2016 reflections (PM)

Well, this is embarrassing. First of all, I'm here on the wrong day. Sorry about that. Basically, my circadian rhythms are to blame, and even though I knew yesterday was called 'Thursday', I didn't realize it was in actual fact, Thursday. Then, this morning, while trying to find the source of the weevil infestation in my pantry, I remembered it was Thursday yesterday and I had some MSC to write. 

I jumped on my iPad and wrote about how even though January 2016 was an intense month for me too (5 countries, -12 degrees on some days, a baby strapped to my chest constantly whenever i went shopping though really, I wanted to be trying on clothes, Bowie and Rickman) it was actually a wonderful, wonderful time. I mentioned that I ate some great rye bread and a spit roasted pork knuckle sandwich. I mentioned that I saw the opera that Appleheart and his pal wrote and while I expected to not really like it much because I know nothing about contemporary opera, it totally blew my mind. I also mentioned how I took KB for his very first swim at a pool in Munich and the woman behind the counter asked me in a very thick accent whether I needed any "Aqua shorts for babies". Hahaha. 

But then I had some technical difficulties while trying to search for a photo of the Aqua shorts I bought and it all disappeared! Boo. So basically I guess I'm saying that January was intense but wonderful, and February is a bit of a shambles, but gee it's nice to be home. 

Very German (PM)

Being very German sounds rad!

Very German (AM)

On Tuesday it was very warm so we went to the German countryside to frolic by a lake like the Germans do. We took two trains and then rode for 30 minutes through some forest to get there. Just like Germans do!

At one point, there was a woman selling fresh strawberries by the side of the road so we stopped to get some. A kilo for six euro. That's German value for you.

The forest was lush... 

...and the lake crystal clear 

 After about five minutes we saw our first naked Germans bathing in the lake. It was very very German.

We ate the strawberries and drank some beer. Again, very German. 

We took a dip in the lake. While doing so, a duck swam past with three ducklings in tow. No joke. Three fuzzy little ducklings. It was almost too much but we'd had a little whiskey after the beer so were feeling pretty groovy and just accepted it.

After a few hours, we dragged ourselves away and started to head back to Berlin. I only fell of my bike once and that was due to a particularly vigorous tree root protruding from the ground which seemed very German to me. On the way back, the ticket inspector told us off in German, we think because we had accidentally entered the train via the door in the first class carriage. We had already moved to the regular carriage by the time the ticket inspector came along, so I don't  know what she was complaining about. But being told off by a person in a uniform seemed so totally German! It was the icing on the cake of a really super day. 

Sunday in Berlin (PM)

A few years ago (five, shit five years ago!) I was in Berlin. Just for a few days. Not one of those days was a Sunday, so I guess I know nothing about what that would be like. I loved Berlin heaps of course. I didn't see any theatre but I sure can imagine someone there yelling into a microphone. Alls I can say is if you happen to be in Frankfurt I 'd suggest skipping the theatre because that yelling monologue is likely to be followed by a punch in the face.* I'm guessing.

After K asked me about Berlin in an email the other day I read my notes from when I was there. The impression I had of it was that the food was delicious, people were stylish, smileless, and it was big. I got there straight after visiting Amsterdam, where people are not very stylish, the city is is tiny, and restaurants are expensive and shit. I was so struck by one woman that stood in front of us in the queue to see Santogold I wrote about her in my book. "Straight bowl haircut, high-waisted skinny jeans", you know, like every second person in Melbourne now looks.
 
There was also some currywurst consumed. Not by me. But by others. And gummi. So many gummi. Mmmmmmm gummi.

*You know, Frankfurt had some real delights, like the most bestest apfelwein soft-serve  sorbet I have eaten and this totally awesome hammering man statue. I mean no disrespect to Frankfurt.

Friday Favourites: Ugg Boots (AM)

Yesterday I talked about that lamb/sheep/mutton's wool jacket I tried on.  I hinted at how ridiculous it is that a jacket would cost $1000. What I didn't say is that it's possibly the softest and  warmest thing I've ever worn and I think about it all the time. You can bet I thought about it last night when I came home after dinner with Scampy and Neville to discover my house was really quite cold.

But I shouldn't complain because the lamb community has given me a great gift in the past, a gift that has been giving for two decades. These:

These are the ugg boots I've had since childhood. No joke. My Mum's friend had a business importing them from her native Germany, and so when we were little, Mum bought a pair for both of my brothers. She didn't buy any for me because the feet of a girl child do not need to be kept warm. 

Jokies!

I suspect it was because my feet were too small.

From the binding. 

Jokies!

I just think they didn't have my size.

Anyway, the joke's on those guys, because at some point I claimed them for my own and have worn them around the house all through winter since about 1993. 

And look at the condition they're in!

If you're wondering what that thing inside this ugg boot is,  it's just a teatowel I stuffed in there to make them stand upright. I will probably wash the teatowel before I use it again.  

Still so wooly! That's GDR era manufacturing for you. 

Anyway, they are the warmest and best ugg boots a person could want and i'm lucky to have them. 

They are a Friday Favourite.  

Purdy

I seen some real purdy things in the last few days.

'









Just jokes. That last one was not purdy at all. And the smell was worse. It was something to do with art. Kunst as the Germans say.

Chocolate bar as style inspiration - Is it wrong?

So the other day I was at The Coffee Company buying some coffee. As I was standing at the counter I saw some Ritter Sports. They were in a red packet and I fell in love with that packet. I only really saw the top of it, I don't even know what flavour it was but the thing was that it didn't make me want to eat chocolate it made me want to dress in a way I can only describe as yacht owner chic. This is basically a more mature take on one of the preferred styles of my mid-twenties, nautical.

It's possible that it was marzipan Ritter Sport
But I prefer to think that it was rum and raisin because I just don't think that marzipan could conjure the sort of yearnings in me that this packaging did.


Yacht fashion is a more preppy, rich person's version of nautical and needn't always include strictly nautical themes. It's a little more subtle. It would have lots of blue and white of course, with highlights of red, but would be wider than that, incorporating other colours, mainly pastel and would basically mean I would dress as if I summered on the Mediterranean. Perhaps this is just about wanting to be rich and summering on the Mediterranean?

I mean, for God's sakes. It is the middle of winter. If anything I should be dressing like a Snickers or Mars Bar wrapper. But look at that Mars font. That could never inspire any kind of fashion related feelings in me.

For a minute I thought the colours of Crunchie may be appropriate for winter fashions. But look what these wrappers look like:

DISGUSTING! No wonder I don't buy chocolate bars.

I guess it is hardly surprising that it took a European chocolate to make me think about style. Thank you Germans! Though if I am honest, while Australian chocolate packaging blows and most American chocolate bars are similarly unattractive, the Hershey's chocolate bar has a classic look that could work this winter. Brown knits with white or cream highlights. That could definitely work.

Another penguin post

I know what you mean about penguins. They are both adorable and a little sad. This one time I went to an aquarium in Osaka and there were plenty of penguins there. They just stared up at the fake snow falling on them. Or maybe that happened in Happy Feet, seeing as my photographic evidence only kind of supports my memory.


Either way, it was a little sad.

Mind you, not nearly as sad as the polar bears I saw at the zoo in Tokyo a week later when it was about 30 degrees.


Anyways, I wouldn't worry too much about Werner's penguin facing certain death because:

i) Seriously I love the 'Zog, but how can you take anything he says seriously after that wonderful Where's Waldo reading;

ii) Werner is German, it's probably practically impossible for him not to imbue everything he sees with some sort of existential angst;

and iia) technically we all are heading towards certain death;

iii) Haven't you seen Happy Feet? Pingu's going to be ok.