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izmeinaThere were so many temptations to start the serpent weekend. A greenie mob called Earth Carers had an evening full of wormy goodness starting at 7pm on Wednesday. A movie about community gardens and a compost competition in the very gorgeous Grove Library. Very tempting
But the Izzie got to thinking that the time might be more productively spent actually doing stuff in our own patch of green instead of watching other folks. After two of our usual gardening days last week being sacrificed on the altar of certain serpent rituals, there was lots of catching up to do.
Four consecutive days of scheduled events and activities was simply way too much excitement for such an introverted serpent even though all of them were interesting and did not want to miss a single one
So after the usual coffee crawl after work on Wednesday set about doing all sorts of stuff in the garden. The main project at the moment is digging a grave for the recently deceased macadamia tree. Marked out the burial site which includes the spot the poor critter is still standing lifeless and leafless with one single solitary nut clinging to its bare branches. Been bringing some of the sad excuse for soil to the front garden, mixing it with piggie poo and tossing it under the big orange tree
Picked up a useful permaculture trick called ‘hugelkultur’ which involves making a pile of large logs followed by smaller ones, twigs and other assorted organic matter, covering the lot with manure, kitchen scraps, prunings and a final layer of top soil. This can be built on the ground or in a pit. Much depends on the pile’s visibility and whether one’s neighbours are Dursleys or Weasleys.
So dug out half of the hole on Wednesday and this morning was to be spent digging out the other half and filling the thing with large logs and branches from some of the green wood in the shed. Then it will be the turn of the poor macca to be chopped and tossed in the grave.
So from 9am was to be spent nibbling munchies and moving more soil and listening to Life Matters. Then there’s the books and arts show which should have the hole all ready to start filling up with logs and branches. There was also some more vegie bags to be filled with cocopeat and piggie poo.
Then we could indulge in an hour or so in Cyberia before slinking off to catch the bus at 1.30pm
But the map is never the territory. While turning the radio on around 8am to listen to the idiot Christopher Pyne proclaiming that the present budget is full of cash splashes while denying that his own party’s baby bonus was any such thing, kept falling asleep. Got a bit freaked out on waking up in the middle of the midday news hour. Holy shit what a waste of a free day
It was no longer grey and cloudy but now bright and sunny. Sat out in the sun around 1.30 and got to thinking that it would be nice to just sit there snoozing or see how Katniss is getting on with that Victory Tour at the start of the second book. Finished the first one last night while sitting in the garden watching the sunset. Such discipline will be more difficult this time without the movie spoilers
But leave the Lair any later than 2pm and it will be hardly worth going out at all now that it gets dark around 5.30pm. And there is the minor matter of the discussion group meeting at 6.30pm
They have been evicted from their old spot in Maylands full of quirky cafes and spooky streets with that very creepy Lady of Martyrs church and now moved to Morley. This suburb’s main claim to fame is a very large shopping centre with a sort of botanical gardens greenhouse at the centre
The bus took longer than expected and passed the Esplanade where the Emperor has instructed his minions to construct a large black impermeable fence so no one can see the destruction and desecration going on behind it. Even heritage listed sites are not sacred in this place.
(The Esplanade is a little green oasis surrounded by gnarled gorgeous old Moreton Bay fig trees between the main business street and the river and is supposedly protected by some heritage act)
The second bus going to the shopping centre seemed to stop and start all the time. Guess we got lucky and hit the peak hour for squealing schoolies.
Got to the Galleria bus stop and was completely disorientated at that stage. Most of the buses approach the place from the south but this one did a grand world tour and went half way around the block in circles. We passed Fast Eddies - the evening meeting place but the station seemed nowhere near it.
The place was swarming with people. Resisted the temptation to use the station toilets as the bus station has a reputation of being a bit of a crime hot spot. So it was not a good omen to get to the shops and discover that the loos have been closed for renovation. Took ages to find another one. This place is so big that you need a map to find the maps. Never mind a ball of string, a Tom Tom is what you need in the Galleria.
