Griffin Playwrights

Our class has met for the second time. During the three hours last Wednesday we worked on creating ideas from photographs and a tin of random transitive verbs. We are learning to scope out the reality of our characters, what they will say and do in the situations that our work places them. I brought along a small plate of rum balls and mini apple cinamon muffins. Everyone shared them at the break. Next week Lucy and I are bringing some fruit like rockmelon and stawberries. We had homework - a short play synopsis on betrayal. Daryl read out his - he is the stand up comic - it was about a love triangle and a discovered diary left open. Hilary talked about this being a Freudian slip - an accidentally on purpose moment by the character. Rob gave an overview of his synopsis that he left on the printer and forgot to bring. It was about Queen Christina of Sweden and Descartes. It was really complex. I shuffled my synopsis to the bottom of my notes and felt less bold. Next week we are working on a bullet pointed three act run down of a play about a Faustian bargain.

Utamaro Exhibition

Heiko - Fishing 1810
The Utamaro Exhibition is on at the NSW Art Gallery,

Feb-March 2010.
It contains wood block prints from 1790-1810 from the time when Utamaro was prolific. There are interesting poetry books with similies of love and insects, illustrated in pages on delicate papers. The exhibition focuses on the changes to the depiction of woman as courtesans and then to workers and as mothers. Also at the gallery now is ArtExpress the HSC Yr 12 travelling showcase. The gallery shop is full of all things Japanese from saki cups to kimonos.

The Playground

On the days when I pick up the kids from school I am always fascinated by the interplay of grown ups and kids. The kids run around playing while the grown ups stand or sit and talk. The smaller kids who are either todlers or pre-schoolers seem to have the most fun seeking out boxes and tracing the hopscotch. I would like to create a painting of in the playground fun with the figures sitting under the trees while the kids play. Here are some of my pics with the idea of preliminary studies for the composition.

Olympic Gold

Congratulations Torah Bright on Olympic Gold for the Women's Halfpipe.

Monumental Drinking Fountain

This fountain located on the south side of the Stanton Library was built to commemorate the reign of Queen Victoria. It will have looked across the many changes to the North Sydney landscape over the years, from the time before the Bridge to now when tall buildings form the skyline. Every month the noodle markets are held here on a Friday night.

Where will the children play?

While a new double story classroom block is built in 2010 our local primary school along with many others in the state have seen more portables placed into playground space along with scaffolding and building materials. Somehow everyone is coping in the cramped exterior of the school but I can't help wishing it were otherwise. At least two schools in our suburb were closed in the early 1990s and now with a population boom state primary schools are again full of students.

What is the ideal size of a primary school which can be larger than local yr7-12 high schools? How many classrooms and how many teachers ideally on each site? These are the questions that census planners and the public need to address.

The view from a bridge

From this week Long Gully Bridge will have barriers on either side at the request of the NSW Coroner. It has been one of the landmarks of our locality. Stepping out on a late Summer's day I photographed the Bridge for one last time as it has stood since 1939. Its construction created the suburb of Northbridge accessible to the City by this Bridge and the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened in 1932.

Griffin Playwrights

I've begun attending the Griffin Playwrights Introductory Course led by Hilary Bell. There are fifteen people at the course and they are a diverse group. We are actors becoming writers, a devised performance producer, two teachers, a stand up commedian, an IT consultant, a lawyer, some writers and retirees. We are learning about actions and consequences or motives. How not to waste writing on monologues and soliloquies at the expense of action. Homework this week is to write a synopsis for a 10 minute play about Betrayal.
ITs fun, thought provoking and I hope will smooth out the rough edges of my play scripts. See the blog list for the 7-ON Playwrights site of which Hilary is a member. Griffin support the creation and performing of new Australian works.

Castlecrag Walk

Houses on the north side of the street are built up on rocky escarpments
Houses on the south side run down to Retreat Reserve

Our bush care sign

Candle grevillea

Sailors Bay was awash with mud and storm water after the rain

Historical sign - Marion also gifted the site to Willoughby Council when she left for Chicago after WBG's death in Lucknow on the proviso that it would continue to be used as a community theatre. The beautiful stone work was restored by Bim Hilder.

A forest of tree ferns leads down to the stage

The stone tiered seating

A beautiful and natural amphitheatre perfect for performance

I had to post a letter between the rain showers on Sunday and took a walk around my suburb looking at the gardens and how well they fit in with the built landscape. Last stop was the Castlecrag Amphitheatre. It is always a favourite place to be in thinking of the live shows I have seen there and the myriad ways it comes alive creatively under the southern night sky.

The Fridge Post

On the inside you can see that we pretty much eat everything we buy each week
Condiments, juice and beverages

The top freezer drawer with homemade sauces and leftover spag bol

the outside of the fridge with magnets and notes to remember about scouts and school

My blogger buddy Blackbird (Blackbird's blogg is the one that got me started on blogging, I was so keen to read her blogg everyday that I eventually decided to start my own.) has responded to another blogger to take part in The Fridge Post. I thought this was a catchy idea so here is my take on this.

Cinema Italiano Style

NINE the movie version of the musical is saved by the creation of new material for the singing and dancing sensation, Kate Hudson. In the role of Stephanie, a US Vogue writer in Italy she sings the praises of Guido Contini's cinematic style. The costuming for this show stopping number gives Euro style a run for its money. Kate Hudson is extraverted and unconsciously the embodient of the style she is singing about. Cinema Italiano (Ron Fair Remix) (Copywright, NINE, Harvey Weinstein.)

Two Weeks of Rain

The rain is great and seems to always come at this time of year, just as school goes back. This has been consistent in Sydney for at least the last eight years. I have had washing on the line for the last three days, but I guess that it will have to come in and go through the machine again. Then it will be on with the dryer and use of the clothes horse for lighter fabrics.
Everything is a lush green and I have noticed that the humidity has brought out the baby Eastern Water Dragons which are so cute as they run ahead of one down the path. Last night Alex an Tom had a pool party at Youth Group. The rain held off for the night and they enjoyed pool play and meeting Kathryn's family dog, Mickey and cat. There is nothing more cheerful than a house full of children and pets.

What is important about today

Being in the present moment and making whole attention available to it is what buddhism calls Mindfulness. Over the last few years I have been able to practice and receive training in Mindfulness. Mostly I am able to use it when I want to breathe across the more difficult moments of my day and use a stronger perception of my actions to refocus.

Here is a mindfulness exercise to try:
Sit with your arms resting and your feet on the floor
Close your eyes and focus on your soft and present breathing in and out
As you feel and let go the tension in different parts of your limbs and torso
Begin to settle your visual imagination
Let thoughts come and go across your minds eye
Think of a place that has meaning for you
Allow your mind to look at the ways this place is good for you
Keep breathing and now allow your mind to focus fully on a task
That you bring into being in this place
Do not try to solve anything
Learn to sit with the task and to appreciate its fuller aspects
Slowly release these thoughts
Rebreathe into your body
Reawaken your sense and open your eyes

This exercise should take between 10 and 15 minutes to do fully

The 10th Year of Book Club

We are at the first book club for the year at Odette's
Odette discussing the interior redesign of her home

the Book we have come to discuss and its take on French existentialism

Catherine arrives - she always reminds me a little of Kathy Lette - stylish and witty

We discuss the book and our lives over some wine

The night is a success and we toast the 10th year of our book club