Stop the Press. The Travelling Samovar tea house is having a tea auction! Have you ever heard of such a thing? They will be auctioning off beautiful hand-crafted and vintage tea-cups, tea-bowls, tea-pots, trays, an honest-to-goodness vintage samovar and a host of rare and unusual teas, all collected personally by the owners during their global…
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Do you have a local market? A growers’ market has just started up around the corner from us, though I haven’t had a chance to visit it yet. We love markets large and small at our place: the hustle and bustle – and fresh produce – of the Victoria Markets; the amazing ring of food…
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I liked ceramicist and sculptor Valerie Restarick immediately, when she didn’t want to sell me the beautiful stoneware bowl that was proudly displayed in her little studio-shop. “Are you sure?” she asked, hugging the bowl tightly to her belly. “Have you seen the price?” The price was actually quite reasonable. Admittedly it was 100 percent…
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A good friend of yours is visiting your neck of the woods. What cheesy souvenirs do you give them? Here are six ways I’d like to welcome someone to my wonderful (adopted) city, or say “thanks for visiting” as they leave. Clockwise from top-left: Toy Melbourne tram // Hook-turn mug // Melbourne skyline watercolour //…
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Do you like my new shopping bag? I sure do! If the design looks familiar, that’s because it’s a picture of my old typewriter that I once drew on a napkin, which later became the logo I use on this website (and elsewhere around the traps). I got the bag at Das T-Shirt Automat on…
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Summer afternoons with this little caterpillar are spent lying on the floor, face to face, smiling at each other. They are spent wandering around the back courtyard, looking at the plants and bees that cling to life in the edges and cracks alongside the tiles (we are yet to build a real garden). Summer afternoons…
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This day happened a few weekends ago but I am so far behind on this blog it’s amazing we’re still in the same season at all. This day was a warm spring Saturday and it started out as I’m sure many Saturdays do for families all over the world, with a trip to Ikea. But…
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Have you noticed that so many trends these days seem to start with blogs? I’m not trying to toot my own horn here; I’m most definitely just a trend-noticer and not even a trend-follower, let alone a trend-setter. But I do read a lot of blogs and I have been noticing. Take chevron stripes, for…
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On any given weekend throughout the summer months in Melbourne, you will meet this guy on the corner of Brunswick and Rose Streets. He spends his days ushering passers-by into the Rose Street Artists’ Markets, a former junkyard just around the corner. Not wishing say no to a be-leathered, be-studded, double-hatted ‘Tin Man’ in a…
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The day will come, all too soon I fear, when Madeleine will want to move into her own place. To ease the pain of separation that day is guaranteed to bring (to me), I may invest in real estate on her behalf to ensure she continues live nearby. Very nearby. In the family room, in…
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I don’t want to be alarmist, but there are less than five weeks left until Christmas. *Insert horrified yell here.* If I have to even consider another one of those repackaged-to-look-vintage pointless office nicknacks and ye olde board games that they stack in dump bins around the entrances of department stores as gifts for the…
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I met a girl in a spice store the other day and she was from New York. At one point she even lived on Thompson and Spring, like me. She probably patted my dog! (Everyone did.) So of course we got chatting about how much we loved it and how much we missed it and…
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