Blogging out of order - S. comes for Dark MOFO Week 1

My friend S. adjusted her festival plans to include me after we realized I would actually be home this year during June. We drove down to Port Arthur for the first Dark MOFO event 'Quartet for the end of time' performed in one of the penitentiary buildings.  We slept over nearby the tessellated plates to see if we could luck into a 'social media' worthy photography opportunities at sunrise and sunset.

We didn't have much luck with that, and I proved to myself that my body still is resistant to that side of morning. I was ruined for any plans in the evening that didn't consist of being near my couch.  My guest was moving into town for late night adventures, so our rest rest worked out okay for her.

Thankfully she had only added this on to her plans that had been booked months ago, so she had better opportunities to come.  Hobart is definitely so popular that booking months ahead is now the norm.  When I found out I'd be here in July I tried to find accommodation near Cradle Mountain so I could see the park covered in snow, but everything is booked out.  

I did pull the Jeep over to photograph the road sign posted here- Something I have wanted to do for years now.

The Quartet piece was quite jazzy- which was unexpected but the performance was only an hour- and the setting was interesting.  

I realized that I don't know as much about tides as I thought, and low tide in the 'Remarkable Cave' was still too high to access the caves- 

 

 Sunset

 Winter moon outshining the winter sun during its rise

 Our underwhelming sunrise

"I am slowing down as the years go by"

...and then next week comes the start of July. 

The three week visit of my most frequent visitor has come to an end.  We have our departure date for Sweden as well.  For the first time we are going on a one-way ticket because we really do not know what will happen.  I felt like a bit of a jinx during the festival as our attempts at capturing photos in the prime social media times of Sunrise and Sunset, low tide, or catching a natural phenomena did not go well when we were together.  She did better after she relocated into town.  

The festival continues to grow larger.  My favourite part remains the fact that they use buildings that are not in full time use- or sometimes not in use at all anymore.  I am always curious to see into buildings and learn about the history of the place I am living.  A habit perhaps formed of not being from a place and having lived in so many different places.  

Seattle has been in my thoughts often, because I notice changes here, that to me are the same type of indicators I saw when Seattle was "suddenly" discovered by more and more people in the the early to mid-1990s- 

I hadn't lived in Seattle long enough to feel I could rail against the growth like the locals and I still sort of feel the same way here- for although Tasmania does comprise basically all that I know as Australia...I am still a new comer.

Now, I am beginning our last month before we leave for an undetermined amount of time, I seem always to use our comings and goings as markers of what I have not achieved.  An attitude I am working to adjust- my analytic - judgemental self is boring me.  So far, I am not feeling the impact of my trying to make changes.  

 

..."the thorn, the veil, the face of grace, the brazen image, the thief of sleep..."

I realized that this blog had not crossed my mind, since the last time I had a visitor. So another month has passed and now I have a friend arriving tomorrow- MONA has extended the dates of Dark MOFO, their winter festival, and we have extended our time to include most of winter here.  Well, a good solid month of winter.  I have bee enjoying the shorter days, with the sun setting at 4:40, the construction hours have lessened and I can miss most if not all of the noise.  Of course, the construction is the lure that is keeping us here into winter.
Everyone is sleeping more, as if our bodies are making up for our 26 months without winter.  
I have a strange bit of superstitious thinking, that perhaps illustrates that I take random events a bit personally.  I had written up a post here, and then the server crashed, and the post was actual lost, even though there should be the auto save.  I was going to take this as a sign to not bother to re-write.  However, my whole intention was just to put up a stop-gap to remind myself that my life does continue even when I don't feel there is anything worthy of a diary entry.  Mostly this is because of our new phone plans that allow us to call long distance for no additional charges which means I have been if not actually speaking to friends, at least leaving them messages.  Originally I started this blog because at the time there was no easy way to keep up with friends unless I did a mass email, which could cost a bit of money if we were traveling, or even on some of the plans that we have had.  
But I do not think anyone keeps up with these posts, but I have become a bit dependent of using them as a visual calendar.  
I have been trying to use winter and the quiet to work on myself.  I was a bit dependent on self-help books when I was young.  For years I haven't felt a need for them, but as 50s are here- I feel a need to check in with myself.
There is so much in my life I am grateful for- but I also do not want to become complacent to the point of ...well I guess to a point of ingratitude. 
Tomorrow my friend and I are staying over down in Port Arthur, going to see a quartet play 'Quartet for the end of time' or as my favourite snob would say 'Quatour pour la fin du temps' as the composer is french Olivier Messiaen, the piece that he composed while a prisoner of war during WWII.  Hence, perhaps the on the nose location of Port Arthur a former convict prison. 
We have aspirations that involve low tide, a sea cave, and a sunrise.
With success I will post photographic evidence.

