Kelly Rae Roberts

My friend and fellow mixed media artist, Kelly Rae Roberts, just released her book Taking Flight. I am going to order my copy tonight. Kelly is a beautiful artist and even more beautiful person. This looks like a great book for anyone wanting to delve into their own inner artist. Here is a great review from"Artgirl" on Amazon.com. "Kelly Rae Roberts is an amazingly talented artist and apparently equally gifted as a writer as well. This book is a journey from her soul right into yours. It's part journal, part sitting around getting deep with your girlfriends, part interviews with other talented artists and part art instruction. So very different from other art books, even from the same publisher. It goes above and beyond and straight into your heart & head, making you think about your own creativity."
Anyone interested can order a book signed by Kelly here. http://kellyraeroberts.com/takingflighttheb.html

Docklands

I can't say that Australia is known for super impressive tag lines. For example, "Victoria-The Place to Be." How long did it take for someone to come up with that. The worst has to be Docklands, "Where the City Meets the Water." Wow! That really took some thought. Regardless of the weak slogan Matt and I went down to Docklands to have a walk around. A beautiful wooden ship was docked and open for inspection. The Enterprize is a replica of a schooner built in 1830 used to search for a suitable place to settle in the Port Phillip area. The original brought the first settlers from Tasmania to Melbourne and later wrecked in 1847. This 2.5 million dollar replica was launched in 1997. School groups go out and experience sailing for several days. After carefully making my way below deck I started to get claustrophobic and was having a some issues with breathing. This mixed with sea-sickness would probably make for a bad sailor. It was nice to take a look while the ship was sitting still.

There is a cool mosaic of some of Australia's most loved entertainers which was made not only to showcase the show people themselves but Variety, a children's charity. During the Great Depression a baby was abandoned in a theatre in Pittsburgh, USA. A group of theatre owners who were all members of a social club called the "Variety Club" decided to support the child when no parents were found. The baby "Catherine" was adopted into a happy family and grew up to serve in Korea and Vietnam as a nurse. The group branched out to help other disadvantaged children and is now in 14 countries. Variety came to Australia in 1975 with Paul Hogan acting as the Chief Barker (Chairman).

The best thing about Docklands had to be the statues. So many statues, so many novelty shots!!!Matt wasn't the only husband being directed by his wife in pictures with the statues. There was another couple making the circuit with us. Matt says he is going to start a support group.

Little India

I love Devon Street in Chicago, especially for fabric shopping. I wanted to find the Indian shopping area in Melbourne. Lucky for me, the council of Dandenong leads free tours through Little India. Matt and I went up Friday night for this free cultural tour. It was so much fun!! We went to five different shops starting with the clothing traders. The sarees were gorgeous, of course. We learned all about the traditions of Indian wedding clothes and jewelry. We were shown how to wrap a saree and apply henna. I got a little design put on my palm. I am still not used to it and keep trying to wipe my hand forgetting it's just dye. At the grocery store our tour guide, Vicky, pointed out some natural shampoo that is supposed to eradicate dandruff. Woo-hoo!! I am chronically flaky so I snatched some of that right up. The next stop was a Bollywood video shop. Three movies for $6 was too good of a deal to pass up. I have been watching the musical numbers from An Evening in Paris (1957) over and over. Bollywood dancing, big bouffant hair-dos all over Paris. It's too good!One of the clothing shops also has a beauty salon where they thread eyebrows. I have been trying to find somewhere here that does threading for ages. SO happy! We stopped into Punjab sweets and then were off to dinner at Payal restaurant.

This was one of the best tours. First of all, it was free. Also, I learned new things, tried new wonderful food, found a place to go get my beauty treatments done, met lots of nice people and came home with lots of loot (besides buying stuff you get bunches of free samples from the traders).

Football and Fitzroy

Our last night with Lauren, Lindsay and Suzanne we were lucky enough to get some tickets to the footy. We had great seats but unfortunately they were next to some mean, rude (bleep, bleep, bleep) people who made snarky comments to anyone who wanted to get in or out of the aisle. I had never seen the Magpie mascot. He got attacked by some kids wanting to see under his beak and had to flail around to get away from them. That was pretty funny. AND...the Magpies actually won! That was a first for me.

We took the girls over to Fitzroy Gardens for their last Australian Animal outing. Suzanne wasn't to keen on feeding the possums but we did anyway. Lauren, again, was quite popular. I had such a great time having visitors and was very sad when they had to go home. So who is coming next???

Ballarat Wildlife Park

I wanted to take Lauren, Lindsay and Suzanne to Ballarat Wildlife Park for two reasons. One, it is hands down the best place to be with Australian animals ever. Two, I wanted to see Elliott. Elliott, Elliott, Elliott!!! His pictures are scattered around the house now that he is our foster Koala. I wanted to see him...BAD!!! But first we got to the Roos. Lauren was VERY popular with these marsupials. She was something of a kangaroo Pied Piper. We visited the quolls, wombats and even an albino wallaby.

Check out Matt's wingspan!! There is a beautiful eagle that lives at the park along with emus and a brolga. Matt's not too happy with the brolgas since I tried to make him get close to one for a picture and the brolga almost poked it's sharp beak into Matt's foot.

Lauren and Lindsay signed up for a koala photo. Matt and I met Elliott last year when we did our koala photo. The koalas were all out playing in the nursery when we went over for the girls to meet Matilda. She is a twin which is very rare in the koala world. Her brother, Colah, was playing with all the other joeys. I thought one of these guys might be Elliott but their keeper, Natasha, told me Elliott was much bigger than this.

Lauren and Lindsay had there picture taken with the little girl twin and Natasha promised to show me Elliott a little bit later. I really just expected her to point him out but it was so much better than that!! After doing a presentation and hauling a truck load of eucalyptus, Natasha took Matt and I into the koala area to see Elliott.

Elliot had gotten so BIG!

At first, he couldn't really be bothered to wake up which was fine since koalas really like their sleep...around 20 hours a day!

But then he let me tickle his foot.

He woke up a little more to say hi to Matt.

All the sudden he decided to come out and say a big hello. Elliott's friends Milton and Anastacia (Matilda and Colah's Mom) were curious and came over to say hello too. I was in koala heaven!! They are the most beautiful creatures!! Natasha was telling us more about them and the park. It was impossible not to notice how much she loved her job and being around these wonderful animals. I was more than a little jealous of her getting to hang out with Elliott every day. She was so sweet and really gave Matt and I a really special time with our koala.

Aquarium

On the brewery tour we learned about the production of an old Australian favorite. Yummy, yum....what can we make from beer wastes?? Vegemite! Lindsay started off the next day like a good Australian girl lapping it up (that may be an exaggeration). Lauren wasn't as fond of the taste of yeast extract and Suzanne decided to forgo the experience all together.

We took the train down to the Melbourne Aquarium. There was the 4 of us and about 3million school kids. We tried to hold back so we could avoid the screaming, running and crowding. The Aquarium itself is really cool and situated right on the Yarra River. I am sure Matt was glad he missed it because there were so many opportunities for cheesy tourist photos....My Favorite!! After fighting off some little ones Lauren and I both managed to crawl into the water bubble sadly realizing why it was mostly children in there after scraping my knees and straining my back. I felt old but got in the bubble anyway.

Suzanne and Lindsay were next up for a photo-op. Notice the look of sheer joy and contentment on Suzanne's face. She loved the Tiki god and the mildew smell inside of him. Good Times!! We did actually look at a lot of really cool fish, turtles, water snakes, and other sea creatures.

When we got to the big tank that was full of sharks and rays there were a few other people taking some interesting photos. One lady was posing like she was going to be in a Frederick's of Hollywood catalog instead of by a fish. A mom with the shrillest voice I have ever heard was very loudly directing her four kids to sit still in front of the tank. After Harry (the youngest) messed up the picture a few times the mom seemed to give up telling one of her daughters that she looked like a fish. I couldn't help cracking up. The poor little Harry just kept sitting by the tank posing for a picture that wasn't being taken. We did learn one fun fact at the shark "listen & learn". More people are killed every year by falling coconuts than by sharks. Who Knew?

All and all, my favorite were the jelly fish. It could hypnotise you watching them float around and around. I want to go to the Pacific Island Palau and visit Jellyfish Lake. The jellies that live there have stingers but they are too small to affect humans. People can swim and dive along side the pulsing, gelantinous creatures and not be harmed.

The Oken Girls Arrive

Wednesday was a great day since my first visitors arrived!! Their plane was a little late but lucky for me their was an easy way to entertain myself. Matt happily jumped in the Ozzie Bush Jeep for his photo-op. Well..ok...he wasn't too happy about it but he got in anyway with some coaxing. I like his kangaroo buddy in the back of the truck.

Lauren and her family arrived safe and sound after an interesting trip to Alice Springs. We had a wonderful time catching up over dinner and the next day headed off downtown. The weather was pretty awful with lots of rain and cold but we braved it and went to the Block Arcade to pick up some chocolate bilbys from Haighs. After a look around the Vic Market we headed to Abbotsford to go on a brewery tour. The tour guide was really fun and very excited because she was heading off on a Florida vacation in a few days. The workers in the brewery were a bit less enthusiastic since computers pretty much did all the work. One guy was taking a little snooze before we walked in. He put on his safety glasses and read a bit before heading out for a smoke break. Everyone was a little envious of his job except the days must go by very slowly having nothing to do.

Lauren spotted the Sky Trooper (featured in one of the breweries advertisements) so she won a special prize. We finished up the day on Lygon Street for some great Italian and gelato.

More on my Pets

Ok..trees and possums are common topics on here. I think I have taken about 100 photos of the possums. After last night I realized there will be a few more possums visiting our front tree soon. There are two possums that are always close together and share food. One is rather chubby and skittish so there were suspicions of bubs in her pouch since the baby season is between May and August. Last night a little grey fuzzball came peeking out of here pouch but just for a second. WOOHOO!!! Once they get big enough the babies will ride around on the Momma possums back. I can't wait!

My First Visitors

I am very excited to have my first visitors from the US coming in two days!! Lauren and I have been friends since we were 13 and she is coming with her Mom and sister. It's all cooking and cleaning at the house right now. Anyone think the koala holding a flag is too much? No? Good because you should see the kangaroo in the bedroom. Yay for good friends coming to visit!!!

Paperbark

I know I go on and on about trees but I just love them. I got caught in a rain storm the other day and I ran under a tree for cover. The trunk looked and felt like it was covered with peeling skin. I brought some pieces home and Matt told me it was called a paperbark tree. I looked them up and they are actually named Melaleuca (a type of Myrtle) and they are endemic to Australia. According to Wikipedia "The softness and flexibility of the paperbark itself made it an extremely useful tree to Aboriginal people. It was used to line coolamons (a carrying vessel) when used as cradles, as a bandage, as a sleeping mat, and as material for building humpies (small temporary shelter). It was also used for wrapping food for cooking (in the same way aluminium foil is today), as a disposable raincoat, and for tamping holes in canoes."

Chocolate and Tutus

The Chocolate Rush Festival was this past weekend at the Abbotsford Convent. It doesn't take much to make me want to go somewhere with "chocolate" in the title. I would say it took about 15 seconds to start the chocolate sampling. The highlight was one of Dorthea's Iced Brownies. My Mom used to make iced brownies. I had asked her for the recipe recently drooling with the memories of my childhood. Dorthea's tasted just like Mom's....SO GOOD!!!! If anyone wants to try them here is the recipe.
Iced Chocolate Bars
1 cup butter
1 cup flour
4 squares unsweetened chocolate nuts, opt.
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups sugar
Melt butter & chocolate together & cool. Mix all ingredients. Bake
20 - 25 minutes in a jelly roll pan (15 1/2 x 10 1/2) at 350 degrees.
Thinner bars are better than thicker ones.
Let cool then spread with icing.

Icing
1/2 cup butter - room temperature

2 - 4 Tbsp. Cream
3 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla
Beat together, judging amount of cream by consistency of icing.
Chocolate Mixture
2 tbsp. butter melted

1 sq. unsweetened chocolate, melted
Mix & drizzle over iced bars. Keep in refrigerator. These also
freeze well.

We walked around the convent with our brownies. I have talked about Abootsford Convent on the blog before. Parts of it are beautiful but parts are haunting. The decrepit sections are downright creepy. The vines grew so heavy on this wall they grew thru the cracks in the window inside the building. There was alot more activities going on at the festival but we decided to forgo the $25 entry fee and miss the chocolate wrestling.

