katiecrackernuts: Festivals

January 07, 2011

ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY

January 07, 2011

ARE you comfy? I am, well the dependents are, on my new hand-printed sofa cushions made by Miss S - aka child No.1, “the eldest”, Miss Inde...

ARE you comfy? I am, well the dependents are, on my new hand-printed sofa cushions made by Miss S - aka child No.1, “the eldest”, Miss Independent (as opposed to the two Miss Dependents and one Master Dependent).

Miss S and her fella Mr S (handy that they both have the same first initial) gave me these cushions for Christmas. Miss S scoured my blog for this design, created a block print of it and, wallah, printed up four of these cushions to replace our woefully old sofa cushions.

Spoiled? I’d say so. But that’s not all. The dependents splashed out and gifted me rag rugs for the front and back doors, ceramic planters and a book voucher, which I promptly spent on Dreaming of Dior, a book I have coveted for some time.

So, the silly season is done and dusted. Tree down, decorations stored, everyone back home and rough plans mapped out for 2011. Bring it, I say.

December 31, 2010

CHINK-CHINK AND CHEERS

December 31, 2010

I THOUGHT I'd drift back through to wish 2010 a jolly good riddance and cheer in 2011. Not that 2010 was bad, I just like fresh starts,...

I THOUGHT I'd drift back through to wish 2010 a jolly good riddance and cheer in 2011. Not that 2010 was bad, I just like fresh starts, clean slates, blank pages, new beginnings. Don't you?

So, chink-chink and cheers.

The cocktails are courtesy of my new favourite online magazine Sweet Paul. I've been hoovering up new online finds and bookmarking old favourites for later. I've even bookmarked Christmas bits and bobs, like these no-sew decorations, for next year. Yup, I'm thinking way, way ahead.

What have you found?

I've checked out the shows I'd like to go to over summer. Martha Wainwright and Cat Power are playing the Opera House and Cyndi Lauper's coming to the State Theatre and I don't know where Lanie Lane is going to be but I'd like to see her too.

I don't watch telly much but if Thrift America was to launch an Aussie version, I'd be front and centre.

I did watch the Doctor Who Christmas special? It was good. Are you a fan?

Hmmm, what else? I can recommend stopping at the Super Strawberry outside Glen Innes. The folk there make a mean strawberry milkshake. Just the thing to revive one on an interstate Christmas road trip.

Ooh, ooh, ooh, speaking of road trips, I have booked a little trip to Melbourne with my sister in March (and will be visiting another new discovery, Milly Sleeping). Then I'll be travelling solo to Hobart soon after. Advice on what to see and do at either destination would be most welcome.

See you next year. ; )

Picture source: Sweet Paul magazine.

April 13, 2009

TEA FOR TWO (THREE, FOUR, FIVE AND SIX)

April 13, 2009

WAS the Easter bunny good to you? We’re not a church-going family, as those who follow me on Twitter will know. Sunday morning the boy was ...

WAS the Easter bunny good to you? We’re not a church-going family, as those who follow me on Twitter will know. Sunday morning the boy was rocking out on Guitar Hero, while I was running around the house shutting windows so those singing hymns in the church next door didn’t suddenly break out into inappropriate song.

People seemed quiet this Easter. News reports talked of more people attending church this year, seeking they surmised, solace in tough times.

My garden and the great outdoors are where I find moments of solace. I do wonder though where the children, all older teens and adults, find theirs. This family is so busy with part-time jobs, fulltime jobs, voluntary work, university study, HSC studies, sports and friends. We all come together over the humble cup of tea. Over a pot – or two or three – we share thoughts and ideas and fears and hopes and recollections. When all is in a state of chaos, a cup of tea is a known salve.

These teeny tea cups are the last item I have to share from an earlier op shopping frenzy.

February 26, 2009

DINNER DATE

February 26, 2009

I WAS taken out to dinner last night, a fancy, dress-up and wear heels dinner. My darling chose this venue. It’s on the waterfront not far ...

I WAS taken out to dinner last night, a fancy, dress-up and wear heels dinner. My darling chose this venue. It’s on the waterfront not far from our home. On our summer evening strolls I look forward to just walking past so I can peer in at the candlelit tables, dressed with crisp white linens and heavy polished cutlery. And, oh the gatherings I’ve seen in there. Family celebrations, lovers enjoying their table for two and quiet conversation … all those shared memories I imagine being made.

Last night’s occasion? Today’s my birthday. I’m 35 and the reason we’re not painting the town red tonight is I'm spending the evening with a bunch of giggly Girl Guides. Together we’ll be cleaning up Australia – a little promise I made to myself months ago.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for somewhere yummy for yourself and can’t make the ferry trip to my hang, then check out Concrete and Honey’s second blog Urban Nectar. And, if heading to Amsterdam anytime soon, you just have to try Pia’s pick.

February 18, 2009

22 TODAY

February 18, 2009

THE eldest turns 22 today. This box in the second photo is being delivered at a birthday “tea” tonight – can you tell I’ve been watching Hou...