It seemed so completely different and totally unrecognizable from our last visit some ten years ago. It had gotten much much bigger. Did eventually find the signature galleries on the second floor and the strange skylights. It is far from the maddening crowds and probably should have gone up there for coffee. They had a Dome cafe with the familar green and brown decor. But figured that one Dome is the same as another. Best to pick something different. They had a Jamaica Blue cafe - the original of the species but it is right in the middle of the madness and full of squealing schoolies. The local version is much nicer and certainly quieter.
Was sure of only one thing at this stage, was not going to even peek at the second book of The Hunger Games in this abominable location. Sometimes years later the serpent reads a book and remembers the first time like it was only yesterday. This is not a place worthy of being remembered unlike that very magical and mysterious Martyr’s church or the old bakery on 8th Avenue in Maylands
It was such an awful place and induced such a psychotic glazed over eyes zombie state that even reading the paper was an effort and any brainstorming for Camp Nanowrimo was certainly out of the question. So the alphabetical index book remained untouched
At least Fast Eddy’s had a bit of character. It is a themed eatery with old number plates and signs and several old fashioned petrol pumps out the back in the area that used to be a drive in take away. There were lots of nooks and crannies and a pretty little private room with stained glass windows for meetings and such. Guessing that it was an old building that had been refitted.
Next time will go there straight away and do some squiggling or stuff. The food is crap though.
Izzie was too spaced out to properly participate in the evening’s topic of “Should humans go into space?” Was almost a zombie serpent
Was so dopey and brain dead that we hardly said a word and on returning to the city bus station did not even think of one of the options that would have saved a good twenty minutes of waiting time
Here’s hoping that things improve tomorrow. But the signs are not good. Being easily upset or agitated by little things, noise and especially bus trips is usually a sign of an impending crash. Not literally but a sort of sensory overload usually followed by the onset of some nasty bug or other - usually a cold or the flu.
As usual the viral beasties will time their arrival impeccably to coincide with the serpent holidays which are now only two weeks away.
Now let’s see what procrastination we can plan for the garden tomorrow.
But the Izzie got to thinking that the time might be more productively spent actually doing stuff in our own patch of green instead of watching other folks. After two of our usual gardening days last week being sacrificed on the altar of certain serpent rituals, there was lots of catching up to do.
Four consecutive days of scheduled events and activities was simply way too much excitement for such an introverted serpent even though all of them were interesting and did not want to miss a single one
So after the usual coffee crawl after work on Wednesday set about doing all sorts of stuff in the garden. The main project at the moment is digging a grave for the recently deceased macadamia tree. Marked out the burial site which includes the spot the poor critter is still standing lifeless and leafless with one single solitary nut clinging to its bare branches. Been bringing some of the sad excuse for soil to the front garden, mixing it with piggie poo and tossing it under the big orange tree
Picked up a useful permaculture trick called ‘hugelkultur’ which involves making a pile of large logs followed by smaller ones, twigs and other assorted organic matter, covering the lot with manure, kitchen scraps, prunings and a final layer of top soil. This can be built on the ground or in a pit. Much depends on the pile’s visibility and whether one’s neighbours are Dursleys or Weasleys.
So dug out half of the hole on Wednesday and this morning was to be spent digging out the other half and filling the thing with large logs and branches from some of the green wood in the shed. Then it will be the turn of the poor macca to be chopped and tossed in the grave.
So from 9am was to be spent nibbling munchies and moving more soil and listening to Life Matters. Then there’s the books and arts show which should have the hole all ready to start filling up with logs and branches. There was also some more vegie bags to be filled with cocopeat and piggie poo.
