Jump to nav ⬇️
While I was in the US I got back in the habit of watching Jeopardy every night, and Rodd would often join me online (via a dodgy Canadian streaming site). Since I’ve been back, we’ve managed to find some download locations so we can continue. A few days ago they had this question, in the category “6-SYLLABLE WORDS”:
File that one under “Things I didn’t know three months ago, but absolutely do now.” (The answer, for those of you still fortunate in your ignorance.)
It turns out that a two-month stint as an emergency overseas carer—including the attendant stress, staying in crappy hotels, trudging through snow, barely eating or exercising, and being apart from your partner—really takes a toll on a body. Two days after I got back to Australia, I tripped and completely stacked it on the footpath outside our house. My knee, ribs, and dignity were all bruised for the better part of a week. Just as those started to heal, I came down with a nasty virus. I’ve been a muddle-headed snot monster ever since. (PCR test came up positive for human metapneumovirus, which seems to be going around.) The cough isn’t clearing, so yesterday my doctor put me on antibiotics for a suspected subsequent chest infection.
When it rains it pours. I guess my body really, really wanted a rest.
Relatedly, HCF sent me an extremely well-timed email in January offering a free mental wellbeing check-in. I signed up for a videochat session and got matched to a therapist in less than a day. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect; I’ve never met with a therapist before. She was lovely though, and I pretty much sobbed through the whole thing. You can’t really accomplish much in these sessions, but she gave me some good advice on the kind of therapist I might want to look for on an ongoing basis. She also taught me something useful – the four ways to solve a problem. You can either solve it, find a way to feel better about it, learn to accept it, or stay miserable. I have a feeling I’m going to be mulling over that one for quite some time.
Take care of yourself, friends. 🩷
Clearing out the browser tabs…
“As I see more and more people generating code instead of writing it, I find myself wondering why engineers are so ready and willing to do away with one of the good bits of our jobs (coding) and leave themselves with the boring bit (reviews).”
My Mom and Stepdad have gone low-carb, and several times at their house over the past couple months I was offered “egg bites” for breakfast. Then a recipe for them came up in my RSS feed a few weeks back and I realised the universe really wanted me to make them.
I changed the recipe slightly, using ricotta instead of cottage cheese (since the shortage is somehow still going on??) and substituting green onions for red and speck lardons for bacon, since I had those to use up. My muffin tin is metal, not silicone, and I didn’t have any other pans big enough for it to sit in for a water bath. Instead I just put a separate pan with water on the shelf below. I was worried they wouldn’t come out cleanly, but they mostly did. If I do this again, I’ll get some silicone liners to save on the cleanup.
Speaking of art, Friday night the Snook and I headed to the Art Gallery of NSW to catch their exhibition Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890-1940 before it closed this past weekend. They had a 2-for-1 ticket deal on and loads of people were there taking advantage of the cheap tickets. We mingled through the crowd, listening to the audio guide and noting the pieces we recognised or particularly liked. The exhibition featured paintings, sculptures, and pottery from Australian women who travelled to Europe to develop their artistic styles and live in a modern way. A couple pieces that I caught my eye:
This is “An interior,” painted around 1920 in Paris by Bessie Davidson. The bold graphic strokes and the placement of the windowpanes reminded both Rodd and I of the Kate Nielsen painting we bought last year.
This is “The teapot cosy,” painting by Margaret Preston in London in 1916. I am a big fan of Preston’s woodblock prints of Australian flora, and I’ve even got pajamas and a robe that feature them. I didn’t know as much about her paintings and pottery though.
Another teapot still life from Preston, this time painted in Bunmahon, Ireland in 1915. The explanatory text points out that for early modernists like Preston, “decorative” in art was highly valued. In this painting, she changes the direction of the stripes on the tablecloth because it makes for a more pleasing rhythm within the composition.
Here’s another one from Bessie: “Intérior (Interior)” painted in Paris in 1935. I love how she uses the bold splodges of colour.
I really liked this cubist view of “The Bridge,” painted by Dorrit Black in 1930 in Sydney. Black established the Modern Art Centre in Sydney and became the first woman in Australia to run an art gallery.
This is “Oranges and lemons,” painted by Alison Rehfisch in London in 1934. Rehfisch was a new artist for me, and I love the soft flat colours she uses here.
As you left the exhibition, the hallway featured large photos of the women artists who had been featured. I particularly liked this one of Agnes Goodsir and her friends chilling in Paris in 1930. I sent it to a couple of my best girlfriends with the caption “#lifegoals”.
