Aveline's Memorial

On Saturday a group of about 30 of Aveline's family and friends gathered for a memorial service in the grotto at "Everglades", a park which was a special favourite of Aveline's (in fact, where she almost got married in a previous 'incarnation'!). Aveline was a very multi-facetted woman, one who had lived a number of distinct phases in her life. Her 'incarnations' as she called them. Many of her Sydney friends have known her through a number of these 'incarnations', and when she was in Sydney it was almost as if she could celebrate some of the softer sides of her personality. Her memorial reflected some of these memories.

After the speeches and music, we settled in for an informal picnic afternoon with lots of laughs and shared stories. It was a lovely afternoon, and despite the sadness (and just a few tears) it was a happy event with lots of laughs, good food and drink. Which is how we like to think Aveline would have liked it to be. A big thanks from me for all the effort that went into organising such a great afternoon.


Our guradian devil (left) and her favourite frangipani flowers (right)


Louise put together a beautiful selection of memories of Aveline


Some yummy chocolate cake (left) and some of Aveline's favourite sweeties (right)


Silly string and glitter spray were the order of the day (left) and rose petals and doves in the grotto (right)


Meg played some beautiful pieces of music (left) and Mikey mc'ed and spoke eloquently about his memories of Aveline (right)


Deb, a long term friend and mentor of Aveline's, spoke about her memories (left) and Grant came up from Melbourne to share some special memories with us and be a part of the celebration of her life (right)


Some of the assembled friends and family (left) and Mousicles & Mr Tops's little cutie Jasper (right)


The flag said "Pace" - Peace (left) and the brief said "wear something pink" so I did (right)


I normally wear my fairy wings on the inside


Chocolate goop with the strawberry(ish) 'cream' in a can (it was kinda disgusting) that Aveline found in the supermarket once (left) and our beautiful special friend, who we'll miss so (right)

See all the photos as a set, and all my other entries tagged Aveline.

Snippets

• Yesterday was Aveline's memorial service, and a really beautiful day. We trekked to Leura in the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney, and had a picnic at a favourite spot of Aveline's. There was food, drink, lovely heartfelt speeches, tears, laughs, kids underfoot, and lots of fond rememberances. I took heaps of photos, and I'll post some in the next day or so with an entry about the day. [For the backstory, read my other entries tagged Aveline.]
• This sweetie left a comment on a previous post to let me know that there is a gay bloggers meet next Sunday, at 6.30pm after Mardi Gras Fair Day, at the Tilbury Hotel. Morgan, Stil, 'Pong, James, Billy, M-H, Craig & Andrew, wanna come with? I'm thinking posse.
• Did any of my fellow Sydney-ites watch the first episode of Around The World In 80 Treasures last night? Blew my tiny mind. I loved that they showed some places (like the abandoned city of Chan Chan for example) that were less well known. The series was made in 2005, so has probably already been shown overseas. Anyone else seen it? I'll be tuning in next week - it feeds the part of me that as a child wanted desperately to be an archeologist, and feeds that part of me that currently has wanderlust. *sigh*
  
  

Dinner For Aveline

Last night a large group of our friends gathered to celebrate the life of Aveline, our friend who passed away unexpectedly last weekend at age 39. Louise, one of Aveline's closest and oldest friends, chose Aveline's favourite Newtown restaurant "Tamana's North Indian Diner" as an appropriate spot.







Afterwards we crossed the road and finished the evening at The Marlborough Hotel with more laughs and stories about Aveline. We're planning on having a larger gathering for Aveline's Sydney friends on the 10th of February, details yet to be finalised.

My photos of the evening (with captions) are here.

Weird Space

I'm in a bit of a weird space today. Not motivated to do any work, thinking a lot about impermanence, about change, about loss. Feeling like I want to run away and not waste precious time. Walk out the door and just go.

Tonight a bunch of us are meeting up at the restaurant that was a favourite of our friend Aveline, Aveline who just left us so young from an aneurism at 39. Tonight we'll celebrate her with her favourite Indian food and some drinks. Aveline's death has hit me harder than I would have expected, we saw each other so rarely, but she always lit up a room with her extraordinary prescence and it hurts to think that that light has gone out.

RIP, Mistress

Bye bye Aveline. Gone far too soon. Sitting and talking with you was always like throwing open the doors of a fabulous Cabinet Of Curiosities, my only regret is that we never got to do it often enough. Hopefully we'll meet again on your next go 'round.

Speedy has posted a moving tribute over at For Battle!

[Updated: Bunnikins has created an official link list of tributes to Aveline.]