"...every minute of it is no more meaningless, as it was before, but it has the positive meaning of goodness, which I have the power to put into it."

I have been struck with how sweet the town of Hobart really is to look at and wander about at certain (empty) hours.

I still hold the opinion that my neighborhood is nicer in its own way- than town.

 

"...there must be someone...someone up above..."

I think it would not surprise anyone if I called myself a 'talker'.

Sitting on a jury is very hard because of this.  

Also just the pure human drama- played out in real life is draining.

I have been taking the time to appreciate some city parks that I rarely walk through.

I have also noticed some buildings hereunto I never noticed from my car.

Mostly active listening has made my head ache.

Not much longer though.

The deck work continues...slowly...

The space underneath is set up for a water tank.  We would only use the water for the garden.  I wanted to work out a grey water system but apparently that does not have council approval here in Hobart.  A fact I find surprising.

I have been sanding and re-coating the cabinet doors and drawers in the kitchen and feeling very full of myself because of this.

I had already re-coated our teak set that we use on the front porch and am feeling so inspired that I am finally going to tackle the front rails.

I have been surprised with myself because I used to do these sort of projects all the time.  I would pull up carpet and sand floors just in my rental apartments in Hollywood.  Something about Australia has thrown me though.  I think it is the lack of customer service.  When I painted my house in Seattle, I frequented a small paint shop, the sales person loved to talk out my ideas and give me tips.  The shop kept a color sample and notes on file so that if years later you need to re-touch or remember your custom recipe it was there on file.

Not only do shop people not want to talk to you about your projects, for the most part direct questions are met with a quick "I don't know".

Even if the attention I got in America was false, it always made me feel chipper. 

I also jarred up some applesauce.

Applesauce is a seemingly American food.  They do sell it here- but it can be hard to find.  I made Zok try it- and his first question was "What do you put it on?".  My first response was "Nothing!" and then of course my head starting singing "Pork chops and applesauce".  When I stopped to think about it, I realized of course that sauce is part of the word.  I just grew up eating it on its own.

Today- Zok came to an exercise class with me!

The class isn't exercise exactly- but it is in the barrecode series, and it is called 'Stretchy Friday' a lunch time 50 minutes of deep stretches, mostly comprised of yoga postures but also normal warm up stretches.  I love it, because although I stretch every day, I rarely remember to do anything longer than a round of Sun Salutation from my Hatha Yoga book.

I also went for my first jury duty.  I was in a pool of about fifty at the Supreme Court on Tuesday.  I am committed for three weeks, until dismissed or chosen or the three weeks runs out.  I have to call in on certain days to be told to show up or when to ring back.

Once the pool is there- they randomly call your number, and give you a looking over and you are chosen or not.

So far I haven't even been called in.

They have to compensate your time, so I assume that you have to prove you can not go into work on the days they don't call you in.  So by not having you there each day they pay less overall.

I did catch up on some reading.

'...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 

 

'cause satan he lives in my whiskey machine...'

Zok and I have never liked the porch at the back of our house in Tasmania.

The concrete is an ugly untreated slab and the whole structure was sloped in a way that shouted poor construction.

Later when I had to call a plumber in for a leak in the bathroom- I realized that there was debris under the porch.  Odds and ends of the construction variety, mixed with garden waste and trash.  Appalling.

 

The time had come to pull the structure off.

Of course as I do not know about construction and I did not realize the reality of machines driving through the yard.

I also mistakenly thought I was safe because I was asked to drastically prune back the Magnolia and Hydrangea.

Which I did.

But- without asking someone working on the concrete removal cut three huge branches off the tree.

How does this happen?  Where is common civility of an explanation or warning?

 

Zok is however calm- I think because he has the end result firmly visualized in his head.  Also he is not actually here cleaning concrete sludge off of plants that have been tended with his (and by his I mean her) time and sweat.

 

In a few more days there is a deck and access from the doors to the backyard being built.  So I am mostly at least ignoring the area unless I am you know- actually trying to put the plants right.

 

 

Second Summer

I haven't been in the mood to write anything other than letters.

There was a bit of this happening-

But mostly there has been this:

My friend Saffy came to stay and surprise! We went to MONA, (which I love) and I discovered something I did not quite cotton on to the time before.

 The tunnel that is now open is a sound tunnel.  I did realize this when Kat and I went into the tunnel, but Saffy realized that the sound changed with the amount of people, and also where the weight is applied.

So we jumped up and sat on the railings letting all the sound fade away and waited for people to come through.

Then we tried to work out if different areas brought in different instruments or if it was just weight and time.

It was good fun.

My tan is finally a tan.  The water in the bay has been warm more than once, and the waves have been constant which I love because I can just swim in place.  The laziest exercise- ever.

"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.