A better best, big moon, one day

I achieved the unachievable this morning - I shaved a minute off my bed-to-desk personal best, the personal best I thought would never be bested, but I was wrong! I got myself up and to work in a mere 49 minutes. Surely the only way I can beat that is to forego a shower or become one of those women who applies their make-up on public transport.

There was a huge yellow full moon sitting low in the sky when I left work tonight. I caught sight of it out the corner of my eye as I was heading for the door and again when was walking along Flinders Street beside the train lines. It was magical. 

One more working day until I'm on holidays! 

Exceeding expectations, superfast, spooky

I had my annual performance review this morning. It went very well. I'm exceeding expectations. I showed my boss the email from a senior associate I used to work for in which she said I was the best secretary she'd ever come across, and he said to attach it to my review form to go to HR, so I did. If I don't get a pay rise after they see that, I'll be rather cross.  

Today flew by superfast (even though I spent most of it doing the same things as yesterday) and now it's my weekend! 

I arrived at the tram stop just as my tram home arrived (I was too sore from yoga to walk tonight, I'm so out of shape).

The moon was shining through light clouds and looking very spooky as I walked from the tram stop. 

Still dry, new stuff, crescent moon

I managed to avoid the worst of the weather again today. It rained when I was on the tram heading to work, but stopped just before I got off. 

I wore a new skirt and top today - well, not new to my wardrobe, but today was the first time I've worn them due to my recent shedding of kilos.  

I enjoyed my boss-free day in the office today. I spent most of the day completing the self-assessment for my performance review on Monday. I'm glad that's done. 

There was a yellow crescent moon above the city as I crossed the river on my way home tonight. 

Footy and figs

Yesterday was one of the major events of the year in Melbourne - the AFL grand final, held at the MCG stadium just a stone's throw from our place. But Luke and I went against the tide of sports fans pouring out of Richmond Station and caught a train out to Moorabbin for a barbecue at my friend Bertie's place. 

It was a fun day out. At half time, a few of us kicked the footy on the oval next door to Bertie's place (the home ground of the St kilda football team).  It's been a long time since I've kicked a football. I used to be pretty good at it when I was a kid. Apparently I've still got it because I kicked a goal yesterday. Go, me...oh, all right. It was a set shot while I was standing right in front of the goals. But still! 

There was a full moon over the oval as Luke and I headed back to the station. 

Are these figs or feijoas? I spotted them hanging over my neighbours' fence yesterday and at first I thought they were figs and got a bit excited. I'll be able to eat freshly picked, locally grown figs! But now I'm not so sure. I'll have to keep an eye on them and hope the birds don't get to them before they're ripe enough to pick. 

Henry Wagons tweeted a link to photos from his album launch on Friday night. I'm in two of the photos and Luke's in one. We're famous!

Moon

Big, yellow moon rising tonight

Smile, spring, birthday

The moon is a smile tonight

Today is the first day of spring and that means Gleeful is 3 years old. Yay!

I was a bit grumpy when I left for work this morning, but my mood lifted when I saw new growth appearing on the trees beside the river. It was a grey morning, but it turned into a beautiful sunny day.

My cards from Curly Girl Designs arrived today.

It's not long until Luke comes back from his travels. I can't wait.

The fog and the sun and the moon

There were three hot air balloons floating in the foggy sky when I got up this morning. The fog was thick, but the sun was trying hard to break through as I made my way to work (below).  It took until well into the morning for it to clear up completely.

My building emerging from the fog

When I left work, the big, yellow moon was rising and just hovering above the top of the MCG stadium. Of course my photos don't do it justice.

 

I could see it almost all the way home.
 

PS: The blog about my birthday weekend in Walhalla is still to come. You can see my photos here for a taste.

A glee-packed weekend

I am in bed, weary but happy after a weekend of gleeful fun and sunshine.

