Weird word, Winter Wipeout, summer breeze

Park Street, South Yarra. I love this place. 

(I think I've posted a pic before) 

I had some blood taken this afternoon and when I got home I mentioned to Luke that I'd recently learned a person whose job is to draw blood is called a phlebotomist. I'd seen someone on Facebook the other day who was a phlebotomist and I looked it up. 

Then when I was cooking dinner Luke called me into the loungeroom to tell me one of the contestants on Winter Wipeout was a phlebotomist. How freakish?!

Related: Winter Wipeout is back on! I thought it was on old series, but apparently it's new. Either way, I'll still watch - I can't get enough of seeing people getting whacked in the face or bouncing off big red balls. (Don't tell anyone I'm watching a silly game show instead of 7.30.)

It was a hot day today, but there's now a lovely cool breeze blowing in the window opposite where I'm sitting on the couch. 

Grumpy, but not totally without glee

I might have spoken too soon about doing well off my meds. I've been in a rotten mood since yesterday, although it could be that I've only had one good night's sleep in the last week and I've been feeling very average for the best part of a month (current state: exhausted + vertiginous). Or it could be that everyone and everything is effing annoying. I just don't know. 

But! I have had some laughs. I finished watching Raised by Wolves last night and cackled and guffawed my way through it. The final episode made me cry laughing - when Yoko (the sensitive/ anxious/depressive daughter) punched a hole in the caravan wall after Germaine killed a rare bee! - and it also made cry  - when Aretha was falling for her economics teacher, but her poor heart was crushed when she saw her teacher kissing her (own) boyfriend on the street. Long-suffering Aretha, the second eldest, nerdy, cynical, sharp-tongued daughter, is my favourite. 

The show was axed after its second season, but there are moves afoot for it to be resurrected. I shall keep my fingers tightly crossed.  

I also had a good laugh at these photos of googly-eyed grass monsters taken by my friend Victoria. I love them. They are ridiculous, adorable and hysterical. I love the playfulness, humour and imagination. 

I'm tempted to head across to the Botanic Gardens with a stash of googly-eyes, since I have no garden of my own.  (Apparently The Reject Shop sells these ones.)

I went to the chemist for something to help me sleep tonight. I'm sure I'll feel better if I can get some quality sleep.  
  

Small binge, socially anti-social, happy

Corner Flinders and Exhibition Streets the other night

I was flicking through the TV channels on Wednesday night when I came to Raised by Wolves on SBS. I'd heard the show, written by writer/broadcaster/feminist Caitlin Moran and her sister, was very funny, so I stopped to watch it and I bloody loved it. It is HILARIOUS. Nearly every line is quotable. Funny and ridiculous and, more often than not, completely gloriously wrong, but quotable. 

I'm not much of a TV watcher and thus not given to binge watching anything (except the screen of my phone), but I decided on Thursday morning I was going to spend today watching all of Raised by Wolves. I realised after two episodes that binge watching is not my thing though, no matter how much I love a show. I was feeling restless and ready to get up and do something else, but I persevered (lying in bed watching TV is such hard work) and watched all of the first series, which is only six episodes long. Then I went back to sleep (I hardly got any sleep last night, but not for any fun reasons). 

End of month drinks at work happened last night because of today's public holiday. I wasn't planning to go because I'm anti-social and still feeling poorly, but it was a friend's last day with the firm so I went and it was fun and now I wish it always happened on the last Thursday of the month.

I've been completely off anti-depressants for about two weeks now and I'm still happy as a pig in poop. Yay. 

  

Day 24: Funny fox, little pops, perfect choc

Luke and I have been watching the documentary Wild Planet: North America on Sunday nights. Although the narration is cringeworthy at times, the footage is amazing and tonight's scenes of a red fox hunting rodents in the snow had me chortling. This isn't from the same documentary, but it's the same hunting technique.  

The foxes can hear a mouse in up to one metre of snow and, even more remarkably, they are far more successful in finding a mouse in snow when facing north. The foxes use the Earth's magnetic field to help pinpoint the location of their prey. Isn't nature amazing? 

Little pops

We had corned beef for dinner tonight and it was delicious. We had it with wholegrain mustard. I like the way the mustard seeds pop gently between your teeth as you eat them. We have enough leftovers for dinner tomorrow. 

Muffin Break at Australia on Collins does 
excellent hot chocolate

Six digits and Moone Boy

I saw this old sign on Union Street in Windsor this evening. It's so old the phone number only has six digits (Melbourne phone numbers were extended to seven digits at some stage  - I don't know when - and I think grew to eight numbers in the mid-90s). 

And what's with the OF just hanging about there on its own (under the 28)? Of what, I wonder?  We drove past two more signs nearby on our way home. I'll have to go back to take photos another  time. 

I have been watching Moone Boy on the ABC co-written by Chris O'Dowd, who also appears as the imaginary friend of Martin Moone, the youngest child of an Irish family. I rather like it. In tonight's episode Martin befriended a new boy at school whose mother was a pastry chef so that he could dine on their gourmet fare instead of the unappetising meals dished up at home. Martin was particularly taken with Pavlova Night on Tuesdays (and who can blame him?).

