Well!

How rude! Hugh Grant was in Sydney for his latest movie premiere and I didn't even know! Bah Humbug, you'd think they'd at least have a red carpet premiere here for the movie so I can go scream and then faint at his feet *grin*

Then again, it's probably a good thing, I might not like him in real life, have all my romantic fantasies [ heh.. I heard that snort!] quashed which would ruin Christmas and the rest of the year I'd be a total cow to everyone.

I mean, we've had the Archibalds here for 2 years running & the Couture exhibition, so it's not like we're a cultural backwater or anything.

BTW, if you think you see me driving around town, then it's not me as I am apparently driving an invisible bright red car. Given the number of twits who have cut me off & driven straight out in front of me the last few days I can only conclude that my invisible shield is stuck in the on position. Must be from the speed bumps in the car parks.

So this is Christmas...

This year I haven't felt very Christmassy after all the crap that's happened :( but the tunnel is starting to show a bit of light and I finally kicked myself in the butt and made some Cutlery stockings, this year the table theme is gold, white and stars. I made the small table tree for gothy daughter, just have to finish making a pink one for the older one for her house.

Tree is up, presents are bought and I'm wrapping them tonight. Just have to buy salad veges & watermelon, make my potato salad and choc ripple cake and then I'm done. Phew! That's Christmas Eve, the next day we pack up and drag everything to Melbourne for the day with the outlaws and other rellies. We have some breakables this year, so I'm a little worried they'll break in the car. Might have to make the gothy one hold the boxes on her lap all the way :D [ she reads my blog, so I can't resist teasing LOL]

We did the light run the other night, I've never seen so many houses with lights! Was good though and I particularly liked one place with a humongous Santa out the front which we found by accident, it did cross my mind that it would be a good way to stop door salesmen LOL

I've also made some new necklaces, more paintings are in progress and now I have broken out the Christmas Carols, so I hope everyone has a happy & safe Christmas.

The Candle Thieves - The Sunshine Song

Look, I found new music :D just in time for my Christmas present too! So I bought the EP on iTunes. I like all of the songs on it which is unusual as usually you don't like ALL of them, so this Christmas present is in the WOOHOO you got it right pile :p

Santa comes early!

Paypal Australia just sent me $20 :D

Ninja cats & Granny Squares

We have a ninja cat who also descends from gremlins. Do not feed after midnight.

Seriously.

Our invisible psycho cat tearing around the house knocking stuff [ photo's & glass kittehs! ack!] off shelves is going to get banished to the laundry at night if she keeps this crap up. I am not a flipping race track! She jumps up on me every.single.night hundreds of times. and lands right on my chest every time. Ouch. and no, that's not the 4 letter word she hears as my brain wakes up and registers pain LOL

So haven't been sleeping very well and the rest of the time I've been busy and hibernating in my cave. Not watching or reading the news, no Facebook, not even any Mafia Wars. My brain seriously needed a break.

I have taught myself [ with a step by step intructable with actual crocheting on both ends emergency crochet phone call to my Mum and 6 billion pages of internet instructions] to crochet granny squares. YAY. I think. I have finally created my very first actual square that is recognisable as a granny square AND is square! The first 100 look like various animal ears hehe & then Hubby asked me if I was making pasties for orphaned North Pole strippers! how rude! I have some really cool wool colours, so am making some scarves for the girls as my first full item. yes, I do know it's summer here :p but by the time I finish them it will be winter. heh.

My nephew is also getting married next year. We almost had a disaster though, 2 cousins getting married on the same day on opposite ends of the country. So, as we do not descend from Time Lords, one couple had to change their date. phew. crisis averted. I love my nephew and future niece in law. Guess I'll have to get something extra special as a wedding present for them now :D or our Daughter will... lol

I thought today was Wednesday until I noticed Jan's tweet saying it was Friday :D
and while on the phone to my Mum the other day, realised I am 2 years younger than I actually thought. ROFL, clearly I need more raspberry vodka.

