Are you as happy as this ?

And if not why not ? 

Last night I had the opportunity to go to a concert which was unlike any other I had been to. It was a collaboration of creative minds and Buddhist sentiments and it worked beautifully. On stage was Tenzin Choegyal, Tibetan singer and musician with a number of other talented musicians, an amazing tabla player Shen Flindell, a guitarist with a lovely Italian name, a talented songwriter and singer, Marcello Milani, a violinist Richard Grantham  and a brass pot and gong player, Michael Askill.

The other guest on stage was Michael Leunig, Australia's celebrated cartoonist, http://www.leunig.com.au/about/biography with his shock of white hair and his paintbrush. The story begins some fifteen years ago when Tenzin met Leunig busking in Melbourne. They have been firm friends ever since and last night was a coming together of their friendship and creativity in aid of Tibet.

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Music and song accompanied Leunig's doodles and drawings.The Theme was "Nurturing the Earth" and it was a feast for the senses and the soul. In the course of the concert he created five canvases of his familiar and much loved happy humans who dance with light and laughter, love and lightness. His strokes were assured and his explanations humble, this is what he knows how to do, and he has been doing it for years, and people respond to them, and appreciate the sentiments expressed in each one. 

At the end of the night two of these canvases were auctioned off to support the Australian Tibet Council and the Tibetan Children's Village. I was floored by people's generosity of spirit and can tell you that one canvas fetched $7,500 and the other a whopping $9000. That is amazing for the cause. I was sitting next to a woman who was a passionate fan of Leunig and his work and bid loudly and hopefully for both. She was out bidded by a little in each auction but I am happy to say that she felt so strongly about it that she went to meet him and secured one of the canvases where the funds once more will support the cause. 

We live here with freedoms that are fundamental to our happiness and creativity so it is hugely important not only to remember those places in the world which do not  have these freedoms but to actively participate where we can to make sure each day they are one step closer to achieving them. 

St George's Day

A strange week has gone by. Alone, so enjoying the liberty that it brings, free from the need to cook, and do anything but essential housework, and going out to events with friends. But also one where emotions ran away in helter -skelter moods. Friends came to lend soothings words and balance was  restored.

The sun has come out on this Monday morning as I set off to do a normal shop, complete with trolley and hat. I am celebrating my George whose nameday it is today, and I come across this on the pavement, so striking in its colour and simplicity, symmetry and softness that I know the week is off to a splendid start. Happy Nameday my lovely G. 

Balmy Brisbane in the Autumn

So this is what inner Brissie life looks like on a balmy Sunday morning when I am heading through the bougainvillae path to the Botanical Gardens to catch Botanica - a show of Contemporary Art outside. A city beach complete with sand and pools of varying depths, open and free for all to enjoy. 

The interesting thing to note is the mother wearing shoes but all the kids are barefoot ! 

Not uncommon here but still a complete mystery to me given how health and safety conscious they are. Why would you allow your toddler to go barefoot on tarmac and paths when the outside temperature is 31C??

As I enter the Botanic Garden in the city,  I feel there is energy in each of these plants. By contrast this is one of the rare times where the art work which is supposed to be interwoven with nature has left me cold and not very impressed.Look at the colour of this ginger plant. 

Look at the symmetry of that trunk - you could not measure it more accurately.

 These things in the pond are just messy to the eye and add nothing to those lovely lily pads.

As for these two photos, I hardly need make any comment. Their intensity, their sexuality is all there for the eyes to feast on.

And then we have some interesting additions to a beautiful fig tree, one of the biggest in the park. These were called Trophy Specimen - and the blurb points to the practice of fetishing exotic species whilst suggesting the paradoxical effects of human interference in nature. These were made from recycled plastic and other waste and light up as you approached them. 

There were other art works made from recycled tents and cubes, paper flowers to fill a common and even branches of trees which were activated by your presence and waved back at you to ask the question of how humans and plants would interact. Would we understand one another and take better care of one another? Well at least this one had a message that I could relate to !

Sharing ...

On a dull and overcast day I head out to a little boy I am very fond of and whom I am helping with his numeracy and literacy skills thanks to the http://thepyjamafoundation.com. I walk along the road and think about conversations I had recently with my boys about the Third Industrial Revolution. If you want to find out more, like I did, here is a link https://impact.vice.com/en_us/article/bj5zaq/watch-vices-new-documentary-the-third-industrial-revolution-a-radical-new-sharing-economy

I didn't even know there was one but apparently it is all about sharing. The fourth revolution is on its way but I am not sure what that is about. Going to Sydney to probe them further. 

So when I see expressions of sharing in the community it makes joyful and full of optimism. A cute little home for books, children and adult books for sharing with others in the neighbourhood. Optimism makes my eyes even bigger, so that colours and shades are popping right out at me despite the weather system which is doing its darkest. 

I came home full of the joys of life and nature and here they are. 

And then the skies as if to make amends borrow the colours of the flowers and paint on a much more acceptable canvas to end the day and all is well.