In a yellow wood

Dormouse Dreaming

2012-01-27T17:26:00.005+11:00

If this is not the cutest thing ever...a dormouse snoozing and snoring, courtesy of the Surrey Wildlife Trust.

Hope you've got a lovely weekend planned. I will be knitting - despite 33 degrees being predicted! - and reading Barbara Pym.

By the way, is anyone else having problems leaving comments on Blogger blogs?

Feeling hot, hot, hot

2012-01-23T11:17:00.003+11:00

Summer is in progress in earnest here in Australia. We are expecting 34 degrees today and tomorrow. High 20s and low-mid 30s for the rest of the week. Bleh! 25 degrees is about my limit. After that, if there's heat for any length of time, the house just heats up and up and won't cool down. We don't have air-con but we do have overhead fans and I try to seal the heat out wherever I can. But, as you can see, it still sneaks its way in... everywhere in the house is bathed in a glowing orangey light this morning.

"This fascinating terrier..."

2012-01-20T12:50:00.004+11:00

Image of Miss F.S. Sterling with King Charles St Anthony Sun Spot from the Library of Congress.

I am not really a 'dog person'. I don't dislike them (though big ones give me the heebee-jeebies) but I don't actually own one either. Last night though, while trying to tidy up our considerable book shelves, I happened across The West Highland Terrier by Holland Buckley. Written in 1911, I picked up a reprint of it some years ago when I was hooked on Hamish Macbeth and his little westie, Wee Jock. The photographs of beautifully dressed Edwardian ladies with their little bands of westies gathered round are so sweet and the very serious photo of Mr W. Baker, Honourable Secretary of the West Highland White Terrier Club is just splendid. The dogs' names are lovely too -

Morova and Mora
Snowball
Atholl
Dazzler Sands
Tiny and Jean
Roy
Minnie and Flora
Crofter
Ardmore
Padraig
Lagavulin
Glengarry
Groncach

This little book is such a sweet expression of how much people connect with and love animals.

Are you a dog person or a cat person?

Colour my world

2012-01-18T11:14:00.009+11:00

Image from www.jakesdirect.com

I am fixated on the colour green at the moment. I don't mean that loud, glaring apple green that seems to be so popular right now but soft greens, sea greens, heath greens, the muted palette of green taken from nature. I've seen it in tweed material, and in wool (the likes of which is also often described as 'tweed' in colour) and also in that very beautiful, gentle thing that is sea glass.

Image from blog.ounodesign.com

Image from http://knitting-loop.yarnshopping.com/

Image from www.sourisbythesea.com

Image from www.seaglassjewelry.com

I would love to do some beachcombing and find some more of my own seaglass but it is hot here in Australia right now, so every beach is packed to the gills. Not ideal for peaceful beachcombing or for getting to the prettiest bits of seaglass first! If you're in southern Australia, do you have a favourite beach?

What's your favourite colour? Where are you finding inspiration right now?

Some Days are Diamonds

2012-01-13T12:19:00.003+11:00

I've had a bit of a funny week. While it started off very well with a great short course at Writers Victoria, the next couple of days were consumed by some considerable professional disappointment. But I am starting to feel better now and a little more 'on track'. This is due to a combination of -

1. When it first happened, swearing quite a lot for a couple of minutes to no-one in particular in the privacy of my own home
2. Calming down and talking things through with my sweet, sweet husband and dear mum
3. Sleeping on it
4. Cleaning up my study so I was not a) surrounded by clutter b) surrounded by stuff to remind me about what had just bombed out
5. Having a little bit of good old-fashioned sulking time while I was on my own (just a little bit, though)
6. Finding stuff to make me laugh
7. Getting stuck into a new work project
8. Making the best bread and butter pudding ever (so good I'm going to make it again for my parents tonight)

What do you do when you've been through one of life's knocks?

Easy Bread and Butter Pudding

6-8 slices bread, crusts removed
3 eggs
3 tablespoons caster sugar
300 ml cream
Apricot jam
Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Spread the bread with apricot jam and sprinkle with cinnamon
Cut into triangles and arrange in greased oven-proof dish
Whisk together eggs, sugar and cream
Pour over the bread and bake for 25 minutes

This recipe is from http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/ I used fruit bread instead of plain bread, I didn't cut the crusts off or cut the slices into triangles and apparently any jam is fine (doesn't have to be apricot).

As a character in one of the hilarious You Tube comedy clips I've been watching would say - "So good, right?"

The Girl who finally succumbed to the Bestseller

2012-01-11T10:30:00.005+11:00

I am not one for bestsellers and blockbusters. I am probably just being pedantic, but I don't like to be told what I should like. I like to find that out for myself. So it is that I have side-stepped Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who played with Fire and The Girl who kicked the Hornet's Nest. But last Saturday night, SBS (our foreign film channel) screened the 2009 Swedish production of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. And. I. loved. it. It was quite long, but I stayed gripped from beginning to end. The plot kept up a great and engaging pace, and I loved the character of Lisbeth Salander (played by Noomi Rapace).

I'm not sure if I want to see the American version of the same film which is currently in cinemas, because I loved what I saw as the 'Scandinavianess' of the film, especially that stark grey-blue natural light which is well displayed in the brief clip below. Perhaps I should see the later version, just to compare and see if there is such a thing as 'Scandinavianess' or whether I just read that into it with from my own biases and understandings of what I expected to see.

Do you think that films (or books) from different countries have different characteristics to them?

My mum, who loved all three books, is bringing me books 2 and 3 today so there is some happy reading ahead. Just as well, since our weather has taken a rather unsummery turn and it is currently raining and struggling to get to 19 degrees!

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I'd better get a bit more used to reading bestsellers and the like (rather than just my nichey faves!) because I have decided to take my writing a bit more seriously this year, so I need to know who (and what) is making a success of it! I went to a course at Writers Victoria (http://writersvictoria.org.au/) on Monday and it was brilliant - very, very encouraging. If you are literary-inclined, I would heartily suggest you pay them a visit.

Musings

2012-01-05T17:10:00.004+11:00

I found this beautiful bowl at the op shop today. It's made a lovely addition to my little collection of Russian folk art bits. I'm not sure if it is in the 'Khokhloma' style (any thoughts anyone?) but it is just so lovely. I like that it is not pristine either - it looks like it has been used and loved.

Speaking of love, I have extended my yarn love to encompass mostly just green yarn and a particular shade of green at that. This is 'Rowan felted tweed aran' and I just love, love, love this tweedy green shade. I am looking at Fairisle and Aran knitting patterns at the moment - in other words punching well above my weight, skills-wise.

I am looking mainly for laughs on TV at the moment and I think I am finally into The Trip. Are you watching it? It didn't grab me at first and it still has moments of 'patchiness' for me, when I'm just not sure where it's going, but I do love their (apparent) ad-libbing.

We saw The Iron Lady on New Years Eve. Have you seen it? I knew next to nothing about Margaret Thatcher and this film gave me an interesting perspective on her. I couldn't say I warmed to her necessarily, but the complexities of her character were certainly well drawn out.

Backwards and in heels

2012-01-04T10:42:00.004+11:00

My sweet fella and I don't dance. So don't ask us (ha-ha). That was until...last night. We went to our first swing dancing class! My lack of coordination has been a well known fact since I was at primary school and my husband has two (self-professed) left feet but we have been thinking of swing classes for a while. We enjoy the music and it just looks like fun. We went to a Swing music night a couple of years ago, though, and it scared us to death. Everyone was moving so fast and they all seemed to know about a million different steps. So we retreated from that idea. But, new year and all, we thought we'd give it another try when we noticed that there were classes on offer not five minutes from where we live. So, we are baby, baby, baby swing dancers. One of the teachers very kindly and patiently walked (danced?) us through some very basic steps while the rest of the class leapt expertly around but it was fun. And we're going back next week.

Any new activities for you this year?

What are you looking for?

2011-12-31T16:05:00.010+11:00

I hope you're having a good break in this "in-between" time wedged in amongst Yuletide and New Year. We went for a lovely drive yesterday to The Dandenong Ranges, just outside of Melbourne. We had a nice old-style, sit-down lunch in Sassafras and then walked it off on a bush walk just behind the village. Driving on to Olinda, we walked part of the way around the beautiful four kilometres of The National Rhododendron Gardens. We'll go back there in Spring - it would be amazing to see them all in flower.

A white Protea - I had never seen one before, thinking they only flowered in pink

A gecko who patiently waited while I took his photo

A mighty gum tree

Wild forget-me-nots

The canopy of green

We're expecting 36 degrees tomorrow and 38 degrees Monday, so it was nice to get out into the bush before really hot weather hits.

At a new-agey shop in Sassafras, The Oracle, I picked up the following 'fortune' from a bowl at the front door -

You will find what you are looking for, but stop looking on the outside for what can only be found on the inside.

This is surprisingly apt for me at the moment, and it's a thought I'll carry into the new year. What about you? What are your new year thoughts or resolutions?

Wishing you a new year of happy days and all that your heart desires.

~ Feronia x

Good Tidings

2011-12-23T11:25:00.003+11:00

Warm wishes to you from the Yellow Wood for a wonderful Yuletide.

I have only a little more to do before the Yuletide season begins in earnest. How about you? I'll be painting on and then baking a plate for my parents today as well as printing another piece of cloth to wrap around their Ikea food goodies. I might make some shortbread too. Unfortunately it is humid and predicted to reach 31 degrees today, so turning on the oven is not a very appealing option!

Tomorrow, I'll head off to the (shudder) shopping mall to pick up a few last minute gifts (some of my online purchases have failed to materialise) and also buy the ingredients for apricot balls, cherry ripe slice and Russian fudge (if you like the sound of these, head over to Tiny Happy. Melissa has been posting some gorgeous recipes) which I'll make tomorrow afternoon. I'm on salad making duty on Sunday, so I'll also need the bits and pieces for pasta and cheese salad, potato salad and green salad. All of these are fairly quick makes, so I am not unduly stressed.

What's on your last-minute to-do list?

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I have so enjoyed watching the repeats of Pride and Prejudice lately and now I am reading Emma with equal enjoyment. This may not be a Christmas scene but I couldn't resist posting a bit of Regency festivity at this time of year.

If you love Jane Austen and knitting, you might be interested to pick up Jane Austen Knits at www.interweavestore.com I have just downloaded it and it looks absolutely beautiful.

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Take care x

Simple Pretty, Pretty Simple

2011-12-21T10:32:00.002+11:00

I was very pleased with how this turned out. I bought a rubber stamp at a craft shop on the weekend for $3 and completely on a whim decided to stamp it onto some calico 'pudding cloth'. I really like how it looks! I'm going to stamp a large piece of cloth now (this was my sample!) and wrap some edible goodies I bought from Ikea for my parents in it. I think I might have a go at making my own stamps over the break. Does anyone else make their own rubber stamps?

What's Swedish for Retail Therapy?

2011-12-20T14:07:00.003+11:00

In amongst a sudden and unexpected flurry of work stuff, I have been tinkering away on a few little crafty-cookingy type projects. Yesterday I made coconut ice. I don't know if this is an exclusively Australian confection? Essentially, it's a sugar-level-disrupting mix of coconut, condensed milk and icing sugar. So bad and yet so very good. I made this batch as a Christmas gift for a friend's little daughter and I am also planning some more for our Christmas Day stops, as well as brownies or perhaps rocky road.

I also stitched this brooch as a belated birthday gift for same said friend. Oh, vintage doilies, how I do love thee.

This morning I did one of my rare pilgrimages to Ikea. I have always liked Ikea but I have never been that excited by it. But today there were so many very good bits and pieces! I spent far more than I intended but I didn't buy anything I didn't really love or need (I think William Morris would approve).

On the fifth day before Christmas,
On a trip to Ikea I did buy,
Thirty birdy napkins,
Twelve fabric hearts,
Eight picture frames,
Four birdy placemats,
Three cooking pots,
Two scented candles,
Two nice prints,
Two jars of jam,
Two jars of mustard,
One bottle of glogg,
One packet of crispbread and
One packet of toff-ee!

