this week's top ten...16 november

Well, I'm still extremely busy (how are you going?)...

but I did manage to get ten pics this week

Pity that I've run out of time to write a lot though!

Too much time spent at work...

or away from the house on the weekend...

or with my nose stuck in a book...

or best of all, when I can manage it...

having a nice, long sleep!

Or, if it was last night...

a special trip to the movies.

Bill Cunningham New York...

an absolute must see.

Off to Sydney again tomorrow for work so I'm not sure if there'll be a post on Friday...we'll just have to go with the flow, no? Or should that be yes. You'll work it out I'm sure. Lots of love though, to blog friends old and new :-)

seen on: life of riley; a perfect gray; apartment therapy; ivy & piper; my design chic; style files; parlour home; livet hemma; the diversion project; the painted hive; 

a restful weekend...and a thank you

It's Monday again, a day that comes around far too quickly for my liking. There was a time in my life that I lived for Mondays...sad but true. But not anymore. Nope, those days are blessedly gone. Quite often I have to work on the weekend. Not as in actually attending a workplace somewhere, but more a case of finishing something to meet a deadline that hasn't been able to be achieved during the working week.
But not this weekend. This weekend I did things just for pleasure, and it was good :)

Friday night was a movie, free, courtesy of a double pass win from the ACT Writer's Centre...the Fred Schepisi adaptation of the Patrick White novel The Eye of the Storm...brilliant stuff.

As soon as we stepped out of the movies I hightailed it across the street to a favourite bookshop The Paperchain in Manuka and bought the book. I haven't read Patrick White since the enforced reading of The Tree of Man in high school.  He's easier to read when you're a bit more grown up I've found. Loving the book. It's scary reading a book after you've seen the movie don't you think? There's almost always disappointment one way or the other, but it doesn't seem to be the case with this story. Movie and book are both excellent.

It was lousy weather on the weekend so I did a lot of reading and I even had an afternoon nap on Saturday. I never do that! It may have been because I was a bit exhausted after hoofing it around the Lifeline Spring Book Fair. I came home with a few pre-loved books...20 to be exact...but such a bargain, ending up at around $4 a book. Yep, definitely a bargain :)

A trip to the Grower's Market near my place on Sunday morning yielded the week's supply of baby spinach, rocket and coriander and some plants for my new veggie patch from Bunnings that I put together last weekend...all by myself with only a few minor injuries involving a concrete paver.

 

And hallelujah the wisteria is finally sprouting. About time!

And last week's poppies hung in there really well and can now be joined by this week's new bunch from the markets...seven bucks well spent.

Do you like ivy? I know some people don't, but I love it. My grandma's name was Ivy, so perhaps that's why. This has appeared over the courtyard wall and there's no way I'm getting rid of it. I'll just have to be vigilant and not sit on the bench for too long lest I be strangled by it!

And the orchid was disappointing this year...a bit ratty, but still lovely in all its imperfection.

And before I forget, because I can be such a lame-brain sometimes, a big thank you to Jennifer, the blog mistress over at A Sampler who gave me the versatile blogger award a few weeks ago. 

Please go and visit Jennifer...she's a writer and a reader (so you can see the attraction!), who, as she puts it "fled the film and TV industry a few years ago to give motherhood a second whirl...". Gotta love that!
I hope the week ahead brings lovely things your way.

what I read in march 2011

Hanging my head in shame...I didn't read anywhere near as much as I would have liked!

...despite the fact that I spent many hours trapped in a tin can over the pacific ocean and north america!
Here's what I managed:

The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean - fiction

As Good as it Got by Isabel Sharpe - fiction

Hector and the Secrets of Love by Francois Lelord - fiction

...oh yes, a deep and meaningful reading month that was! I'll try to do better in April...after all there's an Easter break perfect for lounging about reading. 

I can't rave about any of these books although I suspect I might have been more inclined to do so about Hector etc if I hadn't had to read it on the iPad. No matter how hard I try I can't embrace this way of reading. But I'm going to have to...I've downloaded some real goodies and they MUST be read! I'll need to get over my aversion to snuggling up with a bit of technology as opposed to bits of paper.

While the reading was more than a bit light on...I did see six movies! What a pity I can only remember five! Again, courtesy of QANTAS...they were...

I really enjoyed Red. Who doesn't love Helen Mirren. I mean, really...

scenes from eat, pray, love...a movie I must see (and a few of my travel pics thrown in)

One of the disadvantages of living in this land down under is having to wait extra months until some (alright then, most) movies appear. Unfortunately this is the case for this...waiting, waiting, waiting until October 7. October...that's ludicrous! I do believe it's very soon for you lot 'over there'. When you see it please tell me you love it. Major jealousy I know...unattractive, but unavoidable.

Eat, Pray, Love is one of my favourite books. In fact I'd say 2nd favourite on my list of all time favourites...and I've read a lot...so that is high praise...even though I am of course, a very long way from being a literary critic! Did I mention I've read it three times? And I keep on having to buy new copies because I loan mine and forget who I've given it to. Elizabeth would love me if she knew me!

And as I've said before I am a huge admirer of Elizabeth Gilbert. Julia Roberts not so much, but hey...I do think she's been well cast in this (at least I'm desperately hoping so).

I'm looking forward to this movie for two reasons. 
1: I loved the book so much and although books are sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) massacred when they appear on the screen, I have high hopes for this one. I am a perennial optimist.

2: I've been to Italy, India and Bali...just like Gilbert, albeit in very different circumstances, so I can't wait to get my fill of the landscapes of these countries once more, even if it's just virtual. 

All very different, but all very beautiful in their own way. 

And as I haven't been able to travel for a little while, this will have to satisfy me for a bit longer.

Alas, I haven't made it to New York...but I will. One day.

It all looks glorious doesn't it?
Here's a couple of collages of photos I took on a trip to India and Nepal in 2007/08...too long ago! But there is nothing like travel to remind us how incredibly privileged we are don't you think...we tend to forget sometimes.

Real people...real places. History, heartache and hope.
all movie stills from here