It was a last-minute decision to grab a last-chance getaway before Baby B turned our life into glorious, love-filled, sleep-deprived turmoil. So on Wednesday we made the booking and by Saturday morning Mr B and I had turned our faces to the hills for a weekend away in the Yarra Valley.
"It's so peaceful!" we kept saying to each other, in a kind of wonder that came from the knowledge that we were less than an hour outside of the city. And I kept saying "It's so green!" in the same awed tones, because I grew up in the country during a 10-year drought.
We travelled and bumped down little dirt lanes for no other reason than they looked appealing.
We strolled through rows of grapevines, all asleep for the winter, and watched our breath form clouds in the late afternoon air.
We wandered in and out of tiny galleries and quirky craft stores.
I developed somewhat of a crush on a collection of neon-coloured crayons made in the shape of little Lego men.
We feasted on chocolate coated strawberries, then laughed through dinner with friends.
We slept in.
We took books and newspapers and read in companionable silence over a leisurely breakfast of fresh eggs and steaming coffee.
Neither of us did any work.
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What's even better than that Mouse Trap board game everyone played as kids (I didn't have one but I badly wanted one) in which a mouse tries to navigate an obstacle course? A Mouse Trap-esque automated postcard writer called Melvin, travelling the world in two suitcases, that's what. _Melvin the Machine is designed to travel the world. Each time his little mousetrap workings complete a run, he writes (ink-stamps) a postcard, and sticks a postage stamp to it. Melvin if you are reading this, I'd like really a postcard, pretty please. Postal address is on the Contact page. Melvin is equipped with a smartphone so he can record not only where he goes on his travels, but also the people he meets as he is busy writing postcards. This is all connected to a website, which you'll find here. What else is awesome about Melvin? That when Brandi from Not Your Average Ordinary first heard about him, she thought of me! Another chain reaction: writing a book + people reading the book + writing letters of thanks + blogging about it + discovering lovely bloggers like Brandi = MELVIN & ME. * One more thing. I am blogging on English Muse today, about time travel and a sense of history and the modern children's classic Playing Beatie Bow. Come visit me and tell me what you think! Want to receive regular "messages in bottles" from me? Subscribe using one of the links in the right hand column, or follow my blog with Bloglovin
Meet one of my favourite* bands in Melbourne, Skipping Girl Vinegar. They just sent a monkey named Baker into space. This is Baker. Almost in space. First, they built a little space ship out of foam and gaffer tape. They piled into an old Volkswagen Kombi and drove out to an open field on Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia.
3. 2. 1. Blastoff!
Baker soared up, up and away, carrying with him a small video camera, and an MP3 player that beamed their new single "Chase the Sun" and other messages from the people (and monkeys) of Earth out to the universe.
He made it to 110,000 feet, almost to the edge of space, before his balloon burst and he deployed his parachute, drifting gently back home.
Watch Baker in action (and listen to the lovely song) here: What did you think? I suppose I liked Baker's safe landing best of all. Although after all his adventures, I wanted them all to run up and hug him.
Ok, I wanted to run up and hug him. You know, "Hooray! You're back! Safe and sound! Let's go and have a cup of tea together." That sort of thing.
*I am making one of those nerdy "I liked them when" claims. I liked them when they called themselves May Fly. They were supporting an artist I went to see at The Basement in Sydney aeons ago. At least 10 years. I don't remember the headline artist but I do remember these guys and their glorious harmonies. I bought their EP. If you ever come across a single called "Said and Done" by May Fly, have a listen. It will transport you. In the meantime, I'm listening to their latest album "Keep Calm, Carry the Monkey" as I type this. It makes me sigh in the best way. (All images from Skipping Girl Vinegar on Facebook)
Meet Henri, the feline philosopher. Oh how he breaks my heart! The mournful way he hangs his head while submitting to the indignity of having his butt hair trimmed. His slow turn to camera, bringing home the irony of a little sign, "Pay attention to the cat." ("Not that they ever do.")
And oh! Henri! "Immortalised on the wall. Forgotten on the floor." I sob.