Double Cream

2011-12-14T15:33:00.006+11:00

I am in love with all things cream and white at the moment. And perhaps a little bit of brown, as is the case with these lovely owls in Peter Slater's A Field Guide to Australian Birds.

Beautiful Japanese craft books...

The beginnings of some embroidery...

Some more soothingly simple knitting with the Alafoss Lopi wool...

And a little brooch I stitched.

Dreaming of Snow

2011-12-08T15:26:00.007+11:00

Illustration by Ivan Bilibin

Summer is upon us here in Australia, and so I am dreaming of snow! As you may know, I am not a fan of summer. I find the heat confining and too restrictive on one's activities, especially when it gets to that point of really being too hot to leave the house. It is very warm today but the real warmth, when everything seems to be coated in an eerie simmering calm, will not (hopefully) be here until the new year.

So I am sifting through the Net for photos of Russia and Norway's snowy landscapes, that peculiar, almost iridescent blue-grey Northern light and a glorious clip from the film "Eugene Onegin" which captures just that light, the gorgeous interiors that reflect nature's winter colours and of course the chill of Ralph Fiennes' Onegin!

Russia from The Guardian

Image from nordiclandscapes.com

At this very moment

2011-12-02T12:14:00.005+11:00

Right at this very moment, I am loving...

Coming up with some unusual (and hopefully loved) gifts for the family at Etsy and managing to break away from the dreary commercial offerings that are being rammed down our collective throats at the moment. I'll also be making up some hampers comprising the homemade goodies we talked about last week.

Listening to the peaceful, optimistic music of my mother's youth on my IPod, along with a few added bits and bobs of my own.

Having too much to read! At the moment I am thoroughly enjoying My Father's Country by Wibke Bruhns, as well as Christopher Stevens' Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams. News from Nowhere by William Morris and Sally Beddell Smith's Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House are waiting on the bedside table, along with all the other books I am still dipping in and out of!

What about you?

Lives in a house, a very big house, in the country

2011-11-30T14:56:00.006+11:00

Image from downmagaz.ws

I had a lovely op-shop find yesterday - a 1963 Country Life annual. Do you know Country Life? It's a British magazine that's been around for many years focussing primarily on the tastes and habits of the English landed gentry (or what's left of it these days). Unfortunately I couldn't find any 60s covers online to show you but you get the idea with these two from this year - country houses and dogs. The 1963 number is a real treat, though, with all sorts of genteel articles about art, rambling and the English countryside. Not to mention "Saturday to Monday: A British Institution" - that is, what to pack for a weekend at a country house. Kit yourself out at Burberry, Moss Bros., Pringle and Aquascutum for a start, dress to "defend yourself against brambles" and wear "slacks, if you know your host does not disapprove...but skirts are more general". You couldn't say I don't give you valuable advice here!

Image from www.gb.ziinio.com

Brideshead Revisited Revisited

2011-11-28T11:45:00.004+11:00

The latest remake of Brideshead Revisited was on TV last night. I hadn't really planned to watch it, having not heard good reviews of it when it was released in the cinemas, but I gave it a go. It was up against it after the almost legendary TV adaptation made in 1981 with Jeremy Irons as Charles Ryder and Anthony Andrews brilliant as Sebastian Flyte. I loved that version so much that I bought the DVD boxed set. And I have always loved the score - I even had it on a vinyl LP. Having seen that series numerous times and marveled at how they had captured in a TV series such subtlety, I was doubly overwhelmed when I finally got around to reading Evelyn Waugh's beautiful book.

So, as I say, coming to the 2008 film version, they were up against it. I didn't mind the first half of it but as the plot progressed, the interpretation that the film's directors had decided upon - focussing heavily upon Charles' relationship with Sebastian to an extent and then to a large degree his relationship with Julia - was laid on so thickly and plainly that any of the subtlety and beauty of Waugh's story and the 1981 production was lost. But, having said that, my husband, who hasn't seen the Irons/Andrews version or read the book, quite enjoyed it. So perhaps I came to it too biased. What do you think about film and TV adaptations? Have you seen any of your favourite books done really well or...not so much?

Comfy

2011-11-25T11:22:00.008+11:00

Thank you so much for your great suggestions for making a more handmade Christmas. I also found this terrific list on Facebook put together by Pip Lincolne - http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/notes/justb/edible-christmas-gifts-to-make/228936923840028 I am not a great fan of Christmas for various reasons so I am thinking (and hoping!) that approaching it in this way - with a little bit of crafty goodness - might just be enough to perk it right up for me!

Does anyone read the English Woman's Weekly? My grandmother read it religiously and even had a copy put aside for her every week at the local newsagency. I used to love looking at all the amazing cakes and spectacularly complicated but beautiful jumpers when I was a child and a lot of my early reading was of The Robin Family serial (it's about a family of robins, surprisingly). Lately I seem to be finding vintage copies of it around the place and I've quite fallen in love with it.

From comfort reading to comfort viewing, I watched The Royal last night for the first time. I had dismissed it previously as nothing more than Heartbeat set in a hospital but it is really quite good (and Wendy Craig is the matron, Butterflies fans!). Very nice, satisfying telly and that, sometimes, is just what one needs.

What's been comforting for you this week?

The C Word

2011-11-23T15:21:00.007+11:00

Every year I say to myself, "I hate Christmas! It's so commercial! Why can't we have Christmas like they used to and make things to give? All this materialistic rubbish!" etc., etc. You get the idea. And every year I completely fail to practice what I preach because I can't think of what to make for people that won't appear to be some horrible, second-rate, cobbled-together, cheapskate gift rather than something gorgeously handmade that people will cherish.

But this year I am determined to make at least some handmade gifts. The question is - what? I am toying with the idea of some 'quick makes' on the knitting loom, like fingerless gloves (even though I am still very much a novice) and I am also thinking of lemon butter since our lemon tree is going absolutely mad at the moment and there are lemons everywhere. Then I get stuck for ideas. Do you have any suggestions? What gorgeous things are you making/have you made?

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More music today...the wonderful Sandie Shaw, first singing one of her 60s classics and then a song she originally did with The Smiths. I have discovered a Smiths tribute band (Plagiarism Begins at Home), actually (imagine my excitement), and we're going to see them play on December 3. Can't wait!

Rush Hour

2011-11-22T10:52:00.005+11:00

It was all go in the backyard yesterday evening. At about 7 pm, my husband and I went out to pick some herbs for dinner and I noticed that lots of passionflowers had come into bloom on the passionfruit vine. Upon closer inspection, I also saw that rush hour was in progress.

A little spider went steadily about his final business for the day...

While dozens of bees grabbed up the last lots of pollen to carry back to the hive...

Phew!

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I couldn't resist posting another Kate Bush clip today, this time - since I am about to start reading a bio of the Bronte sisters - the wonderful "Wuthering Heights".

Right now I'm...

2011-11-21T14:36:00.004+11:00

Loving knitting with the thick Alafoss Lopi wool on thick needles
Listening to old Kate Bush songs on You Tube
Reading An Academic Question by Barbara Pym and finding it so much more enjoyable the second time around
Eating pumpkin pie made by my husband from our pumpkins. Yum!
Discovering Pride and Prejudice (Colin-Firth-as-Mr-Darcy-version) on late night TV and loving it all over again

And how about you?

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

2011-11-11T09:56:00.003+11:00

We have a winner! librarygirl (http://www.livinginthekingdomoftoomuch.com/) has correctly guessed that "Scarborough Fair", a beautiful old English folk song made famous by Simon and Garfunkel in the 60s, was the song title suggested by my photo on Wednesday! Thanks for 'having a crack' as we say here in Australia, librarygirl! The pretty, pretty doily will be winging its way to you very soon.

And here is the lovely song itself...

Have a beautiful weekend.

In Apple Blossom Time

2011-11-09T13:01:00.003+11:00

Does anyone know what this little guy is? I'm thinking apple blossom for some reason - I have no evidence for this - and the tree is entirely self-sown. Any suggestions appreciated!

Fly like a starling

2011-11-08T13:23:00.004+11:00

As we were preparing dinner last night, I looked down at some of our garden's herbs on the chopping board and I thought: "I reckon post number 424 is about time for a giveaway!" Or something like that. So...if you would like to have a very pretty thrifted doily framed in an embroidery hoop to hang on your wall, I would love to send it to you as a way to say "Thank you!" for popping into the Yellow Wood to have a wander around. All you have to do is this...name the song title suggested by the herbs above! A winner will then be randomly generated on Friday and I will happily send this little bit of vintage pretty off to anywhere in the world!

This breathtaking video of a murmuration of starlings has been doing the Internet rounds lately but it is just so incredibly lovely, I just had to post it. Enjoy!

Going Loomy

2011-11-07T16:42:00.006+11:00

Nice, nice, nice stitch with my Icelandic wool...

The littlest loom at work (and I found Isela Phelps' The Beginner's Guide to Knitting on a Loom in the library today)

Many months ago, I acquired a set of knitting looms from the kind and generous Meg at Land of Meg (http://landofmeg.blogspot.com/) I have to admit that they then sat in the study for rather a while because I just wasn't sure what to do with them and so I kind of moved on to other things. For no reason at all I picked them up the other day and thought "I'm going to learn how to use these things!" So, as we all do when we want information these days, I went to You Tube (!!) and found a how-to video. And...I love it! It is so easy and you get such nice results so quickly. I think I may even soon be able to make socks, despite months of puzzling over circular needles and wondering how on earth I would ever perform such a feat (I nearly wrote feet!) with conventional knitting needles. If you would like to try knitting but haven't had much luck using needles, I urge you...get a loom!

Friday Nostalgia

2011-11-04T11:57:00.005+11:00

A little bit of nostalgia today. For no reason at all, Cricket magazine popped back into my head yesterday. I haven't thought about it in years but I read it religiously when I was a child in the late 70s and early 80s. They had a healthy supply at our local library and I would stock up whenever we paid a visit. I found some copies on Etsy yesterday and I've indulged myself by buying them. Did you read Cricket? What did you read as a little one?

And The Magic Roundabout. Brilliant. Did you watch it? I do wonder though that I understood it completely at age 3 or 4. "No wonder she was nationalised"??? Social commentary for the under-fives. I love it!

A very necessary thing

2011-11-03T15:49:00.003+11:00

So Blogtober is over. I didn't manage 31 days but ah, well. It was fun. And that's the main thing, I reckon. Actually, I noticed that I 'blogtobered' on 1 November by mistake, so do I get extra brownie points? :)

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I have just (literally, just) finished a long piece of writing which has been annoying me for some weeks now. It just didn't work for so long. Now, I think it does - at least it's better - and it's over deadline anyway, so off it goes. Correspondingly, my brain is now fairly mushy!

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Grey and cool here today but we are apparently expecting 33 degrees on Sunday. Typical Spring weather!

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So many books waiting to be read on my bedside table right now:

Anita Brookner, The Rules of Engagement (In Progress)
Aeschylus, The Oresteia
Hilda Ellis Davidson, Roles of the Northern Goddess
Lucinda Hawksley, Lizzie Siddal (In Progress)
Kate Grenville, The Secret River
Tracey Chevalier, Remarkable Creatures (In Progress)
Magnus Magnusson, Viking~Hammer of the North (In Progress)
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit (STILL In Progress)

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I found a cassette tape of The Muppet Movie soundtrack in an op-shop yesterday. I think this song pre-dates that movie, but it's lovely, so I thought I'd pop it in. Ah Kermit, a very Zen frog.

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So what's news with you?

Blogtober Day 19 - A large white rabbit

2011-11-01T11:30:00.004+11:00

Reading Beanie Mouse's blog just now (http://beaniemouse.blogspot.com/) and seeing a pic of some sweet bunny statues in London, I was immediately reminded of Walter, the giant inflatable rabbit we saw in Singapore. We saw him out the front of the Singapore Art Museum (www.singaporeartmuseum.sg/) on Bras Basah Road in Singapore but apparently he moves around town a bit too, as you can see above and below. Just the sort of whimsy I love! He's the creation of artist Dawn Ng.

The two photos above are from http://toysrevil.blogspot.com/

This one is from the Singapore Art Museum website.

