The Lair of the Emerald Serpent

Today is officially the full moon but it has been cloudy all day so not much more to see than a pale shapeless blob in the skies tonight

I resorted to catching a ferry across the river and back, this being the easiest way to get an unobstructed view of the south eastern horizon. Nothing to be seen at all until around 40 minutes after moonrise when a pale grey blob appeared among the blanket of clouds.

But not many folks have bothered to come out to watch it. They are all too busy partying
Today in the Wild West is the first day since Monday 23rd March that the pubs and bars are open again along with a majority of restaurants. The restaurants were given the green light on Monday 18th May but with a maximum of 20 diners, very few of them were viable so they just stayed closed until today

One of my regular lurking grounds, the Secret Garden Cafe was packed with people even at 3pm. So crowded that I figured I will stick to my usual Tuesday when it is more likely to be almost empty

In some strange way, it was rather reminiscent of New Year's Eve. Because there have been so few new cases of Coronavirus over the last month or so, it seems very unlikely that there will be any sudden clusters or outbreaks after all of today's partying

For me, the big news is that the Zoo, art galleries and museums are all now open as of today. I still have not replaced my zoo annual pass since my purse was stolen back in January
I guess I should wait a week or two until all the crowds are gone.

One other amusing casualty of the COVID-19 lockdown has been a local Dystopian book club

Two days ago, I got an email from the organizer and just had to cackle evilly when I got to the lines


"It's been a lovely three years running this book club, but I have decided that it's time is over. This is mainly because, as the world becomes more and more dystopian, I find that reading dystopian fiction is less of the escape that it used to be."

( Pandora's Books )

The serpent has been so busy Fringe bingeing that there's bugger all time left for slinking in Cyberia.

Tonight had to choose whether or not to go to a Spooks comedy show called I Spied - Confessions of an Ex ASIO Agent and walk 2km to the Lair due to the lousy bus services on Sunday or to be lazy, get the 8pm bus that goes just past the serpent street and miss the spook show which starts at 7.20

Of course all these problems would not have been an issue if I had gone to the spook show last night when there were lots of late buses. But there were half price tickets available for a drag queen show at 7pm so took that option instead

In the end I took the chance thinking that I don't want to spend the next few weeks thinking of the shows that I did not go to especially since I already missed the intriguingly titled "Cardinal Sins - Pell in a Cell"


So glad I went in the end. The show was snarky and hilarious and definitely deserving of the 4.5 star reviews. It is up there with the absolutely fabulous "Mein CAMP" featuring a sort of Nazi Drag Queen of Kitsch.

Mein CAMP was on Thursday night in one of the old Belgian Spiegel tents. The show had been running since last Sunday and it turned out that there were cheap tickets for every single show.
Stuffed up on that one but had made the decision to get a definite spot since the pain of paying full price when there were cheap tickets to be had would be infinitely less than trying to be cheap and missing out completely.

The Flight of the Valkyrie was the perfect tune to get the show on the road.

It got especially adorable in act 2. A video screen played some of the choicest clips of the Orange Twitler saying ghastly things about Mexicans, Muslims and pretty much everyone while Hans did his costume change. He wore a garish blue uniform and the orange hair was hiding under a hideous MAGA hat.

Then he got back to doing some disturbing versions of tunes from The Sound of Music and a twisted take on a Madonna song "Like a German"

This serpent suspects that Hans really is an Australian because the snark about local politics was just too subtle. Followed the Twitter trail and suspicions were confirmed.

Then there was last Wednesday's moon with a view. The moon rise turned out to be more impressive than the eclipse which was really like the four phases of the moon on speed. Two hours instead of 4 weeks.

And when there's no freak shows in the city, there is plenty more going on in Twitterland. With the Fringe in town and Don the Con in the White House, there is never ending drama every day.

So the last day of September is nearly over. It’s been a strange month. It got off to a rather bad beginning with the serpent bag snatch. But soon things returned to their usual abnormal state.
There’s been quite a few Buy Nothing Days this month. Two were due to inviting the Dursleys over for dinner and others from simple lack of silver sickles.

