bedridden

Stuck in bed today trying to get over a case of gout in my right foot.

The problem surfaced when I was in Queensland last week for a marine biology field course and I had no idea of the underlying cause. The foot swelled and it was difficult to walk.

I went to the doctor on thursday and after a bunch of tests (which included getting a needle stuck into my ankle to extract the fluid for analyses) I was diagnosed with gout.

I am desperately trying to get back to normal – especially as I am due to fly to Central America on Monday.

So far, the drugs are working a treat. I have also been drinking heaps of water to help flush out the toxins and eating cherries (which are suppose to be good).

Fingers crossed.

the birds

I am up on The Great Barrier Reef this week for a field course. One of the student has a bird phobia. I didn't realise people can developed bird phobias. It is known as ornithophobia.

Poor student. The island is full of birds. They are absolutely everywhere. You can hear them chattering all day and all night. Sometimes they even fly into you. It's the unpredictability of the birds that the student finds most scary...one minute they are sitting on the ground and the next they are flapping everywhere.

catching up with the boys

My 20 year high school reunion was last night. It was great. There was a huge turn out and I managed to talk to almost everyone who was there. I had great conversations with all the blokes I spoke to...even the ones who were not so nice at school.

I have to admit that I did have difficulties recognising a few of my fellow students. Some seemed to have aged a great deal while others were completely unrecognisable. Without the benefit of a name tag (and not wanting to sound rude for not reciprocating recognition), I left the night still unsure about who some of the people actually were.

Oh, and the most memorable moment of the night? Some drunk woman from another party tried to pick me up.

hanging about

I spent the day doing a major rehang of the art inside the apartment to accommodate some recent acquisitions. I've been saying it for a while now but I think I can now officially declare that I have no empty wall space left. And to think when I first moved in, I was hoping to achieve a more minimalist aesthetic.

blast from the past

I got an unexpected email this morning...from my grade 5 teacher. Admittedly, I didn't know who she was at first and it took a couple of email exchanges before I made the realisation.

Teacher (email 1): "This is just a query....did you attend [name of school] in Canberra?"

Me: "Hi Jennifer. Yes I did."

Teacher (email 2): "Think I taught you in year 5. Remember the feast your parents put on when you made communion." (everybody from year 5 remembers the feast).

Me: "Ahhh...yes...of course Miss [surname of teacher]."

What followed was a series of email exchanges where I learnt that she is still teaching, albeit at different school in NSW and that she has two boys aged in their 20s.

I remember my teacher being really skinny with big permed hair. She was a great teacher, very funny. I also remember learning about Australian history...I recall learning about Willem Jansz and New Holland and the gold rush and the Eureka stockade. She must have been a great teacher because I don't really remember much else from primary school.

reunion

I have my twenty-year (!!) high school reunion coming up in a few weeks. We didn't have a ten-year reunion. No one bothered to organise one. This time, however, one of the guys went to great lengths to contact people. There are about 50 signed up for the catch up drinks, which will take place on a Saturday night. The following day will be a family day and tour of the school. Although I signed up for the both events, I must admit to having some reservations. On the one hand, I'd like to think we were a pretty decent cohort so am looking forward to catching up with the boys. On the other, going to a reunion feels a bit like going backwards. I wonder if that is one reason why some folks choose not to go. Oh, and then there is the whole "I am gay " thing. Let's see how that goes down (I went to an all-boys catholic school where everyone, it seemed, was straight). I'm sure no one will give a shit but it might potentially crop up when conversations turn to marriage and kids.

Tea cup disaster

Our friend's daughter wanted a tea cup dog. I had not heard of tea cup dogs before but did some research. What I read was frightening and both Nathan and I tried to convince our friend that she shouldn't get one. She went ahead anyway. It did not end well. The dog died in transit. Very sad.

coffee for carnivorous plants

I recently added two new specimens to my 'collection' of tropical pitcher plants. They were bought on ebay following several weeks of unsuccessful bidding – until I worked out the sneaky tricks that ebay bidders use to win their bids (i.e. grossly overpaying in the last 10 secs before bidding ends).

Anyhow, I've had the two new plants for about a week and decided to give them a drink of coffee this morning. Yep, coffee. It seems that tropical pitcher plants are not only similar to humans in the need to eat, but they apparently also thrive when given an occasional hit of coffee.

Unfortunately, not any old coffee will do. They do not like instant coffee for instance. So...being a non-coffee drinker myself, I sent Nathan on a detour to pick me up a long black from Gloria Jeans when he was walking the dog yesterday. This morning I diluted the cold, day old coffee and gave each of the plants a drink. No notable changes yet...but give them a few weeks and evidently I can expect to see bigger leaves and traps.

pork bun postscript

Yum cha in Castlemaine wasn't too bad. The restaurant was tiny (the size of a small take-away shop). The pork buns were tasty (probably not 'the best in Australia', though still very good). But the best thing of all...all their dim sims were msg free which meant there were none of the post yum cha symptoms normally associated with an msg overload that come from dining in more conventional restaurants in the city.

Char sui bao in Castlemaine?

