Matilda in Adelaide: December 2004

sruli and johnny i

sruli and johnny ii

sruli and johnny iii

matilda

cassius the stretchy mouthed hound on hutt street

a study in concentration

in profile

pre-dribble: the jacket meets its new owner (and handwasher) on christmas day in hobart

huxley's coat is ready for summer

johnny risked his neck to take this photo from rickety roof over bathroom at cole's 40th

cole and friend

jelemy's housewarming: assembled guests

jelemy's housewarming: disassembling guests

jelemy was delighted by the seven of diamonds

this one's for miss k!

a trip to the country

After idling away most of the day, Martine and I raced up to the Uraidla Market to help celebrate its tenth birthday. We arrived just as they were bursting the balloons, but there was still enough time for festivities and purchases. I was delighted to introduce Martine to Bep and Harry, woollen goods manufacturers extraordinaire. Bep strongly encouraged us to enter the raffle as she believed the last entry tickets to go in the box had a good chance of being drawn, and sure enough she drew my ticket herself. So we left the market laden down with the prize of a basketful of potted plants, as well as fruit and vegetables, jams, dips, slices and soap. And balloons of course, which were later to come in very handy...

This part of the Adelaide Hills is very beautiful, narrow winding roads sometimes with native bush, sometimes pine trees and market gardens. All I wanted was to find a donkey to photograph, but the only thing of interest in the fields was a scarecrow, which actually seemed to look down as we drove by. Honestly, if it wasn't a scarecrow someone knew how to dress like one.

We then called in upon my surrogate parents Robbie and Roger at Montacute Heights, bearing bribes of cherries and other foodstuffs. (Bribes are necessary as my stuff has been in storage in their shed for a couple of years.) Robbie was making raspberry jam and the place smelt amazing. Rog had recently returned from a conference in Sarawak and - after empathising with Martine about the worst aspect of conference attendance, the fellow attendees - pulled together all the equipment necessary for blowpipe target practice, Sarawak-style. The pipe was something he'd found in the shed, but the darts were genuine, without the poison. For targets we used some balloons we just happened to have in the car.

bursting a balloon by blowing a kebab stick through a piece of pipe wasn't as easy as roger first thought

in the style of the hunters of sarawak, martine takes aim

bep presenting me with raffle prize of lovely flowers

martine looks over shoulder for photo as directed by bep

harry and bep and their woollen goods

a visit from the homeland

The Adelaide project's temporarily on hold while I enjoy the company of Miss Martine of Hobart, here for *gasp*, a librarian (or lesbrarian) conference. Not that we've just been sitting around endlessly reminiscing about Tasmania's majestic mountain ranges and tea-coloured rivers, as Martine has never seen them. But I haven't been out much since Wednesday apart from brief sorties to Johnny's place, the Central Market, the gym and Adelaide Airport. Adelaide is finally going to get an airport worthy of its status as an international city, the gateway to somewhere, we don't know where. (This will be in stark contrast to Hobart where, upon landing, you look around for the terminal - is that it over there? no, that's a maintenance shed. However, Martine points out that the current Adelaide terminal is little better, and that on two of her three visits here this year, they haven't had enough stairs to let her off the plane.)

life as a socialite

Early summer in Adelaide is becoming a ceaseless round of dinner parties, and this evening Ms Katica P hosted one such party at her charming Westbourne Park home. We dined lavishly on moussaka, pizza, tiramisu and other things ending in vowels, such as champagne and coffee. Although it was felt by some that Simon required an interpreter due to his rapid fire delivery, we chatted aimably about pornography, literature, architecture, information technology and nose picking. Thank you to Katica and her wall oven for a lovely evening.

Earlier I had called in upon the Adam sisters at their nearby residence, and was suitably entertained by displays of skipping, hula hoop twirling, hitting and transcribing passages from the bible onto bedroom furniture.

Am pleased to report that in Georgia's friend Greg I today met a new person which is always a nice thing to do once in a while. I will herewith keep a record of new people as, although I'm completely content with my current social circle except for absence of Kayoko, its expansion really should be a sub-project in itself.