socks and stuffs

Just before christmas i ordered a copy of John Murphy's Stupid Sock Creatures from amazon and these guys are my first attempt. They are both, let's say, based on patterns in the book but the instructions were so detailed and lengthy and i'm so lazy that i found shortcuts and fudging was neccessary. I was surprised how tricky they were to make requiring lots of cursing so i think i'll be sticking to my own simple designs like these from now on.


This last critter is a toy i made for my nephew based on one of his drawings. Might do a whole series of these, i've got a great collection of beautiful kids' drawings stashed away.


This page looks a bit clunky but I might eventually sort out this formatting lark.

un ojo

When i met my aunty Mary twenty years ago she told me about a dream she'd had that an old boyfriend had given her a kitten as a present which had three eyes. She said for her it was a very special present and that it was typical of that particular person to give her something so exotic and unusual. I thought at the time that if it had been my dream, a kitten with three eyes would have horrified me and not been the least bit enchanting. Almost ten years later i had my own version of the dream but the kittens had eyes all over their bodies. One had two rows down its belly like teats and there were spare eyes scattered all over the floor. In the chaotic frustration of my dream i even managed to tread on a couple on the kitchen floor. A few years later i was walking throught a food market in Madrid and i felt something dollop up against the side of my boot. I looked down and saw an enormous eyeball skittering across the floor. The look on my face sure gave the butcher a good laugh.

dream archive #1

I recently found this dream that i'd written down years ago -

Mum had opened a really expensive and exclusive restaurant and i went along one night to check it out. She was flitting around and talking to customers and i watch one guy order and entre that costs $800. When it arrives it's four boiled chicken drumsticks standing upright in a white cup. He starts eating and when he's not looking i pinch one to see if it's worth the money. It's stuffed with little bits of broccoli but just tastes like boiled chicken. When he's finished he complains about the size of the serving for the price. My (then) two year old is with me and she falls asleep on a bed that's there. I decide to leave her and go and see mum who's gone home to fix up a piece of furniture she wants to sell. She lives just down the street so i walk. She's stripping an old art deco cupboard so i leave her and go back to the restaurant. When i get back they're clearing up and talking about going for a drink and a smoke. I'm invited but my nephews have turned and i need to do something with them so i ask the staff if they have my sister's number and a girl says here i'll phone Wendy (not my sister) so i say what's the use of that, where's mum's or sister's numbers? I can't find them on a list by the phone, then Wendy answers but she cant hear me. They tell me i need a token but by the time i get one she's hung up. I'm starting to become furious and really start abusing them for being so disorganised. I take my daughter and the boys out into the street still yelling at the restaurant staff (gawd). We head over to my car but when i get there i notice my doors are open, the radio's gone, the battery's gone and there's an electrical cord running from the ignition into the house in front. Through the window i can see some girls and i pull out the cord. There's yelling from inside the house and someone comes to the door and starts threatening me. I run telling the kids to follow me but when i look back my baby's run the other way and gone inside the house. I turn back and run into the house to get her. As i pick her up a short guy with huge arms starts making gestures to hit me and is chasing me around the kitchen. The others in the house are laughing at me and how terrified i am and i wake up. It's a normal day

big pumpkin

Along with all the prickly things in the garden we sometimes manage to grow edible stuff. We picked this butternut yesterday and Bonny took it to school in the stroller for news.

about me

I'm 43 (what!?) and over the last 20 odd years I've:
lived in five different cities in four countries;
visited or travelled in around ten other countries;
graduated from three universities;
failed to start a career;
had at least twenty different jobs including graphic design, language teaching, chalkboard illustration, casino work, tutoring and fruit pickin’;
lived at about thirty addresses including around twenty shared households;
made most of my own clothes;
kept a diary of my long, lucid and vividly violent nightmares;
ridden a motorbike for two years;
hitched 3000km in three days;
learnt two new languages;
moved back to the place I grew up, settled down and had two gorgeous daughters.
So now I spend all my time:
debating with my partner in this latest adventure the best way to bring up a couple of civilised humans;
cutting bread into tiny triangles (or big squares depending on the latest preference);
refusing people nutella for breakfast;
feeling guilty for feeding people nutella for breakfast;
moderating my alcohol intake to the recommended number of 'units' per day;
realising I've consumed double the recommended number of alcohol units;
growing bromeliads;
jogging;
making my own clothes
and putting dinner on the table EVERY SINGLE NIGHT OF THE WEEK!