My Place & Yours - Nice , different, unusual

This weeks theme is -That's nyoice, that's different, that's unewesyewl!

It comes from Toni, who asks: Does your home have a quirky feature or several?

I have to admit, I found this weeks theme a little difficult...but then my mum and stepdad came to visit and bingo! She sat in my lounge and looked up and told Len to look too:

She was amazed at the birds in the lights, and said "they are new!".

Nup - they have been up there for years, but nobody ever sees them straight away. I think they are nice, and I guess an unusual surprise.

See more nice and unusual stuff here.

Zierholz

Have you been? You should.

Great locally brewed beer and food to match. They do a clever little set of beer tasters for $10. This is why I love Canberra. Microbrewery, brewing German style beers, by a German in the middle of an industrial estate.

Zierholz. Go. Because Bier schmeckt gut.

Wolves at the wolves

Homeless Man

Okay, so I'm not going to go on about this...but today as I was leaving work, I saw the same homeless guy. He was wearing the same white outfit and same white stuff in his trolley. Why is this weird? I work a 25 minute drive from where I saw him yesterday. I wonder how many other people you see over and over again without knowing?

A snippet of my thoughts on the drive home

That homeless guy is really coordinated. All his stuff in the trolley is kind of cream like his outfit

You don't see many homeless people in Canberra

I wonder what he is doing at the lake with that trolley

Seriously, the way his outfit matches his trolley makes him look like some post modern art installation

I hope he is alright

Those people fishing should give him some fish

He must be hot

I wish you could go swimming in that lake

J Mascis has the sexiest voice

I would not want to have sex with J Mascis though...

And I would never sleep with Eddie Vedder

Ha ha - she used to be a medieval clown

I'm never going to get tired of that story

George and Karin artwork

George and I did some pieces together for our show The Wolf On The Fold. This one is a sneak peak...I like it - hope you do too.

Trackside

Hung out a Trackside yesterday afternoon. Lots of fluorescent colours, fake tans, mid-drift tops and shirtless boys.

Heard Tame Implala who sounded fantastic. Saw The Mess Hall and Cut Off Your Hands. Cut Off Your Hands were a real surprise - they played a great set, though towards the end I thought they played the same song twice. Turns out some of their songs just sound pretty similar.

Fun day sitting on the grass, watching the world go by and listening to good music and the squeals of people having fun. People - it is days like this where I think Canberra is underrated.

My Place & Yours - Collections

This weeks theme comes from Kate at Fox's Lane

Here is what Kate said: I want to see a photo or photos of what it is that you collect.

Then if you feel like it you could let us know what your collection rules are; Does it have to be green? Does it have to be from another country? Does it have to be second hand or a gift? Does it have to be old or complete?...What constitutes a collection for you? Is it more than three of the same thing? Is it rare things? Is your collection ongoing or is it complete?...what's your story?

Collections...what don't I collect is more the point. I collect all things Hello Kitty, pretty bottle caps, rosary beads, and shiny things from the ground. I collect friends, words and memories. I collect songs that spin around in my head.

I have no rules for collecting, I just collect.

Snowdomes are a favourite. Why? Because I love the shape, and the pretty snow. I love how it reminds you of a place you've been to, or a place you'd like to go. I love how they are miniature and kitsch.

I collected snow domes for years...and then I just stopped. I think it was just the volume of them, and with over 200 something had to give. Now I regret all those places I've been where I didn't pick up a globe of snow.

Snowdomes are now not just something I collect, but something that inspires. I started drawing things inside of snow dome shapes after a big trip around the world. I love the shape and how it restricted the image. I also loved drawing the silver flakes of snow against the bright blue snowdome water. I exhibited a bunch of them and they documented over one hundred and something days of travel.

And then last year I drew some more for my exhibition 30 days of give and take.

Do you like snowdomes too? For more collections go to Meet Me At Mikes

This time last week

And then an hour later

Okay...hands up

How many of you googled today 'can dogs eat chicken feet'?

I had bought Barney some chicken feet as a treat. Well actually I didn't buy them, the man at the chicken shop gave them to me.

They sat in the fridge for days - I don't know, I just felt weird giving them to him.

So today I decide to let him try one. Got it out of the fridge and hesitated. I mean, should dogs really eat chicken feet?

I should have googled before this next part....I threw the foot out the back, Barney went over and sniffed it, and then looked at me.

I told him it was a treat. He sniffed it again and walked away. I virtually had to make him eat it on command. 'Come on dude - it is a chicken foot, and it's YUM!'.

So he eats it and it looks hilarious. The chicken foot is kind of flipping around as Barney tries to crunch through I guess what is all bone and cartilage. He gives up and swallows it whole and that is when I notice the BIG CHICKEN CLAWS. And thats when I go inside to ask the internet if I have just severed my dogs intestine.

Please note, while this post says today - this all happened yesterday. I decided not to hit publish in case it took more than 24 hours to kill by chicken feet, and then there would be the awful dilemma of having the post as a constant reminder.

My life is taken over by the wolves

Internet - pay attention

This year I just wasn't feeling the birthday thang...

But this is how you make someone feel loved and special ♥ And what else? Fresh flowers picked from the garden, and lovely messages from my virtual friends...and birthday emails from two boys who are far away, and a cake from someone who is closer but not close...dinner with friends, and big parcels...and cocktails and dancing to 60's songs.

Thank you to everyone who helped to celebrate my first non birthday birthday.

From my garden today

And into dinner

The Ladybird Lounge

Last night we went to the return of the Ladybird Lounge at Knightsbridge. The music was 60's and so were some of the dresses.

Look at this beautiful dress, worn by Caramel Sundae. It was a vintage shirtdress and the fabric an amazing teal like blue. The 1960's...great music and fashion. As much as I hate time travel...sometimes, just sometimes, it would be fun to go back in time and take everyone with me.

Through The Front Door

This weeks My Place and Yours comes via Femme De Montmartre:

If you're anything like me, regardless of how good a time you've had or where you've been, you love coming home. What is it you see when you enter your home? And how do you feel? Whatever happens when you walk through your front door, we want to know about it!

This is how I know I'm back in the little yellow house in the U.

Definition of restraint...

Remember when I wrote about this? It sat in my living room for weeks, without me even taking a peak. This morning was the day of awsomeness. I'm glad I waited because it was worth it and I love it.

Big lizards

Last Saturday the boy (formally known as Laser) and I went looking for lizards. It was a little bit like the time we went to floriade to look for the kangaroos, except this time the boy (formally known as Laser) came up trumps.

We managed to avoid Ranger Hammond, who was trying to corral everyone out at closing time, to go for a walk through the rainforest. It was so cool and pretty and green.

Big Smoke

Today was a long day that involved a trip to away. I forgot to pack my camera so will have to use my words to tell you about the day.

The drive into the city was bumper to bumper, but that's okay because the pretty hindi music made for quite the soundtrack and I was in no hurry. You forget about that big city feel - the cars, the trams, people commuting.

Stopped for a coffee in in a concrete floored gallery and ate sour cherry danish while watching people come and go. A couple on holiday, a businessman on his way to work, and the takeaway trade of regulars in and out the door.

Sitting in the park while we waited for time to pass. 'I feel like I'm in Brisbane' she said. And it did, with the early morning heat, the palms and trees and the sun damaged grass - all with the city skirting around the edges.

Late afternoon was spent dodging cars and walking by the shops. The laneways and street art a sensory overload.

Then as the plane flies back into Canberra, I look from out in the sky and think it odd that I am now the view from my back door.

Welcome back

Image via Amy who has just come back from China, Hong Kong and Macau.

Little dog

This little dog has joined us on walks a heap of times. Today he joined me while I mowed the front lawn...then he tried to join Barney in the backyard and that's where it all went a bit pear shaped. He is a resilient little guy, and even though I interpreted Barneys barks to be less than welcoming, it didn't stop him from trying to squish under the back fence. Resilient might be a polite way of saying stupid. Either way he is pretty cute.

Mysterious Letters

Check out this amazing project...

We plan to write a letter to everyone on the planet. Including you. And all the people who look a bit like you. And all the people who look absolutely nothing like you. Everyone. Given the gargantuan scale of the task we’ve already begun, with one (whole) town in Ireland. The letters arrived en masse one morning, bringing widespread smiling and frisky curious shiver. (please see video)

www.mysteriousletters.blogspot.com

The next town is planned, we want to go further, swifter. We’ve self funded the Mysterious Letters so far via medical testing on ourselves (violins please) and other such horrors. But now there’s this lovely website. The funding will be spent on little stamps, large envelopes, etc. everything we need to research and write to the next entire town. We're continuing Mysterious Letters in a new mysterious location the minute this is over. All of the hundreds of new letters written will be posted on our blog by the end of November.

Thank-you!

Love from,

Michael + Lenka

My Place & Yours - Secret Weapon

It's Saturday, so Meet Me at Mikes has a new theme - your secret weapon. My Bricole chose the theme and the idea is to share something that is close to your creative heart.

My secret weapons are memories, daydreaming, music, and vapour trails.

Often when I work I think about the most random things and daydream about stuff that is real and is not. I often catch myself remembering things out of the blue, and really thinking too much about things that matter and don't. This photo kind of sums up what my daydreams look like and of times I like to remember.

Music is always playing while I work, and I'll often play the same stuff over and over and over. It is kind of like a comfortable trance, looping through the same songs. My current playlist has a mix of the xx album x, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the Cribs and Sleater Kinney. I'm playing it now and have been playing it since last week. When I feel like a change I'll play stuff on vinyl because I like the sound, and it kind of ties in with my first weapon...random thoughts often lead to remembering random songs. Lately I've been listening to the Plunderers, Julian Cope, and Dinosaur Jr.

Vapour trails just make me smile and whenever I see one I make a wish and know everything will work out just right.

Sometimes I wished I lived in the sky