may 31, 2003
seedlings of doubt
my dad hasn't yet brought down the sleepers for my garden bed, and i haven't invested in manure and compost so i haven't sown any seeds yet. (i don't want to have to buy seedlings, i want to experience the buzz of watching plants come out of the soil!)
but being an impatient kinda gal, i gave in and bought leek and beetroot seedlings from kmart and planted them in the old fish pond behind the house. it's about 2m diameter and isn't too high, so it's quite a good raised bed. ideally i'd turn it into a giant herb garden. but not this year.
i also want a continuous supply of greens so i'll probably buy some rainbow chard seedlings or seed before i make my huge ($100 +) digger's order.
whilst driving through the hills i saw a couple of places selling bags of horse manure for $2. i'm going to buy a cheap tarp to put inside my car and i might drive up next week and invest in about $10 of fertile stinkiness.
somehow i think that it might be a solo trip!
pipstar @ 08:21 PM | link | Comments:
may 31, 2003
mother earth
karah and i had a pleasant afternoon in the adelaide hills.
we walked around the mt lofty botanic gardens for a while and took some photos. i did some knitting coaching for karah and she got through two rows of ribbing without any major catastrophes. we saw two ravens and a blue wren and his wife.
and after that we went to the organic market cafe for sustenance. hearty soup, delicious toast and tea.
i always feel a little disappointed by the amount of produce on offer in organic stores. surely they should be a celebration of the bounty of the earth? but instead there are tiny piles of vegetables and fruit. which i can kinda understand. there isn't that huge a demand for organic produce, so a huge pile of brussel sprouts might go to waste.
as it is, i can't really afford the price of organic fruit and vegetables on my current income, so karah and i split the cost of a huge bunch of poppies and discussed the merits of different varieties of bread products.
not that my claim of near poverty can really be justified. on the way back from the hills (my ears went all weird during the descent down the freeway) we stopped in at bauhaus and karah bought some cool sandals (she has small enough feet) and i bought a tibetan tassel and a toe ring.
i did buy some food as well though. a huge bunch of broccoli for $2 and k and i shared a bag of green beans for $2.
pipstar @ 08:01 PM | link | Comments: **
may 30, 2003
my stuff is safe.
i just had some of the freakiest dreams ever.
in one of them i though that i was actually awake and i was walking around my house realising that someone had broken in during the night and stolen my computer and walked around my room and left all my doors and windows open.
i could not tell the difference between wake and sleep.
and later on i dreamt that i was in some weird 18th century house but the bedrooms were modern and i think that echo from prague was there. we had to drive to a shopping centre to visit some friends who lived by. almost everyboy i'd ever met lived in this house (it was like some peter pan we refuse to grow up house made out of logs.) i was holding a baby and james deeth kissed me "with tongues". which was disgusting.
then my friend matt and i needed to go to the toilet. he demanded "western toilets!" and we were directed to bathroom A2 which was some variety of unixex communal bathing area. when i went to pee i managed to press the wrong button and a shower started and i got drenched.
when i woke up i needed to pee really bad.
in fact this is about the 7th major dream that i've remembered that contains communal bathing / toilet areas. amateur psychologists go for your lives....
analyse my dreams please!
pipstar @ 01:41 PM | link | Comments: ****
may 29, 2003
thought for the day
manbag.com exists.
sockswithsandals.com doesn't.
pipstar @ 01:21 PM | link | Comments:
may 29, 2003
brain transplant
i've signed up for a slightly more reliable webhost so there may be some downtime over the next couple of days as the dns gets transferred and i copy files over.
pipstar @ 11:42 AM | link | Comments:
may 29, 2003
choke hold
2 strings of wooden beads. green and brown.
