Weekend Coffee Share – 19th May, 2024.

Welcome to Another Weekend Coffee Share!

How are you? I hope you are well and have had a great week, and an even better weekend!

It’s Sunday night here, and I always tap in at the end of the weekend with the view that I’m sharing what’s been and gone. Sunday night, also tends to be a time to unwind for me and to start thinking about the week ahead.

Of course, every day and every moment isn’t newsworthy, and life is full of the boring and dull monotony of things that need to be done.

However, this week I received an incredible surprise.

Those of you who have been keeping up with my goings on, will recall that my husband and I recently returned home from 4 weeks away housesitting on the Queensland Gold Coast where we really carpe diem seized the day. Returning home was always going to be tough, but at the same time, I was determined (or at least hopeful) to try to find sparkle when we returned back home and to look for the extraordinary in our own backyard. With that in mind, I went to an art exhibition opening, which I mentioned in last week’s Weekend Coffee Share.

This week, I ventured to our local pub for their Wednesday Jazz Night. I’d never been there before, and am not a pub person, and have always thought it’s a bit of a dive. Not my scene. However, our 18 year old daughter started going to the jazz nights with her friends and gave a very enthusiastic, irresistible sales pitch when she invited me along. How could I say no? Of course, I couldn’t. So I found myself out of my comfort zone trying to look casual, and followed her in. Much to my delight, I spotted a few friends and the crowd seemed to pass muster, and as soon as I heard the music and had a chair, I was in.

I must confess I’m not very good at describing jazz, or music for that matter and perhaps am being a bit hard myself trying to be a music critic and all especially on my first night. Gerard Masters was performing. At least, that’s what they called themselves. Gerard was singing and on keys, but there was also a bass player, drummer and if I looked at my photos, there was probably someone on guitar. Numbers included Dragon’s “Don’t Go Out In The Rain” where the crowd was invited to sing along. Kiwi art Dave Dobbins: “Slice of Heaven”, where the rabble also joined in and the real heartbreaker Ray Charles’s: “Drown In My Own Tears”, which might sound rather melodramatic, but I’ve been there at times and see nothing wrong in calling a spade a spade, and thank goodness I’m not there now. I have to admit I was quite envious of Gerard’s magic and liberation with the keys. I grew up learning classic piano and when you compare it to jazz, it feels like it’s tied up in a restrictive straight-jacket and I’d love to be able to play like that without making mistakes or being so tentative. Yet, a bit of practice could very well be quite enabling.

Tim Minchin and I

While we were enjoying the music and I was sipping on a $10.00 blue curacao cocktail, my daughter got wind that Tim Minchin was there. In case you haven’t heard of him, he’s an absolute legend and among so many extraordinary achievements, he wrote the music for Matilda the Musical, which my daughter and I went to see and are absolute mad crazy fans and my daughter was just like her when the musical came to Australia and sang Quiet for an audition. However, I have another connection with Tim. Tim performed the “The Fading Symphony” with the Sydney Symphony to raise awareness of Motor Neurone Disease. Tragically, my dear school friend, Dr Kirsten Harley, has end stage MND after being diagnosed 11 years ago. I knew how much this song meant to her and she was stoked to have Tim involved but I’d forgotten that she’d been interviewed with him (Click here). So once I finally plucked up the courage to introduce myself, I mentioned Kirsten and he remembered her like it was yesterday and was so compassionate. We actually talked to him for a bit and my daughter’s decision to leave full time ballet came up, and he was so encouraging with her. Meant the world to us. So needless to say, it’s taken me a while to get off that cloud.

Tim Minchin with my daughter on the right.

Meanwhile, I’ve been having some trouble with my WordPress account and managing my blog, and perhaps someone can help. The media storage on Beyond the Flow filled up, and while I’ve been able to delete some photos to get it operational for the time being, I’m in a bit of a bind. Beyond the Flow is now 12 years old and chronicles my personal journey as well as our family and is very precious. I’m currently on the Explorer package for $12.00 per month, but next step up is the Creator package at $38.00 per month which is quite a jump, when it’s not earning me an income and I’ve been blogging quite intermittently. Have any of you had this issue?

Meanwhile, I’m still exercising and seeing the exercise physiologist three times a week.

Our son who was diagnosed with pneumonia last week, has improved but is still coughing too much and we’re still concerned. He sees the GP tomorrow but only via teleheath which is reasonable in some ways, but I can’t help wondering how he can get a good fix on how he’s going when he can’t hear his chest.

So, how are you faring? I hope you are well and I look forward to catching up.

This has been another contribution to the Weekend Coffee Share hosted by Natalie the Explorer.

Best wishes,

Rowena