Luke, Jayne and Mali at the market

Luke and I went to Queen Victoria Market to do our fresh food shop again today. To be honest, I don't really enjoy the experience - mostly because of the crowds and the noise - but the variety of produce and lower prices make it worth tolerating. 

We bought loads of fruit and veg, most of it way cheaper than the supermarket. Our fridge is chockers and I had to get out the big fruit bowl to find room for all the fruit. 

I bought artichokes for the the first time ever. I've eaten them, but never cooked with them. I found a recipe on Pinterest for cooking them in the slow cooker, which I'm going to have a crack at tomorrow. I've also never eaten grapefruit. Really! It wasn't something we had when I was a kid, and I've never had the urge to try them. I bought one today and I have a recipe from Pinterest for that too...if you can call "chop it in half, sprinkle with brown sugar and grill it" a recipe. 

We also saw (but didn't buy) Thai eggplant and jicama. And a big onion. 

After yet another failed attempt at completing that infernal allergy elimination diet, I've decided to just eat well (in the 'normal' sense, as well as avoiding my known trigger foods), exercise more and put up with the symptoms. I've been living with them for so long anyway...  So I'm eating less crap (not that I ate a lot to begin with) and more fruit and veg. 

I  also saw three Mali sculptures at or near Vic Market, although I only photographed two. 

 Eye patch

A close up reveals a trio of birds

Luke ordered something online that came wrapped in bubble wrap. I found the bubble wrap in my handbag, where he'd put it for me to play with. 
  

Blogiversary, counting down, Little Library

Happy first day of spring! Happy birthday to Gleeful! Four years old today. It was a beautiful sunny day. I had a massage in the morning (the ouchy type, not a pampering one) and then got my hair and nails done.  I'm still keeping up this girly girl caper (although I think my biker boots balanced it out).

And all day I've been counting down the hours until Luke gets back. His plane is due to land in just over three hours. I wish I could meet him at the airport so I get to see him sooner and because it's lovely to walk off the plane into a big hug.   I'll just have to be patient...

Here's another Mali. This one's in front of Melbourne Central, near the corner of Swanston and Elizabeth Streets.

I entered Melbourne Central by going up an escalator I've never been on before and finding myself in unfamiliar territory, which doesn't happen very often in one's own city. And look what I found!

It's the Melbourne Central Little Library - a small space that could have had a shop in it, but instead it's got shelves of books for people to borrow. What a fantastic idea. 

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 Mali, more old signs

I saw more Mali sculptures in my travels this weekend. I'm not sure how many I've seen now, but still I'm well off 50. 

 Gordon Reserve, corner Spring and Macarthur Streets in the city

All that glitters is Mali, near the Old Treasury Building, Spring Street

 In front of the Melbourne Town Hall, Swanston Street

Also in front of the Town Hall

The glass mosaic Mali directly above is my favourite so far. It must be the work of Deborah Halpern - it doesn't look the same as the illustration in the list but as soon as I saw it, I thought, "I know that face from somewhere...."

This is Angel, Halpern's best known work, which

 stands in Birrarung Marr, beside the river

I saw some old signs in Fitzroy and Abbotsford. I'm particularly pleased with the Commit No Nuisance sign because it was literally a case of 'blink and you'll miss it' as I walked past.

Off Rose Street in Fitzroy

Another Commit No Nuisance sign, well hidden in 

a narrow alley just off Brunswick Street

 Bates' Cocoa Mills, Bond Street in Abbotsford 

This sign is on the side of an old building. The sign on the front is shown in the photo below.    Thanks to Google, I can tell you the building started off as a school, and when the Bates cocoa company took over the building, they kept the sign on the front. Nice. 
     

  

Click here and scroll down to see an old picture of the building. (Brace yourself if you dislike the Collingwood Football Club).

Foster's Lager, on the side of the Terminus Hotel on

 Victoria Street, Abbotsford

The Terminus is on the edge of what is now a construction site. I think the demolition of existing buildings revealed this sign and I expect the new development will hide it again.

The sun shining through a gap in the clouds as I crossed the river

The many faces of Mali

Here are some more elephants for you (especially you, Wendy). The sculptures are life-sized fibreglass likenesses of Melbourne Zoo's elephant calf, Mali. 

 Look at his elephant slippers! Melbourne Central, near the Shot Tower

 Beside St Paul's Cathedral

 Also at St Paul's

 Federation Square 

While I was taking a photo of this one, a woman asked me to take a photo of her and her two grandsons with the elephant. Of course I obliged. Then I saw them at every other Mali afterwards, and took a photo of them at each one! 

They had seen 23 of the 50 sculptures today. You can see a list of all of them and the artists who've decorated them here. One has even been painted by Mali himself! It's titled 'self portrait'. Teehee.  

 Wooly Mali by Mini Goss, also at Fed Square 

Yes, it's a knitted full-body elephant suit!

 Fed Square again 

 He looks happy 

Birrarung Marr, near Art Play.  This one was painted 

by one of Melbourne living treasures, Mirka Mora

 Also near Art Play

Birrarung Marr again