- 3 packs of brown wooden beads
- 2 packs of green wooden beads
- 4 clasps
- linen thread from mum's workbox
cost: $6.50
time: about 20 minutes
hardest thing, tieing the final knot.
pipstar @ 12:12 AM | link | Comments: **
may 28, 2003
calico bess rackham
Often indecisive, you can't even choose a favorite color. You're apt to follow wherever the wind blows you, just like Calico Jack Rackham, your namesake. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!
pipstar @ 11:40 PM | link | Comments:
may 28, 2003
merci beaucoup
right now i am happy because when i went into baker's delight for lunch today, they'd just taken some cheesymite scrolls out of the oven so i had delicious fresh bread and melty cheese and salty vegemite tastes while i sat in the sun waiting for my bus.
for the last week there have been about 50 rainbow lorikeets chattering away in the plane trees across the road as they eat at the seeds. suddenly a pair will launch out of the tree, swoop down the road in flashes of colour and fly off on some important mission.
i found a baby fig tree underneath the mandarin tree the other day. i'm going to dig it up and move it over to the vacant corner of the garden where i plan on planting a lemon and lime tree.
not only did i walk home after taking my car to get serviced this morning, but i also rode my bike this afternoon on the way to collect it. and i rode pretty fast.
pipstar @ 07:54 PM | link | Comments:
may 28, 2003
je suis desole
cher simon,
i hate to admit this, but i used google's language tools to check whether my french was correct.
i'm great on the present tense, so je suis en retard came naturally, and i had a good idea about the future je serai en retard, but i had absolutely no idea about the past tense.
in order to avoid potential misunderstandings like the one at the trabzon monastery when i thought jon was referring to me in a very intimate way, and so that i can actually speak french successfully, i'm going to take a class at the alliance française.
i'm sorry to disappoint you simon, but i have good intentions,
love pippa
pipstar @ 02:20 PM | link | Comments:
may 27, 2003
je suis en retard, j'étais en retard, je serai en retard
it was my first day of drawing class today and i managed to misread the information sheet and thought the class started at 730. whoops. it started at 7.
luckily i drove at 63km/hr down payneham road and made it to class by 720. but then i couldn't find the door into the classroom so i stood downstairs like a loser until one of the school's teachers came past and showed me the correct door.
hasn't anyone heard of signage?
we drew cubes and cylinders, boxes and bottles, cross hatched and smudged charcoal. it's all stuff i've done before for fun, but the important thing this time is that i have to be critical of what i'm drawing.
pipstar @ 11:49 PM | link | Comments: *
may 27, 2003
blue sky above you
here's one of my favourite photos from the bad girls of the bible shoot.
i like that in australia, particularly in adelaide, there's this amazing feeling of space.
you get to see far more sky in australia cities. in europe you're continually penned in by buildings, by streets which weren't formally designed for maximum space, in winter by oppressively grey skies and pollution.
adelaide streets are a chain wide by old skool measurements. that's the length of a cricket pitch. and that's a lot of opportunity to see the sky.
pipstar @ 12:53 AM | link | Comments:
may 27, 2003
blue sky outside your window
there's something weird about shows at action park... well not weird exactly, just loud.
if i don't wear ear plugs i lose about 50% of my hearing within the first song of the first band.
if i do wear ear plugs, the pressure in my head seems to build up and i float off into some bizarre mental space where i'm holding controlling the fate of the world to a soundtrack provided by the band playing.
last saturday i manipulated world events for the better whilst listening to bad girls of the bible, limit of shunt, sinking citizenship and love...like electrocution. but here's a photo from a couple of weeks ago when lue, amanda and a large proportion of melbourne were in town.
thanks for the comment lue!
pipstar @ 12:27 AM | link | Comments:
may 25, 2003
mud
whenever i've been outside and had a walk or done some gardening related chores i feel way happier and much more motivated and i end up getting my other work done.
yet most of the time when i need this motivation kick i lay low in my bed and sleep or just read books.
[sometimes i think that i don't have a motivation problem, i just have a plain old case of sloth.]
anyway, at about 5 this afternoon i headed outside and pulled out the horrid asparagus fern that's been challenging me since i discovered it a fortnight ago. i also ripped out a whole bunch of soursobs at the same time.
it seems that some gardeners like asparagus fern. well i think that they must be smoking crack or something, because IT IS A WEED.
i also got around to making a cage type thing to put lawn cuttings and raked leaves in.
my grandma's gardener is obsessed with raking (he doesn't just do paths and the lawn, he rakes between plants which are using the leaves as mulch) and then he takes the leaves to the dump! he also continually chops things without rhyme or reason!
sometimes i come home from uni and i discover he's chopped something like some lavendar in flower and i almost cry. it's like he's destroying my planet and i'm gaia or something.
anyway i asked him to not take the clippings and leaves to the dump the other day and he left me behind a beautiful pile of nitrogen and carbon just waiting to turn into humus. but i needed to contain the pile, so today i fashioned a small fence type thing out of star droppers and some old chicken wire i found in the ceiling of the garage.
then, i had to move all of the stuff over. luckily it was getting pretty dark so i couldn't see the potentially slimy stuff that i was handling, but i've got the pile condensed into a much smaller volume.
after a week of heavy rain, the pile was already starting to decompose, so i had the smell of nutritious (for plants!) forest floors around me as i shovelled and forked and raked.
give the pile a couple of weeks and it will be ready to put over the vegetable patch.
pipstar @ 08:20 PM | link | Comments:
may 25, 2003
brown and blue
i'm so glad that i bought the 81A filter yesterday. the browns and blues of the boys' clothing became really rich and sarah's red hair and tshirt looked fantastic. and most importantly, the greens which have been looking so good with the kodak max film weren't compromised in any way.
there's one shot in particular which i like enough to get enlarged. BGOTB are standing on the roof of aidan and jared's studio but they are only take up about 1/10 of the photo, the rest is a huge grey and white cloud against a blue sky.
sweet.
as sarah and i went into kmart to get the photos processed, i had opportunity to buy even more cheap film! ($10 for 2 x 24, 1x 36).
a while ago i was thinking about shooting and processing one roll of film a week as a way to improve my photography skills, but i didn't have any more rolls left over from my trip.
i now have 9 rolls to play around with. if i get around to putting more batteries in my pencam there'll be heaps of photos to upload.
pipstar @ 04:30 PM | link | Comments: *
may 23, 2003
sore eyes
i followed claire's lead and worked out that i've read 43 of the bbc's book list.
pipstar @ 08:02 PM | link | Comments: *
may 23, 2003
save it for a rainy day
Happy Birthday Aliese!
it must be the magic of aliese's birthday in the air which is making me have such a good day.
i slept in and didn't go to my lecture which is kinda bad, but my bed was the absolute right temperature for hanging out in.
i eventually got up and went into town to meet up with someone who isn't meant to be in adelaide. i had wonton soup (which made me feel kinda ill) and bubble tea. it rained and rained and rained and while walking to the car we went into cash converters where i bought four cds for $37. both kasey chambers albums, sound dust by stereolab and smile by the jayhawks!
sweet.
after trying to push start my friend's car, we got a jumpstart and i was given a lift over to rundle street where i tried to buy an 81A filter. no luck. but at Target, there was a 15% off sale which meant that i was able to get cheap film for Bad Girls of the Bible photos.
and i visited jess at big star and was given a couple of yeah, yeah, yeahs buttons. and i picked up some stuff to make a present for aliese and then i went into james place cameras, found the filter i wanted and also found a second hand enlarger timer for $50.
i bought the filter, but i've got the timer on hold, because as soon as i get the enlarger and everything setup, then i'll need to start investing in photographic chemicals and paper. and more black and white film.
why on earth do i have to choose such expensive hobbies?
i suppose that photography is cheaper than smoking crack. or buying guitars ;)
later on it'll be dinner for aliese's birthday!
i've got presents to make...
pipstar @ 07:03 PM | link | Comments: *
may 22, 2003
get on your bike
apart from one pathetic ride to the shops about a fortnight ago, i haven't used my bicycle for at least two months. and until last night i'd only been to yoga once in the last six weeks.
my tonedness has disappeared. my bum has regrown.
i need to get active again.
so karah and i finally became motivated enough to go to yoga. normally we'd go on a thursday evening to a class run by susan, but in search of a more convenient time we chose a 6pm wednesday class with darrin. it was the hardest class i've attended in a long time, which is the result of my distinct lack of exercise and the fact that i've become use to susan's teaching style.
as karah said when we arranged to attend a class run by darrin, "returning to yoga in a class run by darrin in a standing pose week? that's a baptism by fire".
well, maybe not a baptism by fire, but i was healthily challenged: ardha chandrasana, vrksasana, parivrtta trikonasana and an attempt at adho mukha vrksasana.
and i almost made it into a wall supported handstand, which is an improvement on last year. i still laughed each time i fell down, which did lead to wobbly arms after about ten attempts, but i kept my hips high and kept on trying.
...
as i said earlier, i've been sitting around and not riding my bike. and the weather has only just turned wet. even though it isn't exercise, i have been on the internet a lot and i've found some great resources about bike riding.
the chicagoland bicyle federation has tips on riding to work
make your own pannier bags 1, 2
pipstar @ 12:38 PM | link | Comments:
may 22, 2003
sir toby's photos
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pipstar @ 12:07 AM | link | Comments:
may 21, 2003
create
i went to the market today and bought some urgently needed food items (onions, bread and garlic) and restocked on olives, artichoke hearts, soy and sweet chilli sauce.
i don't know why i went today, as the market isn't even open on wednesdays! luckily, there were enough stalls open for me to get everything i needed including 9c worth of broad beans for planting, and a packet of purple podded pea seeds.
growing stuff is so much fun.
a couple of my brussel sprout plants have survived despite almost being completely dessicated when i forgot to water them and they also have been eaten by cabbage grubs.
my rocket plants are growing very well and i think that i'll be eating from my own plants in about a fortnight. my spring onions are taking a long time to get big enough, but i think that i'll plant some more seeds in a day or so.
and i put the hyacinths that i bought a couple of weeks ago into jars and overnight amazing growth has happened! the tiny stems which had sprouted while i chilled them in the fridge turned green after about 6 hours of sunlight and tiny little roots burst out into the water.
my drawing class starts next tuesday, so i went to premier art supplies to buy the stuff i needed. it seems to be a much better stocked store than eckersley's. and i found that they stocked flexible medium which modifies standard acrylic paints for use as fabric paints and which can be used to make prints from photocopies.
pipstar @ 06:09 PM | link | Comments: **
may 21, 2003
clicksmart
i got my most recent lot of photos back yesterday. there are a couple of good shots from zoe and dom's wedding, a cool macro photo of mint and some nice mirror shots as well.
i'll scan them later today.
as i'm taking some promo shots for Bad Girls of the Bible and Hello Minnesota! in the next couple of weeks i'm able to justify the purchase of a new filter. I think that I'll go for an 81A warming filter as it will make skin tones better.
mmm. photographic accessories!
pipstar @ 02:32 PM | link | Comments:
may 20, 2003
hello goodbye
though chris doesn't leave until wednesday, i'm going to post a good luck and farewell message now...
Good Luck Chris! Farewell!
(that was easy)
i did say goodbye to him properly after a very pleasant and well catered afternoon tea at his parents' house. on the way there i thought that i might die of a combination of getting lost and car sickness as i had to negotiate my way along very twisty roads.
though i grew up in the hills we never had roads as bendy as the ones up in belair. and even though i grew up in the hills, unlike chris, my house was not situated directly above a creek bed!
and later that evening i went with karah and james to stubby's housewarming in north adelaide. stubby had previously been a nebulous shadow in my impressions of current sleep lab life. now i'll be able to fill in the gaps with a safari besuited presence!
at the housewarming i assisted in the creation of erotic magnetic poetry on the fridge, officially broke the first glass in the house (by accident) and told karah, karen and lisa that i was going to start my life afresh today by waking up early and going for a half hour walk.
no such luck.
but i did clean up my room fairly thoroughly which was one of the other amitious claims that i made.
