and writing a few poems.

The Cafe has a big Christmas Tree with cat-toy ornaments. So cute!

HOT.

Next I took the tram out to the Alexandra Gardens and went for a walk around.

This is the first time I've seen the floral clock up close in years! That's parsley all around the edge. The colours of the flowers were stunning in the bright sunlight.

I sat in a shady spot for a while and read, and wrote some haiku. There were a family of ducks that were just adorable! But they climbed out of the water and went to nap under some bushes before I thought to take a photo of them.

This Japanese maple looked incredible against the bright green background.

It was lunchtime, and I decided to walk back into the city proper instead of taking the tram. It's only 3 blocks, but it was 39oC after all!

I'm glad I did walk, because I got to see the lego Christmas Tree at Federation Square.

One boy of about 12 ran up to it, had a quick glance and said, "hmph, it's made out of pieces that are larger than normal!" and walked off again. I was impressed, though. And it was cool seeing it on the big screen in the square.

Really hot.

All of the trees along the City Square had Christmas-themed yarn bombing on them! I've seen a lot of yarn-bombing on the trees around the Town Hall lately, so I can only assume it's council-approved. It was particularly delightful to see the red and green colours with snowflake motifs, etc.

One man saw me taking a photo of the trees. He turned around to see what I was taking a picture of, and did a double-take with a WTF look on his face. I couldn't help laughing.

For lunch I went to Go Go Sushi on Swanston Street. It's been a couple of years since I've had sushi train, and I have to admit that I ate way too much. But it was so fun. They even had plates with mochi balls and dorayaki on them.

There were several families with children in, and it was fun watching the way they reacted to the platesful of various exotic items. Afterwards I met up with some friends I normally only see once a year, at Christmas. We always talk about our past year and what might be in store for us next year. One thing is sure, I'd like to have more days like this!