Quickie

Yesterday was so busy. There was terrible condensation on the windows, and the water on the sills had to be mopped up. A friend of Phyllis arrived at 10am.I went out soon after and did not return for three hours.

They were out when I returned home, and at 2.30 Phyllis was supposed to be ready for a driving lesson but he was nowhere to be seen. We went out a little bit later with Kosov and their friend Sarah in the back seat, remaining silent as I told them, via the big blue shed for some stationary for them. I had a headache after returning, and my leg was aching from riding the invisible brake. My droning on to Phillip with driving advice had sent Kosov and Sarah to sleep. 

I had forgotten Ex Sis in Law was parking here while she and a relative went into town to dine and see a show. She called 20 minutes before their arrival, and I let them into the carpark and then let them into the building. 

I made them tea and surprisingly, my already opened Aldi ginger biscuits weren't stale. Go chemicals. They went off to do their thing and Phyllis and Kosov went out to buy bento boxes for their meal, which is rare and also rare, they ate the same time I did, they having picked up a hamburger I had ordered on their way back.

The theatre goers returned home and we chatted for a bit and off they went. It was 11.30 by then, later than I normally stay up but I feel fine this morning. 

This is a bit of a nothing post, but I'll publish it as it will quickly go stale. 

There are so many adjectives that could be used to add to #47's name and not one of them is good. Contrast him to a truly great leader, a statesmen, a fine speaker, a man of grace, kindness, honesty and decency. 

June 14th

Barack Obama Appreciation Day.

Family Friday

Last Sunday was a pleasant family affair as I joined Ex Sis in Law and her husband for lunch to celebrate his 68th birthday. He was born in a very auspicious year, as a couple of you know.

Many family members attended, and a photo was taken of him with 10 of their collective grandchildren. They all love Pa. 3 children weren't there, the Bellarine Peninsula boy twins and their older sister, so that is 13 grandchildren in total. 

But how are they made up? Only two are his blood relatives, his daughter's two children. So the rest must come from my family and are blood relatives to me, via my youngest brother. No, not quite. 

Birthday boy has four children, a boy and three girls. His dyke daughter has a partner, who is new to me, and I will guess that the child they brought along is their daughter. She and her partner are Anglos but the daughter is of Asian appearance (English: Chinese). I will ask about this later but no one batted an eyelid. While no one should, I am naturally curious. Maybe she had an Asian husband before she saw the errors of her straight ways with a man, or maybe the father was a doner? Or it could be the daughter of a friend who who asked if she could come along? I am happy once I fit people into boxes. 

Two others were also of neither family's bloodline, Ex Sis in Law's daughter's two step daughters, meaning Hippie Niece has a Brady style blended family with her twin daughters. The two step daughters are the ones with the drug using mother. 

Are you still with me? Ray always said it was stupid of me to note bloodlines, and perhaps he was right, 

An afternoon family party has been organised for Jo's 18th birthday in July, my sister's and her wife's daughter. Eighteen! How can that be. She was born in 2007 and I blogged about her often on my old blog. She is all growed up now and what a privilege it was to spend so much time with her when she was young. 

I was looking for something on my old blog and I think it was about 2010 and not one person on my favourite blogs list still blogs or even makes comments. It was interesting to remember who they were. As a long time blogger, you have to develop a bit of hard heart as people come and go. 

Later edit: There is one, Daniel Bowen, owner of the first blog I started reading. 

Being Friday, here are a few funnies I came across last week that appealed to me. 

Strawberry? Kind of...

We are supposed to have a strawberry coloured moon tonight on the 11th. It looks very white to me. But two nights ago, I saw the moon with a strawberry coloured halo and naturally I took photos. I also used the camera but I could tell the phone photos were better. 

The sculpture

As I mentioned I would return to take better photos of the sculpture in Therry Street near Victoria Market, I have, and here they are. The work is clearly related to the market. At first glance the cart wheel is visible.

The bronze work is called Wind Contrivance and the artist is Pauline Fraser. The fish could be swimming together in a stream. Carrots and an eggplant (England: aubergine). Whatever it is called, I don't like it. 

This side is a pumpkin with an apple and I don't know what the vegetable with the stalk is, and there is also a fishing net. 

The corrugated looking tin could represent the market roof. 

The conversation

A conversation that I knew would crop up at some point, and after allowing me a respectful year of mourning the loss of Ray, it did and came from my lovely Ex Sister in Law. We were just sitting and chatting about everything and nothing.

