Hi and Welcome to another newsletter. July has been a month that rushed past far too fast. There was a little bit of travel. A bit of rain, a bit of cold, a bit of sun.
Amazing Collaboration
The National Symphony Orchestra (USA) and Mo Willems have combined to produce a series of paintings of Beethoven’s symphonies. They are made to be viewed while listening to the symphonies. They are beautiful and inspiring. Check them out here Mo Willem’s Beethoven Exhibit. The video is also really cool, Mo wants to inspire people to listen to their symphony and create a drawing to go with it. Let me know what piece of music you would paint, bonus points if you send me the picture. Hehehe
Houseplants
So when I came home from one of my holidays my house had been blessed with houseplants. As someone who has a strained relationship with plants, I have always found houseplants a bit weird. I came across this article called the age of houseplants. It is quite long (I admit I didn’t read it all) but the pictures tell the story. It is very interesting given how long house plants have been living in people’s houses.
Astronomy update
Its exciting data and images from the James Webb telescope have been released. After months of commissioning the James Webb Telescope is now online. So to see where the James Webb is and all the links to all the cool stuff head to ‘Where is Webb? If you want to go straight to the pictures head to the Webb telescope news release page.
Podcast
I’ve been enjoying a BBC podcast called ‘You’re Dead to Me’. It is awesome, one of the writers from Horrible Histories, Greg Jenner hosts. A historian and a comedian join him and they talk about a time period, a person or the history of something. It is very cool. It is on Spotify or BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
My Unit
One of the big things I’ve done this month is put my unit on the market. I have mixed feelings about it, I really enjoyed living there but I can’t see myself living there again. So it is time to
move it on. If anyone you know wants to buy it head to buy it, share and get them to check it out on Domain. Probably not the best time to sell but is it ever?
Sport
Cycling
July means only one thing and that is the Tour de France. This year we were blessed with 2 races, the men and the ladies. They were epic. In the men’s event, Jonas Vingegaard proved that not only is he an amazing cyclist he is a great bloke. On one of the stages, he and Tadej Pogacar, his main rival, were racing together and Pogacar crashed, Vingegaard waited for him and then beat him on the climb to the finish. My favourite rider was Wout Van Aert he won the green jersey (the sprinters’ jersey). My favourite moment though was the final day when the main competitors were having a great time together and their partners and children were dressed in matching colours. In the ladies’ race Annemiek van Vlenten was just epic she was sick for the first few days then when they reached the mountains she just rode away from the rest of them. Showing if you just hang in there sometimes things get heaps better. Also one of the other great things about the Tour de France is Plat du Tour with Guillaume Brahimi. French food cooked by Guillaume I have nothing more to say really. 😉
Other Sports
Of course, there were other sports on and I watched them, F1, Cricket, Bowls, etc etc etc
Viewing pleasure
Letters Live on YouTube sees high-profile artists (mainly English) read letters to an audience. It is happy, sad, funny, touching and entertaining. If you are lucky enough to be in the UK this October you can go to it live at the Royal Albert Hall.
The ABC Of is an interview series on ABC as part of the 90 years of the ABC celebrations. David Wenham interviews prominent Australians and goes back to the ABC archives to chat about moments in time. It is very enjoyable.
Book
So I finished a book, The Phone Box at the End of the World by Laura Imai Messina. I can recommend it if you want to view grief and love in a different way. The book is quirky and based on a real place in Japan where people go to talk to lost loved ones in the wind phone box. It follows Yui and her journey after losing her mother and daughter in the Tsumani. She is joined in her journey by Takeshi who has lost his wife and whose daughter hasn’t spoken since. I really loved this book. I was shocked to find out that it was originally written in Italian.
Willoughby symphony orchestra with Guy Noble
So I stepped out of comfort zone because of the wonderful Guy Noble. The Willoughby symphony orchestra was to host a concert in the Park at Willoughby but due to the continuing bad weather in Sydney it was moved to the Concourse. It was a program of light opera and musical theatre songs sung by xxx and xxx. I survived the singing because of the amazing Guy Noble he makes even opera worthwhile. 🙂 my favourite piece was sung by Guy, who changed the words to ‘I am the very model of a modern Major-General’ it was hilarious.
Anyway, that is more than enough for this month. Next month there is a trip, pants sewing and guinea pig hugs. Have fun
