"...I have created a force field and I hope no one breaks it..."

Oh foolish girl, wasting time worrying in advance, only to find that all events went well...

This was my last week, Zok is here with F & W and the shows (except for Tasmania but more on that later) went better than expected.

I went to two and was impressed by how quickly and thoroughly the crowd was taken over- and by how well the band did this whether there were 200 or 20 (real numbers) in the room.

Meanwhile at the house there has been nothing happening except laughter, movies, reading, writing, talking and just plain good manners all around.

Color me impressed.

My illusions that Hobart has become a cultural hub or at least a town that is willing to take a chance and get out to shows has been shattered.

I suppose the MONA "effect" as the press dubs it (or maybe MONA itself) doesn't exactly cross over to all things international...

I thought we gave it a good go, there was a bit of radio play and promotion- postering and the like but all I heard was about how 'ahhh yeah well the grand final was on' and 'So cool you guys played here, no one ever does...'. I would only recommend international acts playing through a festival still.

Last day of a full house.

Then weeks of an empty one.

Such is the life.

Big things happening though... 

 In order to not say anything else negative about my adopted home (one of my) here is a photo of my shoes which I think were quite positive.

 

"It's 'haha' not 'ha_ha'..."...P.S. Melbourne still hates me

I feel like I could be sitting here, somehow up so early that I am waiting for the sun to rise, but I am actually behind on my morning, and technically the sun has been up for hours.  It's just so obscured by a cold, cloud cover that I find knowing that it's there there isn't enough to make me believe.

So! Arrived back to Australia ten days ago.

I have already been to Melbourne and back (again) to see the first Australian show for Z's band. The show was more crowded then any of us guessed, and with an enthusiastic audience that were singing along.

So, far all the shows have gone this way.  Of course, here on the small island with it's cloud of "such a small population, -what can you expect?" pessimism - the last two shows might prove to be different.

Everyone stays here for about four days, two show days and two off days (read, sleeping, eating, not sightseeing).

Then I am the one left behind for the next eight - to nine weeks.

But fear not readers, I have BIG plans.

People always ask me 'What does it feel like to be back?'-

I am not sure what is missing from that question but something is...

I am always a bit tangled and confused for a few weeks-

There are large differences, language, concentration of people, driving versus riding trains/buses...looking for a piece of clothing that is in the 'other' hemisphere.

A lingering feeling of displacement.

Also, my constant internal feeling of needing to always be doing...

So, when I sleep through the first alarm, or do nothing with my first forty minutes beyond coffee, loading the washer, and trying to will an email to appear...I have a hovering sense of failing to fulfill the days potential.

Meanwhile, another simultaneous truth could be -Wow! Look- it's all happening...

Venice and Stockholm last month, rock shows in Australia this week-

Also breaking news from "our" garden (so please note that if you are someone other than me reading this- (hey call it what it is- my journal)-here is an example of Z's new project that just irritates me to no end- as I had to change that sentence)

I think for the first time (what ten years?)
The wisteria is going to bloom!

"...Our land abounds in nature's gifts Of beauty rich and rare...

 

*IF you were to see some fairy penguins they would look a bit like these guys...they are quite small

 

On a stormy mid-morning after Yoga class, I went to join a group of volunteers planting one of the sea cliff sides with new native plants.

These plants may or may not be to help out a small flock of fairy penguins.

Fairy penguins that I can neither confirm or deny live nearby.

However, if you are ever out my way...

 

 

"...she gets confused...flying over the dateline...

 

 

Soon is the day that we leave.

 The water is always warm in March, and the swimming has been good.

There are strange occurrences such as jelly fish in the water, where no can remember seeing them before.

 

I can see the planet Mars rising while I sit on my couch.  The moon is moving to the east so that I can see it's light shining on the bay. These are Autumn changes but I will be arriving to Spring.  Although I will see interesting light wherever I go, I still miss what I leave behind.

I will forget that I do not want to shop, that I own too many things because I will be living out of a carry on bag, and there will be something I need, that is not with me.

 

I will visit friends and that will be nice, to speak and feel truly understood because we will be from the same place and time.

But I will disappoint some, and feel guilty about not being able to see others.

 

Zok will worry about the grass - but he'll forget to worry more often than not.

 Because that what perpetual motion does- a constant present, a place of now without the reminders of a settled life, no bills or mail or neighbors dropping by.

 

"...I'm gonna swing this song...just one more time...when I come by..."

Buying my first house was one of the very best, yet scariest things I ever did.

Owning a house to my mind was just the best thing a person could do.

