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  • Stars

    Some stuff I’ve come across while browsing online for Christmas present ideas. My problem is that I keep discovering stuff that I would like, and not necessarily things for the people that I’m shopping for:

    – For photographers, mugs that look exactly like Canon and Nikon lenses. And the Nikon one zooms. Too cool.

    – For people like me, pirate mug! And pirate iPhone/iPod case!

    – Squishy bowls! For people who like squishy things.

    – Bullet casing earrings. Or if bullets aren’t your thing, maybe an octopus cuff bracelet? Or maybe some clockwork?

    – Bookmarks! Silver and personalised. Brass with a pretty dangly thing.

    – Wallets for tea bags? Huh. Or a wallet for guys, with a bee. I am into insects at the moment.

    – Messenger bag – I am also into little leather straps. And bags with birds on. And bags made of wool. And bags with red suede. And hemp bags with bows.

  • Septic tomatoes

    A little forest of baby tomato plants have sprung up around our septic tank. Given that flourishing verdant patches are not the usual result of my lack of intervention regime in the garden, I am rather pleased by this. I even weeded around them. My dedication knows no bounds.

    However – and despite my mother’s stern and encouraging words about the widespread use of human waste as fertiliser – I am a little leery about actually eating any of the tomatoes they produce. If you’ve ever lived with a septic tank, and the occasionally interesting smells that they produce, I’m sure you’ll understand my hesitance. But I’ll keep weeding around them. I love the way tomato plants smell when it rains.

  • Flying fish

    Slow-mo flying fish kind of blow my mind. Holy wonders of evolution Batman.

  • Sport and baby feet

    As the office closed early on Friday, we went and played golf. In hindsight I’m not entirely sure why I agreed to go, as I have very rarely played, and it’s not the most fascinating of games. Thankfully, playing with a bunch of lunatics (ie. my workmates) makes it a little more interesting.

    I am not so masochistic as to post a photo of what my golf swing looks like, but in the interest of amusement, I will link to it. I’m not quite sure how my wrist bends like that.

    In order to recover from the ordeal of golfing, I went and stole a baby and tickled its feet. Very rejuvenating.

    And then after I returned the stolen baby, I thought I’d take a couple of family portraits, while everyone else all leapt around like lunatics trying to coax some smiles out of the subject – with some success.

    I think I’m improving at portraiture, although I took way too many shots today trying to get those fleeting smiles – editing down from 600 photos is a lot more painful than snapping them off.

  • Chewy chocolate chip cookies

    Choc-chip cookies

    These chocolate chip cookies are lovely – crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, and lots of chocolate chips. Recipe from Smitten Kitchen, home of so many awesome baked goods, and only slightly altered.

    ingredients:
    2 cups flour
    1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    3/4 cup butter, melted
    1 cup packed brown sugar
    1/2 cup white sugar
    1 tablespoon vanilla extract
    2 eggs
    2 cups dark chocolate chips

    Pre-heat the oven to 160C. Sift together, if you’re into sifting, or simply stir together the flour, baking soda and salt into a small bowl. In a large bowl, cream together the melted butter and sugar, then beat in the vanilla and eggs. Fold in the flour mixture, until just combined, then gently stir in the chocolate chips.

    Cover baking trays with baking paper, and spoon out the mixture a tablespoon at a time with a little room for the biscuits to spread. Bake for around 10 minutes, until they’re lightly browned, and let cool on the tray for a minute or so before you transfer them to a wire rack.

  • Camping

    The weather was a little damp for camping this weekend, but we still had a lot of fun.

    I found a bees’ nest. And jammed on the ukulele. And read Ellen Kushner’s The Privilege of the Sword.

    And when we got home, we found the biggest group of king parrots we’ve seen feeding on some seed we had left out on the verandah. One female and four males, being occasionally harassed by a couple of lorikeets. They’re such pretty birds, I love seeing them around the house.

  • Bits & pieces

    • Someone has written a sequel to A Little Princess – one of my favourite childhood books.  All about what happens to Ermengarde!  I am going to get my hands on that the moment it’s published.
    • I got a shout out from Galactic Suburbia in their latest episode (because I stalked them at AussieCon.  In a totally non-creepy way.)