Avagoodweekendmateys!

oh dear! a disaster is in progress...

Sorry, created a new logo and then redesigned my twitter page, which meant I had to redesign my blog and site all on the same day, so weird things may happen :D

I do have a really good reason though!

Are you turtley enuff for the turtle?

kidlet got into Uni, YAY! is majoring in photojournalism.

We found a friend :D An Eastern snake neck turtle that seems to have been hibernating in the creek over the road until rudely awakened by the Council grass slasher & wandered out onto the road *eek* so he was rescued and we're taking him/her to the creek with water or the lake. The creek over the road is still dry, so we can't put him back there. here's a pic I took on my phone earlier




And as I said on twitter, it seems like a good night to have a Hugh Grant movie marathon, now that I have conceded that I do in fact, like Hugh Grant movies! heh.

random tilt at full speed!

sorry, been busy. kidlet's end of year exhibition and other busyness have been going on. I feel like Alice down the rabbit hole, except I didn't quite make it and got stuck upside down with my legs waving wildly in the air.

There is nothing worse than almost finishing an A3 artwork and stuffing it up. that you can't fix lololololol arrggghhhhh... so, ahem, I started a new one and am thinking of cutting out the best bits of the first one then gluing & sandpapering them into the new one. The weather swing [good time for gilding!] caught me out & the paint went off :( should have thought about it, but, hey I've been upside in a rabbit hole, what else do you expect? trial and error is a good thing, except when you're working to a deadline...

anyway, I am about to be throttled back to dial up speed [ smacks youngest daughter upside the head :D] so will be back when I am back to normal speed.

MusoMagic | Adam Thompson Music Workshops

Here's the link to the song and video the kids performed at the MusoMagic workshop earlier this week. They were all great and a good time was had by all, even in the middle of a heatwave! Adam as usual got the kids involved [ even the shy one's!] and had them all singing and dancing by the end of Day 1. They all jumped in and had a lot of fun.


MusoMagic | Adam Thompson Music Workshops

I really recommend schools and groups to host one of Adam's workshops, the kids get a lot out of them and by the end every kid [and adult] is enthusiastically joining in and don't care anymore about whether or not they think they can sing or dance.

MusoMagic Workshop

Tomorrow [errr, today actually LOL] I am a volunteer again for a MusoMagic Workshop here. I love these workshops, they are run by Adam Thompson [ex Chocolate Starfish lead singer] and he really gets the best out of the kids, even the shy one's! 2 days and you wouldn't believe how happy they all are and how hard they work with Adam.

I have to say, for me, the best part is at the end when the kids see their hard work and they are all smiles. Me too :D

So, will link to this years when it's finished on Tues night. In the meantime, you can see the song & video from last year here MusoMagic Bendigo 2008

I'd take a picture but...

the paint is still wet :D so you'll have to wait till tomorrow! I have been playing with a new technique. Yes, I did clean up the mess!

and she hit publish...

heh.

Various rants have not been published LOL When I am unwell, I am a cranky old bitch and not afraid to let fly BUT then my kind heart kicks my hard ass and tells me not to be so unkind! [ ok,ok, you can all stop laughing now, you'll hurt yourselves!]

Apart from unpublished rants, I have been busy recuperating and trying to catch the sun, which is proving to be an elusive bugger here. Hubby got me the new Pink Australian Funhouse dvd, so I have been watching/listening to that as well as the Bushfire Sound Relief Concert dvd. The cost of both really surprised me, I got Pink for 24.95 on Friday as it was released and 35.00 for Sound Relief. Excellent value for money, pity others don't follow that idea as I'd buy more music then.

One of the rants I didn't publish was about the Record Industry, I'm sorry but I am getting a little tired of them bleating about cd sales dropping, which MUST mean people are illegally downloading. What a load of Bullshit! They never mention that LEGAL download sales are up [iTunes, Bigpond etc] Do dvd sales count as cd's? If not, then there's another of your totally legitimate reason for cd drops. People are paying for downloads and live music dvd's rather than just a music cd. I'm not saying that illegal downloading doesn't happen, but technology has moved on, it's like saying record sales dropped when cd's came out.

