shake it like a polaroid picture!

Warning - I'm gonna be all lame here and gush about an iphone app. You take a picture then you shake it and wait for it to develop like a polaroid!! It's so much fun! (And it's completely hypocritical of me to love it so much as I really hate the Hipstamatic app that takes faux lomo shots - just use a Holga or a Diana people!)

But look at the pretty wisteria...

And I love how at this time of year the gutter is filled with pretty purple petal litter

And this is my new friend Zeppellin. He's the friendliest kitten in town. He lives on my parent's street and I actually cross the road to see if he's hanging out...

And here is my old friend Montalbano with his new friend, Gabi's crochet baby blankie. I got straight onto it and sewed up the left over hexagons and started working on the trim. And since Bano likes it and I'm also told the lovely Sally's Mister 3 even likes it, so I'm feeling pretty confident that my lil one will like it too. (And if not, too bad.)

Only problem is I got THIS CLOSE to finishing the trim in the pale green when I ran out of yarn. CURSES!!

Ironically every thing I've ever tried to crochet in that lovely pale green bamboo/cotton yarn has been promptly ripped up, I just can't seem to get it to work for me. So I wasn't surprised it wasn't going to oblige me and finish the trim without an argument. What should I do? Rip it off? Fill the gap with left over jade? Crochet the row again using a smaller stitch that might conserve more yarn? Ditch the entire project?!

cloud studies

Episode 2 of my harvest shots.

We had some glorious weather over the week - but also some serious rain. 30 mms over night on the Saturday evening. But you can never complain about rain in the country, even if it's spoiling your productivity plans. Olives have to be pressed within 2/3 days after picking otherwise they start to ferment which wouldn't make tasty olive oil. Thankfully we weren't washed out of the grove for too long and after a leisurely breakfast we were back picking olives by 10am. Just in time for morning tea break!

I just get blown away by all the different colours in the sky sometimes. I'd love to know what all the clouds are called too. I'll put learn cloud names on my To Do list, next to learn all the capital cities of Africa. (I can do Europe already, smart huh!)

And for those who are wondering what happens next, after the olives are all picked - I am working on my 'school project - How Olive Oil is made' blog post! Just need to check up on some technical details...wish I'd paid more attention now, don't I?

a kaleidoscope of good times

This is me. In a giant, life sized, walk in kaleidoscope made by the Scandinavian artist Olafur Eliasson. His exhibition at the MCA - Take Your Time - is amazing. You must go see it!

At first I thought this picture was kind of depressing, what with all the dark, gloomy spaces. But upon further reflection I decided it was quite appropriate really, sometimes life just feels so dark and gloomy, why not wallow a little? My recent dark and gloomy moments include trying to teach a 7 month old baby about bedtime - a 3 hour screaming battle of wills ensued, which I lost, and promptly spent the next 2 hours sobbing and feeling like an utter failure; getting a painful UTI and a head cold and running into my past at a book store, plunging me into all sorts of shame induced from not paying more attention to my appearance and an irrational inability to move on from painful emotional periods in my life.
Botheration. Fiddle sticks. Cuss that I say!

But you know, when the dog bites, when the bee stings. When you're feeling sad...
Simply remember your favourite things and then you won't feeeeeeeel so baaaaaaaad. 

So here are a few far more colourful, bright and shiny, happier moments dancing about in the kaleidoscope of my life right now. It's not all dark and gloomy.

It's important to remember the good times!

 

Like sunshine and grand old trees. This park at the top of our street is where both my dad and my nana used to play as children and you can see both the harbour and Bondi from there. No wonder it's called Bellevue Park!

 

Cheeky cuddles and sun kissed cheeks.

The view from our picnic blanket. Focussing on the pretty white yachts, not the lucky bastards rich enough to own and sail them.

Picnic dinners instead of TV dinners!

Super lovely friends like Alex with lovely roses to cheer me up and relaxing crafternoons.

Beers with my favourite (and only) brother. The dark brown one tasted just like chocolate. For reals!

And a first glimpse of autumn, my favourite season!

I do hope you've had some colourful, happy moments lately to take your mind off any dark and gloomy ones. Viva la sunny side!

up with the birds

 

I've sucessfully lasted three whole weeks at my new job - favourite aunty/nanny extraordinaire. It's been exhausting learning how to manage, entertain, feed, bath, play, assist with sleep, encourage crawling and sympathise as teeth pop through but I think I'm getting the hang of it*. The hardest part is getting up so early in the morning! I am NOT a morning person by nature and no matter how early I try to go to bed I usually just lie there tossing and turning, yelling at myself to get some sleep.

But the plus side of my early morning starts is that I get to see the sunrise over Sydney Harbour as I catch the ferry to Manly. What a way to travel! I feel like I am adventuring on the high seas or in some 19th century classic romance novel that I probably wouldn't actually enjoy reading but it feels good to imagine all the same.

Sometimes the weather is a little gloomy....

But mostly I just feel happy to be alive.

*I've started having power naps when my little man goes down for sleeps. Works wonders! Win win situation. Getting paid to nap has to be my dream job!

slides from the vault

My mum got a slide scanner for Christmas and has been very busy scanning countless boxes of slides taken on their adventures all over the world and all through the 70s, 80s and even into the 90s. I thought I would share some of my favourites with you.

Do you stop to smell the roses?

I am not a morning person. Hence, I am late to work most days.

Today, as I raced out the door and up the road, already starting to fret about work (and also, whether to get fruit salad or turkish raisin toast for breakfast. Food is a very serious matter to me.) I was distracted by this rose bush out the front of someone's house.

Well...to be honest the roses are about 2 metres in the air, drooping downwards from a fence/garage, so you'd be correct in thinking that it's hard to get distracted by something above your line of sight. You could say, I deliberately stopped to look at them. You could even say I was dawdling when already late for work.

One might even say that I was stopping to smell the roses, if you're that way inclined.

I am that way inclined. It's a nice inclination. They smelt damn sweet too.

These two fuzzy close ups remind me of a Cath Kidston print, don't you think?

Incidentally, her Rose & Carnation hand cream is one of my favs. It smells lovely and has sweet little silver gold stars on the tin.

I suggest you buy yourself some then if you don't have a rose bush to stop and admire, you can stop and admire your lovely smelling hands. (I found it stocked in Target for all you Australian readers!)

Good things come...

to those who...

1. Don't particularly deserve them
2. Were really in need of some cheering up nonetheless
3. Are immensely grateful for all the love

Today was tough. Tonight was just lovely.

On the way home we took the scenic route for fresh ocean treasure AND there was a lovely surprise parcel waiting for me when we got home. 

 

My stomach bulged with contentment, my heart burst with happiness.

Good things come. Yes they do. I will remember it.

Rainy days and soggy smiles

Our annual visit to Sculpture by the Sea was not as sunny as last year.

I’m not sure if I was influenced by the weather but I was rather underwhelmed by the sculptures on display this year. And even though my brother told me not to compare them to last years, but to compare them to the Bronte to Bondi cliff walk as it usually is, I still felt disappointed.

It seemed that our destiny was bleak, no matter which direction we took, it rained.

(Okay I liked this sculpture.)

So I focused on things that did make me smile.

Oh the pretty patterns raindrops make on glasses. Like translucent freckles.
 

I sure was glad I wasn't wearing a white t-shirt though. Have you been to see Sculpture by the Sea this year? What did you think? Should I go back on a sunnier day and give it another shot?