* I met a friend in the city on Saturday afternoon and we walked to Johnston Street, Fitzroy for bagels at Bean and Bagel (we loves the bagels, we do). While sitting in the window munching my sesame bagel with cream cheese, I looked up and spotted a faded sign on a building on Brunswick Street. Moran & Cato, it said. But then I walked off and forgot to take a photo. Dang.

* We walked down Johnston Street to Smith Street and poked about in a couple of second hand stores (where we tried on dorky glasses and top hats, and sat in old vinyl chairs discussing sex robots...as you do).  He found an ashtray with his Dad's name on it (apparently his namesake is a whisky distiller). We also looked in the vegan shoe store, where I mostly sat and patted the resident cat while my friend looked at the shoes.

* We then headed back to my place, stopping for a few minutes in the Fitzroy Gardens to admire the city bathed in hazy late afternoon sunshine.

* I spotted several other old signs as we wandered about.

* Just before we got to my place, we made a detour into the Botanic Gardens to see if we could see the eels in the Ornamental Lake. We've been several times in the past few weeks so that my friend could see the eels for the first time, but we've been out of luck. I even emailed the Botanic Gardens administration asking if the eels are still there and I got a quick response saying the eels are mysterious creatures - they suspect most have left the lake to make their way to their spawning grounds. What the?  Left the lake?

Turns out the eels (which are Short-finned Eels) LEAVE THE WATER AND TRAVEL OVERLAND! ON THE GROUND! LIKE SNAKES! THEY'RE FISH! FISH!!!!!!! They can breathe through their skin (as well as gills) and they have mucous-coated bodies which help them slither over the ground. They slither to the nearest river, the Yarra in this case, which means crossing a fairly busy road.

If that's not amazing enough, the eels travel downstream to the ocean and then swim 4000 km north to the spawning grounds in the South Coral Sea (off the coast of Queensland). AND THEY SWIM ALL THAT WAY WITHOUT EATING!  They survive on their fat stores.

Between one and three years old, the baby eels (elvers) float southward on ocean currents and eventually make their way upstream in rivers in Victoria. Isn't that bizarre and amazing? I have a newfound respect for the eels now. I still think they're creepy, but at least they're interesting.

I also learnt from the Botanic Gardens website that the gardens are home to a frog called the Easten Common Froglet (hee), small bats called microbats (as well as 'megabats' like the commonly seen Grey-headed Flying Foxes) and (non-flying) foxes. Foxes! I now want to see an eel slithering across the ground and a fox going abouts its foxy business. Just when I think I can't love the gardens any more than I already do...

Anyway, did we see an eel this time? Yes, we did! Yay! Just the one, but that was enough. My friend now knows I wasn't making them up and photoshopping pictures of them, so we're both happy. While in the gardens, I rescued a European wasp from the lake using a bird feather (then watched it rubbing its proboscis with its front legs as I lined it up for a macro shot), and then I scared a fairly large spider by twanging its web. It ran off like a big sookie pants. Pffft.

* I finished my New York jigsaw  puzzle! Wooo! I did most of it, but my friend helped me finish off the hardest part, which I left til last. He let me put the last piece in place. It was very satisfying.

* After that we went up the street for dinner and admired the supermoon, shining big and bright over Richmond. On the way back we lay on the grass in Gosch's Paddock, full of noodles, looking up at the supermoon. It reminded me of lying on the front lawn on hot nights as a kid with my parents and brother, stargazing and looking for satellites and shooting stars, with a stinky mozzie repelling coil glowing and disintegrating slowly nearby.

* I got an unexpected invitation to attend Barry Morgan's World of Organs at the Spiegeltent tonight with a friend I haven't seen in many months. I can't say I was busting to see the show, but it was such a lovely warm night, and I really like seeing shows at the Spiegeltent, so I eagerly accepted. It was silly, but lots of fun. The man gets a lot of mileage out a few double entendres and goofy expressions.

We had dinner afterwards and a good catch up. And now I'm home in bed, ready for sleep. Goodnight.

