I read, and loved, Year of Wonders - and have lent it to others, who also enjoyed it. March, her different-angle take on the Alcotts (the one for which she won the Pulitzer), is somewhere in the house, I think it needs to be given a slab of time to get me going and get me in. But I've started this one, her latest, and Geraldine Brooks' prose is so engaging. I want to give this one a slab of time, too.
(I've been doing more dreaming of reading, and writing about reading, than reading itself, this week - and more quilting than anything else, some for magazines and today, something that's just for me. It's so good to play without having to stay aware of explaining a technique or skill, but just play and design as you go, be in that good creative process.)
Tomorrow there's an adventure planned, should be fun...
Friday, April 18, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Today was a good day because....
- I made a small quilt from scraps and my own design, which mutated as I sewed and pondered, and the final result worked rather nicely
- I had a lovely lunch seasoned with quilting conversation
- I got to talk quilting more with other aficionados, and saw some lovely magazines, and planned an op shop tour in new territories...
- Ikea still had the curtains I couldn't get out of my mind.... I hope they don't disappear with the next catalogue
- Angus and Robertson had a couple of promising books at 75% off - a Watership Downish but they're magpies story, and Chic Modern (inspiring photos of modern home design ideas)
- While helping with some advice about a quilt guild newsletter, I got to have yet more quilting conversation and see a spectacularly graphic antique quilt
- The art supply shop had some pencils which might work for another quilt idea I have, and I found three different possibilities for stabilising/lightly padding the fabric
- eBay provided me with a couple of winter wardrobe ideas and a sweet (and not bank-breakingly expensive) vintage quilt which might become a Recycled Threads idea
- While driving about on all these adventures, I listened to my still-favourite audiobook, The Time Traveler's Wife (yes, I know, I've listened to it more than once, but the other ones aren't here yet...). William Hope and Laurel Lefkow, I kowtow and bow in obeisance and admiration for your work on this - just marvellous.
It's too dark for decent non-flash photography, so maybe I'll illustrate this tomorrow. Hope you all had a good day too!
Reading: Eat, Pray, Love
I've read mixed reviews on this one - those who love it (and it's certainly been selling well), those who definitely don't. I'm prepared to give it a go, and see how I find it.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Reading: The Night Watch
Holiday reading that's another vampire novel (I'm still waiting for The Society of S to arrive from Amazon, that's the one you recommended, Candy). I've heard good things about this, and the subsequent two (Day Watch, Twilight Watch) although I gather the films of the first two are gorefests and so not really my sorta thing.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Reading: Nineteen Minutes
More from my holiday reading pile.
I've read other Jodi Picoult books, although I don't devour them as must-reads. This one is simultaneously interesting and repellent, given its topic of a school shooting. But she plays with such things in ways that explore them through a multitude of threads, and I'm prepared to take the journey with her.
I've read other Jodi Picoult books, although I don't devour them as must-reads. This one is simultaneously interesting and repellent, given its topic of a school shooting. But she plays with such things in ways that explore them through a multitude of threads, and I'm prepared to take the journey with her.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Reading: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
Ah, the pleasure of a holiday, and some time to read. So this week I'll blog some of the books on my pile of possibilities.
This one's by the author who wrote Wicked, which became a successful Broadway musical (not yet seen here in Oz). He starts with known tales and fairy tales (Cinderella, in the case of this one, and the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz, in the case of Wicked) and reworks them in an individual style.
This paperback cost $32 Australian. I had a gift voucher for some of that, so I did buy it, but is it any wonder that I've ordered Wicked from Amazon, when even with the exchange rate and postage, it's costing under $20? For the same edition, large format paperback?
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Comment
Da planes is flying very slow from The US of A, at least from the Amazon warehouse. I note from a recent order that they will be taking up to a FORTNIGHT to pack the order, and then estimate shipping to take around 4 weeks; or more. (Note: everything was listed as being In Stock, so the packing delay isn't due to stock being unavailable). Does somebody need a better map to your warehouse?
Um, they put a parcel on a plane, and it arrives here in Oz, and the Oz postal system generally takes less than five working days to get a parcel from anywhere in this whole big big country to anywhere else in the country (which is still one big sucker of an island continent). If Australia Post can do it, in a country less populated and bigger than yours...
Sea mail from the US is no more, so why is supposed air transit (and I've flown this journey, it's a shorter one than to the UK, about 17 hours from the West Coast vs. 24 hours+ to London) taking so long? Is the US Mail, or whatever courier/logistics/mail system they're using, populated by Amazonian mules, and it only finds a plane when the mules totter into the international airport?
I ordered something from Barnes and Noble, and while their shipping is a few dollars more (per shipment and per item), they had it packed and shipped within about 48 hours tops, and estimate delivery at 7-21 working days.
This is an apples with apples comparison, by the way: standard international shipping. I know I could pay more for faster, but is this an Amazonian ploy to make us pay more?
Dear Amazon: I love that I can buy from you things that are harder to find here, (and that the exchange rate is rather nice at present) but why is your shipping so slooooow? Can you bung that biplane back in the Smithsonian, and have a chat to Boeing about their latest models? Please? And put the mules in a nice paddock, and find some biofuelled trucks? And repay the appreciation of your international customers with better service as regards shipping?
(it's been interesting to order things through Amazon marketplace sellers, and have them generally arrive pretty quickly, also by airmail. Ask them about the planes they're using. And I've had things from other US online retailers arrive by Global Priority within a week, so clearly there ARE faster planes out there than the ones you're using....)
Um, they put a parcel on a plane, and it arrives here in Oz, and the Oz postal system generally takes less than five working days to get a parcel from anywhere in this whole big big country to anywhere else in the country (which is still one big sucker of an island continent). If Australia Post can do it, in a country less populated and bigger than yours...
Sea mail from the US is no more, so why is supposed air transit (and I've flown this journey, it's a shorter one than to the UK, about 17 hours from the West Coast vs. 24 hours+ to London) taking so long? Is the US Mail, or whatever courier/logistics/mail system they're using, populated by Amazonian mules, and it only finds a plane when the mules totter into the international airport?
I ordered something from Barnes and Noble, and while their shipping is a few dollars more (per shipment and per item), they had it packed and shipped within about 48 hours tops, and estimate delivery at 7-21 working days.
This is an apples with apples comparison, by the way: standard international shipping. I know I could pay more for faster, but is this an Amazonian ploy to make us pay more?
Dear Amazon: I love that I can buy from you things that are harder to find here, (and that the exchange rate is rather nice at present) but why is your shipping so slooooow? Can you bung that biplane back in the Smithsonian, and have a chat to Boeing about their latest models? Please? And put the mules in a nice paddock, and find some biofuelled trucks? And repay the appreciation of your international customers with better service as regards shipping?
