Whew!

...I can get into Blogger this morning - last night I couldn't log onto Blogger, get into my blog, leave comments etc - thought their whole system had crashed;

...Carlton came from behind to win the first game of the 2007 season;

...people didn't seem to take my last post as negative, although I maybe didn't say strongly enough how much I value the bloggers I do keep up with;

...we had a bit of rain on Friday (but did enjoy the magnificent weather in Castlemaine)

Speaking of which, we were there for the start of the Castlemaine State Festival, and the place was really alive. As we walked through this usually quiet country town, we could hear different music coming out of the various venues. On Friday night Mel and I went our separate ways to indulge our various tastes in entertainment. Mel went to a jazz concert in the Theatre Royal, Australia's oldest continually operating theatre (1854) on the mainland (for you non-Aussies, that implies that Tasmania would lay claim to having the oldest in Australia).

I opted for a more contemporary event, a hiphop group consisting of a half a dozen young men who did amazing acrobats, drumming, and something called beatboxing, which I never heard of before, here's a definition: primarily concerned with the art of creating beats, rhythms, and melodies using the human mouth. It can also involve singing, vocal scratching (the imitation of turntable skills), the simulation of horns, strings, and other musical instruments, and the replication of a vast array of sound effects. It was unbelievable the sounds that guy could make with just a microphone, and the whole event was a hit with both young and old (and I was not the oldest!).

On Saturday night we both went to see a circus/burlesque group: 4 acrobatic young women with a very naughty sense of humor. My face hurt from laughing and smiling so much. Next week we go back for some more: a guitar and violin concert in a mineshaft (wonderful acoustics and atmosphere, we've attended a concert there before), and another burlesque show - retro but fun!

But for peace and quiet our favorite place is our bush block behind the dam, where the rest of the world disappears. This was what greeted us Sunday morning, the gentle autumn light filtering through the gum trees.