Friday night moon

The Williamsburg end of Belconnen

Proof that there is a little bit of Brooklyn in Belconnnen.

The neighborhood in Williamsburg is a magnet for young people and is an influential hub for indie rock and so-called "hipster" culture.

Hello! Belconnen Mall! If that isn't a great hang out full of indie hipsters - I just don't know what is. I spent a few hours there today with a young indie hipster and it was certainly a hub of culture and all things crazy. I saw a girl walk out of Dan Murphy's with a case of Passionpop. Rock and Roll and a connoisseur of viniculture all in one!

Intellect - Williamsburg is a haven for smart, indie hipsters. Belconnen same same and proof of that was found at Boost juice. I mean, I hadn't thought about the fact that there are different ways to spell Gina. Never, ever occurred to me. But at Boost - they were all over it, analysing the spelling, strategically thinking, being intellectual. And I learned from it. There is Gina, Geena, Jina, Jeena, and probably a dozen more combinations. They also made the observation that even though a name is spelt one way, they will probably mispronounce it the other. The question begs to be asked as to why you need to spell a name correctly if you are just going to yell out over loud dance music and mispronounce it anyway....

Anyway, I digress. Belconnen is more Williamsburg than Williamburg is Belconnen and that's that.

San Francisco 2004

Thip's Thai Belconnen

So today I took my camera to work because I was having lunch with friends and wanted to tell you all about it.

The thing is, I was really really hungry, and the food was outrageously good, and before you know it, my plate was empty. The place I went was Thip's Thai and it reminds me of this place below.

If you love authentic and fresh Thai food, check it out at Level 1 Churches Centre Belconnen. You'll love the noise of the kitchen, the chatter of the owner, the higgledy piggledy tables, and the big queue that goes out the door. You'll love the queue because it goes super quickly.

Yep - I'm surprised too, there are some good things hidden in Belcompton!

Let the outside in

I've enjoyed following this project by Caitlin Parker. You can check it out here - I've given you the link to the very beginning.

Here is what Caitlin Parker says about the project: The house is made from a dollhouse kit that I customised. I wanted it to look like some of the houses in upstate NY around where I live, a sort of ski lodge mountain house type of thing. I planted Native Northeast plants inside and around it that I got at the catskill native nursery. I set up a hunting camera from hunting cam online that takes photographs on a motion sensor. I set it to very sensitive so that it would go off often and I could not only see what wildlife would come and go but also create a time lapse video out of the stills. This project is ongoing…

Berlin

It is a friend of mines birthday today, and I was reminded of a photo I thought she might like of Berlin in snow.

The Faith Series

This was given to me by a friend to help me to 'avoid spending eternity with Beelzebub'. I'll let you know how it goes.

The Uniform Project

I loved following this project

Uniform Project Picture Book from The Uniform Project on Vimeo.

Old fashioned mail

Well it has been quite the week of letters, and do you know? Sometimes it can be the simplest of gestures that warm your heart.

This letter came all the way from London town and was written to me after that yucky post about signing the papers. It said ' you gave me this paper when I was leaving & it has come with me through 5 house moves and 2 countries! Just like our friendship'.

Those words (and the rest in this letter) made me smile on the inside and out.

Much love to you little sis and your note brightened many days. Thats the good thing about letters, you can pick them up, and read them over and over xx

My Place & Yours -Yellow

This weeks My Place and Yours theme is yellow. Hello...yellow! I posted this photo of all things yellow a while ago, but I couldn't resist to post it again to meet the theme.

Check out everyone else's yellow here !

Annemarie

My mum sometimes writes funny emails that I maybe sometimes share with friends. They are written in Genglish (German / English), and because English is her second language, the writing always contains inappropriate capitalisations that just make for awesome reading.

So, she was on holiday last week and I got a postcard from Hahndorf, which I was going to share, but then came this email:

Hallo ,we are back in Sydney .

We had a lovely time in Adelaide ,Barossa but Hahndorf was a bit disappointing . That we went on a Wednesday did not help .

The drive from Wagga Wagga to Mildura was not nice , as we drove through a Locust plague .We had to wash the Car and there the nice young Man told us to put Fibroglass Flymesh on the front of the Car . We did that on the way back .Anyway we found out that we did not want to drive around Australia in a Caravan .

It says everything that postcard said but more.

Note to any family members who read this blog (that would be all one of you) lets just keep this posting to ourselves, okay?

LUUK by Luke

You still have two days to go and see the show - open until Sun 16 May 2010

Canberra Contemporary Art Space 19 Furneaux Street Manuka ACT 2603

Snow Dome - Kiwi

Platypus

We were riding through the most beautiful bushland and I stopped for a moment to look at the river, with the clearest water I've seen in forever. Out loud I wondered if we would see a platypus and as I'd never seen one in the wild.

"I've seen one!" was the animated response. It marked the beginning of a story of all the lovely animals seen during a childhood holiday with parents.

I marvelled at that story, because it is pretty amazing to see a platypus in the wild and I was impressed. But then...

"Poor platypus" she said.

Sorry???

"Yeah the platypus was dead"

When challenged that seeing a dead platypus might not consititute seeing a platypus in the wild, I was met with...

"Well it had only recently died, and was still floating in the creek. It died in its natural environment, so it counts"

Dog biscuits

When Barney had his operation I bought a massive tub of peanut butter, to keep him busy through the day. Turns out he is the only dog in the world not to like peanut butter. So today in an effort to use some of it up, I made some dog biscuits out of some flour, corn meal flour, egg, oil and peanut butter - oh and I added some bran too (mainly because I wanted to use it up).

It seems peanut butter is acceptable when mixed with the above ingredients, so success all around!

Snow Dome - Art Bunny

There is a nauseatingly saccharine story that goes with this. I'll keep that inside me head for your benefit.

Snow Dome - Miami Beach

Happy Birthday Yellow House Blog

Yesterday marks a year since I started this blog. I don't know what made me think to check the date today, because it isn't something I've been keeping tabs on, but there you go!

That first post seems like so very long ago because much has happened in the past year. Remembering that fun night and now thinking what has changed for us three, there is lots.

Charlie Virtue is studying in the US of A - Harvard no less. He is outsmarting the Americans and navigating his way through their confusing world. He we also instrumental in closing another DVD rental store, and is the only Canberran to do so in both our nations capital, as well as Cambridge, the capital of Harvard.

And Taffy Bubblegum has moved into his urban penthouse, had his first art exhibition, started uni, ended his affair with Karen O and continues to wow the Canberra music scene with his ghost punk sub pop.

Me...I've changed jobs, bought my own house and mended a broken heart and a broken dog leg. It appears I also went through a vast amount of haircuts in 12 months.

Thanks for reading. Sidecars all round.

Snow Dome - Christchurch

Kale

Something bad went down

in yellow house in the u town

Good day in the Capital

What a perfect autumn day in Canberra.

The Farmers Markets was full of fresh carrots, loose skinned mandarins with bright green leaves attached, and buckets of bright yellow butter beans. Lunch of papusa, sitting out in the sun with the bright blue sky above. Vapour trails all fuzzy - like when elastic unravels. Followed by coffee in town, and then a drive across the lake. Blood orange and passionfruit gelati in the sun, watching the day go by, and then a stroll around the gallery to marvel at the Rothko, look within the Cornell boxes and debate the merits of Warhol (or lack of depending on your opinion).

The day ends at home in front of the heater, dog at my side. French champagne in my glass and Pavement playing on my sound system. Things are okay in the yellow house.

Well that was disappointing

Disappointment number one is that the SMH ran the article by Cory Bernardi. I'd post a link but I don't want to encourage him. Second disappointment - they voted...

Red Balloon

The other day, we made friends with a red balloon. His name was Loon. We watched him cross a road and back again and slowly inch his way down the road. Cars swerved to miss him, little Loon had no road sense.

It was mesmerising to watch that little red balloon. We wanted him to be okay, you know...to make it - but part wanted to see him pop under the tread of a car. It was like if you turned away you would miss it.

The closest he came to demise, was when the trolley man ran over him in his big bad ute. The only car not to swerve. But the balloon survived.

Bless you little Loon. You stole our hearts.

The end

So the papers were signed, and a jug of Pimms bought, and while it was sad, it was nice we were still so normal too. Or maybe thats why it is so sad? That with all of this, somewhere under the surface is that same boy and girl.

Who knows how things will end up, and I know either way it is done, and I'll remember that evening when dusk turned to night, and the church bells rang and it was over.

The pitfalls of being an optimist

Pitfall number 1. Sometimes you are still surprised by what should seem obvious.

Seeing the big tick against question 18 was like being punched in the stomach.

Horses

What a beautiful day to visit a farm. I always tried to imagine what this farm looks like, and it is a little like what was in my head. And the horses, so pretty but so big too! The dog from the yellow house would just love it here. I love it too.