everyone else is doing it…

the things I have done meme, that is.  Things in bold I’ve done.  And you?  (and props to anyone who has done more that Missy Fee)

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band. (I’m counting an orchestra as a band here)
4. Visited The Great Barrier Reef.
5. Stood under the stars in the outback, the real outback – think Uluru.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to the Gold Coast’s theme parks – anyone, you take your pick.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sung a solo.
11. Bungee jumped, jumped out of plane, been paragliding or hang-gliding, hot air ballooning – you get the idea, you’ve been hundreds of metres about earth in a seemingly flimsy contraption.
12. Visited Melbourne.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Had a child. Raised a child. Worked with children.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Been to the Snowy Mountains.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Visited the Brett Whitely studio in Surry Hills, Sydney.
20. Slept on an overnight train or bus.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Been backpacking.
23. Taken a mental health day.
24. Been buried in sand with just your head and toes sticking out.
25. Held a possum, kangaroo or koala – or any other native Australian animal.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Been in a fun run.
28. Been on the Blue Mountain cableway.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Played, or watched, summer cricket.
32. Sailed, kayaked or canoed our beautiful waterways.
33. Seen the Daintree.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Visited an Aboriginal settlement or mission.
36. Learned a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Toured the Sydney Opera House.
39. Tried rock climbing (indoor or outdoor), abseiling or just simple bush walking.
40. Visit Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art.
41. Been to the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
42. Sunbaked at Bondi.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Broome.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone fishing.
49. Seen Tasmania’s old growth forests.
50. Been to the top of Q1, on the Gold Coast.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Driven the Great Ocean Road.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Norfolk Island.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Guide biscuits.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone jet boating.
66. Visited Port Arthur.
67. Bounced a cheque.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Australian War Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Federation Square.
74. Been on the Murray River.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Travelled, or climbed, over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Three Sisters at Echo Point, Katoomba.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited St Mary’s Cathedral, in Sydney.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Been to Hermannsburg.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited Parliament House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Saved a pet.
95. Been to the site of the Eureka Stockade.
96. Swum in The Whitsundays.
97. Been involved in a lawsuit.
98. Owned a mobile phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

interview with hiroko takahashi

“I want to make things in such a way that everyone involved in the item, including the people making it and the people using it, will all be happy. There is an underlying presence of history, skills, craftsmanship, and tools for everything, but it’s naturally quite difficult to sense such things. And if you think about the global environment, now is an era where unnecessary things shouldn’t be produced at all. That’s why as a creator I want to convey such messages, while cherishing the process at the same time. And by sensing such things, I think the feeling of treasuring something will come to the user too.”

Go read the rest. Hiroko Takahashi is doing some really interesting and beautiful work, re-engaging with traditional craftspeople to create modern designs.

(edited to fix the link).

appealing to the wisdom of crowds

I need some help.  My grandmother wants to buy me ‘something for the kitchen’ for Christmas.  But because my grandmother is not too steady on her feet these days, my father is going to buy the gift on her behalf, so that she doesn’t have to totter round the shops on her own.  Only, because my father lives some 500km away, he’s going to buy the gift on-line.  The budget is AUD$50 to AUD$70.

I would like some mugs or cups so as to have something nice for offering tea to visitors (currently visitors get my mug while I pretend I’m not thirsty, or they get the hideous mug with fake Aboriginal art on it, which we privately refer to as the Cup Of Crass Colonialism, and which we’d throw away except then we could only entertain one visitor at a time).

I’ve been clicked through pages and pages of blah on etsy, I’ve googled, I can’t find anything I like. I love Japanese ceramics.  I like simple things.  I really like these but they’re out of the budget range.  Does anyone else have any ideas?

stop internet censorship in Australia

I interrupt the usual crafty goodness of this website with an important message. The Australian government is proposing an internet censorship scheme that goes further than any other democracy in the world.  It will make the internet up to 87% slower, more expensive, accidentally block up to one in 12 legitimate sites, will miss the vast majority of inappropriate content and is very easily sidestepped. The government of the day may add any ‘unwanted’ site to a secret blacklist under the scheme.
Our government should be doing everything it can to take Australia into the 21st century economy, and to protect our children. This proposed internet censorship does neither.
If you feel, like me, that this shouldn’t happen, here’s a few things you can do:

• sign the petition at GetUp!
• click the button above to find out more
• write to your MP (pdf)
• Join the Facebook group

We now return you to normal programming.  Thank you for your attention.

fetes and fairs

Something I like about my new neighbourhood is they do a bloody good fete.  On election day, for example, the local primary school was taking advantage of the through traffic to the polling booths by holding a fete, complete with merry-go-round, fairy floss, home made cakes, plant stall, bric-a-brac and sausage sizzle.  The smell and the sounds have not changed a bit since I was a kid, and the bric-a-brac stall can still provide a vast array of junk at bargain prices (somewhere in the attic of my parents’ house is a box of china swans, snowdomes, little fancy jars and empty compacts with cracked mirrors which represents much wasted pocket money at bric-a-brac stalls).

Then last saturday, there was another fete at the church down the road, this time with a pavlova stall, second hand clothes, more plants, more cakes and devonshire teas.  I watched Michelle and her choir, and took home a truly awesome chocolate cake.

Also last saturday I went to the Vintage Fair at Albert Hall, thanks to a hot tip from the Canberra’s Got Style blog.  And by coincidence, ran into the blog owner, ninaribena, while I was there.

My vintage purchases:  A necklace and a brooch.  The necklace, I was excited to discover, is a Jorgen Jensen design.