Morning Coffee

The best coffee after an early morning run along the beach can be purchased at Kaos!

Squawkatoos

Early morning in Lorne is always greeted by a massive chorus of Cockatoos, Magpies and other assorted birds -- songbirds and tone deaf birds alike! If you're getting up for a dawn session on the waves, it's not so bad, but if you want to sleep in a little bit longer, you're out of luck unless you've got earplugs!

Dog and Ball

There's no teaching work in Melbourne during term break, and there are no classes at Latrobe next week, so I'm in Lorne working at the Cottages and at The Bottle of Milk for the next 10 days. In my next few posts, I'll share some of the many pleasures of hanging out and working in Lorne.

Taking Zephyr to the beach for a walk and a ball throwing session.

Should I be a Buddhist?

So,  several days after my birthday, it must be said that the occasion did not pass without due recognition. Thanks everyone for their emails, texts and messages of love and good wishes! 
(Thank Christ for Facebook, eh?!)

I spent a bit of time reflecting on this past year and I can safely say that I have sorted out the following: 

• I feel more when I have less. 
• I'm better off when I am aware of the big picture, but utterly focussed on living in the present moment.
• For me, it's not about the "teachable moment" now as much as it is about the "learnable" moment.

Australian Blue Sky

Dinner with Friends

It's lovely to have a get-together with friends midweek! It was potluck, so everybody brought a plate and we had a good catchup.

Alex and Christina

Damian and Benny

Nadia and Samara

You Know it's Time to Pull Back on the Cold Medication..

....when you catch the wrong bus to school in the morning and only realize it when you have arrived in front of a massive suburban mall YOU'VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE  instead of the bus exchange at University.
You have been gazing out the window the whole trip, blissed out on Codral Daytime Cold Capsules.

You may have had every intention to get to Uni in time to catch the last half of your morning class, but you end up doing your grocery shopping instead. It is not wasted time. And actually, it's somewhat comforting to know Australia has Big Box shopping wastelands  --- just like Canada.

Detox and old-fashioned home remedies begin immediately!

Signs of Warmer Weather

Weather records were set in the Melbourne area this last weekend. Temperatures hit 30 degrees with dry winds up to 85 km/hr in the city, while Lorne enjoyed 27 degrees. It was summer warm!  Some indicators of warmer weather:

The Skinks who live under the steps at the Cottages come out to sunbake.

Zephyr the Mighty Surf Dog continues to own the beach. Here she is lightly dusted with sand in the back of the ute.

No more booties in the surf! Back to bare feet... these ones are pretty ugly! Pedicure fairy, where are you?

While it's great to have a little taste of summer in spring, the warm temps and high winds made many people pause in their enjoyment. It felt quite a bit like bushfire weather, and last year's devastating bushfires in the Yarra Valley are still very present in everyone's mind.

Soft Air

"Great day. She's  coming right."  Small talk overheard on the morning train yesterday as Spring approaches.

It was a beautiful warm day in Melbourne yesterday. While it was windy,  I love that the air was soft and heady with the fragrance of jasmine --- especially in the evening.
This is the type of weather when you wish you were wearing flipflops instead of boots!

Chocolate

I visit the Milk Bar around the corner from our apartment block about 3 times a week. You know, for the essentials:  soy milk for my coffee or the paper, and always a chocolate bar or a lolly. The Lebanese family who own it see me going for my  regular evening or morning runs and they wave at me.
The oldest daughter sells me candy, and without fail, greets me with "And how are we going with the exercise?!"

She can't be more than 14, but she has the presence of a much older woman: a powerful mama-type.  I look at the bar of chocolate in my hand (because I always have one!... or a sour fizzy stick or a bag of licorice allsorts or a piece of homemade baclava...) and stammer something about running only 3 km the other day instead of 5km ---  I feel lame.

Last night she greets me in her usual way. I respond with something awkward as I put my bar of  Lindt Chilli Chocolate on the counter, and then she asks "So have you lost any weight yet?" I think my jaw dropped. "Do I look like I should lose some weight?" I squeaked. She just shrugged her shoulders in her effortless Lebanese-mama way and I felt huge and undisciplined.

Fact: It's Bikini season somewhere in Australia. I'm going for a 5km. run today.

Aussie Dads

Today is Father's Day in Australia. It's appears as though Dan Murphy's, the Drink Emporium prefers drunk dads over literate fathers. 

In Attendance

You just never know who's going to turn up in a Year 12 English class in a Catholic Boy's School in Melbourne! Especially when you pass around a sheet of paper for the boys to sign their names for the roll. Today Jesus, Moses and Gandalf the Grey signed in to one class. Kurtz, Uncle Vanya and the Great Gatsby signed in to another.

Tech Week

This week, we moved the production of Streetcar out of the Rehearsal Studio in South Melbourne and into the MTC's new Theatre Building in Southbank.

No more days in Studio Three!


I loved working as an active "outside eye" during the tech and dress runs. The show is in the Sumner Theatre and we are sharing the stage with a Mainstage production of Joanna-Murray Smith's new play, ROCKABYE. You can see we have a cool AV component with the projected images behind the set.

The cast waiting for a cue to be tweaked.

Our Stage Manager, Emma is a legend! She works so hard that it's tricky trying to get a photo of her being still! During the show, she calls cues from this desk.

We opened the show today, and the cast performed two KICK ASS shows to really polite school audiences. (Years 11 and 12).

Australia Catches on

How good was it to see SUN CHIPS on the shelves at the Milk Bar a few weeks ago!?!
Of course, they're not called SUN CHIPS in Australia --- they're called GRAIN WAVES here, and they're just brand new on the snack market here! Yummy. A familiar taste treat!