newcastle

you can see the rest here

and as we walked around circular quay...

a little bit more of melbourne

i went to this with chloe the other day.. given my last post and that chloe's life is somewhat similar to your own with a small child yet to sleep through a night i thought i would post. it was really tremendous...

Short Dissertations on Sleep: a new dance work shedding light on slumber Sleep: it pauses the personality, renders us vulnerable, links us to the animals and dictates the very architecture of our society... and yet sleep is so ordinary, so invisible, that we rarely stop to acknowledge its importance in our lives.
Short Dissertations on Sleep is a new dance work by Grace Walpole and Helen Walpole (Dancehouse, 16 to 19 July 2009) that asks ‘What is sleep?’ and offers five surprising answers. Exploring biology, culture and philosophy, Short Dissertations on Sleep draws on recent research to present a lyrical and mysterious performance-essay that integrates interviews, dance and narrative with an original soundtrack by David Corbet and lighting by Richard Vabre.
‘On a purely physiological level, sleep is just a sequence of electrical states in the brain’ says dancer Grace Walpole, who is also a medical doctor with degrees in art history and neuroscience. ‘But you only need to look at the complex social rituals, structures and taboos associated with sleep to see that is as much a cultural as a biological phenomenon.’

we can talk about it on the phone some time, amongst late night insomina spiced chatter

moony monday

i am not sure if was jamie oliver's mulled wine recipe, the excitement of the tour de france sprint off, or just way too much dessert before bed but i really only managed four hours sleeplat night. yes darling em i thought of you and your weeks on end of sleeplessness. i got up several times after trying to fight it, tried yoga and some warm milk - and ended up curled up on the couch at 2am while matt talked me through the finer points of pelatons and cycling. at six i just got up, dried off my very own bike seat, wrapped my hands up in mittens and cycled in to work. the moon was so big and low and full in the pre dawn sky it was simply breathtaking - or was that just the cold?

screen printing saturday in east melbourne

just a sample from this proud stenciller! it was glorious and wet and physical and a truly lovely way to spend a day... i am now waiting for the rain to stop, drinking potfuls of hot liquorice tea and mountains of cold apple crumble, the sheets are in the washing machine and the velvet underground are waiting for their man in manhattan. miss you.

this is my walk to work...

...past the familiar facades of sutherland street, perhaps a moment to smell the roses, a left down hope street until the funny corner with the spirally tree and the fat green chefs, past the construction workers already busy in the crisp cold day, under the pontian club sign where soon enough the footpath will be filled with the old, smoking, greek men who call this club home, another left onto victoria street past my new local (though not yet my favourite) and towards ray for a coffee before hitting sydney road, heading city ward and finding my desk in the wee corner of the monolithic merri street factory...

evenings

saturday, a quiet stroll in the north fitzroy late afternoon and the gift of a glorious sky

mornings

lygon street, empty street sundays, golden tower lighting the early morning cycle to abbotsford.

i want wednesday

LATTE TRENCH COAT BY AMAR, $260 FROM DESIGN A SPACE 142 CHAPEL STREET, WINDSOR. PH: 9510 0144 WWW.AMAR.COM.AU

So pretty... and warm to boot, or to trench.

anyway, I am off to some coffee bean training

tuesday

i had breakfast with nikki this morning. i hadn't seen her for a million years. we went to sugardough and ate toast with ricotta and honey. it was a great comfort after a night of salty tears. fortified for the day ahead. x
(images various from web - my camera needs new batteries)

monday

if we could drink salt water i'd be well on the way to fixing melbourne's water crisis.

sunday

a little quieter, not so chilly. a beautiful sunrise. tim and i cheated the morning a little and shared a lift to the farm, a somewhat guilty pleasure driving with the heater on through the empty streets. andy fowler is in town and came by for a coffee around close. i spent the late afternoon on the couch watching press gang episodes, marvelling at the mad crush i used to have on dexter fletcher. i am treading very gingerly through my days..

saturday

it was cold and grey for most of saturday. chloe and alba stopped by in the morning and alba, not content with the rice pudding i had cooked that morning, tried a sample from my garden, most of which came back up again. phew. i ran into matt at the train station. he came and found me at the climate rally. both moments were nice. we hadn't seen much of each other lately. hard to believe in global warming when your toes are numb and your ears are burning from the cold. nevertheless it was a powerful thing to be claiming swanston street, sitting out the front of the town hall (labour party conference was happening inside), jangling keys and watching the fray -families and friends - feeling all in all like there is a growing momevement committed to real change and that it will start with us. or that it already has.

