Tuesday, January 25, 2011

burns night

scots wahay.. tonight to my shame and horror is burns night and i am a very very very long way from home,
 6 years ive been in Australia and although it comfy and familiar my heart strings are easily tugged for the bonny bonny banks etc etc,,
 now if your not Scottish you have no comprehension of why the identity and culture of the Scots it so deeply entrenched, but trust me it is,,






its a strange thing to be displaced from your home, i often think akin to the convicts and settlers who colonised Australia, and when im driving i often see very Scottish street names, like Glenelg terr, or dalkeith, or corrie linn st in perth, thats the name of the falls of Clyde in new lanark, and there is a tiny wee village inland called stonehaven,, these names made gby sad weary for home expats a long time ago, they of course had little chance of returning so must have felt worse than me,,
ands its something i never thought id feel, i always imagined id just transplant into Australia with no problems, but i think im too hostile to it all as its so different to Scotland. too different to Europe so very very foreign to me.
i recently downloaded a programme about brits relocating to Australia and was quite appalled at the overly optimistic rosy glow they put on it, not that moving to another country is always a bad thing, and i am certain Australia would be a good move for some,, but the downsides are hard to miss,, no nhs here god help you if you get disabled or chronicly ill, life is not too pc over here.. getting about in a wheelchair nigh on impossible, disabilities are not incorporated into mainstream education or employment to the same degree as Europe, and indigenous people are marginalised beyond belief,
these are a few of the  elements that i struggle with,, but along with the high brow reasons there are super duper simple ones like shops and crap overpriced supermarkets with terrible food selection,, an example of very below par facilities are.... stuff like in the supermarket half way round lulu decided she needed a pee, i asked if there was a toilet i could use, no was the answer, i had to leave my trolley with my shopping in it remove two small children one in desperate state of pee, and leg it down to public toilets,,small examples of everyday niggles,,and there are many more where that comes from, but my husband is Australian and my children are too, but i cannot think of them as anything but Scottish, a small insignificant country but it means the world to me ,,
so to sum up my ranting and raving this evening /// above and beyond it all my main issue with Australia is,,, its not Scotland,, happy burns night

Friday, January 21, 2011

1940s inspired day out

well its been a while,, nearly 4 years since me and darran have had a day out alone,so now that tb has started one day at nursery we thought we would seize the day and a grand day oot we planned..so lunch in Fremantle was what we picked and the fab 1940 restaurant called capri , still with the original decor, food is so brilliantly authentic, if it wasn't for the tragically badly dressed Fremantle teens you might think you were in capri,, so to mark the grand day out i decided to make a 1940s dress to match lunch, so sewing like a mad woman i was the night before, was cutting threads on it this morning, the patterns from sense and sensibility whose patterns seem good lots different vintage items ther.
i had to wear sensible shoes as we were walking a fair bit so excuse my nod to retro,, so what did we do on our grand day out, apart from posing for fotos,, we went to the nicest bookshop ive ever been in, called new edition, just the nicest bookshop full of fab large gorgeous books
 i bought   http://www.amazon.com/Remake-Home-Essential-Resourceful-Living/dp/0789320568




what a lovely book full of cool things to make,, anyhow i digress
i did go to some op shops no fabric, but a set of heated rollers, so i can practice my retro hairdos,,,

 nice shot apart from the ute in the reflection !!!











so anyhow dress finished on tome, to get into it you have to think like a snake, as i put very short zip in, fits great and very cool, felt quite over dressed as most people in fro were in a semi state of nakedness, as per usual for Australia,, we stopped at this car as it was the closest to vintage i could find,, well not 100 percent but nice anyhow,, so off now to makes the kids tea, have great day out hope you like the blog xx

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

better get some frocks on then,,,,

and pancakes.. are they not the best breakfast ever

so some sewing stuff...here are somre things ive been making , pretty random and quite bizarre im drwn to silly outfits that are really bit useless in my current guise, i guess we all get bored of making things we need so with that i might just make a 3 piece suit and a ballgown, ooh and a full length fur shearling coat,, and a balaclava,, im digressing yes,,

 well first outfit is me looking like slutty secretery from hell,, if your husband secretery has an outfit like this then your in trouble,, of course thats on the assumption you have a husband,, your a woman he has a job, he has a secretery,, god i do go one,, anyhow here are the photos for you to smirk at,, my lovely friend kim who lives in madrid, lucky girl, sends me patrones parcels and it for her i owe my thanks i so love that magazine its great,,thanks xx


