Blogtober Days 17-18 - Teenage Dreams

2011-10-31T16:43:00.005+11:00

I had a major crush on Nick Heyward. His current website is nicely whimsical and worth a look - http://nickheyward.com/

I still know all the words to this.

I remember every week throughout my high school years, I would buy Number One magazine. It was from England and I was a bit of an Anglophile in those days, especially with regards to matters pop. And every fortnight, I bought Smash Hits. I loved the British pop bands of the day and their floppy-haired lead singers. Last week ABC, who were faves of mine back then, were playing at a local venue, along with the lead singer of Spandau Ballet. Did I really want to go see them? They'd be reliving the past, and so would I. Hmmm. Best stick with You Tube and memories of teenage dreams on this one.

Who were your teen crushes?

Blogtober Days 16-17 - Unexpected

2011-10-28T10:42:00.010+11:00

I have been busy trying to finish off a piece of writing this week so it's been a bit rush, rush, rush. I had a letter to post yesterday and so flashed quickly into an op-shop ("I don't really have time for this, but...") as I was walking back to the car from the post office. I was delighted to find a number of balls of Icelandic wool (Alafoss Lopi - have you ever used it?). It's so lovely and unprocessed looking (and feeling). At first I wondered if Alafoss was Icelandic for alpaca but it seems to just be the brand name!

Also some gorgeous little crocheted doilies, just right for framing in embroidery hoops...

And this great crocheted wall hanging. So cute! Love a flying and unexpectedly fruitful thrifting stop!

I am in no way religious in the conventional sense and I don't subscribe to any of the organised religions. Yet I have found unexpected enjoyment in listening to some gospel music this week, especially as sung by the American singer Allison Krauss. I love the purity and simplicity of sound. You might recognise this song from the Daylesford ad if you are local or from the movie O Brother Where Art Thou. So peaceful. Enjoy your weekend.

Blogtober Days 15-16 - Pymanalia

2011-10-26T11:08:00.004+11:00

Writing a post every day is harder than I imagined!

I found some lovely books on a flying visit to the local library yesterday. Scandinavian Needlecraft by Clare Youngs, which has all sorts of beautiful embroidery projects in it and lots of use of felt, which apparently has been used in Scandinavia as far back as old Norse times. Hopefully I will manage to make something from it, though sometimes I must admit I just like books like this for the pictures! Also, Keepsakes by Frances Hansen. Lots of great old-fashioned recipes but with suitably up-to-date twists to take them out of the stodge zone - curried sausages and boiled fruit loaf are looking good already. Great vintagey style to the book too.

And...I think I may be onto something in my quest to find a writer similar to Barbara Pym. Anita Brookner (that's her in the Nation Portrait Gallery photo above). I saw Hotel du Lac when it was made into a telemovie many years ago (with the Pymmish heroine par excellence Anna Massey) and I read Brookner's Latecomers a couple of months ago. Yesterday I borrowed The Rules of Engagement and it's started out very promisingly indeed. Any other Pym- or Brookner- ites out there who'd care to comment?

Speaking of Barbara Pym, if you are a Pymite (Pymster, Pymmie, Pymian?), have a look at The Barbara Pym Society's webpage - there are lots of really interesting essays there from their annual conferences.

Blogtober Days 14-15 - A Breath of Fresh Air

2011-10-24T15:00:00.008+11:00

Sorry to miss Friday's Blogtober post, but I knew that there was a photo opportunity coming up on Sunday! We went to help my parents out at Blackwood. They have a small holiday cottage up there and every year before the summer hits, a property clean-up is in need. Our family has long had a connection with the town - my grandfather was born there in 1905. It was a goldfields town in the nineteenth century and very different to what it is now, back then it even had its own skating rink! Now, it is a very peaceful place with lots of lovely walking tracks surrounding it. I took the time to snap a bit of the pretty native foilage yesterday - the gumnuts above, for example.

As well as taking a walk to the local cemetery where there are lots of beautifully ornate Victorian gravestones and memorials.

This is called broome, I think. So pretty - I brought a bunch home.

A lovely ivy grove which has developed quite spontaneously under a huge gum tree. I am quite sure the fairies live here. I was always told not to knock over toadstools (of which there are many at Blackwood in winter) when I was child because fairies lived under them.

Another native...not sure of the name (sorry!). This plant lived on our balcony when we were still renting and died a sad death - my mother has resurrected it.

Such a nice day! Hope you had one too.

Blogtober Day 13 - Fiddling About

2011-10-20T14:45:00.005+11:00

I like to make jewellery and I am trying to add some new strings to my skill bow so I can make a few new bits and pieces for my Etsy shop, In Dark Woods. So it is that I am trying to work with wire at the moment. What I've discovered this afternoon is that I really need some round-nosed pliers if I am going to be able to make nice, neat spirals. I have had some fun in the meantime, though, 'free-forming' with the wire, binding it around and around some pieces of sea-glass to just see how they turn out. I quite like them and I think the irregular wire work suits the ragged pieces of glass. What do you think?

And a perfect accompaniment to this sort of fiddling is The Sundays on You Tube. What do you listen to while you work?

Blogtober Day 12 - Stitch

2011-10-19T16:13:00.002+11:00

I was delighted to find this hand-worked tablecloth in an op-shop today. It's covered in these lovely, folky panels. Pretty, isn't it?

Blogtober Day 11 - Thrifting Love

2011-10-18T16:24:00.008+11:00

This beautiful Berggren breadboard at The Travelling Owl ~ http://www.etsy.com/shop/wyoupcycler?ref=pr_shop_more

I love folk art and lately have developed a taste for the Scandinavian Berggren style. As ever, Etsy is a dangerous place for me to be...

A lovely grater at My Parents Attick ~ http://www.etsy.com/shop/myparentsattick?ref=pr_shop_more

Check out this pretty breadboard at Suzincolo ~ http://www.etsy.com/shop/suzincolo?ref=pr_shop_more

I love this keyholder at Scavenger Hunt ~ http://www.etsy.com/shop/scavengerhunt?ref=pr_shop_more

Happily though, I found some sweetly pretty Russian pieces to add to my collection while thrifting today.

Happy Days!

Blogtober Day 10 - Hassle Free

2011-10-17T17:17:00.009+11:00

My parents celebrated 42 years of marriage on Saturday so we had dinner with them and I provided some sweet goodness. I know some very sloppy icing skills are on display here but sometimes I just can't resist letting the icing go 'sploosh!' and being the very antithesis of 'cake decorated' cakes with their undoubtedly very skilled but rather artificial little roses and so on. The recipe I went with was really lovely and moist and it was -

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar

Mix together 1 cup sugar and butter.
Add eggs and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice; mix well.
Add salt, flour, and baking powder to mixture.
Add milk.
Bake at 170°C in a well greased loaf pan for 1 hour, or until golden brown.

[from http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090401215813AAHiS6k]

Yesterday my sweet husband and I went to one of our favoured bushwalking spots - favoured because there are also some very nice lunch options and a great second-hand bookstore not too far away!

I enjoyed watching the bug life going about its business...

And was really struck by the muted greens, yellows, browns and greys of the Australian bush that seem to be about at the moment.

At the bookstore I found The Illustrated Hassle-Free Make Your Own Clothes Book by Sharon Rosenberg and Joan Wiener. It was printed in 1971 so the front cover is suitably hippie and there is a definite sprinkling of 'I really dig that'-style comments throughout but I am super keen to start sewing some simple clothes for myself and this book seems to set everything out really simply and clearly. We'll see if it lives up to its claim of being hassle free! Has anyone else read and/or sewed with this book?

What did you while away your hours with this weekend?

PS I couldn't resist posting this very brief clip from the wonderful British comedy Miranda as she notes ways in which she is turning into her mother - one of which is by commenting on a cake's moistness (this is prompted by my own comments above).

Blogtober Day 9 - To see the ivy

2011-10-14T11:04:00.006+11:00

We are having some gorgeous weather here at the moment. Lovely and warm with blue skies, the garden abuzz with insects and everything growing like mad. Despite the fact that I'm facing two deadlines (or perhaps because), this cheerful weather is putting me in a rather frivolous state of mind, in which I would much rather be sitting in the back garden reading Little Dorrit or continuing on knitting my first ever attempt at a cardigan than staring at the computer. For some reason, all this put me in mind of the 1981 series Brideshead Revisited, especially the first few episodes (it all gets fairly messy and bleak by the end). There's not only the lovely way the series is shot to gaze upon, the way in which the characters are played to relish (I love Sebastian almost as much as I love Aloysious) and of course Evelyn Waugh's brilliantly wrought plot but there's that wonderful soundtrack by Geoffrey Burgon which wends its way so perfectly through the series, making the entire package of vision and sound in these initial eps seem like one's witnessing some sort of dream. Ah, gorgeousness!

By the way, when do you do most of your reading and knitting? I am trying to do mine in the evenings but I find I am making no progress at all because I doze off, despite the fact that I am very interested in doing both!

And finally, has anyone ever knitted a fair isle jumper? I am in love with them at the moment but they look very difficult to make but are quite expensive to buy complete on Etsy. I suspect as a baby knitter they might be a bit beyond me at present, but I'd love to know about your experiences.

Blogtober Day 7-8 - Johnny Cash and Chocolate Cake

2011-10-13T10:39:00.004+11:00

Oops! Only seven days into Blogtober and I missed a day. Work got a little bit crazy yesterday and then I remembered that I had volunteered to make the cake for my mother's birthday dinner last night...!! I went with this one - http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/18086/super+easy+chocolate+cake - which was delicious and a big hit.

I loved the movie "Walk the Line" about the American singer Johnny Cash. I've been a fan of Joaquin Phoenix since I saw him in "Gladiator" and, having seen the film, I also became a big fan of Cash's music. It seems to me that his songs (and the covers he chose to sing) remarkably spanned the spectrum from tremendous toe-tapping optimism to real melancholic despair. Here's two great examples of both ends of that span.

Blogtober Day 6 - Gently does it

2011-10-11T14:50:00.008+11:00

I have a number of doilies - inherited from my grandma and found on my thrifting travels - and I was delighted with how this gentle, fragile little one worked out when I framed it in an embroidery hoop.

The book cover image is from the Tower Books website and the one below it is from Lark.

I was very happy to find Jane Brocket's The Gentle Art of Knitting in the library this morning. I have followed Jane's blog Yarnstorm (http://yarnstorm.blogs.com/) for some years and I was quick to acquire The Gentle Art of Domesticity when it came out. And look! A number of very nice projects seem to be using garter stitch...hooray!

Image from http://makingooduse.typepad.co.uk

And with Paul McCartney in the news this week - I have never been a great fan of the Beatles but I do love this song, "Across the Universe" - so gentle, so whimsical.

Blogtober Day Six - Weekend Happenings

2011-10-10T10:57:00.007+11:00

On the weekend, I finally managed to get something done with a lovely little set of vintage swap-cards depicting different types of fruit that I bought at a flea market in Copenhagen. There are also cards of vegetables and nuts in the deck, but I like the fruit ones the best. I had had them just on their own on the kitchen wall, but then thought that framing them would be better.

Discovery! I started knitting with two balls of yarn last night, following a suggestion from the magazine I mentioned last week. You know I am but a baby knitter - I'm sure all you knitters out there have been doing this for ages! But I enjoyed trying out something new.

And so it begins...the first recipe tried from the Australian Women's Weekly Sweet Old-Time Favourites - Caramel Cornflake Chews. They are very like Anzac Biscuits but without the oats. I was going to post the recipe but I got scared after reading the copyright section of the cookbook! These are super yummy, though. Hot out of the oven - gooey in the centre. Oh yes.

How was your weekend?

Blogtober Day 5 - At Home

2011-10-07T12:37:00.006+11:00

The fairies are definitely about at the moment. I know this because they have planted a little ring of daisies in our garden!

I have decided to make use of my grandmother's cutlery set. She only used it when my parents and I came for Sunday lunch and every Sunday, after lunch, I was placed in charge of polishing each piece and returning it to the homemade calico pouches they lived in. We certainly won't use it every day but it now has its own drawer in the kitchen as opposed to being bundled up in a bag as it was when I just wasn't quite sure whether I should use it or not. Brings a nice little touch to things, I think, and reminds me of those lovely Sunday lunches. Do you have anything special like that?
I can feel a bake-a-thon coming on...there are so many goodies in the Women's Weekly cookbook that I mentioned yesterday...cinnamon teacake, swiss roll, caramel cornflake chews, melting moments, chester squares... I'll let you know what I chose to make on Monday.

Enjoy your weekend.

Blogtober Day Four - Good Things

2011-10-06T12:42:00.007+11:00

The beautiful Pigface plant that I have in a pot out the front is just looking so lovely at the moment.

I had a very fruitful visit to the local op-shop this morning. Two gorgeous vintage tablecloths ~

And a lovely idea for something different to do with garter stitch. I am still very much a novice knitter, so garter stitch is really what I feel most comfortable with at the moment. It can, however, sometimes get a little...dull! So I rather like the idea of this little blanket-stitched heart. It is described as "Shaker-style" too which also got me in - I will never be minimalist enough (or even close) to follow the Shaker style but I love it.

I often have rather a dodgy tum, and strangely enough sweet treats appeal to me during said dodginess (don't worry, I know too much sugar is not such a great idea). So, The Australian Women's Weekly Sweet Old-Time Favourites jumped right out at me at the library this morning.

Ah, Swiss Roll! My grandma made one every single week. This delicious looking example is from http://goodtoknow.co.uk

Blogtober Day 3 - Patchwork Pieces

2011-10-05T14:06:00.007+11:00

I bought three beautiful pieces of hand-stitched vintage patchwork from Etsy (Vintage Gatherings ~ http://www.etsy.com/shop/VintageGatherings?ref=pr_shop) recently but since then, I haven't been able to decide what to do with them.

Initially, I thought I would frame them, but despite considerable scouring in the op-shops, I couldn't find frames that were a) big enough or b) nice enough.

At the moment, I am thinking of stitching them onto a rather dull polar fleece blanket which is, nonetheless, a lovely shade of blue.

What do you think? All suggestions most welcome.

--------------------------
I discovered this lovely singer, Emma Louise, on my cyber ramblings this morning.

Blogtober Day 2 - Like a ripened piece of fruit

2011-10-04T16:05:00.005+11:00

I got a few little jobs done in the garden on the weekend, which I was really pleased about. As I may have mentioned before, my grandmother kept our garden in beautiful, abundant condition (we live in what was my grandparents' house) and I often feel I could do rather a lot more with the garden than I am currently doing. What I am thinking about especially at the moment is a dedicated herb garden (rather than the odd plant in a pot here and there). I have found a lovely book - Practical Herb Garden by Jessica Houdret - but I am wondering how much success I will have here in Australia finding some of the very Eurocentric flowers and herbs. Does anyone know of a nursery who specialises in English and European cottage plants? I know that I can replace many of them with Australasian options, but some Northern Hemisphere plants would be nice too.

What is this plant? Do you know? I haven't a clue - but I like it!

You know that I am an absolute sucker for a period drama and I am still kicking myself that I didn't pay closer attention to Downton Abbey when it was on TV. You Tubing it just now, I couldn't resist the Sylvanian Families version of it (by the way, this clip may look cute but is not for littlies)...

But on a more serious, sweeping, dramatic note (pun intended), here is the actual Downton Abbey's lovely theme -

Blogtober Day 1...Apple Goodness

2011-10-03T18:06:00.004+11:00

So, here we are, day 1 (for me) of Blogtober...can I blog every day for a month? We'll see... Why don't you join in? Details are here - http://tinniegirl.blogspot.com/2011/09/its-time-to-play-music-its-time-to.html

----------------------------------

On the weekend, amongst other things, I made this rather unusual item. Touted as a 'honey nut cake' it kind of ended up a little different...

1 cup dried apple (chopped)
2 cups hazlenuts (chopped)
1.5 cups of honey
4 eggs

Combine. Spread out into a circle on a large tray. Bake at 175 degrees celsius for fifteen minutes.

It didn't quite work for me so we are currently eating it as a very tasty topping for yoghurt. I can also imagine it in a pie or as crumble topping. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you!

The Carousel

2011-09-30T10:49:00.010+10:00

Image from http://styleinhk.com

I have a question for you today. Why do we like vintage? This might seem a little strange coming from me because, if you are kind enough to be a regular visitor here, you'll know that I love (almost) all things vintage. But lately I have been thinking about why I love it. Is it purely aesthetic? I like the look of the clothes, the interiors therefore I like vintage? Yes, that's part of it. Do I think that there is perhaps something missing today, some social and cultural niceties that have fallen by the wayside over the years without being adequately replaced? Yes, that's part of it too. Is it because it appears to have been a slightly simpler life 'back in the day', one in which everyone knew what was expected of them, with fewer shades of grey? Yes, perhaps a little. Is it just straight-out nostalgia, given that, as an historian I have an in-built predilection for the past? Yes, certainly. But is there something else? And, more than that, what is the appeal of vintage to society at large?

Image from http://pzrservices.typepad.com There are some incredible old ads at this site.

Because when you peel away the doilies, the pastel colours and the layers of tulle, the past - and by this I am referring in this instance to the 1950s - 1970s - was not always a very good place to be - especially for a woman. The prevailing media (and so, society) often portrayed you as, by turn, vain, stupid and interested only in (and interesting only for) your appearance. Knowing what was expected of you in fact gave you few options - many professions were not open to women and their ultimate goal was (whether they liked it or not) to marry and have children. My mum, who was a teenager in the 50s and began her professional life in 60s, has wondered why Madmen has been feted to the extent that it has, because, as she puts it, "I remember those times." And, by implication, what they were really like.

Image of Peggy Olsen from http://madmen.wikia.com

In Madmen, as they themselves put it, women are either 'a Marilyn or a Jackie' - that is, a mistress or a wife (or, if you will, a madonna or a whore). The writers of the series would no doubt suggest that they put this forward as evidence of attitudes in the past and yet we as viewers rejoice when Peggy Olsen sheds her serious, 'mousy' look for something more fashionable and so succeeds.

Image of Peggy Olsen from http://wikipedia.com

Joan Holloway, as the red-headed 'Marilyn' character, is lauded for her 'womanly curves' and her sexualised image.

Image of Joan Holloway from http://hipcandy.com

Image of Joan Holloway from http://swingfashionista.com

And we adore Betty Draper for her portrayal of an unhappy but nonetheless perfectly dressed suburban housewife.

Image of Don and Betty Draper from http://madmenmad.wordpress.com

Image of Betty Draper from http://whitebison.wordpress.com

So what is it that we - as viewers, as fans of vintage, as society - are hailing here? All of these women are praised - and not just within the confines of the show's plot - for their appearance, irrespective of the restriction and anguish that that appearance - both inwardly and outwardly - may cause. There is some symbolic suggestion of that in the show, when in one episode we see all three characters struggling into the corsets, stockings and almost bullet-proof-looking bras that allow them to present this 'face' everyday. So what, overall, are we praising when we praise vintage? Are we overlooking the considerable negativity of many aspects of it or are we still unaware that there is any negative there at all?

* For a clue on the title of this blog, take a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2bLNkCqpuY

When the wind is blowing

2011-09-28T12:17:00.007+10:00

The Dorrit family, as depicted by the BBC. Image from http://thebookchild.blogspot.com/

Dear Amy Dorrit. Image from http://bbc.co.uk

Why don't more men wear top hats? Little Dorrit's Arthur Clennam. Image from http://listal.com

The original Little Dorrit cover, not in glorious technicolour. Image from http://dickenslit.com

When the wind is blowing and the sleet or rain is driving against the dark windows, I love to sit by the fire, thinking of what I have read in books...
~ Charles Dickens

Our lovely Spring weather seems to have taken a little holiday. High winds are swirling dramatically around today and it is getting cooler every hour. Apparently thunderstorms, rain and cooler weather is on its way. All this has put me in mind of doing some more reading. I have lately resolved to read more for the sake of my own creative writing efforts and even - dare one say - to improve my mind lest it be permanently corroded by the dross on TV. So I am thinking that I really need to wrap my head around the classics. As I may have mentioned before, I studied English Literature at high school and uni but always in that studenty-how-much-can-I-skip-and-still-get-by kind of way. Especially when I was faced with Victorian-era novels. Dombey and Son. Middlemarch. Oh my.

But now I want to read them. Yet where to start? I love period dramas on TV (and I especially loved Little Dorrit) but...the books never seem to be like the series! I know! Sacrilege! Clever people, I know, always complain that ~sniff~ the series was nowhere near as good as the book. But I must just be a very visual person. Or a very unimaginative person. But I very rarely find that that very life that a good period drama seems to bring to these historical tales can be found in its original pages. Or perhaps I am just a complete drip. That's a possibility too.

So where should I start, do you think? I have Vanity Fair, Great Expectations, Middlemarch, Little Dorrit and Jane Eyre waiting for me on my bedside table. I'd love your recommendations. If you're in the middle of something, why don't we read it together and have our own little book club, even.

Life is beautiful

2011-09-26T14:12:00.009+10:00

We have had some beautifully sunny days of late - Spring is definitely here! The garden is bursting with life - some of its own accord, some cultivated. On the weekend, my husband planted tomatoes, zucchini, artichoke and a blackcurrant bush so there's lots of treats in store.

In the Candle's Glow

2011-09-23T10:26:00.005+10:00

We ate Elizabethan style again last night. Mince meat, a few cloves, a sprinkle of nutmeg, a little salt and pepper, chopped-up dates, sultanas. Next time I think I would serve it on a bed of rice or cous cous and perhaps add a little sauce of some kind but it was still very tasty and quite different to the tastes we usually have too.

We ate by candlelight, and listened to a CD of traditional Viking-era songs that I bought in Copenhagen. Really nice. Good to step out of the ordinary now and then.

Blue Sky Thinking

2011-09-22T15:55:00.010+10:00

Images above and below from http://supergraphicstratergies.wordpress.com/

I am quite in love with 1970s interiors at the moment. I have been finding 70s interior design magazine here and there on my op-shopping travels and rather than being slightly alarmed and revolted by the 70s as people now tend to be, I find them quite inspiring. I was thinking about this last night as I flicked through the 1973 edition of Simplicity's Sew-it-all for the Home. What is it that I love about these rooms? Am I simply being wooed by familiarity since I am a child of the 70s? No, I realised that I love the way they used colour and pattern with complete abandon. And, surprisingly, not (often) to bad effect. The rooms are warm, interesting, inviting and full of life. No restrained minimalist whites and greys here. Oh no. The repeated use of one colour or one pattern in a room is especially great.

Image from http://houseofhackney.com

Image from http://supergraphicstratergies.wordpress.com/

Image from http://weloveit.com

Image from http://britishblogs.co.uk [though I don't think this room is a 70s original]

In this clip from Supersizers go: Seventies, Giles and Sue talk about exactly this idea in relation to 70s food - there was a sort of wonderful exuberance to it but an endearing, characterful exuberance, not the ugly excess of the 80s.

We are enjoying some exuberant weather here at the moment with bright sunshine, clear blue skies and soothing warm sun (as well as quite fierce gusts of spring wind). For some reason, it put me in mind of this cheerful song...from the 70s.

Sunnyside Up

2011-09-20T11:01:00.006+10:00

Some lately thrifted goodies...I had trailed around one of our local op-shops yesterday and had not really found much of note. As I sometimes do, I thought 'I'll just go quickly around once more' and lo and behold some lovely folky wooden goodies had just been put out, just right for my current Scandinavian folk art craze. These lovelies are now on the kitchen wall.

We went to The Vintage Shed in Tyabb (http://www.thevintageshed.com.au/) on the weekend and it was great. Lots and lots of wonderful stuff and no absurd prices. Well worth the drive if you are so inclined. Part of my haul (only a little one - I will have to go back soon) was this gorgeous set of 70s egg cups. And...the greatest geek accolade of all...they were stilll in their original wrapping.

