Waiting for the frogs to fall

In an unusal move for 'not-much-of-a-joiner' me, I picked out one of the official Australia Day activities to go to today. The Cotter Bush Picnic was a chance to lie back in the shade and look at the trees, while listening to the music.

Country/rockabilly band the Fuelers claim to have Australia's only 'beer cactus' (it's on the stage).



They had a more decent audience than that photo suggests, but only the little kids ventured out of the shade at the back. At one point the band tried to lure adults up to dance by giving exaggerated warning that they were going to throw handsful of lollies to the children, and if you didn't want a sugared-up hyperactive child you should get up NOW! It didn't work in the slightest. The kids enjoyed the lollies.

We also checked out some old-timey dancing, complete with old timey bush band.


Perhaps the most unexpected element of the bush picnic was the screening of a short documentary film about Confest, a conference / festival of the couterculture and alternative lifestyles held at Cotter in 1976. They had to post warnings that those under fifteen should be accompanied by an adult, cause there was a bit of nudey-rudeynes which might corrupt young people. Personally I think that viewing some real-shaped naked bodies can ony do good when we're awash in a media sea of barely clad Pamela Anderson-Jordan-barbie styled figures wherever you turn. The lovely lady from Environment ACT who was manning the entrance to the tent said she was surprised to find that quite a few of her colleages admitted to having been there, and indeed bounced around sans clothing too. I was only surprised that she was surprised.

Dip, dive, socialize

So, what was all that about leaving parties early, marinating in hot soapy water, justifying a lot of tasteless DVD watching? I made a whole pile of felted bowls, most of which were Christmas presents for my family. More photos, including before-and-after, to come.

Just after Christmas (in fact starting Christmas Day) I was still on a 'making things' roll - in fact I feel like I may never leave it - and I whipped up this pink scarf for a friend who is having an extra winter this year. I started this pink Patons Zhivago with trepidation, not loving the way it looked in the ball. But the way it patterned as I knitted, almost like a mini-camo kind of thing (er... but in a good way) was intriguing and in the end I was very happy with it. Luckily the recipient was too.



It's the second time I've used this pattern; the first one snuck onto the blog a little while ago.

Oh, it's not as pale in real life as it looks in that photo.

I feel lucky if I get trousers to wear

I've had a sitemeter on my blog for quite some time, and so far I've managed to resist doing one of those posts about the odd search strings that occasionally bring people to my site. But, this evening it happened: for the first time, olma.blogspot.com was the top result in a search. The subject?

'mum made me wear a dress all the time'

I can't think of a really witty segue, but I want to show you these glass vases/sculptures, pointed out to me in a shop window. Don't know that the photos fully capture how lovely they are. Some are opaque and some translucent. They had been described to me as handbag-shaped glass vases, and I pictured something much more kitsch. They were only around $50 each, which makes me think they probably aren't hand made in Australia.

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking

For Christmas I received the gift of time. Seriously.

My parents gave us an electric toothbrush. It's rechargable and has a two minute timer. I now have much cleaner teeth, because I'm motivated to clean my teeth for longer that I used to. But the best part is I've discovered that I can read a book and clean my teeth at the same time. So this gift amounts to not just better dental health, but four whole extra minutes of reading time every day. It all adds up.

She's ma on whom you can always depend

the bag, originally uploaded by Olma.

Mum made me this gorgeous bag for Christmas. It's the same shape as one of hers that I had admired - I loved the square shape and wide opening. It makes it a nice easy bag to put things in and out of - pretty much the basic purpose of a bag I guess.

It's not just the shape I love, but the colours, especially the green piping. Funnily enough, Mum seemed a bit concerned that the green might seem like her preference

more than mine; I don't think she realised that she actually hit on a colour that I am really loving at the moment. It works perfectly with the black fabric and the lining colour, and the lovely green vintage button.

And then there's the hand beading, which doesn't just embellish the fabric's floral pattern but really extends it into something more.
Ages ago I did a bit of a theme on the blog of people and things that inspire me. It almost goes without saying that my mum is a huge creative influence for me; even though I never did learn to sew peoperly (I can do an ok hem...) because she was so much better at it; I generally just scrub the potatoes in exchange for any sewing required.

Four wheeled friend

Originally uploaded by Olma.

When Kam was about 8 or 9 he became fascinated with the concept of a time capsule. He packed up some favourite toys, writings and other precious things in a box and buried it in the backyard. Sometime later he tried to dig it up but just like Vern with his jar of pennies in Stand By Me, he couldn't find it. (You know, I had no idea until I just checked the imdb entry, that was Jerry O'Connell!) He had also buried this Tonka 4WD, carefully wrapped in a plastic bag. Both the truck and the time capsule finally saw the light of day very recently when his Mum dug them out. Although she didn't know at the time that he had buried things in the yard, all these years later she didn't seem to have too much trouble figuring out who to call.

When we went to visit her on New Year's Day, as soon I saw the truck outside, looking like it had maybe just completed the Dakar Rally, I couldn't resist. "Aww, you know this is going on the blog, don't you?"

Kam says he can't remember exactly why he buried the truck, it wasn't exactly the same as a time capsule. Even though I don't know the exact story, I really like it and I'm sure there was some serious planning and kid-logic involved. Maybe he just appreciated how great it would feel to find it a little while later, after having done without. I remember when I was a kid swearing that I would never be an adult who forgets what it is like to be a kid - that there are reasons and the things you do and think make sense to you, even if they don't to the adults around you (or the adult you eventually become).

I said if I was smart that I would save up for a piece of string, and a rock to wind the string around

Sometime in the past month or so, a two cent coin found its way into my wallet. I have no idea how it got there. Then there is the question of why I've left it there so long since I first noticed it; but then that's just classic wallet inertia. It seems to belong ok with the three half-used sets of stamps and the old video cards.

But how did it get there? Did some cashier give it to me instead of a 5c coin? This bugs me. Is there any other way I got it other than being ripped off by three cents? (suggestions please).

Oh yeah. For the benefit of any non-Australian readers:
The copper coins, 1 and 2 cents, were phased out of our currency several years ago. Although the smallest coin is now 5 cents, prices are often still not divisible by 5 cents, especially in supermarkets. The total is rounded to the nearest 5 cents.

Goodness gracious

One of the topics of discussion last night at dinner was the 'newstainment' that increasingly defines commercial TV news reports.

Tonight we watched one of those creepy Japanese horror films, Ju-On (the Grudge). Needing an early night after last night's somewhat tame, but late, festivities, I checked the time remaining: 21 minutes to go. We decided we could finish it and have time to watch a little 'something frivolous' before trying to sleep.

Enter Channel 10 late news. The top story was the NSW Central Coast fires, as well as fires in Victoria, which are shaping up to be not at all frivolous. Nevertheless, Ten's newstainment provided what I needed to take my mind off that creepy little boy.

A 75-year-old grandmother gets out of a car to see the remains of her house, which, the newsreader authoritatively proclaims, has been "destroyed by a fireball direct from hell".

Oh, is that where they come from?