(it's been interesting to order things through Amazon marketplace sellers, and have them generally arrive pretty quickly, also by airmail. Ask them about the planes they're using. And I've had things from other US online retailers arrive by Global Priority within a week, so clearly there ARE faster planes out there than the ones you're using....)
No comment
From an eBay description:
The dolls house was made by the inmates at Berrima goal, (a working goal in the Southern Highlands of NSW, where inmates built and sold toys and wooden objects to the public) and is solid in construction, will take any punnishment kids could throw at it.
The dolls house was made by the inmates at Berrima goal, (a working goal in the Southern Highlands of NSW, where inmates built and sold toys and wooden objects to the public) and is solid in construction, will take any punnishment kids could throw at it.
Birthday
He's a breath away from blowing out the candles, although since the table (outside) which was, for a brief moment, laden with food, and subsequently looked as though a plague of locusts had descended; and the jumping castle in the backyard looked, from inside, as though a riot was taking place (and sounded like it too!) - it's a wonder he had any breath left. But of course he did.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Pink cupcakes
I didn't eat these (they were entered in a cupcake class of the Royal Easter Show baking section) but they seemed right for today's photo, since today's colour was undoubtedly pink....a friend is having a little one later this year, and knows it's a girl, so today I was shown a wardrobe of lovely pinkness. Pretty things and practical things, you forget how small 0000 and 000 are, and they grow out of these rather soon. But it's fun to share such happy dreams and preparations.
(Yup, I forgot to photograph the baby clothes...!)
(Yup, I forgot to photograph the baby clothes...!)
Friday, April 11, 2008
Green
A grass farm, early on a grey morning, with the sprinklers going full bore. I've photographed this house before - it seems to be being allowed to decay, and yet it has the TV aerial which implies a habitation. Such classic vintage lines it has - the roof, the verandah.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Date palm and stormy sky
It was a rainy start this week, and daylight saving ended last weekend, so the early evening was darker and gloomier than it has been - but this last couple of days have been autumnally golden. Lovely.
I chuckled hugely at the number of comments about the bookshelves. Such wise, reading readers you all are!
And meghs, I will get back to 100 word stories again....
I chuckled hugely at the number of comments about the bookshelves. Such wise, reading readers you all are!
And meghs, I will get back to 100 word stories again....
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Bookcase by the Stupids
Isn't this a purty, purty place? Lovely colours, that sweet turquoise, delicate embroidery on the sofa fabric, and books....
um, about the books?
WARNING: RANT FOLLOWS!
Didya notice, fellow readers, that the books are SPINE IN??? This image is from the March 2008 Country Home magazine, a magazine I've been buying for years, a magazine I normally respect and enjoy. But holy-moly! It's the second magazine in the last few months (yup, I'll name names, the other one was Elle Decor and I meant to blog that picture too, an apartment in Houston if I remember) to proudly show a collection of books displayed this way.
I hardly know where to start.
Um, why do they have books at all?
Why are their books merely decorative?
How the fangdoodle do they find a book to read, or are these books not about reading, but about having books to show they're nice reading folks, only if you're nice reading folks wouldn't you want to prioritise FINDING the nice books you want to read, not storing them so YOU CAN'T FIND ANYTHING EASILY unless you spent your entire childhood playing memory games like Pelmonism (I think that's what it's called, I spent my childhood, or substantial parts of it, READING).
Lovely room.
Bookcase by the Stupids.
I'll reproduce the description below, because multiple folks have been responsible for not pointing out that this particular Emperor is not only nekkid, but daft as well.
Oh Country Home, you make me weep. And you said it yourself: the backward facing books (backward. Do I need to labour that point? Nope. The readers who read this blog aren't daft) turn what could have been a distracting jumble (both words hugely offensive. Distracting from what? Why is distracting bad? Jumble? Cornucopia, that's what a bookshelf is, a collection of treasures. If you buy a 'jumble' of books, then that's your taste. What, you should just buy books with blue spines or beige ones, so they're decor-books-by-the-yard, irrespective of the WORDS AND STUFF INSIDE THEM?) into a neutral element (neutral. Um, neutered, maybe? simple demonstration of owner cringe? into a laughingstock, maybe....).
From memory, in the Houston apartment in Elle Decor (designed by a son for his mother, but who made the book-organising choice I don't recollect), the decision to put the books spine-in was partly influenced by the fact that they were all dirt-common bestsellery stuff - implication, in this posh noice apartment, they were ashamed of their reading tastes so preferred the calm cream of the page-ends to, omigosh, revealing the titles/authors and their common tastes in reading. Well heck, then put your bookcases in a private room in your apartment, not the living room. Surely any booklover who comes into your parlour will pull out a book or two and instantly know that you're a reader with your own tastes. If they don't share yours, tough luck. They can read what they like.
(I'm steaming, can you tell?????)
Now if only every library in the world adopted this fabulous idea for neatness and design style, wouldn't that be grand? Bit tricky to bung on the spine labels, of course, and it might drive the patrons NUTS...
...and I wonder why there are NO BOOKSHOPS with this display idea?
Incomprehensible.
I are boggled like whoa and damn.
(Just in case you wondered, the fourteen bookshelves scattered through this house all subscribe to the wonderfully old fashioned and incredibly messy idea of having the spines on display, the spines being part of the browsing wonder of the books. Retro, but, um, NOT STUPID?!)
Country Home, I have loved so many of the rooms and ideas and houses you've included over the many years I've been reading. But omigosh.... couldn't someone, at some stage in the editorial process that resulted in this page, have spoken up about this?
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Pretty
So there's an expression, The cherry on the icing on the cake. I think this example from a cake at the Royal Easter Show is a super-posh version...pretty!
Monday, April 07, 2008
Merry-go-round horses
The working week started with a gallop, with all the minutiae of the day to day, a multitude of small tasks compiling into the pattern of a working life. When there is room to be creative, imaginative, helpful to others, it is satisfying, and the day goes quickly.
Tonight, I need to work on handquilting a project. Me. Handquilting. I must be nuts. Certifiable. Well, not certifiable, but certainly not a regular handquilter. It's not a huge project, so it's doable. And this is what it wanted...Do the Quilting Rules say you can't use embroidery thread? you must have even stitches? Piffle! Be off with you, Quilt Police!
Tonight, I need to work on handquilting a project. Me. Handquilting. I must be nuts. Certifiable. Well, not certifiable, but certainly not a regular handquilter. It's not a huge project, so it's doable. And this is what it wanted...Do the Quilting Rules say you can't use embroidery thread? you must have even stitches? Piffle! Be off with you, Quilt Police!
