In the end...

last...

bike ride home from work;

meal at the wharf;

night hugging the crick-star in Darwin;

face-to-face contact with my clients at work;

watching of $1 Tuesday videos from the local store;

Wednesday before we move to Melbs.

And the last chance to shriek when seeing a crocodile. Boy, I will miss freaking out every time I go near water!

My place's best feature, so nyoice!

(a tropical lightning storm around 2 a.m. - so powerful, so beautiful, so Darwin)

What is unusual about my place? This is the question asked by Tony from Little Suitcase in the MMAM meme.

Lots of things really. But nothing that makes me cringe too much. And nothing that is really out of the ordinary. We live in a pretty standard apartment. Three bedrooms, an open plan living area, a decent sized balcony. Nothing strange there. We don't live up that high, just on the fifth floor. We get decent reception on the telly, can spy on the neighbours if needed but have sufficient privacy too. What is unusual is maybe where the house is, who else lives around, and that it is in a tropical climate.

We live in the middle of three apartment blocks, all of which have the same street number. This is unusual. You give directions to people and say "come to the middle tower". Lost tradies will approach you down stairs and say things like "where do I find unit 78?", as it could be in any of the three buildings. Our building is named after a war person, some guy who did something heroic. There is a picture of him next to the lift, with a spiel about his accomplishments. This is strange, maybe a little embarrassing also. And everyone who lives in these apartments works for the company the fella does. I really cringe about this, and certainly wouldn't say this is nyoice. If I'd known before we had moved here, I would have found alternative accommodation. But it hasn't worked out too badly.

But what is unusual, and the feature that I love is the view! We overlook the water, seeing the sun rise and set over the sea daily. There is a fishing boat marina just outside, and when a good haul comes in fireworks are set off on the boats. One such catch reached shore last night. It was spectacular to have fireworks exploding right outside our bedroom window. Oh, I will miss this. I've not lived so near to the ocean before and truly love sitting on my balcony and contemplating life. With a good book, a glass of red and the breeze lightly rustling through my pot plants. Please enjoy this unusual feature of my place, particularly as we are leaving it in only two weeks!

Welcome in...

I saw the topic of Pip's meme just after it was posted on Saturday. But the week is getting away with me and I've not put anything up. Ops!

So here is my place, but only for the next four weeks as we are moving down south again. Hurrah! People keep telling me I will love the cold weather, wearing coats, drinking good and reasonably priced coffee, being able to buy shoes galore... Are they right? Probably. What I'm looking forward to is living near a beach that you can swim in without risking your life from three different kinds of dangerous animals. I'm looking forward to having a few bookstores! I'm looking forward to re-discovering some lane ways. I'm looking forward to having op shops that have things that are more than 30 years old in them.

But as for now, welcome to my place. I live on the fifth floor of an apartment building. The thing that I detest most about apartments is the area between the lift/stairs and your front door. They are so sterile and devoid of character. They are communal spaces, I know, but that doesn't mean they have to be ugly. Ours sure is though.

When you walk in the front door, you hit a wall. But then the kitchen opens up, and the open living area. As usual when I took these photos we were in a mess. There is panadol in the fruit bowl after all! But there are mangoes there too. This painting was done by me when I was in year 12. It was one of my major pieces and an image I love. I took some photos of a class mate, then painted her outline in a luscious salmon. Strangely this girl is now living in Darwin (we went to a ritzy-ditzy private girls school in Melbs) and selling hats made out of trucking canvases. I would have never have imagined this happening, ever.

When I come home, I generally kick of my shoes, turn up the fans and just be. I am a home body and love being with the fella, amongst our stuff and our cat. I like that home is messy but familiar. I love that it has character from our things and not only contains necessities but things I love too. I love that it is not just utilitarian (like my workplace), but comfortable and pleasurable. How I love coming home at the end of the day!

So thanks for looking through my place, or coming in the front door at least. Above is a sneak peak back through the door, perfect for seeing if the neighbours are around or if it is all clear to do an undie run to the rubbish chute!