But a few observations have been confirmed beyond all reasonable doubt. In the old days of Goblin servitude, one of the Izzie rituals was to visit a cafe on the bus route and use the 2 hour return ticket to get there and back. The Zoo is also on the same route and often got added to the agenda. That was one of the good things of a 7-1 shift. It sort of sucked having to get up so early for work but meant that there was still a whole afternoon available to do interesting things.

So I soon came to the conclusion that some munchies and the chance to catch up on the newspapers was quite a source of enjoyment and I could then slink off happily back to the Lair and potter around in the garden for the rest of the day. For some strange reason it seemed so much easier to get stuff done at the end of the day than reserving a morning off for lurking around the Lair and then going out for the rest of the day.

Then there’s the endless assortment of online courses which are still for free. The evening hours are devoted to those. So I soon came to the conclusion that this serpent is a simple creature at heart. No need to go far or wide on grand adventures. Just a few hours of sunshine, a coffee and the papers and a good book to read at bus stops and visits to Cyberia in the evening seemed to be the main ingredients for contentment.

So with this knowledge in mind, been lurking around the Lair more frequently and smelling the weeds. The 3 pecan trees planted back in May and June have finally unfurled their first buds. For the last month had been worried that two of them were duds but they have come to life in the last week. Since May I have planted 10 trees which must be a record. All of them now have new leaves. Of course keeping them alive over summer is the real trick. It can get as hot as hell here.

But the biggest and most beautiful event was the pumpkin moon on Monday. Did a practise run the day before at the most sacred site in the city. Even resorted to using a compass app in order to know the exact location of the bad moon rising. Still the critter sneaked past unnoticed as a ghostly blob that I noticed about 10 minutes after it came up. It was still 40 minutes before sunset so it was going to be a bit tricky to catch. Next day it would be 15 minutes after sunset so the odds were far more in the serpent’s favour.
For the first time ever managed to catch the top of the circle on the horizon. It was a bright shade of red which slowly turned to pink and then orange like a giant pumpkin.
The park was full of picnickers who were gasping and gawking at the unexpected gorgeousness except for the groups of Chinese folks who just like the Izzie had made it their mission to be there as it is by far the best spot in the city to spot full moon rises (between March and September anyway)

Some silly bimbo was rabbiting on about some magical Blood Moon which we will not see again until 2030 something. As far as a certain serpent has observed, just pick a moonrise between 15 and 40 minutes after sunset and you are likely to get an amazing kaleidoscope of colours. Earlier than that and it is a vague pale pink blob and later it comes up like a big fat yellow lump of cheddar. (Just consulted the Oracle of Google and apparently Blood Moon does not refer to the moon appearing in a dark shade of red but rather is something to do with groups of lunar eclipses and this one was the last of a set of 4 so she was right after all)

On a list of 3 things to be happy about over the last 30 days, that multicoloured moon is way at the top. Been full moon watching for more than 10 years now and this was one of the most beautiful ever.

It looks like the rain is here to stay. I can’t complain. It is winter after all and we need all the rain we can get in this bit of this wide brown land. But it did mean the odds were not in favour of watching a big fat full moon rising.

( Bad Moon Rising )

Yesss. I thought that was all ancient history. It must be the full moon. It brings out all those memories of madness.

It’s such a common theme that it’s barely worth mentioning anymore. Most of the great delights in life are random unexpected events while those much anticipated, plotted and planned for turn out to be big disappointments. It seems to be the very act of anticipation itself with its imagining of infinite wonderful possibilities that precipitates the unhappy ending.

Good Friday’s rising moon was a pretty pink thing. In spite of finding a place with a reasonable stretch of horizon facing east and knowing the exact time of the moon rising, I still managed to miss its slink above the horizon. Even with a binoculars I was not able to find it for a good twenty minutes. It was a pale pink blob and easily missed due to the presence of daylight. That was a bit of a disappointment not to catch it crossing the horizon since it’s been a very long time since that has happened. But there were other distractions such as a street filled with spooky fig trees and an old historical cemetery which compensated for such minor disappointments.