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Kiva update
Have you made any loans through Kiva? I have two in progress at present, and the scheduled repayments are coming through. When the loan periods are complete, I'll have my money back, and will lend it again.
Here are my two loans, if you'd like to look and see how it all works. If you scroll down past the lenders you'll see the info on the microfinance organisation, and scheduled repayments etc.
Here are my two loans, if you'd like to look and see how it all works. If you scroll down past the lenders you'll see the info on the microfinance organisation, and scheduled repayments etc.
- Moriya Nabieva in Tajikistan (fabric sales)
- Shamshad Iqbal's group in Pakistan (embroidery)
Just reading the stories of people as you choose your next loan is an education in how the third world works, and how people's lives are lived there. Fascinating. Learn more about Kiva here. Minimum loan amount is $US25, which is not a lot, and you know that your loan (not donation, so the money can go around and around and be useful many times over) is helping specific people.
There are Kiva gift certificates, if you want a present for someone who has everything...
Spiderweb
I won't even tell you how many times I tried to catch this spiderweb...what with the angle of the sun, and the fall of shadows, and my camera skill limitations (she wobbles...). I think this was with the macro setting, and I stopped breathing while taking it. The leaf in the centre is rolled up into a shelter for the spider, who's kinda sitting on the verandah and hoping these pesky humans will foof off and let something edible provide a payoff for a Considerable amount of work....
If you click on the photo you can see a larger version at Flickr.
If you click on the photo you can see a larger version at Flickr.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
River morning mist
As we set off along the river path this morning, the mist was still rising after a chilly night, hadn't yet been burnt off by the sun. It's turning autumnal, cooler nights, cooler days, the return of mist and fog in the early mornings. It hasn't been a hot summer, but autumn and spring remain my favourite times of year.
I've just done a monster catchup, so if you're a regular reader, skim back through the last couple of weeks to find entries which have magically appeared for days on which they probably didn't happen, but maybe they did. Anyhoo. Back to a photo a day...
Email Australia project
The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney has lots of paper/stone/other correspondence from over the centuries, and is now embarking on an archive of email. If you're in Australia and would like to submit emails, here's the site with more info:
http://emailaustralia.ninemsn.com.au/
The Categories:
1.Life and Laughter— funny forwards and tales of hilarity from everyday life
2.Touching tales— personal e-mails that touch the soul
3.Family— the first steps to the last, and all things in between
4.Love and romance— e-mails to make you go 'oooh'
5.E-mails you regret sending— e-mails that make you go 'arrrgghh'
6.Embarrassing typos— it's amazing how easily meaning goes ashtray with a small typo
7.Current affairs— news and its effect on us, whether it's local or from overseas
8.Complaints— for those moments when only 'putting it in writing' will do
http://emailaustralia.ninemsn.com.au/
The Categories:
1.Life and Laughter— funny forwards and tales of hilarity from everyday life
2.Touching tales— personal e-mails that touch the soul
3.Family— the first steps to the last, and all things in between
4.Love and romance— e-mails to make you go 'oooh'
5.E-mails you regret sending— e-mails that make you go 'arrrgghh'
6.Embarrassing typos— it's amazing how easily meaning goes ashtray with a small typo
7.Current affairs— news and its effect on us, whether it's local or from overseas
8.Complaints— for those moments when only 'putting it in writing' will do
Friday, April 04, 2008
Vegetable preserves
I've never tried this sort of preserving, though I have tried jam/marmalade, way back when. But look at the patience and craft here, like the even, even stacks of celery, the diagonal spiral and careful shapes in the jar next to it. Wonderful. Inspiring. Glad it's still being done, glad to have a chance to see these (at the Royal Easter Show, district displays. Can you tell they're among my favourite Show exhibits?)
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Jewelled preserves
There was something jewel-like about the preserves included in the district displays at the Royal Easter Show. Wonderful colours and textures - look at the fine strips in that marmalade!
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Fruit cake
I think these days are bearing fruit. It's just sometimes, when you run from day's end to day's end at work, and see only the stuff left undone rather than the things you did instead (which made people happy, or helped, or with problems solved) that you wonder.
Photo from the Royal Easter Show. Isn't this like jewels?
Photo from the Royal Easter Show. Isn't this like jewels?
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Cupcake display
Froma cupcake seller at the Royal Easter Show. Sadly, the ones on the big tiered stand were 'for display only' (so they would last the two weeks of the show), but the ones in the right hand corner were edible, and for sale.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Silhouette
This was part of the Easter Show, the Central District display. There were other silhouettes, too. My favourite of all the district displays - original, simple, showcasing the produce with elegant simplicity.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Coming soon...
Busy end of the week, with a two-day conference, and the Easter Show on Sunday. Photos soon... (but not of the conference, you'll be glad to know).
Vintage silver - wing detail
OK, I admit it, I'm doing a weekend catchup, so there's a bunch of photos from the same visit to the Powerhouse. But aren't you glad to see this? Look at the workmanship on the wing, the head. Lovely.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Florence Broadhurst
Part of the Florence Broadhurst display in the Design exhibit at the Powerhouse Museum. While some of her designs were wildly mod/modern, others have common ground with the toile and nature-inspired organic shapes of fabric such as that on the antique shoes from yesterday. Separated as they are by two centuries...
I've blogged about Florence Broadhurst before, and provided a bunch of links then, so if you're interested search my blog and you'll find that info.
As you can probably tell by now (and I haven't blogged or Flickr-loaded anywhere near all the photos I took) the Design exhibit at the Powerhouse Museum is definitely worth looking, and will occupy a significant and happy amount of time and attention. But if you can't see it in person, here's another way.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Antique shoes
Dating from the 1740s. Aren't they beautiful? Also from the Powerhouse Museum, in the same display as yesterday's fan.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Antique fan
Eighteenth century, I think. From the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. Wouldn't it be lovely, on a hot day, to be using a jewel like this? (I tend more to the nearest bit of A4 paper, which lags considerably in the style stakes....). There are so many ways to ornament your life, though, now as then. Choices, from little stuff like your coffee cup (or coffee) to larger stuff like how to spend a weekend, or with whom, or how to arrange/rearrange your house.
If you have a thing for fans, the Powerhouse Museum website has lots of its collection in images available online. (But I'm too tired to hunt out the link - I figure, if you're interested, you're just as good at googling as me, if not better...)
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Vale Anthony Minghella
Consider:
- the touching, funny, grounded happiness and sadness of Truly Madly Deeply: the scene where her piano is joined by his cello, and he returns; and then when he asks her to translate the poem. The rats. All the sentiment that's skipped in favour of more authentic emotions.
