We watched this last week, so I revisited it today…
Have you had a bad day?
Here’s Baby Groot dancing!
Enjoy! 🙂
Remember
 Today.
Anzac DayÂ
When we remember –
not to glorify war,
or some version of nationalism,
but to honour sacrifice.
To remember love.
Waiting, Far Off
A quiet roar
 one
he lays his left hand along the beam
hand that moulded clay into fluttering birds
hand that cupped wild flowers to learn their peace
hand that stroked the bee’s soft back and touched death’s sting
two
he stretches his right hand across the grain
hand that blessed a dead corpse quick
hand that smeared blind spittle into sight
hand that burgeoned bread, smoothed down the rumpled sea
three
he stands laborious
sagging, split,
homo erectus, poor bare forked thing
hung on nails like a picture
he is not beautiful
blood sweats from him in rain
far off where we are lost, desert dry
thunder begins its quiet roar
the first drops startle us alive
the cloud no bigger
than a man’s hand
Fed Up Days
Had a couple of days this week when I just had to vacate normal life for a bit – go off on my own and eat/spend money. I had every intention of throwing cash around, but in the end I got a DVD set that had been marked down to half price, a thrift shop CD, a half price craft set, and a random assortment of cups, plates and a teacup, which set me back just under $5… it seems I don’t do hedonism very well.
Aren’t my new plates pretty, though!
I ate lunch out two days running – I normally only have coffee and perhaps some sort of cake…
A house melt…
…and a bacon and egg muffin.
I wasn’t going for low calorie.
I had planned to have a day out on my own this holidays, but not really starting from a point of irritation and overwhelm. Makes it harder to get in to the mood I was hoping for, but I did eventually reach serenity to some degree. I walked more than I have done in a while… here’s a frangipani I picked up on the way.
Not sure why the top petals are that shape? I’ve never seen that before. Still smelled sweet, though.
I needed the break from everyday for a bit. Not long till we’re back into school term – not sure I feel quite that ready!
Here’s some flowers I got last Sunday, still brightening up our home 🙂
Bed soon – early start in the morning!
The Lady Burns
Twenty-five years ago I travelled through Europe, ending up in Paris before going back to the U.K., where I was living.
I remember going to see Notre Dame. It was a hot summer, Paris was crowded and dirty, with what I took to be smog rising into the atmosphere. Still felt the romance – it’s a beautiful city.
The cathedral seemed apart from the bustle, even though there were many tourists passing through – it’s on its own little island in the river Seine. The interior was quiet, with light shining through stained glass and illuminating stone. A peaceful oasis – majestic and beautiful.
Today I woke up to the news that it was burning, and the spire had already fallen. Nobody knew at that stage what would remain once the flames were finally extinguished. At this point, there is still structure left, and the possibility of rebuilding. Artworks and artifacts have been rescued. And thankfully, no-one died.
I am grateful to have been able to have seen it all those years ago. I’m not French – I only visited briefly in 1994 – but I feel a sense of loss, and can only imagine what Parisiens are feeling today. It’s always terrible when history is destroyed, and I imagine there is also a sense of national identity involved as well.
Hopefully, what is important will be recovered and rebuilt, as has happened with other monuments and landmarks over the years. Perhaps someday I will take my sons, or even grandchildren, to see what rises from the ashes…
Casting Beans For Future Growth
Spent the morning with Sweet Bean, finally getting an x-ray so we could see what’s going on with his elbow.
It’s a minor fracture (a small non-displaced avulsion fracture of the radial neck), but is still painful and needs to be immobilised so it can heal properly and return to full function… puts a crimp in his holiday plans, but on the plus side – no dishes to do for 2-4 weeks! 😀
We picked up a chiller for him after all the doctory stuff – it took a lot longer than we’d thought to get it all done (x-ray, waiting for an available doctor, then getting the plaster cast put on), and he was tired and achey by the end. Now to figure out fun things he can do for the next few weeks!
Skating On The Edge
Yesterday was the first day of the holidays, and Sweet Bean went skating for his Youth Group breakup. He hasn’t done much skating at all, and unfortunately gravity did its thing…
There didn’t seem to be swelling or bruising, but after a night of little sleep from pain we decided to go get him checked at the Medical Centre… the likelihood is that it’s not a major thing, but he’ll be x-rayed on Monday to check. Not the start he was hoping for today!
He did manage to get some sleep/rest this morning, so we were able to go to the markets – some good bargains to be had!
A whole box of nectarines for a fiver 😀
Some of these are for eating, and some are being stewed and frozen for later use.
