april 30, 2004
au revoir aux chaussures
Don't stress! I'm not going anywhere...
But I'd like to thank my brown suede boots and my black slides for serving me well over the last year. I wore them fairly regularly, glued the soles back on when they fell off and took them on a journey to Coffs Harbour.
They won't be returning to Adelaide in a fortnight as they were laid to rest in the bin at 8.37 last night.
:::...
I'd like to welcome my new brown leather boots into my home! I think that we're going to be very happy together.
pipstar @ 03:30 PM | link | Comments:
april 28, 2004
swallows and amazons for ever!
One of my absolutely favourite series of books when I was young were the Swallows and Amazons books by Arthur Ransome.
I first found out about them from my friend Tansy, who had the books read to her at night by her father, John. Eventually I managed to read almost all of them.
I still read Swallows and Amazons, Swallowdale and Missee Lee every couple of years.
While I was in Byron Bay this weekend I bought a secondhand copy of Peter Duck. I am so excited to be reading it! Forget about Harry Potter, these books are where its at.
Maybe once a year I'd go sailing in John's boat with Tansy and her older brother Tim.
We even crossed over Backstairs Passage from Kangaroo Island to the mainland once. I think that Tim must have told me that we could potentially capsize and drown, because it was a very exciting trip back.
Another year I got stung by a jellyfish while we were swimming off the boat near Grange. I still have the marks on my wrist where the tentacles touched.
There was no sailing for a long time as high school and university overtook my life, then I went sailing with Aidan and his father in the Milang to Goolwa race in 2001.
Damn, that was fun. But sailing is one of those things that you need to have a boat for. And I don't have a boat.
But I want one.
My plan has been formulated...
The proximity of the marina to my current home means that I do my washing at the marina laundromat. And there are people who live at the marina on their boats.
(In fact, the other day at the laundromat I met a family of four with two dogs who lived on a yacht.)
And there are ads for boats. Really, for something you can live in, they aren't that expensive.
One day I will buy a boat and I'll live on it and I'll go sailing in it and I'll go away for a year and a day. Ideally, it would be a pea green boat.
I have to learn to sail and I have to save up.... But one day.
pipstar @ 06:35 PM | link | Comments: ******
april 28, 2004
r.i.p. warped
One of my favourite live bands, Warped, have broken up. Luckily, the music will live on via Spod.
And Brett's new band, Black Level Embassy are playing in Adelaide a week before I get back...
Ooh! They're playing in Sydney the one night I'm there. Yay!
pipstar @ 05:43 PM | link | Comments:
april 23, 2004
saved
i picked up my first roll of lomo photos today.
wow. the colours really do pop out at you with a lomo.
btw. the rest of the photos are up at my lomohome
pipstar @ 01:41 AM | link | Comments: ****
april 19, 2004
mirror photos
pipstar @ 09:55 AM | link | Comments: *
april 17, 2004
the photos
I had an exciting day the other day.
I went to the local photographic lab to pick up three rolls of processed film, one each from my action sampler, SLR and pin hole camera.
Unfortunately a bit of masking tape on the roll from the pin hole camera got caught in the print machine and so some of my action sampler shots (and unfortunately some strangers' photos) were marked by a weird splodge.
I haven't yet decided to get anything printed from the pin hole camera as there's a lot of really blurry unknown images on the negatives.
But I did get a whole bunch of photos...
The Action Sampler shots are up on my lomohome, some mirror shots have been submitted to the Mirror Project and the best of the rest are up in my photo gallery.
There are photos of feet with texta drawings, plants, the basket frame and the leftover legs and wings of a giant grasshopper which a cat attacked.
One day the photos will be organised into a far more splendid archive.
pipstar @ 08:31 PM | link | Comments: *
april 17, 2004
the basket
I still haven't taken a photo of the finished basket, but here's a photo of it in its formative stage.
A melon basket is made by making a frame of two crossed hoops, creating god's eyes at the joins, putting spokes in behind the god's eyes and then weaving over and under the spokes and frame.
pipstar @ 08:06 PM | link | Comments:
april 17, 2004
bug remains
http://battlecat.net/pics/bug_remains.jpg
pipstar @ 07:39 PM | link | Comments:
april 17, 2004
claw
http://battlecat.net/pics/bug_claw.jpg
pipstar @ 07:37 PM | link | Comments:
april 17, 2004
the basket frame
http://battlecat.net/pics/basket_frame.jpg
pipstar @ 07:33 PM | link | Comments:
april 17, 2004
hibiscus
pipstar @ 07:31 PM | link | Comments:
april 17, 2004
purple flower
pipstar @ 07:29 PM | link | Comments:
april 17, 2004
red and green leaves
pipstar @ 07:26 PM | link | Comments:
april 17, 2004
my painted feet
pipstar @ 07:20 PM | link | Comments:
april 17, 2004
sasha's painted feet
pipstar @ 07:16 PM | link | Comments:
april 11, 2004
the bag
Desks with secret drawers are fantastic. Jackets with secret pockets are cool.
Yesterday I bought a red bag with so many little pockets and compartments that I don't have enought stuff to put inside of it.
I can fit at least three cameras, two note books, a novel, a sweater, an umbrella, wallet, keys, fold up shopping bag, art supplies and toiletries in and there's still more room.