- The clear and difficult and intricate and simple and not simple, and so beautifully acted work in The English Patient - the script, the direction, all that it gives your eyes and your heart.
- The shining, poisonous human interplay of The Talented Mr Ripley, Seymour Hoffman and Law and Paltrow and Blanchett and Damon.
- The restrained and desperate yearning of Cold Mountain, another picture of landscape and actors working to leave room for the audience to think - another one for eyes and heart.
Vale
Anthony Minghella
January 1954-March 2008.
Thank you.
Hay
I'm sure there's an absolute farming logic to how hay bales are scattered in the field; but to my untrained eye, it's pleasingly random. My untrained eye liked the colours and shapes here, too; the spiral of the bale, the lush green and quiet straw, with darker green behind and a milky blue sky. It's all colour inspiration!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Minimalist stripes
Another Recycled Threads project done and dusted. Very simple, this one, minimalist. Found just the right starting piece, and off I went from there. What is it? Aha! Published in Australian Country Threads magazine in a few months....
Monday, March 24, 2008
Bridge and stonework
Did the virtuous 7km walk by the river this morning - went a bit farther than we sometimes do, to see the view from the other side of this bridge. Between this one and the Harbour Bridge (although I don't know if they were being built at the same time) you could have made money on rivet manufacture...
We admired the brickwork, too the rising concentric circles. Maybe it's structural, but it's pleasing to the eye, too.
It's a popular path - you pass people of all ages, old, young, fit, less fit, friends and families, people on bicycles and on foot. One family was sitting on rocks at the river's edge, Mum holding the baby (maybe a year old?) on her lap, the little girl next to her clutching the remote control while Dad fished out the model boat for another try - they said it had been his when he was a boy. Looked like they were having a lovely morning in the sunshine, making memories of family time. As we walked on, the boat zoomed out towards the centre of the river, and there was a happy grin on the face of each family member.
We admired the brickwork, too the rising concentric circles. Maybe it's structural, but it's pleasing to the eye, too.
It's a popular path - you pass people of all ages, old, young, fit, less fit, friends and families, people on bicycles and on foot. One family was sitting on rocks at the river's edge, Mum holding the baby (maybe a year old?) on her lap, the little girl next to her clutching the remote control while Dad fished out the model boat for another try - they said it had been his when he was a boy. Looked like they were having a lovely morning in the sunshine, making memories of family time. As we walked on, the boat zoomed out towards the centre of the river, and there was a happy grin on the face of each family member.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Easter eggs
I do rather like the pastel 'bird's egg' sort. Very pretty, in a glass bowl on a little quilt. For as long as they last...
It's good, at Easter, to have time to listen to family stories. What is interesting the little kids (medieval times and dressing up; and another one and I played on the computer with a paint program, vandalising/undoing on a picture of her, seeing what all the buttons did No, I don't want to be blue!), how the older kids are going (one is reading vampire fiction - suggestions welcome beyond Anne Rice, the Day Watch series, Robin McKinley's Sunshine, and please, no vampire romance), asking the grandparents for stories of their childhood (we asked them about their 21st birthdays: she had had a dinner party for twenty at a hotel, including a dance and some nice boys from the university, the thought of whom still brought a grin to her face; he had been in the air force, during WW2, so there might just have been a beer or two to celebrate, but nothing else).
They're like Easter eggs, in a way - things to discover, unwrap, savour. Where the family's been, where it is, where it might go.
It's good, at Easter, to have time to listen to family stories. What is interesting the little kids (medieval times and dressing up; and another one and I played on the computer with a paint program, vandalising/undoing on a picture of her, seeing what all the buttons did No, I don't want to be blue!), how the older kids are going (one is reading vampire fiction - suggestions welcome beyond Anne Rice, the Day Watch series, Robin McKinley's Sunshine, and please, no vampire romance), asking the grandparents for stories of their childhood (we asked them about their 21st birthdays: she had had a dinner party for twenty at a hotel, including a dance and some nice boys from the university, the thought of whom still brought a grin to her face; he had been in the air force, during WW2, so there might just have been a beer or two to celebrate, but nothing else).
They're like Easter eggs, in a way - things to discover, unwrap, savour. Where the family's been, where it is, where it might go.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Shoe lust
Wanna wanna wanna! They do use molas (South American reverse applique technique), and are made in South America, and are washable and durable, the seller said. Shoes or boots? Must go back when I decide...
Friday, March 21, 2008
Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire
How to make a nevvy very happy for Easter. Without mention of any chocolate.
- Know that he's hanging out to read the second Skulduggery Pleasant book
- Buy said book within hours of it being unpacked by lovely bookshop that phoned you to say it was in (and early)
- Phone nevvy so he can anticipate parcel
- Use an Express Post envelope to ensure next day and before-Easter delivery
- Remember how he's one of those kids who vanishes into a book, and remains utterly absorbed (and deaf to riot or revolution), and enjoy knowing that.
Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire, by Derek Landy. I'm looking forward to reading it too.
PS Flickr is driving me nuts as any 'blog this photo' I've done for the last couple of days has resulted in no photo, no text, only a title with no entry. So I've had to do these last few entries the long way. I've been 'blog this photo'-ing for yonks, and am not doing anything differently from what normally works...if you have any answers, please let me know!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Reproduction blues
I've been playing with reproduction blue fabrics (particularly like that vintage conversational with baby Saturns on it). Project to come in Australian Patchwork and Quilting, the issue out in about July 2008 in Oz.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
You + Me = Us (Harmony Day)
Scrapbooking papers, fonts from http://www.scrapvillage.com/ (library/fonts) and it's Harmony Day badge making time again at work - they look good, don't they? Although the concept of Harmony Day is apparently under review by the new Federal Government, so whether it's around next year is anyone's guess.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Remembering
One of the things about being a teacher is how many faces and names pass through your life, year after year, hundreds of them. You remember some, and others less so, and others not at all, because you had so little to do with them - although then sometimes a smile from a supermarket checkout kid, or an unexpected 'hello' in the shopping centre remind you that they remember you, they know you.
But some you do remember - not every day, but when circumstances call them to mind. Maybe ones with whom you spent more time, over time, because they were in your class, or one of your mentor students, or in the year group to whom you were a year adviser, or because they picked you as a teacher to whom they could tell their stories, from whom they could find a greeting, mooch a jellybean, whatever.
I knew last week that one of our ex-students had died in a road accident, but among all the hundreds who learn at this school, year after year, I can't always fix a face to a name - on the other such sad occasions (thankfully rare), it hasn't necessarily been a student I knew. This time, somehow, I just didn't hear the name.
