Gonzo

Last night I went to see Gonzo, the documentary about Hunter S. Thompson. The man had a chaotic life of drugs, drink, fame and words. But those words, those words.

It reminded me how much power words can have; how they can unite people, alienate people, reveal people for who they are.

If only I could put some words together on a page in a way that had that much power. Something to aspire to.

market treasure...

I love love LOVE markets. I do admit I like the idea of them more than the doing - I start with good intentions but then when I get there and there is so many people and piles of trash often it is far too overwhelming for me. But this weekend I ventured out to the market of all markets - Camberwell Market. Its so exciting when you bother to have a proper search and come up with some good finds.

On Sunday I was searching for old postcards for a project/idea that I'm currently working on. I found some great ones. I especially love the ones with the letters on the back. One that I found from 1908 says:

Dear Kathleen,
Tell Mother that Aunty Alice was over to see us on Sunday and stayed to tea. I hope you have not got the measles. Tell Dad not to get them or else I will be frightened to come up.
With Love, Gret.

I love the old stories and wondering whatever happened to those people! One of them actually has a Melbourne address and name, I would love to track her family down. What an exciting mystery.

Also I found some 1940's black and white photo's from Egypt. I wonder where these people are! To be honest, the environment and the people and their clothes don't look too different from how I would imagine it to be now. I wonder about that.....

Ten Minutes Earlier

Last year, I started getting up at 6am to write each morning. I wasn't too hard on myself – if I’d had a late night for any reason, or if I was particularly tired that morning, I’d allow myself the extra sleep – but most mornings I was getting up. And it was great. I was writing more, and I got to enjoy that quiet time of morning before everyone starts leaving their houses and the streets become noisy.

I like early mornings (even if I’m not exactly a morning person).

But then I went overseas for two weeks in November, and everything fell apart. I wrote while I was over there, but I certainly didn’t get up at 6am every day. Sometimes it was four, sometimes it was ten. And so when I finally made it back to Australia (I was caught up in the airport closure in Thailand) I couldn’t make myself get out of bed.

Then came December; my birthday, Christmas parties, Christmas itself, and all the excesses that those things bring with them. My early mornings were lost.

Lately, I have managed to get up at 6.30am, giving myself twenty minutes to write before I have to start getting ready for work. Today, I managed to get up at 6.20am.

And this is my aim: ten minutes earlier each day.

Monthly project: Storybook

So, after a rather lengthy break, we’re back with another monthly project. Sorry we’ve been as disorganised as we have – somehow life got in the way.

This month’s project will be on the theme Storybook.

As usual, responses will be due in a month, on Monday 2 March.

Remember, responses (or a link to your response on your own site) should be sent to themondayproject85@gmail.com. We’ll post them up shortly after the deadline. If you’d like to include a short explanation of how you came to create what you did, that would be wonderful!

We’re excited about starting the monthly projects again; we hope you are too.

Looking forward to seeing some of your responses!

Getting my hands dirty

I've been thinking about gardening all evening, and I've realised that a large part of what I enjoy about it is really getting my hands (well, actually, all of me) dirty in the process. It makes me feel like I'm really doing something, really getting involved.

Lately I've been in a bit of a writing slump (I'm hesitant to say "writers' block"... that phrase scares me a little). I've been writing, but I haven't been happy with any of it. It's not terrible, I'm just not excited about it.

This afternoon I went to a writers' meeting and was talking to another writer (and friend of mine) there about it. Through our conversation I realised that the other things I do creatively have a huge effect on the quality of my writing.

So my plan is to get my hands dirty more often. Sometimes it might be in the garden, sometimes it might be splashing colour (probably poorly) on a canvas. I might even attempt to do some sewing again. And I'll keep my dirty fingers crossed that my writing will improve.

I'm in love!

...actually I'm obessed and out of control.... today I've been shopping on etsy. I just cannot resist! I've been needing some things to brighten up our bare walls. I've just snapped up:

Live what you love poster to go by my front door and

Bicycle built for two print to go above my bed. Mmmm yay!! Is it just me or does shopping on etsy, or online in general make it seem like its all for free? Okay, yes, perhaps I have a problem....

Our Garden

Yesterday, my housemates and I spent most of the afternoon in our front garden, turning the soil and planting a new crop of warm-season vegetables. By the end of it we were all hot, sweaty and covered in a fine dust-like layer of dirt and cow manure. We probably stank. We were exhausted. We were a little sunburnt. But boy we were proud!

We’re looking forward to a crop of mint, pumpkins, Lebanese cucumbers, snow peas, and butter beans; and we’re hoping that this lot of coriander will take better than the last one.

I love our little garden. And yesterday I realised why people say gardening is good for the soul. It’s hard work – and it’s dirty work! – but there is something incredibly satisfying in planting something and helping it grow. Not to mention that we’re trying really hard to have an organic garden, and we’re using the castings and liquid fertiliser from our worm farm (the worms are all named Barry, in case you’re interested – I have a strangely close relationship with this bunch of slimey things). And you can't help but feel good about yourself if you know you're avoiding using chemicals on your food crops.

In my opinion, watering your own garden in the early evening is perhaps one of the most relaxing things you can do. Yesterday we also bought a mini water tank (100 litres), in which we will put the clean water we catch from the shower while it’s heating up. So yesterday evening, with the aforementioned stink settling into our skin, we stood out in the garden watering and admiring our handiwork. The smiles on our faces couldn't have been bigger.

So, now that I’ve babbled for long enough about how much I love our garden and how hard we’re trying to minimise our negative impact on our surroundings, I’ll get to the point. About once a month I’m going to try to post a picture of some of our produce. Above is a picture of some carrots we harvested yesterday.

I'm amazed that I can help bring something like this to life, and it inspires me to try my hand at other creative pursuits as well. I hope our little garden might help inspire you too.

Watch out for the new monthly project tomorrow.