Terrifying turducken

A couple of weeks ago an American guest on a local TV music show talked about the Thanksgiving tradition of serving 'turducken'. For those of you unfamiliar with this concept (as I was until that fateful day), turducken is a chicken stuffed inside a duck, stuffed inside a turkey.


Even after asking Professor Google to elaborate for me, I still don't understand. I mean, I get the whole matrushka-doll-style stuffing design, but .... {ugh!} .... I cannot see why someone would want to make this dish.


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As a certain right-wing Aussie fish-and-chip shop owner once famously intoned:

"Please explain.....!!!"

Images from these three sources.

Nearly there!

Today I had my very last class. Well... I say 'very last', but I probably mean 'the last one for a little while, in this particular course' (I seem to be a bit of a serial student). The finish line is in sight, and when I submit in my final three essays next week it'll all be over. Yippeeee!


Now .... um ...... is anyone able to offer me a job?!

Type face

Students of the very lovely Rina created these images from different fonts:









I think they're wonderful.


Post script: I hadn't realised that the day before I posted these, Lesley uploaded some similarly beautiful calligrammes from the early 20th century on her Words and Eggs literary blog. From the background information she provides, it looks as though the author, Guillaume Apollinaire, only lived to the age of 38.

Veg About

As I've been posting periodically about my vegie successes and failures, I thought I'd link in with Bellgirl's Veg About project. Here's what's growing in my little patch at the moment:

The only ruby chard to have escaped the mystery muncher


Some mint, which I fear overwhelmed the peas that I'd planted at the base of the stakes. Note the feeble attempt at making some fencing to keep a certain boisterous dog off the garden ...


Some thyme and bolted rocket - a lot of my salad greens were also munched this season, and when I let this little survivor bolt, I decided that I quite liked the flowers.





Lots of heirloom tomatoes!

Artichoke (or cardoon? - not sure) - I'm hoping to entice lots of ladybirds into my garden. They loved the first artichokes I grew here a couple of seasons ago, but I think this might be a different variety (hope the ladybirds come back anyway).

Lastly, I think I have some self-seeded pumpkin or cucumber in a little window-box on the loungeroom windowsill. I used compost to fill the box, and I think the seeds were in there, just waiting for the right time to sprout!

Secret NZ treasures

G and I have been reminiscing about our last holiday in New Zealand and the Cook Islands, nearly two years ago. Did you see the pictures? I posted some here, here, here and here.

I fell in love with NZ's South Island at first sight. How on earth can one little country pack in so much beauty?

We're vaguely planning another trip, maybe in January again. We don't have a huge amount of dosh to splash around, but if anyone has any hints or knows of any fabulous secret NZ treasures (perhaps around the Central and North-East area of the South Island), please let me know!

Maybe we'll explore a bit more of NZ, followed by a week on Rarotonga. Just the ticket for rejuvenating a couple of weary souls, no?



(Pic from here)

Printing and pasting at the TCB

Saturday was hot and dry - a perfect day for getting together with BigCat, CurlyPops and Reenie-Su for another Thornbury Craft Bonanza, this time involving paints and glue. As Serena mentioned on her blog, we rode the emotional rollercoaster of loving lino-cuts, then hating them, then gradually welcoming them back into our lives.

My first attempt resulted in dismal failure. What was supposed to look like this:


ended up looking like a massacre:

Deep breaths, Juddie! No tantrums now!

The other girls made some pretty stamps, then went on to collaging (you can check out their creations on their blogs - linked above).



I'm not really into collaging so I stuck with the stamp-making and decided that reverse-imaging and stamp pad inking was a much easier way to work while I'm learning. So much for my lofty aspirations of making intricate, detailed stamps, using fabric paint with a roller!

Holden gave up on managing quality control quite early in the day - he decided to lie outside and guard the clothesline against wattlebird invasion.

Love that cat!

Oh well .... I'm still feeling inspired and can't wait to get down to the art supply shop to get some more carving blocks (maybe I'll get better with a bit of practice).

Thank you to the girls for making Saturday such a lovely day!

Sunprints and calico

The recent warm and sunny weather has inspired me to make more sunprints. A couple of weeks ago I made some prints using grasses collected while camping at the Coorong, and I decided to include them in a little exhibition that our class held at Uni.

Here's the production line, when the kitchen was converted into a temporary sunprint drying room:





Our task was to produce a poster to convey our reflections on the field trip. Most of my classmates are architects (landscape or building), so they were able to produce professional-looking computer graphics.



I went super-low-tech ...





Today I'm heading over to BigCat's house for more printing fun with Reenie-Su, Curlypops and Drewzel. I'll post pics later.

Crackerjack!

Oh, how I would love to give someone a present in one of these fabulously disappointing boxes (from The Onion Store)!

[click on the images to enlarge them]





" .....watch as they struggle to feign enthusiasm for a smoke alarm that would probably kill them if it were real ..."

hahaha!

Sweet, sweet wayfaring ...

If you're in the mood for moseying about the Australian bush, it's worth taking a peep at Joan Elizabeth's Blue Mountains Journal (and maybe also her other blog, Sweet Wayfaring, where she records slices of her life in the city). I love her attention to detail, and the beautiful images she captures and chooses to share.

Here are a just few of her photos, but there are many more over in her part of the interweb:










I should also mention this beautiful blog (discovered via Sweet Wayfaring), in which James Jordan shares his sumptuous photos. *sigh!*






So lovely!