Trumpet loud and clear. 'Markel debacle'... opinion by Halfpenny in SMH well sums up THE interview. Megan was not into compromise in her days in the UK. All family life is an art at the best of times. Her interview presentation was overdone. One question is of their long term happiness.

Strange sculpture.

ABC TV presents Romeo and Juliet, Australian Ballet, Graham Murphy,  magical show with touches of comedy. 

Contemporary ballet has been winning me over but this classical version is not so ludicrous. Sacredness of love...orientalism...more...

Here was retroville with lots of homes from the 1970s or so seemingly in vogue again but probably overlooked by the inhabitants. Who am I to say?

Look up Art Deco is in the air. A landmark in Melbourne.

 Mental health services in Victoria gave life back to my relative. The care is professional. This is very fortunate as an enquiry has been made into areas found wanting and promises made to fix the situation. Mental health is a very worthy cause.

This theatre is rather ornate, of great interest yet .... . The ascent to Valhalla was by way of flights and flights of steps to the realm of Wagnerian opera. 

The beginning of the epic was good to witness, with some ridiculous moments,  but the future episodes better still and singing more way-out as the cycle gradually emerges. 

Surely any bucket list would include Bayreuth Festival....Ballet in Moscow...Opera in .xyz..Bach Fest..

Preparing mussels. Easy enough but a little offputting during an anti-cooking phase. White wine, eschallots, garlic, herbs - thats all. Low fat, healthy, suits semi-vegetarians.

Update.  Mussels are likely polluted with microplastics we are told.  Not much is known about the effects of microplastics on our health. 

Splitting hairs but interesting to know if some oceans are less polluted  with microplastics than others.

Lately news has been news. Well, Murdoch had a normal, i think, background.  His mother was at home in her extensive garden and supported nearby community projects among other interests.

Murdoch News Corp is in the sights of some for issues such as anti intell ectual one eyed opinions.

Answer to the bullish market object  in Times Square and its creator. We dont want to be insular but why are we constantly presented with stuff from the USA?  News. Sure, Texas had a catastrophy, they have my sympathy.

Media is extreme, one eyed, a dominator, presents pressured fraught celebs in sad difficulties and  spreads their sick disease - little things like that!

Who wants to be a colony of the failing super powers? As their physical might falters their media and power to brain wash and reap piles of cash grows and engulfs us all.

More power to those who take media to task. Give them heaps! Fight the good fight one algorithm after another. One dollar after another.

.

Thousand and one nights eatery, evoking fantasy, a tale quite often seen in beautifully illustrated editions and it would have been crass not to choose this coffee.

Hours later, still flaring......

As distinct from the masts, the furtherest distant smoke stack is seen burning fossil fuel. Good grief. Flaring.  All day.  Long Island Point  area has petroleum and LPG industry and a steel works.

What happens on the hour? Waltzing Matilda in naive style is a charming sight and sound.

central

....painted ship upon a painted ocean....

  The Ancient Mariner was a school set text  what seems like about a hundred years ago.

  The spectre is covid. We are incredibily fortunate that covid is 'at bay'.

summer evening

sunset

After a day of maximum heat a pretty sunset was some consolation.

A town in a rare time warp.  The shops are not modernised. All is congruent. And one of the smallest buildings you would ever find.

Why can't a U S politican ever wear spectacles?  The absence takes them down in my estimation.

challenge

Don the con.  All the way with LBJ. Fans of the USA.  Any volunteers ready to flock to its defence?  Defend the Manipulator-dictator or defend the elected government? Will any mercenaries step up? Now's the time, take the chance - follow whichever hero.  Is it worth the effort? 

Imagine our days without USA no celebs, FB, Twitter, Google, glorious hair locks, violent media, senseless media (and I ought to know), unhealth, formal short shorts, hubris, guns.....what have we got to lose? 

 

apocalyptic

Strangly, I read 'apocalyptic' isn't weird, it means to unveil. Has  evidence based processes on virus prevention been unveiled or do we have a big individual fuss by each state? There is more than one way to skin a cat. Could be a good thing. Will the individual hoo-ha continue full-on for the next year and as long as it takes and change to state  borders every few days.

Social distance, hand washing and masks are our defence against every type of virus.

Riots

New house back to the 1950s..

If todays insurrection had been about action for climate change or racial justice it would have been a different matter. Its not the end of democracy.

That votes were cast this week still in support of Trump/republicans defies the imagination. Made no difference that a sociopath was behind the circus, it still worked with some.

From point a to b

Where was everybody?  The latest tunnel in Sydney was rejected and  was an unbelievable 'run' compared to Pennant Hills Road.  The M1 to Newcastle has the upgraded sections completed.  No stopping us now.

 Ease of motoring costs you when certain toll roads are too good to miss specially at start and finish of a thousand kilometre road trip.

Covid

Waltzing Matilda fantasie impromptu provoked by state imposed self isolation. Instead of winging about the border closure I held my tongue but Leonie Wood in the SMH says it all about the nonsense instant decision by the Victorian leaders to adjust border regulations.

 Most of the traffic on the Newell Highway was of Victorians returning south, a long journey to a terrible traffic jam on the border where the check up was very slack and with more sensible management by the team could have cleared the hold up in half the time so that stressed motorists would not jepodise their safe return.

State borders are unnecessary.  Closure is unnecesasry.   

 

Coda to the slow movements of a covid day sonata

covid que

a long que to enter the state of Victoria due to covid regs, this was fast compared to some and took two hours and 30 minutes to 'cross over' there was time to spot a koala, go walking and see the large river gum trees.

 Government ministers hold long press conferences every day when under twenty cases of covid infection are recorded each day.  Contrast this with the thousands upon thousands overseas.   

It is entirely up to us to prevent the spread.  Sadly the theatre in the image should be closed, maybe it is, crowds should not form at all. No long term gain without a big effort. Look at the western world alone to see what can happen.  Are they in denial?  Too little too late.  Take heed!

 

 

 

ABC fm radio classics play Max Bruch's violin concerto every so often. It is always a winner.  Noah Bendix Balgley is terrific.   Interpretations become steadier, deliberate no less brillant, possibly as it should be. 

However, other faster versions remain with you, it is hard to forget them.  Jascha Heifetz is heard on YouTube. I guess he was one of the outstanding violinists of the past. 

To the left watching the sunrise is a tall stark tree who, once again, is striving for photosynthesis and the will to live.

 It wants to belong to the global forest legions who take up the offensive against dreaded carbon dioxide to liberate an oxygen rich life force. 

To cling to a number one role in global climate is a mighty purpose not easily given up but easily defeated and lost by  thoughtless land clearing. 

Australiana

Sunrise, Kulin nation and Taungurung peoples, Lake Eildon. 

literary moves

As an unusual activity i read a book. burnt sugar from avni doshi.

 On one side, this work has a rather negative air or does it? Who can say. There are matters to identify with along with glimpses into modern Indian life where, off hand, the protagonist held some unusual understandings of her lived experience - occasionally that is.

 Yes, simple yet complex, needs more time to digest if it is worth it.