The Past is a Foreign Country

2011-09-19T10:55:00.004+10:00

[It was hard to find a short clip from this film - I think you can watch the whole movie if you've a mind to on You Tube]

There are ways and ways of making historical dramas. I watched the beautiful Elizabeth last night, the wonderfully put-together bio pic about Elizabeth the First. Elizabeth is powerfully played by Cate Blanchett, with a great performance from Geoffrey Rush too as the evil but effective (don't you hate that) Walsingham. The film is an absolute pleasure to watch - the story compellingly told (though I'm sure historians of the period could perhaps see holes in its accuracy), the characters mesmerisingly involving and the sets just lovely - I wanted to switch off all the electricity and switch to candlelight immediately (though I would have missed the end of the film if I'd done that!). I had seen it before, but it held me from beginning to end.

I ended up watching Elizabeth, you see, because I had decided against another week of blood letting on Underbelly. Overseas readers will not have heard of this show (sorry) but it is something of a televisual phenomenon here - this is the third installment of dramatised local 'true crime' stories. I had had hesitations about it from the beginning, wondering that surely there were more worthy and indeed interesting people to make tv shows about than criminals. But, as usual on matters of popular taste, I was (and am) in the minority. People love true crime and, if you throw in as much sex and violence as you possibly can, they love it even more. I thought I would give Underbelly: Razor a go this time around because it is set in 1920s Sydney (about the time and place my thesis is set) and at first I was in love with the costumes, if nothing else. Lots of beads and silky drop-waisted dresses. But the gratuitous gore and sex scenes clearly just there for the sake of them! It actually got beyond offensive to just downright boring.

Take a leaf from films like Elizabeth!

C'mon Get Happy

2011-09-15T10:41:00.006+10:00

What's your surefire way to get happy? You know those days when you're feeling just a little blah (not majorly blah - that's another category altogether) or you've been stuck at your desk and you're feeling a mite stressed? What do you do to snap out of it? One of my methods (depending on the nature of the blah, as I said) is to dance like a complete looney around the living room to something loud and often absurdly upbeat. Now, a few things here. First, I can't dance to save myself. I dance like a complete twit, combining weird 60s-esque moves with a lot of hand waving. Second, I am 38 and would be, you would think, beyond dancing around the room like a nut-bar. Well, the beauty of it is, I close the curtains, crank up the volume and all that just doesn't seem to matter. Dance like there's no-one watching? Dance having made sure there's no-one watching is my take on it!

And my tracks of choice? There have been many over the years (yes, this is a long-term habit) but lately Suede's "Can't Get Enough" is a good one (I have only recently discovered Suede, despite the fact that I was into every other Britpoppish band in the mid-90s). They of course have the added bonus of the not-too-hard-on-the-eyes Brett Anderson as their lead singer. Ahem. "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode is also good value as is that band's "Enjoy the Silence". On the Britpop trail again, I go for Pulp's "Common People" or "Disco 2000". I have been waving my hands in the air to New Order since I was at school in 19*cough* and of course, there's always room for some Smiths (though I choose carefully - "Asleep" is not exactly an endorphin creator).

What about you? Do you "dance your legs down to the knees" as the divine Mr Morrissey would have it when you need a little happy rush? Or do you have other methods?

Something in the air

2011-09-13T15:18:00.004+10:00

There is a change in the air today. Although we have lapsed back into some cold weather lately, today the wind is strong and bustling with life, carrying the stirring scent of jasmine with it. Spring is around us. These beautiful azaleas from my Mum's garden seem to prove this point! Hope the weather is good to you wherever you might be today.

Sugary goodness

2011-09-12T16:23:00.005+10:00

Lots of baking over the weekend. First up, this lovely fudge from Tiny Happy (http://tinyhappy.typepad.com/). So easy.

200-250 g dark chocolate
1/2 tin of condensed milk
2 tsps vanilla extract

Line baking tin with waxed baking paper. Combine chocolate and condensed milk in a double boiler (I used the microwave to melt the chocolate and then added the condensed milk afterwards). Stir continuously. When chocolate is melted, remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Pour into baking tray. Set for 1-2 hours. Cut into squares.

Thanks Melissa at Tiny Happy!

And then I made Elizabethan Fine Cakes. They are surprisingly good. I am always a little sceptical about very old recipes, thinking that things (ingredients, implements) have changed so much, there is not a huge chance of them turning out ok. These have changed my mind. I found them just by googling after having watched The Supersizers Go Elizabethan and feeling that I fancied some Elizabethan sweeties. This recipe is from http://www.seatofmars.com/index.htm

6 ounces of butter (1 and half sticks) at room temperature
Half a cup of sugar
1 egg yolk - beaten
1 and three quarter cups of sifted flour
Half a teaspoon of mace (can be replaced with nutmeg)
A Pinch of ground saffron (can be replaced with tumeric)
Egg white

1) In a bowl cream the butter. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy.
2) Add the egg yolk and beat until thoroughly blended.
3) In another bowl combine sifted flour and spices stirring to distribute evenly.
4) Sift dry ingredients into a bowl containing butter and sugar mixture. Combine by stirring with your hands.
5) Press mixture into a 9 inch square baking pan.
6) Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until the cake feels firm when pressed lightly in the center.
8) Cut into squares while the cake is still hot.
9) Cool in pan on wire rack.
Yields 25 small cakes

If you can find what the egg white is used for, let me know. I couldn't! Of course, not all Elizabethan food may be worth revisiting...

Free

2011-09-09T12:46:00.002+10:00

Perhaps you've already seen this beautiful clip, which was in our online newspapers yesterday. A group of chimps who had been imprisoned from infancy in a medical laboratory have finally been freed, thirty years hence. They are now living at the Gut Aiderbichl Animal Sanctuary in Salzburg (http://www.gut-aiderbichl.com/page.home.php?start=) I can't help but feel that one day we'll be called to account for the way we treat animals.

A nice story to end the week. Have a lovely weekend.

Gently does it

2011-09-08T14:22:00.006+10:00

A little bit of quiet in the Woods while I work through a headache. I am loving embroidery at the moment (though it probably hasn't helped the headache) and I am stitching this little guy on a brown wool cloth to read 'Everyone is someone at home' (it's a quote from The Edda). As you can no doubt tell, I am self-taught. I am hoping for a slightly rustic look here and not too prissy embroidery perfect but I can't decide if I've hit that note or if my self-devised lettering in a low-key chain stitch just looks messy! If all goes well, I will work on one for my In Dark Woods Etsy shop. If.

Some great vintage cloth thrifted recently. This nubby, orangey-brown number still had its measurements scribbled onto a torn-out page from a 1978 diary attached to it and this one is so pretty. It makes me think of the Finnish Marimekko designs.

I Dream of Doxie

2011-09-06T17:11:00.009+10:00

Image from www.danbleudachshunds.com

I have lately fallen in love with dachshunds. Something about those big, sad eyes, crazy, floppy ears and the strident little strut on (seemingly) such a movement-challenged dog!

Image from www.dachshundlove.blogspot.com/

Image from www.vintagehomearts.com

If I get one, I am so knitting him this jacket.

Image from www.dogbreedsadvice.com

Someone has told me, though, that they are not very bright dogs. I don't really mind. What, are you getting a dog for the conversation?

Image from www.friedapup.weebly.com

Image from www.pinterest.com

And best of all? If my Google search is anything to go by, they are a very vintage dog!

Image from www.enjoydoxies.com

But I probably won't get a dachshund after all because I am committed to rescuing a dog from the RSPCA or a similar organisation when I do decide to get one and not many doxies seem to turn up at the pound! Oh well, I can keep dreaming of those determinedly trotting little feet and ears that blow in the wind...!

Starry, starry night

2011-09-05T17:45:00.004+10:00

Two sweet little vintage finds today. I think I love the Van Gogh prints and the little old white frames in equal measure! We went to the Van Gogh museum when we were in Amsterdam in 2006, but I didn't really fall in love with his paintings until we went to the amazing, amazing Van Gogh exhibition at the Art and Science Museum in Singapore just recently (http://www.marinabaysands.com/Singapore-Attractions/ArtScience-Museum/Whats-on/).

Hope and other everday things

2011-09-02T13:25:00.003+10:00

Two ring finds while thrifting this morning - the one above turns out to be silver and the one below is opal, an Australian semi-precious stone (I think this one will end up in my Etsy shop)

Listening to: Suede
Drinking: My old fave - milky coffee
Eating: Beans on toast for lunch - yum!
Wearing: Fewer layers - hello again Spring!
Hoping: Just hoping. It's a nice state to be in.

And what about you?

PS Thanks to Pip at Meet Me At Mikes (http://meetmeatmikes.com/) for this meme.

Happy Dance

2011-09-01T15:55:00.004+10:00

A poppy in our front yard.

Spring is here! Welcome Spring.
And it feels good!

This image was sourced from Google. Obviously, I don't own it (I'd be very wealthy if I did!). If you object to my using it, please let me know.

I am I am I am

2011-08-31T12:17:00.006+10:00

This lovely image of Sylvia Plath can be found at http://www.counter-currents.com/2010/11/sylvia-plath-stasis-in-darkness/

What do you think about inspirational quotes and sayings? I know that my husband approaches them with some derision but I often find (mostly) literary quotes that say such a lot to me that I am compelled to type them up and blue-tack to the wall above my desk. I don't mean inspirational quotes of the 'SUCCESS'-emblazoned-on-a-photo-of-the-sunset variety (but they're fine too, if they talk to you) but more a couple of words or lines that help me to understand something about myself.

It is sometimes seen as something of a cliche to be a fan of Sylvia Plath, the angsty woman par excellence, but I have to say that I have been in love with her words and ideas since the poem "The Applicant" was on our reading list for Year 12 English Lit (some mumble-mumble years ago). I know of course that she was also a very flawed individual (but who isn't?) and certainly her fate is not one that I covet. But the words...the words. Yesterday I was reminded of a few lines from The Bell Jar which went - kaboom - straight to where I am right now:

"I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am."

Just now I discovered that I am not the only one with a deep love for Sylvia's mots juste and I also found that some people go way beyond sticking a piece of paper over their desk. I am not one for tattoos but these are amazing and touching examples of how words can go straight to the soul -

Words from the poem "Tulips"

These images can be found at the following link http://www.contrariwise.org/tag/sylvia-plath/

B is for Blog

2011-08-30T10:41:00.009+10:00

This one is from The Doubtful Guest

This is from The Gashlycrumb Tinies

All of these images were sourced from various spots on Google. Obviously, I don't own them, so please contact me if there are any problems associated with their use here.

Very recently and quite by accident I have discovered the brilliant work of American illustrator and author Edward Gorey. Last week I found a book of postcards of his drawings in an op-shop for 50 cents. Completely quirky and eccentric to the point of being rather surreal, I absolutely love his drawings. I especially like his use of rather upright and prim looking Victorian people in bizarre situations. And I think I may be in love with the famed Gorey Cat.

What do you think?

I want candy

2011-08-29T11:10:00.008+10:00

Absolutely beautiful Spring weather yesterday (though we have a few more days of winter to go). I went out into the backyard and was completely dazzled by the blossom on our fruit trees which seem to have really come out in force over the past couple of days. For some reason the delicate, sweetly pretty and light-as-air petals of the blossom put me in mind of the frivolous, pastel-coloured decadence of the 'shoes and candy' scene from the film Marie Antoinette. One of those films you either liked or loathed I think, I enjoyed the spectacle of it while suspending disbelief and without weighing myself down too much with concerns about historical accuracy! I saw it in the cinema one New Years Eve and then again on TV while we were in Oslo. Lots of fun (until the Revolution, of course).

Fields of Rye and Cornflowers

2011-08-26T11:21:00.004+10:00

I am still feeling rather under the weather, so again my post will be fairly brief! I have seen the lovely photographs of turn-of-the-century rural Russia before but Tiny Happy reminded me of them this morning with a link. This is a field of rye and cornflowers in the early 1900s. Do head over to the link and check it out for yourself - the full image is so lovely (http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/08/russia_in_color_a_century_ago.html)

Thank you so much for all your kind suggestions for battling sinusitis. Much appreciated! Enjoy your weekend.

