the week of sundays

A phrase borrowed from the delightful Joanne Good. It's what she calls the week between Christmas and New Year. When most are on holiday and there's that super chilled, relaxed and, dare I say it....slightly anti-climactic feeling in the air. It's also when garden services don't pitch on their regular day (if at all), online ordering and postal services slow down to a crawl and one is never sure exactly what supermarkets are open when.
I thought I'd mention some things that have kept me entertained in this strange limbo time.
Be warned: Link heavy post.

I've been potting. And I don't mean imbibing booze...although...heh...as previous posts will confirm, done a fair bit of that too. BTW-Do people even use that phrase anymore?

Thanks for the gecko Sam!

And I've been sewing. And guess what? Something is ready to be sent off to Gauteng!!!!!
Three guesses.

Yip. I finished Sam's quilt this morning. *shit eating grin*

Won't show any more until it's been delivered, which, given the above-mentioned postal go-slow at this time of the year, won't happen until next week. 

While sewing I've been listening to lots of great stuff- mostly via online streaming.
To The Late Show with Joanne Good. I got hooked onto BBC Radio London way back in 1996 when I was an aupair to three teen girls in Hampstead, London.  I had a little portable radio with me while I trudged up and down the five flights of stairs in their rather beautiful Georgian terrace house making beds, cleaning rooms and ironing each day. I'd listen to Robert Elms interview famous Londoners and talk about museums and architecture. But you don't have to be living in London to appreciate some truly excellent local radio.

I've also been listening to the hilarious nerds on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour. This episode was brilliant. They review movies, music and TV in their own wry, sarcastic and witty way.
Highly recommended. Find the blog feed here.

I'm still fully immersed in the audiobooks of my favourite middle-aged loner park ranger, Anna Pigeon and continue to dip into the eccentric podcasts of Frank Edward Nora who chats about all sorts of things during his daily commute in NYC. With buses, hooting, construction work and pedestrians in the background and Frank waffling away while eating bagels and browsing in shops, it's fantastic fly-on-the-wall stuff.

I'm steadily making my way through the Smart Bitches best romance books of 2010. Spending the Kindle voucher Steve and Meri gave me for Christmas is soooo easy. It's scary.

Watched the BBC remake of Upstairs Downstairs. A bit like Downton Abbey but not as good. Also watched Exit Through the Gift Shop. Excellent docu-drama about a mad, passionate videographer, graffiti and Banksy.

Still immersing myself the genius of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. Anyone who relishes bone marrow and eats it on top of his steak is a friend of mine. Yum. ;-P

More links with possibly my best tracks of 2010 will have to wait another day- this post is already too long.

Love Comes Down (Anne Litt Remix) - by Ozomatli

little secrets

I had the camera out this afternoon. 

I still can't resist anything this shade of red.

Anything red + rare botanical illustration = beeauutiful.

I so want to buy this.

Your secret from Jean-Sebastien Monzani on Vimeo.