Until today. And this was one I knew, a sweet-natured girl, quietly independent in her ways, only out of school a couple of years. I can see her now sitting in my office with that wonderful grin on her face, talking with me of cabbages and kings, burgling a jelly bean or three (I wish I could remember her favourite colour - was she one of those who do like black ones? or did she prefer the red ones? It's not at all important, but I'd like to be able to conjure that information. But I can't). I know she brought me photos of her all dressed up for the Year 12 farewell, but I can't remember her dress. Was it red? I know she came by to shoot the breeze a couple of times, the year after she left school, and it was good to see her.
We went back to the year group photo, the year she finished high school, and there she is, near the back because she was one of the taller girls, and it's hard to believe her life is finished, now, when it should just be blossoming out. She was one who would have explored the world, with her own quiet determination, given back with quiet grace, mothered children with kindness and thought. If that had been possible.
So these roses are for her, offered with my memories, incomplete as they are, scraps become sharper. Among the many names and faces, some you do remember, and a few, sadly, mourn.
But some you do remember - not every day, but when circumstances call them to mind. Maybe ones with whom you spent more time, over time, because they were in your class, or one of your mentor students, or in the year group to whom you were a year adviser, or because they picked you as a teacher to whom they could tell their stories, from whom they could find a greeting, mooch a jellybean, whatever.
I knew last week that one of our ex-students had died in a road accident, but among all the hundreds who learn at this school, year after year, I can't always fix a face to a name - on the other such sad occasions (thankfully rare), it hasn't necessarily been a student I knew. This time, somehow, I just didn't hear the name.
Until today. And this was one I knew, a sweet-natured girl, quietly independent in her ways, only out of school a couple of years. I can see her now sitting in my office with that wonderful grin on her face, talking with me of cabbages and kings, burgling a jelly bean or three (I wish I could remember her favourite colour - was she one of those who do like black ones? or did she prefer the red ones? It's not at all important, but I'd like to be able to conjure that information. But I can't). I know she brought me photos of her all dressed up for the Year 12 farewell, but I can't remember her dress. Was it red? I know she came by to shoot the breeze a couple of times, the year after she left school, and it was good to see her.
We went back to the year group photo, the year she finished high school, and there she is, near the back because she was one of the taller girls, and it's hard to believe her life is finished, now, when it should just be blossoming out. She was one who would have explored the world, with her own quiet determination, given back with quiet grace, mothered children with kindness and thought. If that had been possible.
So these roses are for her, offered with my memories, incomplete as they are, scraps become sharper. Among the many names and faces, some you do remember, and a few, sadly, mourn.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Strasburg Clock
One of the Powerhouse Museum's longest-term attractions is a version of the Strasburg Clock built in Sydney. It does its thing on the hour throughout the day, and always gathers a crowd. This photo was taken during the procession of the Apostles, at the point when Peter was there - because the cock is crowing three times, and the devil's window is open.
More about it here.
Such things fascinate me for the mind behind them, that said, hey, I'll build one of THOSE - and does. Amazing intricacy - the clock has so many features. It must have been an engrossing challenge. It is all too easy to be deterred, to think yourself out of something being possible rather than just going ahead and seeing if maybe it is... and sometimes things don't work. But sometimes they do.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Lunch
Last Sunday's lunch.
I didn't go to Harry's Cafe De Wheels (a Sydney institution) but the source of its famous pies is right near the Powerhouse Museum. This is known as a 'tiger'. Something to do with the 'stripes' of pie, mashed potato, mushy peas and gravy, I suspect. You have to be quite cautious in consuming it because the plastic fork is a tad flimsy, and the gravy capable of flooding off the plate...but not, as is usually the case with pies, because the content is suspect. Nice chunks of meat. Not a daily health food, no, but fun for a change.
Here's someone else's blog entry with lots of info about Hannah's Pies, from whence this came.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
An observation
Karaoke on a Saturday night should be considered an indoor sport. You can't assume that a sound most resembling assorted felines being eviscerated/obliterated in assorted ways that have little in common with the artist's original musical vision will be something that brings joy to your neighbours.
I'm just sayin'.
I'm just sayin'.
Art Deco wallpaper sample book
Another Powerhouse Museum item from the design exhibition (have I persuaded you to go see this yet?).
The saturated colours and the design of this reminded me of Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Would I buy meterage/yardage of a fabric like this? Oh yes!
(But now I'm off to play with reproduction blues, a much more subdued and restrained palette).
The saturated colours and the design of this reminded me of Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Would I buy meterage/yardage of a fabric like this? Oh yes!
(But now I'm off to play with reproduction blues, a much more subdued and restrained palette).
Friday, March 14, 2008
100 Word Stories: Song challenge (and name the song)
I am more than sick of this nappy bucket. I grimace with green virtue; wrist-deep in tainted water, nose wrinkling, it’s not so easy. My eyes are grimy-tired. It’s a toss-up whether 3am or 5am would be my least favourite time to be up. Maybe 4am, after both the others.
Felix appears at the door. "Yuk," he says, standing there in his suit and slightly loosened tie. "Dinner?"
You preside on the kitchen bench, gumming a rattle, sometimes laughing at the silly noises your dad makes to you as he chops and stirs.
You raise me up, both of you.
More info on You Raise Me Up. Josh Groban's version would be my favourite.
Felix appears at the door. "Yuk," he says, standing there in his suit and slightly loosened tie. "Dinner?"
You preside on the kitchen bench, gumming a rattle, sometimes laughing at the silly noises your dad makes to you as he chops and stirs.
You raise me up, both of you.
More info on You Raise Me Up. Josh Groban's version would be my favourite.
Tiwi work
Screenprinted on cotton, this was made by Tiwi people from Bathurst Island, based on a bark painting. It's another piece from the design section of the Powerhouse Museum.
Its regularities and irregularities remind me of Gee's Bend quiltmaking. Between these two cultural ways of seeing, I'd like to find for myself a way of graphically representing ideas, as they do. It's a journey; recognising that is one of the steps, and not rushing it, but letting your mind stay open and thoughtful.
I didn't stop for photos on the way home this afternoon. I could have caught, for you, the reflection of eucalyptus trees in a pond. Or cattle, their shapes outlined in the calm golden light of late afternoon, with the mountains turning blue behind them. Maybe next week. Sometimes, I do stop. Sometimes, I just want to get home. Busy weekend, lots of quilt deadlines crowding in.
Its regularities and irregularities remind me of Gee's Bend quiltmaking. Between these two cultural ways of seeing, I'd like to find for myself a way of graphically representing ideas, as they do. It's a journey; recognising that is one of the steps, and not rushing it, but letting your mind stay open and thoughtful.