To never be homeless? To never have to think "I guess I could just sleep in my car." was a safety net of incomparable measure.

Although I hit my very lowest point in life while I still owned the house, I still credit that act as helping facilitate every decision I made after.

I think in Zok's life plan owning a house was always a 'given'.  Somehow even though our lives were so different, many of our values are the same.

So we like to play the 'Let's move to the bush (country). Let's invest in land. Let's get a place and rent it out.' game.  This is a marvel, like the 'winning the lottery' game, and idea that we could invest outside of our house. But, I have to say that my time of life and place where I live has changed my outlook.  I have seen huge changes in the world and the cities that I have lived in.  Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle and even here in Hobart.  People keep multiplying, cities keep growing, industries I could have imagined are thriving and the zombie plague has yet to arrive.

By playing this game, I, of course, am also constantly realizing some truth or another I had over looked. 

A block of land in the middle of very little here means taking out your own garbage, digging your own water source or living off rain water, paying to bring in power or living off the grid.  Creating and/or paving your own road.  A 2+ hour trip to get to a movie theater or large store of any kind.

Also of course by spending so much time in Stockholm, Hobart no longer seems crowded the way it did when I was here all the time.  Also the attraction of not having streets lights, or people on all sides, and more wildlife and bird life is strong as well.

And yet...I am attracted to this development we went to look at- not up the coast but down the coast.  It is a bit of a peninsula, so in fact the area looks back to our area, but it is about an hours drive.

The area is called 'Sloping Main' which is not nearly as cool as Pirates Bay or nearby 'Doo'ville which has all 'Doo' names like the food truck 'Doo-liscious'.

It has large blocks but already has a road and power poles. Of course I like the high lots because really if the Zombies do arrive there is a tactical advantage to having the high ground.

 

Friends of Peter Murrell Reserve or Getting to the root of the problem

 Above you see the dreaded 'Gorse'  Well, this is one of my piles of them...

I spent a couple of very enjoyable hours weeding 'gorse' from an area in The Peter Murrell Reserve.  We (the group of volunteers) got to legitimately go 'off trail' which was exciting for me, because I always want to forge into new areas, but I don't want to cause any trouble.  That sounds a bit funny, but it is rather serious, the damage that can be done by the uniformed yet well intentioned.

I am happy to give time to this group to discover secrets of the reserve.

This was only my first time, but I heard that a few people did know where some Tawny Frogmouths had relocated and they are one of my favorite birds.

I will have to dress better next time, I forget how personally I take weeding- which means I will jump a creek and crawl in to the underbrush.  I forgot my hat so my hair was being pulled from all angles, I am sure I looked a mess by the end.

With my new knowledge I had no problem walking home from where we were.  I was already pretty grubby so I just enjoyed a nice walk in the rain.

"I beg you, friend, be happy. I have the vague sense that on your capacity to be happy hangs our only hope."

People often ask me how I feel about Hobart.  How I feel about Stockholm.  Where is home?

Well, due to the amount of easy cliché sayings involving "home" that come to mind. I think that this is a very common question.  I, alas, do not have an answer.

 Our house in Hobart is a home.  We have invested into the maintenance and garden in ways that an apartment, especially a socially run Swedish apartment does not need.  I would say we have done a fair job of cluttering up the Swedish apartment, it is no match for the remnants of forty-five years worth of slogging stuff from place to place.  Stockholm feels like a vacation because we have so many friends there, and so much to do.  Hobart feels like home, but we are still quite insular in the sense that we don't engage with our community at large.  We are trying to work on that.  Our neighbor and house protector Sue left us a vase of daffodils to prove that spring is definitely coming on.

Tomorrow we will have been back here in Hobart for two weeks.  Zok played a lot of Croquet matches already, and now has a rather large trophy in his office.

I have started Yoga classes at a newish place by the waterfront.  Mostly we have been gardening and organizing the house.  Being gone for months at a time does impact the kitchen. 

I haven't studied Swedish, or gone swimming.  I haven't caught up on my issues of 'The New Yorker'.  

I did start the latest Ian McEwan book.

I have planted many seeds both flowers and vegetable.

I started to 'grow' a vinegar 'mother'- from a bottle of wine we opened and didn't like.

I am waging a serious battle against 'onion weed'.  I have given in and I am just digging out heaps with a fair bit of dirt as well.   They have to be bagged up, sealed up, left to smother in the sun and then they still have to be put into the garbage aka the "deep" landfill not into compost of any kind.

I caught the very last of the Magnolia blooms.  The Lilac tree looks months away from blooming, but the Swedish ones can come on quite late in spring so I am not worried yet.  My newest tree which I call a 'snowball tree' because of its blooms is thriving since Zok had the large tree nearby taken down.

