the family I’m from

We’ve had a lot of rain this morning. It started bucketing round 2am and kept bucketing till round 5am, since then we have had showers on and off.

My phone just rang, it was Matthew, my younger brother does not typically call me so I was a little concerned at first as to what might have happened. However, Mums voice came over the speaker wanting to know what my back yard looked like. After I gave her the run down she told me that her and Matthew were at the Toombul car park observing it in all its flooded glory. Matthew must have gone out last night as Mum had picked him up from the bus stop due to the rain. He had told her that Kedron Brook was over the banks. They then proceeded to check out Kedron Brook at as many vantages as they could to watch the flooding. They are now headed on to Downfall Creek to see what it looked like.

Mum was telling me they were taking photos on Matthews phone of the flooding. I didn’t comment then but I will now since I know Mum will see this fairly shortly, that is why I take my camera with me wherever I go!

Yep, that’s my family, well really the Stephenson part of us, straight down the line from Grandad, a man who has kept weather records dating back to the war. The family for which the first thought when it buckets, is “mmmm I wonder how high the creek is?” or Mum’s favourite idea when it has rained is to go waterfall chasing. Yeah, we like our weather.

I got up close to 5, thinking there must be a fair amount of water in our backyard by now, sure enough there was. (A fact of life when living at a bottom of a hill on three sides, is when it rains our backyard will fill with water.) Our street is more convex than most streets to help the street drain in such events. There was probably about 10-20cm over the “top” of the road and about 30cm at the kerb. In our backyard, the water was over the retaining wall. I took a few photos but was not in the mood to get the tripod out so they have been pushed a little bit in Lightroom.

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It has rained, 204/365

I went back to bed for a little while but wasn’t in a mood to sleep, instead I took my book (it seemed quite fitting to be reading a tales of Brisbane, whilst watching the water drain off the street) and my quilt and cozied up on the couch on the deck, watching the taxi drivers trying to decide whether or not to drive the street. By 6ish I was ready to go back to sleep and returned to my bed to doze to the sound of the drizzling rain for you know, oh 45mins or so. I’m not one to sleep in!

The street now just has a little bit of water in the gutter and the water in our backyard has gone down a wee bit, it’s no longer over the retaining wall. I won’t have to water the veggies for a while….

It has rained

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain, as a child when I first saw My Fair Lady, I thought they were referring to a plane not a plain and could not for the life of me figure out why the rain would stay in the plane!

The rain in ‘Bris stays mainly in our yard!

Today is a Bran Nue Dae

Yes, it most certainly is.

I went to see Bran Nue Dae tonight and it has been a long time since I have heard so many laughs in a cinema. The movie is a total crack-up, the songs are fantastic and oh the landscape! The film is an adaptation of the stage production that toured Aus during the 90’s and the movie reflects that, in that there is very defined scenes and of course the musical numbers and dancing. Tap dancing in a church??? oh yes!


This scene had me cracking up, such a hoot to see Deb Mailman in this role.

I’m hoping to buy the soundtrack on the way home tomorrow. The film has had some very mixed reviews, a lot of the “real reviewers” have given it a very lukewarm response in regards to the story line, the acting, the production etc but have missed the magical musical fun it contains. Margaret and David both gave it four starts though. The “general population” reviews though are the complete opposite to the “real reviewers”, more in line with my joy at seeing it.

Nothing I Would Rather Be
There’s nothing I would rather be
Than to be an Aborigine
and watch you take my precious land away.
For nothing gives me greater joy
than to watch you fill each girl and boy
with superficial existential shit.

Now you may think I’m cheeky
But I’d be satisfied
to rebuild your convict ships
and sail them on the tide.

I love the way you give me God
and of course the mining board,
for this of course I thank the Lord each day.
I’m glad you say that land rights wrong.
Then you should go where you belong
and leave me to just keep on keeping on.

I can not tell you enough how much you must go see this movie! I’m hoping to see it again in the next week or so and will be buying the DVD.

You can read parts of the the stage play here on Google Books
Some really interesting clips on the Australian Screen Office site, which include interviews with Jimmy Chi.
Wikipedia entry

the sound of rain

It’s 2120 currently and I’m kicking back with a cup of tea and listening to the rain. The rain sounds different at night to it does during the day, have you noticed that?

In tribute to the rain we have had on and off this weekend, today we have a video instead of a photo.
[flickr 4318532724 640 368]

Unless you are reading this via the RSS feed, you might (well should) have noticed that I’ve changed up the design a little bit. Swapped some new colours in, changed the photos in the header and made it a bit more 24 something me instead of 22 something me. Not 100% settled on the background colour yet but we will see. I’ve also been thinking of renaming the blog most probably just changing the words round a little but who knows.