I didn't stop for photos on the way home this afternoon. I could have caught, for you, the reflection of eucalyptus trees in a pond. Or cattle, their shapes outlined in the calm golden light of late afternoon, with the mountains turning blue behind them. Maybe next week. Sometimes, I do stop. Sometimes, I just want to get home. Busy weekend, lots of quilt deadlines crowding in.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
100 Word Stories: Hello, I don't believe we've met...
We won’t, now. Never will, and yet we have.
The soaring notes of Handel’s Messiah, the sharp and engaging observations of Dickens, my mother’s stories about Laurence Olivier in his prime, the impact of his Henry V film in World War II. Gerard Manley Hopkins, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, TS Eliot, two Bronte sisters, Blake…in this winter crowd of tourists, I engage in a literary stations of the cross, here in Poets’ Corner.
Above, the stone arches rise and meet each other. We can be astonished by words, by buildings, but in the end individual imaginations let us soar. Thank you.
The soaring notes of Handel’s Messiah, the sharp and engaging observations of Dickens, my mother’s stories about Laurence Olivier in his prime, the impact of his Henry V film in World War II. Gerard Manley Hopkins, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, TS Eliot, two Bronte sisters, Blake…in this winter crowd of tourists, I engage in a literary stations of the cross, here in Poets’ Corner.
Above, the stone arches rise and meet each other. We can be astonished by words, by buildings, but in the end individual imaginations let us soar. Thank you.
Holding it together
A Droog design chest of drawers from the current design exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. Fabulously inventive, although you do wonder if operating the drawers would weaken the structure. It's a bit of a metaphor, too, all the stuff of life we hold together, the drawers we open readily, those we keep closed, their contents away from the eyes of the world. The way in which days are a patchwork, united by their connection to each individual, the individual collection of stuff that belongs to us, our lives, each day.
The name of this piece is: "You can't lay down your memories".
This is the Powerhouse's page on this item from their collection:
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=365248
The name of this piece is: "You can't lay down your memories".
This is the Powerhouse's page on this item from their collection:
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=365248
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
100 Word Stories: Wait - He Said What?
You. Are. Kidding.
No, I’m not.
Francis Xavier Bartholomew O’Leary, if you’re making this up…
Nope, never.
Impossible.
I know. But it’s true.
He really said it?
This morning, while we were having coffee.
He doesn’t drink coffee.
Chai and coffee, know-it-all.
Except he told you first.
I’m telling you second.
Mary Margaret Therese O’Brien.
Yup.
And our Patrick?
Patrick really said it.
But I thought he hated her.
So we all thought.
And he’s promised? No going back?
No going back.
Let me get this straight. Patrick has finally agreed to claim little Tom as his?
As his son.
No, I’m not.
Francis Xavier Bartholomew O’Leary, if you’re making this up…
Nope, never.
Impossible.
I know. But it’s true.
He really said it?
This morning, while we were having coffee.
He doesn’t drink coffee.
Chai and coffee, know-it-all.
Except he told you first.
I’m telling you second.
Mary Margaret Therese O’Brien.
Yup.
And our Patrick?
Patrick really said it.
But I thought he hated her.
So we all thought.
And he’s promised? No going back?
No going back.
Let me get this straight. Patrick has finally agreed to claim little Tom as his?
As his son.
Green tomatoes
Behind the apron-draped wooden fence from a couple of days ago was a flourishing vegetable garden, including these tomatoes.
Green is a stage, too. Green, growing, not yet ripe, not yet finished, but necessary for that ripeness to come. Sometimes I get too impatient with process and want product, want the result. But when I get lost in process, caught in the productive zone that can be close to meditation, it's good too. I need to remember that.
Love the fresh, sharp, slightly uncompromising smell of tomato leaves. I bought the vine-ripened hydroponic ones the other day, with stems and leaves, to savour that scent.
Green is a stage, too. Green, growing, not yet ripe, not yet finished, but necessary for that ripeness to come. Sometimes I get too impatient with process and want product, want the result. But when I get lost in process, caught in the productive zone that can be close to meditation, it's good too. I need to remember that.
Love the fresh, sharp, slightly uncompromising smell of tomato leaves. I bought the vine-ripened hydroponic ones the other day, with stems and leaves, to savour that scent.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
100 Word Stories: The Ritz
At eighty, Mrs Candley’s morning walk was rather less brisk than it had been at seventy. "Not old," she would mutter to herself, "not old"…as though somehow saying the words would make them true. She loved her little house, and its abundant garden, and the memories of Edward that were in every room.
“We live in the Ritz!” he’d say, surveying the kitchen, and the view of the vegetable garden beyond. She still grew herbs, and tomatoes, and energetic scarlet runner beans, with help from the boy next door. I’d be scared of somewhere grand, she thought. This is home.
“We live in the Ritz!” he’d say, surveying the kitchen, and the view of the vegetable garden beyond. She still grew herbs, and tomatoes, and energetic scarlet runner beans, with help from the boy next door. I’d be scared of somewhere grand, she thought. This is home.
...the splendour falls...
One of those moments when you think, if I didn't have a blog and/or digital camera, which make me attentive and free to be photographically profligate, would I have noticed or caught this?
And who knows. Because I do, and I did, and it was an evocative conjunction of humble boards and colour-stained sunlight.
Which I caught on the weekend. Today? Running around all day like a mad thing, similar to so many other days at work. Fizz and run and hope that it's all holding together, trying to focus enough on one thing to be able to say at day's end, that's done, amid a zillion other things that you flit and answer to and help with and flit onwards. Although I did manage to eat lunch in one sitting today, not four...(that was yesterday).
And who knows. Because I do, and I did, and it was an evocative conjunction of humble boards and colour-stained sunlight.
Which I caught on the weekend. Today? Running around all day like a mad thing, similar to so many other days at work. Fizz and run and hope that it's all holding together, trying to focus enough on one thing to be able to say at day's end, that's done, amid a zillion other things that you flit and answer to and help with and flit onwards. Although I did manage to eat lunch in one sitting today, not four...(that was yesterday).
Monday, March 10, 2008
100 Word Stories: She will be missed
Sometimes, amid a busy day at work, you need a jellybean. A shot of sugar from Julie, who keeps – kept - an open-access jar on her desk.
I finally realised that it wasn’t just the sugar, but the almost-certainty of the cheerful greeting, potent as sugar, feeding your soul.
Julie made this office work. Now I realise, as the gaps start appearing, things are left to hang, unfinished, uncaught. She knitted us all together into something we are not on our own. I wish I’d thanked her more, before she left.
The jar is now on my desk, empty, waiting.
I finally realised that it wasn’t just the sugar, but the almost-certainty of the cheerful greeting, potent as sugar, feeding your soul.
