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366 unusual things: days 134-138

13th May –  Wandered down an alley beside an antique shop, attracted by old French doors lined up against the wall.   I wonder who would buy them, they’re so tall and our doorways are not.  The wrought iron is so rusty.  The paint so unattached.  Yet I ache for the doorways they came from.

14th May – Read that echidnas are carnivores because they eat ants. So, an ant is meat!

15th May – Tutored a student who never gave more than one-word answers.

16th May – Saw a large older woman waiting for a bus wearing a knee-length purple cardigan and fluffy pink earmuffs.

17th May  – Read that Abraham’s wife Sarah is the only woman in the Bible to have her age at death recorded.  She was 127.

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366 unusual things: days 124-128

3rd May – A student sent me an email that seemed blank until a few words caught my eye on the far right of the screen.  Her computer was set for Arabic.

4th May – The restrooms in a trendy shopping village have blue lighting which makes your skin look blue.  Found out today this makes finding a vein impossible.

5th May – When a police car arrived outside the Housing flats opposite us, an old guy doing some gardening stood up with both hands in the air.  I was relieved to see them all laugh.

6th May – Tonight there was a Super Moon:  the orbiting moon came the closest it gets to the earth.  My husband and I took photos –  I shot the moon and he shot the possum.  With a camera.

7th May – Had my hair cut by a hairdresser who said ‘beautiful’ every time I spoke.  I liked it.  At first.

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366 unusual things: days 89-93

29th Mar – Spoke to the Housing tenant who was the target of last night’s tirade.  He spoke to me politely, without swearing, and was touched that I was interested. The same man once threatened to do terrible things to my head if I called the police about him.

30th Mar – On the back deck there are two spiderwebs, one neat and circular and the other messy like crazy ladders.

31st Mar – This afternoon, two sons worked on serious maths problems while sharing one orange, one slice of fruit toast and one cup of chamomile tea.

1st Apr – Woke at 2.30 am.  Still awake at 3.30 am but daylight saving ended at 3 am.  At 4 am it was 3 am again.  Still awake at 5 am, which was now 4 am.  A long night.

2nd Apr – Alone in a gift shop, I heard a beautiful voice singing ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’, and stood still to listen closely. The owner showed me the CD case and told me about Melody Gardot, a prophetic name, as I learnt when I later read her life story.

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February photo challenge: 29th Feb, Something I'm listening to

Pauline Croze has a voice that comforts me;  a little bit husky, a little bit of a lisp.  She sings clearly and not too fast so I can sing along with her, following the lyrics to practise my French. The jazzy rhythm helps me remember the words;  it’s also great for chair dancing.  Sometimes I dance on my feet (when no one’s watching).

When I took the photo of this CD cover, an energy-efficient light bulb overhead made her skin too pale.  I grabbed a piece of the red organza (see post from 22nd Feb), set the camera timer and held the fabric close to the light bulb.  It’s given her a bit of a tan.

I recommend her album even if you don’t speak French.

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366 unusual things: days 54-58

23rd Feb – Driving in blazing sunlight, I entered a short tunnel and my eyes didn’t adjust.  Everything went dark and I had to trust my knowledge of the road for a few seconds.

24th Feb – Discovered that Google makes finding a Justice of the Peace easy.  I gave it a suburb and it listed the local JPs in order of distance in metres from my house, though I hadn’t given an exact address.  I like the knowledge Google has but I hate it knowing where I am.

25th Feb – This afternoon I read about Shepheard’s Hotel for two hours so I could write a factual paragraph for the Indulge challenge.  I began the weekly photo challenges with just pictures in mind;  now the writing matters.

26th Feb – A black crow picked up a white cockatoo feather, flew up onto a fence, held the feather under its claw and tore it to shreds, the white scraps catching in the breeze and blowing away.

27th Feb – When I asked a woman in a quilting shop to tell me the difference between cotton and polyester thread, she said, ‘Well, this one’s cotton because it’s cotton.  It’s made from cotton.’

Several weeks ago we found a possum in the tool cupboard (see post of 16th Jan).  Now there are two.

Possum mother and baby in the tool cupboard
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February photo challenge: 28th Feb, Money

Two sides of the same coin.

My father brought some coins back from the Middle East in 1942.  I like this one with its Art Nouveau flourishes and the hole in the middle.  I hang it by a chain on a wrought iron bedstead.

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February photo challenge: 25th Feb, Green

Green.  Where do I begin?  I see it through every window; the yard and gardens are full of it.  In my back yard, a fig tree laden with green figs overgrows a garden of zantedeschias and red valerian, both flowerless here, and lemon balm, a relative of mint. Two steps hide beneath the luxuriance but to descend you’d have to break the spider’s web stretched between the fig tree and the rose bush on the right (out of sight).  I caught the web this afternoon with the western sun hitting its silken threads.  The spider hides inside a rolled leaf thinking she’s invisible because we can’t see her face, but her legs are hanging from the leaf roll.  You might have to zoom in.

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February photo challenge: 24th Feb, Inside my bathroom cabinet!!

I don’t have a bathroom cabinet, I have a shelf.  Actually, half a shelf, since my other half has the other half.  Here’s a photo of some of the items on my half.  The red perfume bottle and its reflection became an obsession and I took about ten photos before settling on this one, then cropping it.  Against advice, I used the flash for two reasons:  without it, the camera told me with its little warning hand that I shake too much;  with it, my shaking is forgiven, and even better, the bottle is animated and fiery.

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February photo challenge: 23rd Feb, Shoes

No, these are not my shoes, they are my son’s.  You can see my shoes in the photo of 21st February.

My son favours one particular style and buys them all from an American shoe store online.  To my surprise he has never been disappointed with his purchase, and they always fit.  There are five pairs in this photo and several more in the cupboard.  He has different colours for different life themes.  The pair with pink trim were purchased when he had a girlfriend with pink hair.  But now that he’s no longer with her, he has adopted a more rugged look.  He started at university this week, studying physics, and this morning he went out in a khaki shirt and the camouflage pattern boots.