Ways with writing

Just found a small glittering seam of writing about writing ... about using your time better, about being creative generally ... yes, I know, I can make much from the sage advice offered up here ..

 Companionable sunbakers by the sea in Monterey

So, here are some Unmissable articles on writing

Monterey feline

And I found something called Uncopyright - I like his reasoning ... and here is some of his uncopyrighted work :::
focus : a simplicity manifesto in an age of distraction - there are some great ideas here, good ways to reconsider your connectedness to things online, etc (but now that I am about to get a kindle ....! although it should swing me back towards reading, so good thing, no?)

 Out the front door of our New York hotel

Turn the internet off - one of many from someone who writes a blog called RowdyKittens (liking the name.)

Seen on a New York street corner ...

7 tips to kick the cubicle habit - is a picture of moi forming here???

Locals in Central Park

How to get your writing groove on - writing, editing and focus. Yes.

Hard working New York equine

We're back to the first site :::
Have you thought about a tiny house - thanks again to Pip from Meet me at mikes - many times she inspires me to think outside the box.

A sweet, goofy gull, beside the sea in Monterey

What’s Hot + What’s Not Thursday

It's Thursday again and as usual, I'm stumped for an idea. Maybe it's because it's nearly the end of the week (but not quite) and inspiration hits a slump. It's not helped by the fact that I'm struggling to keep my eye's open but I am determined to keep up my daily post ... here goes :::

What's Hot

1. Target t shirts that are marked down to $5 when you get to the counter. I got two of them tonight. Woo Hoo!

2. Cold beer on hot nights. Enjoyed an Amber Ale with our Thursday night Thai takeaway tonight. Yum. (Watch them pour the glass of beer here ... very cute!)

3. Stripes. Marvellous invention.

 

 

 

from here

4. Weekends. I like how they come after weekdays. I especially like that after tomorrow, I get one.

5. This song :::

What's Not
1. Losing this tree.   :-(    Majorly sad to drive past it today and think that it's huge lemon scented presence, which has graced this spot for 100 years or so, will soon not be there anymore :(((


2. 1 is such a massive un-hot thing this week that I cannot think of anything else that warrants a mention.

On a lighter note, here's a couple of photos that I like :::

Fenec Foxes - aren't they sweeties

White lions - look who has a fan club!

Taken at Mogo Zoo

Mystery solved

My little man playing the maraca filled with tiny silver balls turned out to be ...

Cisco the Cicada!

He was doing a sound check in our bathroom ...

No wonder he was trying out all those different riffs!!

I was right though, he was a really little guy!

UV gently scooped him up and deposited him outside, well away from any furry avengers!

But look who else was lurking above ....

Harold the Huntsman

Can you see the glint of one of his many eyes that I picked up with my flash?

Quite amazing really!

Hmm, spiders are not my thing, really not good with them ... but our ceilings are 3.6 metres and he's away up there, minding his own business (namely catching bugs) so I weakened my natural inclination to run away screaming while at the same time imploring UV to get him outside, but don't kill him!!!

(cue rolled eye!)

It was raining last week and I think he took refuge inside - I couldn't blame him really.

He's hanging around the kitchen at the moment, and I kind of feel like he wants to be one of the gang so as long as he stays up there, he won't get moved on - for now ...

You can see we are in the habit of naming newcomers to our place ...

Other regular wild visitors include Boris the Fruit Bat and Priscilla the Possum (who wears steel capped boots and likes to dance in our roof space from time to time. We hear her carefully lifting the wood on the side of our eaves and creeping in, but then she leaps around noisily from beam to beam. We open up our attic hatch, flick on the light and she melts into the darkness, then slips away the way she came in. We really have to seal up that spot.)

Both Boris and Priscila make regular sorties around about the gardens in the neighbourhood, when there are berries or nectar about.

I'll finish my wildlife post with a couple of cute shots of the boys ...

More glinting eyes from Jasper (enjoying one of his favourite mats, freshly washed)

 

 

Licorice

 Rufus

Aren't these tulips gorgeous? Thank you dear friends!

 

 

 

I have to work out how to stop the white out that happens when I use the flash, especially in these macro shots. It drains much of the colour away. More things to practice.

Things that make me smile

My little sabre tooth tiger

Giraffe visiting the Blue Mountains .... !

