Variety is the spice of life

My day could not be more varied if I tried. A pre Xmas shared haul from the Beehives yielded 12 kilos. I was the photographer. The Beekeeper did all the really hard work on quite a warm day in his bee suit. Of course it is the bees who are the real heroes - they have plenty of honey left for them to enjoy. 

Then onto the new exhibition at QAGOMA - the Gallery of Modern Art with the title of AIR. 

Broken into a number of related subjects, Atmosphere, Shared, Burn, Invisible and Change. Artists from around the world brought their works on the subject of air, how we share it, how we fear it, how it changes for different social groups. "When artists address global issues confronting us today they energise us to change the world by changing the way we look at it".

The works were monumental and tiny, mesmerising and magical and I was able to lose myself in that for a good few hours. The beautiful trees on the way to the Gallery. 

Mona Hatoum's Hot Spot III 2009  her sphere of the earth has the perimeters of all continents burning dangerously red - its not just about the war zones, none of us are too far from hot spots anymore. 

Carlos Amorales Black Cloud focuses on our own relationships and our connection with nature. Something that feels terribly out of balance. This work was conceived after the death of his grandmother but also refers to the perilous migration of monarch butterflies between north America and Mexico. Populations are collapsing, black is the colour of mourning and also decay. 

Tomas Saracenos spectacular spheres. 15 Mirrored spheres create a space for rest and reflection. Where air becomes breath. They are part transparent and part reflective. Here I am reflected in the biggest. 

My favourite of all - seen previously in the gallery was Jonathan Jones monumental work Giran - the winds from 2018 of change and apprehension made with the help of so many volunteers and replete with the Voice of Dr Uncle Stan Grant, the smell of eucalyptus and the murmurations of Birds. 

Here is a detail of the pieces. Made with feathers collected from all over Australia. Bagaay - emu eggshell spoon, bindu ganay, a freshwater mussel scraper, waybarra, a weaving start, bingal a bone awl, a dhola ny a wooden spear and galigal a stone knife. 

And as if this was not enough, an afternoon lecture on Machiavelli's The Prince. Polyglot Arthur Cominos recited it in Italian and then gave us the Greek translation as written by Nikos Kazantzakis. He ended his talk with a a Chinese fable of the Fox and Cockerel spoken in Mandarin - well that was different - and it all turned on the understanding of the term hypochrite which in Greek means to undertake a role. 

So with a delicate crescent moon lying down in the sky, I shall leave you with this quote from Kazantzakis - not part of todays lecture, but one which lends itself to the art work. 

"Since we cannot change reality let us change the eyes which see reality". 

From one Turkey to another

Our first Xmas lunch done and dusted already, the sky was an azure blue with swirls of clouds travelling languorously across it, there was a breeze, but it was a warm and sunny day, a harbinger of summer which is just round the corner. Our gardening group enjoying a lunch in a sumptuous garden. Not a hint really of Xmas in the air other than the festive ham and the turkey salad, talking of which, this is the one I came across today on my walk, more colourful then the ones which are about to be consumed in most US households for Thanksgiving on Thursday. Males are busy courting females and building bigger and better mounds to attract them. The heat emitted by the decaying foliage helps incubate the eggs. Dad even drills holes in the mounds and inserts his bill to check the temperature in the mound. Now that is what I call a well regulated home. Happy Thanksgiving to all - a lot to be grateful for in our lives. 

As the year draws to a close I look back on it and realise how radically life has changed in these two years of the pandemic. There may be a wave round the corner but the sting has hopefully gone out of covid and we can hug and kiss family and friends. It feels unbelievably comforting to be here now, though the pain and suffering of many cannot be forgotten. 

Time to bake a Xmas Cake and think of a few presents for the family. Xmas takes on a different feel in the sub tropics as it is stripped of the conventional, but looking at all the beauty around me I am happy to embrace new and exciting ways of looking at this time of year. 

A pot of dancing orchid Ladies 

Gold tipped decorations wouldn't you say? 

Queens Wreath draping delicately 

Monkeys tails planning their escape 

Matchsticks ready to light up the night 

The colour of Xmas in our trees - the Poincianas ready to burst into colour - coming soon. 

When Insta comes alive, and the very ancient.

