Sydney Botanic Gardens

Met marvelous painter Charlotte Thodey at the pyramid that houses tropical plants in Sydney’s botanical  gardens. 

Weird chattering flying foxes shelter in the botanic garden trees, considered a nuisance by some.

Heliconias, orchids of miniscule to generous size, rubber trees, ferns, jasmine displayed in several glassed spaces.

The gardens extend to the harbour area, a vast miracle of downtown oasis in a city where real estateis premium.

Maps of Antarctica and the history of exploration of Australia’s “Down Under” — the southern polar continent was on view at  the State Library of New South Wales across from the gardens, so that’s where I spent the rest of the afternoon.

Melbourne in the State of Victoria

Through countryside that resembles eastern Oregon or northern California without the mountains, I rode the CountryLink train South, South West from Sydney to Melbourne, an all-day ride.  Only sour moment was receiving a packet of imitation espresso powder and a cup of hot water when I expected brewed coffee at least.

After 10 days in Sydney, which felt like the world testosterone capitol, I’m chipper to be in laid back Melbourne where the air is sweet and art spaces outnumber rugby pitches.

Sydney ferries offered entertainment and respite.  The Parramatta river tides caused that long route to turn around at Rydalmere where passengers headed to the end of the line completed their trip by bus. Even through the days of rain and grey skies, I boarded a Rivercat or ferry every day, as passage is included in the weekly transport pass.  The return from Manly to Sydney at night provided a neon lit, nearly full moon arrival at Circular Quay, the primary ferry dock.

Melbourne is a major port city too, and I’ll be boarding the Spirit of Tasmania on 12 February for passage to the island that captured my imagination when I was age 6 or 7 and just starting to collect stamps.

In Melbourne, I spent most of my first morning at the Old Treasury Building, an elegant Italianate building where all the gold was once vaulted.  Exhibits featured local history, the founding of Melbourne, jailhouse photographs of late 19th c. Chinese miscreants and audio renditions of commentaries by the rough and tumble gold miners.   Today I’m at the State Library and will soon look at some old maps of Tasmania.  Art museums and archives have surprising collections.

I’m currently in the State Library’s chess room (with tables set up for play) using the free wi-fi which my hotel offers for hire.  See: Vintage 1975 images of Queen’s Hall and Chess Room.

Friday, I’m headed down the Mornington Peninsula where new friends have offered to drive me around to see a bit of the south coast.  They are an Aussie couple about my age who emigrated from So. Africa and run a real estate  promotion business here.  We met last night on the Southbank River promenade as we watched the passing scene and sipped wine.  They had gallantly protected my Greek salad from scavenger birds while I returned to the food court to fetch a glass of a bright, dry  Semillon Chardonnay blend.

Congee Beach to Bondi Beach

Last week of January, 2012, I hopped on a bus to Congee Beach and walked up the coast line on a really nicely constructed walking path that skirts the coast for 6 KM up to Bondi Beach. The point north of Congee is notable for a metal and concrete memorial to the Australians killed in a bomb attack on a tourist club in Bali.  Reported sightings of the Virgin Mother Mary have brought a home-made memorial nearby.

The walk follows the limestone cliffs, park land, playing fields, past houses with expensive views, old boat houses, and fancy flats.  There’s also a huge cemetery overlooking this segment of the ocean.

Bondi is famous for surfing and the sun-tanning body culture. The surf-life guarding tradition is active in all the beach front communities. 

Strolled through the Bondi Pavilion, built in 1928 and opened in 1929.  Wandered into a large exhibition space and spoke with photographer Hilton Luckey about Australian surfing traditions, the manly-matey culture, and the alt lifestyle back in the day.  Reminded me of Santa Cruz, Big Sur and points south during the mid 1970s when we would sleep in vans or under the stars, and pass the time hiking in the forests or lolling on the beach.  Did the strong gut ”’get-‘er-done” ethos from Australia migrate cross the Pacific?  I don’t know.

The coastal path was well marked and graded with stair and teak railings for elevated areas.  While the sun burned down, the physical part was easy for me and the infrastructure is so highly developed that there are filtered water dispensers and fountains every kilometer or so. 

After slurping down a chocolate milkshake from the beach bar at Clovelly (Shark Point on the map) I paused to paint a little watercolor.  My idea of paradise — walk, look, paint. At the end of the day, I watched young surfers, then took another bus back to town.

Passione in Napoli

Passione, a film by John Turturro, explores Naples and its dynamic musical heritage.  I viewed the documentary at a screening sponsored by the InterAmerican Development Bank in Washington, DC, part of “Italy @ 150” celebrating the 150th anniversary year of Italian unification.  The year long program was organized by the Smithsonian Institution. The multi-venue cultural celebration started on March 17, 2011, the 150th anniversary of Il Risorgimento.

