sandra juto: adolf's house

Sandra Juto's photos are amazing and the recent shots she took on film of her Great Uncle's abandoned house are no exception.

Makes me want to grab my camera and find an abandoned house. Any tip offs?

Shout Out

Audrey's awesome silhouette

My friend Audrey started a blog not long ago. She's a journalist, graphic designer, adventurer, Lomographer, and all around awesome girl from Singapore.

Some of the loves we have in common are: Frankie magazine, Lomography, cute fonts, coffee and talking about stuff that matters.

Her blog actually informs you about stuff and look how cute it is! She's one to watch.

You know you're tired when...

You go to bed without noticing there's a washing basket full of clothes on your bed and you wake up in the morning and it's still there, and you wonder, what's that big lump to my left?

Ok enough of the squirrels and cute cards...

I've been pretty silent on the election on here, mainly because I think of my blog as a scrapbook, and not a news site. I like filling it with the things I love, and politics is not one of them.

Also, because of my work I can't really say much, plus I'm suffering election fatigue at the moment.

But.... before it passes us by, I just thought I'd add my 2 cents, which is nothing to do with who to vote for, or what issues to vote on, but a general comment on the election.

It really disappoints me that this election in particular has been a race to the middle, to lowest common denominator. It's been a campaign devoid of conviction, and bursting at the seams with populism.

It means both parties are running on fear of losing power, and not on the hope and promise of a better Australia. I lament the fact our leaders don't seem to realise we elect them to make tough decisions, not necessarily popular ones.

The silly thing is, I think deep down people would much rather a leader of conviction they disagree with, than a leader who rushes to please the majority at every point. Some of most significant decisions in history have been made when people have been anxious about the unknown, but been willing to back the judgement of a fearless leader. Immigration is one such issue. Lots of people would've been terrified about the arrival of boatloads of Vietnamese refugees following the Vietnam War, and yet does anyone think we should've stopped the boats?

The other awful consequence of populism is the way money is siphoned into marginal seats and towards the big ticket issues that will guarantee votes. Argh!!! The waste! There are so many more important places for money to go.

I was definitely challenged earlier this year when Con Campbell spoke at my church on how to vote, saying we have a responsibility to vote selflessly, in the interests of the poor and defenceless. I voted yesterday and boy, it was hard. And I don't believe any party is really worthy of electing this year. But I rejoice in our democracy, and I rejoice in the freedom to exercise my democratic right, and I'm praying our leaders would lead by example, challenge our prejudices, and do what is right by the most vulnerable.

The fruits of my labour

From this:

To this:

Happy with the results, but so sad to cut up such awesome books. It just feels criminal cutting into a highly informative page about the birds of Britain for that cute sparrow picture.

formula for a good night in

image: design sponge

cut up old envelopes with cool tiny geometric patterns
+
cut up vintage animal encyclopaedia + "valentine's annual for teens 1971" from Vinnies
+
a whole lot of cut up white card
=
a whole lot of card making
=
a whole lot of cards

Recently got a bit excited about the possibilities of used envelopes after seeing this on design sponge. There's also a whole flickr set devoted to art on old envelopes!

Mountain Man

Just listening to some of the bands on the Solid Sound festival website and came across  Moutain Man. Three girls singing a simple folk tune in harmony.

This video from a recording session they did is magic.

friday linked up love

poster credit: Nicole Blauw design

I love this poster. And it's for a festival being curated and headlined by Wilco this weekend on the east coast of the States. They're supported by gospel legend Mavis Staples who's still rocking. Jeff Tweedy produced and wrote some of the songs on her new album. And about half the other bands playing seem to be made up of Wilco band members which is pretty funny. 

Lulu Wolf

awesome paper cut art by

via design sponge

The little people

I really love the little people that pepper my days, and I am so very lucky to know their mamas.

Two of my favourite little people sent me mail this week. Their mail is so very special.

It included three drawings. Three! One entitled "A shark eating a type of squid".

That is a really good title. Why not be upfront, when you're not sure what type of squid you've drawn? It acknowledges there is more than one type of squid, but that you can't be sure which one it is that you've depicted. Pretty wise if you ask me.

There was also a very accurate sketch of a dugong and an abstract potrait of a "nemo fish".

I also had the privilege of spending a lovely afternoon this week in the park feeding ducks and talking life with another of my favourite little people and her awesome mama.

Lovely lovely lovely.

The Peninsula - Seamus Heaney

: : A favourite poem after a stressful day. Hopefully it will be a kind of soothing balm for you too : :

The Peninsula

When you have nothing more to say, just drive
For a day all round the peninsula.
The sky is tall as over a runway,
The land without marks, so you will not arrive

But pass through, though always skirting landfall.
At dusk, horizons drink down sea hill,
The ploughed field swallows the whitwashed gable
And you're in the dark again. Now recall

The glazed foreshore and silhouetted log,
That rock where breakers shredded into rags,
The leggy birds stilted on their own legs,
Islands riding themselves out into the fog.

And drive back home, still with nothing to say
Except that now you will uncode all landscapes
By this: things founded clean on their own shapes,
Water and ground in their extremity.

when words just can't express...

In a very King Lear-esque fashion, madness seemed to descend upon my friend and me last night as we tried to navigate the city amid gale force winds and freezing rain.

There is no real way of explaining the hour that preceded this video being taken. Emma insisted it would make a hilarious blog post. But I think sometimes, life just doesn't translate.


However, I will say it involved Supre, obscenely sweet Malaysian tea, accidentally stumbling into a live nude drawing class and microwaved pudding (Emma, did I miss anything??).

Hopefully this video makes you laugh at least a fraction of the amount we did.

Of course I'll be stowing this golden footage away for my future career in commercial current affairs television.

We did, eventually, arrive at our destination: Laura Marling live at the Metro, which just by the way, was great.

How did you spend the evening?