The Clivia, (large orange flowers) that I divided all bloomed which I think is amazing, because seriously, I had to hack it out of the ground.  We added a second bird bath, onto the stumps of the tree that was taken down.  The single bird bath used to be at the corner of the house, on the old apple tree stump- however when the brick work was done they moved the tree stump (?!) too far back, so we are going to just pull it out.  We only left it there because we used to be able to see the flock of new holland honey eaters bath there in the evenings, which is hilarious, and really counts as entertainment.

However, birds do not seem to be attracted to the new location yet, so we might need to move them again, as the space might be too open.

Each day we find ourselves exhausted by our efforts and feeling as if we are farmers. (Ha!)

'...dancing in the moonlight on this hot summer night...'

Hobart as a town is a funny place.  Town is a true description.

When I moved to Seattle circa early '92, many of my questions were answered by the comment "Seattle is really just a town".  That seems so laughable in comparison with Hobart.  Seattle did have town quirks, quirks because really it was a city.  For instance, you could write a check for your bar tab, to messenger a package the procedure was to put the package- by itself in a cab.  Bicycle messenger soon took that over but once upon a time...

Hobart is a true town in the fact that no one is sending anything by 'messenger'.

I live 14 km out of 'town' and yet rarely does it take me more than 20 minutes to get to where I am going no matter what part of town I am going too.

"I couldn't find parking"- is not an excuse here.  Perhaps "I had to park in the lot". Or "Boy howdy it was hard to find a 3 hour meter today".  Please also note that parking in many lots is free if you stay under 2-3 hours.

 

Although when I ordered my mailbox through a chain hardware store, the mailbox came via a bus down from Launceston (the other town in Tasmania).

My prelude is really to try and explain why when any business tries to do something cool, it is almost a duty to go out and support that venture.

If not...well the state of quietude on any given night well that is just our own fault.

So my friend Fran and I went to see the documentary on Bill Cunningham at the newly opened rooftop cinema at our only local cool, independent theater- the State Theater.  There is now, also MONA but they are as previously mentioned streaming the Opera season from the N.Y. met, ballet and I am guessing smaller released independent, local (Australian) films.

Also I am hoping they will run shorts.

We enjoyed a warm (windy of course) night, and my sparkling wine was nice.

I was slightly disheartened that there were not more people.

Seattle had a bit of independent theaters, The Grand Illusion and the Pike Street Cinema, and almost always there would be people that you could tell had your same interests or at least overlapping.  I made some friends this way- not a tactic that seems to work in Hobart...

http://www.statecinema.com.au/Page/Home 

 

"I couldn't quote you no Dickens, Shelley, or Keats..."

The MONA museum: http://www.mona.net.au/ 

is a tourist site that I never get tired of going too.  I love that Hobart has a museum that is a tourist site because it is unexpected.  The museum changes often enough to be interesting for me every time.

I find happiness in the fact that Hobart is attracting more of the type that will understand and appreciate a museum like MONA but also that there is still a large share of the type that find MONA disturbing.

I enjoy peoples reactions to their visit.  I love that I get to go whenever I want and experience of all the changes.

As my friend Kat planned her visit during MOFO: http://www.mofo.net.au/ (she wanted to see Amanda Palmer who cancelled)- so the museum grounds were as crowded as I had ever seen them.  There was a strange mix of random cruise ship people- loudly announcing their ignorance of where they were or why and then many I assumed were comped festival artists, and personnel.  I would normally have not gone during a time I knew would be crowded, so I am glad I got to see such a mix of visitors.

We had biked (there had been rain showers off and on all morning so skating was too risky) to the museum from the domain.  The wait for the museum was about forty minutes but at least the exhibits were not unbearable crowded as the capacity was capped.  There is now a movie theater that will be running the Operas (finally!) from New York- which for the last two years has been making me feel very left out of the world...not being in a city where I could go and see the Opera feed. 
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/liveinhd/LiveinHD.aspx 
http://www.sharmillfilms.com.au/?page_id=2195 

I am going to catch up a bit as we are in between visitors again for another week. 

 

and then the time comes to say farewell

I want to buy the house across the street. (Although I would want the price to come down, so we could rent it out).
Because as you see there are huge trees, the largest trees in the neighborhood all around the property. Those trees get credit for all the diverse bird life I get to see. I notated 14 species of bird, and 2 new species that were in our yard daily.
So- if anyone wants to give me a job, I can start saving up to be the lorax of our neighborhood trees.