Am heading off to country Victoria again. This time, I'm going to Castlemaine with some friends from my PhD days (who have all ended up living and working in Melbourne). The plan is to catch the train in the mid morning and to get there by lunch. One of my friends has booked us into a restaurant that is suppose to have the best steamed pork buns (char sui bao) in Australia. Admittedly, I'm a bit sceptical. Not in country Victoria, surely? Will it be authentic or will it be "Aussie" char sui bao? I've been fooled before, most notably at the famous dim sim stall at the South Melbourne market... to me, the dim sims tasted like a sausage roll disguised in the shape of a dim sim and served with soy sauce. Let's see about the char sui bao...

picnic, metal baskets and a good duck

We decided to to have a picnic yesterday at the Flagstaff Gardens. We walked to the Vic Markets with the dog to buy some bread, dips and tapas. The threat of showers in the mid morning nearly ruined our plans. As we were leaving the markets, we felt a few drops of rain and had pretty much given up hope but by the time we reached the Gardens, the gloomiest of the rain clouds appeared to have moved on so we enjoyed our picnic after all.

In the early afternoon, I left Nathan and the dog at home and headed over to Fitzroy to check out this exhibition. I had met the artist last week when they were busy putting the works together but the gallery was a mess so it was nice to go there again and see everything up on the walls (or suspended from the ceiling as was the case with some of the pieces).

We roasted a duck for dinner. I entrusted Nathan to figure out how to use the duck fat to roast the crispiest potatoes (as I had earlier seen on a Jamie Oliver cooking show). It worked a treat. I also cooked up some purple cabbage with vinegar, fish sauce and sugar. It went very well with the fatty duck. I wished I had asked Nathan to take a photo before we devoured everything – but we couldn't wait. Must be more patient next time.

Canberra

Was back in Canberra over the weekend. I left on Friday and returned last night. I hadn't realised that Monday was actually a public holiday in the ACT: Family and Community Day.  What a wonderful excuse for a public holiday.

I went with my youngest sister to the Malaysian embassy on Saturday as they were having some sort of celebration/open day. After buying some traditional Malay desserts, we went for a walk around some of the other embassies and noticed that quite a few were open to the public that weekend. Here I am in front of the Finnish embassy.  

More generally, there seem to be a lot of activities going on in the nation's capital as part of its centenary celebrations. Though I missed it, Floriade this year was supposed to have had a centenary theme. The art gallery was also full of new pictures donated from various sources as part of its '100 works for 100 years' program.

I know Canberra is often described as sterile but I still have a soft spot for the place where I grew up.

dog attack

I took Truffs out for a walk yesterday morning around the Dcoklands. We made our way to a park near Woolworths. There were two other dogs in the park playing ball with their owners. Both dogs were off leash (even though there are no off leash areas in Docklands).

As we were making our way across the park both dogs ran over and one of them instantly set on Truffs and started biting her head and neck. The dog's owners and I were frantically trying to pull the dogs apart. All the while, Truffs was yelping.

We finally managed to separate them. The dog's owners, a lovely Asian couple, were apologising profusely and checking Truffs for any damage. Fortunately she didn't receive any (I think her thick fur saved her from serious injury).

Evidently the aggressor was a rescue dog and the new owners are trying to get it better socialised with other dogs. I think it still has a long way to go. Despite seeing Truffs attacked, I was empathetic to the owners (though they really should have had their dog on a leash or muzzled). Anyhoo..we had a nice chat.

As for Truffs, she got a treat from the aggressor's owner for the 'trauma' and almost instantly started wagging her tail at the owners' other dog. Seems like all was forgiven.

new acquisition

One of these is by an American artist and is owned by The National Gallery of Australia. The other was painted by an aboriginal artist and just entered my collection. Which is which?

tonight's dinner highlight...

....was a whole fried snapper at Longrain (photo courtesy of sis).

collecting my award

I got a teaching award yesterday. It was nice to celebrate it with Nathan and my youngest sis, who flew down from Canberra as my 'interstate' guest. The awards ceremony was held at the museum in the afternoon. Unfortunately I had to give a lecture so I was a bit concerned I'd arrive late but the traffic Gods were kind yesterday and my European driver (who doesn't seem to speak english) was very efficient getting me there.

We stayed for canapes after the ceremony. I think there is definitely a strategy to attracting the attention of waiters that are bringing out food (and I don't mean standing outside the kitchen). We used eye contact and a friendly smile that said 'come dither with the food' (see example below):

Afterwards, we headed off to dinner at the delightful Commoner. The food there was amazing. We ordered several dishes to share (the eel special and the pumpkin are illustrated). All photos courtesy of my sis. 

Off to Canberra on the weekend. Looks like I just missed fellow blogger Andrew.

F.U.

So, The University of Ballarat is going to be renamed Federation University. Seriously? FU?

ballarat

We went to Ballarat yesterday for the day with some friends. Beautiful city. We had a lovely lunch at the Craig's Royal Hotel  and wandered around the Art Gallery. It was a lovely day. The only dampner was our v-line ticket purchased for $24.80. We subsequently found out we could have paid just half that amount had we used a myki (being a weekend)....Such an amazing price disparity. It was clearly more of an issue for some of our friends than for us – judging by how much they were going on about it. As far as Nathan and I were concerned...it's not worth sweating the small stuff. You live and learn for next time.

competition

I was lying on the couch this morning with the lap top, reading the news. I think the dog felt neglected and started competing for my attention...

wow...what a week

Some working weeks are quite unremarkable. This past week was not one of those.