How can all that cat fit into one little shoebox?

What’s Hot + What’s Not Thursday

Saw this at Hazelnut's and it was for Wednesday, but now it's Thursday and I have no great inspiration for today's post so here goes (yes I agree these cute memes are fillers but I need fillers too at the moment, until I get my craft life in order) ...

Hot

1. This pair - I have just spent a lovely wee while scrolling through Ernie & Toby's photo set. What a sweet couple, I just love pale dogs, especially when they have cute caramel noses like this one. And Toby thinks he is a dog! Can't get over what great buds they are, and they're aussies!
So adorable!!

 2. Grey, any shade, anything really. Grey is swoonworthy.

Loving these

 mamabetsy

 polarity

 

halpal28

And these too

yystudio

dukestreetduchess

mmmm, grey.

Oh, one more lovely grey thing:

 

Jasper (and Rufus)

3. Baci. The yummiest of chocs. Not my absolute fave but up there. These were one of the birthday presents and we're nearly through the pack.

4. Ikea fabric

I am thinking of covering these chairs with this. UV thought it might be too modern but the colours are good in this new room. Loving this plus a couple of other designs I got the same day:

5. Homemade pyjamas!

Bought this pattern and plan to go through my stash to make lots of lovely pj pants to pair with cute tshirts for summer. I like this combo although I don't have enough of the blue spot. The gingham will make a cuff and band around the waist.











Both fabrics are vintage from my mum's stash. I think my grandmother bought the blue spot in Hong Kong.








What's Not
1. People who waffle. I wish they would tape themselves and listen back to how unintelligable they are, particularly when they don't really know what they are talking about. And when it takes up too much of other peoples time .... grrrrrr
2. Staying up way too late doing fun things like this. Starting to feel v.tired now but I don't feel like I have enough hours in the day to do the fun things. (which is why 1. is so annoying coz your valuable time gets taken up dealing with faffers!)
3. Grey wintery days when it should be getting warmer and more summery.
4. Sore feet. :-(   I want my old feet back. Please come back feet, all is forgiven.
5. Way too much stuff. I have this. Everywhere. I have to move it on, once and for all.

Day 3 (Day 1 of Long Weekend)

Soaking, solid rain is blanketing Sydney right now. Just returned from dinner at a great Thai restaurant near Central. Lovely flavours, as good as last time we were there. Good company, lots of laughs and a few nice glasses of wine - followed by a great coffee, just a few doors down. They really know how to make a good coffee, UV and I agree. We went there last time too and again, it was just as good. Only had a couple of spoonfuls of a very sinful blueberry cheesecake, so feeling quite happy with the day, food wise. This morning's weigh-in was very much a relief, 2 kilos less than yesterday!! Go figure ... well that's what we are trying to do on the other group-effort blog, Figure finding. All of us yesterday weighed in more than we anticipated. Perhaps, as I suggested, it's those unpronounceable scales we bought (2 of us) but I guess it's just the vagaries of the weight loss journey ... or maybe it's just the weather.

So what else can I say about Day 3 of the festival of blogging? Slept in (coz I kinda, um, stayed up til about ... 2ish. Blogging. UV stayed up too, so we were both a bit weary this morning.) So we had a lazy A.M, reading, drinking nice coffee, chatting and discussing the Anglo Saxon hoard uncovered recently, now on display at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (I really want to see it!). I started reading my archaeology feeds and learned a few interesting things, including an ancient Nigerian tribe called the Nok (weren't they on Stargate SG1 once?? - oh, that confirms it, I am watching too much SciFi)

What I really need to emphasise about today is that I (literally) dusted off my sewing machine. It was actually covered in red dust from the dust storm a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't realised it was uncovered and near a slightly open window. Oh, dear, I'm such a good housekeeper!
I didn't end up using it but I did stretch the fabric I bought at the craft fair over a canvas, to hang on the wall. And I'm about to start a new scarf, from a kit I bought at the craft fair - more on that later. So, finally to some craft. I'm also planning to make some soft trees and a pyramid door stop. More on that later also.

Amelie is on right now - what a great film, but (I'm embarrassed to say) I slept through it the first time we saw it!

