A week where I got some worthwhile things done, but also went onto campus and back to (unpaid) thinking and writing work too soon…
Although I’m planning a post (or series of posts) about plants and the garden, I did promise pictures of the Echinopsis oxygona cactus flowers. One of the blooms fell off as it opened, but then managed pretty well inside, while the remaining one outside made it through its single spectacular day safely. A friend’s cactus flowered on the same day, so it may have been the heat that encouraged the buds to double in size and then open over the course of a day, remaining open the next day before wilting.
These weren’t the only large white flowers gracing the front garden this week, with the Magolia grandiflora “Teddy Bear” also blooming this week.
The cactus may have enjoyed the heat on Wednesday, but it was too hot for me so I pulled out of the golf competition. I had already played nine holes on Monday (social/practice). It was good to play with no competition pressure and I took the chance to try a few things that I might not when keeping a score.
I didn’t make the most of the heat to visit a beach for a walk/swim, but I did take time to prepare the way by sorting out a signal blocking key pouch for my car key safe. Yes, a thick piece of aluminium foil was working most of the time, but it made the lock really difficult to close and open again (which meant I wasn’t happy to use it)! Being able to leave your car safely locked with the key also locked away is essential when swimming, paddle-boarding, windsurfing or anything else. I love keyless unlocking when my hands are full, but not when I’m trying to work out how to get in the ocean while keeping electronic keys secure (and keeping valuables in the locked car).
A plan to visit Curtin campus on Thursday for an event meant that I could also catch up with a colleague for lunch. I took in some sushi from my local Japanese restaurant for us both (because it was too hot to walk across campus comfortably). The debate event I attended was pretty good fun, but it felt like I’d gone back too soon… the rumination it sparked has proved to be unsettling rather than enjoyable.
While I was on campus I took time to visit the John Curtin gallery. The picks of the visit for me were in the John Stringer Prize Retrospective. Alistair Rowe’s “Angles of incidence” made from wood, glass and ерохy cast beautiful patterns with its lighting.
My favourite was Susan Roux’s “Ground(lace)ness/Traliegrond” (Canson photographic paper, Hahnemuhle paper, oil pigment, thread and ink). The photo below is just a detail from the whole piece, but I was trying to record the way the materials worked together. I’m fascinated by the use of thread in this type of artwork. Roux has a website, but I couldn’t find one for Rowe.
It was cool enough for golf on Friday and, given that I managed to do some weights/strength exercises at home on Thursday before heading to campus, I’m allowing myself the beach walk and running fail this week. I’ve got my daily handicap back down to 27, which was my goal for the second half of the year.
I’ve got plans for more blogposts - maybe the first will be about writing on the web itself, since I find writing topic posts more difficult than these, rather rambling, weeknotes. I did do some reading and have some ideas for the abstract writing I meant to do… but it’s not proving easy to get down to the job. There are a few reasons for that, I think, but I don’t want to discuss them at the moment!
I bought some cheap material to trial making a skirt (with my own pattern based on a couple of simple boxy skirts I have worn almost to death over the last few years). If I can get this right over a few tries future me will be very happy.
Stuff I did:
- Physio
- Golf x1.5
- Home strength/weights (just a very short session, but the aftermath showed they were worth it)
- More preparation for time in/on the water…
- Clearing fruit from the garden - because we are in the midst of a “Qfly” (Queensland Fruit Fly) outbreak in Perth (and are trying to eradicate them)
Plans:
- Physio
- Home strength/weights
- Golf x2
- Beach walk and swim
- Finish office tidy up
- Make a skirt
- Get on the water? (wind, weather and energy allowing)
- Writing (probably a blogpost in addition to my weeknote)
Running has fallen off the list. The abstract has also gone. I will see how I go with both these things, but they’re just not happening at the moment. It’ll be weather and mental health dependent respectively, I think.
