Archive for 2002
30th December 2002
I spent some time over the holidays reading the journals of folks who live lives that I would live if I wasn’t living my life. Lives of girls in apartments studying art or design, who stomp through snow, hang with groups of friends on weekends in bars and bookshops while eating ramen and making zines. I was reminded by these other lives that I am now officially not that kind of person any more. I am a suburban mum, a few months shy of 31, a few years shy of buying or building a house and around a decade shy of being middle aged (although when does middle aged start exactly? 40? 45? When I was little I thought it was 30 so perhaps it moves further away with every birthday). Where I once fantasised about working for an alternative record label while designing posters, living on a clapped out houseboat and looking like Holly Golightly, I now fantasise about keeping a run of chickens, growing herbs outside my kitchen window and holding a brood of giggling kiddies while reading “Where the Wild Things Are” out loud. I now prefer the intoxicating blend of russian caravan and lapsang souchong to the heady mix of vodka and tonic, going to bed early to sleeping in late, cook books to comic books. I don’t even know where my tube of liquid eye liner is (once a trusty friend and constant companion through art school), and if I did happen upon it I am sure it would be all dry and crusty and if it isn’t I would surely have lost that honed knack of applying it just so - 60s mod not 80s gothic.
And by and by she got older. Sniff.
I have just finished a book which I really enjoyed. She Flew the Coop by Michael Lee West. Claire sent me a preloved, dog-eared copy of it ages ago and I finally had a chance to sit down and get into it. It’s full of gossip and recipes and intertwining lives in a small town and was very easy to read while waiting for my turn for a shower in the mornings or for the water to boil for pasta in the evenings… I will be handing it on to someone who needs a good book to read soon. So I am now on to one my mum leant me; Margaret Drabble’s The Seven Sisters I have only just started it but already I am wondering if I would enjoy it more if I were the age of the protagonist - which I guess to be late 50s or early 60s with grown children and starting a new life. Even so, I am already keen to know what’s going to happen and Margaret Drabble is a pretty compelling author. I just had a peek at the Amazon editorial review and I might have to go and read a bit more while Amelia J snoozes.
But because I can’t help myself and there is a little bit of the younger me still lurking around the joint my birthday wishlist now includes Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan. (via niem)
30th December 2002
Bliss - the rain has just started. The wind seems to be still thick and heavy and hot but at least there is the smell of wet grass wafting through the house. My mum is in the lounge room lying on the floor reading Amelia Bedelia to Amelia J. They have spent the day together as I am officially back at work (2 days a week). If you need some illustrations done then I am the person to hire!
24th December 2002
We’ve just been out for last minute christmas eve food shopping. The fruit at the green grocers all looked summery and incredible — what I could see between the jostling shoulders of crazed shoppers. Tonight we are having Mum and Dad over for dinner - marinated lamb chops and summer berry crumble… yummo! Tomorrow will be presents, roast chicken and a lovely, quiet, champagne sipping day at Mum and Dad’s. I love christmas - and I hope you all have a good one.
20th December 2002
I was saying to the lovely bee, pea and kylie yesterday that the stuff I love about a lot of the blogs I visit are the many and varied craft projects that people throw themselves into. Big-P likes to check out technical blogs all about code and hard drives and clever little apps whereas I like to see felt and knitting and magnets and glue and stuff. So in the style of the queen of craft, Megan, I bring you some crafty gals doing cool stuff:
I mentioned a while back that I had picked up a copy of Martha Stewart Kids and how happy this made me. One of the articles inside is a step by step guide to making sock dogs which I ooo-ed and ahh-ed at but dismissed as being too hard to even contemplate. But Anna has gone and done it! She has kindly put up some pics of her beautiful sock dog Pickleberry.
Next year I am going to attempt to make all gifts. This year I can barely even get organised enough to get my Christmas shopping done, let alone bundle it up and send it off in time to get to overseas relatives. One thing I must keep in mind is glass etching as explained by Isabelle. I would love to make an etched mirror for someone.
Erica impresses me no end with her pure energy for the craft project. I wished she lived in Melbourne so I could send her to that shop where I found Amelia’s christmas doll because it is loaded with felty goodness. Check out Erica’s stocking stuffed with funny dogs.
And because, in my opinion, felt is this season’s chenille (or corduroy or something!) I have to point you to ljc’s gift for her grandma.
Although Gayla doesn’t have a photo of it, the bag she made for her cousin sounds so completely fabulous. This entry makes me want to never buy another gift ever again. I think I am going to start making stuff in January in preparation for next year. Also, Gayla has an article on plant related gift projects up at You Grow Girl.
