Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Home

So I have been back a little over a week and I am officially another year older. Thanks for all the birthday wishes from Australia! There is always something comforting about being in familiar surroundings but things just seem different now. I miss Australia. I REALLY miss Matt. I do love seeing my friends again!!! It's all back to the daily grind at work..yuck!


This Friday CHARCOLL has an opening which I am participating in. Four of the pieces I completed in Australia are going to be on display including representations of fellow CHARCOLL members, e.k. buckley and Zsofia Otvos.

GALLERY OF FORKING PATHS

Friday October 12, 6-10pm

MODE

818 W 18th Street

Hope to see some of you guys there!!!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Tapas

Mick and Bec have been wanting to have a Tapas night since they got back from their grand tour of Europe. We decided it would be fun to do as sort of a send off night since I am leaving. Bec and I went down to the Victoria Market which is the most fabulous place for fresh fish, veggies, meats and cheeses to collect all of our ingredients. She had picked up a recipe book in Spain and we went through it picking out the dishes that sounded delicious and relatively low maintenance....or so we thought.



We started cooking around 2pm. As soon as Mick and Matt arrived in the kitchen we put them to work as well. Every dish minus one had clove upon clove of garlic in it so you can imagine the wonderful aroma permeating throughout the house. We made meatballs with raisins, asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, shrimp in a chili sauce, brie and ham sandwiched in between two pieces of eggplant then battered and deep fried, potatoes with a garlic sauce and mushrooms stuffed with chorizo.


Mick was in charge of the fryer. Bec was madly stirring and chopping. Matt had a kind of assembly line going and figured out how to use the swift chopper.








While I attacked the biggest eggplant I have ever seen.











With everyone helping we had all of our dishes finished by 6:30. With out sounding boastful I will say we created a tapas masterpiece. Everything was SOOOO GOOOD!!! There were lots of happy eating noises coming from the table. It was great fun too! It's always fun cooking with friends. I read once on a Norwegian sausage making website that the real fun happened in the kitchen while food was cooking, the wine was flowing and lies and stories were being told.



This will probably be my last post from Australia but I think I will keep up this blogging thing. I really enjoy writing about all my little adventures. Thanks to everyone here in OZ who has made this such a fantastic time for me!!!!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Super Cooper


Alan and Cheryl were kind enough to have their precious baby Cooper in time for me to meet him before I went back to Chicago. He is such a cutie! Congratulations to the new family!!!!

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Convents and Cake

Even though I was still sick and Matt was definitely getting pretty ill himself we decided to not let that stop us from enjoying our last weekend together. Friday night was Footy with Collingwood one game away from the grand final so we had to watch that...they lost. Saturday Al and Cheryl threw us an engagement party which was incredibly awesome of them!! They did a fantastic job with all the decorating, everything was really pretty! Pete and Jen were there and alot of other friends. We had a great time eating lots of good stuff. Al cranked up the music and even had his disco lights out. He played a little Skynard just for me so Matt and I danced around to Sweet Home Alabama. The party took a small turn when Cheryl decided to go into labor. The music stopped and Al and Cheryl were rushed off to the hospital. It's Monday morning here and the poor thing has been in labor all this time. Cooper will hopefully be here some time today. The party was great and will for sure never forget it!


On Sunday Matt took me to the Abbottsford Convent which has been turned into a school and artist community. The convent was established in the 1860's and became one of the largest convents in Australia. The convent was self-sufficient including a small farm and one other aspect of convent life that particularly caught my attention. Last year I watched a movie called The Magdalene Sisters about Magdalene Asylums or "Laundries" as they were more commonly known. Started as a place for prostitutes to come and try to find honest work these asylums morphed into places for so called "fallen"women who were forced into the convent usually by their families for such crimes as flirting or being raped. These asylums were likened more to labor camps with girls being forced to work the laundry for insane hours in complete silence and severe beatings for those who disobeyed. Many of the girls who were forced into the asylums never got out. The last laundry closed in Ireland in 1996 revealing a shallow grave of over 155 bodies. Survivors of these Magdalene Laundries say the depiction in the film was very mild compared to the physical and mental abuse doled out by the nuns. I never knew these institutions were outside of Ireland and the UK but when we got to Abbottsford I saw the sign. I have no idea if this laundry was like the asylums in Ireland but I certainly hope not. The buildings themselves are in some decay and seem to have an air of sadness about them. It could just be the vacancy of the place or maybe I can't help but believe the girls that worked here probably did share their Irish counterparts fate. In great juxtaposition, next door has been overtaken by glass artists displaying some beautiful works of art. Maybe some day this structure will be filled with wonderful artwork too.



