12.03.2009

autumn

A lot of people say that autumn is their favourite time of year in Melbourne, and indeed it is often really beautiful, with the temperature becoming more manageable, rain softening the sky and the earth, and soft, long evenings in which the sky glows a deep, intense blue. This year, after our dramatic and apocalyptic hot days and the trauma of terrible bushfires, the gentle calmness of autumn has been even more wonderful.

Autumn often also signals the beginning of more concentrated work. The work year has of course well and truly started, but as the weather cools down it is almost as if concentration intensifies, and one settles down to the really important work of the year.

And lately that has been writing. I had an end of February deadline to rework the central section of my novel, which I did and it was very satisfying, and next I am going to try and bash out a rough first draft of a new work by sometime in June, which may be a one-woman show, about idealism in politics. I also recently recorded (as a talking book) The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks, which is a fantastic young adult novel describing the unglamorous and very humorous side of being a reformed vampire and the adventures and misadventures of their group. It’s a really great read.

As far as performing is concerned I am making some brief and small cameo/guest appearances in The Salon De Dance by Moira Finucane and Jackie Smith, which opened last night at La Mama…not quite sure exactly when, but they will be some time in the next two weeks. Yes, I shall be dancing. The next definite things I have on (although who knows what will come up in the interim) are a return season of Care Instructions at the Malthouse in the first three weeks of July, a possible tour of Care Instructions to Denmark, a tour of A Quarelling Pair to La MaMa in New York in November (oh boy oh boy oh boy!) and then a performance of The Flood with Finucane and Smith in December. So yes, a busy second half of the year.

In the meantime, I am trying to enjoy my relative leisure: writing, catching up with friends, swimming, going to the theatre, reading lots of books, getting on top of admin, playing in the garden, (where my eggplants are looking amazing) and having fun with Connie, my new and adorable Burmese cat. Yes, she is the cutest and most adorable cat in the world; yes, she is incredibly intelligent; yes, she is perfect; yes, she is hilarious; yes, she has changed my life.

As Garry says in Small Metal Objects, “Pets bring out the love in people.”