Diversionary Tactics.

It's such a horribly sticky day that all my intentions, namely those requiring any kind of movement, have gone out the window. Queensland is currently in the grip of terrible and frankly incomprehensible floods, (affecting areas at least the size of Germany and France together), that have also tragically incurred loss of life, and which have catapulted the event into the awful status of National Disaster.

We here are not directly affected by the floods, (although the cost of food will now skyrocket because a massive amount comes to us from Queensland), but by gum it's raining muchly. And the heat. The heat. I'm usually one for a little humidity, but this is the kind that leaves one, and everything else, sweaty and damp all day with little relief. Thankyou La Niña, combined with a worrying dollop of climate change. And I don't mean to sound flippant.

Looking out my window I encounter such a benign scene. It's a lot like that particularly English variety of rain that they get in them thar parts, (not always obviously, it can get pretty intense there as well), gentle, constant, and very greening. But The Moon and I went for a wander in it before, on a quest for a refreshing glass of kombucha, (slather), and discovered pretty quickly, it's a little more Southern Gothic in a Louisiana swamp kinda way. My word! The humidity! (92% apparently). And the Giant Vampire Mosquitoes on Steroids! Or at least, they must be feasting on people who take steroids because I've never seen them so big, (nor so plentiful). And yes, I realise that's very, er, scientific of me.

Summer retreat - my somewhat overgrown balcony garden, (taken on my iphone, further underlining my dubious photography skills). The garden is Gothic indeed. But I do like a bit of overgrown in-my-lady's-bower action.  Being all wrapped in green. Not everyone's cuppa I realise. But oh the jasmine! (foreground) is flowering at the moment, and the scent in the evenings is sublime.

So I am doing as they do in India, and sipping chai, because they really know a thing or two about surviving oppressive heat there, (and I shall be eternally grateful to the Sub-Continent for giving chai to the world because it's the perfect accompaniment to most predicaments). In fact, I should probably rename this blog Chai and Misadventures, so thoroughly preoccupied with the stuff am I. You may have noticed a theme emerging. Ahem.

As a, (yes, ok, very frivolous), diversion from all of the above, I thought I would compile one of my random lists of bits and bobs for fun.

* I've been chatting to a fair few people lately about the joys of organic vegie boxes. We get ours through CERES Fair Food, and it's a great venture really worth supporting if you are local and so inclined.

* The Bloke will be playing some mooosic at this late summer event down at the National Gallery of Victoria, and it's usually a bit o' (nicely low-key) fun.

* And may I say just how obsessed with Ravelry I have become of late? 'Ere I am if you want to be friendly. It is a self-contained World I tell you! A vortex of woolly wonder. Yes, this is somewhat repetitive of me, but I have pierced the veil of knitting mysteries and have joined the ranks of the initiated. It's all very exciting. I joined ages ago, but wasn't active there 'til this past week or so. But I do feel at this point, something of a fraud, due to the fact that to date, all of my projects are floating around in the ether, and haven't yet hit the needles. I tend to spend a lot of time researching and thinking and building up to things. Then whacko! I'll pounce. In like Flynn! So to speak. I'm still at the, um, research stage of things. Ok?

Currently I have many favourites, and quite a few in the queue to embark upon, but I just last night discovered this one, whilst stalking searching for patterns. It's deliciously druid-y-forest-y. And then I realised that I can make it for little more than AUD$30 if I buy this wool from here. Pretty bloody good value really.

* The Moon has just asked me if I was alive in the 14th Century. Some days I feel as though I may have been. Children do wonders for the vanity don't they? Yesterday, she said to me: "you don't look that old today mama. You look about 14". Ta.

* Speaking of The Moon, I am about to make her another of these peasant dresses. And it will be the last of these I will be making for her, as the pattern goes up to a size 8, (it's actually pretty good covering sizes from 6 months to 8 years, and is quite delicious). The Moon chose these fabrics here, (the peach colourway), from the Sandi Henderson Meadowsweet range.

* Also might have a go at these baskets. If I'm really organised.

* We've been lurking around the library a good deal, (as we do on hot Summer days, the thought of the beach in that weather is anathema to the likes of us), and as a result I've been trawling through recipe books and adding some new recipes to the repertoire. We've been greatly enjoying the Ginger Lemonade, (which is actually a concentrate), found in Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates.

* Merlin, (the kitten) has an obsession with chocolate and geranium petals. As a consequence we've had to hide all the chocolate, and any geraniums picked for the house quickly become bald and limp. I'm wondering if he has some kind of feline Pica. But he's not eating anything else untoward, and has to be the most chilled-out feline I've encountered, (apart from his 9-11pm manias).

* Apart from the usual obligations the year is already presenting to me, (study I will chat about some other time), I'm very keen to travel somewhere this year. Every coupla years I get a terrible itch to travel and just have to go somewhere. I don't know whether it arises from having a very peripatetic childhood, but it's quite a deep imperative for me. Fortunately, (and also quite unfortunately in some instances), I've mostly had the travel stars aligning so that a good deal of free, or near-free travel has landed upon me, but these days it could be tricky. I'm going to see where this goes, and hopefully I can swing something. Melbourne is like many big cities, quite insular in its own way, and people can stay here for years and years without any need to leave. As a result, there are a good many people I've encountered here who have never actually been out of town. Their entire lives. And I'm not talking about very old people. Quite extraordinary. To me anyway, and considering Australians are supposed to be the most well-travelled people in the world. And doesn't the world know it...who hasn't had an encounter with an (often drunken) Antipodean in some far-flung corner of the globe?

* Thinking about a stint here this year with a few friends, (if we can get a good group of us together to cover costs). Imagine, hours of uninterrupted crafting with a gang of likely wenches, plenty of music, possibly wine, depending on how many of us are preggers, breast-feeding, or just generally abstemious as I am at present, (being Whiteadder-ish as I like to call it).

* Planning to catch Black Swan on the big screen. Even when I find Aronofski's films pretentious, (The Fountain for instance), I still think he's a damned interesting film maker, and I'll check out whatever he's doing. I'm particularly fascinated by this one though.

* And to end on a really frivolous note...Hot damn! Do I want these shoes...and another pair just for good measure.

Ok, see youse, and all the very bestest.