 

"...and then the rain came hammering down..."

This May is one of our first together in Tasmania.  There was a severe storm, about four inches of rain in under 24 hours.  The lightning and thunder seemed to be just over our house, a sensation felt by every neighbour I spoke too.  Reinforced by the action of the strike coinciding with our power going out.  Over ten thousand people were without power for a day or so.  All the historic flood areas like the old 'Wapping' area of the central business district were flooded high enough to move parked cars.  I think people forget that a 'rivulet' runs through the center of town, mostly the streets have been built over the waterways.

Parts from the fish farms were washed onto the beach, newly patched roads churned up leaving heaped piles of debris in the middle of the roads.  Our home is up a slope- and luckily even the basement/garage did not take in any water.  So work continues on the garage conversion. The storm was late Thursday night, and by today, Sunday everything was calm enough that the Friends of Peter Murrell monthly weeding workbee went ahead as planned.

Saff returned a few weeks ago, just for a quick trip- before her long stay in June for the winter festival.  We went to the newly built, and opened areas of MONA that were too crowded during summer to be able to visit properly.

There is a sphere in the center of the newest restaurant, two people can go in at one time, for fifteen minutes with an additional cost of $25.  This is another piece by Turrell.  After you see the light show, you are taken to a room that is completely dark for a bit of post-sensory - to sensory-deprivation.

Between the two exhibits is a new room that is spectacular...the second room they have had that reminded me of the inside of Barbarella's space ship. 

 

We also went into the lovely new room called Spectrum Chamber, by Charles Ross.  I don't think the museum has been especially empty in the last few years. This visit was as empty as it seems to ever get, and that just means that there is parking in the overflow lot, and you can get a seat on a shared table.  I find that I can barely recall going there once a week, and being alone with only the artwork.  Between Summer, Christmas holidays in Summer, followed by their festival, - then a lot is closed between the two festivals.   The winter festival is almost the entire month of June now.

 I avoided this room trip before last because the line to walk in was so long.

 The oil room from above.

The oil is to the very edge- the attendant blows on the surface to show how precise and exacting the level is.  The photo makes the corridor in look a bit larger than it feels when you are there. 

 

 

Word of the day : Discombobulate

I have fallen short of keeping a good record of the garage conversion.  From the very first time we looked at this house, he had the idea of converting the the space under the house.  When there are stairs of some sort (this is one of the details not fully formed yet) put into the house I will start to think of this space as a basement.  Basements are not common in Australian houses.  I still can't remember why I didn't take this conversion idea seriously...I think perhaps there were other changes we wanted to make.  We spent a lot of time altering the garden, and I found out that He was fond of taking down a tree.  This tree cutting seemed alarming to me until I found that there are many quick growing gum trees that are native.  People commonly replace trees of a certain type.

My point really, is that neither of us knew how much time, effort, and work would go into this conversion.  He has been having a good time with most of the work.  Our lives have changed in the last few years, in ways that gave him both the time and inclination to devote to the project. He finally started, and I had forgotten all about the idea. So our viewing points were from different places, also I have only been included in small bits of the process. I am not creating something, I am more left to deal with noise, dust, and workmen.  Areas that I have used are not fully accessible, neither is my bike- anything down in the garage is coated and re-coated with sawdust, or concrete dust.

But recently, putting windows into the area that will be an office has made the project seem more worthy of completion...or perhaps the windows show the possibilities that a low room can offer.  However, finding the windows was time consuming.  We drove three hours North to the show room.  Waited months for them to be completed, and then had enough problems with the installation that the workmen had to come three times, followed by a specialist from Queensland coming down to fix the last of the problems.  

He had the rest of the house windows replaced (Tasmania gets pretty cold, but more than that, the island has always been years behind in materials such as windows that are double-pane, insulation, or heating that isn't just a wood fired heater) which has "opened up the view", and we have interior blinds which in such a dusty climate is great- but really I can see why one might want to go on vacation and come back when everything is done.

This time last year, we were still dealing with the repairs from the burglary - and we had to leave instead of settle in and enjoy the pretty, refinished floors, or quiet, upgraded security doors.  Upon returning, the conversion work was started quickly. I have a tendency to view 'today' as permanent...I am not great and thinking that what is happening right now, will not be happening -forever.

I hope I look back on this blog post and find I barely remember all the fuss. 

 

 

Australia "Big Australia" projections of population rise

The weather has turned to high winds, low clouds, some rain, and grey-grey-with a little more grey.  This is not completely true, yesterday dawned this way-but by late afternoon, the day was bright, and I was fortunately in the Botanical Gardens enjoying the turn of weather.  This morning however, is a repeat of yesterday, the air in my room was nippy- the morning seemed quiet, and so I hit snooze on my alarm.  Then messages started coming in from Stockholm- our friends gathered around Zok - I was being remembered and missed and missing everyone in turn.  This happens...the feeling of fragmentation within my emotions created by living in and leaving so many places.  And always the strangeness that I don't have any close peers here in Tasmania...people are now friendly to me...we have lovely neighbours...sometimes I run into a person I know - well enough to stop and chat. 

But- I don't have any relationships that compare in closeness to friends elsewhere.  

Meanwhile while I am left alone...I tend to pay to much attention to the news cycle, and to find ways to feel guilty and find ways to connect everything back to myself.  When I moved here fourteen years ago...the population was under 21 million, the population clock is now at almost 25 million.

I am obviously, one of those that caused the increase and my partner was also born elsewhere.  While on my recent volunteering trip- most of the group was discussing this issue.  The issue was under discussion because of a news program called '4 Corners' which I have just finished watching.  I was concerned with the amount of fear I heard within peoples opinions.  I was let down in myself that I couldn't combat the fear well enough to have any impact.

Even when I first moved here...I did realize that we had settled in a state that felt like a retirement state, and as pointed out in the report 1 in 5 Tasmanians are over the age of 65. I feel confused that the conversation seems to only be happening now, and I am confused that Hobart and Launceston do not embrace the challenge of growth through innovation- public transportation, staggering work times so the roads are able to handle more, creating green spaces and walkable cities.  

At times like these I miss the environment of University where I felt I had so much access to educated opinions.  My logic is often flawed...and opinions can become entrenched when they are not challenged.

Less than two weeks until my better half returns - this is not too much time to spend on the ledge.

 

 

Politics are plain depressing

The election came and went...and not much changed...the Green Party lost some ground...the Labor Party seemed to pick up that ground which was not enough ground to make a difference...which puts me back to the idea of 'splitting the vote'- there always seem to be factions within the 'progressive' side and nothing but entrenched cement on the other side.  Because of the way the Hare-Clark system- we don't know who has gotten the last seat in our electorate, the candidate I was helping is up for that seat.

I did have a nice reprise when friends came to visit and we went to MONA.  Every place in Tasmania feels more crowded- the tourists numbers seem to be climbing by 10% each year steadily and that doesn't include cruise ships.

Our home which seemed so quiet has a steady stream of cars that go by.  I can remember sitting on my porch in Seattle, with Jada, watching the cars constantly going by at our 4-way stop-and that did not phase me at all.  Neither did the size of my lot, I knew plenty of rich folk who had land size so large that traffic wouldn't be an issue- now I think about a bush block with a tiny pre-fab house that needs no work...but perhaps this is all circumstantial.  I am not good at recognizing that-I tend to feel the 'immediate' is the 'always'.

My 'Honey, would you please' list is almost complete, the sanding and refinishing of some window frames and doors were not as satisfying as I thought they would be.  Neither was the painting downstairs.  But now that I have cleaned up I at least feel that calm of...sort of the fear of tearing something apart and relief of putting it back together- and finding that it wasn't ruined in the attempt. 

 

Next week I am going to be on Maria Island volunteering. From what I can tell looking at photos my first time on the island was Jan. of 2014, which seems incorrect, I feel like I have been going longer but- probably not.  I do think this is my twelfth trip which is a lot, in four years. There is a lot of construction going on, as there is a new ferry service, bringing many more visitors to the island.  So although I will be getting away...I am little fearful there will be construction noise on the island as well!  I am going to do the hard hike if I have the time - the Bishop and Clerk hike.  There is a weeding location that is nearby so if we are 30 minutes along the correct route this is what I will do.  By camping- I will be away from the group already so I won't feel too anti-social heading out alone.  The island makes me wish I could navigate a boat...which is what many locals do- they just pop round the island by boat.  As if this is the most normal thing in the world to do.

No matter what, the nights should be quiet and dark.

I am looking forward to that.