shelleyshort

shelleyshortshelleyshorthttps://www.shelleyshort.com/blogThoughts of whyhttps://www.shelleyshort.com/single-post/2018/11/18/Untitledhttps://www.shelleyshort.com/single-post/2018/11/18/UntitledSun, 18 Nov 2018 18:50:24 +0000

Reading quotes for survival, something like: If you blame others for everything you will be sad. If you know it comes from you, you will be happy.Stopping and looking around, at this table, these coffee cups that look like the ones my grandparents used to drink out of up at the mountains. Remember when we used to go visit? I never wondered how they ended up deciding to live all the way up at the bottom of a snowy mountain. Why they bought a purple carpet. Why they belonged together, or even if they did. I never wondered if they were really happy. I do remember thinking they must be bored. Feeling that itchyness in the morning watching them chew their cantalope and sip their second cup of foldgers. Hearing the clock tick and the dishwasher go on. I never once though, this is what i want when i get old? But I did think, get me out of here I want to hear conversations, I want to get into trouble! But now, I do think about these things> At this time I am focused on being happy, surviving and leaving fear a little bit behind.Who do I miss, and who do they miss?

]]>Melbourne Colorshttps://www.shelleyshort.com/single-post/2018/10/19/Melbourne-Colorshttps://www.shelleyshort.com/single-post/2018/10/19/Melbourne-ColorsFri, 19 Oct 2018 17:32:10 +0000

The tops of the stools are covered with blue vinyl, each one has four black metal legs. A man in front of me sits in this coffee shop full of young melbournians, planning trips, getting excited about shows. This man is balding, he is 30 years older than everyone else in here. His shorts are pink and his shirt is striped. He leans over onto the table in front of him, he must be used to stooping with a stature like that. He is too big for all of this furniture. His coffee cup is dwarfed by his hands. I can't believe how small everyone else in here is. Do you spell colours with a u? The book I am reading matches the old mans pants, and the blue stool top. It is summer outside, the ground is too hot to walk on without shoes, the humidity is mildly stifaling.

