Soup da loop

Love this weather if for no other reason than I can cook SOUP for just about every meal! Love it. Love love love soup. Have even bought a 2 Lt plastic container that stands upright in my fridge in the door, in which I put my Sunday night soup, that lasts for a few days of lunches or standby dinner. I thoroughly recommend this totally lazy yet ridiculously nutritious approach to winter food.

For those who have never cooked soup, are a little shy of soups, fearful of adlibbing a soup of their own, I offer the following observations of what works for me:

- Go with a colour theme for your vegie soups
Although very much not a fan of paint by numbers I am a strong advocate of cook by colours. With soups what this means is picking a basic colour (orange, white, green, brown or red being my usuals) and being quite inclusive within this limitation. Think White Stripes and how to make endless variations within aesthetic confines.

For orange I might include any or all of the following: butternut pumpkin, queensland blue pumpkin, carrot, onions, leeks, potatoe, parsnip, turnip, red lentils
For white: onion, leek, potatoe, garlic, fennel root, celery, cauliflower
For green: spinach, silverbeet, peas, zucchini, leek, garlic, potatoe
For red: beetroot, tomato, yellow capsicum, red capsicum,

Anyway, once you've picked your colour, get a few vegies that fit your theme, chop them into rough chunks, say no bigger than 5cm blocks, sautee onion and garlicin olive oil, add your chunks of veg to the onion and garlic (add more oil if neccessary) and continue to fry. THis sweats the vegies, and brings out nice flavours. Then top up with water to the tippy top of your pile of vegies, bring to the boil, put the lid on and let simmer till everything is soft through. Cool and either mash with potatoe masher for provencal lumpiness, or blend with hand help mixer for super smoothiness.

- Play with your consistencies
The style of soup above is easy because you combine flavours through the blending, and because you don't need to make stock, and don't ned to be tidy in your knifeskills.

It is also fun to make soups in broth, and feels very exotic / nourishing.

To make soup in broth you may want to make a seperate stock. This is easy peasy, don't ever be scared of making stock. For vegie stock, use all your veg trimmings including carrot, onion and celery (but not potatoe), including peels (I would always prefer to go organic, in particular here so you needn't worry about stewing the outside layers of thingsthat may have been sprayed), cook in water for about 15 mins or until it smells nice and has a light colour. Don't cook vegie stock all day like you might a chicken or beef stock - it will go bitter.

Nice soup in broth could be a mixed veg - little cubes of potatoe, carrot, pumpkin, parsnip and peas - served with pesto; a ravioli in broth with maybe some fresh cherry tommies thrown in and heated through, some wilted basil; a zany pumpkin with thin slices of pumpkin and corriander and ginger in the broth - whatever.

To do hearty asian broth soups, just make sure you add corriander stems / shitake/ sesame oil and fresh ginger to your stock, sesaon with soy/ bonito/ mushroom sauce and add hokien or udon noodles, with some spinach / bok choy leaves, udon, slices of chicken or tofu, big squares of pumpkin, slices of carrot cut on the diagonal... whatever, you get the picture. Go by taste, smell and colours.

- Know how to flavour in themes

Thai? Add coconut milk, lemongrass, coraindar to your pumpkin,
French? Garlic and tarragon in with your potatoe soup, or nutmeg, marjoram and a touch of allspice, serve with fresh cream (note - do not boil any soup that has cream or yoghurt in it)
Indian? Garam marsala in a spinach soup and serve with plain yogurt, cardomom and cumin in a carrot soup and serve with mint, scoop up with paddadams.
Texmex? do tomato and capsicum soup with fresh sweetcorn kernels, cumin, chili, beans, corrinader, lime wedges and serve with cheese quesadillas (your garden variety tortillas folded kabab stylle around a filling of cheese and toasted under the grill)
Italian? Basil in a green soup or serve with pesto folded through ricotta, white beans and mega garlic in with a white soup, sprinkle with toasted pine nuts...you get the picture.

Whatever you do, play, make it fun and happpy eating...
May you enjoy many SOUPer, SOUPurb, SOUPtastic (oh stop it) soups this winter.

Printmaking conversation..cont'd

Thanks to Georgie George for her suggested printmaking sites: hunter island press and the Baldessin Press. I now officially want to run away and live at Baldessin Press - it looks lovely!

I think that this could be the focus of another blog - nay website if someone more techieliterate than me wants to help me make it. A loose collection of folk united by a love of printmaking,post pics and most recent learnings on techniques. Then again, maybe I should stop blogging and start printing???!

In my defence I would like it noted that last week I returned the community environment art project (Dragonflies and swamp ecosystems) which I was last part of in late March. Just in time to help them workshop their final piece which is going in a window for the Art Street project as part of the Winter Magic Festival. I'll be going along for the next 3 weeks to help them print because "we just never got the same kind of prints since you left". I suspect it's because they're using crappy hard rollers to be honest, and told them as much, but hey, happy to go along with the idea that I am a technichal whizz. Will be lovely to see it come to fruition after being there to get them started in the medium. But my own stuff? Not really happening at the mo. Had a nice angel series I had in mind, started with 'the angel of asking' (to go along with the angel of giving), but after cutting the plate have not even printed it yet...and that was weeks ago.

