Not as cold as I expected.

We haven't been snow shoeing yet, instead we have been going in for the much needed drinking of tea, knitting and reading option, plus a few outings.















I have a new hat plan on account of some overwhelming hat-envy I experienced at the airport. Fortunately, I accidentally packed some yarn that will be ideal for this hat.














For some reason I had been worried about finding fresh produce, what with it being winter and all. I laugh at my self, now.















Now I am going to go cook some lamb roast and lemon delicious for New Years Eve. From memory, that is exactly what I did for last New Years Eve. It is already well into New Years Day in Oz, and it is cold, so it doesn't really feel like New Years, but any excuse for a lamb roast, hey?

Wild things

The stingray that comes in to greet the fishermen cleaning their catch on the wharf.
















Sammy the Seal who comes in for the same reason.















A heron who was hanging around.















And Didge. Fastest dog on the beach

Furnaces

Surfing Iron Man.















Ned Kelly Iron Man and Scuba Iron Man.

Merry Christmas and a sneezing cat.

I have been adding a Christmas ornament to the collection each year for quite a while now. I think my current favourite is the Christmas lobster from P.E.I.


















And sometimes my cat sneezes and I think it is really cute. Once they settled down, they really loved being by the seaside.

Brunswick IX

Brunswick VIII

wanting

In my head at the moment I want to go teach in Bhutan or volunteer in Mongolia and live in a yurt. But, at the moment, this is pretty good, too.

how to end things

And we're done.

There has been some gear this year, but hotdamn I have some spectacular colleagues.















We went to the park and, ah, talked about pedagogy. Yes.

incisive political comment

big bird

Ahoy there

Heart broken

I got this cup from Target the summer before I started boarding school. (It was on the list with the regulation school underwear [enormous bloomers] which I also got. I think I was the only one.) It disappeared for several years until I found it at the bottom of a bin of molasses.















It has followed me through school, and uni, and falling in and out of love, and moving house fifteen times.

Then tonight I was tired and not paying attention and I grabbed the chopping board off the drying rack and shattered the cup across the floor.

I know I shouldn't get so attached to things.

Brunswick VII (sort of)

Pardon?

I was shopping for prizes (and can I just say that food is hard when you have kids who can't have some combination of nuts, gluten, dairy, kiwi fruit, egg, pepper, sesame seeds and animal products - given the supermarket's stock, I went with wizz fizz) when I saw the chocolate.

You may wish to clik to embiggen. Or you may not.

To market

I fell out of the habit of going to farmers' markets - I am inclined to point the finger at school and its wearying grind. But I have been feeling more like myself in the past few weeks than I have done in years (well, since I started school, actually) and went to a farmers market last weekend.

Among other things were these tomatoes. I bought a bagful and they never actually made it into a dish. Every time I took one (or three) out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature, I was intoxicated by the smell and ate it neat.














I am going to my favourite farmers' market today and might start going to Ceres again.

Early

I always forget how much I like birthdays. Nell is going away for the weekend so, in the place of gin cocktails, early yarn.

Predators

Their favourite place to sit, watching the birds in the loquat tree.

So, weaving

Woven rectangle with sleeves. Simple and lovely. This is the second woven thing I've seen and loved.

Dragon lamp

You’re alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything.

Most days, I walk to work through the cemetery. I like it because it is beautiful and it reminds me that we die. So, on the one hand, it is pretty magical that life works at all, and, also, nothing is really that bad because we'll be dead soon.




















At the end of the cemetery are these flowers. They smell fantastic, I don't know what they are. They flowered just before that hot spell in November, so some of the blooms are a little brown and wilted, but they still smell amazing. They mean that I take deep breaths and relax a whole lot before I get to work.



















I am also a fan of all the ginkgos they planted last year.

E

skinny brunswick boys on bicycles

Now with added puppy.

Chew, more than

I have seem to be pulling out of the knitting slump. I have been asked to make a shawl for a friend's wedding, I have neckwarmers and mittens on the brain and I have just seen

this.

I am already feeling the press of stash... maybe it is time to sell the stash and take on an epic lace project.

Aliens

I am sending this in to the casting people at Dr Who.

Brunswick VII, [near Melbourne]

This is the inscription on one of my favourite graves in the cemetery.

'Michael Dawson
Born at
Round House, Rathangan, Co. Kildare
Died at
Phoenix Park, Brunswick, Near Melbourne
1st June 1875'

I found some history. I hated Australian history at school, but I quite like it now, it makes more sense.

Brunswick VI

Wanting

I like the flat I am living in. It is light and airy, it has plenty of room. I have decorated the toilet. The bathroom is a bit drab, and some things in there have the look of a home handyman with a 'she'll be right' attitude. The kitchen is a bit old and the stove is a bit temperamental, but I am quite fond of it. The flat could use some sprucing, but I haven't felt any urge to live somewhere newer or bigger or with a back yard.


And then I saw this place.

It was the bath that got me first. I like the colour of the tiles and I in my imaginary house I have a bath that looks out over an excellent view, only I hadn't thought about setting it in to the floor.















There is a lemon tree at the back, gas cooking and a window seat in the kitchen (three more features of my imaginary house, though the window seat is in the library in my imaginary house).














There is a climbing wall in the living room, but I like rock climbing and it might give the cats something to think about.

Of course, then I turned over the price tag and looked at the number written there. I might just go back to saving up for Canada.

[i stole the pictures off the realestate.com.au site]

Brunswick V

A good thing about only having a few people over for dinner is that there is way more lemon delicious. (There is quite a lot left over, and left over dessert wine, so maybe next time invite one more person.)

Brunswick IV