Matt and I took a drive down to Sandown Racecourse to check out the Chilean Independance Festival. We had watched a special about Chilean women dancing the "Cueca" alone as a protest against Pinochet and as a dance of sorrow over the loss of husbands and sons who disappeared under Pinochet's reign. I love Latin dance and had never seen anyone preform the cueca so we went to check it out. Australia is so much like America with one main difference, I don't hear people speaking Spanish. Everywhere I go at home you hear Spanish but not here. I take for granted all the wonderful things in my culture that have been brought in by Latino people. It's funny that it wasn't my own language that made me feel more at home. We saw lots of dancing including salsa, bachata and flamenco but no cueca. I am sure there was some later but we were both getting tired and were very full from mucho carne asada so we took off early.


After an afternoon of resting, Matt took me to the Melbourne Show which is the equivalent of a big state fair. No matter how old I get I always feel like a kid at any sort of carnival. We rode the Ferris wheel with some hyper active kid who wouldn't sit down, kept trying to open the doors and finally whacked me in the face with his plastic sword. The bumper cars were much more fun. After I got my car to stop spinning in a circle in the same place I was actually able to ram some people pretty good! Everything here was pretty typical for a fair, animals, the rides, games, etc. There was one additional frenzy filled activity that American parents should be thankful we don't have since it's abscence saves you lots money. Collecting The ShowBags!!! There are booths filled with bags of trinkets you can buy including toys, fairy wings, blow up hammers, wigs, candy, yo-yos.....all kinds of stuff!! We got a few bags for Matt's niece and nephew and admittedly a few for ourselves. There is one that Matt had to have, the Bertie Beetle Bag. These chocolate beetles are only available at shows and exhibitions in Australia and are generally one of the cheaper showbags available. They are addictive these seemingly harmless showbags but once you buy one you just want more and you see people pushing strollers with fifty some bags tied to the handles. I curtailed my showbag buying and walked away with a modest three. We finished up our night at the fair watching a good old fashioned monster truck rally straight over from the US of A!!!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Sick


So I only have nine days left to this great Australian adventure and I have spent the last three in bed taking some god-awful medicine that contains ammonia. Not Tasty! I feel a bit better today but am feeling very sorry for myself (not too sorry considering what a fantastic trip this has been). I keep spraying down the house with the Australian version of Lysol so I hopefully don't spread my germs around.



Atleast the willie wagtails keep me entertained. They have laid their egg right outside my window and are very busy going back and forth to sit on the nest.
I am going to go dunk my head in some eucalyptus now.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Engaged!

Saturday Matt and I headed to the Tulip Festival in the Dandenong Mountain Ranges. This weekend the festival was Turkish themed since the tulip actually originated in Turkey. Who knew? So the tulips and other flowers were lovely and we had a great time, etc.etc. I am going to move along thru this part to get to the really important stuff.





After an afternoon of literally tiptoeing through the tulips Matt and I drove up to the top of the mountain to watch the sun set behind the city. Then Matt asked me to marry him. At first he didn't kneel down and being a bit more old fashioned than I would like to admit I pointed this out. So, he knelt down and asked me again. Of course I said yes!



He got me the perfect engagement ring.












But more important than that he makes me incredibly happy. I never thought I would meet a man like Matthew and I feel like I am the luckiest girl in the world.

The following day we went to lunch at Shadowfax Vineyard for Alan's birthday. I was barely in the car when Cheryl told me to hold on and come back around to her door. She grabbed my hand. Leave it to this girl to spot a diamond from five feet away. We had a great time at lunch and running around the vineyard with Pete and Jen's kids, Charlie and Ted. They are soo cute! We picked lots of flowers and made daisy chains.






After the vineyard we went somewhere I never thought I would go. This bar/mini casino was an Australian version of a honky-tonk complete with Merle Hagard looking guitar player and some good old fashioned country dancing. Then I went home and finished up my day dancing around the house to Edith Piaf with Bec. Very entertaining!