A big hello to my lovely mum who might be reading this for the first time, and is currently making some very groovy furniture out of found bits and pieces, speaking of projects. (Just tell me if you want a funky blogland psuedonym :)

PS how did you go with the lecturer Georgie? I admire your courage funky art chick.

Inspiring folk

Had the pleasure recently of meeting a young student from the US who was here to do a permaculture course and then came along to the Deep Ecology workshop that I organised up here. He had a great deal of shit together for the ripe old age of 18, and it was a real pleasure to chat about life, permaculture, deep ecology, spirituality, community service, green design, family... and choc tops with him. Here is the blog he made for his senior project (trip to Aus to do the permaculture course). His next stop is Taiwan to do an exchange program - effectively to do his final year of HS all over again in Taiwan. He already has his qualification but is choosing to go do that for the experience. How cool is that? Shout-outs Matt - you rock.

Another inspiring person I know is my friend Tryphena. She recently made a huge gorgeous stone sculpture for quite a large MN company (which is less hideous than many) and it has been shipped to their Singapore head office to be the Australian representative in their sculpture collection. She leaves next week for the unveling. She had been involved in some pretty amazing sculpural works in the past (designed the big arched entryway to Taronga Zoo, for example) but has had some pretty rough turf to cover these last few years and as a result hadn't been doing much of her own work. Yah to getting back into things, to being audaceous enough to put the submission in to start with, and for making a beautiful, thoughtful piece. She also does some pretty amazing portraiture work and person/occasion-specific sculptures /jewllery /furniture by commission if anyone is interested.

Follow the trail of crumbs and find....

...arty types in their studios doing their thang! Check out the great new online resource the Blue Mountains Arts Trail and plan some studio visits next time you head up the hill. Good onya Blue Mountains Arts Network for this one. (NB sneak preview only - not officially launched till June 16)

Goin to the flicks on a saturdee night

Went to see 'Match Point' - Woody Allans most recent flick featuring Scarlet Johanson. It so wasn't what I thought it might be, but it was a well made and had an inpact. Not quite as light and wry comedy of errors menage a trois with class commentary and more, um, operatic. And, so cool, went to the littlest cutest cinema I know of in Sydney. It's up in the mountains - Mt Vic Flicks at Mount Victoria - and has those old style vinyl bucket seats with nice round studs along the edge of the vinyl. Admission $9 every night (noice!)they also sell tea and coffee for $1 a cup, in china mugs!! Actual motley mugs like you are at someone's house. They also sell little prepackaged packets of lollies, it's all very cute.

I always feel like I'm in a small town cira 1950's as I look around the cinema to see who I know from the mountains. Usually I spot someone I at least know by sight from the co-op or friend of friend's if not actual know know. Belonging to a small place is kind of cool. Caters well to the nosy! Of course I had a choc top and a few bullets, and maybe a mint slice along with a cup of tea and now I am all sugared out. Not sure if I'm fighting flu, experiencing lingering sleep deprivation or a sugar high, but am quite flushed and awake but sleepy too.

Apparently I am not going to coach the Australian team anytime soon
Last night was filled in on a range of soccer, ahem that's football for those in the know, tips. 'Uruguay is a very soccer-rich nation' was a line I loved, thankyou DrJ, and also various bits of handy info about how teams prepare for the World Cup through their selection of opponents for friendlies, and most impotantly, where to watch the matches coming up. Apparently there are a multitude of e-lists going around for organising the social aspects of World Cup here in Sydneytown. My aim is to learn just enough so I can fake my way through a few workplace convos and find myself nestled in at a bustling bar somewhere cheering some random team at alll theright moments. It's about fellowship and comraderie, obviously, and perving on those spunky boys in their shorts and funky hairdos.
Goose/ hoose/ gus is the coach of the Aussie soccer team - he is a 'failed soccer player' (not my words) who allegedly earns 500K for 20ish days work. I thouhgt it sounded like a good gig and that I qualify - DrJ suggested perhaps not. Shame. Betty Sue hilariously outlined a proposed scenario if I (any of us at the table really) did win the gig. " 'Your goal', 'my goal' - You know boys, I think that we should work towards finding a common goal, you know something we can all aim for..."

Bubbees on their way
The lovely MeriRisa is looking very ready for baby arrival, as is the lovely Mountainspice. Both nesting and adjusting to the nicer pace of life sans pod-work, concentrating on being relaxed and healthy. C'mon bubbies, we are all excited about you arriving!! Mermaidgrrl and LM are valiantly staying patient and optimistic through their fertility efforts, enduring (in MMG's case) some pretty hideous physical and emotional side effects of the drugs. She described it as premenstrual times 100, which means that in my case I probably literallly wouldn't be able to leave the house, and if I did would scream at strangers for, you know, wearing offensive perfume, or looking at me the wrong way, and end up bawling on their shoulders. Hats off to her for not only going through it but also for being brave enough to share all the highs and lows with people around so we can be part of it.

Follow in my footsteps
Step thing going well. Racked up a whopping 1200 yesterday, in thanks partly to my walk from glebe to newtown, which isn't that far but added a few thousand. Nice work! A few little hiccups so far - today accidentally reset the counter to zero(have no idea how), have dropped it in the kitty litter and yes, as I had feared, into the loo. Proving that it is water resistant, which I guess is nice to know.

