It's all about me.

A lot has happened in my life in the past 5 years.  Two children have been born in my family.  There has been the juggling of work and being the 'at home parent'.  There has been the usual strains that having a young family can bring; worries about money, sex, 'raising the kids right', maintaining friendships and somewhere in there finding a minute for yourselves - both as a couple and individually. 

The birth of our second child did not go as smoothly as anticipated, if one thing in life is unpredictable it is childbirth, and how a new mother may feel afterward.  As as result things were tough, I mean really tough, around our place for the better part of a year.  I doubt that things will ever really be the same as they were before, now there is a new version of normal.  I am okay with the 'new normal'.  I find myself quite changed.  I am more content to stay in, to live simply and more quietly.  Before the birth of our son I was big on socialising, being a constant host, enjoying good wine.  I still enjoy these things, but on a much smaller scale.

One thing that having children has changed is 'me time'.  I haven't always needed lots of time to myself, I am happy to be surrounded by people.  My partner is the exact opposite.  She needs time to herself, and having two small children around, and me at home to greet her each day as she comes home from work, is not her ideal way of living.  I know that there isn't too mch that can be done about this until the kids are a bit older and more independent.  I wish she would take more time for herself; go for a coffee, take a book out to the studio and shut the door for an hour or two. I know that she finds the 'new normal' more difficult than I do.  I'm sure we will find the balance.

In the meantime I have a list of 'me time' things that I would like to sink my teeth into.  No, they are not meditation and taking up yoga.  They don't really even mean I need to leave the house.  I suppose they are more like little projects that I would like to commit to.

So, here they are, and I am going to try really hard to achieve them:

1.  This blog.  I am going to try really hard to produce a blog entry once a week, or at least once a fortnight.  I think it can be done!  They might be short, but I am sure I can manage it.

2.  Learn some songs on my ukelele.  Yes, I have recently bought a uke and can strum out a few chords.  I would really like to be better at it.  Practice makes perfect!

3.  Write!  I have written a trashy romance novel (that was rejected by Mills and Boon), and I have started another one.  My aim is to have the second one finished by June next year, and to have resubmitted my original novel to some other publishing houses.  

So, me time.  Best get to it

Questions and stencils

A choice shot taken on the railway line.  I love Brunswick.

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I suspect my blog name is causing me some issues.  I wish I had someone to answer my burning blog questions...google is not cutting it, and I am not savvy enough on blogger yet to work out my problems.  As I flick through the blogs all around mine (using the 'Next Blog' button), I find myself wading through blog, after blog...after blog of people who are very religious.  Hopefully, as my blogging and searching skills improve I will be able to avoid this.  Happy for the religious types to blog away...just not too keen to read about it.  If someone can help me get out of the religion loop please advise!

Lovely thing that I stumbled across in the local park.

 As an aside, as I walked my four year old to her first kinder session last week we passed through a local park (very tiny and situated on the site of an old school...sadly bulldozed to make way for townhouses).  This image was carefully sprayed onto one of the concrete dividers which double as seats.  I love finding such treasures in such unexpected places.  I took several photos, many with the four year old posing beside it.

and your very flesh shall be a great poem

Brunswick is awash with graffiti.  Some is cool, some not.  Cafe walls are thoughfully stencil bombed by aspiring artists and provide visual treats for those of us sitting and sipping our beverages.  COOL. 

Last week I went to the doctors.  I left my house and walked up our side lane at 4.45pm, I returned at 5.55pm, in this time some huge tags and crude drawings had been sprayed onto our rendered fence.  My partner had wondered why the dogs were going crazy in the backyard.  I spent the next two hours sanding it off to the best of my ability.  There are still remnants of a woman's face (2 metres by 2 metres) and a girl holding a balloon.  Sounds cool doesn't it?  Well, these were not done by Banksy.  I was very pleased that we did not get the 'dick and balls' that was drawn on the neighbour's fence in the same lurid blue and pink.  UNCOOL.

An oldie from the Fitwear factory.

I really like some of the quirky arty things that pop up on walls around here.  Last year there was a spinning wheel for passer bys to have a spin of, sometimes there are blackboards and chalk attached to walls inviting people to write comments. 

I can't remember what I was 'most likely' to do...

I really like the stencil graffiti most of all.  Tiny bombs of it here and there, sometimes where you least expect it.  There is a really cool cat face in the walk through to the supermarket...I must remember to take my camera with me next time I go.

Rosser Street

Franco we know where you live

Over the years I have taken a few shots of some of the more memorable  'art' around my neighbourhood.  I'm sure that any locals who look at this will remember Franco on the side of Ali Baba's Brunswick Variety Store??  It was a sad day when Ali Baba's closed down to be replaced with a car radio place.   Now the line is painted over in multicolours. I think I might get a t-shirt with it printed on the front.

The car park at the Meds.

The car park at the Meds

I noticed a few new works in the Mediterranean Wholesaler car park last week.  Such a treat to stumble across something cool that has obviously had a bit of effort put into it.  As far as I'm concerned, these artists are welcome in my neighbourhood.  You other idiots with a spray can and no imagination...stay home please.

**All images in this post (and most in my blog) are my own.  If you use them, please acknowledge them as such.

A blog

I have often thought of writing a blog.  Years ago my partner suggested I write about cafes and cooking.  Where was the hot place to have coffee?  What fancy meal had I carefully constructed for a Saturday night dinner party with friends?  What delicious wine had we drunk?  Of course there would be glamorous photos of half-drunk glasses of wine, perfectly formed lattes, and Masterchef-esque meals on show.  

Somehow though, life has changed.  I no longer have time to pour over the Epicure in Tuesday’s Age, or the A2 on Saturday, to read up on all the new, hip places to go for a coffee, a drink, breakfast.  In fact things are now so crazy at our place that we discovered last weekend we had managed to even forget to resubscribe to the paper this year.  There are now two children to contend with, and at four and nine months respectively they are quite the heavy weight time suckers in our house.  

I am on leave from my ‘real job’ as a teacher, but am working from home, and really, with all the things I have on, writing a blog seemed like just another chore to put on my ‘to do’ list.  But actually, it isn’t a chore to write about the things you are interested in, and hopefully will interest a few others along the way.  I am determined to find the time to knock out a few lines here and there and share my experiences of things in my world, my neighbourhood.