Day 8: Excited about small things again

Do you remember last year I went to see Bill Bryson deliver the Kenneth Myer public lecture at the Town Hall? Well, I did and I really enjoyed it and I've been wanting to see/listen to it again since. I'm excited to have found the lecture on YouTube and I can't wait to see it again. Something for my weekend to-do list. 

I know that I'm getting back to my normal self after my period of gloom because I'm feeling excited about small things again. When we were in Paris in August waiting in the queue to go up the Eiffel Tower Luke asked me if I was excited and I answered honestly: No. 

WHAAAAT? I knew it was bizarre to be in Paris for the first time and not feel excited - to not feel even remotely exhilarated like I was on my trip to New York - but that's how I felt. Then a few weeks ago I was researching a day trip to Maryborough in central Victoria and I got a little bit excited about visiting a tiny village called Bung Bong, which has an abandoned church and an old bridge. Eiffel Tower? Whatever. Bung Bong? Wheee!  (In the end we forgot to go to Bung Bong!)

I had a miniscule spider scrawling on my had on the way home. Its body was smaller than a pinhead and it had to climb over the tiny fine hairs on my hand. People on the tram must have wondered why I was so fascinated by my own hand. 

My iPod battery hit empty just as I arrived home tonight. It's the second time that's happened in the last week. 

The Horologicon is mine, and another gardens jaunt

I walked into the city today and bought The Horologicon at  Embiggen Books near the State Library. Embiggen has become one of my favourite bookstores. It's not large, but it's very inviting. With all the dark timber, it's like being in someone's private library or study. The woman who served me said my Strand Books bag (from the bookstore in NYC) was cool. 

I saw loads of other books I wanted to buy at Embiggen, but I will wait until I get through Marian Keyes' latest novel and Nick Earls' book Word Hunters (which I haven't started yet) and The Horologicon before I go buying anything else. I get anxious when I have too many unread books on my bedside table! 

I popped into the Readings store at the State Library before I went to Embiggen. I wanted to buy Phillip Goad's Guide to Melbourne Architecture, but resisted. 

How long has this statue been in the grounds of the State Library? I haven't seen it before. According to the State Library website, this is the Bunyip of Berkeley's Creek. It was installed a few weeks ago during Children's Week at the library. There are two other sculptures - Mr Lizard and Gumnut Babies, but I didn't see them.

Lucky I took the photo of the ghost of the Coca Cola sign on the side of Curtin House when I did, because it's been covered over now. 

I walked through the Botanic Gardens on my way back from the city.  I saw this weird bush which looks like a bunch of sticks except for the unusual bright flowers. 

 

There were lots of these pods with big seeds ready to fall to the ground. It's a Tambuki-thorn from South Africa.  

I spent quite a bit of time in the herb garden taking photos and sniffing the nice smelling herbs. I had to assume some rather unladylike poses (in a skirt) to get close enough to take some close ups. Luckily I had the garden to myself most of the time. 

 The herb garden with the sun dial in the middle

 Curly

Look closely and you can see two of the little spider's eyes. 

The plant is hairier than he is. 

Water droplet on nasturtium leaf

 This is the bud for the strange flower I took 

a photo of yesterday (also below)

These plants and their flowers tower over me

 Cloudy 

 Another wee spider

 Dragonfly reflection. This was a complete fluke - 

it flew into the shot just as I took it

Palm tree reflection

Home holiday, spider house, tasty

My flatmate is moving out in a month and I've decided to have a short break from sharing. I can't wait! I LOVE living alone. I could afford to continue living here alone, but it's an insane amount of money to shell out in rent every week. It would mean curtailing my lifestyle and savings, which I don't want to do. I'll just have a little holiday at home for a month or two before looking for a new flattie.

There's a house on my street that has a large spider web in the front yard with a large spider in it (and a smaller spider). I'm glad the people who live there have left it where it is. I look at it every time I walk past (while trying not to look as if I'm perving in their front window).

I made a tasty salad during the week with spinach, baby beetroot, fetta, toasted walnuts and mandarine segments. I'm going to make it again this week with lamb sirloin. Yummmm.

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.

New camera! Yay!

This is the last picture I will take with my old camera because today I bought my new one! Woohoo! It's a Canon Powershot AS 2000 IS with 10 megapixels and a 6x optical zoom. It was on sale too. Noice!

I have a huntsman spider in my kitchen which simultaneously pleases and scares me. As long as it stays out of my bedroom, we'll get along fine.

Tomorrow night is Wagons night. Can't wait!