A brief pause and some bloggy goodness

2011-08-25T10:44:00.003+10:00

A brief post today because I have sinusitis and so am feeling a bit sniffly, headachey, ever so slightly grumpy and generally under the weather. I just wanted to mention that the very talented Sefarina over at Windleben is holding a great blog candy raffle of one of her beautiful pieces of art. Head on over and check it out (but please don't win because I want to - haha) -

http://windleben.blogspot.com/2011/08/blogcandy.html

Good Things

2011-08-24T13:37:00.008+10:00

Spring is here! Or at least, very, very close. A beautiful day today - bright blue skies, beaming sunshine and a warm rub on the back whenever you go outside. My dear mum picked the bouquet above from her garden and gave it to me to celebrate spring. In one of my grandma's vases, I think it sums the current cheerful mood up very nicely!

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Fabulous op-shopping today and quite unexpectedly so. I needed to go to the bank and the chemist and so I popped into two regular and but always terribly fruitful thrifting haunts, only to emerge with a quite considerable bag full of goodies. Not least of which was three of the quite collectible and deliciously vintage Shirley Flight and Sally Baxter books. I am looking forward to reading these, though Sally's expression on the cover of The Holiday Family worries me slightly. She looks a little too pleased about that caravan careening down the cliff.

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My cardigan has changed from being in a muted grey after the cheap wool debacle to a rich variety of hues (it's advertised as being faux fairisle). It's slow going because I have had a flare-up of tendonitis in my wrist but I am enjoying just knit, knit, knitting in garter stitch.

In Praise of Grannies

2011-08-19T12:06:00.004+10:00

It may be getting warmer (slowly) and in fact in sounds like we have a pretty lovely weekend on the way weather-wise but cosy, warm dishes are still on our food agenda. Last night I made the Sweetcorn Chowder from Natalie Oldfield's Gran's Family Table. I love the concept of this book - recipes inspired and collected from her gran, Dulcie May Booker. You can find out more here - http://www.dulciemaykitchen.com/ There are a number of recipe books around our house which belonged to my Grandma - some even handwritten - and they are really precious to me.

The chowder was good - and there's enough left over for lunch (yay!) - but I'm not sure that this photo quite does it justice. If I was a food stylist I'm sure I would have at least wiped around the edge of the bowl!

50g butter
4 small sized onions, diced (I used two)
4 medium sized potatoes
4 tomatoes, diced (I used one fresh tomato and a can of tomatoes)
800g creamed corn
1 litre chicken stock

Melt butter into large saucepan. Add onions and fry for about 5 minutes. Add potatoes and tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add corn and stock. Simmer for 20-25 minutes.

Serves 6-8.

I think the sausage pie might be my next venture from this book. Mmmmm! Have a lovely weekend.

Once Upon A Time...

2011-08-18T13:14:00.008+10:00

Ivan Bilibin, The Firebird from Vassilissa the Beautiful
Image sourced from www.fairies-fantasy-art.com

The image above and those that follow are all from Vassilissa the Beautiful. Individual titles weren't always listed.
Image sourced from http://mural.ev.es

Image sourced from http://www.textualities.net

Image sourced from http://surlalunefairytales.com

Vassilissa in the Forest

I love to discover new music. There are always old favourites but I still feel a sort of teenage excitement upon finding something new to listen to. Yesterday, by way of the often convoluted path that I take through the tangled web of the Net, I discovered In Gowan Ring, a one-man acoustic group (can one man be a group?) from either the US or Canada. He's been on heavy rotation by way of You Tube since then. Check him out if you like your music folky.

The slightly otherworldly sound of In Gowan Ring has put me in mind of fairytales and in particular one of my favourite fairytale illustrators, Ivan Bilibin (Russian, 19th-20th centuries). Beautiful, surreal and slightly sinister. Like all good folk stories and fairytales.

Round our way

2011-08-17T11:48:00.009+10:00

The skies are still rather foreboding around here at the moment. It is windy today, cold and spattering rain.

As always though, there is the comfort of thrifted goodies! I found this plate at a flea market in Copenhagen and I think I have finally found the right spot for it. I'm not sure that I want to find a spot, though. Once everything is put away, the holiday really is over!

I have also developed a strange penchant for thrifting ceramic money-bank pigs. The one above is a souvenir of Munich and the one below California (clearly). Such cheery little fellows!

And spring is on its way. The plum tree is beginning to blossom...always a lovely sign as the seasonal wheel turns.

Tuesday bites

2011-08-16T15:52:00.004+10:00

So now we know what happened to all those 50s girls and women without wasp-thin, Betty Draper waists. This is another horror from what I'm now referring to as the 'when vintage goes bad' advertisements (see last week for a couple more). I have often wondered what women who didn't have tiny waists or couldn't pour themselves into girdles actually did for clothes...they were given the depressing and all too probably demoralising title of a 'chubbie', it seems.

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Deliciously simple fried rice on the cooker last night. Boil rice then fry it up with sliced bacon, spring onion, red capsicum, egg and soy sauce. Just comfortingly right for a day beleaguered by a sinusitis-borne headache.

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My cardigan knit has ground to a halt - scuppered by lousy wool that is fuzzing up already. As I said yesterday, I will order some better quality wool from the Bendigo Woollen Mills but does anyone have any other suggestions as well?

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Some deliciously good sunshine today and the loveliest warm breeze greeted me when I opened the front door this morning. It's clouding over now but spring is definitely sniffing our shoes.

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Making It Handmade

2011-08-15T11:48:00.005+10:00

I watched and thoroughly enjoyed Making it Handmade last night, a short film by Anna Brownfield focusing on the Melbourne's local craft scene. As well as being really encouraged by the number of crafty folk there obviously are around town, it gave me a lot of food for thought about what crafting in the twenty-first century actually is about - and it's quite a long way from the common cry that crafters want to be like 1950s housewives. Certainly crafting women today are reclaiming the skills of other generations but because they choose to, not because they have to because it is their perceived womanly duty (to paraphrase Gemma Jones, who was one of the interviewees).

As an extension of this, I am thinking today about how I can make what I make in more environmentally friendly ways and with more of the 'cottage industry' ethos in mind. As it was pointed out by Rayne Fahey (again to paraphrase), there's not much point going to the trouble of making it handmade with cheap acrylic wool from China when there is gorgeous local wool products to be had (from the Bendigo Woollen Mills http://www.bendigowoollenmills.com.au, for example, as was also pointed out - I've just been to their website - beautiful looking yarn)

So my thoughts at the moment are crafting with more of a conscience - not just moving away from buying to making by buying to make. It might cost a little more, I don't know yet, but I'll try buying more local supplies and even perhaps making my own beads for my jewellery making. I'll keep you posted on my progress. Ironically enough, all this coincided with a visit to an enormous local shopping mall yesterday, which my husband and I emerged from irritable and dismayed by the buy, buy, buy mentality.

What do you think?

PS Making It Handmade will still be on ABC 2 I-View if you live locally.

Let's get Hygge

2011-08-12T10:54:00.011+10:00

From Bombshell Bettie's Vintage
http://www.etsy.com/listing/36663503/cocoa-and-cream-50s-nordic-cardigan-deep?ref=v1_other_2

From Thrush
http://www.etsy.com/listing/78841039/vintage-1960s-ski-lodge-sweater

From Mrs P's Brain
http://www.etsy.com/listing/63689984/vintage-hand-knit-womens-cardigan-size

From jenniejune
http://www.etsy.com/listing/61127040/vintage-cream-wool-sweater-ml

From Chisholm Block
http://www.etsy.com/listing/61127040/vintage-cream-wool-sweater-ml

From Bombshell Bettie's Vintage
http://www.etsy.com/listing/61077635/frosted-moss-50s60s-cozy-wool-alpine?ga_search_query=sweater&ga_search_type=user_shop_ttt_id_5650553

From Pineapplemint
http://www.etsy.com/listing/79485658/vintage-nordic-fair-isle-cardigan

When we were in Bergen, I kind of got a little bit obsessed with traditional handknitted Norwegian jumpers (sweaters). There are a number of shops offering them along the main shopping area there (the Bryggen) and I went into one shop in particular several times to admire their wares. I had already bought four pairs of wool socks there (which are the best socks I have ever worn in my life) but they also had the most gorgeous jumpers and cardigans. As you know I am something of a handknit nut anyway but these ones were something else. The colours and patterns were so lovely, the knit so perfectly nubby to the touch. But...they were about $400 a pop. So, no sale.

Now, my knitting is getting along. Kinda. In fact, the cardigan I mentioned starting yesterday, started well last night. But I am not hopeful of knitting a Norwegian style jumper anytime soon. So, I turn in a familiar direction - the world of vintage. Etsy has a number of beautiful vintage Norse style knits for sale and while they are not up in the hundreds of dollars, they are still fairly pricey to send from the US and Europe to Australia (fair enough too, these things are heavy with woolley goodness). Thus, I am pondering, vacillating and generally umming and ahhing and all the while hoping that one of these delicacies will surface in my local op shop. Wish me luck!

When Vintage goes bad...

2011-08-11T16:55:00.005+10:00

My husband just emailed through some old adverts that someone sent him and while some are really quite funny, others are just kinda creepy...

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I have a real desire to knit at the moment. I have become a lot more interested in knitting this year and I am learning a lot about it - different tensions, different stitches, different sized needles. I have even finally taught myself how to cast on! But now I want to knit something substantial but it's got to be simple. My adventures in moss stitch and to a lesser extent purl have been holey disasters so far. What I'm thinking is a garter stitch cardigan for myself. What do you think? Garter stitch I have down pat and making something for myself will give me (ahem) plenty of motivation.

The inner pictures of the soul

2011-08-10T15:05:00.009+10:00

The Dance of Life

Melancholy

Two Human Beings

Madonna

I bought so many souvenir postcards while we were away. I have no idea what I'll do with them all. But they are lovely to look at, nonetheless. I found the little paper bag with the Edvard Munch postcards in it yesterday, from Oslo's Munch-Museet. Often bleak but in spite of this - or because of it - rather amazing and singular in appearance and style.

"Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye... it also includes the inner pictures of the soul."

~ Edvard Munch

Sunshine

2011-08-09T14:45:00.000+10:00

Some pretty calendula to brighten up an otherwise grey day.

Posh Nosh

2011-08-08T10:27:00.004+10:00

Do you like restaurants? I have been to some wonderful ones, but I am always a little bit skeptical of them when they have received 'rave reviews' in the newspapers. I like to decide whether it's a good restaurant for myself. Silly, I know. Having written a few book reviews over the years though, I do feel that reviews are such subjective things. Last night, we went - on the the suggestion of the others in our party - to one of the restaurants that is currently very popular. Nothing fundamentally wrong with the food but such small portions for the cost. Perhaps nouvelle cuisine is another 80s fad that's made a comeback! And paying extra for any sort of accompaniment (and I do mean any sort - not even so much as a lettuce leaf)? Ouch! A little mean spiritedness there in my opinion. But perhaps there's something about such dining experiences that I just don't get. It wouldn't be the first time! I'd love to know what you think - and do feel free to tell me if think I'm being an old curmudgeon!!

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What did tickle my taste buds was the dish I made from Smorgasbord & Scandinavian Cooking by Ingrid Svenson (1974) on Saturday night. I had a go at 'Pork with Apples or Pears', replacing the pork with chicken and opting for apples and pears. I fried up some sliced chicken fillets, golden delicious apples and packham pears, set the lot cooking and then added sultanas. I used olive oil and butter to cook it all in - I thought butter might help it poach a little more. I have always been a little undecided about meat/fruit combos but I think the trick is to let the fruit cook thoroughly and get lovely and soft - rather than being reminded of crunching into an apple while also having a mouthful of chicken! The end result - served with boiled potatoes - went down very well, with my sweet husband even going up for seconds. This afternoon, if I get time, I think I will give Cheesecake Slice from the same book a go.

What was on your table this weekend?

