This week

By Vita Forest

From the Sydney Opera House

This week I have been

CELEBRATING Lucy’s birthday with dinner and gelato out, a party at home and a family afternoon tea

READING

Everless by Sara Holland
The Fast Diet by Dr Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer

TAKING our school performance group to the Sydney Opera House

SEWING last minute fixes to costumes

PAINTING makeup onto eighteen faces

ENJOYING the excitement and adrenalin of the students

HAVING a champagne afterwards with my colleagues

DECORATING our flat with a The Night Circus theme for Lucy’s birthday party

MARVELLING at the fairy lights over the dining table (I can feel a Christabel story coming on…)

This week

By Vita Forest

Silky Oak

This week I have been

WRITING

12 Things we saw on our walk to the Coal Loader
More of my novel…

READING The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal (not much time for reading at the moment).

MAKING up lists and boxes and bags of costumes and other stuff to take to our dress rehearsal at the Sydney Opera House.

REHEARSING at the Opera House on a rare rainy day (we got soaked walking back to the bus!)

TAKING a moment to enjoy the sight of the kids on stage. Wow!

FIXING costumes with a makeshift sewing kit when there were the inevitable “wardrobe malfunctions”.

CARRYING bags of shoes when the kids were on stage (they danced barefoot).

MISSING Minna who couldn’t make it to the rehearsal. Get well soon!

FEELING grateful that Tonya came early to help instead.

MEETING up with Fleur for a indoor French picnic lunch on Saturday and a very good laugh!

WALKING with Briony on Sunday (see link).

ENJOYING the golden Silky Oak tree outside my window.

12 Things we saw on our walk to the Coal Loader

By Vita Forest

Today I went on a walk with my sister Briony from Blues Point to Ball’s Head and back again.

These are some of things we saw.

A water dragon (there were two but the other respectfully didn’t want to appear in a photo).

2. A crumbling old wharf at Berry’s Bay (can you spot the gap in the middle of the walkway?)

3. A tenacious fig tree growing through a vertical stone wall at the BP Parklands.

4. Jacaranda blooms just starting to flourish.

5. The bigger picture

6. A very fetching front garden in Blue’s Point (look at that star jasmine!)

7. A glimpse of the city through a gate in Blue’s Point.

8. A glimpse of the Sydney Harbour Bridge at a railway bridge.

9. A beautiful fig tree that we sheltered under in the rain.

10. Ruins at Sawmillers Reserve.

11. Briony power walking to get out of the rain.

12. Some rather cute chimney pots.

This week

By Vita Forest

Barangaroo, Sydney

This week I have been

WRITING

lots more of my novel – I am on a roll!
Creep

FALLING over and skinning my knee. Ironic as I had just written about a character doing something quite similar.

READING

The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis with my class. We particularly focused on the description of Lucy’s first visit to Narnia…

REHEARSING our performance group ready for the big combined schools show on in a couple of weeks

WATCHING

Riviera on SBS
early morning lorrikeets visiting the bottle brush trees outside my window as I write.

MAKING my kids cook one meal each this week (Max – ramen, Lucy – fish and veggies). Making sure they have some life skills.

Barangaroo – this week I drew rocks

SKETCHING at Barangaroo – it even rained a bit! (We are a very intrepid bunch of sketchers).

The different textures of Barangaroo

MEETING with Sui-Sui for a bit of lunch, sharing of books and an intense conversation

Creep

By Vita Forest

I’ve been thinking about Harvey Weinstein.

I’ve been thinking about Donald Trump.

And Noa Jansma from Holland who snaps a selfie with every man that wolf whistles, or cat calls, or propositions her with, “I know what I would do with you baby” “wehee horny girl” “hmmm you wanna kiss?” (She asks permission for the photo, they don’t ask permission to appraise her). See Dear Catcallers It’s not a compliment (on Instagram)

And thinking about Jane Gilmore “fixing” media reports of male violence against women on #FixedIt (“A woman is dead. A man is accused of killing her. Police allege domestic violence” – not – “Man accused of running over woman at strip club parking lot”. He’s not a “thwarted lover” he’s a “violent man”).

And this week, in the next suburb, a woman lay dead outside a high-rise building. Another victim of domestic violence. Her attacker was known to police.

And I think about my own children and the kids in my class and hope that we’re raising a generation that will not accept the entitlement of bullies, that know they do not always have to keep a secret, that know the right way to treat women – to treat everyone. That know what consensual means, that don’t abuse their power, that stand up for themselves and others, that treat everyone with respect.

This week

By Vita Forest

From Wendy’s Secret Garden at Lavender Bay

This week I have been

WRITING chapter after chapter of my novel, but nothing for the blog. Sorry. I am trying something new where I set a timer and work and work work until the alarm goes off. It’s really working!

READING