I had a student collapse in one of my lectures on Monday. He was unconscious for several minutes and an ambulance had to be called. I thought about cancelling the class but the paramedic suggested it would be best to continue. I ended up delivering the lecture while the three paramedics were assessing the student at the front of the lecture theatre. Thankfully the student was ok.

Today, I had a different kind of 'remarkable'. I spent the day with a production crew who were filming me for a short documentary. It's a fascinating process but I'm not sure if I will ever feel 100% comfortable in front of the camera. This crew was much more enjoyable to work with than my last filming experience where I had to stare at the cameraman's arm and pretend that I was looking at the interviewer (who couldn't actually make it in person and interviewed me by phone)...that interview was such a disaster that I was too embarrassed to watch it on TV (and no, the fact the cameraman had a decent bicep didn't help).

weekend

Aside from the terrible election result, I had a fantastic weekend. I got to catch up with a friend on Saturday for brunch, and took the dog to my favourite dog park in North Carlton today (which happens to be right nearby my favourite pub restaurant).

Canberra

Nathan and I just got back from Canberra. I went up on Wednesday and spent a couple of days doing some gardening – first at mum and dad's place and then at my sister's. It was nice to be out of the office and doing some outdoor work in the sun. Nathan flew up on Friday. My Melbourne-based sister and brother-in-law drove up and arrived on Friday night. We celebrated grandma's 91st birthday on Saturday and took dad out for father's day lunch today. I feel energised for the week ahead, which is just as well...I begin teaching first year students on Monday.

Recent acquisitions

I've been doing quite a bit of shopping of late. Some notable highlight:

I saw this stuffed bird at the Chapel Street Bazaar a couple of weeks ago. It's suppose to be from the 1950s. It's a green-billed toucan. The red around the eye was originally painted blue but that was not the right colour for the species so I repainted it.

I bought this table lamp last week from Space Furniture on Church Street. Nathan picked it up from the warehouse on Friday. The light came in two boxes. I spent the evening putting it together by painstakingly clicking each sphere into place.

This sideboard is by British designer Richard Hornby. I came across it at the Smith Street Bazaar when I was in Fitzroy with my sister last Monday. Given the shortage of storage space in the apartment, I justified the purchase as a "need" rather than a "want" ;-)

a relaxing sunday

Nathan and I had a most relaxing day today. It started off with arepas at Sonido on Gertrude Street, followed by a nice walk around Fitzroy.

Nathan had to make a brief stop at work so I left him in the city and headed back home to polish my latest purchase – a 1960s sideboard – with liquid wax. After finishing with the sideboard, I moved onto  the other items of furniture in the apartment. It was very therapeutic.

Nathan got back mid afternoon and we decided to take the dog for a walk to the South Melbourne markets, where I ended up getting a grilled fish sandwich. Delicious. Nathan ordered two spring rolls from that famous dim sim place that everyone (caucasian) rants and raves about. He loved it. I think it tastes like a chiko roll...but each to their own.

On the way home, we stopped by at the Boat shed near the Polly Woodside for a nice drink.

Dinner tonight was a lamb roast. Truffles got the bone and has been happily chewing away for the last hour or so.

It was the ideal kinda Sunday to ease back into the working week.

ooops

I have to cross a road on the way to the train station every morning and I always do so at the pedestrian crossing.

I never take it for granted that cars will give way so I make sure to watch out for the cars before crossing.

Yesterday, I stopped on the side of the road and waited for an approaching taxi to stop. I then proceeded across the road. Unfortunately the car behind the taxi did not stop and ploughed into the back of the taxi.

Oops.

a fork at security

Whilst at Melbourne Airport on Sunday, I had a little incident at security. And it's all Nathan's fault.

Let me explain...

Whenever I bring my lunch to the office, I always use the cutlery at work and then pack it away inside my lunch box to bring home to wash. Nathan, who has a thing about matching cutlery in our kitchen drawer, then places the (mostly) mismatched office forks back into my work bag, with the idea I'd return them to work.

The problem this time around was that Nathan did not tell me that he had put a metal fork in my bag.

So...forward to Sunday when I was at Melbourne airport. I made sure to take off my steel-capped shoes, my watch, my wallet and my keys and placed them inside my bag. I walked through the metal detectors without any incident. But then I notice the security guy remove my bag from the conveyor belt. A few minutes later, he tells me I have a fork in my bag and had to go through security again. And 'yes', I had to endure the pre-scripted, condescending spiel about how I am not suppose to bring metal forks into the airport.

Thanks Nathan. Thanks a lot.

a flying visit

I made a quick trip to Canberra this weekend to see my dad, who was suppose to have surgery today. Unfortunately,  the surgeon was sick and postponed the op at the eleventh hour. I am now back in Melbourne and the op is rescheduled for Wednesday.

I must say, flying into Canberra this time, I was quite impressed by the airport which seems to be nearing completion. I still remember the crappy little airport in Canberra when we migrated to Australia in the early 80s. Back then, the planes that flew into Canberra were mostly small and from a limited number of destinations. Also, there were no aerobridges so it meant walking onto the tarmac to get onto the plane (which was a real pain in the rain). I guess this is progress.

    

a beautiful day

Nathan's and I have visitors from Sydney hanging out with us this weekend. We started the day with breakfast on Elizabeth street. We took the dog with us. She is not a fan of the horse drawn carriages in the city and went a bit crazy when she saw one.