    • I’ve never made a fresh tomato sauce – now I want to make this one from Smitten Kitchen.
    • New favourite tea – green tea with jasmine and pear.

  • Baby drool

    The husband has been away again, playing golf this time, and the cats and I have been at home attempting to be productive. Well, I have been attempting to be productive – the cats have been sleeping, napping, and shedding hair all over the furniture. (And were my attempts successful? Well, to a certain extent. The washing is done. I think that counts).

    I went out this morning to take some photos of work friend’s baby, who had just woken up and was in a happy smiling mood (thankfully, as the last time I saw her she wept tragically the entire time). She squeaked away, and spent a while chewing gummily on my knuckle, while I worried about whether it was actually clean enough to be chewed on. But she seemed to enjoy it. My knuckle has the baby seal of approval.

  • Tunes

    I spent part of this weekend making a website for the husband’s “band”.  I use the term loosely, because said band really consists of himself and a mate drinking beer and recording mostly improvised instrumental tunes.  Perhaps “duo” would be better, and that’s what I’ve used on the website.  But really, as I think it’s pretty much impossible for them to play any of this stuff live (there’s far too many instruments, plus with the whole alcohol and improvised thing it would be a little difficult to replicate), they probably need to be called some other term like “studio duo”.

    Anyway, the site is over here – if you want to listen to some free instrumental music recorded in a shed, go and check it out.  I recommend downloading The Babking, and having a listen.  I think it’s gorgeous.  Oh, and I also love Folka Dot Tie.  Only partly because I have a writing credit on it.  I think it’s because I suggested a chord.  They’re generous with the writing credits.

    The rest of the weekend was spent doing a fair bit of reading, watching trashy TV and being generally unproductive, thanks to the husband’s absence from the house.  I revert to extreme laziness when left alone.  I am partway through Gail Carriger’s Changeless, and managed to read my way through the entirety of Power and Majesty by Tansy Rayner Roberts over the past two days.  It really wasn’t what I expected from the cover – which is a bit delicate and pretty – and it was hearing Tansy read from it at Aussiecon that convinced me to buy it.  Power and Majesty is a seriously intense book, almost ridiculously exciting, with very detailed and unique worldbuilding. While there’s not a cliffhanger ending, there’s so much more of this story to be told – I can’t wait for the sequel.

  • AussieCon 4 – round up

    Last weekend I was in Melbourne, staying in my aunt’s apartment in the city, and catching the tram every day to go out to the 68th World Science Fiction Convention (or, because it’s the fourth one held in Australia, AussieCon 4).

    Highlights:

  • seeing Catherynne Valente and Seanan McGuire on a panel “in conversation” – they’re both so funny, and it was great to see them chat in person.
  • Ellen Kushner’s performance/reading of Thomas the Rhymer, with several British folk songs.
  • Watching panels with Cory Doctorow, China Mieville, Robert Silverberg & Charles Stross.
  • Seeing Seanan McGuire win the Campbell award at the Hugos and squeak incoherently into the mic when she first got up on stage.
  • Seeing Gail Carriger around the place each day in a different fabulous outfit, and hearing her read from Blameless.
  • Catching the end of the Boxcutters panel on Dr Who, and getting to see Josh Kinal and John Richards (podcast superstars!).
  • Seeing Galactic Suburbia, three fabulous women, recording their live podcast episode.
  • The Hugo Awards in its entirety, with Garth Nix doing a fantastic job as host. And Peter Watts accepting his award in his “Welcome Squid Overlords” t-shirt.
  • Following and contributing to the aus4 hashtag on Twitter.
  • Being around people who felt like my tribe – or one of my tribes, at least. People talking books and sci-fi and generally getting their geek on.
  • Seeing my gorgeous cousins and their son, and have breakfast at The European.

    • Books bought:

  • Power and Majesty by Tansy Rayner Roberts
  • Death Most Definite by Trent Jamieson
  • Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey
  • Sprawl anthology from Twelfth Planet Press
  • Changeless by Gail Carriger
  • Shadow Bound by Deborah Kalin
  • Bleed by Peter M Ball
  • The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner