Rob Ryan

I just so love Rob Ryan's beautiful paper-cut pictures! I'd love to buy one of his creations for my wall.  I found this little video and it made me smile :)  Oh and Happy 2012!


Handmade Portraits: Rob Ryan from Etsy on Vimeo.

Do You Want to be a Librarian?

Yes I do!

My hero, Kate Bush

I found this article on the wonderful blog of Josephine Pennicott, who is also a fan of Kate!

My hero: Kate Bush by David Mitchell

I admire Kate for being her own person, unique, talented and brave!  My husband thinks she is "weird" and I know many people find her too "out there" and I have had strange looks when I mention that I am still a fan, but I dont mind, in fact I kind of like it ;)
Nice to see her mentioned in a current article, she is such a private person who takes years to write albums, you dont often find much info on her these days (which is also good, the press seem to leave her alone)

Yay For Kate!




  

Reading Challenge

via doe-c-doe

I love reading, but over the last few years Ive been so occupied with kids or even my own thoughts, that Id momentarily forgotten the amazing joy and satisfaction you get from reading.
Buying, borrowing or finding a new book is exciting, then glancing at the first sentence, reading the dedication, the feel, the smell. Ive even read two books on my ipad's kindle, but I have to say I still love a foldy, touchy book.
Anyway! this year I am challenging myself to read 50 books, that's almost one a week, but that will be enough I think!
Ive been listing all the books I've yet to read and the ones Ive read on "Goodreads"

So it's now 2011 and Ive just completed one book and now onto the second....Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby

What are you reading?

New Year

Candy

It's funny...even after 20 years and marriage and children, I still remember my first love, and my first real heartbreak. This song always triggers the memory from 1990, life is crazy!

Peter and The Wolf

I'm taking my 5 year old to see Peter and The Wolf on Friday at La Mama Theatre in Melbourne. I remember being excited but also scared when I first saw a tv show of the production shown sometime in the 1970s. Prokofiev's music has a haunting feel, something I love still.
Its very dramatic and beautiful, and Im pretty sure my son will enjoy it, he doesnt scare easily and he quite likes being frightened in that half laughing hysterically half terrified kind of way! This is recommended for 4-11 yr olds and I think its been given a bit of a comic twist!
Did you see Peter and The Wolf as a child?

Do the Bus Stop

Ive been watching a great documentary on the Islands surrounding Britain.. My cousin has moved to one of these islands in the last 5 years so I was interested to see what life is like in such a remote part of the world! I was touched by the strong support systems they create, they have to all pitch in and get along! It was amazing.  I also love the way they make sure they celebrate their community on Saturday nights at the town hall :)


On the Island of Unst, the most northerly island in the Shetlands..they have created a famous bus stop!  Over the last 10 or so years it's had different themes.  Ahh now wouldn't this make you smile  waiting for the bus! 

We Miss You

 We Miss You

waking up to the reality of dawn

the cupboard echoing my thoughts
we miss you
even your clothes-hanger
looks forlorn and lost

I scrunch my eyes together
trying to kid myself that its all a dream
your smell lingers
and my dreams
are scattered all over the floor

I take the hanger and twist it
much like you did with my heart
we need you
but we wont lie adrift
we will be reshaped and reborn

: Doc Martin :

Well this week's obsession has been "Doc Martin"  Being so cold and dreary this weekend I managed to watch 10 or so episodes of the Doc, and have fallen in love with the series! Even the kids and husband have enjoyed it!
First you have the salty seaside town in Cornwall, steep hills, narrow lanes, whitewashed walls and lots of beached seaweed, then the people who live in the fictitious town of Portwenn..all slightly eccentric and hilarious!
And of course there is the Doc, Dr Martin Ellingham, a rude, gruff, but highly skilled GP who has had to give up a promising surgical career because he freaks out at the sight of blood!  You see him on many occasions hurling into a paper bag while trying to clean up some one's bloody wound!  I just love this character, he is amazingly played by Martin Clunes, because although he is so so rude, so pompous and seemingly without any personal skills whatsoever! there is something endearing about him, his vulnerabilities and awkwardness, especially around women, is just so sweet (oh gawd!)  Even the town dogs seem strangely attracted to him, one fluffy mutt seems to follow him everywhere, much to Doc's annoyance! Now I'm not your classic romantic girly girl...I tend to find most overly romantic films or books a bit cheesy!  I never wanted a man who would worship me and throw rose petals at my feet, I like a bloke who'll fix your car, read  a book, argue with you if he thinks you're wrong, and of course be slightly marshmallowy on the inside while still being burly and blokesome!
Well Doc Martin is pretty much the antithesis to a romantic man, and I guess that's why I just love the dynamics between his character and the character of Louisa, his love interest.  Louisa is a pretty school teacher, sensible, intelligent and not afraid to speak her mind, but with a sweetness that has most of the town bewitched! (one exception being the neck brace wearing pharmacist who has her own designs on the Doc)
Their relationship is very slow going but lovely to watch, he so awkward and still quite rude, but softening whenever he sees or talks to Louisa, and you can tell he infuriates her but also fascinates her at the same time.
Over the weekend Ive watched them shyly clasp hands at a concert, which made me want to cry????  (I shudder at my own weaky soppy crybaby ways!)  argue when after a lovely kiss, he tells her that he can smell her pheromones and they smell slightly of urine!  He manages to insult her often, never realising his Doctorly advise is sometimes better left unsaid, especially after they spend their first night together and the next day he offers her a nasal clip to help with her snoring!
He does finally ask her to marry him, but ahhh....the course of TV drama romance never runs smoothly, and the wedding is a disaster with both realising they really don't think the other could make them happy.

Now I'm on to the 4th series, where Louisa, who had fled to London, comes back to Portwenn 6 months pregnant with the Doc's baby. Yay another series where they fumble, mumble and generally dodge each other until I presume things are ok again..well I hope so??  They better be!!   I wont rest until Martin and Louisa are happily married and I can move onto the next show!

Anyway...give it a look if you'd like :)