THE eldest turns 22 today. This box in the second photo is being delivered at a birthday “tea” tonight – can you tell I’ve been watching House of Eliott. How about those resin beads? They were wrapped around a little parcel (seen in the top pic) that arrived in yesterday’s mail addressed to me.

I bought from the Etsy Victorian Bushfire Appeal store and gorgeous artisan Kylie Dickson wrapped my purchase in the blue beads. They’re too pretty not to share and they’ve been recycled as decoration for the birthday’s girl’s pressie. I’ll show you my new pretty tomorrow.

January 26, 2009

BEST LAID PLANS ...

January 26, 2009

OK. New Year – take II – didn’t go quite as planned. A stifling 41C day on Saturday, followed by a five-hour blackout that night and a strin...

OK. New Year – take II – didn’t go quite as planned. A stifling 41C day on Saturday, followed by a five-hour blackout that night and a string of competing demands and expectations caused me to pull the pin on the barbecue pretty early in the weekend.

Thanks for the tasty salad recipes. I did try one out last night – delicious – and will have a crack at the others over the coming week. At least I’ll be able to whittle my menu down for when the barbecue does actually happen. I’m hoping the weekend’s tears of frustration, tiredness and clashing expectations – from at least three members of the household and all for different reasons – isn’t a sign of the year to come. Ah well, that’s life isn’t it? Onwards and upwards, adding a little prayer for at least one broken teen soul. (God, would you be a teenager again? Not me. Not for quids?)

The pic? That’s the cheery Chinese-inspired bling I was going to wear yesterday's barbecue. The earrings were a Chrissie pressie from step-child No.1 and her beau.

January 23, 2009

KUNG HEI FAT CHOI

January 23, 2009

SO, it’s quite clear I missed the January 1 new year. I’m making up for it this weekend with a Chinese New Year barbecue. The invitations, a...

SO, it’s quite clear I missed the January 1 new year. I’m making up for it this weekend with a Chinese New Year barbecue. The invitations, above, have gone out and I’m off to the only Asian supermarket within an hour and a half drive of me to hunt down a few decorations, cheap chopsticks and frivolous fun and will happily accept any easy Chinese/Asian-inspired recipes for salads.

January 06, 2009

LOOK, NO ARMS

January 06, 2009

WANNA know what became of the gingerbread? I baked, all up, an army of about 150 gingerbread men. They went to friends, work colleagues and ...

WANNA know what became of the gingerbread? I baked, all up, an army of about 150 gingerbread men. They went to friends, work colleagues and to the family. I saw my nephew, 3, the weekend before Christmas and he was pretty taken with them – especially the idea that you could dismember them one mouthful at a time. Triceratops are, after all, rather savage beasts.

January 05, 2009

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON

January 05, 2009

OK, a new year and all that so it’s time to stop wallowing and get on with it. So. You know I’ve been thinking . Christmas. No matter how mu...

OK, a new year and all that so it’s time to stop wallowing and get on with it. So. You know I’ve been thinking.

Christmas. No matter how much I did, or didn’t do, it came and went. Flossy-P put it best. “I'm sure, even if you are worried about Christmas, your kids probably aren't.” And they weren’t.

Work slowed over the Christmas break. I went to the beach, read, gardened and snoozed during the day – a rare, rare thing because I’m not usually able to. In short, Christmas is done and dusted.

Tomorrow ... my thoughts on katiecrackernuts, the blog.

December 29, 2008

BERRY CHRISTMAS

December 29, 2008

I LIKE this time of year. Christmas is over and summer holidays start. The juggle that is Christmas melts away after the breakfasts and lunc...

I LIKE this time of year. Christmas is over and summer holidays start. The juggle that is Christmas melts away after the breakfasts and lunches have been had, gifts exchanged and as people move off into their own little worlds to play with new toys or, better, to catch up with distant relatives and friends. As the day came to a close my partner and I smuggled a couple of bottles of beer and the last of the cheese log and crackers out of the house and made a beeline for the water to enjoy a quiet moment and farewell another Christmas.

The weekend before Christmas I made a quick trip away to see my folks, my sister and nephew and to catch up with a friend of mine. Bridget’s garden’s a treat and she picked these gems for me to take away. Gooseberries, cranberries and, I think the dark berries are boysenberries. I wish I’d photographed them straight away. They seemed brighter in my hands freshly picked. I carefully bundled them home and into the fridge before taking a picture and sucking on their tart goodness.

December 17, 2008

BEST WISHES AND ALL THAT

December 17, 2008

THE Christmas cards were printed on Sunday. Just as I got the Gocco printer ready to burn my screen the 17-year-old called to be picked up....

THE Christmas cards were printed on Sunday. Just as I got the Gocco printer ready to burn my screen the 17-year-old called to be picked up. I suppose I should be thankful I didn’t have the screens inked. The screen burned with a lot of “fuzz” but I’d prepared for a rustic look by planning to print on aged newspaper pages and using sepia ink. I haven’t yet mastered my Gocco and this is my best high-mesh print to date. I can get clean burns on screens designed for printing fabric but screens designed for printing paper have produced less than ideal results.