PS Have you seen Posh Nosh, the wonderful cooking show satire with Richard E Grant? -

Right here, right now

2011-08-05T10:51:00.004+10:00

Two of my favourite blogs, Soulemama (http://www.soulemama.com) and Another Beautiful Day (http://milk-and-berries.blogspot.com) have both recently listed what they are doing right now, what is occupying and fulfilling them in this present moment. I am trying to learn to live much more in the present moment, and so I give you what's up in the Yellow Wood right now -

Playing:: With beads, yarn and thread. Lots of stuff in the craft basket at the moment but nothing actually getting finished because I am flitting from one project to the next like a drunken bee.

Listening:: To atmospheric to the point of spooky music from Wardruna and delightfully silly and cheerful 80s pop by turn, depending on my mood.

Looking:: At the first delicious little flickers of spring in the garden. The lemons, although traditionally winter bloomers, are leading the charge.

Learning:: About making jewellery. I am considering taking a TAFE course in it. I want to get soldering - oh yeah!

Helping:: Or at least trying to help my poor hard-working and sleep-deprived husband and my dear mum who has just had her cataracts operated on.

Reading:: Spoilt for choice as I mentioned the other day. Lucky Jim is the next one off the shelf.

So what about you?

Bueller? Bueller?

2011-08-04T09:55:00.004+10:00

I know, I know...here we go on the 80s again. I must be getting old. We spent large tracts of our youth quoting from this film - Ferris Bueller's Day Off - and especially from this scene. Do you remember it?

And I know, I know...here we go with the op-shopping again but I found this cute little stick-pin (above - sorry for the placement - Blogger is being naughty again) the other day and it got me thinking about how they just don't make stick-pins anymore. I had heaps of them in the 80s. Not quite as delicate and ladylike as this one, though. More your Snoopy stick pin. If you really like it, you'll also find it in my Etsy store -

http://www.etsy.com/listing/79076052/i-feel-pretty-floral-brooch-free?ref=pr_shop

Other than the usual 80s fashion suspects, can you think of anything you used to wear all the time that they just don't seem to make anymore (with the exception of fluorescent ankle socks obviously)?

If only Paddington Bear lived with us

2011-08-03T17:37:00.004+10:00

A couple of years ago I found some books in an op-shop called A Glut of Apricots and Peaches and A Glut of...(something else I can't remember). They were by Ann Carr. Well, I wish there had been A Glut of Citrus Fruit too because that is exactly what we have here in the Yellow Wood at the moment! Our lemon and grapefruit trees are going quite mad (who knew winter was their season??) and we have said fruit everywhere. My dear sweet husband made about a dozen jars of lovely three-fruit marmalade on Monday night but we still have citrusy goodness all over the kitchen and plopping ripely to the ground outside. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thieving Tuesday

2011-08-02T10:22:00.005+10:00

I'm being a bit of a web bandit today. Librarygirl over at Living in the kingdom of too much has posted two things lately which I have keenly seized upon and bring to you today. The first is a list of unread (and half-read) books which are lurking around my living room at the moment (http://www.livinginthekingdomoftoomuch.com/2011/08/heres-my-list-of-un-read-books.html) I really do want to read them but in the evenings I find my attention is distracted by knitting, stitching or that great evil of mind-numbingness...the tv. So, in no particular order, here is what I am yet to get to -

Robert Rankin, The hollow chocolate bunnies of the apocalypse (half-read)
Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim
Geraldine Brooks, March
Ronald Hayman, The death and life of Sylvia Plath
Avi, The Mayor of Central Park

Not to mention the books that call to me from the bookshelves every time I walk past -

Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit
Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin

And the book that went all the way to Scandinavia and didn't get read (how was I distracted by tv in a language I don't understand??) -

P.C. Cast, Goddess of Legend

The other thing is this gorgeous item which I have coveted ever since seeing it on the dear Miss Amy Dorrit in the recent BBC series Little Dorrit. Now (and then) referred to as a Sontag, in the 19th century it was also rather sweetly called a bosom friend -

Librarygirl has very kindly included the link to the pattern she used - http://www.livinginthekingdomoftoomuch.com/2011/07/little-team-that-could.html. As a novice knitter I am freaking out at the sight of this pattern ever so slightly but I'll give it a go because I so want one! And just to get me (and you!) in the mood, here is the beautiful opening theme from the recent tv version of Little Dorrit -

Sunshine on a Monday makes me happy

2011-08-01T11:15:00.002+10:00

Well, the raspberry cake was a total success - much more moist than the Daffodil cake and tastier too. And who doesn't love a cake that's pink in the middle?

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I have now got the soda bread making down to a fine(ish) art...there was nothing for lunch yesterday so I said I'd make bread. We were eating it an hour later!

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We're having a little bit of sunshine at the moment (though I can see grey clouds gathering from the study window...) and I am celebrating by throwing windows open and listening to stupidly cheerful 80s music. What do you when the sun comes out?

Of Pressed Flowers, Windswept Butterflies and Raspberry Cake

2011-07-29T13:01:00.007+10:00

I am loving collecting framed, pressed flowers from op-shops. I was a bit down on them until quite recently, when I regarded them as a short footstep away from sticking googly-eyes on gumnuts. But I now realise they're actually really beautiful. I love pressed flowers actually - isn't it wonderful when one falls out of a book and you're reminded of a moment you would otherwise have forgotten.

When we were in Ribe (Denmark), we drove to the coast and visited the Wadden Sea nature centre. It was chock-full of schoolkids but, despite this, it was really interesting. The landscape in the area quite flat and stark as you look out to sea, and the colours muted. We wanted to take one of the buses which goes across the sea when the tide is low to one of the islands just off the coast but we had missed the last one for the day and took a walk instead. Was it windy! Oh my. But somehow this plucky little butterfly was hanging on. Local Danish artist Lars Bollerslev has done lots of wonderful paintings of the area. I bought some postcard reproductions of them at the nature centre and have just now put them up on our living room wall. His website - http://www.larsbollerslev.dk/ - is well worth a look.

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Friday is rapidly becoming cake day. Today I will attempt Raspberry Cake from New Australian Cookery for dinner with my parents tonight.

Have a lovely weekend.

Thursday Thrifting

2011-07-28T13:50:00.005+10:00

I have had some great fun op-shopping (or thrifting if you prefer) of late. This great 50s souvenir tea-towel from the Gold Coast for one (I have included just a panel of it here).

I am totally making this guy from The Complete Book of Handicrafts, bought this very day for $1! I love his purple nose.

This is so pretty and I am in the mood to do a bit of cross-stitching at the moment.

And to think this was in the bargain bin for $1!

I also bought a copy of Geraldine Brooks' March for just $3 - I have been meaning to read it for so long, having so enjoyed Year of Wonders.

Have you found any goodies on the thrift trail lately?

Stardust

2011-07-27T10:55:00.005+10:00

Image from www.universe-beauty.com

So cold here at the moment! It was 3 degrees when I got up this morning and, in our un-central-heated house, I am currently wearing 4 layers, 2 pairs of socks and 1 pair of leg-warmers. Oh my.

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In the time honoured tradition of the household, however, we are keeping warm by eating. I made a suprisingly good ricey thing last night with boiled rice (then pan fried in olive oil) with pan fried capsicum, mushroom, purple onion and tomato with a generous helping of dried oregano. What do you cook with rice?

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Getting into the Wonders of the Universe tv series with Brian Cox. Last night he examined the idea that we are all stardust - that is, that everything is composed of particles from exploded stars. I have always been uninspired and quite depressed by such a notion but he explained it so well and, in fact, so beautifully, that I have completely changed my mind. What do you think?

Wintering

2011-07-26T11:44:00.006+10:00

I have now successfully made the Basic Soda Bread I mentioned a couple of posts ago twice. So I feel safe to share the recipe with you!

450g flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon salt

125-250ml buttermilk

Combine all dry ingredients then gradually add buttermilk. On a floured surface knead the dough into a flat round loaf shape, about 20 centimetres in diameter. Cut a large cross shape into the top of the dough. Place on a baking sheet (and baking tray!) and bake for about 35 minutes at 220 degrees celsius.

It is so good. We've been having it warm with just a little butter. No need for any fancy toppings! The bread speaks for itself. I found the recipe in The Complete Australian Homemaker (1976).

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The Mocha Cake from The Barbara Pym Cookbook that I made on Friday night was rather a disappointment - pleasant enough but not a really strong coffee taste and the cake itself just wouldn't rise. The Daffodil Cake from New Australian Cookery Illustrated (1950s?) that I made on Saturday was altogether more successful - I think the addition of walnuts were the key to what otherwise could have been a similarly bland cake.

I bake a lot in the winter. Is it some sort of primal way of providing for the household, of stocking up against the chill? Or is it just a good way of staying warm, in front of the oven?

What's been going on in your kitchen?

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In more sad news, the death of Amy Winehouse on the weekend. I was never an enormous fan of her's but I certainly enjoyed Back to Black. There has been some really cruel commentary since she has passed away but I do agree with what many others have said that addiction is not an affectation but an illness. Whatever you think, there's no denying that this is one great song -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJAfLE39ZZ8&ob=av2n

Norway

2011-07-25T10:35:00.003+10:00

One of the many extraordinarily human statues by Gustav Vigeland in Vigeland Sculpture Park, Oslo.

A moment of quiet reflection today for the horrible events in Norway on Friday. I am astonished and so saddened that such barbaric things could happen in places we were in so recently and, more importantly, in places that were so peaceful and beautiful.

Friday on my mind

2011-07-22T15:42:00.004+10:00

Nom, nom, nom...a bee has his way with some pollen in the Botanical Gardens, Oslo.

Some serious op-shopping planned for this weekend...not one but two op-shop stops (!) planned tomorrow. I tell myself that I need to do it to re-stock my Etsy shop - it's work really, it's business - but over the last week I have thrifted far more stuff for myself than than shop...

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I am reading Robert Rankin's bizarrely enjoyable The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse and I am about to start Lucky Jim, on librarygirl's (http://www.livinginthekingdomoftoomuch.com/) recommendation.

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Planning to make the mocha cake from The Barbara Pym Cookbook later today since we are having dinner with my parents tonight.

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What have you got planned?

A piece of toast, a British sitcom and thou

2011-07-21T10:41:00.005+10:00

You know of old my slightly peculiar obsession with 60s/70s British sitcoms. Well, it hasn't diminished. Morrissey, lead singer of the Smiths (who it could also be said I have a slightly peculiar obsession with), once said words to the effect that there is little quite so nice as watching an old movie on tv on a cold afternoon, armed with a warm piece of toast. And so it was yesterday, a cold winter's day, that I watched an old ep of "Doctor in the House" on You tube while eating Tuesday night's leftover meatloaf on toast. The early episodes were the best, I think, and perhaps this is at least partially because, as I noticed with surprise, they were written by John Cleese. I'd love to show you a clip but Blogger is being naughty again so here's the link if you're so inclined (and suitable equipped with some toast):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4juSDIP05PA&feature=related

Of Stave Churches and Siberian Dumplings

2011-07-20T12:38:00.006+10:00

The altar of the Stave church at the Norwegian Folk Museum, Oslo.

Wood carvings surrounding one of the four doorways.

When you visit Europe you see a lot of churches. Initially you think 'Oh, aren't these beautiful!' and of course they are beautiful but after a dozen or so, you do get a little bit of church-lag (very similar to museum-lag). So when we went to the Norwegian Folk Museum in Oslo - another wonderful open-air museum (the museums in Scandinavia are on the whole extraordinarily well done) - the promise of a Stave church was greeted with a little bit of ho-hum on my part. Until I saw it. First, they are so distinctive. Wooden throughout there is not a marble altar or plaster cherub to be seen. Second, they are often decorated with very beautiful and symbolically rich wood carvings. Third, the one in Oslo had the most incredibly serene and simply still air to it. My photo doesn't do it justice but it was mostly dark save for a little candlelight and natural light, what brightness there was emanated from the wood panelling and wall paintings themselves - as though the very building itself had become imbibed with the spirit of the place over so many centuries.