There’s always the possibility of amazing pastries at the markets, although we don’t normally get them. This morning we had a tired, grumpy Bean to cheer up, so we got a couple of different pastries… the plan was that he would have one and we would share the other. It was too hard to choose, so we all had a bit of each.
Almond croissant and raspberry crumble brioche – enough to cheer anyone up! It’s been a day of reading and watching cheerful TV.
Hopefully we’ll all get a full night’s sleep tonight…
Love Story For The Ages?
Last day of term today – yay!
Sweet Bean has worked very hard, with the result being that all his assessments were in on time and today we were able to watch “Romeo and Juliet“, his English text for next term. The link he was given wasn’t very useful, so we ended up watching a BBC adaptation from 1978. Here’s the balcony scene…
It’s nearly three hours long, so we made popcorn and brought out the bikkies. I inadvertently put the subtitles on, but that ended up helping us keep up with the dialogue.
What did I think of it?
It’s the play most people think of when they think of Shakespeare, and the epitome of doomed love and great romance. And yet…
Perhaps I’m getting old. I found myself getting irritated by all the teenage emoting. When I was apparently meant to feel the weight of their great love through flowery speech I just felt like shouting “Get a grip!! Where’s your sense of PROPORTION!!!” I also may have shed a tear when Juliet’s parents (and nurse) find her “dead” on the morning of her wedding to Paris – that affected me far more.
On the other hand, I do appreciate the poetry and artistry involved, and that there are layers to the play. All in all, it was worthwhile watching it, and interesting to discuss later. But… young love? More like an infatuation of less than a week, with six people dead by the end of it. Hardly a story to aspire to.
Well, tomorrow’s the start of the holidays. Sweet Bean’s excited about being able to sleep in (and so am I!) Lots of books waiting to be read!
Back To Basics, With Cabbage In Hand
Yesterday we finally got around to doing an experiment, using red cabbage to find the pH of various household liquids. Pouring boiling water over red cabbage and leaving it for 30 minutes or so produces a purple liquid (the indicator) that can be used to find out whether a liquid is acidic or basic. The indicator changes colour depending on the amount of hydrogen (the H in pH) in the liquid. The pH scale goes from 0 to 14, with 7 as neutral. Below 7 indicates an acid, above 7 indicates a base.
We decided to line up glasses with various liquids in them in what we thought would be acids to bases, with plain water (neutral) in the middle.
All substances were diluted in water. From left to right we had – vinegar, lemon juice, apple juice, sugar water, plain water, milk, dishwashing liquid, washing powder and bicarbonate of soda. We were unsure how the slight colour of some of the substances (especially the dishwashing liquid) might affect the results. In the end it didn’t make too much difference – the milk was the hardest to read, but the others were OK.
The red cabbage indicator made the water purple, as there was no reaction to change the colour, but we were unprepared for how quickly and dramatically the colours changed, and how beautiful the colours were! Generally acids range from reds to pinks, and bases from blues to greens/yellows.
It was quite exciting! 😀
As you can see, we got some wrong. The sugar water needed to go to the bases side, and the dishwashing liquid to the acids. The washing powder was extremely basic, and we were a bit undecided on the vinegar and lemon juice, but eventually decided to swap them round – the lemon juice seemed a bit redder. Here’s the finished line up.
It’s an easy experiment which doesn’t really take that long for the practical work. Part of science learning this year is improving the documentation of experiments, so there’ll still be some research to finish writing it up. It was a satisfying end to the week, though!
Here’s another view of the lovely colours, with the jug of indicator tucked into the top right corner…
A Smile Back In The Day
Having a mini wallow – it’s one of those mornings…
(I have written myself a list so I can jump back into the day quickly – there are things to DO!)
For some reason it seemed the perfect time to wander YouTube listening to 80’s music. Of course I needed sustenance…
Yes, totally indulgent. I’ll probably feel it later, but I consider it’s worth it, just for today!
Sweet Bean and I enjoy a show called “Would I Lie To You”, which we find quite funny. I’d never played him the song (it’s not really related to the show) so thought I should rectify the oversight the other day. Everyone should have the chance to encounter the Eurythmics at least once in their life. Of course, once I start playing him one song, I can’t resist moving on to others that I’m reminded of, until I remember that there’s other stuff to do or I realise I’ve turned into a slightly manic reminiscent middle aged person and Sweet Bean is looking bemused while trying to sidle away quietly…
I was a teenager in the 80s. I sometimes can’t believe I dressed like that (the clothes! the hair!). It’s fun to look back, and it’s a quick burst of cheer.
(Possibly not The Smiths. They’re good if you want some company in misery.)
Time to head back in to real life.
I know you want to listen to a little bit of Annie Lennox first, though.
Because why not?
1000 Fields of Roses 