The sea, the moon, the music

I saw the sea from a city building again today. The sea and much more besides, since I was on the 42nd floor this time. I could see tiny people kicking a ball around on the grassy flat in Birrarung Marr, lines of cars glinting like mica in the midday sun as they stretched into the distance and a wee yacht on the bay near the St Kilda pier. Oh, and my house. At least I thought I could pick out the tiled roof of my building anyway. I will never tire of saying, "I can see my house from here. No, really!".

A girl serving me in a shop told me she liked my glasses (I was wearing my new purple specs).

When I was walking home in the twilight I looked up and the full moon hit my eye like a big pizza pie. Very light rain started to fall as I walked along the river. I liked it. AAMI Park sparkled like a very large jewel.

I have downloaded two new albums (new to me). The John Steel Singers' LP The Beagle and The Dove, which is great,  and also...Lisa Mitchell's debut Wonder. I hesitated there because, as Aussies reading this might know, Lisa was a contestant on Australian Idol a few years back. I'd not paid her debut album much attention due to music snobbery, but really, there's a reason why she's not being held back by the Idol stigma. Her album of sweet, quirky, catchy folk tunes is truly lovely. It's a nice surprise when you discover your preconceived ideas were ill-founded. Opening your mind rarely ends badly.

It's hard to pick a favourite, but here's one that has whistling in it:

Full moon and ducks

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.

Tonight's duck:

Last night's duck:

Blue pizza pie and new hair

When I came in the door tonight after the movies, the huge yellow full moon hit me in the eye like a big pizza pie. Does anyone else sing that song in their head when they first see the full moon?

Apparently it's a blue moon - the second full moon within a month, the last being on 31 December. There's a moonshadow moving slowly across my lounge room (or there was until my flatmate turned the light on).

I got my hair cut and coloured today. I'm like brand new, even though it's the same cut and colour as always. Feels good.

The hairdresser, who only cut my hair a few times before she left to have a baby over a year ago, remembered my name immediately. I was impressed and pleased.

Moon watching, leaf watching

The past three nights as I have been lying on my couch watching (you guessed it) Angel, the moon has appeared in the corner of my loungeroom window, big and yellow and full, and slowly arced its way across the night sky. I've been watching the man in the moon almost as much as my TV screen, and he's been looking back at me.

Last night the moon drifted in and out of light cloud. It was a little spooky, but awesome, and also quite a fitting backdrop (OK, sidedrop) to my DVD viewing since Angel is a creature of the night and the show has taken a darker, more dramatic turn in series two.

I like that I can lie on my couch and gaze at the moon. It's one of the many things I love about where I live.

Leafwatch

The leaf on my deiffenbachia is all but unfurled now. Yay. And what's more, another tiny shoot has appeared (just in front of the stem). Double yay. I definitely haven't killed it. Phew.  

Moon and money from Kevin

Tonight when I was walking through the park in the dark on the way home from the gym, I looked towards the city and saw a big, yellow sliver of a moon hanging above it. My photo doesn't really do it justice. But it was cool.


Let the stimulation begin!

Woohoo! I got my $900 from the Ruddster today! (For non-Aussies, the Federal Government, headed by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, is giving cash hand-outs to people in an effort to stimulate the ailing economy.)

I am going to buy a new mattress, one of those ones with the big, fat pillowy tops. It will probably make it even harder to get out of bed in the morning, but hopefully I will feel better when I do. And in the interests of actually stimulating the economy, I'm planning to purchase an Australian-made mattress from a small business.

I'm also going to buy some bouncy new gym shoes since my old ones are getting too worn. They're only about 15 months old, but I do walk about 30 kms a week in them. I love new runners. Bouncy bouncy bouncy!

Coincidence

Tonight when I checked my bank balance to confirm the arrival of my $900, I noticed the balance of my account was almost exactly the same as the available credit on my credit card. The dollar amount was identical, and the cents only about 40 cents difference. Weirdly, that's the second time in the past week or so that that's happened.