Misha

A pin found on Ebay

In 1981, when I was eight years old, we went to the Royal Melbourne Show (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Melbourne_Show), as we did every year. I was bought a teddy bear - Misha - who has remained a faithful companion ever since. He is sitting on the dresser in our bedroom now, thirty-one years old and a little careworn but still keeping his end up, as they say. When I was eight, I didn't realise that Misha (or Mishka) had been the symbol of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. When he made it to Melbourne, Misha had been transformed into a football bear and wore a little Hawthorn t-shirt.

Lately I have been looking around the Net at all things Misha, partially on a nostalgia trip and partly due to my love of Soviet-era vintage. There's a lot to be found! Misha is still a very popular bear...

Do you still have a special furry childhood friend?

Lovely 'flock' covered Misha on Dawanda

Hipster Misha getting down in time for the Olympics

Image found at http://femtasia.blogspot.com.au/2009/05/misha.html

Image found at http://paulina.holbreich.org/tag/bear/

Misha as I knew and know him (though no Olympic rings on my Misha)

http://collectableteddybears4sale.com/misha-bear-by-olympic-mascot/

Hello Again

Hello! I feel like it's about time to start blogging again! I hope you've been doing well in your corner of the world since we last spoke. During my blog break, we 'cat-sat' for a friend of mine who was renovating and then moving house. Midg was with us for about five weeks, and after he spent the first afternoon behind the couch in total shock, we got along quite well. He is fourteen years-old and quite set in his ways, but it was a delight to have him around. I have never had a pet, so I was quite fascinated just to watch him do his thing...

Sometimes he watched me do mine...

Sometimes he really didn't want to be watched at all...

A lot of the time he watched the birds in the front yard with eager interest...

And more often than not, a nap was the activity of choice.

We are thinking now about getting our own pet. I went to Save-a-Dog today (who also have cats - they're at http://www.saveadog.org.au/) and there are so many animals looking for homes. If you are going to get a pet, please think about adopting rather than buying from a pet store. Midg was an adoptee and I saw so many sad canine and feline eyes this morning...

Into the Woods

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/62497873@N05/6481067521/in/pool-cryptozoology

Hello! I hope all's been well with you since we last spoke. I'm blogging again over at my other blog, In a Dark Wood (http://inadark-wood.blogspot.com.au/) 

I'd love to see you there!

Feronia xx

Pause Button

You might have noticed kind of a lot of silence here over the last month or so. Just to explain (because it drives me nuts when bloggers just disappear), I have decided to rest the blog for the time being. One day soon, perhaps, inspiration will come calling again and I'll have some more stories to share. Until that day comes (and I'm sure it will), keep your eyes open and your feet moving forward.

Feronia xx 

Real Winter

How I wanted this jumper in the winters of the early 80s, as worn by Princess Diana! 

Image from http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/

As is the case most winters, I have sinusitis. But this morning my doctor said to me, "But these are the winters we used to have - real winters." I thought this was an extremely good point. One of the things I remember most from my 1970s childhood is the very distinct seasons - long, hot summers made up of school holidays, waiting for Christmas, playing with your Christmas presents and scudding down the slip-and-slide in the backyard and long, cold winters punctuated by hot meat pies, open fires and warm homemade jumpers. So I've decided to make the most of the month and a half we have left of winter and enjoy it for the real, distinctly seasonal time it's proving to be this year!

And this ad reminds me so much of watching TV during winter in the early 80s...

Winter Musings

Even if the novel I'm in the process of writing is never published, I have to say it is a most excellent journey to be on. I have so much on my reading list at the moment that I really don't know where to start and I have all sorts of ideas coursing through my mind! Which is just as well because this winter is super dreary with rain, grey skies and low temperatures almost every day.

As well as or in conjunction with my writing, I have been getting creative in my Etsy shop, being inspired still by all things Victorian and Edwardian. I think I may have posted some Ernst Haeckel images before, but I couldn't resist these, so typical of the Victorian habit of documenting nature with extraordinary detail.

These images are from http://shewalkssoftly.com/2011/05/19/ernst-haeckel/

So, here are just a couple of images of bits and bobs I have made for the shop, with a photograph of some of my ancestors in the middle. I love his moustache in particular and so I am now using this as my Etsy logo.

This necklace is available at http://www.etsy.com/listing/103953678/edwardian-downton-abbey-style-necklace?ref=pr_shop

This necklace is available at http://www.etsy.com/listing/103953879/downton-abbey-style-necklace?ref=v1_other_1

As well as continuing on with A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book, I am also getting stuck into Virginia Woolf's stream-of-consciousness novel Mrs Dalloway. Have you read it? I've just found a lovely clip from the film version with the always wonderful Vanessa Redgrave as Clarissa Dalloway.

Neat and Plain and Set in Gold

I couldn't resist showing you this ring, which belonged to Jane Austen. So pretty! Such a plain, striking setting and I love the stone.

Read all about it here (which is where the image is from) - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2163122/It-neat-plain-set-gold-Jane-Austen-ring-belonged-family-200-years-seen-time.html