You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August, 2006.
Aren’t you all nice, worrying about us driving for ten hours?! That’s why I went with Peter - so that we could share the driving. One drives while the other sleeps and that way it’s not too bad. Still, we left at 7:00 am and got home after midnight. This is where we went…this is Mt Isa.
And this is along the road on the way there…
The highlight of the trip was coming across a poor guy whose engine bay was ON FIRE. There were flames shooting up out of that thing and I didn’t think anyone should be anywhere near it. I’ve seen Bruce Willis movies, people, I KNOW! So, after stopping to find out if we could help at all, we were sent on our way to call 000 (911 in Aus.) from our mobile phone as soon as we were in a mobile coverage area. I got to be the person who called emergency for the fire truck. Cor. Soon after, we heard guys discussing it over the radio (CB). Apparently every man and his dog was there to watch. Not us. We were well out of the blast zone!
Five hours driving each way left me with plenty of thinking time to come up with my “I” list:
Ice Age : Such a fun movie. Makes me laugh every time I watch it.
The Importance of Being Earnest: one of my favourite plays. I LOVE Oscar Wilde. So smart, so funny, so dead.
Eddie Izzard: another great wit and still alive- also funny and smart. Very smart. Clever. (Oscar reincarnate? hmm, maybe.)
Inspector Morse and It Ain’t half Hot Mum: two very different TV shows but both very good. They are both BBC productions - I wonder if you guys in USA have seen them?
Indiana Jones movies : I’m probably over them now, but weren’t they fun at the time??
John Irving: had a love/hate thing with him, too. The Hotel New Hampshire is a wonderful book, but there have been others that I could hardly finish. I suspect the mans ego is getting in the way these days.
I Believe in a Thing Called Love by The Darkness: what a cool song! Makes me want to wear a sequined jumpsuit (In private. In the dark.) But I also go into a trance when I hear Nina Simone singing “I Put a Spell on You“.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Peter must have said this ten thousand times in the twenty nine years that I’ve known him! Fortunately, he is highly principled so it tends to be less of an excuse and more of an explanation of success!
Essentials of life: innovation, inspiration, intimacy, ideals
That’s it, kids. I can’t think of any “I” words that sound good. Go on, tell me what they are…
This had to be the easiest colour yet! Some of my stash, some yarn that looks like seawed, part of my jester quilt and a palm leaf at the bottom of the stairs. Yum.
Look what flew into my letterbox! I told Leslie a lame joke and she liked it! She even said it was a prize winner and here is my prize. Thank you so much, Leslie. These are very pretty cards and if I ever decide that I can stand to use them (I’d rather just hoard them selfishly), I will write on them with the pink glitter pen 
ps: to all my friends who think they might receive a cute postcard from me with a pink message on it - don’t hold your breath! I’m more selfish than you’ll ever know! xxx You may just have to buy your own instead *raspberry*
This must be the loveliest bracelet I’ve ever seen. More beautiful jewellery by the talented Grainne Morton here. (I know I found this site by following someones links, but I’m sorry, I don’t remember whose!)
I remember now! It was flibbertygibbet! Thanks xx
Nearly forgot! Truck on over to Ullabenulla and have a look at her dollhouse. She has some AMAZING ideas for this work in progress and it’s more than a little inspiring. I’ve been scouring the miniature and dollhouse sites and most of them are very stiff and formal. Ulla’s ideas are the proverbial breath of fresh air.
H is for…
Home: Peter and I have moved often (dragging our babies with us!). Our family is our home. I believe that if your family is stable and loving, you can go anywhere and do anything. Simplistic philosophy maybe, but it’s true.
Happiness: attainable, attainable, attainable! Do you get that?? If you don’t (or, heaven forbid, you don’t believe it) drop me a line and I shall indoctrinate you!
Hummus: easy to make and delicious. I make a mean one, but I tend to be heavy-handed with the garlic, so it has to be “One in, All in”.
