Last week J was in Perth playing with the school orchestra (touring around other schools over there). On Monday they visited Rottnest Island, home of quokkas, and Mania was even on sale there - cool!

On Saturday night, we saw the Australian Ballet production of The Nutcracker which was done along traditional lines, amazingly staged and choreographed - I highly recommend this! The rats in particular were wonderfully done, and the shrinking down scene had to be seen to be believed (complete with lifesize soldiers in a box). J and L were transfixed, having never seen a ballet performance before (I figure this one is a good place to start). The second part of The Nutcracker tends to drift a bit for me as, in spite of the timeless music, it loses the narrative direction of the first half. This production maintained an ideal pace throughout. As we were first row in the balcony we had an exceptional view of the orchestra as well, but I was frustrated by not being able to see the (clearly audible) harpist :).

Also on Saturday I went to the Post Office and picked up a box of old Colonel Pewter strips. They came in a biscuit/cake tin as the owner had collected them, 19 mostly complete stories cut from newspapers long ago, fairly yellowed with age and bulldog clipped together (some of the clips have rusted). I'll enjoy going through these!

Labels: Colonel Pewter, Quokkas, Sketchbook, The Nutcracker