Definitely not in Kansas anymore.

 
This photograph is for my mom, who laughed for a really long time when I told her there was a place in Australia called Nar Nar Goon.

It’s actually not too far away from my head office, so after working there on Monday I took a slight detour, just for Mom. It’s a cute little town, little being the operative word.

 
But wait, it gets better:

 
I told Sparky about the second picture and he didn’t think it was funny at all. Nar Nar Goon? Funny. But not Koo Wee Rup. Nooooo sir, not funny. Very serious.

Bwah ha ha ha!

More evidence that I am juvenile… I’ve spent the last 24 hours laughing at the following sentence, printed in an article about the David Letterman scandal:
“After his confession, Twitter and YouTube exploded.”

BANG! (That was Sparky’s response, for the record. He did agree that was pretty funny.)

—–
I’ve been knee-deep in map stationery, getting ready for my first (shared) market stall on Saturday. If you’re in the neighbourhood, come and say hi to the lady in the giant sunhat.

aboard the very awesome restaurant tram

 
My adorable American sister and her adorable Mexican husband have left after a whirlwind tour of Melbourne and surrounds. Boo.

The house is much quieter now. And not nearly as fun.

We saw and did all the good touristy things, which were all fun, but I must say I’m a bit touristed out. My favourite bit was hanging out and getting to compare genetic notes with my sister, who is three years younger than me.

She is now using wrinkle cream (I started a few years back). She has grey hairs, too. And she’s the only person who noticed I have new freckles. A heap cropped up on my stomach and limbs about a year ago, but my favourite is a big beauty spot on my cheek, which she noticed almost immediately. Sparky hasn’t even noticed, and he sees me every day. (My doctor thinks my new freckles might have to do with melanin production starting up again. Apparently chronically ill people gradually stop producing it, so by getting better, I’m reversing the trend. Thank goodness they are cute!)

I also learned how to make char-grilled salsa from scratch. I am never going back to the store-bought stuff! (I laughed at my sister when she haughtily said this in the supermarket, but that was before I tried her husband’s version. She was right.)

Now I’m back at work and have to deal with all these things in my life not going how I’d like. Like not having enough money to go back home for Christmas without using my credit card. So I’m trying to be as proactive as possible, starting with the decision to join the Northside Makers and try selling crafty stuff at markets. Scary but exciting.

Elizabeth Street, CBD

 
I have no idea what this sign is supposed to mean. I mean, I get that it’s a restaurant, but why gold-an and not gold-en? And why the “an” in smaller red letters???

To me it reads like gold ‘n’ fork, which is a rather odd combo and not altogether tasty.

I don’t know if any of you are sick of sign photos yet, but I’m not too concerned because I think I lost most of my audience while hibernating. Which is to be expected, and takes the pressure off a bit. Frankly, I’m just glad to be taking pictures again.

Also: I’d like permission to punch the next person who asks me when I’ll be finished with my medical treatment or stop being sun-sensitive. Nobody knows, but that doesn’t stop EVERYone from asking.

Even worse than asking is when it’s stated, like “I thought you were supposed to be ‘done’ by now…” Yeeeeargh. Not helping, people.

view from my new kitchen window

 
Casa de Honey has been undergoing some serious renovations.

Sparky took the week off to get the big stuff done before my sister and her husband arrive in three weeks (hooray!). Big stuff meaning the outdoor toilet is now indoors (double hooray!), and the large laundry room and tiny kitchen have swapped roles.

There’s still so much to do, but Sparky’s been working hard every day. Except for when I spy him having a tea break* in our jungle of a backyard, taking it all in. All the indoor stuff has top priority, so the backyard is a little neglected. The flowers in the picture have grown wild. We don’t know where they came from.

I’ve been working on more crafty stuff, including a baby shower gift made from my favourite jumper [sweater], purchased at the Esprit outlet in San Francisco over 10 years ago. Oh how I loved that jumper. I’d had to make a few repairs over the years but when the moth holes became too many, I took a deep breath and shrunk it in a hot wash, three times.

What to do with incredibly soft, pale yellow felt? And leftover “beak” bits (aka toes from toe socks) from the Arturo project? Why, make a baby duck, of course:

I think he turned out pretty cute. Apologies for the photo quality, but I finished stuffing him right before I had to leave for the shower (naturally) and plopped him down on a nature strip near the venue when I realised I had no photographic evidence.

* Sparky’s preferred work cup is a keepcup I bought at the Design Made Trade fair a few weeks ago for $10. It’s amazing! I love mine because it’s cute, good for the environment and doesn’t leak, but he thinks it’s great because he can drop it from great heights (i.e. a ladder) and it won’t break. Highly recommended for takeaway coffee/tea addicts, but be prepared for plenty of “ooooh”s and questioning about where to buy one.

Yes we do.

 
The above photograph was taken outside the front window of my local tailor. Every time I walk past this sign, I pause and take a closer look because every letter was cut out by hand, out of black construction paper.

Don’t believe me? Take a closer look and you will see that the W is coming unglued. (It’s even more obvious in person.)

And get a load of that wonky S! No sense of punctuation, either. Oh I am in love.

Here’s another local sign I like, just for the word “service”.

I could look at that letter V all day.

In other news, I have been super crafty but have not downloaded the photographic evidence. So I’ll show you some other people’s pictures instead.

* Someone has made a phoney flower from the pattern I wrote for the Meet Me at Mike’s book. I think it turned out just gorgeous!

* Two weeks ago I hosted a mending bee at my house. It was super-fun, as you can tell from Kat’s blog.

You can also see my “new” clock, aka Clockasaurus, in the last picture. A freebie from the shell of an old bank, he now lives in the craft room (which is pretty close to that colour) and makes a noise every time the numbers flip. He makes a bigger noise on the hour, and a really, really, really good kachunk! noise at midnight because everything flips over. I applaud if I am awake to witness it.

My sister and her husband arrive in less than five weeks (yahoo!) and they will be staying on the other side of the wall where Clockasaurus resides (oops). Somehow I don’t think they will applaud if he keeps them up at night, so I might have to switch him off for 10 days. Pffft.