gurdonark

In the past three evenings, I have found myself attending three China National Day events, even though all these celebrations are a week early, as the National Day is actually October 1st. The first was organised by a consortium of Chinese community organisations and was attended by some five hundred people, all crammed into a reception centre in Tottenham. As I have mentioned previously, the Chinese in Victoria really know how to hold amazing functions, and this was no exception, with a truly impressive program of dancers, singers, and performances. There were, of course, speeches by several guests, including the chair of the National Day Celebration Committee, the Consul-General, the Multicultural Commissioner, a few state members of parliament, and myself, courtesy of my role as president of the Victorian branch of the Australia-China Friendship Society. It seemed to be received well, as I injected a bit of passion into the idea that multiculturalism requires respect and understanding, along with celebrating the economic and technological successes of the country; Lǜ shuǐ qīngshān jiùshì jīnshān yín shān ("Green mountains and clear waters are worth more than mountains of gold and silver").

The following evening was an event in East Melbourne hosted by the Consulate and attended not only by various leaders of Chinese organisations in Victoria, but also by political leaders from Victoria, again with about five hundred people in attendance. The Consul-General, Fang Xinwen, gave a speech that was as diplomatic as it was poignant, expressing the country's commitment to economic leadership and being a global citizen. The premier, Jacina Allen, having just returned from a very successful trip to China, spoke of the objectives for tourism, trade, education, technology, and especially the need to develop people-to-people connections. Speeches were also given by the state leader of the opposition, and by the Federal member for Chisolm, Dr Carina Garland.

Then, the evening after, a smaller (about 60 people) but incredibly enthusiastic dinner was hosted by the Fujian Association of Victoria in Docklands for a visiting delegation from said province. The head of the delegation, the Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Affairs Office, gave an impressive speech in content and the fact that it was lengthy and entirely off-the-cuff. The nature of this gathering afforded a lot more time for socialising and networking, which I thoroughly enjoyed, especially given that it was now the third evening in a row that I had spent with some of the attendees. A real personal highlight for me was meeting Dr Guo Xiaoping, president of Quanzhou University of Information Engineering. We are already engaged in some correspondence on a project of personal interest, but further elaboration on that will have to wait for another time.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: The Rookery
Current Music: 65dos, Silent Running

ranunculus

I love to teach.
My current horseback riding student is lovely and I know I'm making a big difference in her horse handling/riding ability. One of her major complaints is that her horse Dollar walks at a snail's pace. When she mounted up we talked about her position in the saddle. She was slouched back with much of her weight in the back of the saddle "riding on her pockets", as she was taught. Her position was telling Dollar to stop, then she would kick him to ask him to go. The instant she moved her weight forward, onto her thighs instead of her butt, the horse moved forward at twice the speed. Not only that, he moved off at an even faster walk when she asked him to. Sitting up (in balance) is also way safer.
Lisa has homework though. Dollar is a very laid back gelding who has been allowed to ignore human commands. Obviously he thinks he is higher in the pecking order than humans. I was very aggressive with him, and got some nice brisk responses. As I said to Lisa "the lead mare would never allow him to drag his feet, she would lay into him and remove hair from his hide for such a slow response." I am not suggesting such a drastic move, but Lisa needs to be far more aggressive and less tolerant than she has been. The more I demanded, the quicker he moved. The faster he moved, the more focused he became. Horses move focus to the lead animal, human or horse. They feel safe with the lead animal. Dollar kept trying to follow me around in the arena because being next to the dominant animal is the safe place to be. He is going to be a great horse for Lisa once they get this sorted. Their next challenge is for him to learn that he will -always- get a release for the right answer. Dollar will be so, so happy when communications are better. For the past number of years he's just been hauled around, pulled on and given contradictory signals. I'm always in awe of the tolerance of horses like Dollar who just keep trying to please their humans even when the humans put them in impossible, often painful situations.

ranunculus

Got my Covid shot day before yesterday and spent most of yesterday asleep. Arm is still a little sore. Next week is the flu shot. Hopefully that won't be as big a reaction.
M is back from Alaska, which is nice.
The electrical for the shop is finally done.
Still no one signed up for my event in 2.5 weeks. Sigh. Maybe cancel?
The garden has a very fall like look. It is still producing, but has slowed way down. Cucumbers and tomatoes are still doing fine, but the okra is about done.
I'm off to teach a lesson in a few minutes. Looking forward to it.

summersgate

My DnD character. A young halfling. I enjoy thinking about him playing his ocarina while resting against a tree in the forest; being brave and quick on his feet, darting into battle - snick, snick.

Today we meet Kathy's friend Priscilla for lunch. Another meal at the Thai Palace. I finished the puzzle I was working on (Johnny helped me) and last night Kathy and I started a new one.

I've discovered shampoo bars and am excited for another way to stop making so much plastic waste. The first one I tried is from earthling company - Chloe recommended - very expensive, but very good. I've found another couple brands I want to try that are more affordable. I hate it every time I get done with a plastic bottle. Even though they go in the recycling it seems wasteful. I've started using detergent pods that come in bags for clothes washing and feel good about that. Now if I could just find scoopable cat litter in bags I wouldn't have all those plastic jugs to dispose of. Correction! Just checked Amazon and they have it!

summersgate

Pool Shadows . I went swimming in the afternoon. Tried to remember how the moving lights and shadows on the bottom of the pool were.

After we dropped Johnny off at the airport this morning we stopped at Robinson Preserve and I got this pic of the sun (covered by clouds on the right) and a sundog on the left.

Johnny and Kathy. We walked around the Palma Sola Gardens last evening after we had dinner at the Thai Palace and I took this picture. Both Kathy and Johnny share the same birthday and the same anniversary date. Kindred spirits.

summersgate

Morning Coffee. Another morning up early, before dawn. I didn't want to run the coffee machine because Kathy was sleeping in her chair near the kitchen so I waited and made the background for this picture while I waited. I didn't know at the time what the picture would be about. Then I got to thinking how much the color of the background was like my coffee cup. So here's another dumb little picture illustrating my life. I love sitting outside in the morning. The only problem is the no-see-ums. How can such a tiny, almost invisible bug carry so much poison? My legs are covered with itchy bites.

We never did play DND or go swimming yesterday. Instead we watched Toy Story 3 (I cried of course) and then went over to visit Tracy and her family. Maria is big into anime and showed us her collections. For dinner we had a sushi party (put together and roll your own sushi from ingredients on the table). Smoked mullet, avocado, cucumber, strawberries, wasabi, pickled ginger, and in my case sweet and sour sauce. In the evening we went out and watched the sunset. Maybe today we'll succeed with making the time to play DND. I'm looking forward to playing a Halfling Rogue and Kathy will be a Half-elf Wizard.

summersgate

Layers.

Up early this morning. 5 am. Watched the sun come up. A beautiful morning. I sat outside and painted my little picture. Johnny is going to guide Kathy and me in a tabletop game. I've never played but always wanted to. And then probably there will be swimming later in the afternoon when it gets hot.

summersgate

After Dark.

Johnny and I swam in the pool today. Felt good. In the afternoon Kathy's daughters and their families came for dinner.

inchoatewords

Movies: None.

Television/Streaming: We finished Season 1 of Farscape. What a cliffhanger ending! Everyone all separated . . . D'Argo unconscious . . . can't wait to start Season 2.

We discovered that one of our favorite sketch comedy duos, Mitchell and Webb, had a new series. Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping - silly name, but it was fairly funny. Perhaps not as consistently funny as That Mitchell and Webb Look, but I'll still take it. You can't find the latter on streaming services anymore, just random clips on YouTube, which is sad, as it is one of my favorite sketch comedy series.

Whilst browsing Kanopy (a streaming service that I get access to for free via my library card), I saw they have some British shows. I watched the first season of Upstart Crow again - on a David Mitchell kick, I guess. If you haven't seen it, it's a comedy where David Mitchell plays Shakespeare, and revolves around his imagined family life and his struggles with producing his plays. Very British humor, and I do enjoy it as something light to watch. The first season only has six episodes; I think the subsequent seasons are similarly short.

Also been trying to catch up with Tasting History with Max Miller, the YouTube channel. I really enjoy his content, but had fallen out of the habit of watching regularly, so am now quite behind. There is now a playlist with all 300+ of his videos, so I've been watching through some of that, as well, during the day.

In podcasts, I picked back up with Season 2 of You Must Remember This. I really enjoy this one, which relates lesser-known Hollywood history from the first century of cinema. Karina does her research and it's just a good pod to listen to, but I fell off of listening to ANY podcasts because I can't listen and work at the same time.