Last night I met a man with whom I have been friends on Insta for a couple of years. I am a great fan and he is a great Cretan. He was born in Australia but found his heritage and purpose late in his twenties and he has not looked back. He is the owner of Philhellene a wonderful lively bustling restaurant in Moonee Ponds which serves authentic Cretan food. https://www.philhellene.com.au John Rerakis and his wife Susie have been at the forefront of the best Greek food for some 30 years -Behind every Greek man are several amazing women, his wife and two mothers who produce a lot of the excellent food served there.He however is the soul and party of his guests. We drank Cretan wine and ate artichokes with broad beans and goat with peas. Delicious ! 

john.rerakis_ insta He has an allotment and grows many of his own vegetables. 

Had to walk some of that off this morning so headed to the Hellenic Museum which I have been meaning to visit for a long time.They had an array of interesting exhibitions.

The well behaved women had all taken off behaving badly.

The exhibitions took me through Greek civilisation from its earliest days to the present. 

A Cypriot figurine of the 7th C BCE of a male wearing a high tiara. Perhaps they enjoyed dressing up even in those days!

A Nolan amphora from Nola in Southern Italy 450 BCE with an erotic scene between man bearing a fruit and a woman holding a myrtle branch and the duck in the middle alludes to Aphrodite as one of her familiar attributes. 

A Mycenaean figurine of the Phi type resembling the letter φ of the Greek Alphabet. 14th to 13th C BCE.

A myrtle wreath from the 4th to 3rd c BCE. 

There was a whole exhibition dedicated to Cypriot pottery of which there were some lovely examples. I liked this one. 

Moving to the Byzantine times I have special reason to reproduce a St Anthony and a St George. I looked for a St Nicholas but alas he was busy in Bondi. The wooden chest brought back memories of afternoons at home watching my mother create her own chests which were just as beautiful and the delicate embroidery reminiscent of some of the treasures left from my yiayia in Kozani. 

It was a delightful morning of pride in my heritage and reminiscences of my family. 

In Melbourne

The city came into view above the overpass and greeted us grey with clouds hanging low, heavy in the sky. Its been a while since we have been here so we headed out to explore. A Pizza at Max's set us up for a few hours for finding our way in the city and enjoying the crowds, the diversity of people and the music. 

We stopped outside the old Post office Building now an H&M and I went up to one of the women protesting. She asked me if I wanted to stand with her for a while and my eyes filled with tears. Of course I will and I told her we all should, this was not an acceptable way for people to live. I called hubby to hold one of the signs while I took a photo of them and we stood and talked about the power of protest and how important it was that we should all show solidarity with the women in Iran. They had been standing for ten hours. We can all spare time to stand with them, sign a petition for sanctions against Iran and support their cause in every way we can. 

Onto the Royal arcade and Gog and Magog - my Greek connections all over again. 

Here is Gog - he looks fierce but may mean well. Not sure ...

Walking around, taking in the striking modern architecture juxtaposed with the older heritage buildings.

Through the Cathedral Gardens we come across this couple Pastor Sir Doug and Lady Gladys Nicholls. The first memorial statue in Melbourne dedicated to two Aboriginal community leaders. 

This moving tribute - Peace to the Unconquered further down the road. 

A sign of Peace in our times though right in front of our eyes, generations that no longer speak to one another. 

  

Discoveries with Dougall 48 - Dianella

Yes I have missed my walks with Dougall. I stopped after a challenging one where I felt he had simply become too strong for me, but I do miss him, so yesterday with my Security blanket in tow (aka hubby) we set off once again. Bright blue sky, a bouncy slobbery dog sooo happy to see us. We were too. 

We came across these beauties which I am sharing with you today. Dianella, an Australian Native Flax lily is just phenomenally beautiful. A simple grass, planted on many borders it transforms itself at this time of year to these extraordinary flowers and fruit. Dougall obliged by stopping and letting me take photos of them. 

They are truly amazing in their colour variations and collections. 

As some of you know, I always delight in finding connections in my worlds such as they are and for this one I can tell you that Dianella was named so after Diana, the Greek Goddess of hunting - both equally beautiful without doubt. A blue reminiscent of the Greek world and Remembrance Day today all over the world. 

Who needs Guy Fawkes

The fifth of November has just passed and perhaps some people lit their bonfires and others set off fireworks but who needs any of that when you come across " fires" like this one ? 

This exquisite Brisbane tree has fired me up on this bonfire weekend. Nature has all the colours to brighten the dullest day.