Make the most of every last summer day!
(WAAAAAAHHHHHH!)
Not summer day, as in seasonal… summer day, as in HOT.
Which is what we, and a billion other people who came to our seaside, did today. 🙂
#1469 Legends Live at Wembley
It was a simple thing that made me happy today.
You don’t necessarily have to go to, let’s say, a Queen concert, to have a grateful day, right?
(It doesn’t hurt though 😉)
You can just watch them on DVD, instead!
Which is what I did. If you think I wrote about Queen too much before Thursday night’s famed and unforgettable concert, you have another thing coming.
After seeing any performer/band live, I go a bit cray-cray and have to listen to their music for days, sometimes weeks on end.
I took out the Wembley DVD I’ve had for a while now, but sadly not watched a lot of, and started watching it today.
They are so damn good. Energetic, their vibe is palpable, bursting off the stage with their powerful and unique brand of soul-thumping rock.
I just L❤VE it.
🎵🤟🙏
#1468 We meet again
It’s been about 6 months since I last saw my old work crew.
I caught up with most of them tonight.
Something’s shifted, though. The last time I saw these guys was at our send-off party, and back then there were lots of well wishes, ‘stay in touch’s and ‘call me’s.
But now that we have seen each other and caught up…
It’s no more ‘good luck for the future.’
It’s actually ‘when do we do this again?’
This group, who I spent so many years with, and so many of my hours with, laughing and talking and gossiping, have gone from former colleagues, to –
FRIENDS.
And it’s a beautiful place to be.
They’ve transitioned from one part of my life to another.
And you just never know, do you? You never know what role someone is going to play in your life… As the saying goes, they could be in your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime…
And within that, their roles and purpose in your life can shift too.
Don’t be too sure of yourself. Allow some room to be surprised.
I sure have been lately. ❤
#1467 A crazy little thing tonight
I was driving in the car this evening, on my way to my musical destination.
I was on my way to see Queen.
Bona fide proper royalty. 😉
And they were blasting out of the car too… but the crazy little thing was, the Queen I was listening to had Freddie Mercury, and the one I’d be seeing tonight had… Adam Lambert.
It’s another one of those crazy things, when someone or something you love is not there, and something else, or somebody else, stands in.
Tonight, Adam addressed the elephant in the room early on.
He was NO Freddie. He was a fan, just like we were.
And tonight he was going to pay tribute, the way he knew how, and the way that he could.
With those formalities out of the way, the show went on in superb style.
Adam is a performer in his own right. He did an exceptional job bringing his take to Queen classics, and his vocal range is just as remarkable.
I loved some of his camp parades, and started to appreciate him in a whole other way.
He was somebody else to love.
But perhaps most touching of all? When Brian May did the guitar solo for Love Of My Life, even singing the sweet words Freddie used to…
And then 3/4s through the song, Freddie suddenly appeared on stage, on a screen next to Brian.
It completely took me aback. I fumbled for my camera, trying to record the moment, while looking past the phone to the stage before me to take in… Freddie.
It was the closest I’d ever get to him. Being in this large arena, with all these thousands of people, with Brian on guitar and Roger on drums… and Freddie as a pre-recorded video… I realised, this was as good as it’s gonna get.
It was emotional and extremely humbling.
And yet, it was still one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to, and it was missing one very important frontman.
How would it have been like, if Freddie were there? Would he have been able to hit his high notes? Would he have paraded around in his undies or some other garish costume? Would he have done his operatic solo, competing against the crowd, only to say “fuck you,” with a cheeky smile at the end when they managed to keep up?
No one knows.
But what I do know, was that despite his physical absence, his spirit was definitely there tonight.
He was all around us, just as his music grows in influence and deepens connections and traverses continents and generations.
I was thinking on the drive home, my head full of Queen and giddy from the experience… my relationship with Queen has grown like that of a friendship.
It started off as an acquaintance, grew to a friendship, merged to best friends…
And now, it’s true love.
“When I grow older
I will be there at your side
To remind you
How I still love you… (I still love you)
I still love you.”
😍😪🎵
Best birthday present EVER. Thanks sis and bro. This one was definitely worth waiting for. ❤❤❤
#1466 What she said no. 14
I had to break it to her somehow, and the best time was to do it after her babycino. While she still had her milk moustache.
“You know honey… Mummy has to go somewhere tomorrow. I’m gonna see you in the morning and then after school… but you’re going to be with Dad tomorrow night.”
She seemed cool. She hugged me before jumping onto Hubbie to tell him how great a night they were gonna have, their Daddy and Daughter night.
Until dinner time.
“We’re gonna have the best time tomorrow night,” she was telling her Dad.
“But I’ll be a little bit sad. I’ll be thinking of you Mum.”
Awww.
“I wish you were with us.”
Awww.
“I’m going to draw a picture for you because I miss you.”
Awww.
I gave her a hug and told her it was for the shortest time and that I would see her nice and early for school drop-off on Friday morning.
But, awww.
(When do I tell her that her homebody Mum is in fact shock horror going out two nights in a row this week? Whoops…)
#1465 Experimentation for inflammation
I did something pretty drastic today.
Drastic for me. Maybe for you too. Or maybe you have done it already.
Experimented.
But I went to the grocery shop, and I bought a number of items…
Can you spot the similarities?
GLUTEN FREE.
Today’s buys are a weird one for me. Weird because I feel like, in one way, the purchases are a contradiction of my whole life up until this point.
All my life, food has been good. All of it. My parents came from nothing, and so when they came to Australia, hungry for a new life, a chance to start anew, their hunger also reigned in a very literal way…
Food. They had scarce amounts in the village where they lived, and once they were working, they made sure there was always food for sis and I.
They never had enough food growing up. Constantly hungry, wanting more.
Therefore, from their life in Australia going forward, growing up for sis and I, food was a friend. It was something we celebrated with.
Food was wealth. Food was happiness. Enjoyment of food then, was one of life’s greatest pleasures.
And it still is. Very much so for me, as those European values are an intrinsic part of my DNA.
But some things have changed… like us, and also, the food.
I’ve always been a fairly healthy eater, and I consider my diet to be moderately balanced.
But like I said, things change. Our bodies don’t respond to things as they used to. The food we eat has changed. Pesticides, modified crops, freezing… food ain’t what it used to be either.
And with all of that, also, my diet has slightly changed. Still good, still adequate…
But, I have an inkling, I could do better.
I want to see if I can do better.
Therefore, my experiment.
Now I’m not all anti-gluten and WHEAT IS EVIL here. I’m not going to hold a pitchfork against anyone who eats a slice of bread in my presence, or shout at them for drinking normal milk in their latte. No. I am taking a really relaxed and structured approach, if there is such a thing…
Because it’s not that I’m anti dairy, or anti-gluten…
Rather I am pro-alkaline and pro anti-inflammatory.
This is where my curiosities lie.
I am trying to replace my regular gluten staples with the absence of it.
I am going to introduce smoothies, teas and drinks that fight inflammation or work to reduce it.
And slowly, SLOWLY start to experiment with new dishes that take all of this into account.
It’s actually a HUGE project. I was at risk of overwhelming myself the other day as I simply started pondering it… but I had to remind myself – “Slowly. One day at a time.”
“One dish at a time.”
I’m going out two nights this week… if I eat gluten then? Eh.
But on the days that I do, I’m going to up the green tea, smoothies and bone broths during the day.
I hate the word diet… this is more of an experimentation. I was talking to my sister the other day who was telling me things about keto that seemed to align and make sense with things I had already been looking into… and though I am not on the keto bandwagon, I am heavily interested in how all these different ways of eating differ, yet are starkly similar.
I also don’t like feeling restricted. I may or may not stop this after a few days. It might be too hard… one meal for me, another for Hubbie and baby girl… but the only thing I can do is TRY.
Food is not the enemy. It never has been.
Food is the healer. And it is now my test, to see HOW it can be so.
#1464 Mills Beach Love no. 4
Baby girl runs over to me after the bell rings. Kids descend upon the gates and parents come to meet them half way.
“Baby girl…”
“Yeah?”
“We’re going somewhere.”
“Library?”
(She is so my child).
“Ha ha, no.”
She’s thinking.
“Look at what I’m wearing. Look closely.”
“Hmmm.” The sun is shining down on her as she looks up and I can see she has missed the small detail.
“Look at my neck.”
Her eyes move over. She jolts.
The halter neck strap from my bikini is poking around my top.
“King Swim? I mean the beach?”
SHE KNOWS.
“Yes!”
“Yeah!” she yells, running over to the lollypop man to share with him the good news.
We were there in minutes. I changed her from school gear to swim wear in the car park, slip slop slapped, and off we went, to jump and play and be one with the Bay.
It was sublime. ♥