The best way is to buy direct from the artist though and if I can, I do that.

I'm an artist, so yes, I completely understand but I think the record companies need to move with technology faster and aggregate ALL sales not just individually.

and now, I need a good cup of tea, a bex and a lie down!

OH,and the hoon got caught unlicensed, unregistered, leaving the scene of an accident and another charge. twit.

Bloody seagulls at Phillip Island interrupting the bike racing, you'd think they'd hear the bikes and fly the other way, but no. Wonder if they think they're food? LOL No, I didn't go to the Island either as I am not really well enough yet to go gallivanting but plan on chuffing down for World Supers next year though.

'Avagoodweegend!

I'm late, I'm late....

The headline on this story reads :

Hugh Jackman hissy fit stops Broadway play

BUT, it should have read RUDE ARSEHOLE interrupts Broadway play.

Seriously who is SO important that they need to take their mobile into a freaking play. Geez people, no wonder there is so much rage everywhere you go, noone has time for relaxation and enjoyment any more. We're all too important to take time out.

If you MUST be *on* 24/7, at least put your phone on silent or vibrate, so the rest of us unwashed masses with manners can enjoy our down time. k? thx, bye.

blerk...

Boy finished last day of school with a mild cough, which has now shown it's true colours and run rampant through the household the past week. Lucky me was the last to get it and initially thought, Huh, they were all whining over *this* but lo, see what happens when you mock the germ gods! I should have bought shares in tissues and various cold and flu concoctions that you need to provide 100pts of ID & 3 hours for a pharmacy consult to buy ONE box of. Geeez.

Yes, Yes, they are precursor crap but hey, one box? and one time? gawd blimey, bit overkill I think! Not to mention that you get the 3rd degree if you dare to try buy panadol at the same time even if it's just to replace the empty packet you found when rabbiting around the first aid box at 3am in the morning for anything to take to get rid of the bloody headache until the chemist opens.

No wonder the emergency depts are full, for all the runaround & questions you get just going into the chemist, you may as well go see a Dr.

Kidlet is applying to Uni, Hubby is applying for jobs and the boy did very well except one subject. I am still forging flowers and knitting beanies and scribbling down ideas that have been coming thick and fast in my fevered imagination.

Can't be sick, have to go to Melbourne on Friday for a charity party and have a good time. My favourite muso dude is performing at it too :D Plus the other kidlet wants me to go see their house, which I haven't been able to yet because of weird random life crap.

'Scuse me, I have to go crack open another box of tissues :D

I may be thick but...

WTH has smoking got to do with Superannuation? HUH? Has he mixed up Superannuation with Life Insurance? or is he talking about the Insurance [ Personal Income Loss etc] that you can buy from the funds? If that's it, then why are they adding products without authorisation from the owner of the Super Account? If not, how me paying for a future pension [ whether it's the Super guarantee or my own top ups] in an investment fund got to do with whether I die early or not?

Savings go up in smoke in secretive super rip-off

At Colonial's FirstChoice fund, for example, when an employee is moved out of his or her company's super plan into the personal option, fees increase by $475 a year.

In part, this is because insurance costs are based on the assumption they are smokers.

blimey...

Now another one who we haven't heard from in ages messages me to pass a message on, then when I reply to say I have, throws a dummy spit then messages me again to tell me not to contact them again. LOL

Downside of FB, I guess, people can find you but when they do, they decide they don't.

And clearly, I am damned if I do and damned if I don't.

sooooooo....

said slime has been shoved back in his bucket and the lid nailed shut. Jerk.
I am sick and tired of being the one who deals, so this time, I'm not and said so.

