This is not the colour you're looking for

"This car is black"


This could be where the lovely Flashman comes in and informs me it is a gamer thing.

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ein kleines spiel cup perpetual trophy award for excellence: 2009 week 20

As Don and I inch just a teensy bit further away...


1. Carol (195 points)
2. Don (186 points)
3. Joe/Frank (181 points)
4. Dfkan (151 points)
5. Bessie (141 points)

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excuses and diversions

You can all blame the wonderful Harriet for my absence, as I've been quite caught up in the making of hats (and it is all her fault).

Also, I've been ear-deep in babies (it is terribly quiet now that they've gone home) and massess of work and the beginnings of a cold.

Meanwhile, why not look at some pictures?









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stuff in my letterbox

I'm not entirely sure a flyer in the letterbox would convince me to rush out to get a piercing/tattoo at their establishment. But, hey, that's just me.

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stuff on the ground

Posted while walking to work. Truly, if I can blog and walk, the space age is upon us. Now where's my flying car?

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good bye winter?

It was such a lovely, almost balmy evening, that we ditched the jumpers and scarves and ventured out with the babies for a wee stroll. This exhausted some of us more than others.

Yes, the iphone isn't really at its photo-taking best in the dark, but it didn't stop me giving it a bash ...







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ein kleines spiel cup perpetual trophy award for excellence: 2009 week 19

And Don rockets into 2nd place (Joe/Frank and Bess were away and didn't tip)

1. Carol (183 points)
2. Don (176 points)
3. Joe/Frank (171 points)
4. Dfkan (139 points)
5. Bessie (133 points)

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detritus

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johnny is a guy, who can't make up his mind

I know I say this constantly, but I really do need to do something about content that isn't iphone pix, but meanwhile...


Don watches Australia lose in the rugby.


Don's new hat before I unravelled 2/3 of it because my decreases were wrong.

Definitely a lesson that I really should ensure I understand what the instructions are telling me and not make assumptions (makes an ass of you and ... 'mptions). I was really pleased with the evenness of the stocking stitch though. Finished hat last evening, like it quite a lot, but have not thought of silly name for it yet.

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At Bessie's request we're having an olde skool winter-type roast for lunch (admittedly, will be quite a late lunch). The weather isn't quite what we had in mind when we planned it:

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I'm participating in the fabulous MeFi Music Swap: Summer 2009. Which will see four Americans, one Canadian and I foist our musical tastes upon one another by swapping mix tapes CDs.

I'm going with a "totally (obscure) aus" musical history theme.

Planning the list today - because I know if I leave it to the last minute (to be sent out by 15 August), I either won't do it or will get way too anxious about it (and it is supposed to be a totally fun and not at all stressful exercise. You hear me, brain?).

I don't think Supernaut, I like it both ways is too much, do you?

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I'm well on my way to becoming a golf widow.

Which raises interesting questions about what to do with myself, as we're generally a very self-contained unit.

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olde, broken socks ...

make most excellent handwarmers.


These venture only 500m radius of the haus.

Photo by Don. I envy his arsty stylings.

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Also, be envious of the schwag I scored for renewing my crikey subscription:


Yes, they are First Dog on the Moon socks. Excellent!

And being an utter philistine, I am willing to wager that I have heard precisely none of those classical recordings. I'll also wager that it is quite unlikely that I will hear any of them before I die.

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cold hands need ...

Hand warmers!



Perhaps not the most elegant solution, but took less than two minutes to make and, by golly, they do the job!

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need moar hats

It will come as no surprise to some that I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so after considering my options for a while, I'm really going need to tweak the Don, Bessie and Joe/Frank hats because, as I mentioned in comments to the lovely Harriet, when worn for a while they work themselves into a point at the crown so that the wearer looks like Snugglepot or possibly Cuddlepie.



And, like most things, if I don't make an effort to fix them, I will just worry and be anxious aand obsess bout them. Unfortunately, I do tend to do this perfection/obsession/anxiety thing about most things in my life. Dishy Boss says this is what makes me a perfect and yet utterly maddening employee, Don says it is what makes me just utterly maddening.

Anyway back to the hats of the future! Dfkan has requested a hat, so while I am awaiting her decision as to a pattern, I'm making another hat for Don and taking a bold leap to a different pattern. Radical.

I'll be making this hat for Don. Primarily chosen because I have the right sized circular needles and what I'm guessing is the right wool. Good that it looks pretty cool too.

A reknit in a bigger size of Joe/Frank's too small hat is in the future, but I'll be buying new wool, because the Lincraft brand Merino crepe is way scratchy and really unsatisfying (the cheaper Lincraft brand cosy wool was loads nicer). Unfortunately the Lincraft Merino crepe was what I bought to make Don's jumper (that we just won't talk about right now - I'm ... ermmm ... training for it.

Work = fiddly, difficult, brain-sucking tasks for the next couple of months.

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<edited to add< have altered Don and Joe/Frank's hats. Undid 4-6 rows, which made them much less gumnutty and made me much less anxious. Bessie's will be altered when she returns on Sunday for the hols.

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ein kleines spiel cup perpetual trophy award for excellence: 2009 week 18

Some minor jostling of positions....

1. Carol (173 points)
2. Joe/Frank (167 points)
2. Don (167 points)
4. Dfkan (130 points)
5. Bessie (129 points)

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sunday sunday sunday

Grabbed out the DSLR and realised I've completely forgotten how to take photos with a normal camera. So, apologies for the poorly taken photos (I can't even use the "crappy iphone" excuse).


Hottest 100 trophy. It will take a miracle for Joe/Frank to be beaten at this stage.

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Meanwhile ... hats


The "Misty half anniversary" hat (redux).


The "Bessie variegated fairy princess" hat


The "Joe/Frank go you bunnies! by golly, my boy has a big head" hat

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Ommmmm

Ahhhh ... an update to tweetie resolved the utterly fabulous "nearby" fail. Without "nearby" I'd not have found the hilarious @wiggyexposed.

And thank goodness it's back, because otherwise I'd be deprived of such gems from other un-named random neighbours as "In meditation this morning it was clear that I don't need food today. Drinking hot water, citrus and honey instead. Feeling the clarity."

The joys of living in hippy freaktown.

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Oh oh! Update (3 hours later): "After a 2 hour walk food would be nice but I want to see where this goes."

So many jokes, so little time.

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ein kleines spiel cup perpetual trophy award for excellence: 2009 week 17

The slackingly updated haus tipping comp results as at the end of week 17

1. Carol (165 points)
2. Joe/Frank (160 points)
3. Don (159 points)
4. Bessie (126 points)
5. Dfkan (122 points)

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And in the very tight Tip the Tipsterer contest (with an utterly fabulous un-named prize for the winner) ...

1. The lovely Harriet
2. The lovely Jano
3. The lovely Hazelblackberry (She chose a tie between Bessie and I, so I'm averaging our results)
4. The lovely, but still quite mysterious, Nikki

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dentist post

It's been a couple of years now since I've visited Dishy Dentist. It's not as though I am actively avoiding it, I actually LOVE going to the dentist, but what with one thing and another I just haven't quite gotten around to it.

While he is utterly lovely and does excellent work, ever since Dishy Dentist became a celebrity dentist and started sending weekly update emails about his television appearances I've been thinking that I might need to seek alternate arrangements. I really can't be doing with a celebrity dentist - he charged like a wounded bull before his stardom [I'm sure I financed a boat and several ponies], I hate to think what his fees are now that he's a tv star.

Don has pointed me in the direction of his lovely dentist who is less than 5 minutes walk up the road.

I'm seeing him tomorrow. Hopefully, given that I have been flossing super-regularly for years, the exercise will not send us to the poorhaus.

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stuffing our faces: w/c 190609 (damn, thought i posted this, but it was sitting in draft)

This is going to have to happen retrospectively, because we have been diverting from the path and it is all too complicated to go back and edit.

Friday:   Porcini mushroom risotto (carried forward from last week)
Saturday:   Dinner out at Nawaz, Flavour of India before heading out to Deerhunter at The Annandale
Sunday:   Harira (from Women's Weekly: The Weekend Cook)
Monday:   Nige's braised oxtail with mustard and mash (p.63 kitchen diaries) (also carried forward from last week)
Tuesday:   Steak, porcini mushroom risotto (leftovers) + baby spinach
Wednesday;   Bangers and mash (dutch cream potatoes are teh awesome for mashing)
Thursday:   Pasta Il Lebbio (pancetta + cream &etc, an invention of our own from when we were in Toscana, named for the lovely place we were staying)

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donandcarol farm

After more than two years, many threats and stern looks, we've finally seen results from Lemony, the lemon tree! Hurrah!


Lemons: we has them!

And they were employed for the ever-brilliant Brigette Hafner's slow-cooked Greek lamb (seriously, if you haven't cooked it yet, you definitely should).

So utterly wonderful to grow something other than spikey herbs and not have it eaten by creatures, although I will say the creatures did give the lemon leaves a good go. Where do they all come from? We're on the 4th floor!! I have more pests now than I did when I had a proper garden.

Once upon a time, I was completely opposed to using chemicals on plants, going forward for anything with soft leaves or fruit I'm really considering a "the more poison, the better" approach.

I have said it before and I'll say it again, when you are growing stuff to eat, The Very Hungry Caterpillar ceases to be an adorable book.

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you can has pretty pictures?

It was a perfectly lovely winters's day today, so I took a walk to the best meat shop in the land, Glenmore Meats (unfortunately, no new Dave shots to be had). Don had to abandon the journey at the foot of the stairs - poor baby was too hungover after his End of Financial Year celebrations.

I also ventured to the bottle shop, the library (to visit the Glebe Art Fair - photography: quite decent, paintings: perfectly revolting & astoundingly overpriced) and picked up the dry cleaning and generally wandered about the neighbourhood and enjoyed it immensely. Of course, I had to take some iphone shots along the way (oh, come on - you'd be disappointed if I didn't include some).

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Spent the afternoon knitting hat for Bessie (and reading some excellent stuff on the internets¹, washing and preparing for yet another flat inspection), after completing Don's green cosy wool circle² (note: not footnote, but actual squared thingy) hat last evening. Bessie's is all variegated pastels (of course!). I bought extra wool at her request, so she might make a matching neck warmer.


My head! Note the USS Independence jumper which rarely leaves my bod in winter-time.

I'm much more pleased with the green cosy wool circle² hat than the misty half anniversary hat (which I'm planning to pull apart and start anew).

I just love this pattern! Particularly the crown, especially now that I am all about the two circular needles, as opposed to the double pointed, which were really unsatisfactory - I utterly failed the jusggling [^TMHarriet]. Think eventually I'll need to branch out into another pattern and mix it up a bit. Have decided that knitted hats look so much more finished and "proper" than crocheted ones.

Tonight am cooking steak, stout and potato pie from the very useful Murdoch Pies &etc cookbook. Was a little unflavoursome to taste, so had to add a smidge of worchestershire sauce (which makes all pies better)

¹ Am really enjoying the Vanity Fair article on Sarah Palin (especially in light of her quitting today - totally scandal or fox gig). So refreshing to be treated like an intelligent reader! I guess I have become way too accustomed to the smh 2 paragraph articles (usually ripped straight from the wire services) that I am delighted by anything that runs over a page. And so very heartening to see journalists write something other than a relentless barrage of lame fluff pieces about masterchef.

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test post from the iPhone

Just what the post title says



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collect them all! just when you thought i'd forgotten

It's been a long time between Dave shots and every so often I'll wander past a truck that I didn't know existed!


Dave: portrait of a sugar daddy.

While finding such a truck is exciting, it is nowhere near as exciting as it will be when I manage to actually track down the pinnacle of Dave-truck-dom.

Although, I'm becoming somewhat concerned that the Best. Truck. Ever. may be retired or otherwise out of commission because I have not seen him since January. Have thought of changing the walking past routine in the event that I am outside his schedule, because, really, he is just that good. I'd even get up early to catch him.

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pinch/punch

A brand new financial year! Yay!

Worked late and am super-tired - my late work involved lots of mindless button pressing and staring at screens, so now I am afflicted with tired eyes and massively foggy brain (which is making me mix up my words and press the wrong buttons on things).

So rather than me just pressing random keys on the keyboard, enjoy some snaps from the walk to work this morning:


Fans on Wentworth Park Road, Glebe


Bark in Wentworth Park (I'm a poet &etc)


Chinese Gardens at Darling Harbour. Pretty!

I'd have to say that being on the lookout for interesting things to take pix of enlivens the walk to the salt mines no end!

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