Rummage

Don't be fooled by the hangdog look. That dog had a run twice this weekend, yes after the bollard debacle I have quietly been plugging away at running. We are not what you would call the most graceful of runners - Kipper freaks out at the sight of mysterious items such as empty chip packets moving in the wind and runs through my legs wrapping me in his lead.

There are also way too many toilet stops for my liking which ends up with the whippet being dragged along with backside poised wistfully at random telephone poles as I accelerate past. Maybe he has good reason to look freaked out after all.

The soundtrack this weekend has been Powderfinger's Odyssey Number 5, U2's live album 'Under a Blood Red Sky' and Paul Kelly's A - Z Recordings. I'm reading the autobiography ' How to Make Gravy' and it's making me fall in love with Paul Kelly all over again. The big girl's reading TinTin, the small girl is reading the biscuit packet and together we are reading Colin Thiele's awesome 'Storm Boy', a book I loved when I was a little girl.

Travel well this week, lovely people. xxx

Yes, I hear you Sue! Ditto The Clash. Also The Saints and yes The Waifs but only when wearing cowboy boots and drinking beer.

It's grainy with drizzle today and I have finally got in a bit of sewing, altering that vintage dress up there for work.

Yesterday I walked the crazy whippet in the late afternoon down past the vineyards with the sun on my back, listening to this song by The Shins. A flock of cockatoos took flight from the carcass of an old gum tree and a wallaby and her joey followed us at a distance for 50 metres before shying away into the grape vines. I held my breath.

Obscurely this made me think of all the bands I like that start with a definite article: The Shins, The Cure, The Go-Betweens, The Strokes, The Smiths, The Sundays, The Audreys, The Pretenders, The Magnetic Fields, The Cruel Sea ..Are you well? Are you a fan of bands starting with a definite article too?

The whippet is sulking because I am not at home during the week. He has taken to dragging my shoes and other choice articles of clothing to his cushion in a silent but not insignificant protest.

I was supposed to be on local radio today for something happening at work. I broke out in a nerve rash and developed a morbid fear that I would say a rude word on live radio. Lucky for me the radio producer got the phone number wrong and so I didn't have to test the resilience of my employer in the face of an accidental f-word. Hope your Monday was lovely. xxx

Life is grand albeit chaotic right now. My job has been made permanent which is great but I'm missing the time to make. My wall of fabric leers at me as I walk past as if to say getyourfingeroutsista! And I will, but not just yet because I'm bloody tired when I get home and all I want to do is lie in a vegetative state on the couch with a glass of wine. Sometimes I feel that this blog's has become a series of random photos of piles of laundry and half empty bowls of fruit. Must make an effort to improve.

It's the middle of the school holidays here in Canberra and there are some things you should know:

The Museum of Australian Democracy has some rocking exhibitions right now including work by Penny Byrne, human rights lawyer, porcelain conservator and artist. See some her works here but come and see the real deal at MoAD. There's also Marnti Warajanga, a photographic exhibition involving indigenous people of the Pilbara region. The photographer, Tobias Titz used a large format polaroid camera to take these images with long exposure times that have captured an incredible intensity. Tobias then took a second photograph of the same space without the subject and then got them to write on the wet negative. The result is a really moving snapshot of a people coming to terms with both the past and future of their community. For Canberran's there's also school holiday stuff for small people next week. Here endeth the public service announcement. Are you well? Is the road rising up to meet you? I hope so. xxxx  

I know for a fact I've posted a photo like this somewhere on this blog before, I like it so you've got it again.

It's bloody freezing here and I burrow under all those layers up there like some great dormant marsupial.

Am reading Lily Brett because she makes me laugh and Primo Levi because he makes me cry and will shortly move on to Maeve Binchy because she makes me feel like I'm sitting beside the fireplace with my feet on the fender. 

There's absoLUTELY no creative stuff going on here at chez rummage because of work and it's making me a bit more mental than usual. Can you tell? Don't answer that. Love to you and yours. xxxx

Hello lovely people of the internet. I've been on hiatus with family sickness, the smallest person got croup which is a hideous medieval illness that made her bark like a seal.

It's times like this that I am so very glad I live in the 21st century when these conditions are not life threatening as they were a century ago. This could also have something to do with living in a first world country too, so many of those hideous childhood diseases are still prevalent in the third world even now.

This weekend's soundtrack has been the Go Between's last album before the break up, 16 Lover's Lane. I think I'll have this album playing at my wake if I fall off the perch - god, this post is very morbid. Sorry!

I'm enjoying having a go at some of Kylie Kwong's recipes at the moment. I made a Chinese chicken stock this morning and will follow through with a chicken and corn soup using the stock as a base - an oldie but a goodie. Saw Black Swan last night and felt faintly bored throughout, I think it's because I saw the Wrestler by the same director that was so incredibly good a week ago. There was no humanity in Black Swan and it just left me feeling cold whereas the Wrestler was really moving. I'd recommend it if you're looking for a good film.

Hope all is well with you and those you love. xx