the kiwi flies again

reminder to eat your fruit and veges

There were more photos in the email I got sent, but they made me blush. Let's just say I'll never quite look at an eggplant the same way again.

R

posted by flying kiwi @ 7:05 AM |

If I paint my walls these colours...

Living room: cream and chocolate
Bedroom: olive and aubergine
Kitchen: lemon
Sunroom: tangerine
Other bedroom: avocado

... will I be hungry all the time?

R.

posted by flying kiwi @ 7:23 AM |

The little details

It's the little details you don't notice about a house until you've moved in.

For example, on the back of my bedroom door (btw, Dad, do you fancy a plaque that says "Grandad's Room" for Father's Day?):


I don't know whether you can actually see in this photo, the three nails on the wall above the door, at three different heights - to me, this looks suspiciously like flying ducks are supposed to hang on those nails...


And how kind of the previous owners to leave this witty and appropriate plate hanging in the kitchen ("I am the master of this house. Whatever my wife says shall be done"). And it goes so well with the wallpaper. I am going to get such satisfaction from tearing down that wallpaper.


There are of course details that I love. Even though it's kind of 70s, I like the overhead display cabinets in the kitchen. Perfect for my Vietnamese laquer bowls (and those are Colombian earth bowls behind them). Of course it will look much better once I paint the walls. Any suggestions as to what colour I should do the kitchen?

And that's about as much of my house as I'm willing to show at the moment, cos I only just moved in so it's mostly still a big mess.

R.

posted by flying kiwi @ 6:36 AM |

House

Yesterday I moved into my new* house. My very own house. I own a house. I am a home-owner (it's still sinking in). I also own a mortgage...

There will be photos and all that (of the house, not the mortgage, duh) in the near future.

The internet won't be on for a wee while yet. So I won't be able to blog. Just in case anyone notices I'm absent from the blogosphere.

R

*new to me. It's actually rather old - 80 years or so.

posted by flying kiwi @ 12:54 AM |

Feet

Even though it feels like I never went away (I've been back two weeks), my feet still have tan marks from wearing sandals in the European summer, my toenails are still dark red from the pedicure session in Bangkok with my sister and niece, and my heels are still cracked from walking around Prague and everywhere else.

My feet have a longer memory than I do.

R

posted by flying kiwi @ 4:46 AM |

Old letters

I decided I really should start packing today*, so I've started with my bookcase and have 4 boxes** packed so far, mostly books. I picked up a pile of papers, wondering why on earth I had stored these for so many years under a bed at my parents' house, and then brought them over to Australia. Two random letters fell out, and reminded me exactly why I keep these things. Memory lane.

The first letter was from the Editter, not dated, but around the time of "so you told them all about the secret fancying" in this post, but, if I'm not mistaken, just before the "and it turns out they knew all along". This was in the days before email, and it was one of those nice long gossippy letters ("And when they said bye she just... kissed him! Amazing eh?"). And it ended with: "On Sunday Nana said she's always regretted missing out on her true vocation in life. I asked what that was and she said 'Mushroom Picking' ".

The second letter was from a correspondant I had no idea I was still corresponding with in 1991, my first year at university in New Zealand and his year of army service in Germany. I had fancied him ever since high school in Belgium, but we never actually dated, although I do remember slow dancing with him when I was 16 or so to "Sign Your Name Across My Heart" by Terence Trent D'Arby... Anyway, it's a very sweet and funny letter (for example, and I know this is pointless unless my readers happen to know Dutch, "Hello my dear#" then at the bottom of the page "# Nederlandse vertaling = dag dier!"), and I'm so pleased I kept it. It seems we had plans to stay in touch and meet up again, but we never did. But it made me smile to read the letter.

Now I really want to go through the rest of the letters, but I've just packed them. So instead I might have a cup of tea and think about what else I can pack***.

R.

* Packing to move across town is just so NOT a big deal having packed to move hemispheres at least half a dozen times in as many years
** Admittedly, 1 of those 4 was one that never got unpacked in the first place
*** Without actually doing any of the packing, naturally

posted by flying kiwi @ 4:17 AM |

Wikipedia meme

Because I've been so crap at blogging lately, I'm going to try and give the impression that I actually have something to say* by doing this Wikipedia meme, pinched from Stella a while back.

How to do it:

1. Go to Wikipedia
2. In the search box, type your birth month and day but not the year.
3. List three events that happened on your birthday
4. List two important birthdays and one death
5. One holiday or observance (if any)

10 January.

Three events:
1810: The marriage of Napolean and Josephine is annulled
1863: The first section of the London Underground opens (mind the gap)
1929 Tintin (Belgian comic book character) makes his debut

Two important birthdays:
1949 - George Foreman (do you think if I email him and tell him we share a birthday, I'll get a free grill?)
1949 - Linda Lovelace - now there's a piece of trivia I'm going to try and work into conversation more often

One death:
1971 (on the day I was born) - Coco Chanel

One holiday or observance:
Margaret Thatcher Day in the Falklands Islands - what the???

R.

* I actually do have plenty to say, I just can't seem to get around to it. For example, there's the fact I just went to Europe for a month. And bought a house. Little things like that.

posted by flying kiwi @ 6:48 AM |