Trevor (the new kid, proffering a small jug of fruity sauce): Would you like some jus? 

Martin (eyes lighting up): You bet I fecking jus!

(Since I've proven a poor judge in the past about the general knowledge of people who aren't me, I'll just add that 'jus' is pronounced 'zhoo'.)

It's the weekend. Hurrah. 

Early, staycation, unfurled, eagle eye

It's Sunday and I've been up since 7.00am! SEVEN! I don't like getting up early, but I do like getting up early. Yeah, you read that right. It's one of those things where I find the practice often more appealing than the theory. There's something a little magical about the start of a new day. I love to see the sunrise and I love that my day will seem much longer and I will get more done. Maybe I wouldn't be so enthusiastic if it were a work day...or IF I DIDN'T HAVE NEXT WEEK OFF! 

Yes, I have a week's leave.  *gleeful jog* ...Oops, I mean *gleeful JIG* I'm not going anywhere; I'm having another home holiday, ostensibly to have a decent rest because I've been feeling rundown and off-colour for months, but I have a growing to-do list already - mostly fun stuff like completing your mix tapes, making a start on a collage of old family photos and visiting my friend's newborn bub Eliza Grace. There's also a bit of decluttering and cleaning which isn't really fun, but will make me feel good when it's done.

I bought some oriental lilies last week and yesterday I noticed one closed bloom was on the brink of unfurling. I was setting it up to take a photo of it...lifted the vase up, arranged a nice background, put the vase back down, picked up my camera, started to line up the flower and IT WAS OPEN!

I got paid earlier than expected this month (the money goes into our accounts the night before pay day and pay day falls on a Monday this month, I worked out). What a pleasant surprise.

Look at this old sign I spotted from my boss's window! He's away and I was in his office to take a personal phone call. I looked out the window and there it was, on the side of the Princess Theatre!

Zoomed in all the way

Wider angle. Can you see the sign?

Luke has introduced me to The Mighty Boosh. It's absurb, but I like it, especially Howard's ernestness and the silly conversations he and Vincent have. It also makes me laugh watching Luke laugh at it.

I'm sitting on the couch listening to music with the sun shining in my window. Aaaah. Life is good.

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.  

Angel of mirth

I have been watching this video of Angel all day and cackling like a loon. I can't get enough of it. I had my cranky pants pulled up to my armpits when I got to work this morning, but repeated viewings of this video put me in a good mood. I laughed away my ill humour. Told you Angel is awesome.  

The video shows Angel (in the black) and Wesley (in the cable knit jumper) dancing like dorks. Apologies for the Crazy Frog music - it's not in the actual episode, but I think it makes the scene even funnier because Angel is such a brooding, ernest vampire-with-a-heart who likes to spend time alone in a dark room and here he is busting out the circle-claps and other dorky dance moves. Bahahaha.

I watched the episode last night and nearly wet my pants. See, this is the benefit of having a bad memory - I'd forgotten all about it! I'd also forgotten about the episode where Angel sings Mandy in a karaoke bar until I found it on YouTube. I have that to look forward to.

I hope I'm not boring you with my Angel waffling. It's probably very tedious for you, but I am enjoying it SO much.

Just for something different. Here's a picture of the sunset last night, seen from my loungeroom window.

Jacaranda and a cool change

There's a jacaranda tree in the Flagstaff Gardens! See? I never knew. I don't get over that side of the CBD very often. I love jacarandas. It's a whole tree of purple and purple is my favourite colour.

When I lived in a small country town, there was a little white weatherboard cottage up the street from us with a green tin roof and a jacarandah in the yard. The purple looked so pretty against the white and green house.

Cool

Our spell of hot weather came to an end today with a stormy cool change and a little rain. What a relief. Love the smell of rain on hot bitumen.

There's meant to be more rain tomorrow. Yay for rain.

Angel (hee, just as I typed 'Angel' then, Gin Wigmore sang the very same word!)

I got the Angel DVD box set on my lunch break today. I didn't let the 37 degree heat deter me from my mission.

Happily, I have a relatively free weekend coming up and I plan to spend quite a bit of it lying on my couch watching Angel and his cohorts slay vampires, demons and so on.

Welcome back, Chaser

Ah, you naughty Chaser boys, it's good to have you back on the box.

For any overseas readers (and anyone in Australia who lives under a rock), The Chaser is a band of Australian pranksters/satirists who have a half-hour show, The Chaser's War on Everything, on the national broadcaster. Tonight they returned to our screens after an 18 month hiatus. Hurrah!

I particularly enjoyed Julian Morrow's attempts to get a dummy dressed as Governor General Quentin Bryce (a woman) into the snooty, men-only Melbourne Club in the city. After failing to get her through the front door as his guest, he resorted to climbing a tall ladder and hurling her over the very, very high back wall into the club's large garden. After about 13 attempts.

I found it particularly amusing because a friend and I have expressed a desire to get into that garden ourselves - or at least climb the wall to have a good look at it. I'm not suggesting he should try to hurl me over the wall.

Does anyone have a big ladder? Surely it's not an offence to look over the fence?

