Beanie Weekend

The beanie festival is on in Alice Springs this weekend. I haven't made it out yet, but probably tomorrow at some point. I'll do a drive by. I have a few "beanies", including one that I bought here last weekend at the market. In the cold nights and frosty mornings they are quite useful. I can't wear it all day though when the temps are in the teens and twenties. Then it's usually a bandanna, my other usual. I bought a kangaroo leather hat last month but haven't worn it yet, perhaps tomorrow. I think it's an awesome hat, even if my friend F. burst out laughing at me when I showed it to her. Not because it looked weird but she told me I looked like a stereotypical outback Australian with my khaki pants on, hands on my hips with my leather hat on. It's waterproof, but I don't need to worry much about that this time of year.

     My shipment of stuff from Canada arrived this week, so the past few days have been spent unpacking and organizing, putting stuff up, and so on. The boxes have all been emptied and every single thing has found a home. I have a few posters and artwork left to put up and then I'll be all in. It's great having so much less stuff than I used to lug around before the fire. It finally feels like home now with my stuff around me. Mostly it's my paintings that I've collected over the past few years. My poster of John Lennon and the lyrics to Imagine; the paintings my daughter has given me from the Yukon; the Aboriginal artwork I collected from Vancouver Island; and the paintings of Stormy by David King in Halifax. I have some photos of my daughter from our trip to Europe all those years ago. Those few that I have helps keep her close. My daughter is coming for Christmas and we're heading south to Adelaide, Melbourne and Tasmania. It is a 2200km drive to Melbourne, but we have a couple of weeks to do it, so we can spend a few days here before heading out.
     I'm having a housewarming gathering next week, now that I have what I need to actually cook and bake. It was a bit of a challenge to find the right ingredients, and even then I was out of luck for a few things. Some items have another name than how I'm used to finding it labeled. Let the baking begin!
     It's been a busy week with bush trips. I went to Titjikala earlier this week, then Ti Tree, and Laramba. Tomorrow I'm going bushwalking with G. at Trephina Gorge. We've been there before and this time we're doing a different trail, down through the gorge among the river and forest. Gonna have a mug up as well and cook some lunch on a ranger stove. I am still on the hunt for a portable barbecue. I may have to fashion something myself with a ranger stove and a wire grill.
     I'm missing the ocean tonight though, so am watching Titanic...