She: Do you think you might like to have another relationship?

Me: No. I am pretty happy with my life as it is. Ray and I were so used to our way of life, I can't imagine ever being in that position again. We led our selfish lives side by side. Well, I suppose I could but it would be quite a different relationship, probably not a live together one. (She had unleashed a speech demon by someone who does not normally talk about such matters so frankly). I am quite set in my ways. Phyllis and Kosov adapt and respect that. I expect any person I may meet of a similar age would also have a very established life. I have a life, much the same as I led with Ray, except he isn't with me anymore. 

And beside that ESiL, I am not interested in sex with old men. In one moment of self aggrandisement when I was in my early thirties, perhaps even into my early forties, I thought I would like to have sex with myself, meaning I thought I was pretty good at sex. I still think I was back then. Now, assuredly not. I would not want sex with me. 

She: No, I don't want to have sex with old men either (Her husband is my age. Lots of laughing at this). 

Me:  Phyllis and Kosov are more than enough company and we are creating our history to the point where can now say something like, "Do you remember when...?" That's nice.

Me: As for sex, I can't be bothered with any personal hook ups with anyone. It is just too much bother. Besides, Melbourne is full of attractive young overseas students from all corners of the globe, who are looking to make some money. 

Me just writing now: As James/Jasmine used to say, a girl has her needs. They are very professional, don't cost much more than the price of a normal massage, and they appreciate a tip. I sent one $200 during Covid lockdown when he was desperate, still paying his rent by relying on a charity for food. That as guests in our country, and overseas students weren't looked after by our governments, was a disgrace. He later offered to repay the money in kind. He stopped working as a 'masseur' to open a dog grooming business. To be slightly fair to the governments of the time, overseas students were told in the very early days of Covid to go home (losing everything they had worked for and paid for).   

So that is a bit of a confession. You will have your own thoughts on the matter and about me, and so be it, but I have no shame. I have great respect for professional sex workers, male or female, and the respect happened many decades ago when I realised how important sex can be in life and listening to off mainstream media about what they had to say about their lives. 

The above is partly what I said to ESiL, but then my fingers ran away over the keyboard. 

Monday Mural

Linking with Sami for Monday Mural. What can I find in my mural folder this week? 

Ah, such a sweet mural of cute dogs. It's a bit of a shame that the Footscray Halal Meats sign is at the front of the shop. I think it goes without saying that dogs aren't part of Halal slaughtered meat diets. 

Sunday Selections

Along with Elephant's Child and River, here are my Sunday Selections. I am slowly catching up with the backlog, now at November last year.

This is a poor quality photo but I did my best without scaring the bird away. It is rare for a Pied Currawong to appear on my balcony, so I was a little excited. 

While it was only a brief shower, look how the spread of the tree prevented rain reaching the tarmac.

The display at Melbourne Town Hall changes frequently and always looks good, sometimes brilliant but I hate the Harvest Festival display; without colour and it looks stale and tired very quickly. I remember as a child displays of fruit and vegetables in church but my religious consultant, Phyllis, has never heard of it, so I don't know if it is Christian religious, and if so, Catholic or Protestant. No doubt one of you will fill me in. Who needs Google!

Just a photo I snapped from the balcony, which I quite liked.

I've certainly shown this the Dorcas Street tribute to tram staff before, on the walking route for staff to St Kilda Road from South Melbourne Depot for crew changes on the 15/16 tram route. The depot was demolished to be replaced by Southbank Depot some distance away, with the site of the old depot now being a BMW car dealership. The artwork is a very large metres tall panel on a modern high rise apartment building. 

I think this is at the old Australian Mint in William Street.

It should be the Australian Coat of Arms. I can make out fish, sheep and I guess bales of wool.

The room is not always this bad but sometimes worse. As long they don't damage anything, I don't care how untidy it is. 

The contrast to my bedroom, the common wall being where my pillows are. I couldn't live in such a mess as in the photo above.

I just took these photos to show Phyllis, who is a bit of a motorhead, and I thought he would love the colour.

I took the lads to Station Pier to see the MS Queen Elizabeth ship. I like that this old crane has been preserved. I guess such cranes were used between when cargo was manhandled and before container shipping. 

We saw a jelly fish at Station Pier. I didn't realise you can hear speaking. Firstly is Kosov and the last little bit is Phyllis. While Phyllis missed the last word Kosov said, YouTube subtitling picked up the word. I don't know why the video has subtitles.