( More moonish musings )

It was a crazy thing to do. Was having an inspirational evening at a cafe overlooking a gorgeous memorial park. First there was the obligatory peek in the daily paper followed by a catch up on the gossip in Nanoland. Then it was time for some proper plotting and planning. It was a gorgeous crisp and crunchy sunny day not at all stinking and steaming hot as is usual for this time of year.
So as the clock slowly approached 6pm I had to decide whether to lurk a little longer or to follow the original serpent agenda of catching a bus into the city and going to the jetty to watch the full moon rising. The lure of the moon tempted this lunatic serpent. Arrived at the jetty five minutes before moonrise at 7.11pm. There was a choice to be made. To return on the same bus ticket at no extra cost which meant catching the return bus at 7,25 meaning a pissy ten minutes of moon gazing or to wait an hour for the next bus and pay a second bus fare back to the Lair.
But this is November and along with the cost of a second ticket, waiting an hour for the next bus meant not getting back to the Lair until just before 9pm. Sixty minutes of precious writing time squandered on chasing moonbeams.

With 20/20 hindsight it would have been better not to bother with the celestial beasties and to make the most of the muses while they were visiting.
Tuesday was especially inspiring. After reaching the daily word count quota it was time to celebrate with a glass or two of red sitting outside in the garden gawking at the gorgeous ball of cheese in the sky.
Slinked out to sit in the green plastic chair only to discover that some one else had the very same plan. An absolutely adorable frog had got there first. It was sitting there seemingly staring at the moon. It was such a magical moment. The little critter was completely quiet. Not a squeak or a squawk to be heard. Here’s hoping it was a pobblebonk or a banjo frog. It was way too cute to be a creepy cane toad. Eventually it hopped onto the rusty wheelbarrow full of weeds before making a getaway into the sweet potato patch.
Having froggies in the garden is such a good omen and this was the second time ever that I have ever actually seen one. Years ago when I had the girls I spotted a little critter. They came over to look and carried on like it was the world cup final. The pair of them pecked the pretty little critter to death and Izzie still feels guilty so many moons later.

Word must have gotten around because the cute green creatures kept out of sight until Tuesday night.
Here’s hoping that their days of hiding are over along with their gorgeous distant relatives the big fat blue tongued skinks. One of these gorgeous critters was sunbathing on a rock in the serpent’s garden a few months ago. Spent hours just gawking at the gorgeousness of this adorable monster who had come honour Izzie with its presence.
I am such a sucker for creepy crawlies and interesting creatures.

It was such a crisp and crunchy wicked witchy day. Black Friday with a full moon tossed in was too good to be true. There was the temptation of following the usual route after work. Slinking off to a little park sitting in the sun while reading some juicy book before pottering off to a cafe opposite a very spooky house and hoping there would be some chance of catching the moon rising was the first option. The other was going into the city and up to Kings Park which provides by far the best uninterrupted view to the east. But the days are at their shortest this time of year in Oz and leaving at 4pm and being at the park by sunset at the latest is a bit of a rush on public transport and leaves little time for a pot or two of tea and the papers.

Figured that the spooky house was the less stressful option. It was wonderful meandering along the streets smelling the roses and enjoying the delicate light of the dying sun that is so rare in this part of the world. Also had brought along the perfect book for the occasion. Snaffled in a charity shop this week, it had the intriguing title “How to Rule the World from your Couch”. Always tempted by a power trip, especially a lazy one, just had to take a peek. It wasn’t a parody of some dictator or about politics at all but about developing the art of intuition or as Sybil Trelawney might call it “The Inner Eye”. The strange thing was that a quick glance through the pages contained few of the usual self help buzzwords, the dreaded mangling of so called quantum physics or any mention of believe and achieve or magical fairy dust of any kind.

The tone was more along the lines of starting each chapter with an exercise, doing that first before reading the chapter, recording one’s observations and then reading on. This was more like those ‘how to improve your brain power' books. Try it and if it works keep using it and if it doesn’t , find something else but do keep records of observations as that is the best way to test how well it works.

Now that is a straightforward simple approach that this somewhat skeptical serpent can relate to. For the price tag of two silver sickles, it would be crazy not to take a chance.

The wondrous weather has also been conducive to being in trance like magical states. Will be needing more of that as Camp Nano is around the corner and still no idea what the story is going to be about. Guess that will be a good topic for those exercises in the book.

Took a tiny detour on the way to the cafe and walked right by the back of the creepy spooky house. Also took some pictures of it from there. Next to it are two large vacant blocks of land with stuff dumped everywhere. There was even a well worn path down to the main road amongst all the tall grass and clover. There were some cats running about in the wilderness.



The papers said that the moon rise time was 17.40. So hopefully could catch at least a glimpse before catching the bus at 6pm. Still no trace of the tasty ball of cheese. But by quarter past six it was well and truly visible. Still golden yellow and very large indeed. Felt sort of sad to have missing it appearing over the horizon but then had the inspired idea of trying again next day in the city where there will be no last minute rush to get there. So with a bit of luck will get the best of both worlds. A spooky Friday 13th and a juicy moonrise with a proper picnic.

“We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” T S Eliott

One of this quirky serpent’s favorite nocturnal activities includes slinking about in the moonlight. Watching the comings and goings of this gorgeous ball of light is also on the list of interesting things to do. After many years worked out which locations were the best for watching the full moon rising. There are not many easily accessible places in this city with an uninterrupted view to the eastern horizon.

It was also a most auspicious day. The very first full moon that the Izzie intentionally set about watching was also on a Wednesday 4th July. Way back in 2001. Did not know back then that the sun and moon are in opposition by definition at the time of the full moon. Was amazed and astonished to discover this bit of trivia. Especially when the location is on a hill near is a spooky historical graveyard. Felt sort of stupid for having been so completely unobservant during all those years.

Knew that sitting on the foreshore on the south side of the city would be no good as the moon rises to the south east at this time of year and would not be visible from there. In summer it is different. Then it peeks up from behind the buildings of the city skyline and is a most magical sight.

( Moonbeams on the river )

Today was yet another one of those days that began with the grandest of intentions but soon gave way to the usual bad serpent habits. Was awake around 4.30 am and took advantage of the opportunity to listen to a repeat of yesterday’s “Life Matters’ radio program.
Auntie ABC’s awful origami makeover is a topic in itself but Izzie is most peeved at the assumption that most listeners have access to or are happy to use podcasts to catch up on programs they have missed out on.

One interview was with a woman who had written a book about her experiences with her autistic son. Could so so relate to the obsessions with numbers and patterns, the general dislike and confusion in the company of other humans but especially the whole ‘sensory overload’ thing.
Back to snoozing and the occasional radio program. The Adelaide Writers’ festival sounded fascinating and the interview with Kate Grenville was interesting. So many good books to read and so little time. Once again, there is something about being very specific to a particular place and time that makes a story universal. But the bit about 20 something drafts before she reached the final cut and polish was seriously daunting.
Did go out to sit in the sun and sniff around the garden at that time. Should have stayed up instead of slinking back to the serpent sack. Did not wake up until 12.30. So much for the grand plan of being on the 11.30 bus to town.
It was a perfect day for the beach and slinking amongst the sculptures but will be going there with an old friend tomorrow. We will probably get sizzled and pickled.
Went on a bit of a coffee crawl and picked up the new coffee trail brochure for the annual March food festival. Most important of all was to check the weather page for the time of moonrise.

