What's good about winter?

Tamarillos. They were called tree tomatoes in my mis-spent youth, when kiwifruit used to be chineese gooseberries. I blanche them in hot water, peel them, and keep a bowl in the fridge for eating with cereal and for dessert. Look at that colour! I love them. No-one else in the house will touch them. Shame!


I've got a theory about this photo thing. Blogger will let the first photo be 'clickable' but not the second. So let's test it.

I'm trying to find some great photo blogs to encourage a friend to start hers. Found any good ones?

Places to visit...

You gotta hear PINK, singing her new song.
Then go visit MamaHen, 'cos you know a woman from ... actually I don't know where she is from, but someplace in America...who is counting down the days Bush has left in office has got to be interesting! She has some great sculpture and beautiful power pylons too.

So much to see...

My friend has a new website. Check out The Yarn Studio.

My lack of interest in knitting is seriously challenged by the beautiful yarns available, and all those knitting blogs out there.

Colour week was great fun and led me to some wonderful blogs. I've added lots of new "must reads" over there on the right.

Now, time for some stitching, and a little less blogging!

RED

Friday is red day.

Blue

Thursday is blue day.

black/grey

Wednesday is black/grey day.

Brown

Stephanie and Mav say it's colour week. Tuesday is Brown.

Mountain climbers, road deaths, party pills

I don't always agree with Rosemary Mcleod, but she's right on the money with this one. This is a story that's still making waves in NZ. Mark Inglis wanted to be a symbol, and he has become one. It's just not the symbol he wanted to be. An article by Rosemary Mcleod in the Sunday paper that's worth a read.

No doubt Mr Inglis got his surgery in Christchurch at the expense of someone on a waiting list who now has to wait a bit longer. No doubt he got his surgery at the expense of the tax payer, when the specialist care could've gone to that waiting list person, if Mr Inglis hadn't needed his frost bite attended to, and his obvious exhaustion cared for.

And look at this.......Road deaths in NZ
As at 12 June 2006 167
Same time last year 213
Last 12 months 359

In the 2005 calander year 405 people died on NZ roads.
What's going on? Is it the price of petrol? Are you driving less? Are you driving more carefully?

Got yourself a legal/natural high? (Stroking beautiful fabric doesn't count here, nor does blogging)
Did you know "party pills" are made from cow worming products. ewwww!
Reported by TVNZ today. "New research has found that as many as one in five people aged between 13 and 45-years-old have tried party pills.The survey of just over 2,000 people was commissioned by the Ministry of Health and carried out by Massey University.Respondents were asked about their use of legal party pills containing BZP.One in five said they had tried the pills at some time, and one in seven had used them in the past year.Use was greatest among 18 to 24-year-olds, with up to 38 percent saying they had used them in the last 12 months."
Well golly, you can buy the things on almost every corner of the central business district of all the NZ cities I've been to in the last year or so. So why are all the headlines expressing surprise? The research is interesting, you can find it here.

Such are the things occupying my little brain while I don't feel like sewing, and there are no essays due.

Quilt of the day

Some art, to make sure I am earning my place in the Artful Quilters web ring.

"You Never Know Your Luck..." Hung at the National Quilt Symposium in Auckland 2005 (it's the kind of show where getting 'hung' is something to celebrate!). About 1m x .5m. Hand painted background fabric, hand dyed brights, and commercial fabrics. Named, unknowingly, by one of my favourite Gemini's.

My artist's statement went along the lines of "Twilight in the summer, in my city by the sea. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?" Who indeed?

What is the plural of Gemini? How come I know so many of them?

Birthday boy

See this little scrap? Well, not so little. 8lbs of baby boy, certainly didn't look like he belonged in intensive care with the teeniest prem babies. Dragged unwillingly into the world 3 weeks early. About 6 days old here. Wouldn't eat, didn't breathe too well, not even enough energy to cry. It was the most traumatic 3 months of my life, but it was worth it. Here he is at 10.

Suddenly he is 12, and much less inclined to be photographed, thank you very much. He wears glasses now, and likes his hair long, and his jeans baggy. He shares his birthday with a couple of other Gemini's I love. Happy, happy birthday.

Note to self:

The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created--created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating.

Oh the places I go (2)

I went to Nelson. Nelson is a summer holiday, beachy destination, but not in June. It was all about trains and traction engines. I made sure I got to see the Wearable Arts Museum. Check out some previous award winners by following the link. The Museum was superb, and more than compensated for 3 days of conference. I'm sure looking forward to the 2006 show in September. The tickets are booked!

I tried to go for a swim, but the pool was closed because the heat pump was broken. Phooey!

The flight home, which is just 30mins on a very small plane, was beautiful. Here is the Marlborough Sounds, sunset, and Mt Taranaki in the distance.

I sure do love those business hotel bathrooms, and huge beds with perfect crisp white sheets. Now, back to reality.