Onwards and Upwards, We had the Outlaws and Kidlets here this weekend for the hubsters birthday. Went looking at wedding dresses with the b2b, with camera in hand of youngest. Still shiveringly cold here and wet. We waddled off to the Bistro for lunch which was nice and so no washing up :D The B2B and I went to the cheesecake shop and ended up with 2 birthday cakes as we couldn't choose, so got a nice mudcake and a carrot cake with carrots on it, if you've ever read the cake wrecks blog you can probably guess what we were looking for afterwards. Sadly no naked baby jockeys to be found :D

Got some more info on my elusive artist, he was listed as a signwriter in the electoral rolls and on the certificates I got.

Been working on a techniques journal, trying to collate all the stuff into one art journal rather than spread over 50 of them LOL Paint tests, recipes, technique results etc

Gordon Dalyrymple Nicol

So, I have found some further info about the mysterious Gordon Dalrymple Nicol but not that much :( I still have a Canberra library collection reference to chase up though but don't hold much hope. On the bright side The State Library of Queensland is sending me the catalogue they published for the exhibition :D

He was born approx 1894 in New Zealand to Francis Maitland Dalrymple Nicol & his wife Rose [nee Tahn] and had 1 brother Thomas [ who may be a twin or just registered at the same time] and a sister called Dorothy. I've sent off for the certificates.

He died in 1969 in NSW. He may have had an image published in a London magazine in the 1930's but I can't verify that.

I spoke to a very helpful gentleman called Ralph in NZ and he gave me a few ideas to chase up in relation to the Christchurch School of Art, which now may be known as the University of Canterbury.

He actually illuminated 3 poems for Angus & Robertson Ltd [ nope, they have no info either]

Song of the Wheat by AB [Banjo] Patterson
Kiss in the Ring by Henry Lawson
Darrell by Will H Ogilvie

I've got my mitts on a copy of Song of the Wheat, so will be hanging out waiting for the postie now for a couple of weeks :D

Apart from this meagre info gleaned using my genealogical skills :D he remains an enigma.

swamp creatures

Don't you just love how some people slime back out of the woodwork, chuck a grenade into your lap then piss off back to the swamp for another 5 years or so, leaving you to deal with the fallout.

Turds.

Hot on the trail...

I have been busy researching Australian Illuminated Manuscripts after a searchy thing sent me an email after about 3 years to tell me that my keywords entered had finally paid off. Strange that it took that long :( and it's a good thing I kept all my original sketches and notes.

I have found one [1] Aust/NZ Illuminator who illuminated the originals of 3 or 4 Banjo Patterson poems and illuminated them using Australian flora & fauna rather than using European imagery. Haven't been able to find out a whole lot about him as he seems to be unknown & can't find any other works yet. So far, I have found out he was a New Zealander called Gordon Dalrymple Nicol who was in Bondi and comissioned by Angus & Robertson Ltd to do the works in 1924/1925. I also found a death notice in 1966 but am still unsure if that's definitely him or not, also according to the AWM a serviceman went to the Korean War, but that's a bit late, so possibly a son or relative named after him.

I also found a reference at the Canberra library in the Barbara Ross collection that has given me some ideas to chase up. Apparently she corresponded with a calligrapher in NZ, so I'll try to contact her and see if she knows anything.

I also sent off an email to a book guy who has several reproductions of the manuscripts for sale and at a reasonable price, so will get my mitts on 2 at least :D

Apart from that, yes, I have been unwell again, the Dr wants me to do another 12 month course of Methotrexate but I have chosen not to until the flares are closer together or really severe or I break something. But hey, at least it's not pleurisy *grin* I can usually get my butt going again after a few days.

Still ploughing on with the flowers, so far I have not managed to set fire to too many things and the fingertips still have prints on them, so I'm doing well.

Nearly finished moving my studio into a different part of the house...and now we're actively looking for another place to move to. Always the way! but I am sick of wonky flooring, blocked drains and the hot water system blew up last week, so although living in an older house is cute, 'tis not for us anymore!

Oh and btw, the delica bead escapee that I thought had been removed from my keyboard is currently stuck under my *c* key, so if there's any missing, I apologise. Now, I'm off to hold my laptop over my head while shaking it and shoving the vacuum cleaner hose in at the same time!