Wine and Wood

Last night I tasted a beautiful wine from the Heathcote area 120km north of Melbourne. So I've dived in and started to research local producers. The area is regarded as a boutique area with, many consider, the perfect soil and climate for the Rhone varietal. At one point a gold mining area it is growing as more and more vitners are moving in.

Heathcote2
The producer does not irrigate and sells out every year. This one is definitely next on the list to try.

Wood
The Dutch design festival is over. One recent discovery is this website with an interesting mix of products. The joinery on the link above is all hand carved.

I will add the images tomorrow as the internet connection is not working very well at the moment/


Candle
This candle would be perfect on my dinning room table. No need for candlesticks!

November Sketches

With all the "new bridge" issues here in Barwon Heads (they need to replace the old heritage bridge and the local government has proposed to build one vehicle bridge with a separate pedestrian bridge 30 m further down river into the estuary). All very silly. No one is quite sure why they have not simply combined the two while maintaining the same materials and look of the older bridge, thus adhering to heritage laws.

Spring in Victoria (possibly all of Australia) comes with very aggressive magpies protecting their offspring. So much so they dive bomb those who walk or cycle near the tree nest. That might sound reasonable but you might be a good 12' away from the tree and suddenly there is a squawking bird flying after with you a very pointy beak. Flesh has been known to be removed!



This is a charming old local heritage house in the older section of Barwon Heads, only a few minutes from the beach.

Viva Espana

Finally the world is going to discover the culinary and geographical variety the Iberian Peninsula has to offer. Sadly it has taken a signature Italian chef (Multo Mario) to meander his way through the medieaval and futuristic landscape Spain has to offer.
Spain - On the Road Again the Link to the TV blog.

It has been a while since I wrote about food or Wine so it time to return to local produce!

Ode to Japan

On line Japanese ceramics sale. Sadly many are sold out but fun to see the variety.
La Ronde D'argile

This is yet another site with lovely delicate ceramics



Japanese clan - do you know where this place is?
perempuan

This site has fantastic drawings
link
Lovely hand blown glass pieces
link

More Ideas

Well Abigail Ahern has hit the US market! I do missing visiting her shop in Islington on Upper Street. Such beautiful things that tend to always inspire!

The Wallpaper is my favorite!

I came across this artists work Michael Russem. If you're a stamp collector, like I know some of you are; these a fun.

The Beach House

Just found this great website with house designs from Norway. Great looking house but, maybe best in a different colour:
Link to Norwegian Beach House

The MRI went smoothly and now I officially have a bulging disc. Joy of joys. Now it's all about getting the bulge down in size and hopefully, once that is done, building the core strength again. That might happen in 3 months time (fingers crossed). Swimming or pool walking is the first project and a few stretches always keeping in mind that one should not push it to a point of shooting pain. Yeah yeah, pain all the time at the moment so the prospect of lessening any of the pain from stretches and pool walking is VERY attractive.

Word is that wee little niece Peanut now has an official name; Cait Aoyama Quah Donoghue. Fabu I think :)

Shadow Dance

This is a fantastic video. So very impressive.

I'm currently lying on the sofa since it's a pain free position. Working on the ultra thin apple laptop. Tomorrow is the MRI so I am a bit concerned about claustrophobia but best to bite the bullet and know what is going on with my back. I discussed my concerns with the MRI receptionist and I might be able to have my head pointed in a direction that I can see a bit of the larger room. 20 minutes in a tight tube full of noise is not going to be fun. I have to admit I did not think I would get an appointment so quickly. Very impressive.

Merchandise design conversation continues. Looks like we will have bags, tea towels and towels to wrap meat in (not really sure what this is but sounds better than plastic).

Etsy

This site is wonderful - full of super fun crafts. These charming little people friends are from Tasmania. Check out their Etsy site here.

Just a quick update since I thought these were so fun and reminded me of the paper mache dolls sold at Takashimaya in NYC.

Blogging

Monday morning in Australia.

The global markets continue to crash. Since we are the first to wake, the economists are expecting the markets to continue crashing. The Australian PM is securing people's bank deposits and the sun is shinning. Barwon Heads continues to be in a little bubble where no one seems the least bit concerned about the world beyond the Barwon River. People are chattering away at all of the 6 cafe's (keep in mind the permanent population of the village is about 300). Building projects continue on every block expecting the summer rush to start in the very near future.

Yesterday in the Independent (London) there was a great article about green design...

Green Design Link


What else? More weather news! It is still chilly here at night but the temperature rose to 31 yesterday so all the lovely spring roses are now withered and shriveled up. Poor things. You can't win. It's either too cold or too hot.

ok thats it for now

over and out
S

The art

Hi hi

This is my latest invite for a couple who got married last weekend in a small village in the Italian Lakes. Fun project as I learned a lot about the area and I think it needs to be visited very soon.

Spring has not yet increased the temperature here in Melbourne but the sun is so strong water is evaporating faster than it can fall. Water restrictions continue.

A few weekends ago I visited the Slowfood farmer's market where most stalls of heritage meats and heirloom this and that were wanting people to join 'their family' and become members for a fee. It seems to be the trend which I thought was quite odd, since all I wanted was a nice bit of meat and veg to buy without any commitment. Ties are a good thing in the world of slow I suppose.
This is Stephanie Alexander's children's farm education program. She is the Alice Waters of Australia. I love the font and the logo. Great fun.

Oh I came across this woman's work. Just beautiful.
Caroline Swift

Not to much to say today. I have a meeting later with the local rag's owner to discuss a cookbook with food illustrations. Should be interesting. We are off to Melbourne this evening to celebrate Richard's birthday!