]]>3.11.14 At the moment, I am lying in bed, listening to Bonnie Raitt's Nick of Time. I am hearing the album fresh again after feeling a deep connection to it as a kid. I cannot ever hear it with unbiased ears though. When I was 8, our good family friend Danny O'Keefe played a show in town opening for his friend Bonnie Raitt at the Aladdin Theatre. It was summer and a hot day. I was excited at the prospect of staying up late. I went with my family, sat through the performance, and afterwards we went backstage. There was just a small group of us, all standing around back there, and Bonnie came over to me to say hello. She was really nice and had a big smile, a scratchy voice, and beautiful unreal hair. When she came over to me, she was holding a fragrant white flower called a tuberose, and she said, "Here doll, this is for you." As she handed it to me, I could smell the thick tropical aroma of the flower - never before had I seen or smelled such exoticness. "I'll tell you a secret. I always keep a bouquet of tuba roses next to my bed," she said, "so that when I wake up next to someone in the morning, I can suck in the sweet smell of the flowers before turning around to them to say 'good morning.' That way he will think I have sweet morning breath." "Wow, thank you," I whispered, smiling, having no real idea what she was talking about. After telling me this little secret of hers, she left. We went home with her album Nick of Time on cassette. I listened to it the next day, and also every single day after that for the whole rest of the summer and on into the fall. I loved dancing to it because it made me feel tough and special, since it wasn't my parents' or my brother's; Bonnie herself had confided a personal secret to me! I felt connected to the music. At the time I thought I really understood all the lyrics too. I could really relate: "I don't need a man with a monkey on his back, I need a real man." I imagined some dude with a pet monkey that he always carried around on his back trying to date Bonnie. But she wasn't into it. She wanted a guy who didn't have any pets. Or: "Are you ready for a thing called love? Don't come from me or you, it come from up above, I ain't no porcupine, take off your kid gloves." I pictured a music video in my head - Bonnie as a part-porcupine, part-blues singer, and this guy is trying to be with her, but he has these little kid hands with little gloves on them, and she is totally not into it. I remember these images and interpretations so well. They were etched into my head day after day, listen after listen, for months. I can see them so clearly after all these years. I wonder if my family ever got sick of hearing that tape? I know it was slowly phased out with other obsessions of mine, like Bob Dylan, Cole Porter, The Pogues, Jimmy Rodgers and Hank Williams. But I don't think my brother ever forgot my obsession with Nick of Time, because last Christmas he gave me a copy of it on vinyl. There she was, Bonnie Raitt with her magic hair and giant belt buckle, standing there on the cover, just as she was the night of the Tuba Rose (to this day it is my favourite flower), smiling, tempting me to play it and be tossed back to 1989 like a fish into a whirlpool. And that I did - I listened to it like I was starving and it was a big hunk of bread and cheese. I played it for weeks every morning as I got ready for the day. All the lyrics still memorised, eventually realising that I had no idea what she was really talking about all those years ago. I laughed about my crazy interpretations, because her words and feelings all seem so clear now, so universal and relatable, as I get older, I relate to lyrics on a real level, and I am grateful for the ever-changing life of words, and for the way some songs can come back to you like old friends, when you need them.https://www.shelleyshort.com/single-post/2017/06/04/11032014-BONNIE-RAITT-THE-NICK-OF-TIME-At-the-moment-I-am-lying-in-bed-listening-to-Bonnie-Raitts-Nick-of-Time-I-am-hearing-the-album-fresh-again-after-feeling-a-deep-connection-to-it-as-a-kid-I-cannot-ever-hear-it-with-unbiased-ears-though-When-I-was-8-our-good-family-friend-Danny-OKeefe-played-a-show-in-town-opening-for-his-friend-Bonnie-Raitt-at-the-Aladdin-Theatre-It-was-summer-and-a-hot-day-I-was-excited-at-the-prospect-of-staying-up-late-I-went-with-my-family-sat-through-the-performance-and-afterwards-we-went-backstage-There-was-just-a-small-group-of-us-all-standing-around-back-there-and-Bonnie-came-over-to-me-to-say-hello-She-was-really-nice-and-had-a-big-smile-a-scratchy-voice-and-beautiful-unreal-hair-When-she-came-over-to-me-she-was-holding-a-fragrant-white-flower-called-a-tuberose-and-she-said-Here-doll-this-is-for-you-As-she-handed-it-to-me-I-could-smell-the-thick-tropical-arhttps://www.shelleyshort.com/single-post/2017/06/04/11032014-BONNIE-RAITT-THE-NICK-OF-TIME-At-the-moment-I-am-lying-in-bed-listening-to-Bonnie-Raitts-Nick-of-Time-I-am-hearing-the-album-fresh-again-after-feeling-a-deep-connection-to-it-as-a-kid-I-cannot-ever-hear-it-with-unbiased-ears-though-When-I-was-8-our-good-family-friend-Danny-OKeefe-played-a-show-in-town-opening-for-his-friend-Bonnie-Raitt-at-the-Aladdin-Theatre-It-was-summer-and-a-hot-day-I-was-excited-at-the-prospect-of-staying-up-late-I-went-with-my-family-sat-through-the-performance-and-afterwards-we-went-backstage-There-was-just-a-small-group-of-us-all-standing-around-back-there-and-Bonnie-came-over-to-me-to-say-hello-She-was-really-nice-and-had-a-big-smile-a-scratchy-voice-and-beautiful-unreal-hair-When-she-came-over-to-me-she-was-holding-a-fragrant-white-flower-called-a-tuberose-and-she-said-Here-doll-this-is-for-you-As-she-handed-it-to-me-I-could-smell-the-thick-tropical-arTue, 