Lost Aussie on the loose

Dumbo Colour

Today we braved the torrential rains along the LIE in order to meet up with my friend Aggie and check out the Winter Pop-Up Market in Brooklyn.  There was plenty of eye candy in the way of old and retro clothing, some horrendously over-priced ephemera and antiques, but nothing much in the way of the usual funky designers that I have come to expect when visiting their Summer Market.

Nevertheless, we spent a fun hour chatting and browsing - whilst the boys hid away in Starbucks, thoroughly disgusted at being dragged out in the dreadful weather - teenagers, what can I say?

We may have to try and check out the "Gifted" market in Manhattan at some stage before the Holiday Season ends

- that could be fun!

xoxox

Making Music

I'm dragging myself out from under a fairly hefty week of emotional (and surgical) mayhem and if my prayers - and all yours too - come to fruition, then maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel.

In the mean time I have been working on a Commission from my friend Elaine, to "fix" her wedding photos.  She hired a professional photographer take pictures of her perfect day, only to discover that he delivered 300 jpgs, straight out of the camera, no adjustments, no fixins and poor doll, she was horribly upset!  Arrive da Lost Aussie to the rescue and we have, so far, some 100 pics all delightfully glamour glowed and a lot more "Wedding-Y" and suitable for album printing.

And shhhhsh, don't tell Elaine, but I will have some of the best pics printed up into a Wedding Book just for her and Ash' !

While I was photoshopping away I decided to attack a few of my own images and lighted upon these two snaps that I grabbed in New York a month or so ago..... I loved the guy with the big Bass.  It was such a serendipitous moment and I don't know...musical instruments are always so wonderful to take pictures of - don't you think?

Happy Halloween!

Thanks to all my Blog friends (and others) for all your recent comments, caring and support!  It's much appreciated!

In the spirit of Gremlins, Goblins and other things that go "Bump" in the night - here's some Halloween Treats for you all!

Happy Trick or Treating ~~~~~~

xoxo

Day Tripping for Milo #1

My first day out was a ginger but exciting exercise in getting to know this strange and very wonderful place.  The people here really have a very funny accent, but most of the words are the same, so it's not too bad!

Before we went too far though, it seemed imperative that I take a turn at the wheel and figure out this 'driving on the other side of the road thing'!  Was a little iffy at first, but a few shakes of the tail feather and I was off and zooming - even in KILOMETRES per HOUR....wow!

                           THIS IS 'ME' AT THE HELM - VERY IN CONTROL!

Primary objective of the day was to score the Family's BIG DAY OUT TICKETS.  I am pleased to say that after an initial disappointment, we tracked them down in a somewhat obscure spot called Claremont, so all was well.  However I think I might have to speak to Debbie about coming back - an all day concert with Lilly Allen, Powder Finger, Eskimo Joe - the list goes on..... that would be heaven for a "rockin'"bug like me!

   CLUTCHING MY BIG DAY OUT TICKET - I WONDER IF JAMES WILL NOTICE IF I KEEP THIS ONE?

While we were waiting for #2 son to get his cricket gear ready (more on that tomorrow!) the Lost Aussie Lady and #1 son and I took a trip down to the Swan River to get an icecream.  Sadly the shop was already shut so we just had to content ourselves with some gumnut hunting and silly pictures by the water.

                "ME" AFTER HAVING CAPTURED MY FIRST EVER GUMNUT!

              ME DOING GIANT SPLITTING THE GUM TREE IMPRESSIONS - HA!

          NOW YOU CAN SEE HOW 'REALLY' TINY I AM - COMPARED TO THE TREE!

    SITTING AT THE EDGE OF THE SWAN RIVER WITH PERTH CITY IN THE BACKGROUND

We capped the afternoon off by taking #2 son to cricket practice, where I got to sit in the sunshine and snoozed for a bit before heading home.

      GETTING READY FOR AN AFTERNOON SNOOZE WHILE DAVID PRACTICES CRICKET 

All in all, it was a pretty fun day out for my first "Aussie" experience.  Tomorrow I am going to "PLAY Cricket" - not sure about the 'pads' - but David seems to think I will do just fine!

