Have you seen Spalding Gray‘s intense film, ‘Swimming to Cambodia’ where he delivers a monologue that takes every ounce of intentionality you can muster to follow all the way through, to the very end? Have you seen it? If not, I highly recommend it. “Spalding Gray sits behind a desk throughout the entire film and recounts his exploits and chance encounters while playing a minor role in the film ‘The Killing Fields’. At the same time, he gives a background to the events occurring in Cambodia at the time the film was set.” That’s from IMDb. I actually did watch it all the way through, some years ago, and managed to stay present through most of it. Only after several attempts though.

Last week, I got into my car, started it up, and, as I drove off, I pressed the radio button for the ABC. An interview with Alice Pung was on. She’s just published a new book, ‘Her Father’s Daughter’, and as I listened to her speak, I decided I had to read it. It’s an autobiographic account of her life as a young adult, and as she explores the opportunities before her, she finds herself delving deeper and deeper into her father’s life, from painful memories of the killing fields  in Cambodia, through to life in Melbourne.

I bought the book today. Can’t wait to start it.

I made my very first lavender wand today. It wasn’t as if I’d seen them eons ago and have been longing to make one. Not all all. I hadn’t even heard of them until this morning. Have you? Well, I stumbled across a blog post about them, looked on the internet, found some gorgeous images including these below, found this YouTube tutorial for ribbon-less wands, and then this tutorial for how to weave in the ribbon. I turned my head to the left, and looked out of my window at the lavender bushes in my garden. The project was under way! About 15 minutes later, I had my finished wand in my hand. Plus a sweet little bouquet that’s going in my undies drawer. Pretty cool, huh! I think next time I’ll see if I can make one of those big fat wands. I like them.

from Chappell Hill Lavender Farm

from The Squirrel Basket

from Provence

Below is a picture of my wand. A little rough round the edges, but I’m happy with this first attempt.

smells divine!

I love it. Woke up this morning, the sun was shining. You know the way holidays feel? Like you just wanna smile. I put on the kettle, and my falling-apart kitchen didn’t look quite so bad. Bree’s here cleaning up the garden, and I swear, it feels like when our kids were at school, and it was the day before summer holidays started. Six weeks off to play in the sun. Yep, it’s holiday time alright. Even Sarah’s kinda winding it down a notch. Moshe’s reading his blogs, I’m writing posts, and it just feels.. well, kinda happy, doesn’t it?

I just saw a fabulous message on Facebook about the Weeds app. Fabulous. I click on the link to take me to iTunes, try to download it, and am told something along the lines of “this app is not available in your country”. HUH!!!! I can’t stand this kind of nonsense. I kinda can get it with DVDs, although not really. It’s the same thing as why phone companies don’t all use the same kinda connection cable for your phone. Why should I have to buy a new cable every time I upgrade my phone? And even if it’s a phone made by the very same company as my last phone! It’s just weird! So now, I have to wait down in little ol’ Australia for the app to reach our shores. I hope the ship has a smooth journey across the oceans. I reckon I should set up camp at Docklands and wait! I mean, how insane is that!

Does anyone have a really good explanation for why this is the case? What’s with the regions! Why I can’t buy the Weeds app here in Australia? It’s even a free app! And by “really good”, I mean one that has merit, weight, one that makes sense. Not just the reason someone from tech support in some Asian country gave you.

I know, you’re probably thinking… “Another blog? What on earth does she need another one for?????” Well I decided I do. This will serve as a place for me to write about things not related to quilting, piano, A Lists, or genealogy. Perfect. I’m still setting things up, and trying to think of a really good name,  so bear with me as I do that. Now it’ll be simple for me to direct my friends to my blog. Instead of having to give them ten million addresses, there’s only one. This one. And from here, they can click to go to one of my other sites. Good, yes?