Twenty Eight!

Oh my goodness, dolphins and porpoises, it's going to be twenty eight degrees on Sunday!

I know it's only August, but summer is really on its way, the breeze has been so wonderfully zephyric and balmy and I'm starting to turn into Summer Kenny (a fundamentally unsound oceanid with a desire to jump into water from dizzying heights) already.

So, just to get me more excited, twenty eight glorious things Sydney summer is bringing to me: -

1. Icy Poles

2. Clovelly

3. Twilight Picnics (mosquitos and all)

4. Strawberries

5. Raspberries

6. Blackberries

7. Eurydice

8. Making a Dent in My Reading List

9. Getting Oil Paints all over my Hands and Clothes

10. Sleeping with the Windows Open

11. The Clovelly Groper and his Lady Gropers

12. Late Nights at the Duck & Swan

13. White Sandals

14. Sun dresses

15. Home-Made Lemonade

16. Summer Projects

17. Sewing Bags and Dresses

18. Early Sunrises

19. Late Sunsets

20. Late Nights with Good Friends

21. The Mystery of Edwin Drood

22. Colourful Flowers Everywhere

23. Straw Hats

24. Sleeping Nude

25. Swimming in the Ocean Every Day

26. Wandering Through Markets

27. Living in Bare Feet

28. Spending a Third Summer Kissing That Man of Mine

Sunday in Pictures

Good morning, beautiful flowers from a beautiful boy. Good morning fresh fruit! Good morning beautiful Sunday morning!

A feast of thick crunchy toast, antipasto and other delicious things I found in the fridge.

And of course my mum's fantastic (yumyumyumyumyum) Greek Salad.

And here comes the darling flower-bearer's requisite appearance in Sunday, doing his newspaper crossword... I must say I find there to be something so wonderfully intimate and endearing in that image.

I decided to go swimming at the beach... I can't go for a week without being with the ocean, it's so silly. So we packed our beach bags and waited impatiently to get there.

A sweet little fabric flower wrapped around my belt-loop made my day (and my outfit... heh).

Finally we got to the beach. I look like I've been swimming in this picture but it is in fact because my sister poured a bottle of water over my head. Still, it was so wonderful to be on the sand again. I was so so very excited to go swimming with my goggles and look at all the amazing fish that live in Clovelly (there are a family of Blue Groper that are like big beautiful puppy dogs under the sea).

Alas, it was not to be... as I first stepped out into the water I noticed something bobbing on top of the water. It was a bluebottle.

FUCK. That is so annoying.

For anyone who is unfamiliar, bluebottles are fucking horrible little stinging (for lack of a better word) jellyfish that sit on the surface of the water waiting to sting the shit out of people who are dumb or unlucky enough to swim through their path. My mum tells horror stories about big dirty long ones that wrapped themselves around her leg when she was young. They're not life-threatening but they are incredibly painful. And there's never just one - if you see one you can bet your life there are a thousand more blobbing towards you.

Basically, when you see one, you get out of the water. So there goes that great beach adventure. Poo.

The funny thing about bluebottles is that they have no choice in who they sting - they have no muscles or motor skills, they are just a pouch of air that floats on the water's surface and a tangle of blue tentacles that stretch out below. They don't attack, they just float where the sea takes them. Tomorrow morning the beach will be covered with them - they'll wash up on the beach and die, turning dark as they dry up in the sun. Wouldn't it be horrible to have that little control? One thing's for sure, when you're at the very bottom of the Buddhist cycle of reincarnation, you're a fucking bluebottle. Poor bastards. Still, get the hell away from me.

After our failed swimming expedition we returned home where I cooked my weekly meal. This week it was Emily's delicious Cherry Pilaf, with lovely firm grape tomatoes and beans.

Followed by DESERT PIZZA. Banana/Apple with caramel sauce. Oh my goodness. Death and heaven all in one.

Have happy weeks ahead, my loves!

Happy-Colours!

I've been feeling a little grey lately...

I've been getting a lot of dizzy spells and feeling a bit pale generally...
So imagine my delight when I was given these beautiful happy-coloured gerbras this evening...

Pretty yellow flowers.

What a lovely boy.

I love the sea.

There is nothing quite as wonderful as the ocean on a burning hot summer day.
I spent the other day beach-hopping with my beautiful pink hibiscus sister...

... and ferny orange hibiscus cousin.

Balmoral baths are a favourite. Lilly and Roman and I took turns jumping off the jetty.

And I was very happy with Roman, who likes beaches about as much as a cat would, for his swimming and sand sitting. Roman good boy.

There's something about sticky wet swimmers, sandy feet and burned shoulders that just feels right. Do you like my ocean coloured nailpolish?

Girls on a Roof

On the roof of an apartment block on Stanley St, we found a little grotto for fairy girls...

I do love my city. And cactuses. And dear friends.

Sunday in Pictures Sculptures

This weekend I went to Sculptures by the Sea with my adoptive (Roman's) family. It was a really lovely day and I thought I might show you all my favourite sculptures - both man- and naturally-made.

Happy November my loves.

Saturday In Pictures

I know I'll be too flat-out busy freaking out about university tomorrow, so for this week your Sunday in Pictures will in fact depict Saturday.

So...

We keep our eyes shut well into the morning...

... until the rest of the world opens its petals for the midday sun.

We sit outside in the sunlight, starting the day with lunch...

... and I feel as lazy as the fat pussycat sprawled out over the cobblestones as though he were a lion.
I catch the afternoon light on the window seat with a fair but drowsy lioness...
...content in my exquisitely relaxed Saturday with the sweet animals and wonderful boy that I love.

Go away, busy Sunday!

Sussex Fairies

I miss England today.

Sussex in full-bloom is truly extraordinary. I felt a bit like a fairy princess beneath the flowering arch.

If I were a fairy princess, I'd wear these flowers as a skirt.

And my fairy prince...