06 Jun 2017 04:45:40 +0000]]>A long straight road to a Broken Hill 29.9.14 A googlemaps look of "Broken Hill, NSW" brings me to a flat barren map with little red markings labeled "Broken Hill Visitor Center", "Broken Hill North Public School", and "Broken Hill Conveyancing". I zoom out a few clicks and see some spots of green where the regeneration reserve is, and way out on HWY B79 there is a Broken Hill Airpot. If I keep zooming out and out and out, Broken hill becomes close to water, close to Mildura, close to Victoria, close to the ocean. Tazmania becomes just a little dollop of land dripping off of the edge of Australia, and a few clicks later, Broken Hill is only a few inches from where I am now. You wouldn't ever think it by being there though. Just earlier this year, I was driving down a long dark road stamped smooth and straight right through the Desert. After packing the rental car and the van full of suitable snacks and large amounts of gear, we drove for hours through those little Australian towns peppered with Op shops where you will always find something hand made or untouched by the present mess of the last two decades, and bakeries claiming to have the best vanilla slices in the land. Before too long the miles between towns grew in number. The dirt changed colour and the buildings ceased to exist. Unexpected wild goats with the most noble goat faces, like kings and queens, ran free through the land, their hoofs kicking up the bright red dirt as they went. They seemed to stop what they were doing as we drove by. Turning their heads hung with beards, looking with their earthen wild goat eyes under all knowing brows as if to say " What on earth are you doing out here?" They were not the only animals to be seen, further off the edges of the road where wild Kangaroos, hopping up dust trails with their long feet. I wonder if their strong tails leave tracks in the dirt, as they search for the odd clump of grass to have for dinner. The earth was so red, the sky was so blue. No other cars were in sight. As the night fell faster it stole the red colour from the ground and sucked the blue from the sky. Sparkles began to shine from the blackness that had replaced it. Suddenly headlights were the most precious things we had. There was nowhere else to go but straight. We were headed to The Palace Hotel, a time capsule of a Hotel from the early 1900's when mining was booming. The guts of the earth blasted out from underneath the deserts crust, bringing riches and unlikely populations out to the barrenest of land. Its a giantess of a building. Unlike here, Hotels in Australia especially out in the country are the centre of everything. You can stay there, you can drink there, you can eat there, you can live there. There is nowhere else to go really. The first time I pulled up to The Palace Hotel, It's presence filled me with a special kind of safe haven feeling, the feeling you get after being out in the sun all day and walking into a nice huge cool place prepared to take care of you. But that feeling is also mixed with a sense of uneasiness, a tilted reality sprinkled with led dust. It is stemming from the fact that you don't know who else is hiding away in those rooms upstairs, and what it is that brought them all the way to Broken Hill? Its giant hotel walls are covered in murals of desert style fantasy and renaissance paintings with big blue painted skies. The carpets are deep maroon and lush, the ceilings are high, there are staircases long and wide that can take you all the way to the top. There are empty stages that echo still of wild nights to be sure. But I am getting ahead of myself, we had not yet even arrived.https://www.shelleyshort.com/single-post/2017/06/04/9292014-A-long-straight-road-to-a-Broken-Hill-A-googlemaps-look-of-Broken-Hill-NSW-brings-me-to-a-flat-barren-map-with-little-red-markings-labeled-Broken-Hill-Visitor-Center-Broken-Hill-North-Public-School-and-Broken-Hill-Conveyancing-I-zoom-out-a-few-clicks-and-see-some-spots-of-green-where-the-regeneration-reserve-is-and-way-out-on-HWY-B79-there-is-a-Broken-Hill-Airpot-If-I-keep-zooming-out-and-out-and-out-Broken-hill-becomes-close-to-water-close-to-Mildura-close-to-Victoria-close-to-the-ocean-Tazmania-becomes-just-a-little-dollop-of-land-dripping-off-of-the-edge-of-Australia-and-a-few-clicks-later-Broken-Hill-is-only-a-few-inches-from-where-I-am-now-You-wouldnt-ever-think-it-by-being-there-though-Just-earlier-this-year-I-was-driving-down-a-long-dark-road-stamped-smooth-and-straight-right-through-the-Desert-After-packing-the-rental-car-and-the-van-full-of-suitable-snacks-and-large-amouhttps://www.shelleyshort.com/single-post/2017/06/04/9292014-A-long-straight-road-to-a-Broken-Hill-A-googlemaps-look-of-Broken-Hill-NSW-brings-me-to-a-flat-barren-map-with-little-red-markings-labeled-Broken-Hill-Visitor-Center-Broken-Hill-North-Public-School-and-Broken-Hill-Conveyancing-I-zoom-out-a-few-clicks-and-see-some-spots-of-green-where-the-regeneration-reserve-is-and-way-out-on-HWY-B79-there-is-a-Broken-Hill-Airpot-If-I-keep-zooming-out-and-out-and-out-Broken-hill-becomes-close-to-water-close-to-Mildura-close-to-Victoria-close-to-the-ocean-Tazmania-becomes-just-a-little-dollop-of-land-dripping-off-of-the-edge-of-Australia-and-a-few-clicks-later-Broken-Hill-is-only-a-few-inches-from-where-I-am-now-You-wouldnt-ever-think-it-by-being-there-though-Just-earlier-this-year-I-was-driving-down-a-long-dark-road-stamped-smooth-and-straight-right-through-the-Desert-After-packing-the-rental-car-and-the-van-full-of-suitable-snacks-and-large-amouMon, 05 Jun 2017 00:54:09 +0000]]>