BEING KAREN

A memory from Melbourne lockdown surfaced this morning ... I might be Australian, but I am a Melbourne girl. This is my city, she shaped me and we have grown up together. My personal compass has pointed me far from home often. My cardinal points are here, they do not change. Melbourne sleeps now, her thousand eyes are closed. Soon, soon, not soon enough, the shops and galleries, arcades and bookshops, cafes, theatres and market stalls will come back to life. And so will our

I wrote this in 2019, it appeared in my Facebook memories this morning, strangely prophetic now ... It’s all widdershins. Don’t speak to me of retrogrades, a moment, a passing by in the sky of the malign and mischievous. No. The world is turning the wrong way. And everything that was solid is now made of glass. Brittle, shiny and treacherous. Dazzling mirrors of danger, and stage left when you are holding everything in your right. The little gods are quiet, burrowing deep, th

This is me drinking poop coffee, or more politely, coffee made from beans that have passed through the digestive tract of the Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). In Indonesian, Kopi luwak, it is also called civet coffee. Poop coffee. Yes I am drinking it and smiling, but that is the least remarkable thing about this picture. I had never been to Bali, which is practically un- Australian. It was on my radar as a beautiful place that I had no intention of visiting be

"... close your eyes and tap your heels together three times. And think to yourself, there's no place like ..." Seriously anywhere. I feel like making a small shrine to my passport :) Time travel in the form of flashbacks to happy days in other countries will have to do for now! Delhi, 2018, paying respect to Gandhiji. The Gandhi memorial park (and place of his cremation) is a surreally peaceful oasis in the heart of this wonderfully crazy city. I love Delhi, (would not want

Last year I turned 60. That was expected. However 2020 was not the year any of us were expecting. Here in Australia we started the year in the grip of truly catastrophic bushfires. Our country was burning beneath our feet. Our Prime Minister was in Hawaii on holiday. It was a grotesque Circus, the worst nightmare. I painted water and prayed for rain. My palette was white, silver, grey, all the blues I had on hand. It rained the next day and I could not stop laughing. We thoug