Deblightfully Reunited...

This weekend I thanked Facebook for reuniting me with Miss Deblightful. A true book smart brainiac and a real wordsmith, Miss Deblightful was the top of our school and is actually the smartest person I know.

She's relocated to Melbourne for her job and we caught up for the first time in nine years. That's right, I haven't seen her since 2002 when we graduated from high school. Like most of the momentous reunions that have happened in the last couple of years, they've all come about because I've noticed something on someone's details on their Facebook page (in Miss Deblightful's case, the fact that she had moved to Melbourne) and it's prompted a comment, which has led to a conversation, which has inevitably brought about a lunch.

And so the story goes, we arranged to meet for some pizza at +39 in Little Bourke and found ourselves presented with same but different versions of our 18 year old selves. She was as I had remembered: kind, smiley, highly articulate and warm. But with time comes confidence and along with her cute Mod Squad bob, her voice has rounded out, she has a different kind of poise and a willingness to admit that even though we're 26, it's okay to actually feel like you're a 12 year old at heart. Some pictures to show you what I mean:

[Before the pizza, and a glimpse of Miss Deblightful and her inner 12 year old:]


[Pretending to be mature ladies catching up for a dignified lunch:]

[Post lunch and the 12 year olds come out to play and we choose this laneway to skip and play:]


[Then we have to act like dignified ladies again because pesky pedestrians come walking past:]

[Miss Deblightful:]


[Our photographer: The long suffering Man from Mars:]

We plan to catch up again when I'm next in Melbourne- it better not be in nine years' time because Miss Deblightful might find that my inner self has regressed and I'll make her skip and play in the middle of the street, without the privacy of our very own laneway :)

Lizards caught out in blizzards...

As a diminutive lizard living out in the big wide world, I imagine that a windy night would feel closer to a blizzard of gigantic proportions. With no warm bricks to scamper over and the baking sun long gone, Mr Lizard would be out of its depth- uncomfortably cold. Kind of homeless.

This evening as I hung my towel behind my door and shimmied into my pyjamas with the heater on full blast, I spied a Mr Long Lizard (and I mean looong, like an anaconda) wedged up in the gap where the carpet meets the wall.

I momentarily freaked out because lizards are so unpredictable when they zig zag across the floor. And then I realised that he had trekked all this way to try and find his home away from home-- a toasty warm bedroom fit for human slumber.

I'd love to say that my inner empathy for the lizard's plight won out over my fear for all things creepy crawly, but I admit, the prospect of having a lizard entangled in my sheets was too much, and I shuffled it into a cardboard box and put it outside.

I'm sorry little lizard, I hope you're okay out there !!!!

Iphoneography...

On Thursday night, the Apple Store held an Iphoneography Exhibition. Ollympic Runner had a starring role, making the introductory speech, showing off some iphone apps that make your great photos look phenomenal and had some of his stunning pictures on display.

Miss Tiny and I spent a lot of our time craning our necks trying to catch a glimpse of the tutorial. We're both pretty short and the tall man in front of us kept hoisting his approximately five year old daughter (far too old to be carried in my opinion) on his unsupportive hip. She wasn't even watching and just kept saying "When are you going to speak, Daddy?" It turns out that this guy (Alexander Kessellaar) is another prominent Iphoneographer who's even published his own book of photos. I guess given his importance to the whole exhibition, he had a right to be juggling his child left, right and centre at the very front of the audience.

All in all, a suitably artistic night. What an impressive bunch.

[Ollympic Runner doing his talk:]


[Ollympic Runner's pictures on display:]


[Miss Tiny and Miss CreamyCheeks before we had pizza:]

Autumnal Brilliance...

This afternoon, I sat in the sun and stared up a tree. It was colourful, meditative, and put a shimmer on the sparkly Sunday that was.

Australia in Autumn is almost as good as Canada in the Fall.

[Australia:]


[Canada:]

Contagion...

As a chilly spell travels through Sydney, the lurgy season is starting up.

This morning, a man behind me sneezed his lungs up and the afterwhoosh was so cyclonic that it steamrolled through my hair and fanned my fringe out from against my forehead. I frowned and resisted the overwhelming urge to comb antibacterial handwash though my hair.

Was it so wrong of me to feel like this? I'd probably make the world's most germaphobic nurse, but if I was a bald doctor doing my rounds in a hospital, lathering antibacterial handwash all over my shiny, smooth head would be a totally workable and hygenic solution .