Credit: I first saw Henri on Hila Lumiere's blog, le projet d'amour. You should visit her lovely blog now and if you like what you see (which I'm quite sure you will), vote for Hila in the Best Australian Blogs competition. (There are several pages of blogs, listed alphabetically, and Hila's blog is listed under the letter 'L' on page three as "le projet d'amour.") Elsewhere: Today I'm back on the English Muse, bringing you a taster from the stunning Hindu Festival of Colours. Won't you pop in and tell me what you think?
This is the top comment on the YouTube video of Irish singer-songwriter Lisa Hannigan's sweet track I Don't Know. Scrolling down, others say things like "LOL that's how I got here too" and "omg!!! the same thing happened." I guess there's a lesson in here on picking song titles that are also good search terms (and possibly on concentrating more on grammar and spelling in school. ARGH, Naomi, you did NOT just type that! Chill, word Nazi, chill.) Continuing on... Me? I'm simply in love with Hannigan's uncomplicated yet heartfelt love song, and the blue-and-white paper cutout garden she creates as she sings. Elsewhere: I'm also blogging on English Muse today, sending out the first of a weekly series of 'antipodean dispatches' on travel, books and whimsy. Do drop by and tell me what you think... here.
I'm struggling under what was at first a really bad cold that has since turned into a nasty chest infection. But in between the coughing fits and lemon-honey drinks and VapoRub steams and endless Butter-Menthols, I have also discovered Cinemagram. I first came across 'Cinemagraphs' last year, via photographer Jamie of From Me To You, and fell in love. Cinemagraphs are a kind of hybrid of photos and movies. There have been a few tutorials around the interwebs on how to create these beauties, but they are way beyond my abilities. Enter Cinemagram, a new iPhone app introduced just last month. Oh boy! I'm only in the 'just figuring out how it works' stage, but I'll keep practicing because I LOVE what others have done. The little animated pictures remind me of the magical moving photographs in Harry Potter. (The two photos at the top are my first attempts Cinemagram. The first is my dog Oliver rather keen to come in from our courtyard, and the other is a vanishing red car. I'll get better and more imaginative, I promise.)
When a horrific abuse of human rights left 81 people dead after a fire broke out in an overcrowded prison in Santiago, Chile in 2010, musician Nano Stern wrote a song about it. Why? "We have to sing about it, we have to make it into popular culture, we have to sing so that the kids will know what happened and will not be immune to such horrible things," he told Dumbo Feather magazine. More here: In the wake of that Kony video (putting aside your thoughts on the activities of the charity behind it), what's your take on using the arts and popular culture for social education and to inspire change?
Last October, this glorious video of a murmuration of starlings over a river in Ireland went viral. I missed it, what with our overseas holiday and my somewhat surprising pregnancy (and subsequent morning sickness). So just in case your attention was elsewhere, too, I'm sharing it here.
What did you think? I am touched by their collective beauty and precision and, in particular, the mystery they hold. Still nobody knows exactly how these birds create such glorious patterns, en masse, like clockwork. Starlings are all over Etsy, too. Here are some lovely pieces I found. _(ps. If you haven't seen my new Facebook page yet, visit me at www.facebook.com/naomibulgerandfriends. It's my little corner of the Internet to celebrate all the creative talent out there in the world. Plus I'm donating $1 to charity the Sydney Story Factory for every like and we're only 24 likes short of bringing that donation up to $300!)
Remember when I took you on a little journey to the wonderful Parisian bookstore Shakespeare & Company last year? All I could bring you were words and some Instagram pictures from the outside (they prefer you not to take photographs inside, out of respect for the other customers. Fair enough.) Well you've read the blog. You've seen the photos. Now watch the movie! I'm sure you will agree with me, if you didn't already, that this is just a wonderful space. I wish I could live there. Don't you?
I'm a sucker for a good looking young man with a typewriter, dreaming about a beautiful girl. Aren't you? It's like a modern day Breakfast at Tiffany's. (On that, which do you prefer? Book or film?) This sweet film was made for Kate Spade NY to document the opening of a new store on Henrietta Street in London. By Kinga Burza.
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