Speak of the devil and a new 101 Things list

Luke and I headed to the Booktalk Café in Richmond for a late lunch today. As you can probably tell, it's a cafe and a bookshop.

We browsed the tables of books on display and spotted beloved Melbourne artist Mirka Mora's autobiography My Life: Wicked and Virtuous, and remarked that it would be an interesting read. Then we looked up and who should be sitting at one of the tables? None other than Mirka herself! I was thrilled - I confess I don't know a lot about her art, but I fell in love with her after her appearances on ABC's Agony of Life series. She's not far off 90, but she's so fun and cheeky and seems to have a great zest for life. If I can't adopt her as my Nanna, I want to be like her when I'm old.

We have seen her in Richmond before - she waved to Luke once for stopping to let her cross a road - so I suspect she lives there. I didn't speak to her today - I worry that well known people are tired of being approached in public, but when I was leaving I saw her bid a cheerful 'au revoir' to another cafe patron, so perhaps if I see her again, I'll be braver. 

There were several tables of women near us in the café playing games - cards and mah jong among them. What a fun way to while away a gloomy Sunday afternoon (or even a sunny one). I want to join a games club now. I want to relearn how to play canasta (my family used to play it a lot when I was a teenager) and drag out the Scrabble board. Pity Luke doesn't like Scrabble. No one's perfect, I suppose. 

101 Things in 1001 Days

Some of you might recall a few years ago I had a list of 101 Things to do Before I'm 40. It's only taken me a couple of years to get around to compiling a new list, although this one is 101 Things to do in 1001 Days (partly to avoid this year being 'meh' like last year).  I'm still in the process of compiling the list (I've only got about 70 things so far), but I've decided today is Day One.  

A sample of the list of so far: 

* Visit Iceland

* Get a new job outside law (in another industry, not as an outlaw)

* Go paleo for three months (or longer)

* See an octopus in the wild (and a platypus and a wombat)

* Improve posture

* Learn to use my camera better

* Start ghost signs blog

* Learn to juggle again (I could juggle when I was a teenager)

* Go to the ballet

Much of it is fun stuff because they whole point of it is to make life more fun. Some is scary stuff to push myself outside my comfort zone and some of it is boring, but important, grown-up stuff (like doing a new will and power of attorney). 

I'm excited to start. 

Tetris, cupcakes and Bye Bye Love

I downloaded Tetris to my phone over Christmas and I'm hooked on it. I play it every night before bed. Every time I say, "Just one game before bed"....pffft.

I don't know what it is, but I've always found plugging those little coloured  blocks in to make uninterrupted rows very satisfying. I particularly like it when the blocks appear in exactly the right place to fill the gap and I don't need to manipulate them in any way...which is sort of not the point of the game, but there you go. 

I also love the sound effects. Normally I hate game sound effects so I turn them off (not that I'm a big gamer, which is probably obviious since I'm addicted to a simple old-school game like Tetris!), But the sound effects in this game tickle my fancy - there's clickety-clicks like an old typewriter (not unlike the noise of an iPod clickwheel, which I've professed my love for here before) and tiny wooshing noises. I don't know why, I just like them.

Today was Tuesday Treats day at work. Someone brings in something for the department to eat in exchange for a small donation to charity (usually Berry Street). Normally the treats are full of gluten so I avoid them, but today I thought, "To hell with it, I want a chocolate cupcake". Then later I found out they were gluten free! Hurrah! There are two celiacs in my department - it's so nice not to be the only one with dietary restrictions.

I'm still listening to Simon and Garfunkel. It's probably one of the least profound songs they perform, but I love Bye Bye Love. It's the acoustic guitar at the start, the crowd clapping and the bass guitar that get me. Here tis: (Incidentally, my parents had that album when I was a kid so there's a nostalgia factor at work here as well.)

Off to Castlemaine tomorrow! Wheeeeeeeeeee!

A fluther, more zhoozhing and giant Scrabble

One of my lilies opens up

Not only did I see a couple of good-sized fish swimming in the shallows of the Yarra River today, I saw a jellyfish (below). A jellyfish!

At first I thought it was a Common Plastic Bag Fish, but then I saw it propelling itself along and realised it was a live creature, not a shopping bag. What the? I didn't realise there were fresh water jellyfish, but now I know.

And the more I looked, the more I saw. There were dozens and dozens of them heading slowly downstream. When I walked past later, there were still a few about.

I've learnt something else today too. The collective noun for jellyfish is a fluther or a smack.

Project Zhoozh continues...

I got some indoor plants and pots for my flat today. The zhoozhing is just about complete. The woman who was coming to have a look at the place found something else, but I'm very happy with my efforts nonetheless.

The nursery where I got the plants had a fish pond in a large concrete pot out the front, and there was a fat orange goldfish half-hiding under a lilypad.

Lawn Scrabble anyone?

Victoria sent me a link today to photos of a couple's giant game of Lawn Scrabble. I want! I don't have any lawn so I would have to go over to the gardens to play and people would stop and take photos like they do of people playing giant footpath chess in the city!

How's your weekend going?

One of the fluther