Lilies and a treat

I am greeted by the scent of the white lilies on my dining table when I walk in my front door.

I noticed the water lilies in the Botanic Gardens are starting to flower. There's also irises in bloom.

I ate a Milky Bar (I'm allowed the occasional one on my elimination diet because they aren't real chocolate).

Ummm...

So...some good things about today...

* Lamb mini roast for dinner.

* My wheat bag. Warrrrrm.

* An early night. Right now.

Less grump, more glee

I was feeling much less cranky and a lot more gleeful today, but going back to work tomorrow will be the true test!

Today's good things:

It was another beautiful sunny day - and there was also some rain.

I finally went to visit my new little nephew, Thomas James. I had some cuddles and he didn't cry once - he slept peacefully in my arms. He's so tiny.

In the evening I walked by the river into the city. The sinking sun bathed everything in a golden glow. It was a nice mild night to be out.

I saw Ringing the Changes by Strange Fruit at Birrarung Marr, showing as part of the Melbourne Festival. The troupe of five performers waved about on bendy poles dinging and donging the Federation bells (in a musical fashion).

Then I headed over to Alexandra Gardens for Transe Express, another Melbourne Festival show. While I was waiting for the it to start, I ate some poffertjes (little Dutch pancakes). It was quite a treat to be able to eat something away from home without breaking my elimination diet. Yay.

And the show was great - the performers, in elaborate jester-style costumes, were suspended about 40 metres in the air, playing drums and bells, and there were three acrobats who performed without a safety net. It was like a giant musical mobile. Quite captivating.

Afterwards I walked home in the dark. I saw something swimming in the river! Ooh! But there wasn't enough light for me to see it properly. Dang. Probably just a native rat anyway. Nothing can top the dolphins I saw a few months back. Except a shark. Or a whale.

I walked another 10kms today - 25 in total for the weekend. Feeling a little weary...

Good things

I've not been in a good mood lately. In fact, the past couple of days I've been in a positively rotten mood (or should that be negatively rotten?) and it's got to the point where I'm getting really sick of myself.

But I don't seem to be able to talk myself out of it. I'm better today since I'm not at work, but I'm far from gleeful. I feel like a fraud!

I think part of the reason I'm cranky is because I'm so tired and I'm also in the midst of another attempt at completing an elimination diet to diagnose my food intolerances. It's pretty hard going. I don't like deprivation. I do like eating. It's not doing wonders for my spirits, but I am feeling physically better, which I am pleased about, but it's hard to maintain it day in, day out in the glaring absence of chocolate.

In an attempt to chivvy myself out of the grumps, every day until I feel cheerier, I'm going to blog about all the good things that happened in my day, which will hopefully not just be things like "I didn't get the sack" or "I didn't split my pants in public".

So. Today's good things...

* I got to have a little sleep in, but I still got up before my alarm.

* It was a beautiful sunny day.

* I walked nearly 15 kms, including a quick stroll through the Botanic Gardens in the late afternoon sun.

* Then I had a little rest under my doona, read my book and listened to Wagons (still under doona listening to Wagons. I'm worn out!).

* I visited my osteo for a good bone cracking and a chat. I like my osteo.

* Porridge.

By the way, next month is NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month - the blog version of NaNoWriMo) and I'm going to participate, which means I will be posting every single day. It's one of my 101 Things to do Before I'm 40.

Another rainbow

As I was leaving work tonight

We have had a return to wintry weather in Melbourne. Brrr. But look! Up in the sky! A rainbow!

I like the cold less and less as I get older, but the prolonged dry spell in South Eastern Australia means rain is a much more welcome visitor. I can't bring myself to complain about it, even if it does sometimes spoil my plans or make me soggy on my walk to work.

I've also made a conscious effort not to complain about miserable weather since a very cold and wet day a few months ago when I saw a homeless man walking in the rain without even an umbrella for shelter.

Sometimes it's good to be reminded how truly fortunate most of us are...

Dial-a-nerd

In my post yesterday I encouraged you to pass along the phone numbers of any cute nerd boys you know...and today I came home to find a flyer in my mailbox from Nerds on Time. Well!

"We come to you!" it declares. "We can help," it soothes. "Call now!" it purrs.

Oh, I think it's something to do with computers. Sigh.

A crush, Wagons again and new places

(Sans specs, but with smile)

Think I have a little crush on Justin Townes Earle after his solo show at Thornbury Theatre last night. Talent, a gorgeous smile and I can't say I've ever found a Southern drawl quite so alluring before...

You know how in those American teen comedy movies like She's All That they cast a pretty girl to play the school nerd and they nerdify her by giving her a daggy hairdo and slapping a pair of dark-rimmed glasses on her face? Well, Justin was kinda like that - a cute guy with a short, back and sides and a pair of dark-rimmed specs. Mmm....I do like a cute nerdy guy (if you know any who are single, please feel free to pass on their number to me).

You could tell he loves getting up in front of a crowd and playing his songs - he played for about an hour and a half without a break, just him and his guitar on the stage. His guitar playing is quite mesmerising - to the ear and the the eye.

And Wagons was great too, although it was a fairly short set. We had an ace spot right in the front row. The friend who came with me hadn't seen them before and he enjoyed it more than he expected, which was pleasing. They've got two more shows coming up on the Melbourne Cup long weekend too. Yays! I had been thinking about going away as I have a five-day long weekend, but now I'm glad I'm not. (I'm in the middle of planning a bunch of other things to do with my Melbourne mini-break too.)

The other star of the night was the venue. I'd never been to the Thornbury Theatre before and I fell in love with it as soon as I walked in and looked up at the beautiful pale blue and gold foyer (above). I'm going there again in a few weeks to see Aussie songstress Clare Bowditch and her band.

Speaking of places I haven't been to before, the Royal Botanic Gardens had its Spring Open Day today and I visited Gardens House, which is normally off limits. It's an old two-story house which used to be home to the director of the gardens but it's now a private function venue. I don't think I even knew it was there before. I've seen the locked gate, but never knew what was up the path beyond it. Told you there's always something new to discover in the Botanic Gardens!

After I had a look theough Gardens House, I spent the afternoon in the sun reading the paper. And I took a few photos. Of course. A nice way to spend a Sunday.