19th December 2002
The heat is setting in. This morning it was quite bearable, and even quite pleasant while hanging little itty-bitty socks and singlets on the clothes line, the garden smelt sweet and the breeze was slightly sea-ish reminding me of the slick of zinc cream and coconut oil. I opened all the doors and windows to let the air in and Amelia kicked her chubby legs on the lounge room floor while staring out at the blue sky and waving plant tops. But now it’s getting hot hot hot. I hate this heat and it’s at times like this when I am oh so tempted to leave this otherwise comfortable lifestyle and take up the opportunity to live in Big-P’s home country and find a wild and freezing coastline - like out of The Shipping News. But the gals are coming over today… pea and bron and kylie. We are going to drink some of that punch I told you about and I am cooking a risotto (was that a stupid idea? I will have to stand over a hot saucepan to stir the stock into the rice) and have made little christmas chocolate balls out of biscuits and condensed milk and coconut like we used to make in kindergarten. I am looking forward to today despite the climbing temperature.
18th December 2002
I forgot to mention that our tree is up! Last year I found a tiny little tree in a nursery that was about a foot high and covered it in weensy little decorations which suited our tiny little apartment down to the ground. Unfortunately I let it shrivel up and die outside in the water deprived courtyard. But this year I have decided to try again and we have a tree in a pot that’s about 4 foot high! Mum has offered to foster it during the year, and put it in a little cyprus copse along with her tree and grandma’s tree where they can all live happily and be regularly watered by Mum and Dad’s fancy watering system.
The tree is very Dr Suess - with waving, spindly branches reminiscent of the Grinch’s finger tips, or I can even imagine one of my childhood favourites Horton sitting on top attempting to hatch an egg. So I put it up in the front window and have covered it in miniature mirror balls and funny little ornaments from the Oxfam shop. A set of delicate lights are the finishing touch - Megan sent them to me last year in celebration of our wedding and they are perfect for the fine branches of the tree. It’s very christmasy around here despite the week of heat. 40°c is forecast for Saturday.
17th December 2002
I am still going to make a doll for Amelia J - yes I really am - but today I went to check out a store in Prahran called AK Gallery as suggested by AC in my comments section. What an incredibly beautiful shop it is absolutely loaded with felt dolls, felt christmas decorations, quilts, mobiles… I was in felt / crafty heaven. The felt dolls come from very exotic sounding kyrgyzstan and are quite amazing, perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea but so lovingly made and so unique that I got all carried away and splashed out and bought a doll dressed to the nines in a hand knitted wintery outfit.
I am still going to make that cat doll but now the pressure is off to make it that very special first christmas doll.
16th December 2002
Well, movement on the doll front has been very slow. I am still going to make a doll for Amelia J but I don’t think it’s going to get to her for Christmas so it will have to be more like for her first birthday. I have decided that I am going to make her a cat doll because she is particularly smiley when we make little kitten “meow” noises. Here are some preliminary sketches (doodles on the back of an envelope):
16th December 2002
We had a most fabulous, festive weekend. Friday night we got together with M (who is now a doctor! woohoo!), Dr Beard and M’s new man for some sushi. Unfortunately our sushi plans were foiled when we ordered 2 huge platters to feed the five of us only to be told that they had run out of sushi rice. So Indian it had to be. Fortunately the Indian was good and the company was better.
Saturday was family christmas lunch part 1 with rellies who were down from Sydney and who won’t be back for actual christmas. We pulled crackers, opened presents and ate huge amounts of food.
Saturday night Big-P and I were incredibly brave and left Amelia J with Mum and Dad to be baby sat while we went to celebrate Big-P’s birthday. We had our sushi fix (tempura prawn california rolls are so incredibly fine) and then went down to the Rivoli to see Harry Potter II. Apart from trying hard not to fall asleep and having the most insanely uncomfortable boobs due to missing a feed (these things they don’t tell you when you first think about being a mum!) I loved the new HP with Professor Sprout’s Mandrake potting class and Ron vomiting up slugs making the film for me. It’s the little magical details like those which make the books usually so much more fun than the films. Really, I could take or leave the high action scenes - giant snakes, trolls and mystery solving (although I did find some of the spider stuff pretty scary) - but give me more of the playful, quirky little ideas that make up the basic idea of Hogwarts and the classes and I am in childrens’ literature heaven.
Sunday was christmas barbeque and kris kringle time with a group of good mates. We sat around in the heat and watched babies crawl around (or lie around in Amelia J’s case) and listened to 5 year old Raffy tell us a million nonsensical knock knock jokes. The more we laughed at his bizarre, freeform jokes the more bizarre they got. That kid is a true dadaist.
The weekend was finished off in the best way possible for me at the moment, with Amelia sleeping soundly from 8pm until 1am and me hitting the hay at 9. Lovely, blissful, twilight sleep.
The 20 things benefit auction — for one week only: 31 artists, 10 nonprofits.
