Lost Aussie on the loose

Focus and Being

Yesterday I was somewhat mortified when the doorbell rang at 12:30something to greet some fellow looking to cut down trees and what-not.  Embarrassing to admit, but I was dressed in PJ's, woolly vest and trainers, paint roller in hand.

Of late I have become so immersed in either art or home projects that it has been hard to find the human being inside it all!

Tonight however, I had the opportunity to don my 6" heels, small black skirt (which seems to get longer the closer I get to 50!) and get out to meet and greet intelligent  life form.

It truly was a revelation and probably long overdue.  Limmo'd into town to sip wine and make decent conversation with people of diverse culture and background was a rare treat.  I got to trot out my rusty French with a fellow "Alien",  yabbered away with an Aussie who has been in town longer than me and generally had myself a good darned time!

Perhaps there are some upsides to being married to a Banker?   What's in YOUR Wallet?   Life or Ho-Hum?

Blue Moon

...seems a fitting title for this piece.  No doubt inspired by the current crop of dramas and dilemmas floating around right now!

On the positive side my home painting and stair project are moving along and I even heard back from the Flooring company yesterday to say that they recognised we still have problems and will come back and fix them (AGAIN)!  Probably means that we will be up to our eyes in sawdust again over the holidays..but que sera, sera!

Tomorrow I need to think about filling my hubby's suitcase with presents to take back to Australia next weekend.  He is off to uninstall the boys from Boarding School and will bring them back here for the Holidays..... can I say YipEeee...can't wait to see my oh so big boys and am thoroughly looking forward to sharing the delights of Christmas in New York with them!

I found this Oh, so cute Mama moment amongst some stuff I was re-arranging the other day.  So hard to believe they are both taller than I am now!

See you soon my Lovelies!

Thanks Be

Thanks to all those who expressed love and concern (either publicly or privately) regarding my previous post. 
Hubby and I tried hard to put the threatening demon behind us for a few days as we counted our many blessings and shared Thanksgiving with friends.

The sunshine was also a good doldrum "fixer" and on Friday we headed off down the Long Island Expressway, cameras at the ready, to explore the nether regions of the Island.  We weren't  disappointed.  Lots of little quaint towns, already resplendent in their Holiday glory and many many Christmas Tree farms, vineyards and antique shops that beckoned us forth.

The little town of Southport was especially good fodder for photos and ephemera and I managed to supplement my stash of gnarly paper goods quite nicely and added some lovely old postcards for good measure.  One old guy's 'barn' was full of picture perfect junk and he was more than happy for me to snap pics in lieu of buying anything, which was quite nice I thought!

This one of the "Marilyn" model was especially fun to play with.

Although we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia (one turkey per year is enough for me!) I never think the sentiment goes amiss...so I hope that each and every one of you had a lovely weekend and remember to count your blessings daily!

Calm before the Storm

I started creating this digital piece earlier today, when all I had to contemplate was missing my boys and what to wear for lunch tomorrow.
...then the postman knocked - bearing a registered letter, which when opened sucked the life out of the day, and for some time to come, no doubt. 

Why is it that we are so seldom rid of the evil demons in our lives?  It seems, like dragons, they come to life periodically for no reason other than to wreak havoc and cause pain.

Tee Time

While pottering about in the garden over the last few days Ihave picked a great crop of golf balls, hidden under summer foliage which is now disappearing fast.

I do golf, but generally not in such chilly weather and besides this bunch o balls looked pretty manky and past their driving best!
Soooo...as one does...I decided to create some artful object out of my found treasure.  No mean feat, as I have discovered that it is pretty damned hard to attach anything to a golf ball at all.  It actually became quite the challenge and I have managed by using plaster, ripped fabric, wire, Popsicle sticks and some air dry clay to create a little Tee-Person.

This little fella stands about 7inches tall and is starting to take on his own personality.  He's still under construction but from experience, have found that I need to WAIT until he is thoroughly dry before I start on the next phase! Paint and a little more adornment is definitely in order!

..... not quite a chiseled masterpiece... but who knows, ?Assemblage Balls? might just become the next HOT thing :-)) LOL!

Shades of Red

Fall, or Autumn in my language, has finally arrived in the garden.  Among the many oak trees we have a number of Japanese Maples, and their leaves are absolutely stunning right now!  This is the one time of year that I truly enjoy for it's difference from Australia, which is predominantly an 'evergreen' country crowded by Eucalyptus trees - that hold leaves come rain or drought.

