Rainy Day and Rainbow (Lorikeets)
We suffered another wet start of the week. It's been about three weeks now that we've had rainy/stormy weather. The sun has teased us for short periods, only to be covered over again by the clouds. These are grey, cooler days that make me want to stay in bed.
It has not helped having sad news. On Tuesday, Fr. Gerard's father took a turn for the worse and passed away quite suddenly. He'd been diagnosed with untreatable cancer about a month ago or so. Yet Gerard thought he might be around a little longer. Wednesday, he took a flight home for the funeral and to be with family. they suffered the loss of his sister less than 6 months ago. Very sad. He will be there until 9 April. That leaves me with the Masses here and everything else. On Wednesday, Fr. Emmanuel Gatt will be coming out of retirement to help at the parish and the Shrine, thankfully. He's a young-spirited, octogenarian, Maltese friar who used to be parish priest here and is well loved!
I ventured out on my part day off to a new museum (the Museum Discovery Centre) that opened up a couple of miles from home. Here's a shot of the exterior (1). I was disappointed with the outdoor signage. I had a hard time knowing where to park. Finding the entrance was equally hard! Inside, I was the only person in the whole museum—a bit creepy! I suspect that they must get a lot of school classses coming through, but who knows. That day I was the sole soul. While it was a nice museum for a rainy day, I don't know if I'd return. You can decide for yourself via my pictures!
This is the first room which you enter off a second floor entrance (2). As you can see, it's full of old time transportation stuff: from boats and planes to bicycles and autos. Impressive collection of stuff. A smaller side room has this lovely "mantle piece": a huge thing (probably 20 feet long) carved of wood (3).
I really liked the design and the colors in these English tiles from the 1880's (4-5). And I thought of my brother, the architect, with these architectural models preserved from the 1870-90's (6-7)! Look at the details (7)! (Who saves this stuff?) Some lovely, old stained glass hung opposite the English tiles (8). And this little wonder is a minature of a "self-supporting spiral staircase" from Sydney in 1910 (9)!
More eclectic stuff filled the next room (10). (I sort of felt like I was wandering through someone's garage. Or maybe a huge "tag sale" (as they say, for a yard sale, out East.) Coming down some stairs, we were greeted by a stone griffin made me think of Harry Potter (11). I think it came from an old building exterior that must have been demolished.The two story back wall of this room had all these old appliances and electronics (12). (Recognize anything from the past?)
Then we moved back into the first room, but this time walking on the main floor. Here is a totem pole from Canada (13) and a lovely mosaic (14) that was equally tall. Entitled "The Maiden of Abundance," it hails from 1890's Melbourne.
Old electronics and gadgets filled the fourth room of the museum. Here is the "Mars-3," a model of a Russia probe from 1960-80's from a museum in Russia (15). And then there is thios sweet thing: "Robocow" made for an agricultural department in Queensland, AU (a northern Aussie state)(16). This phone reminded me of childhood (17); I wanted one just like it! I thought it looked so hip! Speaking of hip, how about this collection of chairs that lined the back wall (18)
The decorative arts filled the last room of the museum. Lovely Parisian clock from 1860's to go with the wood mantle piece (19). (It looks like it came from the time of King Louis XIV!) This room had 6 wide chests of flat drawers that you could pull out and look in to see some of the other knick knacks, such as these Asian fans (20). I liked these vases (21) and the elegant simplicity of the lines on this last piece (22).
Finally the sun came out and with it a flock of rainbow lorikeets—my favorites (23-28). They were high up a palm tree in our front garden, chirping away, fighting over the fruit, perhaps, or the nectar. I couldn't tell. How I love these littel masterpieces; a real mish mash of bright colors and full of spunk. They do makle a lot of noise, both visually and literally! Check out this cheeky fellow, smiling as if to say, "Yeah, I see you there, but I don't care becuase you can't touch me!" (26)