Released in 2010, Passione was praised by critics, but is unlikely to appear in the local cineplex. The scenes can be gritty and emotionally charged, which can unnerve the bourgeoisie.  Too bad — we could all use a dose of the resilience, chaos and and life embracing realism of Naples.   “Singing is emotional transportation,” says John Tutturro, during this documentary that strings together the many cultural influences on Neapolitan song and performance style.  

Tutturro’s film captures the Baroque facades of Neapolitan churches, the splashes of graffiti and faces etched by smiles and worries.  The director encourages folks on the street to sing songs that typify the culture, then cuts to longer versions by professional singers rendering the same material.  Clips of U.S. soldiers who arrived during World War II as an occupying army that stayed for decades explains some of the multi-ethnic gene pool of Napoli and its music.  Greeks, Arabs, Berbers, Slavs, Visigoths, Spaniards, Celtic-Scandinavian  Normans, French, African-Americans are some of the musical ancestors.  The people’s music of Napoli characterizes a world city, a delicious mix of cultures and sensuality.

Journal Writing : Hill Arts Center

Have you noticed a resurgence of interest in journal writing (personal diary, memoir, life writing), a subject I specialized in teaching during the early years of the National Museum of Women in the Arts?  New workshops in 21st century journal writing will be offered at the Hill Arts Center, a fantastic renovated historic space. Register for my journal writing workshops through the Writer’s Center.  Journal writing and visual diaries (scrapbooks, collage, self-portraits) offer  perspectives to our inner lives.

More about L Peat O’Neil.

 

Color Me Zelda : Ballet Diary

FLASH!!!   Rare look at Zelda Fitzgerald’s art work on view at Evergreen Museum in Baltimore until January 29, 2012. http://www.museums.jhu.edu/_media/uploads/eml_zelda.pdf

Ballet Diary

August, 2011  Gorgeous dance studio.  Barre is installed at an odd height, like a stair railing for giants with long arms.  Designers clearly did not consult the dance professor.  Class group is a mix of those who have never studied ballet to a current high school dance teacher.  Prof.  Meryl  Shapiro directs us through barre work, terminology and suggestions about paying attention to the music.

My fears that I will be too tired to keep up or forgetful of past ballet positions and steps are groundless.  I’m surprised that I can remember so much from decades ago.  Barre work includes plie, grand plie, tendu, sous-sou en releve, port de bras, stretches.  Must look up the correct spelling of the steps and accents.

September, 2011

Relearning and remembering “en croix”, the pattern of barre exercises where the leg away from the barre moves to the front, side, back, and again to the side. Floor work includes  balance, chasse coupe.  I’m weak on my left side.  Can’t remember patterns as readily as on right side.  Why is that?  Brain fog, dominant side wiping out any left side body memory?  I should practice more on the left to ensure body memory.

Looked up en croix in the ABT Ballet Dictionary:

Croix, en  [ahn krwah]

In the shape of a cross. Indicates that an exercise is to be executed to the fourth position front, to the second position and to the fourth position back, or vice versa. As, for example, in battements tendus en croix.

Pas de bourrée added to the combination. Video demonstration in the ABT site shows the bent, elevated leg with foot placed at the knee which I know I’m not doing correctly.

Our class works on the combination pattern to which more steps are added each week.   Grande jeté is my downfall.  I have limited elevation and mix up which foot starts the leap.  Step…step…step…leap or is it step…step…leap, with the leap being the third step?  I’m thinking too much.  Prof. Meryl says to let the music guide dance movements.  If I think less about the “right” steps and more about what the music suggests I might improve my body-music flow!

Zelda Fitzgerald, F. Scott’s lady, studied ballet before she married the author of Tender is the Night, The Great Gatsby and The Beautiful and the Damned.  Later as an adult, she resumed ballet classes, while the couple lived in the South of France.  She was quite passionate about it.  Too bad there was no YouTube back in the 1920s.

Zelda Sayre in Montgomery, Alabama.

This image was published before 1923 and is in the public    domain in the US.

Walks in Washington DC

Walking:: DC

Except for the stretch near Georgetown where the water is often low and the trash piles up, the C&O Canal on the Maryland side of the Potomac River is a splendid stretch.  You can walk nearly 200 miles without making a U-ey in this National Park.

The path along Great Falls Canal on the Virginia side of the Potomac isn’t as well known.  This canal was built on the instruction of George Washington and never completed.
Rock Creek Park, Seneca Creek Park, the WD&O trail, the trail from DC to Mount Vernon, the Anacostia Tributary Trails, Prince William Forest, Audubon Naturalist Sanctuaries, and the Capital Crescent Trail offer the urban hiker many choices.
Extend your range on segments of the Appalachian Trail, the Bull Run-Occoquan Trail in Virginia, the Rachel Carson Greenway and more. 

Though many of these trails are long enough for multi-day excursions with overnight stays in nearby inns, motels or camping.  Pick short segments suitable for half day and day hikes.