I  am a big fan of RED and certainly getting my fill of eye candy right now! 

Today I attended the 6th out of 8 lessons in my (pathetic) Pottery class.  So far I have managed to create one leaky mug, another mug that is too short and too thick, two pots thrown on the wheel that are good for little else other than holding 3 Olives or a bit of pate, one wonky plate with glazing that looks like it was done by a drunken woman and I think there are a few other similar bits waiting to be fired.  What a tortured process!  I am really not the kind of gal who can wait three weeks to see what the current  "object of affection" will look like and feel somewhat like one of my sons when they were in Kindergarten and brought home ?lovely? pinch pots and expected everyone, me included, to go ...oh, ah..that's so nice darling!

Nope, Pottery is not for me.  I think my Husband is secretly thrilled as I am sure, following past experience, he fully expected all the junk in the garage to be evicted in favour of a big new kiln and lots more expensive equipment.  There by the grace of God goes he :-)

I don't really think my enjoyment of the class has been helped by the teacher.  She is a bit of a "pottery nazi" and if I was paying for the instruction part of the class separately, then I'd be wanting a refund.  Her style is sort of like - well hello, good morning, and what are we making today?....as if I have a blinking clue???    She looked around expectantly this morning and asked us all if we were signing up for the new semester of classes in January.......ummmmmm ..errrrr NO? !!

Right Click Die-Hard

Oh, I can tell, this is going to be a tortured process....
I dabbled with creating bits in PS on the MAC tonight..no right clicks, the shortcuts are all "something else" and Safari just does not work like Mozilla!
Woe is me - Ha!
All relative I guess as it's a new challenge that is taking my mind off other sundry concerns!

I'll leave you with a ripped and torn bit of one of my recent Journal pages - uploaded on the PC, as even  typepad seems to work differently on the Mac...what else?

Oh, anyone know where the backspace key is on mac keyboard?  I can find the delete key, but they don't do the same thing!

Me Oh MAC!

Well, I don't quite know what I have done..or what I am doing - basically fumbling around in the dark for the most part I think....
Yep...I am the proud(?) owner of a brand new MacBookPro and I can tell I have a lot to learn as it's really rather different from using a PC!

I made my debut into the PC computing world in the early 80's when you used DOS to run a machine that had a teeny weeny screen and used squares of floppy plastic for disk drives! Things have come a long way since then, and so have I. A few years ago, in search of a new career I went back to school for 18 months and attained the dubious qualification of "network engineer", supposedly endowing me with the skills to run a network and understand the innards of a PC backwards and forwards. It turned out not to be "quite" my cup of tea and although I have enjoyed using the knowledge that I gained, spending my days cloistered with Servers and nutting out the foibles of large networks turned out to be far from appealing.

Unfortunately all that I have learnt about computers in the last xx many years helps me not with my MAC...so it's back to basics and taking small steps to learn a new system, a new way and hopefully before too long I will have mastered some degree of efficient workflow.
(and NO, I am not throwing out my three other PC's - just in case!)

ARt Felt Thanks

I received a lovely treat in the mail today - a bunch of way cool music CD's from on of my Aussie Art pals, Megan.  Perfect bee-bopping tunes to create by! Thanks so much Miz Megan!

Only In New York

Clearly I need a new career or some kind of second income as for the past few days I have been "inviting" garden maintenance and landscaping companies to give me a quote to to take care of next year's lawn mowing and clearing the leaves from this Fall.  No joke..each and every bunch come back with a figure that is close to $1000 - to blow and bag leaves and the garden "chore" rate is $80.00 per hour!
I'm totally gobsmacked!  High life in New York INDEED! Ugh...

On another sour note, I  hemmed and hawed before buying this little gem, and what a disappointment it was too!  It has to be the first ever publication that the CPS/QA crowd have put out that did not float my boat in one way or another.  IMHO, the choice of projects was totally lack lustre and when it came down to instructions...when some one says...create a background layer, using the technique of your choice?...what help is that?  How's about providing the instructions to create the project that was illustrated in the pictures!!!!
Fair to say though, I've probably got a bee in my bonnet about instructions, as I have been re-working some of those this week for a book article and was gently reminded by the author/editor that you have to pitch everything to an audience, assuming they know nothing!

Fortunately for me, I DO know how to work the lawnmower and have a very big rake.  I think if I get out there and work my own *ss off @ $80 and hour, then hubby will not be able to complain when I use the equivalent $'s on a new pair of shoes !