A Strange Visitor Arrives

A little while ago my friend Deb discovered a funny little millenium bug hiding in her closet at home, he had been tucked in there not long after the clock changed over at midnight and the year 2000 dawned.  Rather than toss the little dude into further oblivion, she decided to send him out and about into the world so that he could see what life is like in the 21st Century!

For tales of his fun and interesting journey to date you can check here and here....

In the meantime, MILO has arrived safe and sound 'downunder' and will be spending a little time having himself a royal antipodean adventure or two! So stay tuned and bear with me while our 'guest blogger' has at it for a few days!

(key learning for today - baseball hats make great sleeping units for tired bugs!)

New York Walkabout

Like any good Aussie, I love going "walkabout", perhaps not quite in the true indigenous sense...but more of an "off and exploring" kind of way.... and New York provides so many great opportunities to do just that!

On Thursday I meandered down from Grand Central Station down to the Meat Packing District, across to the Greenwich and the West Village, back up to Union Square and up along Park Avenue.  Having found a few neat spots worth a second glance, DH and I repeated part of my journey again on Sunday.

Under lovely sunny skies we strolled along the High Line, browsed the Street Art Vendors and snapped pics of all the lovely graffiti that abounds in that part of the City before heading across to Lexington Ave for a late curry brunch with friends......quite a delicious day in all respects!

Eye Candy Parade

Yesterday was a great Mail day - I had a surprise treat from a blog buddy, Pat!  Her envelope contained a lovely piece of work, sent to me as part of her "Pay It Forward fun from her blog.
Thanks Pat.....this piece is quite delicious!

Next I received a box from my friend Chris, over at Prism Trail.  We have been cooking up a little mischief lately and decided to work on a woven paper project and it had to consist of re-cycled magazine pages.  It is most interesting to see how differently we interpreted the challenge - and I will leave it to Chris to post pics of what I sent her.  These are some images of her wonderful creation - totally amazing and such a sculptural piece. 

And last but not least are the pics of my finished book from Lynne Perella's class.  After I got home and it had dried a bit more I attacked it with the sewing machine and free-motion stitched all over the canvas to give it just a BIT more texture....ha ha!  (It's quite tall, measuring 12inches x 6 inches when folded into the book format.)

Getting Ready to go Gothic

I've had an incredibly fab and productive week (at last) and managed to knock off a number of things that have been lingering on my 'to-do' list for some time.

Early in the week I headed down to the basement and fired up the sewing machine and completed three lovely baby blankets for two friends who have recently been blessed with new arrivals...one boy for a friend in Connecticut and twin girls for my art friend Chrissy Howes (of ARtistA fame)..the quilts are now safely in the post and on their way, hopefully to wrap the new arrivals in a little downunder love!

Then I completed my fun paper weaving exchange piece with my blog-mate Chris, got several Etsy orders off in the mail and put the finishing touches to a watercolor painting that I've been working on for my Aunt - a picture of the lovely little church in her small town of Eardisley in the UK and finally got ready a print for my SIL that I had been promising to send for ages.

Thursday saw us with guests for drinks so I spent the day in the kitchen and cooked up a rather yummy asparagus and shitake mushroom quiche,  some ham, bacon and brie filo wraps and a little homemade guacamole to round out the supper line-up.....thankfully there were a few left-overs which took care of dinner tonight!

Today I have been getting ready for my class with Lynne Perella (Medieval themed) which will be held in New York City on Sunday.  There will be a bunch of us attending her workshop on either the Sat or Sun who know each other from Blogland and we are going to meet up for dinner tomorrow night, so DH and I decided to just grab a hotel in town for the night rather than trek to and from the Island.  And of course, true to form,   I got a little hairball this afternoon and decided to make a few 'treats' to take along for the dinner guests....so there are now 9 new pieces of art in various stages of drying and preparation for packing up to take with us - the pic above is one of them!
Funny how you can pump out the work when the deadline is just inches away from your nose..now why is that?

Anyway, the weekend should be a lot of fun and I will be sure and take lots of pics and report back when I can!

Hope you all enjoy a wonderful few days off too..........

Ciao for now