The joys of autumn and cheese

Leaves, leaves, leaves! Look at this pile of leaves! Luke and I came upon it on Caroline Street in South Yarra today and we had to kick them up and jump in them. We tried not to spread them around too much because it looks like a resident has spent some time sweeping (or more likely leaf-blowering) them into a pile. Childishlly gleeful, but considerate, we are.

It was an absolutely stunning autumn day today. Just bee-yootiful.  Luke and I walked up to the Arts Centre to see the musical Next to Normal (the one I got excited about a month or so ago) and the green grass of the King's Domain was glowing in the sunshine. So pretty.

Next to Normal was very good. Not as emotionally affecting as I was expecting, but the cast was talented and the music was enjoyable. 

I made a delicious gluten-free Mexican meal on Thursday night - chicken enchiladas with avocado salsa. Simple, quick, tasty. But then it's hard to go wrong with cheese, eh? Mmmm, cheese.

Mushies!

It's mushroom season. I saw these beside the river on my way to work this morning. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the mushrooms were sparkling with dew. I didn't have time to take any close-ups, dangit! I love photographing fungus (I won't eat it though).

This reminds me of when I was a kid growing up on a farm. One autumn my brother and I went mushrooming and there were HUNDREDS of mushrooms growing by a stream, each one bigger than the last until we were picking mushies as big as dinner plates! We were in paroxysms of delight. We took home as many as we could carry.

Mum cooked them and the whole house stank of mushrooms. Dad was the only one who ate them and...er...he was a little unwell afterwards. Oops.

Tomorrow is Friday already! Yay! Gotta love a three-day working week.

Easter fun: part 2

The pier at Altona

What an ace Easter break I've had.  Sunshine! The beach! Cuddles with nephews! Friends! Sleep-ins! Shopping! More comedy!

It turns out that Easter Sunday is quite a good day to go to Ikea. It wasn't too crowded. I bought a new rug for my lounge room, which was carried most of the way home by my friend/rug mule, Si. It looks good.

This made me laugh. There's something about the exclamation mark that suggests the signs were put there after an unfortunate incident. No, you can't pee here!

Sunday night Si and I went to see Daniel Kitson's show The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church, which seems to be about death, but it's really about living. It was fantastic. Kitson has an amazing gift for a delightful turn of phrase. He can amuse you and move you at the same time (if you can keep up - he talks very fast).

On Monday I visited my friend Deliea and her two sons (my quasi-nephews, who are now 4 and about 18 months). They are such beautiful little boys - blue eyes, long dark lashes and blond hair - and so funny.  The little one got all shy when I arrived, tucking his chin into his shoulder and looking up at me through his lashes. So cute.

Deliea and her sister made a yummy lunch (mmm....corned beef) and then Master 4 asked me to stay for dinner as well, so I did. He asked so nicely I couldn't say no.

Today was the first anniversary of my father's death and I visited my stepmother for lunch at Altona Beach. It's hard to believe a year has gone by. We let go some balloons in the colours of Dad's footy team and watched them until they were out of sight. We walked out on the pier and I saw tiny little fish in the shallows.

I stopped off at Newport and Yarraville on the way home to take photos of old things.

Newport

The old St George's Theatre at Yarraville

(now being turned into apartments)

An old house on Ballarat Street in Yarraville

Old milk bar in Yarraville

Easter fun: part 1

I am having a delightful Easter break so far. Comedy, countryside, cuddles, chocolate. C is for awesome.

Thursday night Luke and I went to yet another comedy show - this time Ava Vidal, a UK comic, who was funny, often in a 'that's a bit wrong, but hahahaha' way. I liked her.

On Friday we headed for the Mornington Peninsula for the day. It was breezy and cool, but sunny. Luke pointed out landmarks from his youth and the tiny, ghostly silhouette of the city in the distance.

We stopped at Mornington for lunch...well, breakfast for me and second breakfast for Luke (mmmm...bacon).  

Then we kept going all the way to Cape Schank, stopping for a little meander along the picturesque beach at Sullivan Bay, near Sorrento. Did you know Sullivan Bay was the site of the first attempt by Europeans to settle what is now Victoria in 1803? I didn't. The 467 settlers included 299 convicts, including an 11-year-old John Pascoe Fawkner, who in 1835 became one of the founders of Melbourne, and convict John Buckley, who escaped from the settlement and lived with Aborigines near Geelong for 33 years.  All that remains now are four settlers' graves.

