You Asked..

Abe

Just gave myself a short haircut, a #3. Life's too short to be fussing around with big curly hair.

I'm also growing a holiday beard, but foolishly shaved off my moustache because it was growing up my nose and into my brain and slowly killing me.

But that was foolish, because the only person who can pull off an Abraham Lincoln is Abraham Lincoln. And that was only because he was Abraham Lincoln.

Status Update

Having a nice time off work. It's been good to just have lots of time as a family, and tick off various bits and pieces I've been wanting to do.

Went painting at dawn yesterday with a mate. It was pouring rain, but still fun. I did two paintings, so I'll give you a squiz soon. Seriously, EVERY time I go painting it's raining. Every beach painting I've ever done has been overcast I think. Oh well.

Hope you're all good and having a nice week.

The Quiz

1. Highlight of your Easter
2. Useful advice you've gotten from an unlikely source
3. Your favourite thing to cook
4. I really should get around to..
5. Do you prefer to drive or be the passenger?

Protest Fail

I read some article about an Islamic group applying for permission to protest outside Westminster Abbey during Will and Kate's wedding. They said they wanted to turn the Royal's special day into a 'nightmare'. Permission was denied

Now all opinions of that aside, I found that kind of hilarious. Not that they wanted to protest and ruin the day. But that they applied to Scotland Yard or whatever for permission, while stating their 'nightmare' aim. Was there a lot of surprise in the ranks when the application was not successful? Gee guys, I thought we really had that one. Oh well, better luck next time.

I just think, if you're going to follow the correct channels and do your little portfolio and application, maybe keep your intentions a little more vague.

List

Here's a list of things I'd like to do over the next 10 days--

-lie on a picnic blanket under the big gum tree in my back yard
-build an 'empty tomb' and a 'stone' out of clay for the kids
-do an Easter egg hunt in the back yard
-listen to Keith Green's Easter Song
-visit the tram museum down the road and go for a tram ride into the national park
-go painting with my mate at dawn on Anzac Day
-use the slow cooker a lot
-bake a cake with the girls
-buy/build/obtain a compost bin
-go to Bunnings
-get back into a more structured Bible reading routine
-get back in to speech practice
-go to Toastmasters
-paint some skirting and architraves
-work on my new veggie patch-work on my comic strip
-re-read through my old Bone comics
-watch a period drama with E
-read on the toilet for ridiculously extensive lengths of time
-watch the Godfather trilogy
-go for a bush walk with the kids
-paint a still life at night when everyone's asleep
-research about keeping chooks and building a chicken coup
-make soup
-cook a lamb roast
-convince E to play Super Scrabble with me
-go to a library

Easter and Beyond

Good Friday tomorrow. I'm happy for the chance to stop for a bit and spend some time reflecting.

Actually, my long weekend is going to stretch out to 10 days, as we are sort of having a forced holiday at my work. Like they really need to force me. So, I'm pretty excited about the prospect of a week and a half with E and the girls, just hanging around home and doing various bits and pieces. I'll probably still blog a bit over that time, so don't fear, this is not the announcement of yet another blog break.

Anyways. I like Easter time. But I don't like to yabber on to much about it. It seems like Christians have pretty differing views as to how it should be spent, and approached. I kind of think it's up to individual consciences.

So I hope you all have a really good Easter. I'll leave this post with my favourite Easter painting, Casper David Friedrich's 'Easter Morning', which shows the women on their way to Jesus' tomb. I love that even though they look so somber and reluctant, they are about to discover something more wonderful than they could ever imagine.

He is risen indeed!

Soy Fish

I challenged Jess to turn some soy fishies into some stylish ear wear.

The results are impressive.

That last post was the first post that I didn't have to manually insert paragraph breaks! Huzzah!!! I'm glad that's over.

Tibouchina

You know you're getting older when you start to slow down and notice things more- patterns in nature, things that change with the seasons etc. I've noticed lately that these violet purple flowers are everywhere at the moment. Every street I walk down seems to be full of them, and dotted with purple. I've never really consciously noticed that before.

Apparently they are called Tibouchinas (also known as Lasiandras, or 'Glory Trees'), and they are native to Brazil. They bloom right at the end of Summer and the start of Autumn.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll now notice this every year. Sort of like the exploding Jasmine heralds in Spring, the Tibouchina heralds in Autumn. I'm glad I know now.

Book Review Wednesday by Crazyjedidiah

Tahn
By L.A. Kelly
Review by Crazyjedidiah

Trained as a mercenary in his youth, Tahn Dorn becomes trapped in the middle of a looming conflict between two noble families. He must choose between the orders of his master and his own conscience. Tahn's latest orders are to kidnap Lady Netta of the House of Trillet, He realises that following his conscience won't be easy especially when he has his young students to look after as well. Both Tahn and Lady Netta are surprised by the events that unfold and change both their lives forever. Tahn struggles to understand Netta's God while he is filled with doubts, and Netta can't understand why he is willing to risk his life for a such a motley bunch of little children.

This is an enjoyable Christian Historical Fiction book, although it is not set in a specific place. When I first read it I thought it was going to be a fantasy set in another world so it annoyed me a bit in some places but once I got that it was set in the real world in my head I could accept what was happening more. I would recommend reading this 'gripping tale of courage, faith, forgiveness and unconditional love'.

Thanks for the review! Check out Crazyjedidiah's Gibberish.

Moon

Anybody notice the moon the past couple of nights?

Very full, very big, and very beautiful. Late last night I was just standing at the laundry window, staring up at it, willing myself towards it.