Mrs Marsh is back (and not just on my blog)

Gadzooks, people! A couple of days after I blogged about the old Colgate ads from the 80s with Mrs Marsh, I just saw one of the old "just like liquid gets into this chalk" ads on the telly!

Maybe Colgate is trying to skimp on their advertisiting budget by getting Channel Ten to run the ads as a "retro break"? Whatever...I am very pleased by the coincidence. It's possible they have been running the old ads for weeks, but I don't watch much commercial TV so it's new to me.

Actually, now that I think about it, I saw a snippet of the above ad on the promo for next week's episode of The Gruen Transfer, so now I know what it's going to be about.

And speaking of coincidences this week, just after I blogged about Cookery the Australian Way, reader Jayne's daughter rang up to request a recipe from their copy of the book.

Aaaahh...I love a little coincidence.

Green!

And finally, I was very pleased to see that the recent rain has given a nice green tinge to Melbourne's parks and gardens. That's the hill at Birrarung Marr above, which just last week was an unappealing yellow-brown mound. But now - green grass! Yay!

Home, sweet home

Ooh! Hibiscus!

I'm back! I returned from my trip up north for Christmas yesterday, and while it was fabulous to get away and spend some time with my mum, it was great to get home too. I love Melbourne. I love my flat. I love my own bed.

And I love mail! I came home to a letter box stuffed with Christmas cards, which made the homecoming even more gleeful. I don't get much 'real' mail these days - mostly bills and junk - so getting not one, but a clutch of cards was fantastic. You just can't display text messages and emails on your mantlepiece and think fondly of the sender every time you look at them like you can with a real, old-fashioned greeting card. I have decided from now on to revert to posting greeting cards by snail mail.

A posse of pelicans fighting over fish off cuts

Anyway...my holiday

It was wonderful seeing mum again for the first time since last Christmas and lapping up the motherly hugs and home cooking. She took me to see the new house she has just bought in a little town inland from Port Macquarie. It's completely her style and I think she will be much happier living in a country town again (population 6,000 to Port Macquarie's 70,000+). All she can see from her back deck are trees and horses grazing in green paddocks.

We had a Scrabble match which I won 2-1, partly because mum only got O's and A's and I was able to marry Zs, Qs and Xs with triple word scores. We enjoyed a nightly dose of Seinfeld and Frasier. Mum absolutely adores Frasier - she still relishes it and laughs out loud, despite having seen most episodes many times already. Frasier is one of my favourite shows too and I enjoy watching it with her (seems like TV1 hasn't changed its evening line up in years). I loved seeing Seinfeld again too. The Penske file! The nipple! It was a scratch! Not a pick!

Port sunset

I watched half of the latest season of Scrubs on DVD while I was there too. I stayed up really late watching it because I love it so much I just couldn't turn it off. I watched the rest last night and now I feel bereft because it's finished. Think I might start watching it again from the beginning. Scrubs is the only TV series I own on DVD.

Mum and I saw Madagascar 2 at the movies (my choice!), which was cute and funny, and ate pizza on the foreshore afterwards. We went to the beach and read our books, and even though it wasn't hot, I had a dip in the surf. Bit nippy at first but quite pleasant once I got used to it.

Nobby's Beach where I swam

We had a low key Christmas Day with a yummy roast dinner and pavlova for dessert, although we had already tucked into the pav on Christmas Eve because we couldn't wait. Mmmmm...pavlova with big fat strawberries on top.

I slept late every day. I read two books and started another one, which was published in Australia by the publishing company I used to work for. I love coincidences!

On the first Saturday, I met one of my online friends, Wayne, for the first time. We had lunch at a beach-front cafe, followed by a wander along the foreshore and marina, where I had to stop for fish-spotting and was gleefully rewarded. (Yep, I'm that Viking in The Far Side cartoon who's storming over a drawbridge, pointing into the moat and saying "Ooh! Goldfish!"). I've met quite a few of my online friends 'in the real world' now and hope to meet more next year.

One of the town's few original buildings (and also where I had lunch with Wayne)

I saw a really, really big hornet! It was like a small bird (and fortunately on the other side of the window to me)! Everything's bigger up north. And there's frogs! I love listening to them burbling away in the distance at night.

The marina

I had window seats for nearly every flight. I love looking down at the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and the wide rivers winding their way through green hills on the Sydney-Port leg of the trip. And I know it's silly, but I can't help scanning the ocean for sharks ("Oooh! Sharks!"). Always in vain, of course. But most of all, I love looking at the clouds. It's so surreal being up in or above the clouds and being so close to them. I saw some really awesome fat, fluffy ones.

And, as you can see, I took plenty of photos.

I love frangipanis

Go, me!

I bought a digital set top box for my TV today, mostly so that I can watch the national broadcaster's digital channel, ABC2. And guess what? Despite being 5/8 techno-twit, I managed to stick all the plugs in the right sockets and make it work! I am so proud of myself! (Still can't get the lid off the jar of homemade tomato relish my mum gave me though. Dang. That's going to have to be a job for a guy downstairs.)

How was your Christmas?

Last night in Melbourne