Pay attention #2

Quick thoughts from a Sunday morning walk:

• last night's rain sprinkling diamonds on the trees
• a pelican flying overhead so low I can almost tickle its belly!
• a father baiting a hook for his small son
• meeting Nelson - an 8month old chocolate labrador (and his owner)
• a "tinny" cutting through the glassy surface of the river
• a wet bottom as I slide down a muddy slope (not on purpose)

Make mistakes, please!

This is a great maxim, in improv. as in life, because it means you are "having a go". I took this shot on the first day I had ever used my shiny, new, complicated camera and made several mistakes. Pointing a camera straight at a setting sun is not a good idea, hence the little red dots on the left and the darkness of the water. Yet the picture has a presence all of its own - Bondi Beach as you may not have seen it.
One of the perks for me of being a primary school teacher is the chance to teach art regularly- very regularly in my room -and a wonderful program we are using required the students to draw their own hand without looking at the paper or taking their pencil off the paper. They made lots of mistakes, but I have never seen such an engaged, focused drawing class. Finally they were allowed to try again having the occasional "peek". It was a great exercise - dare you to try it!

Pay Attention

This is the appropriately named "Big Buddha" on Lantau Island, Hong Kong. In January Anne and I and a reluctant Alec made the journey by ferry and bus along a winding road to the top of the hill. Buddha is even higher still, and you climb 100 steps to get to the base of the statue. Alec had cheered up by this stage and counted the steps to make sure the guidebook was correct (it was).

Buddha seems an appropriate image to illustrate the maxim of paying attention. How easily we rush about our lives, not looking right or left, up or down, and how much we must miss! Children know this instinctively, but we chide them to "hurry up". Yesterday I was out walking at 6.30am, first day back on class coming up, and it was raining. I admit I was feeling a little glum, when four kookaburras flew over my head to the nearest tree and perched there laughing raucously. It is impossible not to smile when a kookaburra is laughing and I realised that they were celebrating the rain - and I should too. So being cooped up with 30 kids at recess and lunch on "wet duty" didn't seem so bad after all!

Be Average

The last day of school holidays - time to check the "to do" list to see how many I've ticked off. Let's see, I've cleaned the exhaust fan over the stove; started the social comments for semester 1 reports; cleaned out the old garden shed; had the car serviced - but there are still things left undone. I've prepared a lot of lessons for the new term so I'm feeling positive about facing 30 restless 11 year olds on Tuesday.
The chores left undone really don't matter because I've used that time to enjoy art, drama, music, food, laughter, sunshine, wine, books, togetherness and love. The dentist really can wait till next holidays!!

Just Show Up

I'm the first to admit that I don't visit Mum often enough - one and a half hours each way to spend an hour with someone who won't remember the visit is easy to put off - especially when Pat is doing the regular checking in. When I do, however, I know that for the time I am actually present, she is stimulated and engaged and hopefully that feeling stays around a while after I've left. Yesterday I took a pile of photos with me which turned out to be a good move - she enjoyed looking and commenting on each one, even though she was not really aware of who or where she was looking at. So, Anne and Helen - start printing out some photos to show her next month, she will enjoy it.

Take Care of Each Other

"The events of Monday at Virginia Tech represent a terrible national tragedy. My thoughts and prayers are with the family members, survivors and the entire Virginia Tech community." -- Michael Moore

How sad that the lessons of "Bowling for Columbine" have not been learned.

Stay On Course

Spent today in one of my favourite places, the Art Gallery of NSW. We went for the Archibald Prize exhibition and were lucky enough to catch ArtExpress as well - the best of the HSC major works. Above is the winning Archibald portrait of Janet Laurence by John Beard. We found ourselves marvelling at the talent and expertise of the artists - then were amazed at the talent of the Year 12 students in ArtExpress. I became aware of how much thought, work and time would have gone into these major works, especially the Year 12 students who have so many other subjects to study for at the same time. A great work is rarely dashed off in no time - the creator really has to "stay on course".

Act Now

Theatresports are having a season at the New Theatre at Newtown, so I picked up the phone and booked two tickets for last night. Paull jumped at the chance, so we went early to Newtown to browse in the bookshops and other fascinating little shops in King Street. The choice of cafes and restaurants there is huge, but we went with Thai which was delicious. The New Theatre is up some creaky old stairs in an old shopfront and has a suitably decadent feel. The Improv. was fantastic, fast and funny (just realised that was an alliteration) and makes you wonder at the bravery and quick-thinking of the players. It gave me new ideas for drama lessons next term....

Enjoy the Ride

After listing the 13 maxims of improvisational theatre (Patricia Ryan Madson) I had the notion to catergorise each post by maxim - will it work? Let's improvise and find out......

In response to Pat's post about Yoga, I told her how I started doing yoga to music on Anne's balcony in Hong Kong. Here is the balcony, as you can see, conducive to meditaton, introspection, and afternoon teas!

The music (Jose Feliciano) just happened to be on while I was doing some stretches, so I started sub-conciously holding the pose in time to the music. I enjoyed the experience so much that now I always have music with my yoga. Half the fun is finding appropriate CD's - Sting (Brand New Day) works really well (no surprise when you remember his Tantric Sex comments!) amd Sarah Blasko (What the Sea wants, the Sea Shall Have) is good also - and anything by Leonard Cohen.

Wake Up to the Gifts

Loving school holidays in Autumn. Our (me & the Labs) morning walk was crisp and clear, the river like a mirror. Lunch at the Boatshed, Como, further down the river. Siesta - the Italians got it right again!

Yesterday I went to Leichhardt, an Italian enclave in Sydney, and saw a German movie - The Lives of Others. It is hauntingly memorable, set in East Germany before the wall fell. It shows how art can touch people and help them to rise above their circumstances.

Keeping In Touch

A quiet Easter has caused me to reflect on who I'd like to catch up with. Although I have great friends in Sydney I realised that I would really love to have lunch, now, today, with the following: Julie from Western Australia; Anne from Hong Kong; Pat from the Central Coast (one and a half hours away) and Helen from Queensland. My son is soon to move to New York and my daughter has caught the travel-bug too, so soon I'll have to add them to the list of far-flung friends. These thoughts, and time on my hands with no school have led to the birth of this blog. Now if I could just work out how to add pictures...........