Heigh Hooooooo.......

And so it dawns. Monday November 30. The day my friendly work voicemail tells callers I will be "returning to work". I guess I better go then. It's difficult to believe it's been four weeks since I've been in my office. It feels like I've been in some kind of timewarp, where no time has passed at all, yet lots of things will have happened while I've been away.

My wonderful admin officer (who is also named Wendy) has been keeping the ship sailing while I have been away. Apparently, there is a growing pile of documents on my desk marked "For Wendy, when she gets back". I'm looking forward to that. Also, I have managed to keep my resolve and not check my work email AT ALL. Perhaps by the end of the week I might have that under control.

And so, I put on my make-up and my watch for the first time in weeks and trundle off.

Maybe if I'm really lucky I'll get to do some date-stamping.

Watching Listen and Singalong: Part 30 or so Awkward Annie

This is my new favourite thing at the moment and I urge you all to seek it out. Of course there is the distinct possibility that I am far behind the times as per usual and everyone else has discovered Kate Rusby well before me. This album of the same name is wonderful and I am listening to it constantly. It also contains the cover of Village Green Preservation Society.

Adventures in shopping my way round Tasmania

I may well post again about the natural beauty of Tasmania, the prolific roses and lavender, the water, water everywhere you look, the wildlife, the hills and mountains, the minor excursion into the forest, the fairy penguins, the beach, the midlands, the Peter Cundall Pilgrimage to the Botantic Gardens, but first we must get the most important things out of the way.

Shopping....I shopped my way around the Huon Valley, antique shops, Salamanca Markets, Hobart, Swansea, Bicheno, Campbelltown, Ross, Oatlands and even the airport where I bought a book on the way home.

Here are some pictures of purchases for all of us to enjoy.



One brass teapot. Essential buying I am sure you will agree.



Assorted jewellery from all over the place. Some of it was cheap, some of it was more expensive. My favourite things are the silk flowers for my hair and the dog earrings, as well as the green clay polymer ring.



Postcards from an antique shop in Hobart as well as assorted other cards.



It's a bag. It has a cat and musical things on it. Say no more.



It's a cute card of a kitten. It's now hanging on my wall in a frame.



No it's not my messy pencil holder. It's a flower made out of wire and electrical cable. I think it's supposed to go in the garden but I am choosing to keep it inside.



It's one of those elephant hanging bell thingies. It's now hanging on my wardrobe door.



It's my 2010 giant Paris Calendar. I have already hung it on the wall.


Two miniature genie lamps. I mean really, how could I leave them in the antique shop. They are so cute.



Hand painted tealight holders. Pretty.



Japanese postcards from an antique shop in Hobart (are we sensing a theme here with the antique shops?)



Some music prints I found at Salamanca.



Despite the fact that I don't own an record player I think this was seven dollars well spent.



Two handpainted Turkish bowls found in a chocolate shop I forget the name of in Hobart.



More old postcards from an antique shop.



Some nature photos. We went to the Tesselated Pavement that is the one on the left. It was quite amazing to see.



A colourful print of Salamanca Markets.



A bag with strawberries on it.



Some photos from Kate's Berry Farm where I highly recommend the Belgian waffles.



A box of classic Venetian postcards. New...not from an antique shop. Just to clarify.



Some treble clef earrings. I am a little bit of a music dork sad to say.

And of course no one would be stupid enough to travel all that way and think they could buy lots of books and fit them into their suitcase on the way home. Or would they?




I highly recommend Fuller's Bookshop in Hobart, particularly for the nice cafe. I also bought a cute pink booklight there and was quite restrained. However, once let loose in the Hobart Book Shop I went a little wild and the nice man posted my purchases home for me. This still didn't stop me buying more books at secondhand shops which had to be carried on as hand luggage on the way home. They wouldn't fit in my suitcase even though I also had to buy a new, bigger and improved suitcase 60% off at Harris Scarfe, because mine started to fall apart in Brisbane before we flew out.

Last but by no means least, if you ever find yourself in Kingston you must visit the Japanese shop there. I bought enough material for my dear mother to make me a silk patchwork quilt. The material is remnants from kimonos etc. We had the most fun picking out the patterns.













N.B. I haven't taken a picture of the black winter hat I bought, the winter headscarf thing which I wore a lot, the silk wraparound skirt or the little brass bell I found on a junk stall. And there's probably other things I have forgotten as well.

I was still under the baggage limit though.

Wendy is in the building

I am home. I am tired. I will post at length about Tasmania very soon. It was a wonderful holiday. Lucky for me, I have another week of holidays to recover.

Green

I returned home today from the overwhelming brown of Rockhampton to two delightful green items. They had arrived in the post while I was away.

First, this wonderful Tshirt designed by the very clever Nick Caldwell.


If you want one for yourself (and you do have a choice of colours you need to go to the redbubble site). I am wearing it now!! I may even wear it tomorrow as I travel to Brisbane. Because it would match my green sneakers.

And then this lovely lovely gift from Cindy in Tasmania.


It is already in my suitcase for Tasmania, even though it seems like the weather is going to be too hot for scarves for the first few days. I am determined to wear it and will be taking a photo of it in the land of its birth.

I was going to write a scathing expose of our retreat. Quite frankly I can't be bothered. Let's just say the world of academia is both strange and curious.

I am On Holidays now so I no longer care! And I have celebrated my very own green Christmas.

Doable

Trying a post from my phone. Fiddly but doable

Can I survive a week without my hair straightener?

Packing is nearly complete except for the elusive beanie. Goodness knows where it has got to. There's not much call for beanies here in Bundaberg so it may well have given up on ever being worn and taken itself off to colder climes. Either way, it looks like I go to Tasmania next week beanie-less. I do have a lot of nice scarves though. And a jacket with a hood. I'm sure I will be able to borrow a beanie if necessary. Plus, it's impossible to tell exactly how cold it's going to be. So I have quite the selection of cardigans, tops, tshirts, etc. You are proving somewhat confounding Tasmania.

I have also just about finished packing for Rockhampton. Apparently it's going to hit a very pleasant low thirties in the middle of the week which calls for a whole different attire altogether. I hate having to decide what I am going to wear every day at the beginning of the week. I prefer to wake in the morning and then decide what I feel like wearing. As a result I probably have enough clothes for two weeks stuffed into a tiny suitcase. I also have "everything but the kitchen sink" - books, music, all manner of jewellery, lotions, potions, make-up, food, and a bag of papers and other work related garbage. I refuse to take more than two pairs of shoes - one to wear and one to pack. But I have one dilemma...Can I survive the week without my hair straightener?

Things left to do: Set the recorder for my "shows", see if I can blog from my iPhone with any ease at all and see if I can Facebook chat from my iPhone.

It seems that my iPhone will feature largely during the week.