Mad Men

I must be getting old. Or maybe I just watch too much tv (but hey, it's winter)! More nostalgia (of a kind) today.

Is anyone else watching Mad Men, the tv series about the Madison Avenue ad agency, set in the early 1960s? If you're reading this in the States, I think you're episodes and episodes ahead of us here. We are only about 6 eps into season 1 but I have to say I love it as much as the advertising for it told me I should. Many of the characters are repugnant - the men are so sexist! - but there's something compelling about it nonetheless. Initially I thought I would just watch it for the wonderful 60s decor and costuming because I really didn't like the characters. And this normally switches me off a book, tv show or movie very quickly. But there's something kind of mesmerising about just watching the sets unfold before you - they really do make you feel that you are looking through a window and into another era. And I have always said that if I could do one thing it would be to time travel, so this suits me very well. My mother who was actually around in the early 1960s (though not on Madison Avenue!) isn't a fan of the show but she does concede that they set the scene very well.

Now I find myself warming to the characters. Especially Peggy - slightly dorky, a little too earnest but genuinely nice and looking for just a little more than what the mainstream is offering. So, I'm posting a link here to a great exchange between her and Joan, the office bombshell (see, now I'm slipping into 6os speak!). Just as I've discovered the joys of embedding a clip (thanks WS!), the poster of this clip has preventing the embedding of it. Oh well! Follow the link if you like and you'll get the gist of it, just the same!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2FZOCgZe8k

And if you're a Simpsons fan too, you'll probably like their spoof of Mad Men's opening credits:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcmM7Jh2Y3k

Nostalgia time!

I love music. It can alter my mood in an instant. And I have pretty eclectic tastes too - what I'm listening to really has to match my mood in that moment and so, different things appeal at different times. And I have always loved music. I can remember getting my first LP (that dates me nicely!) at age 4 - it was Abba and I was a major fan. I even had Abba socks and like a lot of girls around the world at that time I'm sure, I wanted to have straight blonde hair just like Agnetha. A big ask for a kid with curly dark hair! But one of the first music clips I remember seeing on tv is this one by Andy Gibb. It wasn't exactly this one - I remember the 'official' clip in which he was riding a bicycle - but this song still brings back strong memories of the the 70s for me, and takes me straight back to that moment. How about you? What's the first song you remember?

Brrrrr...Monday Mirth

I have been a little under the weather these last couple of days. I've had long-standing issues with sinusitis and asthma and despite the weather being exceedingly cold and despite the fact that I was already sniffing and sneezing, I decided it would be a very good idea to clean out our very dusty storage space on Sunday morning. Not very surprisingly, within an hour I was sneezing violently and my left eye had swollen up. Brilliant! So Sunday afternoon was a write-off, spent on the couch watching a truly daft Elvis movie and feeling sorry for myself. I felt a little better yesterday but the weather this long weekend just passed - rain, cold winds - has not inclined me to do too much at all. It is 8 degrees (celsius) here at the moment...

But enough of the downer that is winter. The second season of "Flight of the Conchords" started here last night and so I thought I would give you the link to one of my favourite songs of theirs, "Foux De Fa Fa". I mean no disrespect to the French by posting this link. I have been to Paris and it's lovely. This is more about the absurdity of what they teach you at school when learning a foreign language.

Rainy days and Thursdays

It's a weird thing, but there's something about Thursdays that have an element of flatness for me. I run out of puff on Thursdays. I lose impetus on Thursdays. What seemed perfectly do-able on Wednesday is dead-in-the-water on Thursday. If I am going to do my semi-regular tango with depression, it'll be on a Thursday. Which brings me to...Thursday. So, today I bring you some quiet little pictures of some quiet little corners of our backyard. I live in what was my grandparents' house, so this backyard has always had a sense of wonder for me. It was once an extraordinary scene of horticultural triumph: trees laden with plums, lemons and grapefruits. Vines of raspberries, blackcurrants and blackberries... Now it is different and (I think, at least) for two pretty viable reasons: my grandmother was in a position to spend a lot of time working on it and water supplies were a bottomless pit in those days. Or maybe I'm making excuses. Either way, we're going with a slightly more down-to-earth (sorry) approach these days but in amongst the weeds and the slightly-too-long grass (as well as the lemon and grapefruit trees which chugg quietly on) there is still some magic to be had and I am all for believing that the fairies at the bottom of the garden need the slightly-too-long grass as cover and shelter, lest the humans or the elements get too close for comfort. And as A.A. Milne so rightly said: "Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them."

Wanna See Wednesday

Through my good and dear friend Bodecea, I have discovered a terrific site: http://vaude.twoday.net/ There, amongst many other interesting things, Distelfliege has 'Wanna See Wednesday' in which she shows off some part of what she very wisely terms 'the sacred everyday life'. I thought I would pick up this really nice idea here at the Wood. So, to start, here is part of my grandmother's dinner set. It is very beautiful 1930s Royal Doulton but she used it every day of her life and I think that's pretty terrific. It wasn't squirreled away in a cupboard - don't touch the Doulton! - but instead she and my grandfather ate off fine bone china every day. For me, this is a very worthy idea indeed. There should be some beautiful, meaningful or special aspect to every day - and this doesn't have to be delicate porcelain - it can be a thought, a hug, a tv show, a cat or a sandwich! - but something that gives the day just a little lift. Perhaps some of you have read Sarah Ban Breathnach's Romancing the Ordinary which talks about this sort of thing too. Personally, it's an idea which sustains me, and gets me through the rough patches. Sometimes I've really got to look for that special thing, but it's always there somewhere.

A little bit of quiet

Not too much to say today - and perhaps sometimes a little bit of quiet is just as good :) - so just a little snap of my marjoram which is growing very happily on the front step. I've just potted some bergamot and red sage too.

On Being Scared (and other random thoughts)

Well, the beef pie (see Saturday) was a bit of a fizzer. Not terrible, but a bit flavourless and not really worth a photo. I did, however, redeem myself last night with 'Poor Man's Quiche' which turned out very well. So well in fact that there's no photo of that either but for the opposite reason - it was gobbled up while we were watching "Doctor Who" (the Easter special - love living in the Antipodes - the Easter special in May!).

Which brings me to my next question/thought. Why do we like to be scared? Not that "Doctor Who" is especially scary - suspenseful maybe - sometimes just plain daft. But I have lately developed a penchant for scary tv shows. Tonight, for example, "Supernatural" is on, and on Thursdays, I tune in for "Ghost Whisperer". I am by no means a brave person spooky-wise. I jump at shadows and I have definitely heard things going bump in the night. I am still getting over "The Sixth Sense". So what's the attraction to being scared? Does anyone else share this? Maybe it's because when the show ends, I can turn the TV set off safe in the knowledge that it wasn't real...or was it? (sorry, thought I'd inject a bit of scary movie drama in there)

Another brilliant op-shopping Monday today. A lovely summery dress (hugely appropriate when the barometer is struggling to pass 10 degrees, I thought!) which I saw in the chain stores for $60 this summer just past...today I bought it for $4.50! Global financial crisis? Pah! Just gotta think a bit more laterally about spending... And I found some very cute silver frog charms whose cuteness manages to show through even in the awful-fuzzy-on-the-mobile photo above. I think I'll turn them into earrings...

On a completely disparate note, I have been reading the Dalai Lama's The Art of Happiness. I believe spiritual belief is an enormously individual and personal path so I'm not advocating anything here, but there is some very good and interesting stuff here. Has anyone else read it? Just ponder:

"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible."