Justice

I can't remember if it has been one or two weeks. Time seems to be flying or swirling around my feet, and I am stepping carefully through it in order to keep my head focused and my eyes on whatever prizes I am supposed to be striving for; trying to avoid puddles, dead cock roaches, or on-coming traffic. There have been a few prizes lately.

Last Saturday I went to the second meeting of my Embroidery Guild class. There was another, new, woman there who was nice and fun, and it felt good to be getting more comfortable with the group. We learned more stitches and got a clearer picture of what our monthly assignments would be like. I had a horrible realization earlier in the week that the box that went missing during the shipping from our move, contained about 80% of my art and textile books. I am still in shock and can't even begin to recall all of them. I don't know how, or if I will ever replace them. I didn't have a full inventory of titles and many were old, out of print books. The women at the EG group all thought that it must be deliberate theft. If this is true, at least someone saw the value in them and maybe is getting good use out of them - better than them rotting in the back of some warehouse or the bottom of a dumpster.

Saturday night, I shifted gears, put on some wild, bright colored clothes and strode out into the night to meet Nicole at the Mardi Gras parade. It was drizzling and pouring off and on but there were still about 200 thousand people lining Oxford Street. The crowd was soaked but still packed in and rowdy. Rainbow umbrellas went up and down. The parade had more to do with Lesbian and Gay pride, and really not at all to do with Lent or throwing beads. The theme this year was marriage rights - equality and justice for all people, an end to discrimination. One woman had a sign that said "I can marry a gay man, so why can't he?"

The first group consisted of about 30 men and women on roller skates, dressed as butterflies. The costumes were so well made and beautiful that that would have been enough. Some of the groups were all about the costumes, like the group of Wonder Women with gold hula hoops, others were just showing their support, like the floats from Google, and the bank - ANZ. The atmosphere was positive and friendly on the parade route, even if there were plenty of drunken shenanigans going on in the bars and streets behind us. I left early when my raincoat got soaked through and I was shivering and tired. Walking back home, I saw some of the Wonder Women going into a cafe, then I passed one of the ANZ cheerleaders. I told him their float was great and he smiled and thanked me. I walked by the Russian restaurant where a wedding party was going on and all the people were in such sparkly clothes, they could have been at the parade.

Later in the week, David was in the spotlight. Sydney University, in keeping with tradition, hosted a kind of welcoming night for him. All new professors get an opportunity to present their work in an Inaugural Lecture Series. This year there are 4, and David's was the first. They had a reception with wine and hor d'oeuvres beforehand in the beautiful Nicholson Museum, where there is one of the largest collections of Egyptian antiquities outside of the UK. (We were served white wine only because they won't risk red wine staining anything in the museum.) I had fun mingling with the few people that I knew, and eating yummy snacks, but we were quickly ushered across the quad to the lecture hall in order to get the show started.

David spoke for 45 minutes to a full house of just under 300 people. He presented his ideas about challenges to justice in a climate changed world. He talked about people creating their own solutions to such issues as water, energy, and food, rather than waiting for large, multi-national solutions. He fielded questions from the crowd, and got very good reactions and reviews afterward. I kept thinking that this was like his very own, little, TED talk. He looked nice in his suit, and got lots of compliments on his tie, which is a Liberty of London fabric.

So, things are looking pretty good for him. He is pleased to have that over with, and he can focus on his next immediate thing which is two, big, international trips. Never a dull moment in his working life, but there is also time for fun. He is taking Valerie to see Bon Iver tonight.

I will be home stitching, but I don't mind. Parades and parties are more my idea of fun. I can only handle concerts in small doses. There is no end to the entertainment options in this town, so I can relax and watch a little TV every once or twice in a while without worrying about missing out.

The photos are: two Aussie politicians debating, Dykes on Bikes at the parade, Nicole with her mustache disguise at the parade, Nicole and me screaming and cheering with soaking hair, a bride, me and David before his talk, Mira showed up from classes to support her dad, Valerie- David's biggest fan, David and his colleague after the talk showing off their cool ties.