I absolutely detest musicals, but I make an exception for Hedwig and the Angry Inch because it’s just plain fun. Peter and the kids and I all love Zhang Yimous movies - C’s favourite is Hero, but I like House of Flying Daggers. Have you seen the 1939 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame ? Charles Laughton is Quasimodo and YOU WILL CRY. The man is extraordinary.
When we were kids, my brother and I loved Hogan’s Heroes and Huckleberry Hound. Then we moved on to Hill Street Blues and now we all love to watch House.
Few things in the world smell better than Honeysuckle (except maybe L’Occitane Orange Blossom soap, but we’ll get to that a few months!!).
I listen to the Hoodoo Gurus and Jimi Hendrix.
I call my husband and kids Honey and Honey pie ( I got that from my Mum!).
Fun “H” words to say aloud Hunky dory (one of my Nannas favourite words! She also used to call us kids “Honky”) and Hullaballoo.
Have you wondered what the incredible image at the top of the post has to do with “H”?? Nothing. It’s here to show my mama the possibilities of free-motion embroidery. Mum, this is done exactly the way we discussed. It’s by the amazing Ken Smith who must be one of the worlds best embroiderers.
And now I have to get ready - I’m going on a school Art Trip with my daughter!
“Look what I made.”
“Why?”
“I. Have. No. Idea.”
But I blame her.
Here you go, Capello. Just for you - front AND back! xx
Just when I thought the obsessing over dollshouse stuff had abated, allsorts posted images from this site. This is the kind of dollshouse that I would love. Forget those Museum-like collections of Victorian Stuff. Doesn’t this just make you go, “oh! aw! look at that!” ? Here we go again…
ps: wait til you see the little fireplace!
Orange was an easy colour for me! Top left, marigolds in a public garden bed. Top right, my brother holding an orange on Christmas Day (a story for another day). Bottom left, fire fighters after they had extinguished our burning switchboard on a very hot day last January! Bottom right, one of my favourite milk jugs from my little collection.
Thanks to my friend, M, who sent me her copy, I have just read “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold. Apparently, here in the sticks we have missed all of the hoopla that has accompanied this book and, although I had heard the name of it, I knew nothing about the story. I’ve enjoyed it very much. Every page, in fact. I like the gentleness with which the author writes - surprising, considering the disturbing subject; the realness of her teenagers’ feelings and how they express them; that Susie’s family’s grief was quietly destructive, which is how I imagine destructive grief truly is.
It got me to thinking about heaven (no surprise there! It’s a central theme of the book) and how I would like it to be (note: not how I believe it to be!). Like just about every other person on earth who has ever loved, I hope to meet up with my loved ones who are no longer here. I hope to have a dog, but one who is entirely independent and needs me for nothing. Oh and babies, too, that I can play with but take no responsibility for. And NO CLOCKS and NO SCHEDULES and … are you sensing a theme here?… Heaven for me would be no obligations or responsibilities. Some who know me well would probably suggest that it’s not far removed from how I live now!
What I’m afraid of, however, is that it would soon become hell. Maybe it’s our responsibilities and obligations that ultimately give us the most reward.
Anyway, I loved this book. And was about to send it to my mother, who a few hours later, by phone, told me that she had read it… … and hated it! There you are. We all see things through different eyes.
First on any G list must surely be God/Good.
It makes sense that Gratitude should be next, because that’s what we owe when we recognize the first.
Hmmm, Ganache, next? It’s pretty close to heaven! And I’m far too fond of garlic for Peter’s comfort.
I’m inspired by Gaudi Can you just imagine living in Casa Batllo? I used to fantasise about it! I also used to fantasise about living in Gotham City, in the days when I was in love with Batman. Yes, I’ve always been a Closet Goth, which is a very sad thing to admit. I’m also a Closet Punk. The reason I’m closeted is my legs. You CANNOT wear tartan drainpipes or Lolita stockings unless you have very thin legs. Hence my problem 
More inspiration: Walter Gropius and Vincent van Gogh.
