whistling ninjakitty

Yay the Moon! It was a little cloudy, so the moonrise was obscured from view, but we had a fantastic time this year. Remembering how cold it is down by the river after sunset, we wisely rugged up before heading out to meet our friends for a picnic on the hill while we watched the floats + fireworks. . . + they really outdid themselves this year with the lantern parade! Seems a lot of corporate sponsors jumped on the wagon, as well as even more schools (who were the main participants last year). There was some real craftsmanship on display this year, we’re already looking forward to next year! Mister O has been asking each day if it’s Moon Festival yet :p

As part of our Moon Festival activities, Aurelia + I went to see a performance of the Guangzhou Acrobatic Troupe of China doing “Journey to the West” (being the fictionalized account of a monk’s journey from China to India around ~600AD to retrieve Buddhist scriptures). It was awesome! They did a great job of visually telling the story of Monkey’s battles with Heaven + some of the demons the group face on their journey. As for the acrobatics, man! It is amazing what the human body can do. There were some wacky flips in the beginning that involved landing mid-air on a pole by quickly grasping legs around said pole – you can believe there were some cringes in the audience for that feat! Crazy trampoline-powered flips easily won the day, but it was all around spectacular; the costuming was absolutely gorgeous, + the story well told (they even had marionettes of the main characters goofing around during set changes). At one point Pigsy handed some bags of chips out to the audience, just plain silly business. These guys know how to put on an entertaining show!

Orlando, Daddo, Mummeh + Nanna all took a sunny Thursday afternoon off to go to the annual Royal Adelaide Show. Mr. O went on the rides!

Nanna reports that the little guy was Gripping!! whenever the basket swivelled around

We visited all the animal friends, getting a little too excited in the sheeps-zone, + one of the sheep headbutted his water trough to splash our happily shrieking child. We hunted for a cheap wristwatch ( lando is currently obsessed with time), but none appeared. Caramel popcorn was consumed, + we stuck around to watch motorcycles stunts + the fireworks display after dark.

When asked later, O admitted that tossing balls into the clown’s mouth was his favourite part.

We had absolutely perfect picnic weather for my first Mother’s Day, which was lucky as picnic was the menu. Robyn (also known as NanananNAN NAN NAN!!) Delana, Brian, Orlando and I took a *big* thermos of tea and tasty salad sandwiches up to Carrick Hill for a leisurely lunch.

For non-Adelaideans, Carrick Hill is an absurd and marvelous relic of a period when people felt the only thing to do with a large home in Australia was to try and make it look as “civilized” as possible; including an impossibly thirsty and enormous orderly garden.

We made our picnic under the boughs of a fig tree, with the scent of roses in the sun wafting by from the flowerbeds. Orlando’s knees had no sooner touched the grass than he was off into the rose bushes; to eat dirt and play with leaves.

Evidence of the magnitude and quality of the parties still thrown at Carrick Hill was found in the rosebushes in the shape of a mighty enormous cork, of the variety used in magnum sized bottles of champagne.

Visiting the grounds is free, but admission is charged to visit the house. If you should fancy a smackerel of something the cafe can oblige with tea + scones, a glass of wine…