On Sunday's there is an arts and crafts market below the Art Center along the river. We went and had a look around there before checking out the Seamless exhibition in the Art Center Gallery 1. I love this gallery because I have seen some cool exhibits like the art of Nick Cave and entry is free. Seamless is a costume design exhibit for dance. There were some beautiful pieces. My favorite was a tutu designed by Vanessa Leyonhjelm. I loved her designs and her sketching style.

New Standards

Anyone wishing to apologize to me in the future can submit all groveling in writing...from an airplane. I, of course, am kidding. Someone obviously must have been a very bad boy or girl to have to resort to sky writing in order to gain forgiveness. The plane was over Hawthorn around noon today.

The Bridal Market

Never in all of my life have I seen so many bridal shops as there are in Melbourne.

There are three within a two block radius of my house. Sydney Road, Brunswick has at least twenty in ten blocks. High Street, Armadale has at least twenty-five in four blocks. It's insane! How many people get married in this city?? And it's not like there are alot of Quinceanera's to supplement the slow wedding season...the Latin population isn't that big over here. Matt and I went for a walk down High Street the other night and this little number certainly made me feel like I was going to a wedding in Savannah, Georgia circa 1983.

There was another photo-op for Matt at the top of High Street. He acts like he doesn't like it when I get him to do cheesy, tourist photos but I know he secretly does. Here he is with Diana the Huntress, Goddess of the Moon. This sculpture, "The Sun and The Moon", was dedicated to the city as a universal symbol of human endeavor.

Just to make it fair I posed with the Minotaur Sun God.

Vulgargrad

Matt and I were watching a game show called Spics and Specs last night when I heard my new favorite band. Vulgargrad, Kings of the Russian Criminal Sound. The lead singers voice sounded really familiar...turns out he was the Narcoleptic Argentinian from MOULIN ROUGUE! Matt and I are making plans to go see them live.



While I am posting music stuff...Laka from Bosnia

William Ricketts Sanctuary

Matt and I went up to the Dandenong Ranges (where we got engaged) to visit the William Ricketts Sanctuary. Ricketts was a naturalist and potter who worked and lived on the mountain in the midst of the tall mountain ash. His old home where he lived from 1934 to 1993 and his work studio is now part of Victoria National Parks and absolutely gorgeous to walk around. His sculptures almost blend into their surroundings having been sculpted as if they simply grew naturally out of the side of the mountain. In the cabin that used to be his home there is a video playing of an interview with Ricketts. Matt called him a "nutter" but he was just very, very eccentric.

To say he was passionate about what he believed was his purpose in life seems a bit of an understatement. From what he was saying I would think he almost felt his calling a divine one, saving his countries wildlife and righting the wrongs that had been done to the indigenous Australians. He felt like he had been put on earth to protect everything native to Australia.

I thought his enthusiasm was contagious. I think Matt thought he was a little bit off putting when he was talking about his Lyre bird totem. It is an unusual sight to see a man in his nineties, dressed in a colorful dashiki and green beret get up and start dancing like a bird. He certainly managed to create somewhere beautiful.

Ricketts also spent alot of time in Central Australia with the Pitjantjatjara and Arrernte Aboriginal people. The traditions and beliefs of these people whom he considered himself one of vastly influenced his sculpture. Many of Ricketts sculptures remain in Central Australia near Alice Springs in a bird sanctuary in Pitchi Ritchi.

We stopped in for a coffee at a shop called "Touch of Norway". I always stop for anything Norwegian because of my heritage. We talked with the proprietor and her new puppy. She was giving me the lowdown on how to make Fattigmans (a traditional Norwegian cookie that my grandmother used to make) and telling us all about monthly Norwegian lunches that she hosts. Hopefully, Matt and I will be heading back up to the Dandenongs for one of those soon.

Picky Possum

So our front door has become a new hang out for the neighborhood possums. One in particular is very friendly. Matt has named him (assuming it's a boy), Gavin. We normally have apples or bread but when Gavin showed up tonight the fridge was lacking in both. I was trying to improvise but I guess we have spoiled the little guys. I first gave him some rice cake but that was thrown on the ground. So I tried some broccoli. There was a tiny sniff but then that was also thrown on the ground. I ran back to the fridge and pulled out some oranges. Once again Gavin was not happy. I bit a piece in half and finally...success. He is so cute! He grabs whatever I give him with his little paw and then just sits on the branches and hangs out. I can't have a puppy but at least I have a possum that visits....even if he is a bit picky.