Obviously it can get very heavy.
I am far too excited. Like Amelie's mother, I enjoy taking everything out of my handbag, cleaning it out and then putting everything back in.
Now, there are even more special places for things to specifically go.
In fact, if I could watch Amelie right now, I'd probably feel much better. (see below)
pipstar @ 07:44 PM | link | Comments: ***
april 11, 2004
open your diaries. let's set a date.
Indulge me for a minute.
Let me wrap this feeling around me like a blanket.
About two hours ago I apparently tripped over some invisible emotional step and I fell down into homesickness. Or maybe it's loneliness. (My housemate Shae's been away for a week)
Today i've done things which should prevent a slide into depression: yoga, painting, a little walk, a conversation with a songwriter at the grocers, chocolate consumption, fruit consumption, tea consumption. Not to mention a healthy and filling salad for lunch and hot cross buns for breakfast.
So, I'm a little bit peeved that I suddenly felt sad.
Last night I went to Boambee Beach with a bunch of people including Trisha. We salvaged someone else's embers to make a fire, Trisha's brother Phil played guitar and we toasted marshmallows and people spun fire.
Earlier in the night when the moon rose it was like a big piece of bright orange pumpkin on the horizon.
Nearby someone had left a pile of clothes on the beach: shoes, hat, the lot. We thought that they'd been kidnapped, drowned or were waiting patiently and nude behind a rock, just waiting for us to leave so they could retrieve their clothes. We dubbed the stranger Aqua Man.
The clothes are still waiting for him on the beach.
And it's not that I don't want new friends, but a good night would have been made so much better if there had also been people who I'd known for more than two months. Or maybe if I'd seen Adelaide kids more recently and didn't feel quite so isolated and paused.
So, all of you, back home... What do you say about a weekend on the coast when I get back to South Australia? With vegetarian marshmallows and hot chips and my yet to be alight fire-twirling skills?
How about Queen's Birthday weekend (12-14th June)?
pipstar @ 07:18 PM | link | Comments: ****
april 04, 2004
currently (let me fill you in on my life)
Clothes: stripey sarong (ok, i haven't showered yet!)
Mood: lazy and sundayish. wishing i could hang out with friends back in adelaide. kinda jealous of my housemate Shae going back home for graduation. also, i'm a bit surprised that i received a Dean's Merit List commendation for my final year at univesity!
Music: primarily the decembrists. though the lead up to easter has meant that school choir memories are returning and even though i'm not religious, singing the line "it's hard to dance with the devil on your back" from the hymn lord of the dance is hard to resist. oh, and every now and then the heartbreaking music from the stations of the cross processional comes to mind. oh, 463 by buck 65
Hair: awaiting re-hennaing. last week i got it cut in an "animated, disjointed" style by a nice hairdresser 2 minutes walk from work. he got really excited when he was talking about astro-boy style haircuts which were "shined with colour".
Annoyance: the fact that it's sunday already. the fact that i went to bed at 10.30 last night (i'm so tired and boring!). the horrendous and painful state of my cuticles after yesterday.
Thing: spending yesterday at a workshop making a melon basket out of locally collected materials: gymea (spear) lily, aunt eliza, philodendron, banana tree fibre, strangler fig frame and privet spokes. I'm really proud of my first basket, but it still needs to be trimmed, dried and oiled. Once I get my film processed there will be photos uploaded.
Desktop: work - sh1ft.org april desktop; home - purple, green leaves
Books: i only just finished a suitable boy about two hours ago.
Video: monarch of the glen
Refreshment: nerada organic peppermint tea, hot cross buns
Thought: full time work shouldn't be this exhausting. i think that i probably am iron-deficient again and that large quantities of B vitamins would also by helpful.
via mike
pipstar @ 12:53 PM | link | Comments: ***
april 02, 2004
lime time
there's a place called Julia's Galley down by the Marina which makes absolutely yummy vege burgers for $4.40. $5.00 if you add in avocado.
and the marina is a 5 minute walk from the office, so trisha and i have walked down to get the sweet potato and almond burgers a couple of times now.
there's also delicious gelati^ available at the fish co-op. but i resisted the temptation today.
luckily on the walk back from the marina we found a woman selling bags of limes for $1 each. i think that potentially i'll be having a lot of tasty drinks and eats this weekend as i bought two bags.
she also really liked the horse tshirt that sarah made me for my birthday. so mad props to sarah from the lime woman!
^ s.a. readers - as good as cibo's
pipstar @ 03:59 PM | link | Comments: **
april 02, 2004
downhill run
Oh dear, it turns out that when i start at ratbag i'll be going into an intellectual biorhythm slump.
That's not good thing if I want to make a victorious return to the world of C++ programming.
pipstar @ 03:39 PM | link | Comments:
april 01, 2004
[it's here]
It may not be in my possession yet, but my lomo has been delivered!
As I wasn't sure how long it would take to get here (and whether I'd still be in Coffs Harbour when it arrived), I elected to have the camera delivered to my Mum's place back in Adelaide. Luckily she'll be driving up with my stepdad for a visit in a couple of weeks.
© 2002 - 2007 Pippa Buchanan