HALF A GLASS

August? Ugh! 2013, you are too much. Herein lies an attempt at a life update:

Firstly (as those that follow me on instagram already know), I went to Sweden! Three weeks away with Apryl, visiting our friend Helen who has been living there for some years. We spent the first half of our trip in Stockholm, where we subleased an apartment in the suburbs and spent our time picnicking, swimming, sleeping in, cycling, eating foods, and generally exploring the city at a leisurely pace.

Sadly just a few days into our trip I received word from home that Meg had suddenly fallen ill, having displayed some difficulty walking one evening which digressed to complete immobility by morning. Friends rushed her to the vet but there was no hope, and there she died being petted and loved by three of my dear friends. Meg was 16 years old, a real sweetheart and a friend. The quiet of her absence was such a sad thing to come home to. She is missed.

But, as they say, the show must go on. The second half of our time away was spent cruising, sailing, summerhouse-ing, sunning and exploring. Sweden is really, really good at summer and I did, dead kittens aside, have a really great time. Promise.

And then… three days after I arrived home I was, how do you say, hit by a car while cycling home from work? I wont say much about the accident other than that I was lucky to get out of it so lightly, all things considered. A collarbone broken in two places, some impressive bruising, a few stitch behind my ear and then, two weeks later, a very small subdural haematoma - a bleed on the surface of my brain – the delayed result of head trauma from the collision. Its been four weeks now of hospital, pain, shuffling from bed to couch and back again,  learning to function with just one arm, and then more (new, worse) pain, more hospital, being really sick and sleeping for a whole week (all this while being looked after really well by excellent babes), and now, finally, healing slowly. 

Yes, really. Half a glass. See?

INTO SPRING

From the community garden recently; winter crops flowering wild as we move into spring.

goes on

Suddenly theres just a few hours left of 2011 & I never really got around to dumping that surplus on you. Oops. Happy New Year!

wet weather timetable

I had big plans for today but all this rain and thunder seems determined to keep me indoors. Instead I think we'll stay in bed: drink some tea, read a bit, watch a film, pretend like I enjoy winter (now that the end is nigh). I even have some left over cauliflower chickpeas & chorizo soup in the fridge. Yup! Its my new favorite. So thats settled then. And what about you, what will you do today?

PS - Recipe here.

dirty white

Finally, some of my photographs from Other Peoples Houses, the exhibition I was a part of earlier this year. Theres a website up now, so you can see everyones elses lovely images too.

www.otherpeopleshouses.net

Also featuring works by: Ebony Bizys, Michelle Gow, Pia Jane Bijkerk, Hilda Grahnat, Brian W. Ferry, Anabela Carneiro, Kris Atomic, Victoria Hannan and Kate Miss.

Other Peoples Houses

Look - Thats my name up there along with a whole heap of super clever people. We're all going to be part of a fair dinkum, dinky die, ridgey didge, actual proper, full legit, IRL exhibition! I bet itll be great, but its in london so I wont be able to make it. Maybe you can though? That'd be swell!

garden grows

This summer has seen my first serious attempt at veggie growing, and Ive been slowly enjoying my first homegrown eats these last few weeks. Im in love!

Unfortunately our house was sold so I'll be moving somewhere within the month. Im not sure what will be worse: saying goodbye to all those in-ground pumpkins, zucchini and corn, or moving all my potted plants (which includes 30-odd fruiting tomato plants) somewhere new! Aghhhh. Cross your fingers for me, please, the Melbourne rental market is seriously THE WORST!

leaving

I'm leaving Utrecht in 21 hours! This is sometimes good, sometimes bad. I guess I'm neutral? I hardly took any photos of this here city so the above few will have to do. In all honestly all but the last photo were taken within maybe 25 meters of my bed aha (and you can even see my roof in the last one)! Is that considered cheating? Whatever, I make the rules around here. Tomorrow I board a bus and with any luck will end up in Italy 25 hours later. I-T-A-L-Y PEOPLE! Not even 25 hour buse rides or the prospect of packing can crush my excitement.

spring

So I now realize that I never truly got the whole carry-on about spring before experiencing my first in europe. Certainly, there exists a direct correlation between this and its having immediately proceeded the daily death which was my first european winter but, hey, isn't that the whole point anyway?

Whatever, take a look at those photos. Yellow, Pink, Yellow, Pink, Pink, Yellow, Pink. Spring here is pretty great!

And so I got to thinking those crazy Dutch have this whole thing particularly down pact because approximately seventeen million tulips and/or daffodil's sprung wild from each square meter of urban parkland, median strip or tiny patch of grass. Andandand! then one day last week temperatures reached 28°(82F) which was finally hotter then it was in Melbourne that day, even. Oh, it was glorious.

Was. Its over now. It started raining a week ago today and hasn't stopped since. Today I checked and all the flowers have gone, too. Weather forecasts predict this continuing forever. Now, I realize this is possibly gods way of punishing the dutch for their lax drug laws and colossal sex industry. Or maybe the dutch government figured the only way anyone would ever stay and allow themselves to be subjected to such cruelty is if they were really, really, stoned and could easily get laid whenever the mood struck but whatever the explanation, the australian in me 'reckons this is bullshit, mate'!

old friends

My first real camera is dying a slow and painful death. In the last month I have spent some €75 replacing batteries that should usually last a year-ish but which kept running out within a day or two. Eventually I devised a crafty plan by which I kept the batteries in my pocket between uses. That seemed to do the trick and i had continued merrily on my way.

Fast-forward a week to when I just so happened to be sitting by a pond listening to a chorus of frogs (in the Gardens of Versailles, no less); I take a photo and the shutter doesn't close, another and it doesn't wind-on. Above are the results of a round of test shots I fired off before the camera appeared revived. I really love the second photo, a happy accident for sure.  

Sadly, though, half the shots from the same roll came back only half exposed, so I guess, after six years of faithful service, its finally time to retire the old bird. I've got a new (old) camera making its way to me now and I cant hardly wait.