Daisy drifting

It's not hard to become preoccupied with the weather in Melbourne. One of my housemates has the BOM site as her homepage.

It's the surprise element that underpins this city's weather obsession. You just never know when the sun will peek out from behind those clouds.

Rain doesn't stay long, but neither does the warm weather, which means when the sun does come out, Melbournians make a sport of wearing as few items of clothing as possible.

Today it's going to reach a scorching 21. It may have have only been 7 degrees at 8:30 this morning, but all the world was dressed in t-shirts, skirts and dresses.

And I'm no different, wearing a summer top while floating through daisies.

Oh, Ira.

For the creatives out there. With love from Ira Glass.

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

I needed to hear this.

The only chocolate chip cookie recipe you'll ever need...

A big call, right? But Kate Miss over at For Me For You is adamant this is THE recipe for perfect cookies.

They look kind of labourious, requiring an ideal 36 hours to prove in the fridge, a special mix of cake and bread flour, expensive chocolate and fancy sea salt.

But I guess if you want perfect cookies, they will take some loving.

Don't hold your breath, but I promise to tell the world when I get around to giving them a gooey good go.

Resting in God

 the snowy fields of mount wellington, tasmania

As someone who's struggled with all the usual "nesses" [loneliness, singleness and the general malaise of restlessness], I found this article by Steve Dewitt akin to having a soul-reviving chat with a wise friend.

“Aloneness” doesn’t have to mean loneliness; it can actually be the path God uses for my soul to find its rest in him.

Thankfully the pangs of loneliness I felt when I first moved to Melbourne have faded and I'm able to say I am back to relishing solitude when I can find it. It's a good place to be, but I have known darker times.

h/t Challies.

Music to roam and come home to

I have some musical delights to share with you!

Winter always gives me the urge to roam, with the wind whipping around my hair and a scarf about my neck. For such purposes, I can't go past Jordie Lane's aching tunes. He's just released a new album, Blood Thinner, the first video and single from which are below. Think harmonica, delicate guitars, and the odd banjo.

But once one's been-a-roaming, one wants to spend the night in, ensconced in a blanket, cup of tea in hand. Miss Hollie Fullbrook who is Tiny Ruins sings to me in these more domestic moments. She does quiet, unassuming folk that creeps up on you like the high tide at full moon. Her new album, Some Were Meant for Sea has just been released. I hope she soothes you too.

Jordie Lane -

07 Old Time Spell (from Blood Thinner) by jordielane

Tiny Ruins

Tiny Ruins - 'You've Got The Kind of Nerve I Like' from Spunk Records on Vimeo.

Below is the catchy single from her EP released late last year. You may have even heard it on the wireless.

Brown Owls hitting the big time

I love my Brunswick Brown Owls craft group, and last night, our little gang hit the big time on community television, channel 31.

You can see the pub where we meet, and there are a few shots of Kris and my back when she's interviewing Stacey.

The night they filmed we were having a crochet tutorial and a LOT of people turned up. Normally there's only about 10 of us.

Check it out!

spirituality with pockets

It's t-shirt weather down here this week, which means for boys at least, it's shorts weather.

Here's Les Murray, one of Australia's greatest living poets on the dream of wearing shorts. This is the full poem, while the abridged version (as in the video) is below.



To go home and wear shorts forever
in the enormous paddocks, in that warm climate,
adding a sweater when winter soaks the grass,

to camp out along the river bends
for good, wearing shorts, with a pocketknife,
a fishing line and matches,

or there where the hills are all down, below the plain,
to sit around in shorts at evening
on the plank verandah -

shorts and their plain like
are an angelic nudity,
spirituality with pockets!
A double updraft as you drop from branch to pool!

to be walking meditatively
among green timber, through the grassy forest
towards a calm sea
and looking across to more of that great island
and the further tropics.

sufjan gets weirder by the day

Sufjan Stevens is filmed practicing dance moves for his upcoming shows in Brooklyn...

and it's just a wee bit Zoolander. At this point, I can't work out if he's a genius or completely insane.

new wilco

Wilco's new album is due out in September, but the single I Might and the b-side, I Love My Label are floating around the interwebs.

So far I'm not completely enamoured with what I'm hearing. But Jeff Tweedy can really do no wrong.

h/t In the Pines (the best show on FBI 94.5 in Sydney, which I do dearly miss...)

scones

sitting on the kitchen floor

watching scones rise in the oven

I am pleased with the smell of cooked flour

and the sight of a well-wrought crust

soon they're out and shrinking back

like a shy child

that whimpers between its mothers' legs

I must've overworked them

anathema to my own mother -

she of nimble fingers

unlike my father;

heavy-handed

given to making a mess of everything

romance

the most romantic act

of his life was sending

a letter to their house

from the postbox across

the road