So okay, they're really 'beckoning' cats - Maneki-neko, but I see them waving :) Sis gave me the little black and white ones years ago after seeing them in a Japanese specialty shop (they only had the two matching, not the threesome - they're simpler and plainer than many I've seen, but me, I like them all the better for that). White ones are ( Read more... )

The precise medical terminology being bit of a bug/touch of the flu/cold in the head... obviously not serious but left me less than enthused about mental work of any kind :(

So today, I got better, got writing, and got these 1360 words out of it. I've done a couple of these stream-or-writerly-consciousness scribbles before, here and here; this ( Read more... )

Because winter is coming and the goose is getting... cold.

My mother knitted this - the scarf and hat in the picture below - at least twenty years ago for herself (it took her one evening, she was one of those old-style brilliant knitters but the pattern is easy and on big big needles), I inherited it (and the pattern, for that matter :). It's ( Read more... )

The song of Australian magpies.

Yes, the kookaburra is more internationally famous/iconic and yes, I do like it ('tis hard not to smile at the laughing noise... except when it's laughing outside your window at six in the morning!!! And don't get me started on a dawn chorus of cockatoos....) But I'm not alone in prefering the complicated, liquid ( Read more... )

Sweet chilli & coconut chicken.

Speaking as I was of recipes (well, cookbooks...) this is my absolute favourite meal; Sis kindly scribbled it out so I could share it with the people at work, and now... you :) She says it's easy, all I know is it's glorious, so in her own words...

Usual ingredients:( Read more... )

Old cookbooks (and newer, history-themed ones too)

My mother owned the Australian Womens Weekly Cookery in Colour when I was a little girl.

Of course she did. ( Read more... )

MOR Basil And Grape handcream and body butter

Actually I love all the MOR products (the neoli clementine is truly gorgeous) but the basil and grape is probably my favourite at the minute, unusual, almost remote and not too sweet, and uncommonly soothing...

I do like having hand cream next to the computer for long typing sessions, and yes, pretty ( Read more... )