Nathan then took the visitors to see the dresses exhibition at acme. I took the dog home and then headed to Johnstone street to get a canvas stretched. I ended up taking a walk along smith street and up along Gertrude before catching the tram to meet up with the others for a late lunch.

Nathan is cooking chicken curry tonight. We've invited the visitors over for dinner. Should be a nice, relaxing evening. The perfect Saturday.

sunday roast

I seem to be regressing with my jet lag....I actually slept in (and only woke up because the dog was licking my face).

I went to look for a gift for my friend who is visiting from Canberra. Awkwardly, I bumped into his ex (who is now also living in Melbourne). What are the odds? Such a coincidence.

After the catch up session with my friend on Sydney Road, I decided to drop into Woolworths in Brunswick to pick up some pork belly for a sunday evening roast. I had been inspired by the sight of roasted pork belly and perfect crackling on Master Chef earlier in the week. Alas, it seemed that everyone living in Brunswick had similarly been inspired and Woolworths was sold out of pork belly; so I got a pork leg instead.

I am now waiting for the roast to finish cook. So far, the crackling is looking really. I've now turned the heat right down so the skin doesn't burn. Wish me luck.

first week back

Got back to Melbourne last Sunday. I don't ever remember Melbourne night time temperatures getting down as low as 2 or 3 degrees. What's with that? Going from long sunny days in Finland to short wet ones here in Melbourne has been tough.

I went back to work on Tuesday and found out the uni is going through another round of job cuts. I ended up spending part of the working week consoling a senior colleague who had been tapped on the shoulder. By Friday arvo, I was glad I had survived the working week (physically and emotionally).

Despite the crappy weather today, I decided to make the most of my saturday by dragging Nathan and the dog out for the day (rather, the dog dragged us out...she loves her walks). We made our way over to Rathdowne Street and had a wonderful lunch at The Kent Hotel before letting Truffles loose inside a dog park where she had an absolute ball chasing after the other dogs.

We then wandered to Brunswick Street, walked down Gertrude to Tarlo and Graham (to introduce Truffles to the store manager), before making a stop over at Dianne Tanzer Gallery (where I bought a sculpture..retail therapy is the perfect anecdote to a shitty week).

Truffles and I left Nathan in the CBD (the poor bugger has to work tonight...he had his own issues at work to deal with this week). The dog and I headed bck home. Truffles is now snoozing on the couch and I'm about to settle into a quiet night at home in front of the television a– with a warming bowl of lentil soup.

the clean up

Ahhh...the clean up has begun. My student and I have been busy finishing up the last of the experiments and cleaning up all the stuff we have been using. I smell like algae and detritus.

Tomorrow we head off to Tampere. My student and I will be staying with my friend's parents. His dad does the most amazing hot-smoked fish.

meanwhile, back in Melbourne...

It looks like the dog has been learning how to drive. I think Truffles will get her license before Nathan.

tar appeal

A few years ago, while visiting the Finnish city of Fiskars, I came across a tar-scented candle in a candle shop. I thought it was odd that anyone would want to buy something that would smell like road works but apparently the smell of tar is something that is quite nostalgic and comforting to Finns. Earlier, on this trip, we went to the town of Hanko for ice cream and my student was brave enough to try the tar-flavoured ice cream. He thought it wasn't too bad. I could only imagine what a tar ice cream would taste like.

part in Turku

I finally managed to get out of the research station yesterday (albeit for only a day).

I was invited to a colleague's 50th birthday party in the beautiful city of Turku. The birthday girl's husband gave one of the best off the cuff speeches I have ever heard. Who would have though? A romantic Finnish man.

I didn't know most of the guests at the party but it was interesting that several of them raised the recent political changes in Australia when they found out I was Australian. Europeans seem to be quite well informed about Aussie politics. And it seemed that Gillard's misogynist speech had quite an impact.

causal link?

Hmmm...three years ago, when I was last in Finland doing fieldwork, Julia Gillard took over from Kevin Rudd as PM.

escargot (part deux)

I'm not sure what the snails have been eating but the longer we've left them in the bucket to clear their digestive tracts, the less I am inclined to eat them myself.

My student managed to get the only french scientist at the research station to cook them for us tonight.

Me (to colleague): Talk about racial stereotyping.
Colleague: Well, you've been cooking fried rice all the time.
Me: Good point.

escargot

We are purging some snails in a bucket. They will be ready for us to eat tomorrow. The research station is full of these large, slightly off-green snails that were brought to Finland by monks several centuries ago as a food source. So, we though, why not give them a try?

sea change

I have friends, a couple, who have given up their regular jobs and, for the last few years, have been travelling on a sail boat with their baby (now a toddler). They started in the US, have gone down to Central America and are currently in French Polynesia. I wonder how their kid is taking all of this?...it must be an amazing experience for a young child to be immersed in something as routine that most of us will never ever get the chance (or the courage) to experience.

a dip in the sea

My student fell into the sea today. He is fine (and so are the fish he was trying to offload onto the jetty when he fell). I saw it happen. And so did five others in another boat that was pulling into the jetty. The people in the other boat started to laugh. I felt embarrassed for my student but he took it in his stride.

changing my sheets

How frequently should one change their bed sheets?

Here at the field station, the answer is once a week.

My colleague's 18yo daughter just started working here as a house cleaner for the summer. Today, she told her mum (who then told me) that they were cleaning my room and apparently the older ladies were curious why I hadn't changed my sheets (despite leaving me a fresh set every week).

I thought I was being considerate. Instead they think I am a pig.

home alone

I've noticed every time I'm away, Nathan takes the opportunity to buy stuff and/or rearrange things in the apartment.

Here is a recent acquisition...an old sellotape container. He proudly showed it off today on skype.

Me: "What is that?"
Nathan: "It's a sellotape box"
Me: "Why is it on the table?"
Nathan: "I bought it from Lost and Found."
Me: "Does it have actual tape in it?"
Nathan: "No, it's just the tin."
Me (???): "Hmm...o.k.a.y."

To be fair, his purchases are generally small and inexpensive. He also tends to support tolerate the things I buy even if he finds them creepy (like the time I bought home a sculpture made out of animal bones covered in red velvet).

Me: "Look what I bought"
Nathan (looking at velvet-coloured bones and clearly hating it): "Ohhh...I like it."
Me (being really good at reading people's true emotions): "I can take it to the office and hang them there."
Nathan: "No, it's ok. Display them at home...just not in the bedroom."

skype

Truffles waiting to skype with me the other night...

poor Nigella

The photos of poor Nigella apparently being choked by her husband are bad enough but an epic FAIL to the Fairfax news websites in how they have categorised the story under the 'entertainment' section. Seriously?

...nor is it something that would warrant placement in the lifestyle section either.

 Daily life?  Hopefully not.

Fail, fail, fail.

animal magnetism

How could I not have known about Les Lalanne? Here is a sample of their crazy animal furniture...

education for all

I was talking to two Finnish students a breakfast this morning and got very envious of the education system they have set up here. First, university education is free. Second, students get up to 500 euro a month allowance. Third, the lunches are subsidised (students pay less than 3 euro for a decent three course meal and drink). Can you imagine such things in Australia?

cabin fever

Although I enjoy my time at the research station, I think I am also starting to get cabin fever.

It is really quiet here at the moment...a lot of the staff and students depart for the weekend. I really should have done the same and gone to Helsinki (if only for a day trip).

A colleague from another city, Jyvasklya, tried to entice me over for a visit with the promise of cooking me moose and mushrooms. I was tempted. Jyvaskyla is an interesting city. I've visited there only once before. Parts of it reminds me a little of Canberra, with its lake and concrete (brutalist) architecture.

Anyhow...going away is kinda difficult at the moment. We have a tight time schedule for the experiments we are doing. This year the fish are being recalcitrant and are not breeding too well so its pretty slow going. Also, I reckon I'd feel guilty abandoning my student. This is his first trip to Europe and if he is stuck in a research station doing 15 hour days, I should at least be around him to offer support (even if I am in my room watching youtube videos).

At least the mosquitoes have mellowed a little. Even they seem to have left the research station for the weekend.

confusion

I saw the following passage in The Australian and got totally confused.

SYDNEY University is set to focus its health and medical research on four priority health and medical priority areas which will attract the lions share of resources and support over the next decade.

The four pillars will be obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, cancer, mental health and neuroscience and infectious diseases.

So, what exactly are the four pillars to which the journalist is referring to? It's quite ambiguous. Let's see...

1. obesity

2. diabetes and cardiovascular disease

3. cancer

4. mental health and neuroscience

5. infectious diseases (hang on, that's five)

Ok. Try again:

1. obesity

2. diabetes and cardiovascular disease

3. cancer

4. mental health 

5. neuroscience and infectious diseases (nope, still five)

Aha...

1. obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease

2. cancer

3. mental health and neuroscience

4. infectious diseases 

dingleberry

I was on skype with Nathan last night. He took the dog to the country over the long weekend. They stayed at Nathan's mum's new place. Apparently Truffles took a crap on the new carpet and then went to sit on mum's face. Unfortunately for Nathan's mum, there was a dingleberry still attached to the dog's bum. Ooops.

Call me the nag in the relationship but I did ask Nathan to make sure the new house was escape-proof, which he assured me it was. So surprise, surprise when Nathan said that the dog had escaped and he had to spend 20 frantic minutes running up and down the street looking for her. Fortunately Truffs had run up to a couple of kids and were busy playing with them when Nathan found her.

She is naughty (and so is Nathan).

only in Finland

So picture this....It is 11.00pm. I just got into bed. I'm about to doze off and then I hear the distinctive sounds of...a whipper snipper. Soon after, I catch the smell of cut grass wafting into my room. Yes folks, the gardener at the station is still doing the lawn close to midnight (probably because it is light outside). Everything (and everyone) seems to be working on a different time schedule here to take full advantage of the light, from the birds singing late into the night to the gardener intent on keeping the long grass trimmed.  

false idols

Oh dear. What a mess. It seems that the National Gallery of Australia might have been caught up in an art scandal.

There are allegations that the NGA has purchased several indian antiquities from a dodgy dealer based in the US. These items, it is alleged, were looted and smuggled out of the sub continent.

If proven to be true, the NGA will have to repatriate these items, which will represent a huge financial loss – not to mention a loss of reputation.

I do find it amazing that investigative journalists have the capacity to hunt down info that has somehow alluded public collecting institutions despite the importance of making sure that the provenance or history of the pieces check out...especially if you are going to fork out millions of dollars on an item.

It did occur to me the last few times I had been visiting the NGA, just how rapidly it had expanded its collection of indian art since the current director took up his position. Oh well, I guess it might soon contract again when everything has to be sent back to India.  

eye contact

I try to say hello or, at the very least, acknowledge people who are walking towards me with a smile or a gentle nod of recognition, especially here at the field station. I've found that the foreign researchers always greet you back. Most of the locals, on the other hand, tend to avoid eye contact. They either  look away at the last minute or not acknowledge the greeting at all. I think it might be cultural. Perhaps I need to change my brash Australian ways. The locals must think I am creepy.

plagiarism

In April, I flew back from Europe on a Finnair plane painted in the distinctive poppy designs of Finnish-based design company Marimekko.

Recently, Finnair unveiled a second aircraft painted with another one of Marimekko's designs, 'metsanvaki'. Unfortunately for Finnair, the design had actually been plagiarised from the artwork of an Ukranian folk artist. Now Finnair has to repaint the plane. I wonder how much that will cost?

a Finnish bargain

A few years ago, Nathan and I went to my favourite shop in Surrey Hills in Sydney and I ended up buying a nice-looking flower pot designed by Richard Lindh in the 1960s for Arabia, Finland. I think I paid $90.

Last weekend in Helsinki, I saw the same pot for sale at a flea market. I paid 3 euros.

field station musings

Its been a few years since I've had the opportunity to work at the research station here in Finland.

I would have to say that I am more of a city person (which, a lot of my biologist friends find perplexing) but nevertheless it's really nice to be able to escape the city from time to time and to work in a place like this for a month or so.

The nearest decent-sized town is only 20 km away – but without a car, it might as well be 200 km away. Periodically, we have to rely on another researcher or student at the station to drive us to town to buy groceries, to go for the occasional meal at a fancy restaurant or to grab an ice cream (like we did yesterday) but otherwise we are pretty much 'stuck' at the station surrounded by forests and the sea.

It's a bit like being in a pleasant wilderness retreat...except for the work. Still, despite the long work hours, there is usually plenty of free time to go for walks or sit outside in the sun (just have to avoid the giant mosquitoes).

We managed to catch some shrimp the other day while out collecting fish for our experiments and decided to incorporate them into our stir fry that night. They were small but otherwise tasty. Word quickly got around about our foraging adventures and a french student turned up to our lab last night with a pan full of shrimp she had caught and fried up in garlic. It was a different species and more tasty than ours...so we asked her to bring us more next time.

nettles

Foraging for food seems all the rage nowadays. Tonight my student made a risotto-like dish and included some stinging nettles he collected near the aquarium facility where we are working. They were surprisingly delicious.

wasp

I left my room's bathroom window open yesterday at the research station. By evening, I noticed a wasp had flown in and started to build a nest just below the window frame. Those who know me will know that I am not a fan of creatures with enlarged abdomens and/or stingers. Still, the biologist side of me was fascinated with the nesting behaviour. The wasp was obviously busy at it all night and by this morning, this is what it had managed to accomplish.

Unfortunately for the wasp, I was in the bathroom when it took a break and flew outside – so I shut the window.

hello Helsinki

Oh...my beloved Hesinki. How I have missed you. It was nice walking your streets again, eating your rye bread and baltic herring, and watching your people sitting out in the parks trying to soak up the sunshine peeking through the clouds.

confidence

It didn't instill a lot of confidence this morning at Melbourne airport seeing the pilot and co-pilot struggling to figure out how to release the rope on the barricade to get to the gate. Fortunately, they were much better at flying the airplane and after a very smooth flight, am now in Singapore waiting for my next flight to Helsinki (sadly, it will be on a crappy old Finnair plane).

Helsinki bound

Yep...Just a few weeks after returning from Europe, I'm about to head back to Europe. I'll be there for six weeks this time 'round. Sadly, Truffles and Nathan have to stay at home but I'll get to bring one of my students. Am looking forward to spending some time at the research station. It'll be nice to spend a decent block of time out of the office.

sunday animals and art

Nathan and I headed to the junk company today and I couldn't resist getting some of these cute lead toy animals.

After lunch, we headed off to the NGV. We started of at NGV Australia to check out the top arts exhibition.We then headed went to NGV International to check out the Dior & Yamamoto exhibition – and to eat scones. This is a new art installation in the foyer....mesmerising.

truffles by the bay

Nathan and I took the dog for a walk today. We made our way from Docklands to South Melbourne and then onto Port Melbourne. 

It's the first time any of us had actually walked to Port Melbourne and I was surprised by all the nice shops we walked pass on our way to the water.

Here I am with Truffles on one of the dog-friendly beaches talking to a girl from the UK who was taking her friend's spaniel for a stroll. Truffles is having a great time.

We then took Truffs off to see the Spirit of Tasmania. Like us, she is longing to get to Tassie to see Mona.

beyond Melbourne

Early last week, I took my honours and PhD students to country Victoria for a work retreat. The students had a cook off, we sat around the fireplace in the huge house we rented, and generally had a good time.

Later in the week, I headed to Sydney for an invited seminar. After that, the postgrad students from Sydney Uni whisked me off to the the Central Coast for the weekend. We went on nice walks, had great food, and the students asked me for career advice.

Here is a picture of a friendly kookaburra who came to say 'hello' when we were having brekky (in truth, I think it was after my food).

poo in the foyer

I took Truffles for a walk this morning and forgot to bring a plastic bag. Fortunately, I realised when we were walking with Nathan to the train station so he gave me some tissue paper instead. Just as well because Truffles decided to wait until we got back to the apartment complex where she then proceeded to take a huge dump right inside the foyer as I was checking the mail box. I was panic-stricken and started grabbing at the droppings with the tissues and running outside to dispose of them in the bin. It took several trips, back and forth (at one stage I was even using the free newspapers left in the foyer). And 'of course' someone walk through the foyer as I was trying to get rid of the evidence.  I was so embarrassed.

Singapore

I had a really nice flight from Helsinki to Singapore (and 'yes' it was on the plane with the marimekko livery). I even managed to get some decent shut eye.

I'm now relaxing in Changi. I've discovered the wonders of the airport shower facility at the 'Rainforest Lounge'. Well worth the $8 (it even comes with a complimentary beverage afterwards). I feel completely rejuvenated and, of course, I'm now thinking of food.

Update: In the 30 mins since I published this post, I've managed to eat a bowl of mee siam and a plate of chicken rice (with extra meat). In my defence, the mee siam was a very 'small' portion.

Arlanda

I'm already at Stockholm's Arlanda airport waiting for my flight (I arrived 5 hours early). I had planned to walk around the shops but that took all of 20 mins. Thank God for free wi fi in the terminal.

Was hoping to get a final taste of Scandinavian food but there are only 3 restaurant options in the terminal (and one of them is a Starbucks)....I should have done more homework.

Speaking of homework, I have been once again keeping a close eye on Finnair flights via flightradar24.com in the hopes I don't end up on one of the crappy old ex-air france planes.

The good news is that one of the planes (OH-LQG) is still enroute to Helsinki from Deli and the other one (OH-LQF) just left for Shanghai so it seems I will be taking one of the newer planes from Helsinki to Singapore.

I'm hoping it will be OH-LQD, which was repainted last year with the distinctive Marimekko poppy design 'unikko'.

(yes, flying is boring and I need to keep myself occupied with trivial things).  

tropical house

I finished my work engagements today and decided to check out the tropical glass house next to the University. There were a few things in flower, mostly orchids. There are suppose to be poison arrow frogs free-living in the glasshouse but, alas, I didn't see any. Here are some images.

I head back to Oz tomorrow night – less than a week after I arrived.

Hambergs fisk

It was wet and gloomy today so I decided to work in my hotel room. I set up the lap top on the windowsill, which overlooked the cathedral (much nicer than working behind the desk).

Given the huge breakfast this morning, I managed to survive the day without the need to break for lunch. However, by late arvo, I had decided it was time to grab an early dinner.

By now the sky was clearing so it was a perfect opportunity to head out to find Hambergs Fisk. I've had a craving for seafood since arriving in Sweden and had found the place doing a search of potential restaurants the day I arrived.

Hambergs Fisk is an interesting place: part restaurant, part fishmongers (the latter gives the impression that the seafood must be super fresh).

I ordered the 'assortment' of house specialities for starters (poached salmon, cured salmon, shrimp in mayo, quiche with roe, seafood terrine). Delicious. This was followed by a delectable bouillabaise with a sizeable portion of garlic aioli on the side (all of which ended up in the soup, of course). Amazing.

smorgastarta

I had a new dining experience today. A savoury cake or smorgastarta. It was quite an eye-opener...a cake smothered in cheese, mayo, meatballs and shrimp (with layers of ham and pate in between). Apparently it is very traditional. To me, it looks like something a contestant from the Biggest Loser would try to sneak onto the show. I wanted to take a photo but, alas, the whole thing was devoured in half an hour so here is a picture of a healtheir-looking version I got off the internet (at least there are more vegetables in this example):

Sweden

I arrived in Uppsala yesterday morning local time. This is the view from my hotel room. Every European city seems to have a grand cathedral.

I went exploring the town soon after unpacking my bag. The weather was crappy (drizzly and cold) so I headed to the nearest H&M for shelter (and retail therapy). A new shirt and pair of trousers later, I went looking for a place to eat before heading back to the hotel for a 'quick' nap that lasted 8.5 hours. This, of course, meant that I woke up at 10.30pm local time and couldn't get back to sleep. Silly me.

50 shades of grey

I have just arrived in Helsinki. Not long to go before my flight to Sweden (the last of three to get to my final destination).

At this point, I wish to thank my family (again) for the amazingly well-considered gift of noise cancelling headphones several Christmases ago. The head phones came in handy (once again) on my Singapore–Helsinki sector when the baby sitting behind me decided to scream at the top of his lungs for a sizeable portion of the 11+ hour flight.

I was surprised to see how grey it is flying into Helsinki this morning. There is still snow cover on the ground. I hope I don't regret my decision not to bring gloves and fur-lined hat on this trip.

plane

Found out I will be flying in one of the newer Finnair aircraft from Singapore to Helsinki (rather than one of the crappy ex-Air France planes). I'll be on this very aircraft in fact (sporting the 'one world' alliance livery). It's so pretty.

Sweden bound

Off to Sweden tomorrow. Am closing monitoring flight radar to see exactly what Finnair plane I'll be getting from Singapore to Helsinki (I am hoping it is not one of the two crappy ex-Air France planes with the dodgy seats and impossibly small tv screens).

a huge relief

I went to the GP earlier in the week to get my prescriptions in order prior to my trip to Sweden on Sunday.

