Totally an overstatement as we have had lots of grey skies here recently.
I went out to dinner last night with Ms Andrea as a last supper of sorts before she heads off next week to spend a week with her maternal family in Nebraska. We had dinner at Tomato Brothers. I had a semi-decent Tomato and Fetta salad (it had more rocket and pesto than it had fetta), she had the Mediterranean salad, we shared a Veg Out pizza. It was good, though when you put roast potatoes on a pizza I really think they need to be thin, not thick slices.
We ate, we talked, we laughed, we gossiped, we debated, we laughed, we ate. Then it was time for a good bye. Andrea going in one direction with a pizza for her boyfriend to have for dinner, I went the other way with this photo.
I went with Mum 10 days ago to give blood but was turned away as it had been less than a week since I had a Hep B shot. Pabbi picked me up from work today to take me to give blood just in case I was a little woozy after donating and would not be able to drive home.
Total reverse happened. It was my 9th donation and my best ever. My iron level was 130 which is ok and I donated my 470ml in a bit under 8 minutes. None of this having a low iron level, using the whole time and only getting about 400mls out like in the past. The best part? I literally stepped up from the chair, had my muffin and walked out of the Red Cross Centre feeling 100%. No woozy/dizzy feelings at all. So Happy, I just hope it is a sign of future donations. Still pretty stoked about it.
And here is a photo of my Mum, if Mum didn’t donate, I don’t know if I would donate or more to the point, I don’t think I would have 9 donations by now. I have so many memories of Matthew and I spending time with Mum in the City waiting for her as she gave blood and then sitting in the chairs having our cheese and Jatz.
Most people are eligible to give blood. If you are eligible what is stopping you? Yes it might hurt, Yes it does take about 45mins out of your day, Yes you need to be careful with your arm after donating and Yes in 20 years time you might have track marks on your arms but for all those the bigger question if you don’t donate your blood every 3 months, will be there blood when you or someone you know needs blood products. 1 in 30 Australians donate. The number should be higher. You can make that number higher.
The election last night didn’t go 100% as I wanted it to go but I am extremely happy with the House of Reps result, slightly cheesed about the Senate (below the line peoples, below the line), sad for the Democrats, but so so happy for the Greens. Extremely happy for Queensland. Extremely happy for the future of this wide brown land.
We spent the night round the TV last night, watching the ABC, I was listening to Roy & HG call it on Triple J whilst I was in my bedroom processing these photos. So looking forward to the Chaser’s election wrap up on Wednesday night. Would have loved to have heard what Tim Freedman would have said at the Concert Hall last night on hearing that the Terror had ended. Happy for the future of this country.
Yesterday morning I got up round 3am to go out and get these photos. I was close to going back to bed but I said to myself, today is going to mark the dawn of a new era, I need to have those photos. I went out to Shorncliffe to watch the sunrise over Fisherman’s Island with my camera. It was cloudy, it was very windy but the sun did peek through those clouds and give me a promise of what was coming later in the day.
Tomorrow marks a very big day in the future of Australia. I won’t tell you who you should vote for as it is pretty darn obvious we need a change. As Tim Freedman said tonight, I wrote this song in 1997, I have never played it under a Labour government, I would like that chance.
At the end of the day Australia is about the people, it is about you, it is about me, it is about of all of us. It is about knowing that the Australia that we talk so passionately about still exists. Bring back the ideology I say.
Vote below the line tomorrow and don’t vote thinking only about your hip pocket. Vote with your brain and your heart. The economy does, will and can look after itself. Vote for what you know is right in your brain and heart about the future of this country, not just the future of the interest rate. Vote for the future of the environment, for a fair go at work, for better healthcare and education.
Vote for something that you believe in. Let us all be citizens again instead of consumers.
I have a Dymo at work. I have one at home as well but that is an old school one.
I have a secret desire to label things.
I want to put calculator on the stapler.
I want to put unrelevant phrases such as the sky is green on my phone or strength tester on the hole punch.
I want to put open on the door to one of the utes out in the yard.
I want to label the photocopier the beast.
I want to label a coffee cup with large hazelnut latte.
I want to put out on the in tray and in on the out tray.
Oh it could be fun.
I need to stop going off on tangents. I sit down to do one thing and end up 45mins later somewhere else and having barely touched what I sat down to start.
Last Sunday was a Sunday. Not one of those Sundays but one of those Sundays. Sundays where we spend the arvo at the Farm. Sundays where we get out of the car and a minute later are sprawled out on Grandad’s bed talking about the week, what we have seen in the paper today or of course just plotting world domination plotting world domination with Grandad
Those Sundays are also about going for a walk. Though this Sunday it started raining so we went back inside to read instead. I caught up on my National Geographics. Matthew slept. Pabbi read/slept/just lazed around.
Friday day. Another day in the office. Answering the phone. Doing the mail. Typing up quotes. Answering the phone. Chasing suppliers. All that fun stuff that fills my day between 8am and 4:30pm each day.
Friday night. Another night in this not so sleepy city. Relishing that sometimes mellow, sometimes rock reggae sound floating out into the night air. The Dé Jah Groove boys were in town to release their debut album Rock-Bottom Jackpot and had pulled out two of the staples of the local scene The Cool Calm Collective and Heavyweight Champions and an up and coming band The Colour who were mighty impressive.
The venue was of course The Step Inn, in some sense the little train that perhaps just could of the Brisbane venues. It used to be the Shamrock, a place on the fringe of the “The Valley” which was more of a shall we say public bar establishment than a place to go to see fine live music. The last year though the Step Inn has really “stepped up” and became almost a go to venue. They play host to a wide variety of bands from pyschobilly to reggae dub to metal and I have a feeling that after we all stop saying, it is still the Shamrock, we will realise what a treasure it just might become though it has a lot of work to go yet in improving the venue.
It doesn’t have the nicest lighting mostly due to the design of the stage and the room in general. The lighting though does change a lot depending on the band that is playing which is a lot more than can be said for some of the other live music venues round The Valley. Friday night though I was at the extremes ISO 3200, lenses wide open round the 1.8-2.2 stop and my shutter staying at 1/200 because other wise there was no hope in hell of getting crisp photos because unlike some of your more folky acts. Those boys like to move around a bit. Back to the show though. It was a nice night, talked to a few people, missed catching up with some people who I had wanted to say hi to, running into some girls from Caloundra the other weekend, taking photos and enjoying that sound. I have to give it to the Dé Jah boys for playing a nice long set which will stay in my little memory box for the weeks to come.
This is one of my favourite tracks off the album - One Drop High. Enjoy.
Nothing quite like a Saturday or more exact a Saturday Arvo. Spent the arvo picking Basil leaves for “normal” Genovese pesto and Lemon Basil leaves which I think will become a pesto with a bite to it, in the way of chillies and a decent dash of lemon juice. mmm just thinking about the idea now, I can just see a bowl of rice noodles with a bit of the pesto, some cashews and perhaps some steamed Asian greens.
Saturday arvos are also about sitting on a milk crate in the back yard listening to some fine Australian music, chopping up tomatoes and capsicums to go in the dehydrator. In a day or two we will have the most gorgeous semi-dried tomatoes. Some of which will get used to make a tomato pesto. Gee do you think I might like pesto? Really though how can you not. Just a handful of ingredients, a bit of love and tasting and you end up with the most flavoursome “sauce/paste” that can be used in/on just about anything.
Saturday arvos are also about mowing the lawn. Which I did this arvo.
Saturday arvos are also about sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper, cutting out snippets for books or exhibitions that we want to check out. Speaking of exhibitions to be checked out, it is only 22 more sleeps till the Andy Warhol retrospective opens at GOMA and to say I am excited would be an understatement :). The even cooler thing? Andy Warhol or more precisely 300 of his works are only coming to Brisbane, they are not going to those two cities down south who always talk about their capital C Culture. Yay for GOMA :D. I am so looking forward to the Andy Warhol retrospective and I have a good feeling that it won’t disappoint me as much as the Guggenheim in Melbourne did. 22 sleeps also till the big opening bash which is going to feature some of Brisbane’s finest artists including Robert Forster, Adele Pickvance & Dylan McCormack doing a bunch of Velvet Underground songs. The even better part? tickets are only $25. They go on sale on Monday - I am getting some for sure
I have just finished my last run through my photos from the De Jah Groove/Cool Calm Collective/Heavyweight Champions/The Colour gig last night (which was a pretty darn decent night) before I send them off to the marvellous batcher. I started using Lightroom a month or so ago and it has sped up my processing so much. I dump the photos, walk away and let it import them/render previews (takes a while on my beast), come back flick through and mark my rejects and give a rating to the photos I have narrowed down, flick through to make sure they all look ok and then off to the batcher they go. Lightroom is nice.
For a change I am also listening to 4MBS Classic FM at the moment and the most delightful piece has has just finished playing (Brahm’s Hungarian Dancers 1-10) everything else has also been quite delightful.