Cape Schank

We stopped again at Gunnamatta Beach where the wind was blowing a gale and whipping up the surf, then headed on to Cape Schank. We walked all the way to the bottom of the boardwalk onto the rocky beach.  The rocks are dark grey and black when wet. Basalt?

The waves were so strong that when the water receded, it dragged rocks - and not only small ones - back into the water. The sound of rocks tumbling over each other was quite loud. Luke skimmed stones on the sea and then found me a nice, perfectly symmetrical rock to keep as a souvenir (I've got into the habit of doing that).

Paperweight?

We drove back through the countryside, which is hilly and very pretty. We listened to old cassette tapes in the car - Billy Idol, Eric Clapton, The Muppet Movie soundtrack and Transvision Vamp. Remember cassettes? We're so retro. Luke sang along but I couldn't remember the words (except to Rainbow Connection).

Speaking of music, Luke made me a two-CD 'mix tape'. It's good. I've been listening to it all day.

Last night I went to another comedy show with friends - Mark Butler's Grammar Don't Matter on a First Date, an hour of very funny stand up about pedantry and dating. It was great...kind of like a meeting of the Fellowship of Pedants (only funny).  We got to decide which grammar errors justified breaking up with someone and to pick out the grammatical errors in popular songs. I was the first to point out that Devo should sing 'Whip it well", instead of "Whip it good". *smug face*. He had us sing the grammatically correct version too.

I went with my friend Paul and the mother-to-be of his first child (they are no longer together, but remain friends). I'd never met her before. We got along really well. We worked at the same suburban law firm and have similar musical tastes (and she's a pedant too).

Today I'm having a lazy morning before heading to Ikea. Tonight I'm off to see my final show of the Comedy Festival - Daniel Kitson. Tomorrow I'm heading out to the sticks to visit my adorable nephews and eat corned beef for lunch. Wooh!

Happy, squelchy, choccy

Bad phone pic of the rain.

I had my annual performance review at work (even though I haven't been there a year) and my boss is very happy with me. Yay. I'm very happy too.

I got caught in a heavy downpour coming home. It started just as I got off the tram and I was soon saturated from the knees down and squelching in my sneakers. But you know what? I kinda liked it. I also liked getting home, changing into my pyjamas and putting dry socks on. Aaaah.

A thing I almost bought a couple of weeks back was today on sale for $50 off. It's now mine. Glad I held off.

One of the solicitors I work for gave me some Haigh's chocolate for Easter. What a sweetie.

Small blog world, pop, busy

I posted this photo of a cool old van  parked off Smith Street, Collingwood on my photo blog on the weekend and today the owner of the van commented on it! How 'bout that!

I went to the gym tonight, When I do some exercises, a couple of vertebra in my upper back pop. I know this is a bit odd, but I like it. I like it when the osteopath cracks my bones, even my neck. He always says, "Is it OK if I try to adjust your neck?" and I always want to say, "Dude, I'm not leaving here UNTIL you crack my neck!". I like it because of the release of tension that often accompanies it.

My Easter break is shaping up to be fairly busy. Seeing another comedy show with Luke on Thursday night, down to the Mornington Peninsula on Friday, another comedy show with friends Saturday night and possibly lunch with my step-mother on Tuesday. I wanted to visit my nephews and go to IKEA too. Fun!

Slack plovers, perfect brows, more Seuss

I saw Mr and Mrs Plover on my walk again this morning. When I first spotted them they were grooming themselves, but as soon as I stopped to take a photo, they started hunting for food again. It was like I'd caught them slacking off at work!

I got my eyebrows waxed again. The waxer told me I had perfect eyebrows (but obviously not so perfect they couldn't use a little tidy). I'll add that to my list of less common compliments, although it's not as uncommon as being told you're a good bleeder. That's what the Blood Bank lady said. Great brows, fast-flowing blood. *smug face*

I know I'm not meant to be buying more books until I finish the pile on my bedside table, but how could I resist Dr Seuss and Philosophy: Oh, the Thinks You Can think!? I read about it in an email from fishpond.com and had paid for it less than 10 minutes later. I already broke the no-new-books rule by buying the Gradual Demise of Phillipa Finch anyway. It's funny and whimsical and lovely.

Remember the rabbit that was a cushion with a face? Here's a feline equivalent:

Flying angry kitty cushion