Books: Speaking of David Mitchell, his book, Unruly, was available as an audiobook at the library, so I borrowed it, but I started it whilst still on a lot of pain pills and was having trouble paying attention. I still want to read it, though I might actually wait for the ebook to come in instead.

Video Games: I downloaded Stardew Valley yesterday and played about 3 hours. I'm really enjoying it. Fishing is very difficult, though! I still can't quite grasp the sweet spot and have not been able to catch any since the tutorial.

summersgate

Today's doodle.

We had an active day today. We drove out to the island and checked out where the Rod and Reel Pier and the City Pier used to be, drove to the other end of the island and walked the beach a little at Coquina Beach, had a late lunch at the Starfish Company restaurant, then checked out the Palma Sola boat basin and saw more manatees than I've ever seen there. I saw 4 but Johnny has better eyesight and saw 5.

Johnny examining a handful of sand to find the coquina clams.

What's left of the Rod and Reel Pier. There used to be a building with a restaurant out there before last year's hurricane took it.

City Pier. The building survived but there's no way to get to it.

ranunculus

In order to finish my shop dust collection setup the last cord, the one going to the actual dust collector, needed to be hooked up. For safety I turned off the entire garage/5th wheel panel. Then disconnected all the wires going into the garage, pulled them out of the panel and tried to pull in one set of new wires. Tried being the operative word. I could NOT get them through the conduit. Partway, yes, all the way, no. I left the mess for the night.
This morning I went back to work. Eventually I remembered that -somewhere- there is an old fish-tape. Fish tapes are long, slender, flexible, metal things. They are the right combination of not very bendable, but just enough to push through corners. The fish tape got through on the second try. That is to say it got through all but the last 1 foot of conduit. It came out at a box just above the electrical panel. I pulled the wire that far and then started trying to get it through the last foot. I couldn't use the fish tape, there was a bend that was too sharp for it to go around. I could get the wires to 1 inch from the end, where the stubbornly caught on a tiny ledge. Took me more than an hour to finally, finally get the end off that ledge and out. Whew! All the wires are now re-connected. Unfortunately I need one tiny part, for the box in the rafters, to finish the whole job, but at least power is restored to everything else.
It rained last night, the very outer edges of tropical storm Mario. We got almost 2 1/10ths of an inch. Enough to damp down the dust, which is very nice. It is still cloudy and cool today at 2pm. Makes it feel even more like fall.

tcpip

A kind friend recently remarked that I write in a universal voice. That is true, albeit not by conscious intent, although it allows me to have a journal that is both public and personal without falling to the superficial culture with its self-indulgence and sycophancy. Instead, I prefer to take those selective slices of the classics which have accessible meaning and relevance: "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto" ("I am human and nothing human in alien to me", Publius Terentius Afer). It does serve a challege to us all - are we capable of truly understanding the experiences of others or, to quote Conrad (and nicely adopted by the punk-funk group "The Gang of Four"), do we live, as we dream, alone? Our existential experiences: life, love, hope, guilt, fear, sickness, death, shared by all but in very different degrees and often, we can express with sadness, wickedly imposed by people upon others.

The past few days, I have been struck by a minor malaise. In my convalescence, however, I thought about how even a minor illness can be so disruptive. "This sickness does infect the very life-blood of our enterprise", said Shakespeare (Henry IV, Part I). As a busy person, I was frustrated by a number of events that had to be cancelled or modified. A Chinese arts and culture delegation from Shenzen had to be guided through the National Gallery by the Vice-President of the ACFS instead of myself. An HPC presentation to research team leaders at work had to be handballed, and other meetings were cancelled, and, alas, dinner and other social plans with friends also suffered this fate. Operational work, research essays, and studies have likewise been delayed. Needless to say, my usual fitness regimen had been suspended as well.

The only way to deal with such illnesses is rest and nutrition, followed by gradual recuperation. In this regard, I have been truly blessed by the presence of Kate R., who put her professional nursing skills to good use for this patient. As for the feeling of frustration, that is often resolved by shifting focus to something that one can control. Even in a semi-delirious state, I managed to work my way through the new Duolingo chess skill tree, along with keeping up with Spanish lessons. However, most of my sparse waking time was spent in passive entertainment in the form of the series "Arrested Development". I first encountered this show almost twenty years ago and, despite a few efforts, I'd hitherto never even managed to complete the first season. The hilariously dysfunctional family with its internecine manipulations and suspicions suits my absurd and ironic sense of humour: "there's always money in the banana stand".

Current Mood: sick
Current Location: The Rookery
Current Music: Leonard Cohen, The Essential

summersgate

Kathy is soldering stained glass butterflies for her gallery's Xmas show. I love all the beautiful glass.

Feeling very discouraged with the new onslaughts to our freedom of speech. It's like maga is a huge boulder set into motion that will eventually crush us into submission. I wish I didn't feel so helpless and hopeless. Kathy is as appalled as I am so at least we have each other. It was hard this morning to get going, to move. My body feels weak. Though I thought I had so much pent up anxiety that maybe it'd be good to walk outside, and so I did. About a mile in the neighborhood, in the sun, was all I could do.

One bright thing. Johnny is arriving today. He'll be here till Tuesday. We'll probably go out to Anna Marie Island and explore the docks and beach. Lots of places that we'd like to visit.

summersgate

Swimming. I didn't get to swim in Kathy's pool yet today. I don't know if I will. It's been raining. A thunderstorm rumbled through this afternoon and we enjoyed just sitting on the back porch watching.

Kathy had gathered up palm flower stalks earlier and we opened one. This was what was inside, crinkly strands that had super tiny flowers all along them in groups of 5, 6 or 7.

Here it is all opened up.

Closeup of the little flower buds. They look like caterpillars to me.

It's been a stay at home day today. Lazy.

ranunculus

This morning the tanks were half full, which is respectable for this time of year. However, the water at the house was still trickling out of the faucet indicating there was virtually no pressure. I opened the faucet at the base of Tank Hill, which is about 40 vertical feet below the tanks. The water ran out with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. Water flow was even more anemic at the faucet on the hillside. The faucet at the garden, which is lower than the one at the base of Tank Hill, ran reasonably freely, but not the way it should have. I got out the new hatchet and hammered open the valve for the 2 inch Fire Hose pipe. A LOT of water poured out. The flow from the garden faucet increased. After a minute or so I hammered closed the 2 inch valve, closed all the faucets, got a bale of hay from the Iris Barn and came back to the house. Low and behold water comes flowing easily out of the faucets. I'm still not entirely happy with the pressure, but further "blowing out" of the water pipes can wait till the tanks are full and the garden is watered. For now I can at least take a shower! My guess is that dirt has accumulated in the bottom of tank 1 and partially blocked the flow of water down the hill. This is a real problem because there is no effective AND safe way to clean the tanks. It is possible to climb into the tanks and bucket out dirt (dirty water) but doing that requires a supplied air source. No one installed a "cleanout" valve for the tanks so there isn't any way to drain them and clean them. On top of all of that there is no way to isolate one tank from the others so cleaning can be done without draining everything. If I drain everything there will be no water for a couple of days while the tanks refill. So it has been about 20 years since the tanks were cleaned last. Plenty of dirt and tiny stones get washed down from the springs despite my best efforts. As soon as I've finished paying for the new stove I'll hire someone to help re-plumb the tanks and fix this issue. Maybe next spring when the springs are running fast and the tanks aren't doubling as a source for water in case of a fire.

ranunculus

I left a hose on yesterday. It completely drained the water tanks. Water is only trickling out of the faucets in the house. Tomorrow I need to go up and look at the springs to see if I can improve water flow as the tanks are filling very slowly. Of course it is September and it hasn't really rained since early April so I should expect some slowdown.
Went to a lovely talk about Irish Birds this evening. Was modestly inspired to consider going to the north end of Ireland someday.

summersgate

Watch on YouTube

Another morning with the dancing lights.

We stayed up late last night reminiscing. Kathy holds the last love that is rooted in my original family. We're heading out soon to the hardware store and to get a few groceries. I bought a swimsuit yesterday and later when it gets hot I'm going swimming in her pool.

elainegrey

Recent lessons and news:

Dad called to report how great he is feeling, how much energy he has. So good to hear.

Christine had a visit with a specialist who had good news: no invasive procedure today; bad news: obviously needs a surgical treatment; good news: it's straightforward. This is to address a factor that probably contributed to her emergency room and admission. She also liked and, i think may trust, the practitioner, a rarity. (Although i think her extreme discomfort with medical treatment may have eased a little after her hospital stay.)