Julie made this office work. Now I realise, as the gaps start appearing, things are left to hang, unfinished, uncaught. She knitted us all together into something we are not on our own. I wish I’d thanked her more, before she left.
The jar is now on my desk, empty, waiting.
Lockheed Lounge at the Powerhouse
Near the entrance to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney is Marc Newsom's iconic Lockheed Lounge.
I rather liked the geometries in this picture - the fluidly organic shape of the lounge and the rectangles of windows and walls.
I rather liked the geometries in this picture - the fluidly organic shape of the lounge and the rectangles of windows and walls.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Diana and a bookshop browse
The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney is currently hosting an exhibition of possessions and gowns and other memorabilia related to Diana, Princess of Wales.
Lots of women there - very few men. At the (approx 5 min running loop) videos of the wedding and the funeral, there were people with surreptitious hanky-dabbing, reminded of their happiness and sadness.
It was fascinating to see the wedding dress up so close, and the sheer length of the veil and train (St Paul's would dwarf any gown...). Lovely handpainted detail on the underside of the wedding shoes. Extraordinary embroidery on others of her evening gowns, also on display - cornelli, and beading, and beautiful fabrics cut so cleverly.
After Diana, we spent just as long, if not longer, in the design exhibition on the entry level of the museum - some of the items are on long-term display, while others rotate, so there's always something new to see. It covers centuries of design, from eighteenth century gowns to Droog Design's drawers held together with a mover's strap.
Then we headed over to Kinokuniya, catty-corner from Town Hall. Ah. Bliss. Didn't emerge for three hours...Their range is absolutely huge, great depth, wonderful for browsing and planning what to buy now, what to buy next time. How could the internet ever replace books? - the smell of them, the satisfying heft and physical existence of them, flicking back and forth without waiting for a server or electricity, being carried away to different places, with pictures to engage your mind, ideas to engage your imagination.
Lots of women there - very few men. At the (approx 5 min running loop) videos of the wedding and the funeral, there were people with surreptitious hanky-dabbing, reminded of their happiness and sadness.
It was fascinating to see the wedding dress up so close, and the sheer length of the veil and train (St Paul's would dwarf any gown...). Lovely handpainted detail on the underside of the wedding shoes. Extraordinary embroidery on others of her evening gowns, also on display - cornelli, and beading, and beautiful fabrics cut so cleverly.
After Diana, we spent just as long, if not longer, in the design exhibition on the entry level of the museum - some of the items are on long-term display, while others rotate, so there's always something new to see. It covers centuries of design, from eighteenth century gowns to Droog Design's drawers held together with a mover's strap.
Then we headed over to Kinokuniya, catty-corner from Town Hall. Ah. Bliss. Didn't emerge for three hours...Their range is absolutely huge, great depth, wonderful for browsing and planning what to buy now, what to buy next time. How could the internet ever replace books? - the smell of them, the satisfying heft and physical existence of them, flicking back and forth without waiting for a server or electricity, being carried away to different places, with pictures to engage your mind, ideas to engage your imagination.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Aprons on a fence
What a great way to draw attention to a really charming little antiquey-junky shop (my favourite combination!), stocked by a slightly distracted and really charming old lady. You couldn't help but wander by and wander in. Chicken-scratch embroidered gingham aprons on a fence, with cheerful pink cosmos looking enquiringly through from the flourishing vegetable patch behind.
We agreed that this shop would stay on the must-visit radar (another couple dropped off the must-visit radar on this jaunt up the mountains - you never quite know with antiquey-junky shops).
We agreed that this shop would stay on the must-visit radar (another couple dropped off the must-visit radar on this jaunt up the mountains - you never quite know with antiquey-junky shops).
Friday, March 07, 2008
100 Word Stories: They're never around when you need one.
Don’t get me wrong. I think teenage boys can be utterly charming and delightful, even if their legs are hollow and their capacity for inhaling food in Tardis-like proportions (where DO they put it?) is designed to keep parents poor for years. They are capable of unexpected charm to elderly female relatives (great aunts and grandmas in particular) and wonderful patience with the smallest children (turn me upside down AGAIN!). And have you ever seen how they cradle a baby, how their faces soften, and you have to be very surreptitious about how you take a photo?
JAMES??? Garbage night!
JAMES??? Garbage night!
Sunflower and bee
Although it wasn't cold, the day was grey, and the sky considering rain (it got distracted, and the sun came out). I was happy that my modest little point-and-shoot digital camera managed to catch this - the bee, the water drops, the happy colour on a grey day.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
100 Word Stories: Tricksy numbers
Two husbands (ex), one current (aka darling boy).
Five children. Two mine, two step, and Bellybump.
One mother, three mothers-in-law (an inelegant oversufficiency).
Five fathers/fathers-in-law. Don’t ask. Too complicated.
Assorted siblings. Assorted sibling partners. Assorted food allergies/preferences/fussinesses (vegan, darling, but we make an exception for cow’s milk and fish. I refuse to enquire further).
All Rabbit’s friends and relations (ie. the rest of the family).
Darling boy’s work commitments. Darling children’s comings and goings to be managed with military precision. Bellybump’s morning contribution to my health and welfare (Still queasy? says current MIL in That Tone).
Two words: Family Christmas.
Five children. Two mine, two step, and Bellybump.
One mother, three mothers-in-law (an inelegant oversufficiency).
Five fathers/fathers-in-law. Don’t ask. Too complicated.
Assorted siblings. Assorted sibling partners. Assorted food allergies/preferences/fussinesses (vegan, darling, but we make an exception for cow’s milk and fish. I refuse to enquire further).
All Rabbit’s friends and relations (ie. the rest of the family).
Darling boy’s work commitments. Darling children’s comings and goings to be managed with military precision. Bellybump’s morning contribution to my health and welfare (Still queasy? says current MIL in That Tone).
Two words: Family Christmas.
Sign
I rather liked this font, and the sign's slightly ageworn quality (sadly, its shop wasn't nearly as nice).
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
100 Word Stories: You're waiting for something important
It was hurting like crazy. Crazy enough for painkillers. But now, after the first couple of treatments – well, after the first one, the pain’s gone. Pretty much. Needle-fine files have dug in there, it’s the first ever time I’ve spent so long in a dentist’s chair that I arrived with iPod…
And now it’s a waiting game. Is there a twang, still? An ache? A small echo remaining of how it was? They won’t finish till this is gone, the nerve is gone. And so I wait, and pay attention. The root canal tango, a game of hide and seek.
And now it’s a waiting game. Is there a twang, still? An ache? A small echo remaining of how it was? They won’t finish till this is gone, the nerve is gone. And so I wait, and pay attention. The root canal tango, a game of hide and seek.
