Creature of habit, mushrooms, random connections

Bare branches

I saw two Nankeen Night Herons again tonight, hunting for their dinner at the river's edge. One was standing in the exact place I saw it last night, perched on the same rock, staring into the water in the same direction. It must have found a tasty meal there. Its companion was standing in the water about a metre from the bank. The tide must have been very low, because the night heron is not a long-legged bird. 

Bad phone photo taken in dark with flash because, 

as always, I was running late this morning

There's several patches of mushrooms growing along the river. They must have sprung to life after the recent heavy rains we had...though I don't think it takes much rain to encourage the fungus.

I've made another new musical discovery. Stella Angelico, another Melbourne singer-songwriter, has been on my radar for a while, but I only just got around to looking her up last night. This is from the EP she released last year (with her band The Switch). It's very Amy Winehouse-esque.  I love it - and the rest of the EP. I don't actually own any Amy Winehouse albums, but I probably should.  

Speaking of music and discoveries, a man from the Netherlands  (Hi Michael!) found my blog by searching for the lyrics of a Gabby Young song called Mole, which I blogged about a while ago. He wrote:

Not finding any I ended up searching for "can't we be children about this". There's two hits for these exact words, both leading to this page.

Wooh!  It's both odd and awesome that my blog was the only source. I get a kick out of the random ways people connect on the internet. 

Triple treat, new tunes, giantess

Tis the eve of spring...and Gleeful's fourth birthday...and Luke's homecoming! I'm triply excited! 

Continuing the trio theme, I saw a pair of ducks with their three ducklings foraging for insects on the bank of the Yarra this morning. I hope it's not the same pair of ducks I saw a few weeks ago because that would mean their brood is rather depleted. 

I've bought two new albums this week. One is the new Gabby Young and The Other Animals CD, The Band Called Out For More, which is theatrical and almost operatic. The other is Underneath this Big Striped Tent, the debut album of the quirky American duo Channing & Quinn. A big thank you to my friend Margaret for sending me a link to their album because she thought it would be to my liking. Yes, indeedy. I'd never heard of them, but after a few bars of the first song, I had goosebumps. Channing Lee and Gabby Young both have fantastic voices. 

I wore a pair of my new boots at work today. They have pretty high (but solid) heels and a hidden platform, so I felt like a giantess (I'm usually 163cm). They're pretty comfy too, as high heels go anyway. 

I had drinks with the girls from my old work last night. One friend who left the firm a few months before me was also there. We haven't seen her for ages so there were hugs and smiles all round. There's was no tasty lamb dish this time, but the $10 cocktails made that easy to overlook. Delicious fruity cocktails. Yum.  

More Mali!

Here's a few more Mali sculptures. I think this weekend is their last weekend at large in the city before being auctioned off, so I probably won't get to see them all. 

Bourke Street Mall 

 Southbank, the Clarendon Street end

 I think I posted a pic of this one before, but I only 

realised last night this is the Mali self-portrait

I wonder if those blue circular marks 

are from elephant kisses?

The sunset tonight from near Seafarers Bridge

More music stuff

I bought Gabby Young's album Bear With Me last night. It's fantastic. Rollicking, theatrical, enchanting and beautiful, and all with that old-time circus/cabaret vibe. There's even one song set against the sound of distant fireworks.  Lots of brass, accordian and, of course, Gabby's great voice. I loves it.   

There's one song called Mole which includes a line I really like: "Can't we be children about this, because adults take everything far too seriously".

I'm definitely going to see her show in a few weeks. I've also bought a ticket to see The Waifs, one of my all-time favourite bands, who have a new album coming out next month. Hurrah.

Mixing it up

I've made 'mix tapes' for two friends this week. It's fun. You want one?  It also makes me realise how diverse my musical tastes are (online dating experiences of yore caused me to cast the word 'eclectic' from my vocabulary). The playlist for one friend includes rock, garage rock, punk, alt country, blues, old school R&B, folk, French pop, psychobilly, and a couple of other songs that I don't quite know how to categorise.