Melbourne...

Guess where I went tonight!!!

Yep, you guessed it, guys and dolls. At the princess theatre in Melbourne. It was a great night. The cast was brilliant, lisa mcclune, marina prior, gary mcdonald, magda zobanski (so spelt that wrong) and Kenny (Don't remember his name, but he did the movie. Loved the music, the sets, the dancing. WOW.

I'm in Melbourne for a work conference, but had some time off this afternoon and also got to pop over to the Art Gallery. That was brilliant as well. I could have spent a day there and not seen it all, some amazing artworks.

Tomorrow is the last day of the conference and then I am going to stay with friends who live on the outskirts of Melbourne till Tuesday when I return to Nowra.

Catch you later...

A dinner party, and my trip to work...on foot.

Well, two weekends ago I went to canberra to pick up furniture from some relatives. Last weekend, I had my first dinner party. It was a lovely night of delicious food and great company. Robi and Adam on the right brought a lasagne, salad and garlic bread, Tracey and Jill on the left brought dessert (cheesecake and apple pie) and Lynda brought drinks. I provided an entree of a Tom yum soup, with fish and dried mushrooms and rice noodles.

All these guys are people I know quite well from my church, but none of them really knew each other before the night. I quite enjoy introducing people and building community. Invite them, chuck them in a room together and watch new friendships grow. Whether anyone decides to catch up again apart from at another dinner party I hold, I love the fact that when they meet again they will no longer be strangers.




Also, I thought I would share my walk to work with you. This is only possible because of the direct decision I made to buy a home close to town. I am now located in a place where I literally would never need to drive a car again. At the moment I am still driving, although only to places I can't walk to. My church is a 7 minute drive away which is not realistic to do late at night. Should petrol become un realistically expensive I will either have to carpool more with others (I am already trying to do this where possible) or consider moving churches, which is not an option I really want to consider as I love my church. The other option is riding my bike, which I have bought and used now. Anyhow, also withing walking distance are all the local shops, the town's main bus station, from which I can get to the train station, the beach, and most capital cities in Australia. I can also walk to my mother's home, and numerous friends, hospital and doctors etc.

These hibiscus bushes are my first stop. They were overgrown and completely covering the path until someone who will remain nameless and is not me took to them after an evening shift (about 1am) with a pair of branch loppers. This has made the path accessible and the bushes a profusion of flowers.

The bushes are next to a doctor's surgery which has the most beautiful cottage garden, including a pathway of lavender bushes. These are always full of flowers and smell divine when the sun is out. I am planning to take some cuttings soon.

This is our central town park. Within the park is the local guide hall where I did Brownies and Guides from age 7 to 15. This park was definately part of my childhood. It has some lovely rose gardens and more recently camellia gardens which add to to park. A regret for me is that council decided to remove the waterlillies which used to cover the surface of the water. Now the ponds are much dirtier and much less attractive, and I worry about the nutrients which flow into it I believe as storm water. I have often thought of secreting a couple of plants in at night. Any one have any that need dividing???

One thing I love in our town is that local artists were commissioned to paint all the electricity boxes. There are some brilliant ones and this one is by no means my favourite, it's just the one I pass on the way to work. One has a circus theme, another cows. If I remember, I'll try and photograph some more if anyone would like to see them. It definately improves the streetscape.

This photo is one of the last parts of my walk, and probably the most depressing at the moment, a constant reminder of the rising cost of living, but also as I walk past it an encouragement that everytime I walk I am not only saving the environment, but also my hip pocket. It definately motivates me to think of ways to not need to use the car, like shopping at the hardware store in town rather than Bunnings, like riding the bike to my friends house, which is harder and takes more time, but leaves me fitter and the planet healthier.

What does the rising price of petrol challenge you to do??? I'd love to hear some of your creative ideas, and focus on what we can do to change. There's lots of fears and concerns but lets help each other find the answers.

Hannah

ps. Rhonda at Down to Earth just pointed out an interview that screened last night in Australia with Richard Heinburg, oil expert. You can read the transcript here

Fireworks

June long weekend is a special weekend in Canberra. It is the only weekend of the year you are legally allowed to let off fireworks. This year was the most restrictive ever, with fireworks only going on sale Friday morning and only to be used between 5 and 9pm saturday and sunday of the long weekend. It's a Public holiday in honour of the queen's birthday, although it isn't actually the Queen's birthday, please don't ask me to explain that one.





