There are no middle aged men in lycra in Florence – No MAMILS
Wandering the streets of Florence moving around pedestrians I was impressed by the smooth and quiet moving of bicyclists. Women, men young and old and not a middle aged man wearing Lycra in sight.
Amazing – no MAMILS. the scourge of Australian cities.
Oslo listening to Robbie Robertson
Arrived in Oslo a few days ago to see Joe and Martine and baby Sofia. Wandered around the city centre and visited museums including Munch. Jeff said it’s surprising how a whole industry can spring from one artist.
At least Munch received recognition in his lifetime unlike Van Gogh.
Vigeland Park was a revelation- a whole park dedicated to the sculptures of Gustavo Vigeland. At the centre is a huge granite tower with over a hundred bodies intertwined. Three stonemasons worked from 1929 – 1943 to complete the sculpture.
At the moment I’m sitting in Joe and Martine’s apartment listening to Robbie Robertson, drinking a White Dog – Norwegian wheat beer.
Saturday morning reading
I’m enjoying the ritual of Saturday morning reading The Weekend Age and The Weekend Australian after breakfast of fresh squeezed juice, orange, grapefruit, apple, Ginger and carrot. Then poached eggs from Pat’s chooks, tomatoes from the garden on toast made with Pat’s bread and coffee from the expresso machine. Pretty lucky man really.
Just reading a review of Colin Thurbon’s latest book: To a Mountain In Tibet. He writes about the journey in the classic form of a double helix: an outer and an inner journey intertwined. Reminds me of Peter Mattieson’s The Snow Leopard. A quote:
‘We are entering the mountain as if following a jagged knife thrust.”
Listening to audio books
Since I have been out of action because of a crook back, I have been spending time on my back listening to audio books.
There are lots of free downloadable books read by volunteers but nothing beats a book read by an actor. It must be the timing, pausing and ability to change voice.
One problem is that I fall asleep and have to find out where it was when sleep overtook me.
Goodfoods Board of Directors lunch
We held the annual ‘goodfoods’ lunch today at 83 Templeton Street, Castlemaine. Joe Langdon flew in from Norway to share Potetlumpe – Med Laks. Basically potato pancakes with smoked salmon. You can see Joey below with his signature dish.
Pat & Sam’s Photo Gallery
Joe Langdon from theloupe just completed another nice photo gallery built using slideshow pro.
CHECK IT OUT HERE!
January 6 is one day short of January 7
Today a message arrived from facebook and I had a look for the first time in months and followed this up with¬¨‚Ćchecking this¬¨‚Ćblog, and it’s nearly one year to the day – Jan 7, 2008 -¬¨‚Ć since I last wrote an entry. Pathetic really or maybe just slack. No New Year resolutions about this.
I spent last summer holidays in New York, Ireland and Australia. This year Castlemaine and Airey’s Inlet, Victoria are where¬¨‚ĆI will be relaxing during the holidays. There is more than relaxing happening in my world as we have cleared out Danielle’s bedroom to paint and to turn into a study. Three days to do this before we leave for Airey’s. We have set up the old study as a bedroom for her to stay in when she returns to enjoy some parental love and food and wine. Besides painting the room, algae is my other pressing concern; the fishpond keeps turning green with algae so now I’m trying to fill the pond with plants to see if this works by cutting down the amount of sunlight received. There are a few other activities that are keeping me busy.
¬¨‚ĆReading is the most enjoyable time spending and relaxing holiday activity for me. I’ve just finished reading The Girl With the Green Dragon Tattoo; am in the middle of Bombs, Books and Compass, and just begun an Inspector Banks novel.
Our last walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, maybe
I love the Brooklyn Bridge, and walked across it regularly during our four years in New York 1999-2003. This has been my first return to New York since 2003 and as Pat and I leave the cold of New York¬¨‚Ćtomorrow for 40 degree celius heat in Castlemaine,¬¨‚Ć we decided that today we’d enjoy¬¨‚Ć another walk across the bridge.
We caught the Q train to Atlantic Station, changed to the 3 and onto Park Place, strolled to JR where Pat bought a memory stick and I bought DVD’s or the The Wire Seasons 1 & 2. Then after a coffee at Starbucks it was the bridge stroll. But on the way I bought a couple of pencil sketches from a Russian immigrant, “I don’t speak English very good.” The walk was great. “It always feels terrific walking across the bridge,” the good woman said.
After the walk along the promenade and through Brooklyn Heights where I shocked Pat by not stopping at the second hand bookshop, it was onto the 3 to Atlantic, down to the Q and home to Kings Parkway.
Gerry’s curragh
The local boat that islanders from Lettermullen, Ireland use is a ‘curragh’. Our friend Gerry O’Dowd had one made with the wooden planks imported from Europe. It required traditional skills to construct the boat. One sitehas this to say about curraghs or curachs:
Curachs are emblematic for Irelands maritime heritage: humble and ingenious little skiffs that have been cherished by legendary seafarers, countless generations of fishermen and most recently community groups like us. Simple and resourceful in their construction they offered an ideal pilot project to acquire basic skills and knowledge of boat building and handling.
Unfortunately¬¨‚Ćwe didn’t get to take a journey in Gerry’s boat as it is the winter season and the little curragh is resting snugly in the shed¬¨‚Ć beside Angela and Gerry’s house.