Blog HQ contemplated...

Bit behind with the blogging this week. My bestie Ris and her fella Dave came up for a tropical adventure. So I powered through five days without spending time in front of the computer. It was wonderful.

By the by, isn't the Territory spectacular! Who wouldn't want to swim in this waterhole?

Who wouldn't sip bubbly while lounging next to this shore line and fading sky?

Who wouldn't giggle when confronted with such a silly croc?

But back to the blogging. MMAM's meme this week is the theme of Blogging HQ thanks to a creative type called Ninon. If I can get my hands on it, I prefer to use the lappie for my blogging. I love sitting on this arm chair with the retro snail cushion protecting my knees from the comp's radiation.

But if needed, I will work in the study. Hurrah for the corkboard, and for all those who drank wine to donate to the corkboard making cause. Corks are hard to find nowdays, and this was made around 6 years ago before stelvin tops were made mainstream.

Just before blogging this, I completed an inventory of the items we want moved down south in less that 45 days. So my blog-constructing space will change... and a change is meant to be as good as a holiday. But a move is one of the most stressful things one can do in life. So my solution is to get into the crafting with a passion. Posts about creativity will follow, I promise. I'm also wanting to do things to spoil myself and relieve the tension that is building up in my thoughts. Like get my hair cut this weekend, spend some time shoe shopping, riding my pushie to work, reading my newest cook books (thanks so much Miss Maudry!).

Friends and fun-times

We took yesterday off to spend time with friends from down South. It was a wonderful day, full of laughts, fun and silliness. We went and saw the spectacular jumping crocs on the Adelaide River, we swam at Florence Falls and dipped in the Buley Rockholes. Laksa for tea and a game of Risk topped it off. Hurrah! We really do live in an amazing part of Australia!

This morning coffee, conversation around copyright law relating to internet technology and some good video hits have hit things off. A taste the morning if you please....

Pst... I've finally figured out how to post YouTube vids. So stoked! Thanks to this blog post for making it happen, and to the Blog Doc for some tips too. In light of my success, any good YouTube vids that you recommend I peruse?

Weekend wonderland

It has been a simply lovely weekend!

The week that has just past had its moments - both my fella and I went to funerals, some of my clients at work were quite sick. I felt that I was not getting enough sleep. We also had a house inspection so there was mad cleaning to be done. All we have to do is clean the fans though, so we passed the inspection with flying colours. But all told, there was too much going on in the week for me to take time to smell the roses (and coffee and freshly baked cakes...).

So for the weekend, we took it easy. Friends from down south came to visit. They are in a band, and had two gigs in Darwin. It has been a while since I've done anything out on the town, and seeing friends play some energetic live shows was great. It was also a joy to hang out and encourage each other. Plus, lots of swimming in the pool - there is nothing like a dip at 1 a.m. Check out what they are doing here http://www.skippinggirlvinegar.com/ They too have a thing for owls, much to my delight. My plan is to craft them a stuffie to arrive in owlie post this week.

I also enjoyed the local Saturday morning markets - a local busking, lots of organic bananas, hot laksa, tropical flowers such as these. My favourite snack would have to be a veggie samosa, thin pastry, hot potato and curry powder filling, a little bit of grease. Washed down with a fresh juice, perhaps mango, lime and honey. At this time of year, there are three local markets over two days. The famous local markets will start again in the next two weeks as the dry season hits. There is little better than sitting on Mindil beach eating a steamy dinner with friends as the sun sets over the ocean. Wow, Darwin is amazing!

Now it's off to church. Then SYTYCD and some sewing. I've found a great blog which has tips for fabric Easter eggs. http://www.retro-mama.blogspot.com/ This will be my project for tonight while cheering for some amazing dancers. The plan I have is to send off boxes of these eggs as substitutes for chocolate this week. It is perhaps a little too ambitious, but you never know.