(image from friends of the earth)

PS Welcome back online, dear friend.

sorry you didn't catch the sunrise i sent

the mornings have been icy cold, and grey for last few, not to mention dark. but this morning was clear and full of pinks and blue. my toes are still cold though.. and the birch in the backyard almost leafless x

Our abundant winter cactus. Salmon blooms turn candy pink as the cold approaches.

Crochet blossoms. None of us had crocheted before so it was quite an achievement (admittedly, the more elaborate flowers were made by a helpful instructor!). A bouquet made to last for a friend who had lost her dad that day.

Jassy playing with her monkey-on-a-stick in the nursery.

And sitting in her cot for the photo shoot. I actually think of her room as being quite neat -- until I look at these photos!

a little bit of me and my dinosaur

I have spent the better part of my day in the belly of a monolithic dinosaur called Hermes. Born about ten years ago in the bowels of HV's techno depths, ole Hermes was intended as an internal cataloguing database to capture all the sites and places of import registered or under review. Its roll out late last year has been largely underwhelming for consultants. I think I have spent more time with Hermes this year than with anyone else I know. I am writing wee rudimentary descriptions of water assets - 'tall tower, ripple cladding, hedge row lined circumfrence' and so it goes.

I did however stumble across this picture today... a little bit of fieldwork joy in the old O'Shannassy water catchment area..

A little bit sad (but not for long)

If you thought the last picture was serious, have a look at this one ...

As I write this post, Jassy is crawling properly (i.e. hands and knees, not commando style) for the first time! What a big girl!

Jassy in her new scarf. Aren't I just a craft fiend at the moment!

Do you like the wool? I will knit you a matching one if you do. :)

This is my drawing from my second art class. It's so much fun (though I don't envy the poor model who had to sit in this position in a cold studio for three hours)!

Hope we can chat tonight. xxx

I'm looking to brighten up Jassy's room. Thought these were apt http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24667825, but decided it would be a little selfish of me to select them given that Jassy doesn't yet drink tea.

All rugged up

Winter has finally arrived. Here we sit on the front porch watching the storm come in and awaiting Craig's return from work. The first real opportunity to use the rug Sally and I knitted for Jassy.

Can we talk this weekend?

Anna with her first ever pie, Anna's new camera, our first bookclub in ages, Calvino, and a cold night in a warm studio above Smith Street. You can get more book details here http://www.amazon.com/Marcovaldo-Seasons-City-Italo-Calvino/dp/0156572044

Here i was sitting at work, tears welling for the second time today (though more about the first later) wondering if there will ever be a time that Tom Waits is once again a pain free zone, when my shuffle shifted gear to some Dougie McLean and an even more heart wrenching moment with Calendonia.. Phewee. Poets, who needs them.

Lyrics from the first..

So please call my missus
Gotta tell her not to cry'
Cause my goodbye is written
By the moon in the sky
Hey and nobody knows me
I can't fathom my stayin'
Shiver me timbers'
Cause I'm a-sailin' away

And the fog's liftin'
And the sand's shiftin'
I'm driftin' on out
Ol' Captain Ahab
He ain't got nothin' on me
So come and swallow me, follow me
I'm trav'lin' alone
(from Shiver me timbers, Waits)

I am still trying to figure out how to add text to my photos ...

x

Beautiful Valentino Italian silk that Mum was given on her travels to Italy many moons ago. Whatever will I do with it?

Craft Club at our house last Thursday. Pulled out Granny's Royal Doulton to use with the monk pear tea.

Hi dear friend

I am a virgin blogger, so please excuse any poor blogiquette.

We have made it through another week. For me, a week of professional developments and hearty winter meals, for Craig a week of 12 hour work days and an out-of-whack work-life balance and for Jassy a week of night-time parties and poos. Some pics to come ...

x

a saturday in

this cold is hanging on in there, i have been cooking up a storm, full flavours and gravitating towards vitamin c rich peppers, stews and spicy things.. only yesterday i felt like this pepper yelled at me. i roasted him anyway, but made tuna pasta bake for dinner.

it started badly but the sun shone by the end of the day