When I got up this morning I went to check my little window sill garden in the loungeroom to see if anything needed a drink and something caught my eye...
So close! It sank quite low and I thought it was going to land in Gosch's Paddock across the river, but then it rose up over the city. Such a captivating sight. Then sSomething else caught my eye...
The chain of hearts plant I bought Friday has sprouted a flower! A strange little flower, but a flower all the same.
I made a tasty chicken curry from scratch for dinner tonight. I had most of the spices already (including fenugreek seeds, of all things!) so I thought I might as well make the curry powder rather than buy it. I used a coffee grinder that a friend gave me to make the powder - much quicker and easier than trying to make a fine powder in the mortar and pestle, that's for sure. I love the smell of all the different spices. I made enough powder to make several more curries.
I cleaned out my bathroom cabinets and laundry cupboards this afternoon and got rid of quite a lot of stuff. Well, all the half-empty products I no longer use are sitting in a box while I work out where to dispose of them. Although they aren't strictly hazardous chemicals, I don't want to empty them down the sink. Next weekend I plan to do the kitchen, including that one draw full of random crap that everyone has somewhere in their house (the one with duct tape, sparklers, a cigar cutter and widgets with no readily discernible use.)
We bought some new indoor plants yesterday to replace the ones I bought years ago that eventually gave up and died a while back. We got a spathiphyllum (aka peace lily), a syagrus and a fittonia, which is the prettiest little thing. A bit of greenery always brightens up the place, doesn't it?
You'll never guess what happened to me today! I got a phone call from the bank near my work asking me if I took $50 out of the ATM on Monday.
Me: Yes
Bank Lady: And did you leave the $50 in the machine?
Me: Yes
Bank Lady: A man has handed it in. I just had to go through the ATM records to find out who it belonged to.
Me: You. Are. Kidding, Me.
Bank Lady: I shit you not*
Can you believe that?! That man is the most honest person in the world. I wish he'd left his details so I could thank him. Bank Lady said it's happened before. Someone recently handed in $200 that had been left in the machine. Astounding.
* Possibly not her exact words
Luke picked up our new bookcase this afternoon. He's almost finished assembling it as I type. I did some self-assembly of my own. I call it Foamiture™.
I forgot that I'm meeting Mum in Sydney for Christmas and New Year's Eve. I've never been there for New Year's Eve, so that will be exciting (for those who don't know, Sydney has the most spectacular fireworks show in the country on NYE). We went to Sydney for Christmas about six years ago, so we've done most of the touristy things. I'm compiling a list of other stuff to do. So far I have climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the coastal walk from Bondi to Bronte, which passes Waverley Cemetery, which sydney.com describes as "one of the world’s more scenic operational cemeteries".
I had to make up many archive boxes today. Although I find the sound of cardboard scraping on cardboard almost as bad as fingernails down a blackboard, I did enjoy snipping the plastic tape that holds the bundles of flat pack boxes together.
My tram driver tonight (a man in his 50s) was wearing a Santa hat and had decorated his cabin with blue and gold tinsel. Teehee.
I have 10 days off at Christmas (the whole firm shuts up shop) and I can't wait, even though I won't be paid for the leave. I'm going to my mum's in Wauchope (northern NSW) for a few days, then having a few days at home. I love having time at home on the holidays. I often find it more relaxing than going away.
Tomorrow is my last day in my mind-numbingly boring job. Yay. I can't wait to feel the weight lift off my shoulders when I walk out that door for the last time. Perhaps I might even feel my life force start to seep back, although I expect my elation will be somewhat tempered by uncertainty since I still don't have any temp work lined up. I do have a couple of prospects, however.
Light show
The lights have been on at AAMI Park for hours every night this week and it looks amazing. I've been enjoying the light show from my loungeroom window. The stadium's distinctive "bubbles" are made up of triangular panels which have a light at every point and the lights change colour and flash on and off in waves that ripple across the surface, so that the stadium seems to sparkle. I love it.