Gunter Grass has written a number of my favourite books (especially ‘The Flounder’ and ‘Cat and Mouse’). Two more fav. books are The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and, my all-time favourite, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
One of my very early childhood memories is watching Green Acres on a Sunday afternoon on TV at my Nan’s house - I was four. My brother and I would go to our other Nanna’s every day after school and watch Get Smart and Gilligan’s Island. And eat all of the biscuits in her biscuit tin (no wonder my legs are doomed to never wear tartan or stripes!).
We didn’t have a TV at home until I was ten or eleven. What I remember most about those TV years is watching the Westerns with Dad on Saturday afternoons (2 pm) in Winter. They ALL had names like The Gunfight at Dodge City, Gunfight at the OK Corrall, Gun Fight, Gunslingers, gun, gun, gun, gun, gun,… It was great! Mum would roast peanuts (those legs never stood a chance) and Dad would enact all the gunfights right there in the livingroom. Before the movie started, he would have brought a huge basket of wood in for the fire and, if it was damp, there would be sparks flying. When the flames died down, sometimes we made cheese jaffles in the embers…
I like to listen to Macy Gray and David Gray, watch geysers, smell gardenias.
I love love love Grover from Sesame Street, my sister-in-law and my brother-in-law, both G’s (good company, hey guys? lumped in with a muppet!)
Admire generosity. Embrace good. Wish I were graceful.
Say “great” too much…
This is such a gorgeous colour! Under-utilised in my opinion…
The cluster of silk flowers is one of my favourite handbags, made by glueing the flowers all over a cheap and nasty bag with hot glue. Very fast and easy, but it is amazing how many flowers you need! They have to be really squashed tightly together to look good.
Bougainvilleas (top left) are one of the few flowering plants that grow very well out west. They don’t seem to need much water and can get to be huge. I don’t like them much - thorny and invasive.
Today has been a making kind of day (mostly making a mess, but there you go!). Pincushions…
and strawberry pincushions (which don’t look so good in the photo but are pretty terrific in real life)…
For the shoe addicts amongst you, I found this site via patterning the world some time ago and I’m having to ration how often I look at it because it makes me SO AVARICIOUS and JEALOUS of everyone who owns shoes like these. That and the drool on my keyboard is threatening to electrocute me.
Do you have “Super Hero” fantasies? You can be honest with me, y’know. We’re all friends here. You know what I mean? Those daydreams where you see yourself committing great acts of heroism and bravado. I’ve known for years that I Have What It Takes. I know that I could rescue babies from burning buildings and jump over parked cars to snatch a puppy from the path of an oncoming bus. Well, I did…
Yesterday a small plane crash-landed in Qeensland, hitting a house. The resident of the house is being hailed as a hero because he rescued the pilot from the wreckage.
Last night I dreamed about a plane crash. I was standing on a quiet road when a plane crashlanded about 100 metres away from me. As flames appeared, I ran. Yes, you heard me. I ran. Did I give the occupants even a moments thought? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? I was out of there as fast as my wobbly thighs could carry me.
So now I know, and so do you. The babies would have to wait for the firefighters and the puppy would be mush. And I will never get to wear lycra or a cape.
Which, when you think about it, is a blessing for us all.
Yes, there was a Private “F” List, but we shan’t speak of it again, SHALL we, Peter? Certainly not in company, anyway. Ahem…
Family and friends: surely have to be at the top of the list. There are many and they are wonderful *mwah*!
French Food: le sigh…
Fabric: I have a *cough* collection *cough cough* of fabric. I use it. And then I buy more. And more. It’s a compulsion. I know you understand.
OK, Peter, you have REALLY messed up my list, here. I can’t think straight. Your list keeps invading the brain space where MY list should be…
Fassett, Kaffe: (I’ve told you before, Megan, if there’s a bandwagon, I’m the first on it! Sadly, I’m also last to get off.) Love the colours, the fabrics, the needlepoint, wish I could knit.
Floating: my favourite swimming pool activity. Not for me swimming, diving, burning calories from French Food Indulging. No sirree. I like to float, motionless on my back (fortunately). We have a saltwater pool, so effortless floating is easy. Sometimes I do worry about falling asleep.