Sunday, January 16, 2011

Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK Studio Version

Weezer - Hash Pipe

circle of trust,, are you in ...or

well today was an interesting day of sorts lead me to ponder many things,, for example tonight's dinner was,, lemon prawns pan fried cod gnocchi in sage butter and a caprese salad, deli sh,, or not lids reacted as if i had fed them dog vomit,, perhaps i should try that a few days then go back to normal service although, i DO have reservations about serving dog vomit, as far a s i know last time our dog vomited it was after eating potty full of poo from Hamish which several hours later Rupert the dog vomited up on our flash shag pile rug,,no WE do not still have the rug,,, on other thoughts i love to op shop, for you in the resat of the known universe i mean charity shop, i do love to trawl though dead peoples shit to see what juicy bargains and random items i can find,, every item tells a story its just for us to ponder why,, for example,, i bought darran a suit in an op shop ,, an Armani suit no less very new completely perfect and very current ,, so why was it in an op shop.. here are my theories,,,
no. 1  he died tragicaly  from brain tumour wife couldn't bear his things around, specially when he wore the suit to their engagement dinner
no.2 she caught him with some floosy or strumpet from the office,, he didn't know she knew but secretly she would dispose of very expensive items of his one by one just to mess with his head
no.3 eat too many pies and is now like an orca,, the suit a sad reminder of his former glory




hey its all speculation but who knows i love to ponder... now and then,, speculation the life bloody of the nosey bastard,, ta ta for now keep following the Mercedes will be raffled as soon as i can find out how to hot wire it,!!!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

how sad am i,,,,

well today's shock to the system is i am free of all children for first time in 3 half years   !!!!!!!!!!!
,, the daycare centre said lulu can stat today,, im ill prepared for it,  although i knew id have a day free when she started and Hamish off to kindy soon,, i hadn't xpected it TODAY,, SO I am home house is a tip,  just little play tornado areas of destruction, but no little whirlwind to make them,,        
    house is so quiet and i DO feel sad miss little miss lulu,, so im off now to hoover and tidy up. one ear waiting for the phone to say shes very upset and need mummy,COME AND GET HER,, in not ready for independence JUST YET  lulu has to be a baby till shes at least 16,,,,,,,,,,,,,I WANT MY BABIES,, awe well better go for a rummage in the fridge bound to be some fattening nonsense to cheer me up,,

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

5.30 am

yes i was up at 5,30 am for a run,, came home looking like a sweaty tomato,,,i dont feel that sports illustrated will be hunting me out any time soon !!!!

feeling hot hot hot,, feeling hot hot hot


another day in paradise,, yeah right ,,today the heat was unbearable,   now for all you frozen little jiblets in Scotland who, truly believe you have it tough, well i sympathise i did my fair shade of weather complaing when i lived there too... let me tell you,, the heat never ending heat how does it affect the day,, well by 10am its too hot to be out in the sun,, so if you venture out its so hot you scurry from ac car to ac building,,a park that doesn't have shade sails or shady trees is off limits, kids will be fried, even with factor 30 on they will get burned, hats are obligatory and sunglasses all the time,, so off we retreat to our shady icy box, air con on from 12 noon set at 24,, still hot!!! all the curtains are drawn the house is dark and cool,, but hey were enclosed indoors the kids have cabin fever,,outdoors eventually  to reappear At 4pm where its still so hot but we have shade in garden but then so in order for kids to play its nude and sprinklers on,thats nice,,, mossies are out in force by then by then   and outside eating is nice but the heat brings out the flies,, am i painting a picture of it ,, not quite like the relocation programmes on tv !!! yes sorry if it seems dismal but i do think we all have a glorified idea of living in the sun,, its also dark by 7 here so canny even go for a run in evening when its cooler,, we dream of a day when sun is below 30 that's a dream day,, ooh and some cloud,, chance of  a shower wonderful,,  i soldier on , complaining as i go  but we all feel the heat,, cat lies panting on the porch too hot too move,, oh and as if that wasn't a bad enough you rarely want to put oven on as it heats up the house,, there is a limit to how many bbqs you can stand,, me id like 10 inches of snow and a roast beef in the oven,, ps my job as the  head of Australian tourism advertising is up for appraisal soon any applicant fancy it,,  OK my big moan of the day is over,, off for a gin and tonic,, purely medicinal