I will miss the food of Tasmania. Such a small place to have so much produce and small farms that grow saffron, wasabi, walnuts, countless types of cheese, bakeries, coffee roasters, breweries, and vineyards.

I am sad to leave and happy to leave all at the same time.
An embarrassment of riches as the cliché states.

Well this is the first time finished, so next time I will be more prepared.
All of this is new territory in my life- dividing my time between two countries that even ten years ago I barely knew existed.

This weekend I will be in Stockholm.
Monday night will be try outs for new skaters.
Tuesday night is jam skating.
Wednesday night is normal practice.
Thursday is off skate training.
Saturday is extra scrimmage training for the upcoming bout.

Yes!

"you got me huffing and puffing like a choo-choo train..."

For lack of other inspiration, Zok and I took his niece on some bush walks.
She lives in Victoria, in a suburb- where there is not an abundance of these types of walks in her neighborhood.
I was feeling appropriately appreciative of Tasmania under this revelation.
I of course mostly think of 'Australia' as 'Tasmania' but Tasmania is an exception to many of the generalizations one can make about Australia.

I noticed today that I had set out nineteen pairs of shoes to take to Sweden.
Obviously my want versus the weight restrictions of the airlines are going to have to line up. I am expecting this to be a painful process.

Fitta is the word for vagina in Swedish

Now that the very long, black corridor in MONA is hung with artwork that is no longer the vagina casts, I felt compelled to write an 'ode to'.

When the museum first opened its doors, two exhibits were spoken of a lot.
The very large 'Snake' by an Australian artist Sidney Nolan.
(Below is a link to an article about the piece and the artist)
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/years-on-nolans-masterpiece-finally-uncoiled/story-e6frg6nf-1225979664721

And- the long wall of vagina casts.
http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2011/4/mona-s-brutal-banality

There are times that I am happy I never took too many classes about Art, because I do enjoy having enough ignorance to not have to over think my trips to museums.
So here is my take on the long wall of 150 plaster casts of various aged women's vaginas- I think they are excellent.
Growing up in the United States, and also my time in Australia leads me to believe that true nudity can not be over rated. With the amount of easily accessible porn, whether fashion porn or porn directed at the male audience, there is very little shown of unaltered real life nudity.
I am definitely the Aunt who will take her friends teenage daughters on their first trip to a sex shop, and leave behind a copy of 'Our Bodies Ourselves'.
I loved the idea of all those school aged Tasmanian girls and boys going to MONA and having the vagina wall there.
I hope they bring it back soon.
I also wonder- where is the collection housed 'off season'?

"Put a bird on it"

Zok and I rode our bikes out to the new Museum, that opened here in Hobart.
MONA: Museum of the Old and New, is part of the conglomerate that makes up Moorilla Winery, which has an ampitheatre, accommodation, restaurant, winery and brewery (Moo Brew). I believe that most if not all the museum art is privately owned by David Walsh who started said conglomerate.

The building is impressive, huge sandstone walls, I suppose due in part to the fact that the art is housed underground. There is a large spiral staircase with an elevator in the center to take you into the bowels of the building.

Zok was disappointed only by our snack at the wine bar, because the portions were small, and his red wine came in a small glass the type most would consider appropriate for a white or dessert wine. I was impressed by the fact that there were many bikes parked around and only a few were locked.

Myself, I was too happy with my nice long, easy bike ride and feeling smug about not taking the ferry which takes about the same amount of time, but costs $15. I spent that money on my snack, earned through the work of my pedaling.

Since Monte and I had recently gone to see some modern art at LACMA, I was prepared to be underwhelmed, but really I just enjoyed almost all of MONA.
The pieces are diverse enough that I doubt many people would love all of them. There are also some ancient pieces- as shown by the Eygptian owl. The owl was funny because while I was on the West Coast of America the new running joke was from a show called 'Porlandia' where if in doubt about your art piece/craft "Put a bird on it", mocking the trend of the last few years where birds abound on items.


I love having another destination off the bike track, and a new place to take visitors. (That is a hint people).
I do wish that Tourism Tasmania would go the route of many American States, and offer Tasmania residents a discount on sites here on the island.
Although even a discount won't get me back to Port Arthur...

Another good bit about being on your bicycle is that stopping by town is easy, and so I got to visit Pip and Amy in the elevator, which really was quite cozy, I could have stayed much longer...
You can read about Pip and her work here:
http://pipstafford.blogspot.com/

Wondering why she is in an elevator? You can read about that here:
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/04/29/226165_attitude.html

You can find out more about the museum MONA here:
http://mona.net.au/