Thanks to all of you guys who have sent your love and congratulations!!!!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

The Melba Spiegeltent

The first time I traveled abroad I went to London by myself. I was staying in Victoria but got a bit lost trying to find Buckingham Palace and ended up walking over to Piccadilly Circus. I saw a flier for the musical Shockheaded Peter which looked right up my alley. I loved this show so much I did two paintings based on the singers and became their biggest fan when the show came to Chicago seeing atleast seven performances. Not since then have I enjoyed a show so much, not until last night that is. I was blogging away a few weeks ago when I heard a morning show on TV advertising a sort of circusy, magical, musical dinner show called La Soiree held at the Melba Spiegeltent. The show looked great but the "tent" itself is what sold me. A spiegeltent is a travelling performance arena. This particular one was built in 1910 and is much more than just a tent. The inside is gorgeous with stained glass mirrors and antique wooden booths. I was completely suckered in when I read that both Edith Piaf and Kurt Weill had performed in this very tent. For those of you who think you don't know Kurt Weill's music I promise you do. He is one of my favorite musical/opera composers especially his collaborations with playwright, Bertolt Brecht including Happy End, Mahagonny and The Three Penny Opera. Any Doors fans will know his work from "Alabama Song" (Mahagonny) but by far his most famous song is "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer"(Three Penny Opera). People are much more likely to recognise the tune as Bobby Darin sang it, "Mack the Knife". I called Matt and said "Can we go?? PLEASE? PLEASE?" I think He actually got just as excited as I was.


As soon as we set foot in the Melba Spiegeltent we knew we had made a good decision. These mobile theatres are making a resurgence after almost going extinct. They couldn't compete with movies so the shows became more risque until turning the spiegeltent into a "waffle brothel" with "hooch"dancing before eventually being packed off completely. Thank goodness for the return of vaudeville and slapstick is all I can say. The show absolutely lived up to the history of the spiegeltent with magic, acrobatics, music and a little dancing reminiscent of Gypsy Rose Lee except with roller skates. Some of the performers had toured with Cirque du Soleil and appeared in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge!. The show was topped off with a drunk (acting) drag queen singing a blues version of Waltzing Matilda. Fabulous!

Some times the dinner part of "dinner theatre" is subpar but the Melba did not disappoint in this arena either. The menu was inspired by the places this spiegeltent began her journey in 1910, Belgium, Germany and Holland. There was a game dish including rabbit tortellini and spatchcock(young, spit roasted chicken) and a "trio of duck" dish. I felt a tiny bit guilty about the duck since I have have my duck friends here at the house but what can you do?? Of course there was Peach Melba for dessert.


It is a wonderful thing to be transported back to a different time by theatre and La Soiree did just that. I can get very antsy sitting in the same place for a long time. I know that if I really want to stay in my seat and see more then it's a great show. One thing that I should know better from working in theatre is that actors may not be all excited like you are after seeing a new, fantastic performance. We talked to one performer after the show and while friendly, he was tired (rightly so as he bore the brunts of most of the physical stuff) and seemed a bit over the repetitiveness of doing the same prat-falls and acrobatics every night. Some times it is better to stay away from actors off stage to keep the illusion going. I want to use the characters of La Soiree in a painting. I am supposed to be working on portraits for my show in Chicago but when inspiration strikes.... If you live in Melbourne definitely go check out the Melba Spiegeltent!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Luke and Natarsha

Matt and I went over to his Mom's house for dinner with the family last night. Sandra makes this really great cabbage and sausage dish which is one of Matt's favorites. Rebecca had some new pictures of Matt's niece and nephew, Natarsha and Luke. I loved this picture and just wanted to show everyone how cute they are.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Wearable Wine

I think the Aussies have created the perfect material to wear on a girls night out. Mixing science and art at the University of Western Australia some brilliant people developed a fabric made out of wine. Actually it is made from the a sludgy cellulose collected from the top of oxygen contaminated vats of wine. The bacteria weaves the fibers together making a textile that feels like thin cotton after it dries. The fabric seems to hang onto the wine smell and feel a little slime like when it gets wet. I, however think this is genius because you simply never have to worry about spilling red wine on your outfit as it will automatically blend in!!! And guess what?? A similar fabric can also be made with beer. GENIUS!!! If you want to see more on this textile woven by microbes click here. http://www.bioalloy.org/projects/micro-be.html