Rufy did his feral mad cat routine tonight - he was outside while we were out to dinner so came in very wet and started galloping to and fro, from kitchen to deck. He even knocked over the water. Jasper and Licorice looked on, nonplussed, far more sensible ... or perhaps lazy. Ruf is relaxed now, on his pouf (favourite spot, above)

Daylight savings starts tonight (ah ha, Clocktober gets a look in!) so I can't stay up til the wee hours, plus we are off to a 1st birthday party tomorrow, a good drive away so we have to leave here about 10 (and I have to go and buy a present before then!!)

Day 3/Day 1 a good one, very nice to have the feeling of a long weekend, still 2 days left.

All weekends should be long weekends.

P.S. Finally (after perhaps 3 years) I have got my ipod up and running. Yay!!

Chico's found home

The sweet little bloke who found us on Friday night went home tonight. Chico (now we know it's not any of the lame names I came up with - Ginger (sadly obvious), Nez (the markings on his nose look like a pince nez), Mulder (well, his tail is rather like a foxes) - anyhow, he was gratefully received by his lovely owner and her neighbour. The vet scanned him, tracked them down and after ringing them, they hot footed it down in the middle of the downpour that was predicted to turn into gigantic hail stones, to collect their lost waif. He'd been missing since last week and they were off to a psychic tomorrow to see if he was still on this side!!! He lives over 2 streets away, one of which is a very busy road! A very relieved and grateful owner tucked him up in his extremely large carry box and off we all went, into the rainy evening. Rufus was very good, waiting patiently in his carry bag after having his annual booster shots. All boys here, Jasper, Rufus and Licorce seem relaxed and somewhat relieved to have their house back to themselves! Hopefully little Chico is tucked up happily with his ecstatic owner, enjoying being back home again. We will miss the little one though, he had fitted in very easily and if no home was found he would have definitely joined the gang here!

Mosaic moments

1. Splashing is so much fun, 2. Mmmm, Angel ...., 3. Resting meercats at Mogo Zoo, 4. The bathing frenzy, 5. Freshly bathed, 6. Three amigos, 7. Drying off, 8. Beachcombing, 9. And the cat jumped over the moon ..., 10. Fenec foxes at Mogo Zoo, 11. Magpie yoga, 12. Bathing beauty, 13. Early morning at Bermagui, 14. Meercat posing, 15. seagull in driftwood, 16. Last morning

Had fun creating this little mosaic. Holidays are so wonderful- this was (hmm, hmm) March last year, yes 2008. Took me a while!

Autumn sun

I love this photo. I took this about a year ago but it reminds me of the sun out on the deck today, although today it is much windier. The boys, from left Jasper, Rufus and little Licorice, the cat next door, hang out together all the time. Both Jaz and Ruf are tucked up inside in the office today, while Licorice is lounging on the flannelette doona cover on the sofa bed, still out after Dad's recent visit. I suspect it's a little too windy out there for them. I'll take some shots later when my camera has finished charging.
The orange flower bobbing in the backgroud is still blooming, a year later. It's some type of rock orchid and it just seems to send out new buds and re-bloom. Recently, a little pod appeared on the stem but whatever was within it had vanished by the time I checked again. I hope the contents spun off in the breeze to take hold in some new spot.

Great yarns

There's been some good ones of late. The revival in interest of that amazing story from the 70', A Lion called Christian, all the more interesting to me because I've had the original book since it came out in 1972. Nan brought this back for us from London, after one of her trips. I've always loved this tale of two Aussies in London, buying a lion from Harrods and eventually returning this 5th generation in captivity lion to the wild. Its reappearance on youtube had me spellbound, particularly as I hadn't seen any of the reunion footage. Then a program on tellie the other night retold the story in its entirety. I checked out the Born Free website and found that they seem to be involved with lots of rescue work. Good stuff.

Loving Who do you think you are? at the moment. So many good stories - particularly enjoyed the Colin Jackson episode. He was so enthusiastic and interested in all the history he learned and the people he encountered. The show is inspiring me to pick up again with family history research. Scotland, Devon, London and Ireland, among other spots, here I come (one day!)

And to stories fictional ... I watched an episode of Star Trek Enterprise the other day that was done really well. Carbon Creek has T'Pol telling the story of the Vulcans first encounter with humans in the 50's. Is it a family story or is it perhaps T'Pol's own story? As she says at the end, well, you asked for a story ... a great episode from the Star Trek franchise that works the best for me.