Object not found
Very excited. Made contact with the guy who made this site and offered to add some of the various beautiful B&W shots I have ammassed from second hand shops and junk shops - where I fall in love with the awkardness and earnestness of these faces posing so long ago, and feel sad that they are abandoned unloved in a cane basket in a shop, so buy them - and he got back to me and is keen. I am to start scanning next week, he is even going to name a gallery after me, yah, cute. Love people with zany side projects that they do just coz, just coz they dig it.

NB Did express this sentiment at work last week - the notion that I love people loving their thing, and how nice it is when people are reallly into something, and girl next to me - Irish and mega-efficient and deadpan as they come - said 'yeah, unless it's a serial killer...' to which I laughed and thanked her for being, as ever, resolutely practical.

Can I answer that in the medium of interpretive folk dance?

oh so happy to have my little blog back healthy thought I would post. But do I have anything to say? Oh. Stage fright. How awkward. Maybe if we try it this way instead..oops, wrong kind of stage fright! How doubly awkward...that I would.. and then you would think... Oh no,now I'm stammering.

Today I think I had some combo of stage fright, being a total chicken, waiting for the perfect answer and not quite having the right thing to say at the right time. What's that?? I hear you say?? Hot date with fernando the ravishing biotechnician* from building 14 turned into awkward silent torture through spontaneously mutually running out of things to say?? Gearing up for a bit of lab coat lovin' up the back of the labs only to have the wind blown completely out of his romancin scales due to me laughing awkwardly at his sowhatkindofmusicdoyoulike doyouhaveanybrothersandsisters whatyoudoonasaturdaynight howlongivebeeninsydney howdoyoulikethisplace textbook questions during a short coffee date at the refec?**

No,not at all. It was me and 7 colleagues entering a long skinny board/bored room to be questioned by a bunch of international academics who are wearing their 'Australian University Quality Assurance' hats (not literally, although that would have been quite funny. Maybe like those crass trucker caps with AUQA in big green lettering on yellow? Or Terry Pratchetesque wizard hots, long, pointy, drooping towards the floor and with a few spots of egg on them..whatever - there were no hats***). We enter carrying our names in long triangular plastic name holders (think bank manager or UN delegate style), pop these on desk, and barely our buttocks (firm from all the walking, aber naturlich) have hit the large black executive swivel chairs than the first question is being issued by the guy with the whitest hair and least lips (I mean he has two, they are just not very voluminous. So don't worry, fernando is not wearing this guys lips).

"How would you go about replacing your stapler if said office stapler had been leant to another faculty for use by postgrads? Do you know the relevant policy that would apply in this situation?" he delivers in his driest (no discernable spitting at all) tones.
We creak about in our chairs for a while until paul says "Um, like, would the answer be 'use a paper clip instead?'" to the approving nods and murmurs of the postdoctoral fellow**** and the director of his unit. This is like watching a fine game of some balll game of choice - "ooh gary that was a very nice maneouver from the staff team. But can they follow through in the second quarter?"

Next a lady with a skijump bob and a mousey nose directs a question at professor tiddlywinks "Do you see yourselves as staff of the university?" Is this a trick question I think? The name of the uni is on my business card, my email address, my payslip, the letterhead, there are students everywhere you look (not literally, obviously, that would be weird and you would probably need professional help*****). Hmmm I muse..."is this question cleverly framed to flush out any delusional tenured academics who think they're still in the crimeran war or that they are really on the payroll of somewhere more interesting and they just happen to incidentally arrive each day at the university to do their work?". We alll look uncomfortable and kind of nod and make little squeaks which could be "yes" or could be the large exec chairs groaning under the weight of our stupendous walking muscles. This seems to do the trick, they write down things and the stenographer taps away adding to the ambience of some kind of (if somewhat startrekesque) criminal trial.

Then, a long faced greyish man up whose nostrils I can plainly see (is there no modesty at all these days?) looks at his piece of paper and says my name. Followed by a full stop. I'm thinking...what - you want me to just free form at this stage? Just wax lyrical about whatever takes my fancy? And just as I'm composing a punchy haiku about the hazards of sharing a Friday bar venue with students who come and ask for cigarettes and aren't nearly as cute as you remember uni boys to be, he follows with a question. Booms it out. Eeek. This one is just for me. for me for me for me. I have to answer it all on my ooooooooown. (Sorry what was the question?). Ah, yes, services provided to us by the uni. Is our unit, you know, well supported (and not in the underwire and satin trim kind of way). Ahuh! I can answer this one!! yes - we get training provided by the HR section, and you know, there are opportunities for cross faculty collaborationon projects, and well, golly the library is just ace. Hey did I mention our Greenstar rated office space - if that's not being supported rather nicely by the uni I don't know what it. Oh hang on, then there's the help with grants, the contract and legal advice not to mention the facilities like the gym and the very popular cheap drinks at happy hour at the uni bar (even if the students are not all as hot as fernando the ravishing biotechnician). Oh yes it's grand. Wait - hang on, let me try that again. What about if I instead say 'aah, yes...well..you know. I haven't been there that long, but, well, you know - I like to think so. I mean you know - payroll and IT are good, and um...it's like nice to have the backing of the unis policy and strategic direction stuff.' Ooh near miss there! Lucky I didn't bore them with any actual useful examples - phew!!

They move on and let people spout their preprepared answers to questions that weren't actually asked, we all cringe as one professor shared the vision of complementarity of our units which he had stressed at our pre meeting get together as being very likely the hottest of topics of all - so proceeded to jump in excitedly to explain it to them (in answer to a question on the finance system), using his special little church and steeple style hand gestures to show just exactly how complementary we are to each other ('we're like this bro' with the one pointer finger extended would have been much cooler I think but no one asks me. Anything. More. At. All. I mean do you blame them: "payroll"?????????)

I try to make up for the lack of having anything to say about postgrad supervision and ARC linkage grants and make up for it (I like to think) by smiling rather idiotically at the interviewers to make surethat even if they conclude that our workplace is populated with idiots, that we are the happy and helpful type.

We leave and are ushered into a post-interview-interview to debrief and I try to keep a straight face as we all um and ah trying to recollectthe exact details of the stapler quetsion while esteemed faculty heads lean forward, nodding and writing notes. It is all too much rather like "what was question 4 like? Oh how hard was 11??" "Did you get number 12- I just skipped the workings and went straight to the answer coz we'd done that one in class".

I can only conclude that will not be promoted to cheif staple policy answerer anytime soon. I can only conclude that grown ups are very silly sometimes and like to take themselves rather seriously in their dress up games. I can only conclude that even a bad refec cofffee with a barely sketched in FTRB would have been a more enjoyable way to spend an hour.


*I am sorry to say that fernando the ravishing biotechnician is purely fictional. I have neither seen nor seen him nor sighted any secondary evidence to support his existence. I think sadly his breed may have died out due to global warming. (He will be in good company at least)
** Please note once more that none of this actuallly happened. It is a rhetorical question, much like schrodingers dead cat - there was no actual cat. It is a very famous not actual cat. (Perhaps it was fernando's cat?)
*** I think you can guess where this is going. I need not even mention that fernando and his cat both look very nice in the AUQA not-hats that never existed.
****he's not actually employed by the uni, he's just a nice fellow who's just finished his phd
*****need I say anything about the omnipresent students keeping fernando company?

HELP! My blog is sick! Any techie folk who can help me??

My day: comics, noodles, recurring project angst, headwear and things falling from the sky

Thanks to B Sharp for organising tix to my very first Sydney Writers’ Festival event for the year (and welcome back to her lovely self coming Eastside for a bit). Neil Gaiman, sci fi fiction graphic novel movie type dude – adored by the legion of long haired beard wearing bespectacled comic strip T-shirted young men and pierced, novelty haired, dramatic, slouching young women in the audience tonight (so which am I?). It was nice ‘noice’ to be in the city at night, not a work event to be seen, no mingling, just hanging. Always nice to hear someone talk about ‘their thing’ whatever that thing may be. Biz commented on how annoying it is to see actual writers who actually write, when you have that bestseller on the backburner not written. I know what he means but by the same token its nice to see someone just dig what they do and gabble on.

So after that we went to Haymarket and got noodles and dumplings (you know where), as you do, and mine swam in vinegar and chili, the best way to have them – really the only way to have them. Lovely to see Dave too, which last time was a bump-in at a pedestrian crossing at a busy city intersection when I was incoherent from lack of sleep. Come to think of it, that part has barely changed.

Today at work I grappled again with another new project that has come my way with its associated jargon and tried desperately to figure out
a) Do I actually get what the project is about but it is muddled and poorly defined and quite simplistic;
b) Am I slow on the uptake and is there this perfectly thought out clever project awaiting my input
c) Does no one else really know just what this project is about either but they are happy to just go on a few words and embrace the uncertainty.
I think it was some combo of the first and last. You see it is very easy to make the false assumption that the world makes sense, or that other people think things through and are logical – to default to this assumption. I find though that it leads to much needless confusion. If you just accept that maybe no-one else knows what is going on either, and are making it up as they go along, it works better as a predictor of behaviour.

Also today I wore a hat. A wintery hat. Actually so did Bsharp and Biz, we were quite the mad hatters. Yes I have decided that this is the winter that I wear hats because it is warmer, because I think they look funky and glam, and because it’s a sure fire way to get a seat all to yourself on the train. I like a good dress up party and in the absence of one I fail to see why my every day should not become one. Also an unexpected benefits: give the appearance of matching! Yes if one has a hat the same colour as pretty much any other item that you are wearing (knickers probably don’t count) then it counts as matching and hey ho! The whole outfit is one glamorous cohesive whole. The hat should match at least one other thing in colour and /or style. For example – creamy cowgirlboy hat and ditto boots in any colour – hey presto, whatever other crap you are wearing becomes ironic louche cowkid chic. Wearing boring business suit but pop on a low teal cloche hat with matching lace gloves – hey presto! You are 1940’s movie star incognito. Try a large brimmed black Dynasty funeral scene hat and a foxy pair of peep toe kitten heels to transform any tracky dack combo into instant 80’s daytime soap glam. You get the picture. Todays was ‘add black mohair bucket hat and fluffy gloves to my favourite housework pants and a stretch top’ – bingo! Smartly dressed office type person.

Another unexpected benefit is the smiles you get from other girls in wacky accessories. It’s like a club – I’d forgotten. A girl in very shiny striped pink toned gum boots (with stockings, skirt, zip up hoodie – natch) gave me a very pleased smile as I oggled her footwear.

Had the best naughty train sleep this morning when I should have been working. It went till I hit the plains. Such a sweet, deep, sneaky sleep. Lovely.

Steps going not so bad. Up to almost 9,000 this far. Anyone else out there pedometering? It’s strangely addictive while you figure out what makes for an active day and what makes for an embarrassingly low level of any activity whatsoever (note – if you don’t leave the house good luck getting even 1500). We had a meeting this morning to go through the rules. Apparently when you are competing with other teams to rack up steps it is not cool to tie your pedometer to your pet for a few hours while you kick back and watch the best of Eurovision. Apparently THAT IS CHEATING. Apparently also not cool to outsource your pedometer to workmates and get them to up your mileage, or to tap said device to register steps that you are not taking – THAT IS ALSO CHEATING. Funniest of all the rules I thought was the explicit instructions to not reset (send back to zero), tamper with or destroy any colleagues pedometers. Crazily enough THAT IS ALSO CHEATING. More to the point is pretty effing annoying and a little on the creepy workplace bullying side of things I would have thought. So, yes I do think it’s funny to have all these rules to stop people from cheating, in what is essentially just a silly game to make us all get off our buts and get active for the sake of our health. Would have thought tapping a bit of plastic unlikely to result in significant heart health gains and toned buns o steel…but maybe that’s just me.

Can’t wait to hit the hay tonight, under a zillion layers of bedding to keep out the icy mountain air. Because guess what??? It S N O W E D up here today! I just got home but the snow is still pooled in gutters and driveways on teh shady side of the streetfrom when it came down at about 5.30 this evening. How cool is that? And we are talking about half an hour of snowfall, but apparently someone's made a snow-dog outside the post office. Cute!

Oh dear

...Lithuania - song number 14 - "We are the winners. Of Eurovision." Well actually, I don't know that you are. And now - song 15, UK, is a bit like the Streets meets Hi5. And that's really quite scary.

I should be working, but really, Eurovision is just so damned compelling.

I mean what would you do - write about contingent valuation of environmental externalities or watch men with funny little moustaches bounce around?

Object not found

A friend passed on this link - I love it, am a fan of old lost photos from mountain antique shops and the scribble on the backs of them about people I've never met, glad to know someone else loves these too.

yah day at home

Last night was another one of those odd Friday night mis-adventures, but I might write about that later. For now, I just wanted to share how delightful it is to be at home, well rested, in my favourite floppy trousers of the minute, making coffee, listening to Rufus Wainright (Want One) (thanks MC and CChan for steering me in that direction), doing the dishes (mmm, warm water and bubbles, feels like playing) and trying to negotiate half of this chair with my cat.



This weekend I aim to: do my washing (hey no-one promoised this blog was going to be interesting), send a few cards, get back to my referencng for my beast of a literature review for work, 'do my steps' (see earlier), call mum for a chat, hopefully meander up the main street and bump into random mountain folk and have random snippets of conversation about the state of the fruit in the co-op (mmm pears are good right now), what music we should go see in future, how work is, how painting /writing/ commuting/ recording/ studying/ counselling/ gardening projects are going, how babies are etc. Do a little researching / window shopping for winter boots and mobile phones maybe. Maybe tidy my desk, maybe varnish last week's little canvases. Tonight I plan to eat pizza and drink red wine (hey,no-one said this blog was going to be healthy) and maybe have a bubbly bath (thanks again Mermaidgrrrl!).
Aaaaaaaah weekends :) Slow like snails.

PS last sunday night out for dinner found the only person I know who also used to have snail races when little!! Mine were always fraught as the snails would climb over the barriers (egg cartons), go the wrong way, not move etc. But I had a vision and dammit I wasn't going to let the snails lack of work ethic stand in my way. Actually I think I only did it once. This other woman loved snails so much she used to pick them up on rainy days as she was walking to school and stick them on her arms. How cool is that! Her partner when little used to put worms in his mouth just to feel them (worms released safe and sound at the end of experiment). How cute and fitting that the snail girl and worm boy ended up together. Kids (well people really) are freaky and gorgeous.

Boozy old loungeroom-dancing cat woman

..is potentially what I am turning into. And liking it, which I suspect makes it worse. Had mountain spice over tonight and MsC - both mountain chicklets - to do weeny little paintings for her soon to arrive bub (due date just after the lovely MerriRisa). We ate curries and painted funny little animals and swirly flowers and chatted in that dreamy way you do when your hands are busy and you can mildly wonder things and go back to things and get silly. Popped heater on, the proper gas one,for the first time this winter. Well, we did use the electric one when Aunty B was up, but it hasn'treally been cold enough till this week for me. Now it is. So, cozy loungeroom fun.

Then they go and I decide to finish the bottle of red (was almost empty honest, ahem..)and 'get more steps'. What this means is that at work we have joined a 'corporate fitness challenge'. Which sounds hideous - like actually going to the gym, and doing triathalons before breakfast on a Sunday or wearing matching lyrca or perky white caps and hair in swinging shiny ponytails - none of which I am very keen on. But it's not. Hideous. It's just that we all (our team of 10) get pedometers and get to know how many steps we do a day. Apparently 10,000 is the target if you want to meet the level of physical activity to keep healthy. That's about 6km. BUT.. and here's the good news... that counts everything. Walking to the kitchen to make tea, walking to the letterbox, to the printer. Everything. We have figured out that a very innactive day (bed - bus - desk - home again) is about 2,000 steps, and that around 6,000 is quite easy is you head out at lunchtime (even just to walk to a cafe / park / book shop). I have not quite yet hit 10,000 in the few days I've given it a go. Tonight however, I am excited to see my counter at 9366. Which means that I plan to loungeroom dance my way to 10,000. Yihah! Wonder how the upstairs neighbours will like that? Will have to selectively boogie on the non-squeaky floorboards.

hippy bidet

..to Betty Sue!! Enjoy the coming of the big three-oh.

back to back

Saw Brokeback mountain tonight - tres moving, and tres sniffly. Now don't know if I want to
a) be a cowboy
b) shag a cowboy
c) have a pup tent in my backyard so I can snooze in it in s snuggly sleeping bag
d) get a pony and go on a pony treck across somewhere scenic
e) fall in madly love
f) buy a kickass pair of boots for winter
Hmmm. Conflicted.

Then went to the local and had a scotch and watched the end of the Mundine fight (accidentally, it was on, what can you do). Whole pub gawping at the tellie. More boys hugging and laying blows, but not nearly as moving.

Printmaking a go go

My cobbled together take on art history as follows. Will post another one with my own tips and examples...

History of printmaking

Engraving apparently goes back to cave art, seen on stones, bones and cave walls. The duplication of engraved images goes back some 3,000 years to the Sumerians who engraved designs on stone cylinder seals. Academics think that the Chinese produced a primitive form of print, the rubbing, as far back as the 2nd century AD. The Japanese made the first authenticated prints - wood-block rubbings of Buddhist charms, in the late-middle eighth century.

European printmaking began with textile printing as early as the sixth century, while printing on paper had to wait a bit longer for the arrival of paper technology from the Far East. The first paper produced in Europe was in Spain in 1151. The first woodcuts printed on paper were playing cards produced in Germany at the beginning of the 15th century. Printing started in Europe as a process to make reproductions of original art works.

By the 19th Century printmaking underwent a resurgence and was used in making original artworks by many European artists, who were influenced strongly in both technique and motif by a long history Japanese woodcuts. Experimental printmaking flourished in this period.

Types of printmaking

The four major types of printmaking are intaglio, relief printing, stencilling, and planographic printing.

Lino and wood cuts are both examples of relief printing (also called block printing) – as the plates /blocks are carved away, leaving raised areas which transfer ink onto the paper. Japanese printmakers added a new twist, printing uninked plates to achieve white-on-white relief designs, a practice called in Spanish, "golpe en blanco".

Etching, engraving, drypoint and aquatint work differently, as the recessed areas of the plate carry the ink (rather than the raised areas). These styles of printmaking are referred to as intaglio.

Some of the many artists who have used lino and wood cuts

- Katsushika Hokusai - in the last half of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th produced in the order of 35,000 drawings and prints.
- Edvard Munch
- Paul Gauguin
- Salvatore Zofrea - a contemporary artist living in Sydney who uses woodcuts
- Picasso - dabbled in lino
- Matisse
- Margaret Preston
- Thea Proctor


References / Sources & more info

Warringah Print Studio
This site has a great detailed list of suppliers for various materials and equipment. They also have exhibitions and special workshops through the year.

Arts and Craft NSW
This website has lots of images representing a number of different styles and printmaking techniques.

World Printmakers Organisation

Dictionary of Printing Terms

Margaret Preston

Wichmann, S. (1999) Japonisme, the Japanese influence on Western Art since 1858. Thames and Hudson.

Ittman, J (1998) Post-Impressionist Prints, Paris in the 1890’s. Philadelphia Museum of Art

"Good, but this time cheesier"

Who is that?? A Bollywood dance star? No! It's me and Angel in our new film role. Oh ok, no it's not... but it could just as well be.

Went today to a Bollywood dance workshop at a city dance venue, thanks to the suggestion of an angelic friend. Got there late thanks to trackwork but so glad I didn't chicken out, and instead slunk in late up the back and caught up quickly.

Firstly, let me just say its been a long time since I've been to a dance class. The ole partner dancing thing was now several years back, and belly dancing in uni, well that is like aeons ago. BUT...all of that seems like yesterady compared to the last time I was in a 'dance studio' with the wall-o-mirror. yes wall-o-mirror. All very ballet school I must say, or at least a little bit 'Fame'.

You'll be pleased to know that I didn't pull a Flashdance and start running backwards and fowards lunging across large wharehouse spaces with off the shoulder sweater and leg warmers. No,I did not.I did however embark upon myriad wonderful unnamed moves which included, for the sake of illustration lets call, the 'elbow the bitch at the crowded bus stop then quickly sidestep away so as not to be caught', the 'jazzhands whilst crumpled then slowly rising like the sun', the 'hunched and walking like an elephant, now reaching for the sun, now an elephant, now for the sun', the 'hello, here is my groin - it can go backwards and forwards and also in various circular directions' wiggle, and possibly my all time favourite, the 'wound up arms like a windmill and now pose like Rodin's the Thinker doing an ab work out - to the left then to the right'(this move also known as the 'should I shouldn't I? Don't know. Feeling rather torn'). Brilliant.

The teacher was great, a very buff, camp latin American accented hunk of a guy, who was very comfortable in wall-o-mirror, very upbeat, very understanding when his choreography needed slight dumbing down to accomodate our collective skill level, and possesed a great sense of fun. I especially loved being told that we needed to try again but this time cheesier. And then 'yep, you got it - that's cheesy!'. High cheesy drama with jazz hands.

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More info:
Bollywood dancing is, so I read, 'a fusion of Indian classical and folk dancing with hip hop, salsa, latino and rap. Bollywood dancing is popular in Indian films (also known as Bollywood films). These films feature very energetic, colourful, fast-paced song and dance routines. Bollywood film dancing is based on light classical Indian dance -- modified to suit the energetic pace of modern day Indian films.'

Where? Dance Central.

If you don't live in Sydneytown, a very quick lazy oggle reveals that there is Bollywood dancing at the Gold Coast, in Melbourne and Brisvegas.

The other Leonard Cohen, not the 70's funk singer

Someone far cooler than me that I am in contact with for work had this as their email sign off:

Ring the bells that still can ring/Forget your perfect offering/There is a crack in everything/That's how the light gets in Leonard Cohen

I like these lines very much, they remind me of life drawing sessions last year with brewed coffee and almond cake in the guys shed and curvey women with attitude and glitter scarves or hoop earrings arranging themselves on stools, and leonard, always leonard crooning in the background. Of course they are also very apt for a perfectionist slacker in the midst of of existential life crisis, getting herself in the occasional tizz trying to find that exactly 'right' thing to spend her days doing....

Nb the title of this post refers to a conversation I had with a gentleman friend last year. He deadpanned me and asked 'Leonard Cohen, wasn't he a 70's funk singer?' - the idea of this giant afro and white vest and arm pointing gyrating leonard made me laugh myself stupid, and then become aghast as I realised that maybe he wasn't joking, and then worse, maybe there was a disco diva leonard that I (in my breadth not depth approach to music appreciation) just didn't know about. The conversation went on for an extended period, and to this day I don't know whether he was being ironic or serious. Which pretty much summed up the whole brief interlude - but that's another story!

A life drawing pic from last year to complete the conjuring of time and place for me.

dance you snowflakes, winter is almost here

Yes, its officially freezing up here. Today I bought vegies and all I can think of cooking is soups and curries. Arrgh me hearties. I have started wearing thermal leggings and jumpers under things.

If you are keen for a bit of frostbite and festival fun, the wintermagic festival is happening soon. First 2 keen beans to book my spare room win themselves free festival accomodation.

Click here for more info (aboutthe festival, not my spare room).

What is beautiful about this time of year is the autumn leaves, dusting off teddy bear jackets from depest darkest wardrobe depths and cooking, cooking cooking.

The food co-op has a remarkable selection of lovely things at the mo: eggplants, all orange vegetables, broccoli, a zillion kinds of potatoes including those great pale yellow waxy kinds, sald veg, fresh chestnuts, fresh walnuts, wild Chinese garlic..and more. Tonight I was admiring a particularly shiny, hard, lovely onion just (before cutting it and slowly cooking it in very nice organic spanish olive oil and a dash of balsamic...) A simple brown onion, but such a nice specimen, so fresh. Aaaah, winter cooking.

I think it calls for:
- anything with tomatoes, chilli and capers
- anything baked and stuffed with other things
- anything swimming in a clear soup and featuring udon
- baking with yeast (and here I defer to Merirsa and Mermaidgrrl as I suck at yeast cooking)
- anything with pumpkin

I might be getting carried away, but last week I took a bunch of (gently plucked) small branches of Japanese Maple and other leaves to work and made a bit of an Autumn ikebana corner. My pod mates were surprisingly pleased, and even the one who I recently told (nicely) that his corner needed joozhing was happy with the leaf extravaganza being perched on his shelves.

You see, otherwise you don't even feel the seasons in our laminexish office environ. Day in day out: nice moderate temperature, typey type, cups of tea, meetings, phone hook ups, the sneaky personal email, the spontaneous pause and chat, the lunch at the table over the newspaper, typey type, cup of tea, guilty look at the to do list, a quick but more typey type, the email flick, shut down, gather belongings, home time. Repeat ad nauseum. No gales, no sunshine, no autunm leaves...

Next perhaps it will be the haiku poetry comp for the pod or rousing a team of snowflakes for the office winter pantomime('no, I just don't *feel* it - you're meant to be cold remember? Try it again'). Or perhaps planting out the library area with bulbs so we can all feel spring arrive. Aaah.

you looking at me?

In lovely Newtown today. Thought this pic was very Newie.
Its a monoprint - I'm going though a monoprint phase, just can't get enough. I could spend days playing with ink at the moment.

A Bright Torch

This is the true joy in life: the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature, instead of a feverish selfish clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it, it is my privilege to do whatever I can. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me; it is a sort of bright torch which I have got hold of for a moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

- George Bernard Shaw

The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace. A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well-being that places harmony in one's life. For me this began with a discovery of the meaninglessness of possessions beyond my actual and immediate needs. As soon as I had brought myself down to need level, I began to feel a wonderful harmony in my life between inner and outer well-being, between spiritual and material well-being.

- Peace Pilgrim

The woman known as Peace Pilgrim walked throughout North America for 28 years carrying nothing but a few possessions and a message of peace.

Where have you been all my life...

..bath pillow??! Just emerged from a candlelit bath complete with soothing bathmilk and a very comfie bath pillow. Giant thankyou for that amazing box of tricks MMG, I have never had so many beautiful nice smelling bathy lotions and potions all at once. Not to mention the edible and readable treats. It was like Christmas unpacking that - you certainly know what a weary commuter has on her mind on a cold winters night!!

For those who haven't tried one, the bath pillow is a definite winner. Nice and squishy yet neck supportive. Not like the blow up kind I've seen before, but sponge filled, and terry toweling covered and wall-stickable.

Isn't there something just so soothing about a bath-till-you-wrinkle?

Must hop off to bed before the air sucks all the heat off me, and instead carry my bath induced warmth off to bed to make that warm little pocket under the quilt that makes getting to sleep doable. Catty has been sneaking under the covers of late and I don't mind one bit because he is very warm.

The forum for exciting slippers

Well today seemed like a good day to work from home. No, not "work from home" - the actually work from home type. However, it did also seem like a great idea to just pop out quickly and go to the post office and bank a cheque first this morning, and then maybe see my mate G at the adult education college about a course I'm meant to be teaching as of next week...and before you know it its lunch time! Quickly logged on and sent some emails to work to authenticate the whole deal, and have every earnest intent of still squeezing in that 7 hour chunk of work on a particular projectthat seemed so appealing yesterday...

Got very excited last night scanning pictures that I've done - wanted to upload some to this blog and also use for an application for an exhibition...but..I saved them without the file extension bit at the end of the filename (.tif etc) so my industrious scanning rendered fairly useless. Dabnabit! So this blog will remain text text text until maybe tomorrow when I try again. I think my blog is going through a 'boring is the new interesting'phase. Just had a quick scan and approx 97.1% of all seagreen blog entries this last month have involved talk of slippers and cups of tea. Who's the nanna here really mermaidgrrrl??

But it hasn't been boring from this end - truly. Slippers needn't be boring.

Here are some of the many exciting things that have happened just this week (and I'm actually not being sarcastic, although I fear that it sounds like I am).

Ten wonderful exciting things that happened to me in and amongst wearing slippers:
1. This morning at the post office collected literally the biggest parcel I have ever received. Not just big, but big with sparkly paper, from the groovin gals in Qld. It was so unexpectedly big (I'm not a size queen, I promise) that I squealed a mini squeal and possibly did a mini wiggle dance when the woman got it out. Have not opened it yet as am saving for a cup of tea and break later this arvo.
2. Banked my very first ever cent that I've made from art. OK so it wasn't for selling a grandiose piece but for teaching a class, but hey, still very very exciting.
3. Sent my very first invoice using my very own actual ABN. Scared witless at the idea of running a business but like the tactile simplicity of an invoice in an envelope (yeah I know, I could have emailed it). I even have a green hard cover ledger book! How cute. Making up what goes in what columns but hardly a problem seeing as there is not much to put in there yet. This will likely result in my second ever pay from art stuff (also workshops).
4. My wardrobe is sifted into colourful drifts and it makes picking what to wear lots of fun. I have unearthed a truckload of accessories and intend to wear them. In fact have an idle curiosity about how many days in a row I could go wearing a different outfit each day including accessories before I'd have to rewear or come out naked. Suspect its quite a few. Have decided to feel ok about my incessant desire for amusing myself through wacky necklaces and zany fabrics. Coporate schmorporate.
5. Working from home today and feeling quite resolute about doing this more often. Also trying to figure out best way to have only a 4 day working week, so that I can have another day for all the fun stuff.
6. I got asked out twice. Sure one was by an 'oops I missed my train' late night train station buddy who works at a falaffel shop, and one was by a slightly dessicated local man with wildy hair and eyes that suggest he's been looking into the spotlights whilst darting across roads, but hey, whatever. It's still a nice gesture.
7. Had fun scanning my pictures.
8. Have found a local gig buddy who is into live music and often goes to stuff at the good venue up here plus in Sydney. Are making plans to go to stuff...ooh a winter night life.
9. Have been all ESP-y this week, guessing lots of things, asking people things before even wondering why and getting it right.
10. Found a very cool fiction writing masterclass and plan to go.

See - it hasn't been all glasses of sherry and the Two Ronnies.
(Although it is almost knitting weather again!)