There are not many places in Perth with an unobstructed view to the eastern horizon. Had three possibilities in mind and chose the jetty as being easiest to get to and from.
But before that was time to visit the last itsy bitsy remnant of the recently finished arts festival. There were three works by this Korean artist of kitsch and two had already gone. The last was at a city art college. This was the same place which had the wonderful exhibition of Japanese industrial design from televisions to the Sony walkman and all sorts of strange things in between

( Colourful Kitsch and other craziness )

Such a procrastinating python is the Izzie. Slinked about in the serpent sack as the weather was too miserable to go to the markets. Anyway the new yuppie management have turned City Farm into a neat and tidy dreadfully Durlseyish soulless wasteland. There's no joy in visiting there any more. The lady who makes and sells the most gorgeous beeswax candles must think the same as she never seems to be there now either

Wednesday was a rainy day with intermittent bits of sunshine. Would have been tempted to curl up in the serpent sack after work but there was the minor matter of the public speaking group meeting at 5.30pm. Was rostered on to do an 8 minute speech on the topic of "The Sea"
Been rather uninspired lately and only thought the night before of telling the adventurous sea faring tale of the Plastiki. A few visits to the Oracle of Google was all that was needed to fill in the details.
There's lots of folks in that club who are assigned roles even bigger than doing 8 minute speeches - such as the chairperson or critic and they think nothing of simply just not turning up without even bothering to find a replacement. Hardly any wonder it is going down the gurgler. Although that seems to be the fate of many clubs and societies these days except the ones involved with sport

After coffees in the cute and cosy Cabin Fever cafe down a dark art deco mall in the city - it's the perfect place on a rainy miserable day, it was time to slink off to the meeting place at Silver City
Sat outside around 5ish looking over at the wasteland that is now City Farm but more importantly at the sunset and then eastwards peeking for a trace of the big fat juicy moon.
According to the daily paper it would be putting on a bit of a show that night or rather Thursday morning. Since the Astronomy Almanac is no longer being printed and did not have the brains to check in Cyberia had to rely on what was said in that paper. So this eclipse would be from around 4am to 6sm local time. But that's assuming the weather would be playing nice. Even in so called sunny Dursleyville there's been many occasions missing a lunar eclipse due to cloudy weather

So instead of setting the alarm clock, will just try wishful thinking to wake up on time. The strange thing was the first time getting up around 4ish there seemed to be nothing at all. Just after 5am had better luck. The moon was there in the west visible from another upstairs window but the bit that was not visible was more likely due to hiding behind clouds than being nibbled by the earth. It was only then it occurred to the serpent that the first peek was not real but had actually been in a dream. Most strange indeed.

The next day's plans included a visit to Memorial Hill to see the big fat creature rising just before 6pm. Problem was that it was still a bit cloudy and Memorial Hill while being one of the best viewing spots is not very good on the south east side.
When it comes to the western horizon here we are completely spoiled for choice but finding a spot to view the east with uninterrupted views to the horizon is a much trickier thing. Last month thought we had got the perfect spot but the moon managed to hide behind one of the four or five high rises on the horizon near the casino. Spotted the sneaky critter soon enough and it was still a gorgeous pinkish shade of red. But the dream of seeing the very first tip of the orb peeking out over the horizon remains as elusive as ever. Spotting it while only the first fifth has appeared above the horizon is the best we've ever gotten so far and that's some years back now.

In the end was much too tired to hang around and drag our bag lady stuff up there. Book binding is nearly as bad as scrapbooking from the point of view of supplies and stuff needed. So figured on trying the bus transfer station on the way back to the Lair which is located near the river.
Got there just before 6pm and could either hang around for 15 minutes or so until the critter appeared or just get the next bus back. Could see a couple of stars so knew it would not be behind any clouds this time.
But the silver critter still remained elusive and invisible. Did spot it eventually. Being the midwinter moon, it was much further south than usual and that's where all the best hiding places are.
Never mind - there's always Friday evening. It will still be fairly big. It rained so had to make do with drooling over the picture of the blood red orb in the paper and being told that the Wild West was one of the best viewing spots. Yeah right. Also turned out that it was a rather long eclipse starting around 3am
Next one will be 10th December which is a Saturday. It should most definitely not be raining then but the serpent most likely will be working unless the light show starts some time after 9pm.