I should also mention one other artwork, not part of the exhibition, that I really enjoyed. This is “Bluejeaneando” by Mexican artist Pia Camil. It’s a giant pile of 80 pairs of secondhand jeans, filled with stuffing and sewn together. It’s sitting in the newer Naala Badu building, and there’s a sign encouraging you to sit and play on the artwork. To my surprise, it’s really soft and inviting. We spent ten lovely minutes resting there. Highly recommended if you’re in the area!
I missed the official opening of the State Library of NSW’s refurbished Macquarie Street Building in December, so a few days ago I headed over to check it out. It’s a fantastic upgrade to what was already a beautiful building. I love the use of the wooden blocks on the walls that echo the spines of books, which were already effectively deployed in the auditorium. There’s more space, more light, more seating, and loads more study rooms available. The bookstore and cafe are bigger. They even cut a huge hole and put a staircase in between the lower levels, which lets in more light and encourages visitors to explore. (It worked on me; I’d never been down to that level before!) I also really like the welcome desk with its large display screens listing current exhibitions and events. But the highlight for me is the reinstatement of Martin Sharp’s gorgeous “Oz?” tapestry to pride-of-place right at the entrance.
The wall-sized tapestry was first installed at the Library in 1988 but was relocated to the Bashir Reading Room in 2011. It was woven by the Australian Tapestry Workshop and was designed by Sharp as a response to Bernard O’Dowd’s famous poem “Australia.” The plaque alongside the tapestry explains: “Written just before Federation (when Australia became a nation in 1901), the poem wonders what the future of Australia would be: would it forge a new path, or inherit the problems of its European heritage?” It goes on to note that Sharp saw much of Australia as corrupt, and the terrible fire at Luna Park loomed large in his spiritual outlook. The inclusion of Uluru and a dingo (down there at the bottom) also would have landed differently in the aftermath of the Chamberlain case. It’s a fascinating artwork, much deeper and more thoughtful than it appears to be from the cheery colours and fireworks.
I finished my shorts! These are actually the Mitchell Trousers from Closet Core Patterns. Last November I bought their Learn to Sew Pants + Trousers online course for myself and decided to make up a pair of Mitchells to test it out. They have two different pattern blocks, and after measuring myself I went with a Size 16 in the curvier 14-32 block, using the View A tapered leg. (I could potentially go down a size if I were using a thinner fabric.) The fabric is some pale pink twill that I think I bought in Munich many years ago, and I only realised halfway through the project that it’s unfortunately very close to my actual skin colour. 😬 For the pockets and trim, I used some leftover Liberty Tana Lawn from a previous project.
Construction of the shorts went smoothly, especially with the help of the excellent video tutorials in the online course. I also learned to use some fun features on my sewing machine, like the automatic bar tack. I did a pretty good job with the welt pockets and setting in the front zip too. I decided to be fancy and follow the instructor’s suggestions to make a feature out of the fabric for the back pockets, as well as trimming the waist facing in matching bias tape. I cut the leg pieces off at the lengthen/shorten line, and then I ended up hemming them about another 7 inches above that.
The only problem I ran into was right at the end, when I realised I had cut my waist facings incorrectly. It took me some time to figure out that I’d missed a crucial warning on the cutting diagram:
Whoops! Luckily I had plenty of fabric left over to redo them. After that it was pretty much smooth sailing.
Now that I’ve got the practice version out of the way, I guess it’s time to make some pants!
Tonight we headed north of the harbour to Lindfield to catch a live show from Kevin McCloud and Tim Ross. As you might imagine, it was a very white, bougie, middle-aged audience. 😂
We were expecting more of a sit down architecture discussion, but really it was more like standup. Tim told stories of middle-aged women fawning over Kevin, and they showed photos of them meeting the Governor General (and Albo!) at Admiralty House yesterday. There were also amusing clips of Kev interviewing Prince Phillip back in the day. The middle section dragged a bit, when they showed silly slides they’d made of each other (that may well have been AI-generated). Towards the end they talked about homes and showed a video they’d made about a unique house in Castlecrag. Rather than getting really upset about the loss of heritage buildings, they recommended we instead celebrate them now while we can. They finished with a musical performance of “Our House” by Madness, which was pretty fun.
Afterwards we caught the bus back to Chatswood and then stopped in at Kao Pla for an excellent Thai dinner. It was a lovely evening out with my Valentine! ❤️
My name is Kris. I’ve been blogging since the year 2000. I live in Sydney, Australia, and I spent most of my career in the tech industry.
No AI used in writing this blog, ever. 100% human-generated.
You can follow me on Strava.
Such a hard couple of months, Kris. I’m so pleased you were well matched for this wellbeing check-in, sounds really…
lol
Welcome home. Hope things with your dad have settled down.
Welcome back!
Thank you for sharing the love anyway