pipstar @ 01:00 AM | link | Comments: *
may 18, 2003
in the mix
last night i went to mojo west to dance the night away while nick and other adelaide djs played for mixup
all in all it was a fun night. lots of people who i haven't seen for ages, good music and free schooners of coopers.
the previous night's entertainment was just as fantastic, but a little more subdued. sonja, bel and damien hosted a soiree (there really is no other suitable word) with delicious thai influenced food and delightful background music. the highlight however, was the great mix of people and the fun three things game we played at hermione's suggestion.
pipstar @ 04:00 PM | link | Comments:
may 18, 2003
apply yourselves
let's suppose that i eventually ended up in a relationship again* and got caught in a relationship related ethical dilemna, where would i turn to for guidance?
that's right... The Morning News is where it's at.
* prospective applicants: please note point 10
pipstar @ 03:30 PM | link | Comments:
may 16, 2003
ninth live
i got a call from sarah earlier tonight. apparently the swingcat club is closing down in two weeks, which means that the planned rock city for the 31st isn't going to happen.
i can't say that rock city was ever a huge success, but goddamn, it was fun! if i hadn't been djing at rock city every month two years ago, i'd have probably drifted away from sarah and the rest of the girls while i foolishly spent all my time with aidan.
i'm pretty sure that i'm going to be djing at ellie's party in a month or so, that will allow me to justify the purchase of some more records. i chose to not go see grandmaster flash on wednesday night as i figured that the $50 entry price (+ drinks + taxi home) was equal to 5 good second hand albums.
the problem is, unless i actually go out record shopping with a $50 note in my hand, i'm unlikely to buy anything, and then i'll sit around moping about how i have no new music.
i might have to make it a $30 limit, but who wants to go record shopping?
pipstar @ 01:26 AM | link | Comments: ***
may 14, 2003
a chocolate river
Pete claims that SAD can be fought off with chocolate. And I have to agree that chocolate consumption is an important part of fighting off seasonal depression.
Along with moping around, shopping, healthy eating and seeing a little bit of blue sky, I also ate a 150g block of Fruit and Nut on Saturday night, and by Monday I was feeling much better. I'd have preferred a bittersweet chocolate, such as the organic 70% cocoa mass chocolate I saw the other day, but I couldn't quite bring myself to spend $6.30 on it.
pipstar @ 11:51 AM | link | Comments: *
may 10, 2003
rainy day music
i don't think that i could move to the northern hemisphere for any major amount of time, as i think that i'd be severely affected by seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
the weather turned dreary on friday and i descended into a pretty dark funk. a funk which i knew i'd get out of eventually, but which i had to remain in for a while.
thank god that's over.
at least i attempted to buy my way out of minor depression. i now have a new grey jumper and two black summer tops (gloomy colours, but they look nice), a book called a year of slow food which has confirmed my desire to have a productive kitchen garden, pretty paper with which to make stuff and the new album by the jayhawks [mmm. alt country].
now that i'm feeling better i'm so excited about the stuff i wouldn't have let myself buy whilst feeling happy. and i get to sing along with the jayhawks.
the seeds which i planted the other week have started to sprout. at this stage it's a little too early to tell whether the rocket, mignonette lettuce or pak choi have won the growing race so far, but my bets are on the rocket.
pipstar @ 02:48 PM | link | Comments: *
may 09, 2003
my fault
you know when you're so tired that your eye starts twitching?
my sleeping patterns have become so useless and i have therefore become so tired, when i was teaching today my scalp was twitching.
i've had a nap and was going to go to sleep early...
but felicity is on again!
pipstar @ 01:03 AM | link | Comments:
may 06, 2003
today was good because...
- i have finally done the tough, leaving the house part of my marking!
- my diggers' seed catalogue came in the mail... plant pornography!
- pete came over for dinner!
- pete thought that the scarf with pockets that i'm knitting was looking good
- i'm still feeling happy about the gardening i did yesterday... jasmine planted and pak choi, lettuce and rocket were sown
- i've organised the two last times i hang out with chris before he leaves for japan.
- i read Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Missing Weapons of Mass Destruction
© 2002 - 2007 Pippa Buchanan