Willie Wagtail

The backyard bird sanctuary at Mick and Bec's is growing. The ducks have made themselves completely at home. They usually come by for some bread atleast twice a day. A few days ago they were at the door and I went to grab some bread. When I got back into the living room the ducks were there waiting. I guess I forgot to close the screen door behind me and they just decided to invite themselves on in. Now, the bird family is growing. Some Willie Wagtails have built a nest on one of the pool lights. They haven't laid any eggs yet but since I have become an insane birdwatcher over the past few months I am sure I will check daily.

Australian Art

One thing I always try to buy when I am travelling is some sort of art, original if possible. I have been very lucky on this trip. I have found two small pieces that I absolutely love and neither were expensive at all. I have been to a couple of Aboriginal art galleries and most of the pieces were beautiful but huge and way too expensive for my budget. In Port Douglas we went to Bundarra Gallery and I found this small piece entitled Rainbow Dreaming by YULA. I fell in love with it for two main reasons. One, because I have been inundated by rainbows on this visit and two, because the piece is so colorful.


The other objects of nature (besides animals) that have fascinated me here in Oz are the trees. Australia has the most incredible trees. I was ecstatic when we found Tasmanian artist, Doc, whose work focused on trees in Salamanca market. His work was insanely affordable so I happily acquired one of his small tree pieces.


Of all the pieces I have been working on here in Australia there is one that I am particularly happy with. Cheryl and I made a plaster cast of her pregnant belly. At first I was painting a circus scene but Matt said it looked more like a Wonder Woman costume. Since Al and Cheryl are going with a teddy bear theme for Cooper's room I went in that direction. I was having a bit of trouble coming up with a bear design so I found one on the web. Yes I am a copy cat but imitation is the highest form of flattery or that's what people say anyway. I changed the design a bit since Cooper is a boy and the other design was for a girl. Most importantly Al and Cheryl like it so that is really all that matters. So that is mini art-expo for the day. =)

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Tasmania

Matt, Mick, Bec and I headed down to Tasmania for the weekend and I am so happy we did. Tasmania is incredibly beautiful and the weather, which we feared would be very cold, was perfect. We went to capital city of Hobart where Matt lived when he was a teenager. One of the big draws of Hobart is the Salamanca market which is held every Saturday. Everything is sold there like vegetables, paintings, chocolate, candles, wine and of course your various cheesy souvenirs which I must admit I am a huge sucker for. Pretty much everything is made or grown in Tasmania and you get to meet and talk to the people who made what ever it is you want to buy. I love the look of fresh fruit and vegetable stands which were plentiful at Salamanca. There were also buskers (aka street performers) from all over the world. There was a group of dancers from Africa and a fantastic band from Chile. Two animals dominated the face of Tasmanian souvenirs, the Tasmanian Devil and the believed extinct Tasmanian Tiger or Thylacine. You could buy anything under the sun with a picture of one of these animals. There was a lovely little park called Saint David's at the end of the market which at first glance just seemed like any other city park. After a look at the walls we realized this used to be a cemetery that held many of the first settlers of Van Diemens' Land (original name of Tasmania) including the founder of Hobart, David Collins. A few of the larger burial monuments are still scattered throughout the park but all of the headstones were removed and placed into a memorial wall. The view of the sea in Hobart is fantastic. I had walked over to take a few pictures of the scenery when I looked down into the shallow edge of the water and saw more starfish than I had ever seen in my life, well, starfish that were alive and not dried up in a Florida gift shop.



We headed up near Mount Wellington to the Cascade brewing company which is not only the oldest brewery in Australia but the oldest company still in operation. Originally a sawmill the Cascade company changed paths after the founder, Peter Degraves, spent a bit of time in jail. He noticed that the rotgut people were drinking was so poor some even died from drinking it so he decided to make some quality brew. The tour starts and ends in the beer garden. Most beer gardens I have been in consist of a couple of decks, some chairs and maybe a few ferns scattered here and there. This place was wonderful. The garden path sloped up the side of the mountain and was obviously landscaped but had a wild feel too it. Winter is just ending so some of the flowers weren't in bloom yet but the area was still gorgeous. The tour itself was ok, a little long. Our tour guide was very enthusiastic and later told us that four generations of his family had worked in the brewery. The beer itself was very tasty especially while sitting in the garden, basking in the sun and looking up at Mt. Wellington. Cascade not only makes beer but juices and soft drinks like ginger beer. Just like ginger ale, ginger beer is not alcoholic but has a more much intense ginger flavor than the ale version. It's soooo good!

