Thank God For Fridays!

I'm so glad I got into the laundry yesterday.  This morning, I awoke to an overcast morning and not wanting to get out of bed.  But then, I had weird dreams about cycling down strange side streets, crawling through low windows and attending award ceremonies where the awards themselves were shampoo bottles.  Really weird stuff.  I was thankful when the alarm went off!

But the last few days have been interesting and full me doing a little housework, reading a lot and painting.  I have been getting better at the piano thanks to the Schmit book and its exercises and the temperature has been really showing it's beginning to look a lot like Winter around here in Brisbane and on this side of the globe.

Yesterday, I got into calling the Queensland State Archives to find out if they'd like to have my late-Grandmother's old piano music.  However, they only gather Government information and suggested that I call the Queensland State Library.  And so I did and they were delighted to find that I wanted to donate the music.  However they needed a list of what I had; which I hadn't written out.  So, I began on writing out the list yesterday afternoon; but only the titles.  I have a niggling feeling that they'll need the authors too.  So, I'll go back over it while I've got the time and add on the authors of the lyrics and music before I add on any other music titles.

Then, I went downstairs and played the piano for about an hour.  I really fumbled through it all.  My hands and mind weren't into it; but I played nonetheless, getting better as the time went on.  It was the first time I was grateful the session was over as I sounded terrible.

Reading was the next thing on my list.  I'm currently zooming through 'The Traveler' by John Twelve Hawks.  His book is turning into a good one.  And I can see it's going to be something I won't be able to put down soon as it's coming to a crux in the next few chapters... I can feel it!  Oh, how fun!  I love these kinds of books (writing as well as reading them).  I read about 30 pages while sitting out the front of my unit and then another 25 or so while out in the back yard.  It was lovely to sit on my maroon seat and read where I'd normally sit in Summer; as it wasn't cold but not too hot either, and that was a first in Winter for that to happen.

Well, I brought in the laundry at around 4pm, but some of it was still wet; even though it had been out there for a good full day.  But you see, the sun hadn't been out fully all day. It had been playing hide'n'seek with the clouds - which had been threatening to rain all day too.  So, I was constantly watching the weather from my computer room window all day.  I just couldn't relax and enjoy the day.  But the only things that were wet were two pairs of jeans and a pair of socks. 

I spent my evening painting more clothes pegs and watching television after a stir-fry with prawns... a very nice meal; but I don't think the prawns really suit the stir-fry that I do.  Next time I'll leave them out and put in the bacon.  It was a late night and I got to bed around 11:30pm and didn't bother reading the book; just switching off the light.  But sleep didn't come all that easily.  So, I'm tired today.  It must be the weather.

Well, until my next post, keep warm (or cool whatever your situation may be).

Interestingly Nothing Day

I had big plans when I opened my eyes for the fifth time today.  I was  going to attack the kitchen table.  I was going to clean the bathroom and wash the kitchen floor and work hard on tidying up the rest of the lounge room.  Yep, I had a lot of things I wanted to do.  But, the morning was crisp and there was a breeze that kept me wanting to stay in bed snuggled under the feather-down duvet where it was nice and toasty with my teddy bear for another ten minutes; which, of course would turn into another ten minutes very quickly.  

I was up and about before 8:30am with Stevie fed and the front curtains open to the nice, cool morning.  The sun shone through the lace of the window and warmed my little darling bird all day as the temperature didn't go as high as expected with a cold wind keeping me wearing a jumper for a good part of the day.  And yet, I didn't get too far from the computer to do anything all that constructive.

I played the piano for about an hour - actually, I lost track of time with it.  I tried out some new exercises and they weren't much without me doing the first ones on the first page.  Once I got into those, I was fine; and the next page was a lot easier, yet harder.  Luckily I do enjoy a good challenge.  And this time, I didn't hear anybody scream for me to stop playing.

By around 2:40pm, I thought to get my nose into 'The Traveler' by John Twelve Hawks; and so sat out the front of the unit with a drink and my cordless phone and read about 50 pages.  It's hopping along a good pace this book.  I do look forward to what's going to happen next... especially in the next two books.  If they're anything like this one, I'll have to keep an eye out for more of his work.

As the sun sunk below the rooftops, and the wind picked up - cooling me more - I looked around and thought it would be best to close up the curtains for Little Miss Stevie.  So, I packed up my goodies on the curb and went inside.  During my read outside, I had heard a noise and thought it was a carpet cleaning mob somewhere (as noise travels a lot around here).  But once inside, I was pulling the back curtain closed and spotted a man up on the roof of the unit complex next door cleaning the tiles with a massive hose.  So... it's that time of year again!  Roof-cleanin' time!

Well, that was my cold, lazy kinda nothing day.  I'll get in and do more tomorrow and be able to write about it.  I know this sounds boring, but really, it was a lovely day of doing nothing but putting away the sheets in my bedroom.  Until my next post, keep warm (or cool, whatever your case may be).

Queen's Birthday Weekend

Well, yesterday being a Monday, and the Queen's Birthday, we had a long weekend.  In the USA, it was Flag Day; but I don't know if that was long weekend there.  If it is, well we all won!

I didn't do that much around the place.  Seeing I had worked a lot during the usual days of Saturday and Sunday, I thought a good lazy day would be fun.  But, I found it was easier said than done; and ended up working on the house anyway.  First,though, I bummed around on here for a good while before jumping off and washing up some pots and pans around the kitchen.

The lounge was the next thing to be tidied up.  I threw out any scraps of wool that didn't have a home into a plastic bag.  All empty envelopes went in there too and tissues I found.  Books, folded clothes and towels went into a 'green' bag to be taken upstairs and put away (and that bag filled very quickly); and this also included any folded socks, magazines and booklets advertising Logan City.  I found other things too and tossed them into the 'green' bag.  Now, the lounge is tidier and I have also found all of the remote controls for everything!  Most of the time I'm hunting for them.

The knitting is still being used so I left that where it is and the painting gear on the coffee table is still in use at night; so I left that all where it is too until I finish the rest of the pegs.  But I'm getting there with the downstairs area of my town house.  

However, I haven't neglected upstairs.  Things are being put away when I bring them up to the office or my bedroom; they have to be.  Otherwise, I'm putting up with a little bit of mess until I come to this part of the tidying up.  It's just how I'm working with the house; and it's a lot easier than attacking the place in one big hit and less confusing.  So far, I think I'm going well.

During the afternoon, yesterday, I practiced the piano - as usual - and found the Schmit exercises frustratingly complicated!  But I stuck with them; slowing them down to get them right, and then playing first the right hand then the left and then putting them together again.  Well, it drove me batty... I took a breath and tried it again and succeeded slowly.  Then, I heard somebody scream at the top of their lungs:  'Stop playing that!' at which I paused for a few seconds and kept playing... mainly to get it right for myself, not to drive them nuts (after all I was already driving myself nuts with these exercises).  After about 10 minutes, I packed up the music and decided a walk would do me wonders; just to the front of the unit complex and back home, to clear my head.  Well, my neighbour watched me leave and watched me come home from the front lounge room window... now that's just plain creepy if you ask me.  It also raises my suspicions that it was her that screamed for me to stop playing; which of course I'm not going to.

Until my next post.  Take care and keep warm or cool, whichever the case may be!

Small Successes and Finds From the Past

I got into some more tidying up yesterday while more music played on the turntable; and it was a lovely day for it.  The sun was out and it turned into a nice day once the front door was opened up.

I pulled out the vacuum cleaner and got into the hard part of cleaning.  I absolutely detest vacuuming as it makes me sneeze and my hair clogs up the nozzle.  So, I try to get it over and done with as quickly as I can.  While I was at it, I also vacuumed the kitchen (as I dropped a jar of vegemite yesterday morning that shattered everywhere!) in lieu of it being washed in the next day or so.  So, once that was all done, I organised and dusted the 3-tiered table next to the stairs.  while I did that, I did out the bowls there and found all the keys that Mum had bought me while overseas in America.  

Then, I found my Lucky Penny - well, okay, I call it my Lucky Penny.  When I was in the UK in 1997, I visited 'The Beatles House' in Liverpool.  While there, I got three pennies squashed in this very cool machine.  One was for me, one for Mum and one for Grandma; I should have gotten about a dozen done; but I didn't.  Well, when I moved into my unit, I thought I had lost this little penny and so I had this down feeling that some lucky person out there had my little penny that I had traveled with for so many years.  And yesterday, I found it in one of the little bowls by the door!  Was I happy to find it!  It was something I was so relieved to find as I know I may not see 'The Beatles House' again for a long time.

Once the tables were dusted and everything was replaced - along with the things that didn't belong there - I sorted out a new home for the cute little keys (on keyrings) so they'd be on display instead of being hidden.  

Then, I sat down and practiced the piano for 45 minutes. 

The exercises I performed from the Schmit book the day before that I found so easy to do were a lot more complicated yesterday.  My hands just wouldn't do what they were supposed to do; and this frustrated me, even when I slowed them down.  In the end, I just put the music away and put it down to a bad day for me and my hands; knowing I'll have a better day somewhere along the line and play better soon.  Well, okay, I don't play 'Yesterday' or 'Alley Cat' yet, but I do wish to one day once I get to that standard.

Today, I've already gotten myself into doing some of the things I wanted to do this afternoon.  I sprayed some 14 pegs that I've been painting to update my peg box.  Unfortunately, I copped some of the spray varnish in my right eye and it hurt like hell!  But the pegs look great!  I photographed them and have been added to the rest of the box.  Don't they look great?  Anyway, there's still loads to do here online before I take off for the rest of the day and finish up some things downstairs to make the place tidy and low-maintenance.  

Until the next time I blog about the Big Tidy-Up - or anything else - take care and keep warm (or cool if that is the case for you wherever you may be).

Another Tidy-Up Afternoon Success!

I have found out two things about myself:  I clean

better when I'm angry about something and I also clean better in the afternoons.  I think it's because it's after I've been on here and all the internet stuff has been done... and I've had my 'computer fix' that I can get on with my day.

Well, yesterday was a good day for cleaning up the house.  After I got everything done by midday, I jumped off the computer and realised I hadn't found a site online for piano theory.  Oh well, I found one today; which I may be adding onto in the next few weeks.

I pulled out the vacuum cleaner and moved Little Miss Stevie into the nice warm sun in the front of the screen door while I vacuumed behind her spot.  And was there a lot of seed husks and bird poo!  But I got it all; and I found the duster too... so I have a duster for downstairs and one for upstairs now.  So, I changed the dust thing on it and ran it over the stereo system, television and around everything I could see that had dust on it.

Then, came time to put Stevie back in her spot and clean behind the front door.  I moved everything out of the way and vacuumed around the corner and where I put the umbrellas and moved the Jim Morrison print upstairs and sat it behind my bedroom door for storage instead (it'll be safer there anyway until I find a permanent place for it on a wall somewhere).  The piano was next and I pull everything off the top and ran the duster over it and put it all back.  The Swiss glasses were cleaned out and replaced as well.  Then, I moved the seat and pulled off the front foot panel and checked the water.  It was getting down a little, so I changed the glass over for a taller one and filled it and put it in; making sure the bottom of it wasn't wet.  I opened the lid and ran the duster over the keys and front of it.

It was time for a break.  I washed my hands and had a glass of water and sat down at the keyboard and practiced the piano for 1 hour and 10 minutes... all new music too!  I'm going well!  I even got my nose into the practice book for both hands to work together; all I need to do is practice.  

After I finished that, it was around 3pm and I decided it was time to get into sorting out Grandma's old and unusable music for the Queensland Archives.  So, I rummaged through my storage facility in my stairwell and found the two briefcases of Grandpa's and emptied them out (jeez, did they hold some crap!).  Then, I sorted the music into 3-page sheet music, Songbooks and single-page sheet music.  The three piles took shape and I found that I needed to use both of them.  Sometime this week, I'll see if Mum can drive me to the Queensland Archives to drop the music off for preservation; as I can't use it.  I'll see how it all goes this week.

Well, by the time I was almost finished sorting, it was 4pm and time to bring in the laundry.  So, once that was brought in, I closed up the house, turned on all the lights and made sure Little Miss Stevie was nice and warm before taking the laundry upstairs and having a shower and making a dinner of vegetarian nachos.  Yummo!

Winter's Hits Brisbane

Last night, it was a little bit chilly; actually I wouldn't know as I had the house closed up tight!  It wasn't until this morning when I woke to the alarm on my phone that I realised how cold it was.  I took my meds and snuggled down more after 7:30am and didn't want to get out of the toasty warmth of my feather-down duvet.  But my stomach protested and I had to go to the loo as well... bummer!  So, I made the horrible decision to get up and make a mad dash around the bedroom and find something warm to put on... namely my new mad-looking slippers from K-Mart and my warmer-than-warm dressing gown with teddy bears on it (it's pink, but it's warm!).  

After dressing, I had to wake poor Little Miss Stevie and get her food for her and she wasn't about to move from her swing; and frankly, I don't blame her!  She was nice and toasty (and it's almost midday now and I don't think she's budged from her swing to get anything to eat; even though she knows it's there for her).  I made myself a nice hot bowl of porridge after washing up a bit and decided on when to check the mail... when the sun came out to play.

I waited for about an hour... until 9am... and it didn't come out.  And it's almost midday and it's still hiding and the day is still freezing cold!  So, it's going to be one of those days!  I collected the mail dressed in my leather jacket, hat and  gloves with a scarf I bought in Edinburgh (which is made for this kind of weather!) and once home, I was still cold!

So, I'm here on the computer with cold feet (from not moving around) and freezing cold hands (but that's what happens when you're on a computer all the time; your circulation goes on you) and I have to go to the chiropractors this afternoon!  That is not a fun prospect!

This is definitely a time when I would love to change places with Little Miss Stevie.  Being able to stay at home all curled up on my swing in the warmth of the covers that my owner left on my cage is just something I'd love.

So, how did you endure today wherever you are in this world?

Ron Mueck Exhibition Photos

I have had problems uploading photos onto Photobucket.  So, while I have some time up my sleeve, I'll upload them here where I am allowed to.  They are not of adult content; they are art.  Enjoy.

This one is called 'Dead Dad'

 

 The Baby in full length.  I found her beautifully done.

 I'm not sure what this one is called; however it shows the nervousness of man and when he's put into a public situation.

These were the photos that were crossed out of the photobucket album.  So, I hope you enjoy them.  But, they are so much better in person; as the nervous man (the one sitting naked on the seat ready to run) is about 3 metres tall and very intimidating.  The baby is around 3 or so metres long and in great detail.  And so, I do encourage you all to go to his exhibition when it comes to your country, town and city.

Lucky Days!

So far this week, it's been a good few days.  I've had the good fortune to have a third book of a trilogy show up at the bookstore when it was expected to.  It's by a relatively new author and I've just begun reading his first book; which sounds brilliant.  This third book - I was told - was going through a limited print run; so that's why I bought it now instead of later this year.  It's:  'The Golden City' by John Twelve Hawks and again, on the front it's got a motorcyclist.  Seeing I've got all three books now, I can relax and read them at my leisure.  While at the book store,

I saw a little stuffed dog going by the name of Clifford.  I had never heard of him; but I think a lot of younger kids have.  And he just looked so cute; and for around $3.00, how could I say no?  So, I added him onto the bill and he came home with me.  Now, he's guarding the bookcase where my Mt TBR is... very cute!

When I arrived home yesterday, I checked on the mail and pulled out a few envelopes and found one from Triple M

Rock Station here in Brisbane.  I wondered what I had won... as I've won two prizes in the last eight months; one of them a major prize.  I ripped open the envelope and pulled out a double pass to see 'The A-Team' this Wednesday night!  Very cool!  I wanted to see this film as I was a big fan of the television series when I was young.  So, I asked my Mum along and she said yes!

And today, I opened the PO Box and pulled out a blue parcel pick-up card.  I have been expecting a parcel to return from

across Australia sometime soon.  And when I went inside, it was the exact parcel I was expecting!  Yay!  Once home, I opened it on the kitchen table and found plenty of books that had been swapped out and two had returned home.  And the little pink pencilcase was chock full of goodies that had been also swapped out amongst my friends on Bookcrossing.  Very lovely things had arrived in that too!

What a week I've been having so far.

I also posted off a funny film to a video show... but that's for another time.  Let's see if it makes it through to being shown on t.v... then I'll let you know if I've won the $500 just for it being shown.

A Busy Week

This first week has certainly been busy; and good ol' Mother Nature has given us the chilly breezes to go with it.  Winter is most certainly here in the South East Corner of Queensland and I don't think it's going to go anywhere fast.  

But today, seeing the sun was out and lovely and there was a cool breeze to make us pull on a warm jacket and a beanie, I thought an excursion into the CBD wouldn't hurt me.  In fact, I had been planning this one for a while because a great exhibition had come to town

and I was looking forward to it.  Ron Mueck was at the GoMA and I wanted to see his work that had been traveling around the country.  So, with about $80 in my pocket, I ventured into the city with the plan to see his exhibition, photograph some of the Yarn Bombing that had been going

on (and see if it's any good) and then go through the second-hand bookstore on Charlotte Street for more beginner's music to get my hands into more piano music.  The more I work on my left hand better it'll get into doing jazz.

So, off I went via two buses into Brisbane City.  The one thing I promised myself was that I wasn't going to rush or hurry anywhere today.  And I didn't.  I just took my time and strolled from one place to the next.  I took a good slow look through the exhibition of Ron Mueck's and took all the photos I wanted.  But on exiting the GoMA, I found that some of my photos were blurry, so in I went again (how fortunate I had gotten a pass-out stamp on the way out!).  so, I walked through again and got some more photos of the exhibits that had turned out blurry, and I even got some of the others from a different perspective.  At $10 Concession, it's a good price to pay to see such a great artist and his work.

I had heard about an exhibition about hats in the old Queensland Art Gallery not far from the GoMA.  So, I walked there and poked my head in there.  It was a comprehensive look at what passed as hats throughout time; and who would wear them!  And some of these things looked absolutely ridiculous ... while others were gorgeous but were only worn on special occasions.  It also showed the inside of an old hat-maker's workroom in the center of the exhibition; which was poorly lit if you ask me.  The fortunate thing is that the hats on display are all behind glass so nobody can touch them - or photograph them either.

After this exhibit, I couldn't find my way out of the Queensland Art Gallery.  Now, it's not that I'm dumb; I never have been able to.  It's such a rabbit warren of a place.  So, I just looked for those green and white lit signs that said:

Exit and followed those until I found a lift and asked the lady who sat in there all day where I'd need to go to get out.  She happily told me.  And each time I find my way out, I nearly kiss the ground with relief. 

Once I walked out the doors, I found the Victoria Bridge and walked across it where the Yarn Bombing began.  Most of the light poles had been partially wrapped in knitting.  However, I found that some of them had been destroyed by the elements already.  It's unfortunate that the people hadn't thought of this before; that the wind the comes buffeting along the Brisbane River would do this to their work.  But the work I found in the city centre was better

pinned down and more fun and organised.  I found three of the five round metal balls wrapped in 'wool' and they had 'knitting needles' attached to them.  They were the most impressive of the outsider art I found.  The other stuff was more beginners stuff - I hate to say this about how it was done, but really it was.  As I walked along George Street, I found green hearts attached to camera poles and trees that would have taken three months to make.  And in the park on the other side of the Treasury Casino, there's a

statue of a man in a cloak who is covered in a shawl and has a handbag hanging off one arm!  Oh, my God!  Whoever did that one couldn't put it one Queen Victoria (whose statue wasn't too far away from him in the middle of the park facing the casino?  The shawl looks great!  But that handbag is going a little too far!).

Once I had finished photographing that poor statue, my stomach ordered me to feed it.  And so I did at the Pancake Manor on Charlotte Street. Before all of that, though, I had gone to Allan's Music on the Queen Street Mall and bought a beginner's book on piano music.  The piano man there, Rick, was so good about it all.  He asked if I read music and after I told him that I was originally a flautist, he said that it was a good book start with; and he'd be ready for me to come back and buy jazz'n'blues music when I was ready.  Then, Rick asked me who my tuner was and I told him it was Martin; and he knew him well!  He said that Marty was a good tuner and would take good care of my piano; to let him know that Rick said hello the next time I saw him.  I'm definitely going back to Allan's to get my piano music again... they are wonderful people.

After The Pancake Manor, where I devoured a short stack called 'Blueberry Heaven'... yummo... I ventured next door to the Archives bookstore and went through their piano section of music books.  While sitting on their stairs, I found two that would help me immensely.  One would be a good beginners book (kind of like the Schefe book) and the other concentrates on getting both hands to work together in synchronicity; so there's no overlapping of notes from one hand or the other.

On the way to the bus stop, I bought two pairs of 8-hole laces of my Doc Martens (as the ones I have are wearing out and I don't get to 'Shoe City' very much to purchase laces).  Then, I ran into an old neighbour's cousin I used to talk to years ago; and we chatted all the way home.  

What a day!  I got home at around 2pm, but now the afternoon's disappeared on me.  I'm hoping to sleep well tonight and get some serious housework done tomorrow; and some major tidying up too.

A Fun Day Yesterday.

I was out and about in the cool Wintery day yesterday to Doug Cartwright's house in Logan Central.  He owns a lead-lighting business and has done very well with it. Currently, he makes jewellery boxes and has worked on the set of the next Narnia film at MovieWorld.

So, I took off early yesterday, bussing it to his place via the 550 and getting off it on Jacaranda Avenue.  The last time I was anywhere near this place, I drove a car and it broke down; and that was years ago!  So, once off the bus I had to find the walkway overpass and found his house very easily.  My task today was to help him start up a blog for another artist who was arriving from Melbourne in November.  It had to be easy to use, publicly easy to find and very easy to change if she didn't like the layout; so I recommended Blogger run by Google (the same blog programs I use).  We had our fun getting him signed in and picking out a template and then working on the title and gadgets.  Doug found it very easy to work on and edit.  Then, I showed him how to change the time stamps on it through the settings tab. 

By this time, it lunch time and we all sat down with a sandwich each and a cuppa and chatted about everything and anything until the subjects were exhausted.  Doug said that if he needed my help again, he'd ask and I said I'd be happy to help with anything to do with the blog or with the Kingston Butter Factory (where the Melbourne artist was going to show her exhibition).

After lunch, Doug showed me his lead-lighting studio downstairs where some of his paintings are also stored.  It's an amazing place full of smaller pieces of glass in containers and huge pieces of glass slotted into thin upright boxes in an area near a workbench where

he keeps everything as clean as possible.  All the templates for his famous jewelery boxes he sells at the Logan Art Gallery is there on the bench and he began working out a lid with some pieces of glass.  After a little while, I watched on and then began taking up some of pieces and getting into working out the patterns.  Once we had them all put together like a little jig-saw puzzle, we had to wrap each piece around the edges and brush flux all over it.  By this time, the soldering iron was hot and the metal rod was at hand. 

I had put on a mask and gloves and the place was opened up because the flux put off a smell once the metal touched it and metal wrappings connected; thus connecting it all together.  First, though, I had to tack each piece, then get it to ridge right and let it go hard.  Doug watched and helped me when I needed it; saying that I picked up the craft very quickly.  And the only sticky part was when the back and one side didn't connect all that well; but once we flared it out a smidge, nobody really noticed.  And what a piece!  

I did take other photos during the day.  We took an afternoon tea break and had a breath of fresh air out in the backyard where I saw a lovely Husky snoozing next to a little red kitten next door and took a great photo of a dandelion before its prongs went flying; it was a great macros.

Before long, it was heading toward 4:30pm and Doug though to it best to drive me home - actually, I didn't trust the busses at that time of day and it was getting cold too; truthfully, neither did he.  Just before we left, a customer arrived with a light shade that had arrived from overseas which had been damaged in transit.  Doug said he'd get it fix in the next day or so, grab the guy's number, gave him a business card or two and then we were on our way.

Boy! Was I tired by the time it was time for dinner last night!  I wanted to write this, but decided it could wait until today.  The jewelery box is next to my bed with my rings in it.  I also thought it would be an apt place for my grandmother's necklace watch too.