Skipping in the daisies

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Image via the wonderful Dinosaurs and Robots

Saturday afternoon and we’re wagging swimming lessons. Just another thing to not tick off the list this week.

So what have you been up to?

I’ve been in stalling mode. House needs cleaning, hair needs cutting, writing needs writing, softies need sewing (I need a little banana slug in my studio to get that done), books need reading, dinners need cooking, plans need planning, weeds need weeding. 

Things I have managed to get done lately (brace yourself, it’s been a killer week);

I gave myself a recession-era fringe cut which may have been a mistake.

I made Mum’s You’ve got Friends Chocolate Cake and it worked! I did the 1.5 size recipe and used a big bundt tin and it was a great success.

I twittered about a library book full of cat hair and a fish bone stuck in my throat.

I watched loads of telly… Season 3 of the Mighty Boosh (loved it), Starter for 10 (great), Oscar & Lucinda (lovely), Survivor (oh yes), Lost (to keep Phil company these days),  Flight of the Conchords (and bought Carol Brown so I can listen to it all the time), The Jane Austen Book Club (meh), and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (still watchable). 

I heard myself tell someone that we don’t watch a lot of television. At that moment I actually believed it.

I had lots of coffees, at Bliss, at Snow Pony, at Laurent, at home from a packet of Jasper’s and then heard myself tell someone that we are not spending any money on unnecessary items in 2009.

I downloaded M Ward’s new album, Clementine by Melbourne’s (not Norway’s) Washington, The Lark Ascending (which reminds me so much of that wonderful movie ‘The Year my Voice Broke’) and listened to the Dodo’s a lot while I was pretending to write. 

I looked at loads of Oscars frocks and then looked at the NME awards photos and felt a bit relieved that the Brits are still so grungy. Clearly not a stylist in the house.

And in case you missed it, I listed a softie on Ebay for the Bushfire Appeal and it ends Monday!

Hottest: wishful thinking

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It’s still hot. It’s not even shimmering heat – it’s just curl up and die heat. Our garden is not faring well – but it’s a good day to wash and dry an old and much loved teddy.

So what else can you do on a hot day? Catch a free train – unless it’s canceled. Wash the kitchen floor with buckets of water and kids. And do lots of wishful thinking.

I looked for the coolest places on earth to run away too. I think Sooke Harbour House on Vancouver Island in British Columbia looks like my kind of place.

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I might run away and take one of those ocean view rooms, watch killer whales, check out the art gallery, walk by the water, sit by an open fire, soak in a bath (guilt free – Lots of water in BC), eat at the organic restaurant, drink good wine and all that stuff. Now that would be a place to write a novel! They have a blog – maybe they need a blogger in residence. Hmm. Well regardless, it’s going on our list for our fantastical Cross Canada Adventure in five year’s time.

And because I know we are heading up to 43ºc some time this afternoon, I am going to spend time checking out the website for the Ice Hotel in Sweden.

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Mmm. Chilly.

Anyway, back to reality. I am off to have an icey pole for lunch.

What are you wishfully thinking about?

Hottest: links

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It’s going to be a hot few days.

Just before I get to the enormous task of digging a house into the ground under the floorboards, Coober Pedy style, so that we can survive Melbourne’s hottest week for 100 years (4 days above 40ºc / 105ºf), I thought I would post a few links.

The first is one I found via one of my favourite blogs Dancing with Frogs. It’s especially for bloggers and it’s nicely said.

Keri reminds us to embrace the season – while the quote from Rick Bass is all about Winter in Montana, it made me stop and think about how much I whinge about Summer and instead perhaps I should try loving it. Hmm, not likely, but I am going to stock up on the watermelon and the icy-poles and try not to be quite so grumpy. Maybe it’s even siesta season if only Lily would agree.

1000 Novels Everyone Must Read – at the Guardian. You know, there are tonnes of these kinds of lists but I quite like how this one is broken up into categories; War & travel (interesting combo),  Science Fiction and Fantasy, State of the Nation, Family and Self, Comedy, Crime and Love.  Reader’s recommendations are going to be published next month. 

February’s a-coming.  Shutter Sisters One Word project. (via Pip) I am not a photographer. Frankly, the idea of taking nice photo freaks me out a bit but I like the idea of this project. It might force me to think about photographing things in a different way.

Creatures of Habitat: Beautiful Blogs

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Finally, I have updated my sidebar (right) with some links for July / August. This time I have decided to list the lovely blogs I visit regularly for inspiration, escapism and fetishism – design blogs.

For those in the know, there’s really nothing new here – all familiar bloggers who do it so well (unfortunately I haven’t had the time to mine for undiscovered gems. Please let me know or leave a comment if you know of any screamingly obvious omissions or personal favourites). I keep coming back to the blogs which I feel most at home in – ones that feature eclectic, personality filled houses. Loads of texture and colour, often with much evidence of kids, often with big saggy sofas covered in cushions.

All these blogs feature gorgeous interiors, and beautiful objects and art created by unique, exquisitely talented and often (sometimes?) affordable designers – so exciting.

Our house is a tragic work in progress, and always will be. But at least with these blogs I can spend a little time visiting that seductive realm of “In an unknown parallel universe, this is how I live”.

** the above image is from Design Sponge‘s Lena Corwin Competition 3rd place winner Meredith Kleinman. Grace’s Design Sponge is probably my very favourite space on the web at the moment. Gorgeous gorgeousness all the time. And WHO isn’t coveting the new Lena Corwin book! Argh!**