Chestnuts, at least my chestnuts, with the skin left on them, are perfectly edible after being chopped and simmered in a very herbal cream of butter soup. (Carrots, celery, dried mushrooms, rosemary, sage, and young onions). I assumed it would be fine with pureeing, but even the chunks i sampled were fine. I will probably peel in smaller batches than i did this weekend -- heat is needed to ease the skins off -- but now i have a use for the chestnuts that aren't perfectly cleaned.

Wait, is Carrie eating the chestnuts in the yard??!!

Yesterday's breakfast fresh figs and blueberries, chopped chestnuts, yogurt. Squeee!

Sunday afternoon - Monday evening chestnut harvest: 2 lbs 6 oz. Now curing in the bottom of the fridge.

Lutein yellow is everywhere. A mass of yellow crownbeard lines the woods edge on the east, cutleaf cone flower is massed at the back of the orchard and in other spots within. Swamp sunflower sprawls across the meadow, but the yellow crownbeard grows too high and hides it. I've begun my No Seeds Bleep It campaign to cut back the cutleaf coneflower where it is likely to continue its aggressive growth. It's just not quite as aggressive as deer.

In good news, where i was harvesting the cutleaf coneflower in early spring, the florabundance is remarkable.

So many bean pods on the thicket bean. Here's hoping that i can find a way to make them a bit more palatable.

tcpip

The past several days, courtesy of my great book giveaway, I've had several bookish visitors gracing my abode. The sort of person who is interested in my academic books tends to be a person with a vibrant curiosity, so it has inevitably led to long and fertile discussions across the arts, the sciences, and the laws (to use the contemporary trivium). This has included Elliot B., Marc C., Liza D., Kate R., and, as interstate visitors, Dylan G., and Adrian S. It's been several years since I last saw Dylan, a former co-worker from VPAC days, so that was an excellent evening. Inverting the style, I visited Brendan E.'s new abode in Northcote, where he gifted me a first print copy of Wired magazine, which now, appropriately, sits next to my Mondo2000 User's Guide; cyberpunk forever. I have further updated my free book giveaway, this time with a small mountain of texts in computer science.

Other interstate visitors cam the week previous in the form of Lara D., and Adam B., from the Territory, and we had a glorious time at the French Impressionists at the NGV, after joining Anton W with a visit to the State Library where there is an excellent and highly recomended Misinformation exhibit. Of course, the works of the famous artists were at the NGV; Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, et al, but the one which really caught my attention was Fantin-Latour, whose simple subject matter made his skill in texture all the more clear. A few days later I would visit the NGV at Federation Square with Liana F., which always has excellent indigenous artworks, and the evening previous Liza D and I ventured to the Northcote Social Club (fine venue) to see Guy Blackman from Chapter records perform for his first album in "quite a while". His lyrical talent is really quite special, and his stage presence curiously enticing, and the self-deprecating humour pleasing. Certainly, this will be worthy of a Rocknerd review.

Going further back, I was thoroughly charmed to attend Nitul D's family gathering for Ganesh Chaturthi Puja, and a few days later, I would join him again, attending the 2025 Hugh Anderson Lecture by Marilyn Lake "Rapprochement with China" at the Royal Historical Society. Dr Lake was able to give some impressive history, a great deal of regional context and, of course, had a few words to say about AUKUS. It was the first time I'd been in the RHS building, a late-deco establishment and once a military hospital. Another one of Melbourne's hidden gems. On similar subjects, I must mention Dr Wesa C's birthday gathering last week at Vault Bar, a delightful little place and, as the name suggests, a former bank vault. It should be mentioned that Wesa is a bit of a hidden gem herself, and I had no prior knowledge of her singing talent!

Current Location: The Rookery
Current Music: Martin Dupont, Inedits 81-83

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gurdonark

Gurdonark

June 2024

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Robert's Journal

Reading

China National Day Events

Teaching

Update

wednesday

tuesday

monday

sunday

saturday

Media Post

friday

Electrical, Rain

The Frustration of Sickness

thursday

traveling

wednesday

Water Update

Water. Sigh

tuesday

(morning writing)

Academic, Artistic, and Cultural Events

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June 2024

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