Mum and I went to see Bright Star this afternoon, it was slightly sad as expected but gorgeous nonetheless. I have some questions regarding the historical accuracy of a few aspects of the costuming, mainly the earrings that Fanny wears and the machine knitted jackets/cardigans. I did adore however the ledge that ran at waist level round Fannys room in the house that the Brawnes shared with Mr Brown and Mr Keats. I loved the shots in the fields of wild flowers and in the orchard, all those flowers! Oh to be able to bask in a field of flowers like that.

Today, yesterday, the day before etc

I, Helen Thura Palsson, make a commitment, that I in 2010 will post more regularly and bite the bullet and get some of my backlog taken care of. HP 1010 09JAN10.

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Mango! 175/365
Mango! Mango! Mango! Mango for all winter long, well maybe a month or two. Mum and I met up at the Kelvin Grove markets today and the most amazing buy was a tray of Honey Gold Mangos. Honey Golds are literally gold! They are my favourite mangos by a mile, the name describes them perfectly. Golden flesh and a sweet taste. We both got a tray of 15 for $14 each! We got a $1 discount because we bought the two trays.. Normally Honey Golds sell for between $3-4 each at the shop so we got a fantastic buy. I peeled, sliced and packed 10 of the mangos and now have 14 bags in the freezer of honey golden mango goodness!

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My first Shiny Brite, 174/365
My first set of Shiny Brite ornaments

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Oh yes car, 173/365
I went to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy on Thursday night and they were just so much fun. I got frocked up in mostly era appropriate clothes and just danced!

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A dreary city, 172/365
Walking home today along the river, the city just looked so dreary!

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Handle with Care, 171/365
I just love this note that was written on the back of a parcel I received a few days ago.

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Helen nail polish for Helen, 170/365
I put this polish on my toes today and whilst I love the colour, I’m not to sure about the quality. The bristles on the brush are really short which made putting it on a little different to my other nail polishes. At the end of the day, the colour is fantastic and the colour is named Helen!

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The Ocean, 169/365
The end of a 36hr oh so getaway to Double Island Point. I love how the water ripples over the sand.

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the end of the line, 168/365
We came across this dugong carcass on the beach up at Double Island Point.

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A little late, 167/365
My little pink pony Christmas tree.
One ornament a day from the 1st till the 24th. My own tradition.

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Hy-drain-ga-s, 166/365
Hydrangeas from the farm, I just love those colours

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A movie!, 165/365
It took me till day 165 to post a movie! I love how the banner flutters in the breeze. You will have to click on the photo to go to Flickr to watch the movie.

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A pretty for me, 164/365
I went to the Paddington Antique market to see if I could find any Christmas decorations (and I did!). I walked past this necklace a few times and kept coming back to it. Now it is mine. The stone is a blue topaz. I adore it!

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Summer Dinner, 163/365
Nothing says summer like handful of prawns, a summer ale and a home-made dipping sauce (coconut cream, sweet chilli sauce, toasted sesame seeds and a dash of sesame oil.

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Bed re-dressed, 162/365
My purchase at the Boxing Day sales, very lovely, high thread count sheets. I just love how the white linen looks with the quilt.

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Chair, Booze TTV, 161/365
I spent Boxing Day morning cleaning out my childhood room. I only have a few drawers left to go through which I will do in the coming weeks. On the 27th, I had this terrible feeling in my stomach that I had forgotten to take a photo on the 26th. I had forgotten all about playing with this camera and taking this photo! phew!

Just about all done

Every last little bit, 155/365

I now have only one thing left to make for my biscuit boxes and I will do that tomorrow night as well as decorating the boxes so the first set are ready to be packed on Tuesday morning to take to work.

This is just such a striking song, the video clip makes it more so.

The Met Up Late

Friday night I went to the The Met Up Late at the Queensland Art Gallery and oh what an amazing night it was. Holly Throsby and Bree did their thing very well on a little stage in the watermall. I am very impressed with the video on my camera! It was quite a nice experience sitting/standing on the edge of the water watching and listening.

American Impressionism & Realism: A Landmark Exhibition from the Met, just the title of the exhibit alone alludes to the size of this exhibition. There was eight (?) rooms at QAG all filled with wonderful art, broken into themes such as Cities, The Countryside Abroad, Studios and Portraits, etc etc and then with each theme they had a few Australian works from the same era. It was really good. My faviourite artist from the exhibit would have to be Childe Hassam. Two of my favourite pieces of his from the exhibit were Broadway and 42nd Street and Peach Blossoms—Villiers-le-Bel. The final piece in the exhibit is Northeaster by Winslow Homer and it was very impressive. It was hung at the end of the final three rooms so each time as you moved from room to room you see the painting at the end of the exhibit. It was really well executed.

There is a virtual tour on the QAG site that is quite interesting to look through as well.

Light and Reflections on the far wall of the Watermall.
QAG Reflections

Holly Throsby.
Holly Throsby, The Met up Late

The City at Dusk.
Looking towards the Victoria Bridge

Photo of the Day, To The Sky, 19/365.
to the sky, 19/365

Looking back on the path taken over the river.
Looking back over the Victoria Bridge