My grandparents had some furniture they were giving me and my friends were doing fireworks so I thought I'd combine the two trips into one. It actually turned out to be a very productive trip. Firstly because my aunt and uncle had a bunch of furniture they gave me as well, photos will come soon after it's all set up. All told I was given a three peice lounge setting, a coffee table, a dining table, five chairs (to match three I already had and make 8 in total, a rug for the garage, a heater, some blankets, some books and some home grown fruit. There's more I have to pick up another time.




It was also productive in that I was able to catch up with lots of people who are important to me and spend time with them. I drove the back route 4WD through Nerriga (unsealed road after the rain = lots of fun, but I only did it unloaded and came back via the sealed road) and visited a friend who is building a low impact house there. I had lunch with my Grandma and we went shopping. I stayed the night with aunt and uncle and spent some good time with them. I went to church with a friend from Sydney who has moved to Canberra and caught up and encouraged each other. I spent time with my Grandparents on the other side. I caught up with three of my cousins and with a bunch of friends. And then on the way home stopped in on old friends from high school youth group days.

This is Xavier, my surrogate nephew, he loves this jumper and it's right next to the kitchen, keeps him amused while mum is busy cooking.

Me with my gorgeous cousins. We had the couch outside in the driveway to watch the fireworks.

My cousins playing with sparklers. I love special effects. We had goes at writing our names but the shutter didn't stay open long enough.

The boys setting up the fireworks. We all took turns lighting them, even my young cousins (with close supervision.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend, Now I just need to recover!!!

Historic Gulgong

I visited Gulgong this weekend. It was for a purpose which I will talk more about tomorrow, however just thought I'd share some photos of the town. I got up quite early on Sunday morning and went for a walk.





This is a beautiful building, says it is art rooms, not sure if that is a studio or a gallery. Gulgong is the town where one of Australia's most famous poets, Henry Lawson lived.
I just loved this little chook run with it's ladder up into the shed with small gum trees shading it from the hot sun. If I was a chook I'd be happy to live there.

(oops, forgot to flip it around) An older house in Gulgong, just caught my eye. I wonder what that house has seen, the children who grew up in it, the marriages, the fights, the laughter and the tears, the hopes and dreams (in a mining town, probably often unfulfilled.) If houses could talk....

We'd all want to shut ours up.

It's true though that houses are more than the space we occupy, they are memories, they are happy times and sad.

Visiting Port Stephens

I was in Port Stephen's for a friend's 60th birthday on the weekend. He's the one just behind me (Roger) and Ainsley his wife is in the background. My mum and I drove up there Friday afternoon, dropping in on the way to my best friend from junior high who I had not seen since then and had lost touch with after she married while I was overseas and relocated. We got back in touch with each other through myspace (thank god for the internet) and arranged to meet as she lived on the way to Port Stephens.

On Friday night there was a formal dinner and I was surprised that of the people sitting at the table I knew all bar two personally (out of ten) and had expected to know only a handful of people in the whole party. One couple were pastors of my church in Sydney I have recently left to move down the coast and their son. They were there because they started the church of the same denomination that my friends attend. Then there were a bunch of men who are all leaders on the scout camp that my friends have assisted on for years and that I went to help at this year as well, and then two men from the church (Oh and my mother) It was really nice to have that interconnectedness, and a small reminder that our huge world is not so big and definately not so far away. I love meeting new people and have made some new friends on the weekend as well, gradually as my world becomes bigger, the world as a whole becomes smaller, and places and events have more meaning because of the connections I have there.

I remember hearing that there are seven degrees of separation between everyone on the planet. Eg I know someone who knows someone who knows someone etc etc etc who knows anyone else in the world. I was thinking about this and about who would be someone who it would be hard to know. My first thought was - the president of the united states. I thought about it and realised there are only three degrees of separation between me and the president of the united states. It may be more between me and some people but in general I believe the gap is small. Between me and the Queen of England there is only two, as both my sister and my grandfather had personal encounters and conversations with her when she had a visit here when I was younger. I say this not so to namedrop but to think and to challenge us all to think about our connectedness. The more we are connected surely the better the world will become.

Anyhow, I had a lovely weekend. Above is a photo of us sailing on the bay in my friends yacht and below is the view from the restaurant where the dinner was held. The world is a beautiful place.