Flying: I will DEFINITELY have wings in Heaven, because the one thing I want to do that I can’t is FLY. I dream about it all the time. I think it’s like floating but without the drowning part.
Finnish Fashion: these guys light up the world. Don’t you just love to see people who decorate their lives? I always feel that they have given me a gift, just by being there with a fresh vision.
FRUiTS magazine : ditto
Fearlessness: wish I had more of it. I’m, by nature, fairly cautious. But I just love people who do stuff like base-jumping and starting mega-empires with $1.50 and going to live on a rock in the middle of the Indian Ocean with just a toothbrush and a dog called Boo.
“Fade into You” by Mazzy Star: Told you I’m always last off the Bandwagon. It’s currently looping on my cd player.
Freedom: all over the world those who don’t have any are prepared to die for it, and those of us who do have it don’t value it or even acknowledge it. And, in a smaller way, Peter and I were discussing just days ago, that we appreciate that we each give the other space and freedom to do the things that are important to us as individuals.
Fruit: if I could only choose one food for the rest of my life, I would never get sick of fruit.
Don’t you just love how this list flits from the Profound to the Frivolous?
Speaking of which… Freddie Mercury: there can’t be a woman on earth who couldn’t love a man who sings “Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin’ world go round!” Even when we knew he was gay and we didn’t have a chance!
Flaky pastry, flowers, forests, feather pillows…
Definitely some artistic license taken with this one! Chestnut is not the easiest of colours to find. The two wooden boxes are each a little redder than they have photographed and I still don’t have the software manipulation skills to really get things looking exactly the way I would like. I’m no photographer, that’s for sure! I like what I see through the lens, but I have ZERO interest in fiddling with the settings. Poor Peter has tried to explain f-stops and apertures and lord-knows-what-else SO many times. The man should really have been named Job. And he never gives up - just goes through it all over again…
Meredith has a new exhibition from August 12 - 31 at the
Mixed Media Art Gallery in Casabella Lane, off Barton Street, Hamilton (New Zealand).
Opening is at 5:30 pm Friday August 11.
You are invited!
I have rekindled an old obsession. When I was a teenager I had an idea that I would like to build a dolls house. One of the huge, elaborate, three storeys-with-an-attic kind. And I would fill it to the roof with perfect tiny Stuff. Then there was a Fate Intervention and I married Peter and bought a full-sized house that needed its own rebuild (he would possibly argue that the “filling-with-perfect-tiny-stuff part has happened). Now we are up to house number seven and I have been badly influenced by these guys and have wasted too many hours on these…
Maybe I should just do one of those room boxes instead of aiming for the whole house? Probably I’ll just make a couple more things, shove them in a box and in another twenty years I’ll throw them out in our two hundredth house move.
Remember I was doing a 1″ square swap with some Craftsters? We finished the swap and here’s my finished quilt. Some of them are heading for Queen-sized quilts - that’s a crap load of 1″ squares (maybe 10 000?). See? Insanity is all relative.
These are some of my favourite blocks. ..
I might make a pattern for this… hmm… haven’t decided yet…
Today is also E day. Y’know, I’ve decided that E has very little going for it. Some of my earlier lists (B, for example. Now there’s a fine letter.) had to be culled, they were so long winded. But E? Apart from eternity rings, education, enlightenment and encyclopedia there isn’t much to be said (Although, while researching I did discover the sport of Extreme Ironing. I wonder how much they charge per basket?). I also like exploring and the Eurythmics and it is rather fun to say Ethiopia and Errata loudly and with a BBC accent, but quite frankly that’s about it.
ps: Megan asked for links to miniature sites. Found these (hard to find ones with projects - they are mostly ready-made stuff for sale at second-mortgage prices). Handy to be able to read Dutch or Danish but you can play follow the links for hours from some of these:
http://poohbeers.eigenstart.nl/
http://www.whimsical-whispers.com/DIYDollhouse/index.html
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~ddmurphy/index.html
http://www.myminiatures.com/directory.asp?category=27
http://www.janas-puppenhaus.de/html/seite-1-e.html
Will let you know if I find any more good ones.