Then we could indulge in an hour or so in Cyberia before slinking off to catch the bus at 1.30pm
But the map is never the territory. While turning the radio on around 8am to listen to the idiot Christopher Pyne proclaiming that the present budget is full of cash splashes while denying that his own party’s baby bonus was any such thing, kept falling asleep. Got a bit freaked out on waking up in the middle of the midday news hour. Holy shit what a waste of a free day
It was no longer grey and cloudy but now bright and sunny. Sat out in the sun around 1.30 and got to thinking that it would be nice to just sit there snoozing or see how Katniss is getting on with that Victory Tour at the start of the second book. Finished the first one last night while sitting in the garden watching the sunset. Such discipline will be more difficult this time without the movie spoilers
But leave the Lair any later than 2pm and it will be hardly worth going out at all now that it gets dark around 5.30pm. And there is the minor matter of the discussion group meeting at 6.30pm
They have been evicted from their old spot in Maylands full of quirky cafes and spooky streets with that very creepy Lady of Martyrs church and now moved to Morley. This suburb’s main claim to fame is a very large shopping centre with a sort of botanical gardens greenhouse at the centre
The bus took longer than expected and passed the Esplanade where the Emperor has instructed his minions to construct a large black impermeable fence so no one can see the destruction and desecration going on behind it. Even heritage listed sites are not sacred in this place.
(The Esplanade is a little green oasis surrounded by gnarled gorgeous old Moreton Bay fig trees between the main business street and the river and is supposedly protected by some heritage act)
The second bus going to the shopping centre seemed to stop and start all the time. Guess we got lucky and hit the peak hour for squealing schoolies.
Got to the Galleria bus stop and was completely disorientated at that stage. Most of the buses approach the place from the south but this one did a grand world tour and went half way around the block in circles. We passed Fast Eddies - the evening meeting place but the station seemed nowhere near it.
The place was swarming with people. Resisted the temptation to use the station toilets as the bus station has a reputation of being a bit of a crime hot spot. So it was not a good omen to get to the shops and discover that the loos have been closed for renovation. Took ages to find another one. This place is so big that you need a map to find the maps. Never mind a ball of string, a Tom Tom is what you need in the Galleria.
It seemed so completely different and totally unrecognizable from our last visit some ten years ago. It had gotten much much bigger. Did eventually find the signature galleries on the second floor and the strange skylights. It is far from the maddening crowds and probably should have gone up there for coffee. They had a Dome cafe with the familar green and brown decor. But figured that one Dome is the same as another. Best to pick something different. They had a Jamaica Blue cafe - the original of the species but it is right in the middle of the madness and full of squealing schoolies. The local version is much nicer and certainly quieter.
Was sure of only one thing at this stage, was not going to even peek at the second book of The Hunger Games in this abominable location. Sometimes years later the serpent reads a book and remembers the first time like it was only yesterday. This is not a place worthy of being remembered unlike that very magical and mysterious Martyr’s church or the old bakery on 8th Avenue in Maylands
It was such an awful place and induced such a psychotic glazed over eyes zombie state that even reading the paper was an effort and any brainstorming for Camp Nanowrimo was certainly out of the question. So the alphabetical index book remained untouched
At least Fast Eddy’s had a bit of character. It is a themed eatery with old number plates and signs and several old fashioned petrol pumps out the back in the area that used to be a drive in take away. There were lots of nooks and crannies and a pretty little private room with stained glass windows for meetings and such. Guessing that it was an old building that had been refitted.
Next time will go there straight away and do some squiggling or stuff. The food is crap though.
Izzie was too spaced out to properly participate in the evening’s topic of “Should humans go into space?” Was almost a zombie serpent
Was so dopey and brain dead that we hardly said a word and on returning to the city bus station did not even think of one of the options that would have saved a good twenty minutes of waiting time
Here’s hoping that things improve tomorrow. But the signs are not good. Being easily upset or agitated by little things, noise and especially bus trips is usually a sign of an impending crash. Not literally but a sort of sensory overload usually followed by the onset of some nasty bug or other - usually a cold or the flu.
As usual the viral beasties will time their arrival impeccably to coincide with the serpent holidays which are now only two weeks away.
Now let’s see what procrastination we can plan for the garden tomorrow.
