Too tight to mention

It’s festival season in Melbourne – the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival is currently on and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is about to start – good timing given Daylight Savings ends on 2 April which I’m always sad about as a summer person. The Melbourne Writers Festival has been brought forward this year to May and an early shout out too for Banyule’s Women in Business lunch on Friday 19 May with special guest Lisa Gorman. More on that closer to the time.

Speaking of writers, I’m looking forward to reading Australian writer Pip Williams’ second book The Bookbinder of Jericho which follows on the footsteps of The Dictionary of Lost Words. As a word nerd I’ve also been playing the New York Times Wordle, which is both my guilty pleasure and daily challenge!

Money is tight at the moment for our family and while it’s only a temporary situation, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to live without financial security on an ongoing basis and how much it can wear people down. What it has brought into focus are the important things in life – the love of my friends and family and spending time with them, and in nature. It’s pretty simple stuff and if you’re a creative person, there are all sorts of ways you can continue to enjoy life and make time for joy.

Speaking of simple pleasures Hounds of Heide (in collaboration with The Rose Street Artists’ Market) is being held from 10am – 3pm tomorrow at Heide Museum of Modern Art in Bulleen if you are have a (leashed) furry four legged friend, the Alphington Farmers Market is also on as well as the Marketplace Sundays @Eaglemont Village Eggstravaganza where the kids Egg Hunt is booked out but adults can celebrate Neighbours Every Day by bringing one of your neighbours along (as well as some cash and BYO bags). In light of Harmony Week, it’s lovely that the Neighbours Every Day theme is ‘Create Belonging’ – surely something that every person wants to feel.

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Wanderlust

How has your year been so far? Despite having to work Melbourne Cup day and all of this week, I did get the chance to stop and take a breath given the crazy pace I’ve led most of this year. The recent experience of friends and family who have suffered serious illness and loss on an unimaginable scale has given me pause for thought about what’s really important and how precious life truly is. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – if there are things you want to do in life, don’t put them on hold. Enjoy the here and now and live in the present as life is far too short and fleeting and our grasp on it becomes all the more tenuous as we get older.

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Remembrance Day image via Yarra City Council

And yes, I should be taking my own advice given my motto this year was to Live like you’re dancing. There’s also a good article on Medium about Alfred Adler and The Courage to be Disliked about focusing on the journey and all the living that happens in between because for most of us who are lucky enough, there is still a lot of living to do and life does, and will, go on. I wish you love and courage always on your journey.

The weather has contributed to my introspection this week and I feel for the organisers of outdoor events that are happening around Melbourne this weekend including the yoga festival Wanderlust taking place in the Alexandra Gardens tomorrow, the Open Spaces Festival at the Abbotsford Convent, the 3 Ravens & Thornbury Bowls Club Community Festival and the Eltham Rotary Festival.

It may be safer to go along to the Shakers & Makers Market at the Coburg Town Hall or Suitcase Rummage at the Northcote Town Hall although outdoor events and dogs seem to have become a thing with Dogapoolooza 2019 on in Richmond this Sunday and Hounds of Heide in Bulleen next Sunday 17 November. It’s also Remembrance Day on Monday 11 November and for me, it will have a much deeper significance this year and always.

*This post is dedicated to the memory of Zen Lucas – a friend, a father, husband, son and brother but most of all a wonderful human being.

 

You can call me Queen Bee

It’s already been a full on start to the new school term for us and it’s the home straight from now until Christmas – our calendar is jam packed and I’m sure yours is also fast filling up.  It’s been a beautiful few Spring days and  I’ve been loving spending time outside as much as my hay fever seems to be killing me…Spring racing has also started and while I have mixed feelings about horse racing, we had friends see mare Winx in action at last week’s Cox Plate and some people are already comparing her to Phar Lap.

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Melbourne Festival Fire Gardens

Speaking of outside, Fire Gardens for the Melbourne Festival launched on Wednesday night at the Royal Botanic Gardens and tickets have already sold out so lucky you if you’re going to see it as it looks spectacular.  Speaking of all things royal, classic motor show Motorclassica 2018 is on this weekend at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton and some of the cars on show are absolutely beautiful.  I saw Ladies in Black at the Lido Cinema last night which also takes you back to a different time in 1950s Australia and it’s a real feel good movie if you’re after something gorgeous from another era to look at.

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Image via Motorclassica 2018

It was fantastic to see Melbourne voted number three in Conde Nast Traveler’s best cities 2018, after Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan (on my hit list as my next overseas destination to visit) with special mention to Heide Museum in Bulleen.  It’s all happening at Heide at the moment with the Heide Makers Market on tomorrow as well as a special Hounds of Heide event on Sunday 21 October for anyone with a fur baby (with Rose St Artists market stallholders selling canine-themed art, design and handmade goods, an illustrator and free vet checks all on offer) and Mirka Mora’s Pas de Deux – Drawings and Dolls exhibition starting on 27 October.

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Mirka Mora Pas de Deux – Drawings and Dolls image via Heide