Fitter, faster, stronger

It’s the name of the first Bold Thinking Series lecture for 2019 at the State Library on 14 March and my former team and I had managed to nominally program most of this year’s content late last year including having some initial meetings regarding this event. People are living longer (and stronger) and in many ways, we need to prepare for the 100-year life as a new kind of normal. The Bold Thinking event will consider whether we’re overdoing sporting excellence but in a country where overweight and obesity have been on the rise, I tend to think it’s the opposite in many ways. I also read the news last night about Julie Bishop resigning from Parliament and am really glad I got the opportunity to work with her on one of her last public events as a working politician last November. It is a loss for Australian political life and I hope there may be someone like her who advances in the ranks sometime soon.

I’ve been in my new job in the Advancement Office (as it will soon be known) at La Trobe for a month now and I’ve been really enjoying it. My head has started to spin less as things become more familiar and I’ve started crafting a more strategic communications approach in terms of engaging Young Alumni (graduates Under 35 years) this year and beyond.

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Speaking of fitness – I’ve walked past the new Wellness Station on Burgundy Street in Heidelberg – it’s been beautifully kitted out and offers reformer, mat pilates and barre classes in terms of exercise physiology if you’re interested in giving it a go.

Healing Practices – a new exhibition which explores contemporary art’s relationship to the compensatory and copying mechanisms borne in response to trauma also opens at the Bundoora Homestead Art Centre on 7 March and runs until 5 May. Perhaps a good one for us all in terms of examining our attitudes towards mental health and self-care.

A couple of other local events to mention too today. If you’ve got a toddler in the house then the Banyule Kindergarten Open Day is on tomorrow. Mr Rosanna and I were never thinking that far ahead before we moved to the area but some people have already decided on high school and want their children to go to the feeder kinder to the feeder primary school that then feeds into their chosen secondary school. At any rate, it’s a good exercise in finding out what’s closest or most convenient for you and if you can walk there or avoid going down major roads, that’s always a bonus.

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At the other end of the spectrum if you have a classic car lover in your circle Springthorpe’s 6th Annual Classic Car Show is being held on Saturday 10 March at the Village Common in Macleod. I’ve always loved the look of vintage Volkswagen Karmann-Ghias although I think it would be handy to have the inner mechanic in you if you ever bought a vintage car.

 

 

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Art for the heart

I’ve been out on the road today helping Bundoora Homestead Art Centre recruit new staff.  The Homestead is run by Darebin Council and it was lovely to get a peek inside one of their other heritage buildings known as the Darebin North East Community Hub behind the thriving Polaris 3083 development.  You can see it in the background of my picture below – I love the little playground out the back with the coloured pencils made all the more striking against the cloudy skies today.

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From there I met my good friend Rina Chia from Fash Forward for lunch in Preston which continues to surprise me with its diversity.  Being the sucker for beautiful food packaging that I am, I couldn’t resist going into Abla’s Patisserie at 260 High Street and buying some of their specialty baklava and Turkish delight.  This award-winning Patisserie feels like a Middle Eastern Brunetti and I love that it’s next door to MKS Spices’nThings supermarket that caters to Indian, Sri Lankan and Islander people – a little bit of everything!  Perhaps that’s what Melbourne now is.img_7011.jpg

A few things to mention today – if you have babies and toddlers in your family – the Banyule Kindergarten Open Day is on tomorrow and it’s a great opportunity to think about feeder kinders into primary schools, which are feeder primary schools into high schools from a long-term perspective.  It’s also interesting to know the closest kinder to you may actually be in an area you hadn’t considered.  My children both went to Winston Hills Pre-School in Viewbank and the bonus of sending them there was not having to travel down Rosanna or Lower Plenty Roads but the back streets of Rosanna and Viewbank.

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The Eltham Jazz , Food and Wine Festival is also on tomorrow and I hope the rain stays away for this event – at any rate, it will still be pretty warm!  If you are an art lover like me, the Brunswick Studio Walk – an afternoon of art and strolling – is also on tomorrow between 12 – 5 pm.  It sounds like a very civilised way to spend the day.  Enjoy!

Nb. Miss Rosanna is a current Bundoora Homestead Art Centre Board Member