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.

Moonglade

I took this photo on my way home from the city at close to midnight Sunday night. I love seeing a big yellow moon hanging low in the sky, reflecting on the glassy black surface of the river.

It's a half-moon, which is hard to see because of the quality of my photo but also because of the light cloud blurring the edges of the moon.

I know this is going to sound strange, but I like walking along or across the river in the dark on my own on a clear, fine night. It's so quiet and peaceful and the city is a beautiful sight. Needless to say I'm not scared of the dark nor do I worry about what might be lurking in it.

And the clouds parted...

Not saturn. Obviously.

Woohoo! I saw Saturn tonight on my visit to the Melbourne Observatory. It was only a brief glimpse, but it was pretty cool.

To the naked eye, obviously Saturn is just a twinkly star, but through the telescope it looked like its true Saturny self, an orb in the middle a ring (or several rings really).

It was extra special because we didn't think we were going to get to see Saturn due to bad weather. We haven't had much rain in Melbourne lately and on the one night when I really wanted the skies to be clear, it was overcast and wet, dagnammit!

But as time passed, the rain cleared, the clouds broke up and we were lucky to get a clear view. Yay!

So, that's one more thing I can cross off my 101 Things To Do Before I'm 40 list. I've completed 15 of the 101 things so far, which doesn't sound like much, but I'm in the process of completing many other ongoing tasks (for want of a better word), such as reading 40 books a year, saving money, having a monthly massage and keeping my indoor plants alive. These things won't get crossed off until I turn 40 (about 37 months away).

PS Something very strange has happened to my blog formatting. It says it's Verdana, justified text, but it doesn't look that way to me. In fact, all of Blogger looks weird. Hoping it will come good on its own...

Holiday, sunset, baboon and moon

Before

Tomorrow is my last day of work for 2008. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I am flying up to visit my mother in the lovely seaside town of Port Macquarie next Wednesday with a suitcase of books in tow.

Fire in the sky

We had a beautiful sunset tonight. It snuck up on me when my back was turned. I stopped on the the bridge to take some pictures of the fluffy clouds overhead (obsessed, I tells ya) and when I turned back towards the city the clouds were tinged with pink. It quickly deepened to a fiery orange. I was in the right place and the right time.

For the bibliolistophiles

I stumbled across another great website the other day for bibliophiles (and list lovers) - Flashlight Worthy. It's a compilation of lists of recommended books across 53 categories, and you can also contribute your own lists. I haven't had a good look yet - something else to put on my holiday to-do list.

Baboon in my boudoir

I dreamt there was a baboon on my bed last night, which has today got me thinking what a funny word baboon is (and every time I type it, it comes out as "baboob").

Big moon rising

The moon is looking in my window as I type this. It looks a little filmy and fuzzy from the high clouds. Did you hear that tomorrow night there is going to be the largest full moon of the year? It will appear 12 per cent larger, in fact, because it will be closer to Earth and low on the horizon.

Starry eyed

Photo taken by Tom Richards

Did you see the smiley face in the sky last night? I forgot all about it, but a friend texted me, so I wandered out in my falling-down trakkie daks* to have a look.

For those who don't know, the crescent moon and Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest stars, were aligned into a smiley face. I had to walk half way across the bridge over the Yarra before I could see it. It was a perfect night for stargazing - still, clear and mild. I enjoyed seeing the smiley face as well as the reflection of the city lights and the Nylex clock on the black water.

Apparently the smiley face formation won't be seen again for another five years. Not quite as rare as sightings of Haley's comet, but still pretty cool.

* Aussie slang for sweatpants