Japanese Story

Because my life is a giddy whirl of social engagements, I need a lot of ethereal frocks, right? I thought not. As my friend Jane said when I fessed up 'But I've never seen you in a dress'.

I went into The City today for a couple of client meetings then lunch with people I used to work with. Unfortunately there was a gap between meetings, and I found myself in Akira's shop in the Strand Arcade.


This dress looks quite different with a cream silk slip under it rather than this floral number. (I tend not to wear that sort of makeup or headwear, either, you may be relieved to know.) And because I am SHORT it is longer on me also. The stuff on the top (see, I know all the design words) are these amazing tiny square wooden sequins in red and cream. Maybe I will photograph them close up. After all, chances of me wearing the damn thing anywhere are slim. But I will get hours of joy from examining the incredible construction ...

Someone had better bloody well have a good party this summer and invite me, or my favourite 'pay per wear' justification will not apply.

The Birds

Hitchcock was right.

I just walked up to my studio from the house, and got swooped by a bloody huge magpie (Australian magpies aren't really magpies at all, of course, they are big scary things). I'm assuming this means that there are some baby birds up in one of our trees, which is all very lovely ... but. Once I'd got into the studio, the damn bird still wasn't happy. It flew to the closest branch and shouted at me (honestly, this bird was shouting), then jumped into the doorway of the studio. At this point I started to imagine it pecking at my eyes or something equally hideous, so I shut the studio door on it.

So now I'm trapped in the studio. Maybe this is a message from the universe, telling me to do some work.

The Brother from Another Planet

My little brother does come from another planet - Planet Tall. And he likes to show off. Here he is on the night of Muppet's birthday, a nephling on each shoulder. (Nephling is his gender neutral word for niece/nephew.)


Can you tell that Phoebe was happy? We had pasta and gelato for dinner; in Phoebe's case, mostly gelato. That's what birthdays are for.

The Truth About Cats and Dogs

We still only have one of each. Phoebe got a little overwhelmed and we left the Cat Protection Society sans kitten. Of course, once we got home, she decided she wanted the ginger & white one (that Holden and I had already taken a shine to). We are going back on Wednesday for her to meet some more kittens and decide if she wants one.

Run Fatboy Run

Last Sunday I hauled myself out of bed at 6.30am to watch Andrew run past our street (well, close enough) in the Half Marathon. I almost didn't make it. He saw me before I saw him and all I managed was these happy snaps. Is it just me, or is it unnatural to look this cheerful when you're running 21km before breakfast?

Hol did the 9km Bridge Run the same morning and was 8th in his age category.

Freaks, the pair of them. Phoebe stayed in bed like the sensible girl she is.

Reservoir Dogs

So there's this blog-person who does AMAZING things with baking. I shamelessly stole her idea from here. But because I am not equipped with a) patience, b) time or c) fancy stuff like food writing pens and special candy melts and mini M&Ms, my versions turned out rather more, um, rustic? Or, as Phoebe would say, 'wonkertated'.

So 24 of these Wonky Dogs went up to school this morning.

Phoebe opened her stack of presents (mostly DVDs and CDs) in bed (the marital bed, not her bed) and then had breakfast in same bed.

By a stroke of serendipity it is the last day of term and a mufti day, so she went off to school resplendent in a red dress, new knitted cardie, cowboy boots and baseball cap. Must take photo.

At 1pm we (myself and Holden) are picking Phoebe up from school and taking her (drum roll) to choose her new birthday KITTEN! Expect plenty of cheesy photos of said kitten in due course.

Seven

This is what seven looks like for the last time. Tommorrow she will look like eight.

(She's also modelling a cardie I finished, believe it or not, less than two weeks after finishing Andrew's jumper. Can't say the colours go with her school uniform, but then what DOES goes with that ghastly yellow?)