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The best food we ate while we were away was in Bergen, which, incidentally, was also our favourite stop on the trip for spectacular landscape and hiking. For three nights running, we ate at a tiny, walk-too-fast-past-and-you'll-miss-it Russian cafe called Det lune hjørnet (Steinkjellergaten 2, 5003 Bergen). The woman running the cafe was so friendly and warm and the food was just so good and incredibly cheap given the prices we had been paying elsewhere. We feasted on blini with meat and pickled vegetables, pelmeni (Siberian dumplings) and pancakes served with sour cream and homemade jam (apple, strawberry and plum). It was comfort food of the very best sort! By the third night, after another long day of walking, it was like sitting down to a warm, edible hug! If you ever go to Bergen, you have to go there.

Monday musings

2011-07-18T22:46:00.003+10:00

Has anyone noticed that Blogger is being a bit difficult at the moment? Or is it me? I have tried to write this post about five times over the course of the day. I wanted to post a clip of Sandie Shaw singing the Smiths song "Jeane" because I am listening to it non-stop at the moment and it just will not post. Ah well. Check it out for yourself on You Tube if you like :)

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Made some delicious Irish soda bread on the weekend which was so easy. I never thought of myself as a bread making person. I always thought it was super tricky. But...soda bread has no yeast. This is the secret. Yeast is scary - you have to warm it and watch and do all sorts of things that I generally can't be bothered doing. And my lovely husband made pumpkin pie from one of the many pumpkins he's grown in the garden. Good baking weekend. How about you?

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Does anyone know what to do with rosehips? I have lots of them on my old rose bush in the front yard and it has recently dawned on me that you can eat (or drink) rosehips. But how...?

To Ribe

2011-07-15T10:48:00.013+10:00

The Norns, the weavers of fate, greeted us at the entrance.

The great Lord and Lady in the atmospheric half-light of the long house.

"Yeah, yeah. I do a lap of the field and then I come back to you. I get it."

A view from one of the huts onto a herb garden.

One of the beautifully painted walls in the long house.

One of the sweet little huts. I could move right in, but how would I blog??

Goosey, Goosey Gander, where shall I wander?

A quiet, simple moment in the long house. It was so peaceful and again made me wonder what we have really gained in modern life...

Next stop in Denmark was Ribe, in Southern Jutland. It's Denmark's oldest town and there is much made of the Viking past here. Having read up on Norse mythology before we left Australia, this was more than fine with me. The Ribe Viking Centre, slightly out of the town itself, was absolutely great and as an open-air museum, it did really give me a sense of what life in a Viking village may have been like (until we got to the cafe and the gift shop, of course!) Seriously, the traditional long house was wonderfully atmospheric to walk through and we absolutely loved wandering amongst all the farm animals pottering around! I was amused, though, when we went to the falconry display and the falcon...left. He taunted the falconer for a while, flying in great sweeping loops around our heads and then he was off into the forest!

Northern lights

2011-07-14T16:00:00.003+10:00

I have heard a lot about the 'Scandinavian light' - that is, the different glow that the sun seems to cast on things in such Northern climes. And I really think it's true - probably even more so in the winter. Certainly I see a suggestion of it in this photograph I took in natural light on the windowsill of our accomodation in Copenhagen. A gentle, pure white light.

All a tremulous heart requires

2011-07-13T14:19:00.011+10:00

Often while on holidays, surprising things happen. Now, I knew there was water between Germany and Denmark. But I had not really thought through how we would cross it. I just took it as read that we would. But as our train chugged along from Hamburg, I was rather surprised to be told our train would be driven onto a ferry, we would get out of the train and onto the ferry, make the crossing and then continue on to Copenhagen on the train. There is nothing like this in Australia. If you go to Tasmania, you fly or take the ferry. No trains. No train and ferry combos. And the ferry? I was expecting some utilitarian vessel which would take us over the water in practical and spartan surroundings. Uh, no. Restaurants. Shops. Lounges. All very interesting!

This cake, consumed in a cafe at the Tivoli, was covered in molten (and melting) chocolate. It was horrible. Just kidding! And the hot chocolate? Well. None of this namby-pamby-break-it-to-you-gently sweet stuff. This hot chocolate was serious, with just the right touch of bitterness. Lovely.

I don't do rides but I'm happy to watch other people nauseate themselves...

Dreamy...

And sometimes on holidays you do things that you wouldn't normally do. For me, one of those things was going to the Tivoli amusement park in Copenhagen (http://www.tivoli.dk/) It is in fact much more than an amusement park (oops, I sound like an ad for it). There are restaurants, shops, a lovely aquarium and a really terrific exhibition about the Titanic (though I did wonder about the Titanic souvenir t-shirts...who wears that??) It really seemed to be the place to go in Copenhagen for locals and tourists alike - far more so than, say, Luna Park here.

Holidays. You just don't know, do you?

Green tour of Europe: Part 1

2011-07-12T10:05:00.004+10:00

One thing that I did take a lot of photos of while we were away is plants. So beautiful in their variety and also good practice for the amateur photographer wielding a macro lens! I couldn't resist one more photo of the German forests...

A delicate rose growing behind one of the large cathedrals in Heidelberg...

And something not quite so cultivated but no less beautiful, spotted while out walking. Is it an elderflower?

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I was so sad to see when we returned home, though, that the people living in the house behind ours had cut down a large and beautiful hawthorn tree in our absence. It was often covered in lovely red berries and attracted a wide assortment of birds, most particularly white cockatoos. Unless a tree is about to smash through your roof, I can never understand why people chop trees down. It seems like the ungrateful return of a wonderful gift.

Holiday Tales: Germany

2011-07-11T14:41:00.008+10:00

The light in the forest in Germany seemed to be completely different to the light I would later see in Scandinavia.

Beautiful Fachwerk buildings...if this one ever comes on the market, someone should let me know :)

One way leads to the Mediterranean, the other to Scandinavia! A country road in Germany.

As always when travelling in Europe, I was struck by the charm of the many beautiful little villages, especially in Germany with its gorgeous half-timbered Fachwerk style. I would love to live in one of these little houses - so very uniquely beautiful and (and this is the historian speaking!) so important to preserve these living time capsules.

The other thing that I love about these villages is their incredible proximity to the forest - you can just walk out your back door and into such lovely countryside! I have to say I love the European countryside...but I am now going to make a concerted effort to love the Australian countryside more and get out there and do some bushwalking more regularly. We went on so many beautiful walks while we were away - I want to keep it going here (though maybe when it's not raining and 4 degrees!)

Back Home

2011-07-08T10:50:00.004+10:00

Why I fell in love with Norway in one photo...the quiet, mysterious stillness of the forests of Mt Floyen, Bergen.

This beautiful little heart is carved into the wall of a hut at Oslo's open-air Norwegian Folk Museum.

Hello! I am back from my six week holiday in Europe with my dear, sweet husband and getting used once more to the more familiar surroundings of the Yellow Wood! I have got beyond the just-back-from-the-holiday stage of home seeming like a bit of a novelty but it has certainly been a week of settling in. I would like to say I am glad to be home and of course all holidays must come to an end or they wouldn't really be special, magical holiday things but just, well, every day stuff, but we have returned to some very cold weather and we did have a lovely time overseas so it is a little hard not to be wistful...

On the up side though, the holiday did give me lots of good thinking time as holidays always do and I have clarified a few things in my own mind as to what I'll be up to for the next little while.

But! The Holiday. Well, first stop when we left Australia was Singapore which was as gorgeously tropical as ever. We were only there for a short time on our way to Europe so I'll come back
to that in a couple of days time, when I tell you about our week there on the way home. First European stop was Germany, where we were kindly hosted for a few days by my penpal Bodecea and her partner. Next on the list was our first foray into Scandinavia - Denmark. We stayed in the beautiful capital, Copenhagen, and then moved onto the oldest town in Denmark, Ribe. From there we took the train and the ferry to Sweden, stopping in Gothenburg, and then to our main destination of Norway. Oslo was our first Norwegian port of call and then to the beautiful, beautiful Bergen. I am still dreaming about Bergen! We spent another week in Oslo then and...our time was nearly up! Back to Singapore and then back home.

I've got lots of beautiful photos to show you (yes, it's the cyber equivalent of a slide night) and lots of travellers' tales to tell you. So, next post...Germany and Denmark!

Lovely weather for ducks

2011-05-11T13:49:00.005+10:00

Winter has hit us early this year. The predicted temperature for today is 13, but I think it would be struggling to even reach double figures. Pouring rain, hail, wind and even some snow in the hills. I am wearing two jumpers and it's only May! What does winter proper hold, I wonder...

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It is however lovely weather to knit and to think about knitting. I found a beautiful cache of vintage knitting pattern books in an op-shop yesterday - some even back to World War Two, with mention of wool being requistioned by the Defence Department - and so once I get a firmer grasp on a few more stitches, I can see a vintage cardigan on the needles...

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It is also great weather for comfort food. Last night's dinner was chicken cooked in apricot nectar with rice and steamed pak choy sprinkled with parmesen cheese. Mmmmm...

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Slightly surreal to think we will soon be in Singapore and 32 degrees!

Little Miss Update

2011-05-09T16:21:00.008+10:00

Apologies once again for the silence in the Yellow Wood. On top of the computer woes and the book editing conundrums, we are preparing for our big trip North (way North) and it has proved to be very, very time consuming indeed. Not that I can complain about being absorbed by the details of holiday-making! We are both looking forward to it and really in need of a break.

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It's Roger Hargreaves birthday today - yes, he of the Mr Men. Did you read them as a child? Messers Messy, Bump, Small and Tickle were my favourites. Who were yours?

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I have really been enjoying knitting of late, especially now that the winter is very firmly setting in (even though it is only mid-May). I think we are struggling up to about 13 degrees today. Our house in double-brick too, which makes things extra chilly. But it does make working with wool extra fun. I have AT LAST taught myself an easy way to cast-on as well as how to purl stitch, basket stitch and moss stitch (well, sort of, on that last one). Now I think I am even ready for a...project. Distel Fliege kindly suggested a shawl which looks lovely and which I will absolutely try but does any one else have any thoughts on a beginner's knitting project? My main problem at the moment is that I am not allowed to take knitting needles on the plane :(

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For on-the-plane-easily-distracting books, I am taking Ian Rankin (yay Rebus!) and Charlaine Harris (yay Sookie!). I am not a good flyer so anything that requires a lot of concentration is a waste of time. Any other suggestions?

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As you may know, I have a couple of shops over at Etsy but I am not exactly about to retire on my earnings from them. What do you think is a good way to sell vintage goods (clothes, knick-knacks etc.)? This has been consuming a fair bit of thought for me lately...

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And finally, I am tired of negativity! On Facebook recently (I know, I know, I've been sucked into it too), someone opined that they hated the royal family. I really try to avoid using the word 'hate'. It is such a strong expression of negative emotion, and often pointlessly so. I was amused to see someone replied that they "hated haters". I come from a long line of judgemental people, so I try to leave this sort of negativity out of the equation if I can. Ok, off soap-box now. What do you think?

On Being Human

2011-05-02T11:30:00.006+10:00

Sorry for having been a little silent here in the Woods of late. I have been trying to get my thesis off to the publishers (still) by the requested deadline and we have also been in the throes of planning a fairly big holiday so there's been all manner of little detaily things to do! Added to all that, my computer died.

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Did you watch the Royal Wedding? There are of course plenty of naysayers out there but I for one enjoyed it, being a bit of lover of pomp and circumstance, but also simply being glad to see people happy! Goodness knows we see enough in the news about human misery - why not a bit of human joy now and then? Every time a royal event comes up, we argue about the republican issue here in Australia, but taking the wedding on face value, I saw it as a pretty warm and heartfelt affair really, and Kate and William do appear to be a bit more compatible than WIlliam's parents did at their wedding all those years ago. But who knows? We can't of course have any real idea of this - and, indeed, why should we, it's none of our business - and I do seem to recall everyone talking about "the stuff of fairytales" back in 1981. All we can say at this point is, I guess, best of luck!

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I have been so enjoying the third season of Being Human - I've loved it from the start - and so I was pleased to find this little snippet of the show's sweetly melancholy theme tune.