The Quiz

1. A favourite pass time
2. Something about yourself you've recently realised
3. Something people would probably be surprised to find out about you
4. I wish I was better at...
5. You hear people say 'no regrets'. Do you think there is any benefit in regretting past mistakes or experiences?

Archibald Prize

Ben Quilty was named the Archibald Prize winner today for his painting of Margaret Olley. A worthy winner, I reckon.

The Hyphen Of Fate

Don't you think it's kind of disconcerting the way the words 're-signed' and 'resigned' are so similar? There's a lot at stake here, and it seems crazy to me that ones future employment and ability to provide for ones family in the end all just boils down to a mere hyphen.

The person in accounts absent-mindedly forgets the hyphen when she's typing out your contract because she's checking out an old flames' status update in another tab, while also eating her organic museli and yoghurt, and accepting a compliment from her co-worker about the fabric of her dress, and voila, you're unemployed.

Life is a lot more perilous and precariously balanced than you think. If Unabomber taught me one thing on his guest stint, it was that.

Listening To

This one's my fav.

Great stuff.

I hope you didn't miss the two paragraph breaks in that last post. I worked hard for those bad-boys. Please take a moment to stop and have a little look at their prettiness. Nice aren't they.

The Kind Strangeness of Kind Strangers

Yesterday on the train a (slightly derailed looking) lady wearing a t-shirt with a Bible verse emblazoned on it , went around to each and every passenger trying to get a handshake.

She'd try to meet their smartphone-occupied eye, and if there was no reaction, she'd tap them on the shoulder and hold out her hand to be shaken, mumbling something quietly in the process. I was in the vestibule bit, and waited patiently for my turn. I was impressed with the impressive stats she was pulling. Out of say fifteen or twenty people in the vestibule I only saw one refusal. A middle aged lady who was angered at being pulled away from her novel.

She got to me, held out her hand and did the mumble. I didn't catch the words, but it sounded nice enough, and her smile was kind. I shook her hand, smiled and returned the just-inaudible mumble. It was a nice moment. Though I must admit, and I do so with shame,as she left and I sat staring at my newly shaken hand, the first thought that popped into my mind was 'approximately one and a half hours until I reach a tap and some soap'.

Amen

Loved this post by Jess over at Jelssie.

Gold.

Hmm. So it seems I can get a p.break to stay there if I stay in html mode, but if I even click on to compose mode, the breaks will instantly disappear. Oh well, a small breakthrough I guess.

Reading

Groan.

I've gotta say this no paragraph break hoopla is slowly killing my blog love. It's like someones tied a big plastic bag around my blog, and it's slowly running out of oxygen. Not that I'm being melodramatic or anything. It's just FRUSTRATING! I don't want to have an aesthetically challenged blog. There are too many of those already. *UPDATE: Looks like doing the breaks manually is working for the time being.. fingers crossed!*UPDATE UPDATE: Or not.

The Quiz

1. Who commits the bigger fashion crimes- males or females?
2. One example, please.
3. One thing to be thankful for today
4. I find it hard to relate to people who...
5. An unhelpful thought pattern you'd like to be done with

Hello!

Big week. Awesome week. Nice to be back though.

It's Not You, It's Me

You're going to roll your eyes any second now. I won't be blogging again until next Monday. I know, I know, I've been taking a lot of time off lately. Some very special peeps are coming to stay with us for a few days, and I will be away from work and blogging for the rest of the week. It's one of those rare opportunities where you have to cancel all other appointments. So, I'm sorry about that, but I'll be back.

The Lawn Appreciation Society

On Sunday arvo I mowed my new lawn for the first time. It felt good, and different to mowing the rental one. I kind of swelled up with pride looking at it afterwards. Call me biased, but this is no ordinary lawn. The fella who built the house in '52, and lived there up until last year, he really put some love into this grass. It's thick, beautiful and green, with great coverage. When I was done I was half expecting Iggle Piggle to pop out from behind one of the trees and do one of his vaguely creepy dances, the lawn looked that immaculate. Very different to the Como lawn, which was 2o% Grass, and 80% Other. It was all patchy, and you were mostly mowing twigs, leaves, discarded toys, weeds, rocks, and bits of broken earthenware and brick, presumably from an ancient Mayan ruin that lay just below the surface. (Not many people know that the Mayans came to Como. It was just a quick trip, a weekend getaway I believe). Anyways, the point is, I like my lawn. I'll take some pictures to demonstrate its' loveliness.

The Quiz

1. The end of daylight saving.. happy or sad? 2. It baffles me that people are willing to believe.. 3. I wish I had the courage to.. 4. Are you happy with your height? 5. Something you'd like to do before the year's up

2!

Little i turns 2 tomorrow!

Unabomber Diaries, Day V: THE END

It's April Fool's Day. Were Unabomber not a very serious, non fooling around sort of guy, he might have put a whoopie cushion on all of your seats just now. Sound implausible? Don't think I couldn't have done it. If I wanted to, I totally could have. But as I say, I don't fool around. Have you ever seen an anorak-wearer fool around? Of course not. Well, this will be Unabombers' last day here. He has memoirs to write, secluded shacks in the bush to build. That other clown will be back next week, paragraph breaks or not. Forget everything I've said this week if you like, but remember this one thing. Commit it to memory. Stick it on your fridge. Shave it in to your cat-- It's not the size of the man in the fight, it's the size of said man's anorak, and the length of his beard that counts. For real. Un-peace out. U.