In my quest to see every animal in Australia the main one I felt like I had missed was the Tasmanian Devil. I saw one in Sydney but he was curled up in a ball sleeping. There is a devil conservation park about an hour outside of Hobart so we headed there. On the way we stopped along the shoreline to see the tessellated pavement. This is a natural phenomenon I had never heard of before and was a little woozy from all the curvy roads so wasn't up for reading the information sign. Here is the definition off of wikipedia. "Tessellated pavement is a rare sedimentary rock formation that occurs on some ocean shores, so named because it fractures into square blocks that appear like tiles, or tessellations. It is formed when rock that has cracked through plate tectonic movement of the Earth's crust is modified by sand and wave action." The cracks and crevices formed by tessellation made for great tide pools full of blue starfish, crabs, molluscs, and all kinds of other little sea creatures. There was an animal that looked and felt like a blob of jell-o. I could have stayed here for hours but we didn't want to miss feeding time with the devils.



The Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park has become a very important place for the survival of the Tasmanian Devil. A mysterious cancer has wiped out almost half of the population in the wild. This park has been instrumental in working to breed cancer-resistant devils. These animals are so unbelievably cute I just wanted to grab one to give it cuddles and hugs. I really wanted to atleast pet one until I saw them eat. All hands were happily kept by my side after that. I have never heard such a horrible noise as the screeching of the devils in between the sound of crunching bone. These little guys are scavengers so they have an important job as far as the ecosystem goes. Their meals at the park are provided by the community who collect roadkill and drop it off for the devils. This way not only do the devils get to eat but they help with the local clean up. The devil got its name from early European settlers who heard it in the woods and really thought there was some sort of evil spirit out in the bush. You can hear an example of the devils' scream on this site.
Even though they may make a lot of crazy noises when they eat they were still good little devils and went to clean themselves up right after their meal. The water bucket probably wasn't meant to be a bath...oh, well. We learned one other thing at the park that excited me to no end. There was a zoologist who claimed to have sighted a thylacine(tasmanian tiger) as recently as the 1980's. This guy wasn't one of those crazy "I have a Bigfoot in my back yard" people. He was a legitimate animal guy. Much of Tasmania is still wild and untouched by humans so in many ares it really is possible they still exist.



We contiued on to see Port Arthur, historically the harshest of Australias penal colonies. This gaol (aka jail) was known for it's penal reform. A step was taken to change prisoners through psychological punishment instead of corporal. Which of these punishments proves to be more cruel is debatable. Much like Alcatraz in the US, Port Arthur was surrounded by shark infested waters and billed as inescapable. One man did try to escape disguised as a kangaroo but when the hungry guards tried to shoot him with plans of making roo stew he surrendered. Port Arthur is said to be one of the most haunted places in Australia especially the Island of the Dead where over 1600 prisoners are buried mostly in unmarked graves.



We stopped off at quite a few more beaches and sites of some fantastic rock formations including the Devil's Kitchen, Tasman's Arch and the Remarkable Cave. We couldn't stop making fun of the name remarkable cave since the name itself was so unremarkable. There was a reason for the name after all. The way the cave had eroded away the hole left looked like the "mark" of Tasmania, hence the name re"mark"able. It's amazing how this happens. I saw a cave in Morocco that was the shape of Africa. I learned one other thing I didn't know. Matt had told me there were penguins in Melbourne and I just assumed he meant in the zoo. When Bec pointed out a penguin on the beach that had gone onto penguin heaven I was really surprised to find out they were not only native in Tasmania but the ones in Melbourne are wild as well. Tassie is the last stop before Antarctica so penguins make sense I had just never associated them with Australia.


The sun was setting when we left to head back to Melbourne. Tasmania would be a wonderful place to have a serene, quiet life surrounded by some of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen.