So much for my advent calendar!

Blogging has taken a bit of a back seat of late. Who wants to blog when there are Christmas decorations to fling about the big boofy tree (much bigger than I remembered!!) and lights to set to twinkling all about - plus the candles, the sleigh, the cards pegged along the mantelpiece ...

And there's still so much more to come - I have plans!! (involving a wreath or two, fabric wrapped lights, stockings to be made (all 6 of them!), presents to be wrapped and much baking to be done! To borrow the words of Pip from Meet Me At Mike's, Hurrah!!!

We are 10 days out. I have two days (well one and a half) left at work. I have managed to do something Christmasy each night this week - tonight was baking (details tomorrow)

Here's one pic of my handiwork so far ...

 Love these little Ikea lights run on batteries. Ideal for this and for a few other strategic spots like the mantlepiece in the header pic above.

More shots tomorrow, plus results of my evening's baking (have to charge my camera now!)

two

This is a nice way to create an advent calendar. I've missed one but will add it retrospectively - it was only yesterday!

Two was spent at work, having a Christmas lunch at the pub and taking more photos for our self guided tour. Nearly finished.

And my niece and I are off to see George (Michael) in Feb. Should be majorly funny - we have longstanding jokes about George dating back to Wham days, so we are reminiscing in a big way.

Made a yummy dinner tonight ::: steak cooked my special way (hot hot pan, salt & pepper on each side as you cook plus little knobs of golden butter, added both sides that ooze down the edges of the steak and create truly delicious juices - and don't forget, only turn once!)
Alongside were shitake and field mushies, cubed roasted potatoes and this colourful, crunchy salad, dressed with red wine vinegar and that wonderful black oil, pumpkin seed oil (it's really dark green)

Cath gave me the cute salad servers last Christmas.

I'll add tuna to the leftovers and feast on this for lunch tomorrow!

La Superba

Spent a few hours in a cinema watching a movie called Genova.

from here
Colin Firth should be enough when explaining what encouraged me to see this. :-P
But this aside, the wonderful photography and scenery of Genoa/Genova were big drawcards. Loved the way it was filmed in a very natural, immediate way. The colouring of the film was very muted and unsaturated - I liked that because it seemed to provide a sense of 'realness' and stopped it from looking like a travel brochure.
Also loved that it was not about starring roles or big parts but it was a vignette of everyone, in particular Mary, the little girl. What a wonderful little actress. She really did a great job. And Colin's Joe was very real, played in an understated way.
Things I didn't like? Kelly the older daughter was so brittle, a horrible teen but that was her expression of grief I think. I thought the actress was toooo skinny, and she was dressed way too provocatively but maybe that is exactly what a teenager would be wanting to wear, plus her mother wasn't there to see and her father was somewhat distracted. It wasn't that I disliked the character or the actress but I was more aware that I was thinking about these things, whereas the others seemed to inhabit their characters and the actor disappeared. But maybe this demonstrates what a great little actress this girl is because she was so thoroughly horrible at times.

So, nice day. Caught up with my friend and we had a lovely few hours watching this movie, having lunch, chatting and browsing round a shop full of nic nacs. Left her to do the school run as I dashed off to one of my fave spots for a bit of a wander - Ikea. Yup, I do love this barn of a place. It provides so many cool and versatile things. My thing today turned out to be Christmas decos. A few good candles, Swedish style ornaments and bargain wrapping paper. Way more there this year than in the past so it was a little tricky getting me to stop with the buying!!! Here's a few of my cute finds:

Yes, there are a few common themes emerging here ..

:::::dala horse, moose, bird:::::

hmmm, a tad predictable is moi, non?

Moose memories

So many of the wonderful souls amongst my northern hemisphere blogroll are beginning to celebrate the approach of winter and a very different Christmas to the one we will shortly enjoy. Wintery knits abound along with snowy scenes, crackling fires, fir trees and pine cones and reindeer of all sorts ...

So when a moose suddenly popped out of a blog post, it reminded me of the time I saw one, literally just like that. I was 11, on a train travelling across Scandinavia with my parents. We were trundling through a pine forest, slowing down as we approached a station. Even though the dense, dark green trees rolled endlessly on, I was staring out the window, getting ready to see the town where the train was about to stop. In an instant a clearing appeared and right there, not far from the train, stood a moose. He bellowed, lifting his head and then he was gone and the thick trees were all about us again. This vivid image has stayed with me and I still remember the feeling of awe and excitement at having seen a real live moose (quite exotic for a young aussie gal). Consequently, I do have a bit of a soft spot for these big goofy antlered deer.


Here's rather a gorgeous moose

from here

 

 And a few other nice moosey, reindeery, yes, OK and horsey, christmasy things {both from here}

from  here

and

from here

 

from here