150-a-thon

Sylvia's school is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. So last week every child was assigned a decade. Sylvia came home and said, "Mom, I have the 1880's. I need a dress from the 1880's." None of the other parents seemed phased by this. Everyone is very can-do here. The costumes were to be worn at the 150-a-thon, a fundraising sport and game event.

What do you think of the bonnet? As you can see, Sylvia and I had a successful time shopping at two "op shops" - short for "opportunity shop" which is what they call second-hand shops here. Isn't it fascinating how language can subtly reframe a situation? "Second-hand" sounds rather worn and dull whereas "op shop" hints at an opportunity for bargains and treasure.

                                                                                            The 1960s meets the 1880s.

Sylvia brings a modern day dash to her dress.

Footy!

Otherwise known as Australian Rules Football.

Last night we went to the Sydney Swans vs. the  Essendon Bombers (an AFL or Australian Football League team from Melbourne) game at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Here you can see the goals posts. (Players get 6 points for kicking the ball in between the two center posts or 1 point for getting it between the outer posts).

The large screen was actually quite helpful when the players were at the other end of the field. You can't tell from my pictures, but the playing field is an oval.















Here you can see what an Aussie Rules football looks like:

It's squatter than an American ball. The players don't wear pads but do wear uniforms that show their enormous muscles. The game is fast-paced and involves lots of sprinting and kicking. (Our friend said players can run up to 10 miles a game!) It's fascinating and can be quite beautiful (and brutal too - two huge men were both running for the ball and collided at full speed in mid-air). The man holding the ball here is Adam Goodes. His playing was so spectacular even us newbies could tell he had amazing skills. He had also, unfortunately, been in the news the previous week because a couple of people had made some racist comments to him. Sometimes its unbelievable what people think.

This is the old men's stadium at the Sydney Cricket Ground. I did not take a picture of the "Ladies Stand". You can see that many of the fans wore the Sydney Swans colors - red and white.

Friends enjoying each other, the game, and snacks. As you can tell from the fashionable plastic garb, it was raining, so I only snapped a few pictures and then stowed my camera in a zip-lock baggie.

BTW, apparently "footy" can also refer to rugby - it's all in the context. And for you sports fans, here's a summary of the game complete with a video clip.

Vivid

Recognize the opera house?
Vivid is a festival of light, music, and ideas that is held all over Sydney, but predominantly down by the harbor. It's a bit like seeing people you know gussied up in gowns and tuxes - not necessarily more attractive, but brighter, more, well, . . . vivid.

This is a bit of the many different images with different moods that are projected on the opera house. 

Here's the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia:

And here you can get another taste of the lights and music:

My favorite light show was on the Custom House. I took this from the Circular Quay train stations and love the combination of moving pedestrians and images:

Light sculptures--some of them interactive--were scattered around the city.

This light sculpture is made out of traffic cones.

The best thing about Vivid was how friendly and wonderful the crowds felt. Everyone was out simply enjoying the evening in a low-key way. And, of course, there were fireworks:

Here's a quick clip of some of my favorite, ordinary Sydney lights (That's a ferry and the bunny-ears looking bit in the back is Luna Park):

Oh, the Cheek!

This rainbow lorikeet looks like he has something on his mind, doesn't he?

Turns out he wanted my unused sugar packet.

I was sitting in an outdoor café, completely absorbed in my writing, when a rainbow lorikeet landed on my table about three inches from my paper. He looked at me, looked at my cup, looked at me, looked at my cup, grabbed the sugar with his beak, and flew up to a tree branch.

Here he is sharing the sugar packet with a friend:

 The packets are dark brown, long, and slender like sticks, so it's a bit hard to see.

Apparently, one was not enough.

Cheeky, but beautiful!
Even the staff came out
to enjoy them.

Usually I see rainbow lorikeets partially hidden in trees, so I don't get to admire their backside.

Pastries!

In Sydney people are very serious about their patisseries or pastry shops. If we happen to mention to someone that we are going to a particular suburb or neighborhood, invariably they will tell us we have to go to such-and-such bakery. Happily, we often take their advice.

Watermelon and strawberry cake with rosewater cream from Black Star Bakery in Newtown.

I have never seen watermelon in a cake before, have you?

Opera at La Banette in Glebe.

This reminded me of Nice, France - the first place I ever had l'opera.

Passion de Pierre
at La Renaissance in The Rocks.

A pastry with passionfruit mousse and polka dots.
Who could resist that?

Chocolate éclair at Bakerman in Erskineville.
I think this was the most scrumptious éclair I've ever had.

Tart Tartin and a flat white from La Croix in Potts Point. Oo-la-la!
I don't think I've had one since Passez a Table in Nice, France.

We've savored every bite. Need I say more?

Seen This Morning

A sulfur-crested cockatoo on a wire. Just looking at this picture makes me happy. 

Rick and I dropped Sylvia off at school and then took the morning off and did a quick 6K walk from Bondi to Coogee. (I know it probably seems to you like we only take breaks, but we actually do write, etc. Rick even guest taught a class yesterday). We took our shoes off at Coogee.

Don't you love all these bands of color? Those storm clouds held off until almost the exact moment we had our shoes back on. Unbelievable timing! It's now pouring and is supposed to rain for days -- a good time to drink pots of tea and write. For us, this is such a magical place.

Luna Park

Two weeks ago we went to what turned out to be one of Sylvia's favorite places - Luna Park - a genuine old-fashioned amusement park. It was built in 1935 at the foot of the Sydney bridge, and some of the buildings are actually registered In the New South Wales state heritage register. In the front of this picture, you can see the ferry station. You can also see how close apartment buildings have been built to it!

Here's Rick and Sylvia about to enter.

                                                                                What do you think of those eyelashes?

Here's an example of some of the games you can play.

And here are the clowns in action:

Thank goodness we don't really look like that.

This funhouse is the oldest in the world.

                                                                                                              I loved its old figures and imagery:

Recognize this guy?

                                                                                                        The inside of the funhouse was covered with drawings like this.

And the "rides" were good old-fashioned fun.

Here's Sylvia running through the barrel roll.

This disk whirled around and the kids were gradually flung off by centrifugal force.

Those blurs coming down the slide are Rick and Sylvia.

In the Maze of Mirrors.

What could be better than a little "fairy floss" or cotton candy?

 Did I say "little"?

And because Luna Park is right on the harbor, here's our view as we ate our picnic lunch.

 Bye!