Freedom!

A bid for freedom detected... Our neighbourhood cat who lives next door has a penchant for eating the local birdlife. Recently he has been fitted with a collar and bell. Yesterday I found said collar and bell undone and abandoned in our yard. How does a cat undo a collar? Gotta admire his determination. And I wonder what getting a collar off feels like for a cat? Something like finally unwedging something that has been caught in your teeth, I should imagine...!

Folk Art

Images from Google Images

I am doing some reading about Poland at the moment for the writing I'm doing and I have just been reading about the town of Zalipie, where the women of the town do folk art paintings both out and inside the houses. Lovely! I love folk art and I am slowly amassing a little collection of it (mainly from Russia), so I would love to visit this town one day.

Has anyone been to Poland or even Zalipie?

Now, Here is the News

I couldn't resist posting this video, which had me laughing out loud. The Old Spice ad is certainly funny but I think Grover's take on it adds a whole other dimension.

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The weather has done a complete backflip here since yesterday. It had been beautiful - blue skies, sunshine and really quite warm - but today it is grey, overcast and pouring with rain. I don't mind it, though - there was such a wonderful, fresh smell to the air this morning.

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I have had (what I think is) a good idea for a novel so I am writing furiously at the moment. Keep your fingers crossed for me that the creative well doesn't go dry on me before I have a first draft done! This has happened to me before - I have a great idea, I start writing and then - bam! - the Muses up and leave.

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I am hoping we will get away on a little mini-trip before this year is up. I am plumping for either Japan or Singapore, since both are quite close to us. I saw a documentary last night on how the Geisha are trained and so I am super-keen on Japan again (not that I would make it as a Geisha, I don't think!)

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Whether we get away, though, is a tricky question. The year is fast disappearing and the 'Only...weeks until Xmas' ads have already started on the TV. I know I have railed against it here before, but the whole thing just turns into such a commercial fest of bleugh. Any real meaning to it all but completely disappears. My real celebration will be at Summer Solstice, anyway. Christmas, I have to admit, has become a bit of a case of just turning up. Bah! Humbug!

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So, what's news with you?

PS Sorry the video has loaded in wide screen. Have no idea why it has done this. Any thoughts?

Wise Words for the Week

Image from www.sodahead.com

"As you start traveling down that road of life, remember this: There are never enough comfort stops. The places you're going to are never on the map. And once you get that map out, you won't be able to refold it no matter how smart you are. So forget the map, roll down the windows and, whenever you can, pull over and have a picnic."

~ Kermit the Frog.

Stuff No One Told Me

I've recently discovered this site - http://stuffnoonetoldme.blogspot.com/ I just love this cartoon which was posted there yesterday.

Enjoy your weekend!

Handmade

I have been having some fun fiddling around with my new(ish) camera and the computer. The photo on top looks to me like something from a hyper-exaggerated Willy Wonka world with its bursting colours while the second one looks like an old photo to me - 60s or 70s - taken on a Polaroid. My husband thought it looked like something taken on another planet!

I have to show you this beautiful neck adornment made by my grandmother (I think) many, many years ago. It's made of black beading to look like (I presume) the popular Victorian material, Jet. Having said this, I wonder if it isn't in fact older since my grandmother was not even an embryo, let alone making jewellery in the Victorian age! I'll never know for sure now but I found it languishing in an old tin in the sleep-out. I now have it on display on my dressing table.

Disrespect

Another football season has passed here in Australia (and that's AFL not soccer), with the Grand Final having been played on Saturday. I don't really have any feelings about football - I neither like nor dislike it. I am fairly rare in this viewpoint - most people either love it passionately or avoid it like the Plague. Perhaps this is because of how I was brought up - my mother was always happy to watch a game but my father was a member of the Anti-Football League. Add to this the fact that I am not really a sporty person within myself anyway and you come up with an attitude of basic ambivalence.

What I'm thinking about today, though, is the behaviour of players off the field. Yet another rape allegation has cropped up here involving players from the team that won the Grand Final (http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/magpie-denials-as-smears-emerge-20101005-1663y.html) What's interesting is how the media and the public in general have responded to it. An ex-footballer has tweeted that women who go home with men at 3 o'clock in the morning should not be surprised when sex is demanded of them (even, as in this case, if it's group sex) while a local tv identity has described women who go out with footballers as "strays".

At the heart of all this is an enormous disrespect for women and for their sexuality. Women are still being identified as available playthings for men if they dare to mix within certain social circles or if they conduct themselves in a certain way. In short, as this argument always seems to return to, they are 'asking for it' if they ignore society's apparent rules. There are still significant restraints upon women's freedom as this case (and the many like it) clearly illustrates.

What do you think? Is there a similar situation within other countries?