Peace Park and Ride

As if Christchurch hasn't suffered enough, as it attempts to rise from the rubble of the earthquakes of a decade ago, the city has just become the latest site of hideous extremist attacks. Two consecutive terrorist shooting attacks occurred at mosques during Friday prayer: 51 people were killed and 49 were injured. The gunman live-streamed the first attack on Facebook.

The New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, was asked what people could do in the wake of increasing right-wing terrorism. She replied, "Sympathy and love for all Muslim communities". She continued,

"Our values provide a guiding light in our darkest hours.
We stand together in representing diversity and inclusion. They are us.
We stand together in kindness and compassion. They are us."

To the killer, she said, "You may have chosen us - we utterly reject and condemn you."

In solidarity with the New Zealand Muslim community, Kiwis and Canberrans gathered at the Nara Canberra Peace Park in a memorial vigil to share grief, despair and anger while paying respects and honouring life. It was emotional.

Later in the week we celebrated the wedding of Louise and Chris. Her bouquet was beautiful (as is she) and was made from hops (as she is not). 

Louise with her hoptastic bouquet

Apparently these are hot cross buns. Can anyone spot the trade-descriptions error?

Buns

We headed off to the Snowy Valleys for a bike race, which involved carbo loading the night before in Adelong.

Apparently it's not rained in this part of rural NSW for four years, but the morning of the bike race...

Him Outdoors was doing the big ride, while I did the mere 26km. This meant I could take photos of him and the start and finish.

And here he is with a post-activity beverage from Tumut River Brewing Co.

Like a Duck to Water

The water is all drying up from the pond near work, but ducklings have still got to learn to swim. 

Building goes on in Woden and public art is overshadowed by the scaffolding behind it. I think this makes for a particularly interesting backdrop as the artist, David Jensz, claims that by interweaving individual threads, he is producing a 'social fabric. As a community we are all connected, our sense of separateness is only a question of degree'.

Culture Fragment by David Jensz

We had some friends round for a tasting of roses that we had collected from the Wines of the West (central west of New South Wales) exhibition that we attended at The Carrington Hotel last month. I made copious comments and doubtless pithy observations, but I have lost my notes, so... here is a picture of some empty bottles.

The Untapped Festival of Beer and Music was fun. It was outdoors but with plenty of seating, and the weather was warm, but there was plenty of shade. It was interesting to be there purely as a punter and without a professional eye to work/ research/ network/ etc. For the first time in years I could just enjoy a festival for what it was; talk to some people if I wanted (or not if I didn't); drink some beer; eat some food; listen to some music; and leave whenever I wanted. So this is how people do these things!

That's a big list of beers, but we did our best to make a dent in them, as it were. My favourites of the day were Digital IPA by Yeastie Boys (supremely bitter with stacks of citrus); Biggie Juice by Feral Brewing Company (big, bold, and hazy hops - citrus but almost creamy); Pash the Magic Dragon by Batch Brewing Company (super beer - it's a benchmark!); India Alpha Papa IPA by Two Heads Brewing (malty and good - tasty); Major Mitchell by Pioneer Brewing Company (it's got good, strong hoppy values); and Bounty Hunter by Tumut River Brewing Company (chocolate and coconut and all the flavours you'd expect - very nice).

Sailors Grave Brewing was a bit of a winner with their Summer Pudding (I can't tell if I really like this or if it's just slightly sour raspberry cordial - edit, I really like it) and the Peach Melba Pavlova Cream Sour (creamy and sour and fruity and tasty - just peachy!)

Peach Melba Pavlova Cream Sour by Sailors Grave Brewing

Bounty Hunter by Tumut River Brewing Company

Another weekend; another walk around Lake Burley Griffin; another picture of the National Carillon

And as the Oscar nominations are announced, it is time to catch up on black and white foreign films with a bottle of wine at a friend's house (he has Netflix: we don't).

Watching Roma