Ferris Wheel Spins

Yellow Dog Update

Some of you have been asking for an update on the dog of the yellow house in the U. You might remember there was an incident involving $2000 and a leg.

Happy to report he seems on the mend. He is still confined to ' prison ' which involves being locked inside during the day, though I suspect he is now enjoying this luxury and I'm wondering how difficult it will be to shove him back outside once his leg is fully healed...

The only other downside with him enjoying the indoors, is he now nocturnal. Now remembering that he still can't go outside on his own, imagine how awesome the yellow house is at 12.47am on a weeknight. And then at 3.13am and then at 5.42am.

But I guess it is a small price to pay for a dog that was once so sad, to start looking so happy again. All in the yellow house would like to thank you for your good wishes but especially, the two gypsies for helping such a sad sore dog, the gal who coined the term Barn Head for all the get better visits and Ms M for coming over and treating us both to cheese and company.

Lines from the sky

Lines from the ground

What does $46 worth of cheese look like?

Though in fairness to me, I didn't photograph the chedder, or raclette and the $46 dollars included the ham, olives and bread. And I didn't eat it all in one go - I promise!

Either way it is now acutely obvious that the whole time I thought I was in love with the gay belgium, I was really just in love with cheese.

The round cheese comes from the Alsace region of France and is a washed rind. The other is called Durandal and is from the Pyrenees region. It is a combination of cows and sheep's milk semi hard. It is amazing. I still think Mart Deli at Fyshwick markets is the best place to buy cheese in Canberra.

Love it or Leave it

The other day I wrote a post about Muslim women in France.

I read an interesting blog post over the weekend that relates to this somewhat. You can read the entire post here.

Foreign Parts Correspondent Julie Ann Getzlaff says:

'As I was walking home last week, I was greeted by a not-so-friendly message from the FNJ — the youth arm of Jean-Marie Le Pen's ultra-nationalist party le Front National (FN). Within the stencil of la belle France are the words "AIMEZ-LÀ OU QUITTEZ-LÀ." In English that translates to "France: Love it or Leave it."

If these eager young nationalists were talking to all French citizens — "Hey compatriots, love it or leave it!" — the slogan might be crass, but not terribly offensive. Mais non, they are addressing immigrants, a group of people that, by the FN's definition, includes French citizens whose parents were born in France.'

Does that remind you of anywhere? I don't know whether to be relieved or horrified that this is happening all over the world. Yeah, okay so I'm not relieved. And I guess in all honesty I'm not surprised either.

The most recent phenomenon of nationalistic behavior (which borderlines on racism) in Australia has been alarming. You know what I mean - the Australia Day palaver, the terrible opinion pieces (most recent in the Sun Herald on Sunday), the whole flag waving from your car thing, the tshirts telling people if they 'don't like it here to fuck off', and those Southern Cross tattoos. Now what is that all about?

So why is there this undercurrent of xenophobia and especially amongst young people? Where did it come from? I just don't understand - in a country that is built on immigration, in a society that is socially inclusive, and a country which celebrates diversity, how come all of a sudden this stuff raises its ugly head again?

Do you know what, I think if you don't like it here then you should fuck off. I love this country and am proud of this country. Why? Because the people that make this country their home do retain bits of their culture, stories, food, language, and religion. And when everyone shares those things - well that's what make this such an interesting place to live.

Roast Pork

I woke up at 7am this morning to the smell of roasting pork wafting from the kitchen. Not a bad way to start the day.

This little sucker has been cooking since 7pm Saturday night and will be ready about 4pm today, just in time for our dinner tonight. I take my pork cooking very seriously.

If you want to make it, put your oven on about 230 degrees. Rub the pork with a mix of crushed garlic (about 10 cloves) 100 grams fennel seeds, some dried chilli and salt and pepper. Put it in the oven for 30 minutes, then turn it down down down to 100 degrees.

Take the pork out of the oven and baste with some lemon juice and olive oil. Put it back in and wait.

Every now and then drizzle some more lemon juice ( I usually go through about 5 lemons), and make sure you turn the sucker. Taste best when cooked for around 16 hours.

Missing - Boston Area

Gin and Tonic Time

I used to like this sign in my kitchen. Now I can't look at it. Why? Because someone tried to poison me with gin and tonics last Saturday night. And while Saturday night was fun (up until the poisoning part) , there isn't anything enjoyable about spending valentines day hungover at officeworks. For an hour. Do you know how hard it is to fill an hour at officeworks? Well just you try and think about it. And while you are thinking, don't forget about the important aspect to this story... H U N G O V E R

Blog It Forward - What inspires me?

What inspires me? An easy question you'd think, but it's really hard to capture this in one little post - so instead I made stuff. Looking at all the other posts it's amazing to see how similar our inspirations are, yet how we all apply them so differently. You can check out all the other blogs here.

Maybe I'm over thinking this, but lots of things influence my work, but is that the same as inspired? Probably. In the work itself there are always themes of hearts, text, my obsession with vapour trails and love of little bits of junk.

A friend used to laugh at all the bits and pieces I'd pick up during a lunchtime walk. White washed wood, beer bottle tops crushed by traffic - little things would catch my eye. Half the time I'd never use the stuff, but it was still treasure in a way, because it got me thinking.

While overseas with another friend, I apologised for stopping to take photos for the 5o millionth time (I think this photo was of broken tiles?). She said she liked it, because my eye picked up the beauty in everyday things that she would just walk on by and miss.

It is interesting how we all see things so differently isn't it? And also interesting how sometimes someone can see bigs chunks of you in your work. After my last exhibition, I was surprised when someone who hadn't know me for very long told me about the piece which was his favourite, because 'it was just so Karin'. I seem to wear my art on my sleeve.

So why am I telling you all of this? Because this blog post has made me think about not only what inspires, but how I view things and in turn how everyone else views my work.

So in the end there are lots of things that inspire me to make art, but it's words of others that inspire me to continue.

Thanks for stopping by the yellow house in the U. You should go check out the window ledge who passed the blog baton to me ( I think you will really like her drawing of what inspires). I can't wait to check out the things we make, who follows me tomorrow.

Many thanks to Victoria from sfgirlbybay for organising this great blog mash up.

Horse by the lake

Saturday

Saturday is for eating papusas even when it rains

Saturday is for drinking coffee and talking rubbish

Saturday is for eating birthday cake

Saturday is for friends dropping by with cheese and love

Saturday is listening to Surfer Blood over and over

Saturday is about daydreaming about someone you shouldn't (and wondering if they ever daydream about you)

My Place & Yours - Kitchen Love

This weeks theme is whatever it is you love most in or about your kitchen.

My kitchen is old and tiny, but I've done little bits and pieces to make it work for me (read add a bunch of coloured clutter), but I do love to cook - so I do love my kitchen.

The newest addition that I love is this gorgeous tea towel. It was given to me last week as a belated Christmas gift (with a bunch of other beautiful stuff). Justine always has an eye for pretty bits and pieces.

I used to be a little obsessed with retro kitchen stuff, but you know what? A lot of these things I've had for so many years and I still LOVE them!

And here is some newer stuff that I think is cool too. The tambourine was borrowed from a Karaoke bar on my birthday the year before last. Kuche is there to remind me of me, and my family far away.

My favourite part of my kitchen I talked about here - go look! Click here to see what everyone else loves about their kitchen.

Blog It Forward

Did you notice the Blog It Forward badge on the right?

Yep just down a bit. You can click on it you know, but don't do it yet!

Well the yellow house is part of Blog It Forward - this amazing mashup of blogs.

So it all started today (US time), and there are 300 blogs participating. The first lot of blogs will post today about “what inspires you personally?” and will direct you to the next blog, and on and on it goes. I get my go on Monday! If you want to see the list of blogs and who is doing what and when - click on the blog it forward badge. Want to see the amazing person who started this shebang. Click here.

February Postcard

Posted to Switzerland

Hello Kitty Arizona

Trixy was a big brown fox

She lived her days in a box

Then the fox got swapped for a kitty

And my oh my isn't she pretty!

And this is why I love the internet

Isn't it great to have someone be really nice to you, when you are feeling like the worlds against you?

Isn't it lovely to hear that someone likes to read your silly little blog?

And it's also really fun to know that someone thinks about your dog when they see a happy sign. It is even nicer that they hope his little leg heals.

Thanks go to the girl with the brown hair and the blue ribbon who really made my Monday swell. Click here to see what all the fuss is about.

I love having internet friends, and Barney does too!

My Place & Yours - What's in Your Bag

This weeks theme comes from over here, and it is all about looking into peoples bags.

Now, it is no coincidence that I chose to show you my bag today. You see, I tend to change bags every day or so, and my work bags are chaotic. You have no idea what you'll find in one of those. It would have been more interesting for you, but quite the embarrassment for me.

So here is the bag I took on my trip to rendezvous with a dear friend in Goulburn. It would have to be a pretty good friend to drive all the way to Goulburn to eat sausage mince hamburgers at an old school diner - so I probably didn't need to emphasise the strength of our friendship...but then it was a bit risky having you think I go to Goulburn regularly for a good meal out. Anyway, it turns out Goulburn is alright and quite an interesting town, so you should stop ragging on it. Stopped? Here is the contents of my bag:

Click here to check out what is in other peoples bags.

Dogs are not racist

Spotted at Canberra's multicultural festival.

Bharat International Shop

My goodness Bharat, why have I not visited you sooner?

Now I'll be the first to admit that I am easily excited of late. The weekday world of the yellow house has shrunk to be something very small...with just trips to work and straight back to care for the hound. Aside from some lovely friends who have been visiting to check up on us both (read keep us sane), the only consistent interaction I've had with the world is of the 9 - 5 type.

So it was with some of my favourite 9-5 folk that I went on an excursion and had lunch at Bharat.

And let me tell you - there is a lot to be excited about!

You order from a stainless steel counter and pay the man at the till. Then you eat lunch at a little diner type area at the front of the shop. The next step is to work your tasty,cheap lunch off by strolling up and down the aisles in search of wonderful statues, bulk sacks of rice, incense, and exotic fragrant spices.

I had a big dish of chick peas with samosas for $6.95. I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it was.

Go try for yourself at 17 Oatley Crt Belconnen.

A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter

A Tool to Decieve and Slaughter is a physical sculpture that is perptually attempting to auction itself on eBay.

Every ten minutes the black box pings a server on the internet via the ethernet connection to check if it is for sale on the eBay. If its auction has ended or it has sold, it automatically creates a new auction of itself.

If a person buys it on eBay, the current owner is required to send it to the new owner. The new owner must then plug it into ethernet, and the cycle repeats itself.

Follow the current auction here.

Two wrongs

Just don't make a right.

Gumbo!

The dog of the Yellow House has been receiving a steady stream of visitors during his recuperation. Last week during one of those visits, a generous friend brought with her the ingredients to make Gumbo! (That's how you say Gumbo! you know. You say it with a massive exclamation) So anyways, we made Gumbo! and it was unbelievable.