I mentioned I had experienced chest pains a few weeks prior so the doctor advised I do an ECG.

The next day, my GP contacted me early in the morning to tell me to see him right away. Apparently the ECG was abnormal. When i saw him, he said that I may have had a heart attack.

More tests were ordered, along with an appointment to see a specialist.

I went to the cardiologist today and everything checked out fine. What a scare.

celebrity overload

So yesterday, on our flight back, Nathan and I noticed a lot of tv 'personalities' on our flight – from lifestyle presenters to soap stars. Today, we realised why: the Logies.  

Sydney

This is going to be an extra-long post (which happens when one has not had access to internet for three days but has plenty of things to write about)....

Nathan and I have been in Sydney. We booked the flights a while ago believing that we had a wedding to attend on Friday. Unfortunately, we got the wedding date wrong. Oops. Oh well. We figured we might as well go to Sydney anyway, especially as the tickets were non-refundable (and I will miss the actual wedding because I'll be overseas for work).

We arrived in Sydney on Thursday morning, dropped off our bags at the hotel, and headed straight to the fish market for lunch (priorities). Normally, I'd make Nathan walk but because of the rain, we ended up catching the light rail from Darling Harbour. By the time we had finished lunch, the rain had eased enough for us to make a beeline back to The Star for Adriano Zumbo's macarons (the 'popcorn' flavoured ones were my favourite). Then, it was a matter of wandering around the city to kill time before dinner, which consisted of pork ribs at The Hurricane (you can see what the priorities of this Sydney visit were going to be).

On Friday, we spent the day exploring. First up, was congee in chinatown, followed by a ferry ride to Manly. When we got back to Circular Quay, we took the train and bus out to Bondi for a walk (and a late lunch at Ms Chu's). In the afternoon, Nathan and I headed off to the Art Gallery of NSW to check out a photography exhibition there. That night, we caught up with the friends who were getting married at some Belgian beer cafe which specialised in beer (good for Nathan) and mussels (good for me).

Today, we caught up with fellow blogger Victor for brunch. Victor and I first met when he visited Melbourne (quite a while now). I had such a good time meeting up with him then, I've been wanting to to meet up again ever since. Unfortunately, my visits up to Sydney are usually really rushed or family-oriented. This time, however, I texted Victor ahead of time to organise an outing.

We ended up going for brunch on Crown Street and had a really nice time. Nathan later remarked that he found Victor really interesting and could have spoken to him all day.

Nathan and I are now back in Melbourne. Next weekend, I'm off to Sweden for work. More from there in due course...

Some sad news

Nathan called me earlier to tell me that our friend's partner had died in a car accident overnight. Our friend found out at work and was so distraught he had to be escorted out of the building. Andrew is now a statistic on the easter road toll. I'd only met him once, a few months ago when we had them over  for dinner. Andrew was such a lovely guy. Smart. Funny. I keep thinking about the night they came over and how much Nathan and I liked the guy. I remember him showing me pictures of his two shitzus (one of whom, coincidentally, is also called Truffles). We were suppose to do brunch in South Melbourne next time. It's all very sad.

Easter in the country

Nathan and I headed to Gippsland to spend some time with his family. We took the dog so she could run wild without risk of being hit by a car or a tram.

We headed off on Friday and decided it would be easier to take the commuter train to Pakenham and to ask Nathan's mum to pick us up and complete the rest of the journey by car (instead of taking the vline, which has stricter pet transport regulations). Anyhow, three metro trains later, we arrived in Pakenham. Nathan's mum was already waiting for us so we packed the bags, dog and easter eggs into the car and made our way to Warragul.

We spent Saturday at Yarragon, visiting with Nathan's dad. We went to the farm and let Truffles loose among the livestock (she successfully stared down a steer and then went chasing after the cows). Meanwhile, I raided the blackberry bushes and gorged on berries until my fingers were stained a deep purple.

We spent Easter Sunday at Nathan's sister's place. She made a fantastic roast lunch for us. We had planned to come back to Melbourne Sunday evening but had to spend an extra night because Nathan's mum had really bad back pain and we had to take her to hospital.

We arrived back to the city today. We (i.e. Nathan, me and the dog) are all exhausted. Truffles had a ball (she ate cat shit, chased mice, and generally ran around like a crazy bitch the entire weekend...and is now asleep on Nathan's pillow).

Luckily I get another day off tomorrow (a weird quirk of being an academic...we don't get the State holidays but we get an extra day over easter...go figure).

Oh...we are off to Sydney on Thursday (it was suppose to be for a wedding but Nathan got the dates wrong). Victor, I'll be in touch shortly for a possible catch up. 

The perfect sunday

I've had the best day today (well, the best kinda day that a plant-obsessive, gluttonous art collector can possibly have).

I started the day by taking Truffles out for a morning walk (getting a dog has been a great incentive to do more exercise...especially when Nathan is not in town to take the dog for a walk).

I then headed off to the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, where I got to see (but resisted the temptation of buying) heaps of really cool orchids, fern, bromeliads and carnivorous plants.

On my way back into the city, I decided to drop into one of my favourite places, The Grand BBQ, for lunch.

And now I'm sitting at home monitoring an art auction online and eating gnocchi. I'm not normally a gnocchi fan but I guess it's one of those days where even gnocchi tastes good!