Speaking of my flat, I have it to myself for the weekend. *happy dance*
Thanks again, YouTube
I've made two new musical discoveries this week thanks yet again to the wonders of YouTube: Holly Golightly and Ludella Black (both former members of The Headcotees). I remember Holly from the White Stripes' song It's True that We Love One Another, but I'd never listened to any of her own stuff before. I likes it.
Yes, her name really is Holly Golightly (last name Smith), obviously after the main character in Breakfast at Tiffany's, which, coincidentally, I just happen to be reading at the moment.
I have downloaded their latest CDs to my iPod tonight. I has happy ears.
It's a grey, chilly day in Melbourne and I've been out and about all day, freezing my bum off and being cranky and impatient with everyone and everything.
But now I'm home in bed, wearing my comfy flannelette pyjama pants and New York hoodie, with my hot water bottle in my lap and music playing. Aaaaahhh. That's better. (Yes, I know it's only 4.40pm. What of it?)
I went to see Wagons last night for the first time since my Wagons West Birthday Extravaganza Road Trip Down Memory Lane last year, and it was fantastic. It's an amazing feeling seeing a band you love play live in their home town (especially when they're at the end of a long tour), amid a crush of enthusiasatic fans who know all the words, just like you do. I was somewhat hoarse when I left.
The band is taking a break now and then going into the studio to record a new album. My breath is bated.
I also loved their support act, The Beards, a hilarious and marvellously talented bunch of dudes with beards who sing songs about...yes, beards. Just beards and nothing but beards, while intermittently lovingly stoking their face hair (and sometimes each others'). As the lead singer pointed out at the end of their set, they are, indeed, "pro beard".
I had actually heard one of their songs a few months ago when someone posted a link to this video on Twitter, but I didn't twig until they introduced the song last night.
(As usual, the video wouldn't shrink to fit. Double click to view on You Tube. Note to self: switch to wide blog format....)
Novelty bands are a bit lame generally, but these guys really are awesome. Great songs, excellent musicianship and a dry sense of humour. They're back in Melbourne next month - do yerself a favour!
Bachelorette pad
I have the flat to myself for two weeks and, as always, it is awesome. I have barely stopped playing loud music (The Young Dubliners, The Rolling Stones' re-issued Exile on Main Street and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes' country covers on rotation).
Parka
I wore my fat, puffy doona-esque parka up the street today. It's so cosy and comforting that sometimes I actually hope it's cold so I can wear it. It wasn't really cold enough today while the sun was shining, but thankfully on my way home it clouded over, rained and got cold. I got to appreciate its cosy charms after all. Yay. It's the clothing equivalent of comfort food.
My life has been hectic and stressful lately, but tonight I'm having a quiet night at home to relax and catch up on things I've not had the time or energy to attend to. I also have the flat to myself, which makes it doubly nice. I'm sitting on the loungeroom floor in my pjs and I can see the city lights out the window. Love where I live.
Walking home tonight I saw them testing the LCD lights that are embedded in the shell of the new sports stadium, which has been named AAMI Park. It looked great. I can't wait to see what it's like when it's finished.
I'm uploading three CDs I bought tonight on my way home - Florence and the Machine's Lungs, the limited edition of Angus and Julia Stone's new album, Down the Way and the DVD/CD set of the White Stripes' documentary Under Great White Northern Lights. Yays! New music!
The packaging of the Angus and Julia Stone album is gorgeous. It's like a cloth-bound book with the title printed in gold lettering and it's fastened shut with a ribbon. Inside, lyrics and vintagey photos are printed on nice matte paper and - the best bit - is a frontispiece with "This album belongs to _________". How cute is that? Listening to it now. I like it so far.
Before I took this photo from my bedroom window tonight (and got interrupted by a phone call), the moon was huge and orange as it hovered over the horizon. It looked amazing.
I wonder if my moon appreciation means I am more of a Cancerian than I have previously thought?
Speaking of appreciation, I also seem to be unable to pass a duck without taking a photo.
