Peace and freedom

It's been a big week.  Friday before last Jake came up and helped in the garden again, mowing lawns and whipper snipping edges. Having these basic things under control make working in the garden so much more enjoyable and rewarding.  We were both too tired to continue our hedging venture but were able to take previous prunings to Mel's place to be put through her chipper.  Very satisfying.
Saturday I was off to the Requiem for the Living performed at St David's Cathedral in Hobart.  I went via TMAG, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.  I'd heard that the vestibule had been decked out magnificently as Prospero's library for The Tempest exhibition, and it was.

To be honest, it's so long since I've been to TMAG that I've no idea what the entry looks like ordinarily and I've very little memory of The Tempest  but I was very taken with this space, staircase and flying books.

 sculptures in the courtyard with a marine / flotsam theme

 entry to TMAG courtyard

Then it was up Macquarie Street,

past the Town Hall, decked out for a flower show and its 150th anniversary with rainbow flags, with a small detour to check out one of my favourite inner city living spaces,

to St Davids Cathedral.

I have never before been inside this cathedral.  The sign outside offers sanctuary inside.
The concert was wonderful.  I had yoga / zumba friends in the choir and there were other Triabunnies in the audience.  Refreshments were served afterwards, including bubbly.  I had parked on the Eastern Shore and caught the bus into the city so thought it better to abstain from the booze and contented myself with a fraction of a brownie.  But what a fabulous event!  On the way home I just managed to catch the hardware store in Sorell to buy eggplant, capsicum and zucchini seedlings and a gaura plant.  A beautiful day.

Tuesday saw a film, Florence Foster Jenkins, at the Community Hall.  I have mixed feelings about the film but the hall was packed out and the atmosphere heady - $5 entry, $3 cab merlot, $2 Mars Bar, $5 raffle tickets.  What more could a girl want?  And remember I told you the profits go back into the community as grants.  I sat next to an elderly couple who, I discovered the next day at yoga, are not a couple at all.  The lady (who didn't like the film) was put in a house on her own by her family and left to her own devices.  She constantly forgot things, including how to get home.  She made use of the weekly community bus trips and met the man who she called constantly when she had lost her purse, keys or way home.  He decided that she is unable to live alone and invited her to stay at the spare room in his unit.  I had seen them together before and assumed they were a long term husband and wife, both frail but he ever gentlemanly holding the car door open for her and guiding her by the elbow.  At the movie I told him how much I loved seeing New York on screen.  He said NY is fine but he much prefers the West Coast.  Never make assumptions in a  small country town.

Which of course leads to Wednesday, our time, and the US Presidential Election result.  Originally this post was going to be called Culture Galore, then Bread and Circuses.  On Friday I went to the local Remembrance Day ceremony, proudly wearing a red poppy from the garden.  David, a music teacher from the school, turned up with some of the students.  He played the bugle parts and the kids led the National Anthem.  The service focused particularly on the 50th anniversary of the battle of Long Tan and I held my breath waiting for a mention of refugees.  There was none, although we thanked the armed services for protecting our borders.  After the service I went to put my poppy on the cenotaph and the school kids came to look at the floral tributes.  David took some photos and then it was time to go home / back to school.  One girl suggested dancing a conga back to school.  David was uncomfortable, "its a serious occasion" he said.  The term 'Peace and Freedom' had recurred through the service and I realised I live in peace and freedom.