3 china jugs
They're still in the shop - I didn't succumb. But aren't they beautiful? Pretty, the kind of thing that makes you smile as you pour the juice intot your glass, the milk into your cup. They don't need to be floral, or china, to do their work - the plastic bottle or cardboard carton can perform that function just as well. But there's something about adding grace to the everyday that's at the core of the appeal of these, for me.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
100 Word Stories: There's an elf at your front door.
So, you’re an elf.
Yup.
Nice green hat.
Yup.
Cool feather.
Yeah.
Best red pants I’ve ever seen.
Yup.
Are those pointy shoes comfortable?
Nope.
Would you rather change them?
Nope.
(Is it just me, or is this conversation flagging a bit?)
So, Owen, why are you an elf today?
Not Owen. Olaf.
Ah. Olaf the Elf, yes?
Yup.
Okaaaay. what do elves do, on a fine day like today?
Eat ICECREAM!
Oh really? Why icecream?
It’s for magic.
Well, I can see how that’s handy. What sort of magic?
We make things disappear.
Like what, Olaf the Elf?
ICECREEEEEEAM!
Yup.
Nice green hat.
Yup.
Cool feather.
Yeah.
Best red pants I’ve ever seen.
Yup.
Are those pointy shoes comfortable?
Nope.
Would you rather change them?
Nope.
(Is it just me, or is this conversation flagging a bit?)
So, Owen, why are you an elf today?
Not Owen. Olaf.
Ah. Olaf the Elf, yes?
Yup.
Okaaaay. what do elves do, on a fine day like today?
Eat ICECREAM!
Oh really? Why icecream?
It’s for magic.
Well, I can see how that’s handy. What sort of magic?
We make things disappear.
Like what, Olaf the Elf?
ICECREEEEEEAM!
Op shop book finds
Did rather well at the op shop on the weekend. I'd been meaning to read the Sonya Hartnett (Sleeping Dogs for yonks, and for 50c, what's not to like? I read pretty much everything by Noel Streatfeild as a kid - the Gemma books, for instance, which I'm slightly afraid of reading again because I remember liking them so much and would hate to find myself disliking now...This was a nice copy of White Boots, so I invested (another 50c). Angela Carter - haven't read this one, but have read others by her - not always the easiest prose, she's a fearless writer (yup, 50c for Heroes and Villians).
The last one, My Year Off by Robert McCrum (author of The Story of English) was one I hadn't planned to buy ($5). An older man who was also browsing the books turned to me and said, "You should buy that one, it's really good." I don't know what prompted this - the other books I was carrying, or his recognition of a favourite book that he wanted someone else to enjoy, who knows? I sorta couldn't leave it on the shelf, then. He was so enthusiastic about it, in a diffident way, it would have been rude not to respect his recommendation. So, ah well, it's now on my reading pile too. I'm not sorry. It's about the stroke that felled him in his early 40s, and the process of recovery following it.
All up, not a bad haul - there be gold, among the dross, some days.
The last one, My Year Off by Robert McCrum (author of The Story of English) was one I hadn't planned to buy ($5). An older man who was also browsing the books turned to me and said, "You should buy that one, it's really good." I don't know what prompted this - the other books I was carrying, or his recognition of a favourite book that he wanted someone else to enjoy, who knows? I sorta couldn't leave it on the shelf, then. He was so enthusiastic about it, in a diffident way, it would have been rude not to respect his recommendation. So, ah well, it's now on my reading pile too. I'm not sorry. It's about the stroke that felled him in his early 40s, and the process of recovery following it.
All up, not a bad haul - there be gold, among the dross, some days.
Monday, March 03, 2008
100 Word Stories: A new god has been born/created...
Special food. Check. Special bed. Check. Special bedding for special bed. Check. Assorted toys, coloured. Check. Minimum of three instruction books, read in full. Check. Care roster. Check. Fair process for choosing a name… well, when we tried them out, Mickey was the one he answered to. Is that fair enough?
Lead, two bowls (labelled ‘food’ and ‘water’, but I suspect that’s for the literate humans, not the dawg), collar, tag, microchipping, vet appointments for shots and such.
"Oh honey," said my best beloved, surrounded by three (additional) pleading sets of eyes. "A dog will be no trouble at all."
Lead, two bowls (labelled ‘food’ and ‘water’, but I suspect that’s for the literate humans, not the dawg), collar, tag, microchipping, vet appointments for shots and such.
"Oh honey," said my best beloved, surrounded by three (additional) pleading sets of eyes. "A dog will be no trouble at all."
Vintage bags
More from the lovely shop I visited last week with a friend. This clutch wasn't the bag I couldn't forget...but doesn't it amuse (those of us old enough to remember the first time) you that Oroton/Glomesh/mesh bags are newly fashionable?
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Scissors and silver jug
Vintage silverplate seems to be among the less expensive collectables around at the moment. Maybe people are put off by the polishing? Which doesn't have to be demanding.
I'm rather enamoured of its possibilities for storage/display. For my rotary cutter and sewing scissors - the care-less dressmaking ones (that can cut wadding as well as fabric, but not paper), the best-fabric ones (no wadding for these) and the pinking shears, you need a container with enough heft not to fall over. For example, a delightful vintage silver water jug, like this one. Not breakable, like china, and heavier than some other choices might be.
And elegantly beautiful, vintage, a grace note, not just storage. My kind of 'stuff'. (nod to William Morris: I know it's useful, and believe it to be beautiful - it ticks the boxes).
I'm rather enamoured of its possibilities for storage/display. For my rotary cutter and sewing scissors - the care-less dressmaking ones (that can cut wadding as well as fabric, but not paper), the best-fabric ones (no wadding for these) and the pinking shears, you need a container with enough heft not to fall over. For example, a delightful vintage silver water jug, like this one. Not breakable, like china, and heavier than some other choices might be.
And elegantly beautiful, vintage, a grace note, not just storage. My kind of 'stuff'. (nod to William Morris: I know it's useful, and believe it to be beautiful - it ticks the boxes).
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Waiting room
The dentist and I are currently on first name terms (although it's hardly surprising, in this day and age) and she's going to have a lovely holiday, I hope, on the proceeds...
This particular practice has the cows (for which I can offer no explanation, as the immediate connection between cows and teeth eludes me, except that they clearly do have teeth) and also the very smart idea of a small library. Not just magazines, but some browsing books, if gossip or cars or National Geographic isn't what you want to distract yourself with.
This particular practice has the cows (for which I can offer no explanation, as the immediate connection between cows and teeth eludes me, except that they clearly do have teeth) and also the very smart idea of a small library. Not just magazines, but some browsing books, if gossip or cars or National Geographic isn't what you want to distract yourself with.
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