Limber

This sounds so raw and loose, it’s the perfect way to limber up for the weekend ahead.

Punk Porcelain

I am partial to collecting pieces of fine china. Mismatching cups and saucers with tarnished gold rims and dusty old lady floral prints, from The Salvos.

I don’t own any porcelain with a Sex Pistols attitude. Plates which are slightly mouthy, but disarmingly charming. Saucers which flash a bit of leg and demand seconds. Perfect partners for an afternoon tea.

[Thief!]

[Sambo]

[crumbs!]

[The wedding]

Daylight in the daytime

[Canada Bay on the weekend]

Goodbye Daylight savings.

I'm ever so happy not to run in the dark. My mind would turn shadows into sinister misters and I could never find a white shirt or reflective gear to wear.

Crying Game

I cried on the weekend. I tried to hold it in, but my throat seized up and my eyes prickled and stung, till streams of salty tears flowed down my cheeks.

I cried over a child.

I cried over the deprivation of hundreds of children.

The subject of the American education system may seem dull and perhaps irrelevant for an Aussie to watch. But ‘Waiting For Superman’ has a compelling argument about the multifaceted destruction of the American education system.

The film balances startling data and national policy, with stories of five children and their families. Each child is struggling to achieve basic literary and numerical skills in an extremely complicated and rigid system. A system which rewards crappy teachers to keep doing a crappy job. At the same token, it prevents fantastic teachers doing a fantastic job.

Their opportunity for a better education is based on a lottery.

Some may argue that the film is extremely one-sided, perhaps even anti-unionist. But I don’t think anyone wouldn’t find the lottery utterly heart wrenching, knowing that those who don’t get drawn out are in for a tough battle (life) ahead.

And so I cried.

Breaking bread

I'm basking in the afterglow of a sinfully sedate weekend, of running, reading and eating.

Lots and lots of eating.

Slices of buttery soda bread, baked fresh Saturday morning by Paddy the Baker, to whet the appetite.

[Paddy the baker]

My heart is still in palpitations, just thinking about the clotted cream, scones and delightfully fluffy butterfly cakes, from an afternoon tea I attended Saturday arvo.

[scones[

Mish and I had a Sunday morning brunch at the rustic 2042. We splashed out to celebrate our first training run together and hatched elaborate pans to compete in upcoming events, including a 29km cross country run.

[2042]

Easter eggs were inhaled by the handful.

I talked myself horse, when I caught up with some uni mates at the bizarrely named Pumpkin House café. It resembles an army bunker, as the outside is draped in camflougaed coloured mesh sheeting and is lit by small lanterns. There is only one pumpkin dish on the menu (soup) as it specialises in milkshakes served with a side of popcorn.

It’s slightly unconventional to crab load seven weeks before a race, partly because there’s no scientific evidence, but mainly because it’s called over indulging. But it sure is fun.

Friday night fruit

[Fruit corsets]

While I was working on it, I liked imagining who would be wearing these undergarments. Elizabeth Bennett reading impassioned letters from Mr. Darcy in her blueberry Regency stays… Laura Ingalls walking on the prairie in her apple corset… Mary Poppins in that sassy s-curve banana… ladies on the Titanic sinking in that skinny boob-to-hip constriction… me own Nan in a postwar pear girdle.

Liza Ferneyhough, San Francisco, United States

My Mother

In the summer ooo I love her

She's like no other

She's my Mother

My Mum is a hair's breath away from cutting her birthday cake and I have yet to get her a birthday present. In the past no matter how much thought and effort, I always inadvertently gifted her something that I had been lusting after. The old self serving present.

A small patch below my right ear lobe is red raw, as I've been scratching my head all afternoon, trying to find something to give her. This is the best that I could come up with:

[carrot]

[girl and the finch]

[Magnetic]

[Suitable suitcas]

[turntable clock]

[summer shawl]

Unfortunately, after reviewing the list, I think I want them all. For. Myself. Ugh this is a pickle, I just want to eat cake.