Angela Catterns is replacing Richard Glover on afternoon drive time over the summer break at 702 ABC Sydney. Yesterday she’d asked people to name someone who wrote to them every Christmas, without fail. I got mine yesterday from a woman who was my landlady. I lived at the rear of her house for two or three years and she and I became good friends. I am guessing she’d be well into her 80s by now. She remarried in her 70s. That’s good isn’t it? I hope I still have some kick in me at that age. She’s got spunk that girl.

I am writing notes in each card I send out. I never know, though, how to start and finish each card. “Merry Christmas” and “Best Wishes” and “Have a Safe Holiday” seem somewhat fake after twittering on about the family and work and the garden. I’m thinking of starting with “Me Again” and ending with “So, Same Time Next Year”. What juicy tidbits do you write in your Christmas cards and who do they go to?

December 10, 2008

I HEART NATIVITY SCENES

December 10, 2008

I MADE this nativity years ago. I copied the design from a craft magazine dating back to the 1970s and carefully painted it. Mine looks a li...

I MADE this nativity years ago. I copied the design from a craft magazine dating back to the 1970s and carefully painted it. Mine looks a little more comical than the original design but that’s OK. I started to embroider another softie design the year after but never finished it. While not a churchgoer, I do like nativity settings, especially the cultural takes on them that come out of South America and Africa.

December 09, 2008

DECK THE HALL - SINGULAR

December 09, 2008

THE Christmas tree and all its trimmings went up on Sunday. Very little else goes up around the house but that’s OK because the tree more th...

THE Christmas tree and all its trimmings went up on Sunday. Very little else goes up around the house but that’s OK because the tree more than makes up for a lack of decoration elsewhere. It’s laden with ornaments and garlands of tinsel dating back over the 12 years my partner and I have been together. Each year I give the children their own ornament and each year we gather together to put them up and tell stories of years past, drink copious amounts of tea and eat. This year we came together for a late breakfast with a big bowl of fresh fruit salad and strawberry muffins.

My favourite decorations are the ones the children have made, like the pasta angel, and the framed photos. The photos date back to a year when our eldest lived away from us. We’d moved town and she’d stayed to finish the last two years of high school among friends. We’ve never tried to edit the pictures, nor array of ornaments, into something other than what they are. Those framed photos tell a story of that year while other ornaments, handmade from paper and paddle-pop sticks, tell of years when it was a struggle, emotionally and financially, to stage Christmas. I am proud our family has these traditions that echo its history and leave room for growth.

December 08, 2008

STILL THINKING - AND BAKING

December 08, 2008

I AM STILL thinking . Thank you for the comments left on my last post. I am returning to read them and digest them and think about them. You...

I AM STILL thinking. Thank you for the comments left on my last post. I am returning to read them and digest them and think about them. You’ve all been in my thoughts this past weekend.

While thinking I’ve been making. Heather supplied me with her mum’s gingerbread recipe and it’s been a winner. I’ve tried three different recipes to come up with a gingerbread that tastes good, is easy to whip up and keeps. Heather’s family recipe has already been packaged up for two friends and the family has given it the thumbs up.

The gingerbread has been wrapped in strips of a new tea towel I bought for the purpose and some kitchen twine. It’s gone out with agapanthus and sprigs of Geraldton wax I cut from the garden.

March 19, 2008

MY MAIDEN AUNT

March 19, 2008

NO, not really a maiden aunt of mine, but after a trip to three capital cities and a comparison against my home state capital I have decided...

NO, not really a maiden aunt of mine, but after a trip to three capital cities and a comparison against my home state capital I have decided Adelaide is the maiden aunt you always loved to visit as a kid. You know, they’d take you to galleries, theatre shows, art and cultural places and you’d eat weird and wonderfully adult things and then be in bed by 9pm, dreaming of life as a grown up. I am not sure that it’s the world’s most flattering description of a city, but it is meant to be affectionate.

I arrived in Adelaide during festival time. Friends Mel and Manoj were my reason for visiting Adelaide, but I planned the trip to coincide with the Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts, the Adelaide Fringe Festival and Writers’ Week. All were glorious and thank you Jenny and Mel for all your wonderful suggestions for art shows and theatre.

March 19, 2008

THE Adelaide Festival of Arts showed Shakespeare’s A Midsummers Night’s Dream ( http://www.dreamonstage.co.uk/ ) as part of its program. Th...

THE Adelaide Festival of Arts showed Shakespeare’s A Midsummers Night’s Dream (http://www.dreamonstage.co.uk/) as part of its program. The performance was in seven different languages and it was mesmerising – not only the sing song twitterings of languages you don’t, yet do, understand - but also the set and costume design. It was an enchanting and inspiring evening.

NOTE: This is not my pic, it's taken from the theatre company's website.

Apologies, I couldn't source the photographer's name.

March 19, 2008

WHAT a show of lights this was. Adelaide’s North Terrace was turned into a magical fairyland, with us mere mortals oohing and aahing every t...

WHAT a show of lights this was. Adelaide’s North Terrace was turned into a magical fairyland, with us mere mortals oohing and aahing every time the colours and designs faded only to reappear more intricate than before.

March 19, 2008

. . . IN the city’s annual festivals – this one the Runway Deluxe catwalk of the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival.

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