Self-Conscious Posturing

Apparently Marie Antoinette was into snaffling other people's kids

2016-05-23T10:31:00.001+12:00

Uneducated opinions about the French Revolution, gleaned from novels and popular histories

I’ve recently read Antonia Fraser’s Marie Antoinette: the Journey. It’s a fairly hefty biography and the basis of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette (you know, the one with Kirsten Dunst and that fabulous pastry-eating scene).

Fraser is very sympathetic towards the French royal family in the book. She almost considers them victims of chance rather than contributing in any way to their own demise (with the exception of their inability to flee Paris in a timely and non-farcical manner. She's pretty exasperated with some of their choices around that).

We all know that the French Revolution wasn’t caused by one single factor, but of course the attitudes and actions of royal family had an impact on the events that lead to their sticky end—yes, they inherited an antiquated court system that had been tinkered into bizarro-ness by Louis XIV, however check your privilege French royal family. Be more involved with your country! Be a little less the product of your time!

One thing does make my heart ache, for Marie Antoinette at any rate, was the royal couple’s apparent infertility (too close to home, perhaps). I do feel sorry for MA—especially as it seems as though she was a person who just loved children for their own sake, and craved their uncomplicated affection.

Fraser attributes their seven years without conception to Louis XVI’s reluctance to *ahem* complete the act. She quotes the Austrian Emperor Joseph II to his brother Archduke Leopold:

Imagine, in his marriage bed—this is the secret—he has strong, perfectly satisfactory erections; he introduces his member, stays there without moving for about two minutes, withdraws without ejaculating but still erect, and bids goodnight… Nevertheless, the King is satisfied with what he does.

The actual point of all this

How did MA deal with her lack of children? By lavishing attention on a series of small people that she co-opted at will.

Things were much more lax then in terms of adoption—especially if you had the cash. In her book, Fraser includes a slightly opaque reference to MA’s acquisition of a child called Jacques who she almost flattened with her carriage while riding through the countryside. Less than half a page reference that breezes over the topic! My interest was piqued.

This brief reference raises far more questions than it answers. What did Jacques think of this whole situation? What happened to him? I googled and found—a very little more information online. Mostly references to this passage from Madame Campan’s memoirs (Campan was part of MA’s household staff—and part of the economy in MA biographies that boomed immediately after her execution):

A little village boy, four or five years old, full of health with a pleasing countenance, remarkably large blue eyes, and fine light hair, got under the feet of the Queen's horses when she was taking an airing in a calash, through the hamlet of St. Michel, near Louveciennes. The coachman and postilions stopped the horses, and the child was rescued without the slightest injury. Its grandmother rushed out of the door of her cottage to take it; but the Queen, standing up in her calash and extending her arms, called out that the child was hers, and that destiny had given it to her, to console her, no doubt, until she should had the happiness of having one herself.

"Is his mother alive?" asked the Queen. "No, Madame; my daughter died last winter, and left five small children upon my hands." "I will take this one, and provide for all the rest.; "Do you consent?" "Ah, Madame, they are too fortunate," replied the cottager; "but Jacques is a bad boy. I hope he will stay with you!" The Queen, taking little Jacques upon her knee, said that she would make him used to her, and gave orders to proceed. It was necessary, however, to shorten the drive, so violently did Jacques, scream and kick the Queen and her ladies. The arrival of her ladies at her apartments at Versailles astonished the whole household; he cried out with intolerable shrillness that he wanted his grandmother, his brother, Louis, and his sister, Marianne; nothing could calm him.

He was taken away by the wife of a servant, who was appointed to attend him as a nurse. The other children were put to school. Little Jacques, whose family name was Armand, came back to the Queen two days afterwards; a white frock trimmed with lace, a rose-colored sash with silver fringe, and a hat decorated with feathers, were now substituted for the woolen cap, the little red frock, and the wooden shoes. The child was really very beautiful. The Queen was enchanted with him; he was brought to her every morning at nine o'clock; he breakfasted and dined with her, and often even with the King.

She like to call him my child and lavished caresses upon him, still maintaining a deep silence responding the regrets which constantly occupied her heart. The child remained with the Queen until the time when Madame was old enough to come home to her august mother, who had particularly taken upon herself the care of her education. This little unfortunate was nearly twenty in 1792; the incendiary endeavors of the people, and the fear of being thought a favored creature of the Queen, had made him a most sanguinary terrorist of Versailles. He was killed at the battle of Jemmapes.

So, what do we know: a tiny child was taken from his family, he cried and cried because he didn’t want to leave them, and later became a revolutionary. Also, apparently it’s ok to call a child “it” if they're very small and from an inferior social class.

It’s also reported that MA “provided" for the rest of Jacques’ family until the Revolution—including organising one of his brothers music lessons. All this is apparently covered in detail in a book I haven’t read, Marie-Antoinette by Marguerite Jallut and Philippe Huisman (Viking Press, 1971), and covered in the Marie-Antoinette blog Tea at Trianon.

What I’d really like to read is some information about this from the perspective of Jacques or his family, but I couldn’t find anything published or even reported. Yet another situation in recorded history where a real person brushes up against the wealthy and powerful—for a second a light shines on their life, and then they sink back into obscurity.

Bonus video of the best bit from the movie

Picture credit: Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette at the Entry of the Tapis Vert in the Gardens of Versailles, 1775 , by Hubert Robert.

Next time

Something about food, probably.

SCP history (weeks of 1-23 May)

Edited for truly embarrassing entries of the kind written in the mid-2000s, for posts that have mysteriously lost their images, and for those where an embedded video has been pulled down from YouTube or Vimeo.

Watching the Titanic sink in real time

2016-04-27T09:39:00.001+12:00

On Thursday morning I found out that a video game company had made an elaborate 3D rendering of the Titanic sinking in real time—a full 2 hours and 40 minutes. The timing of the disaster and the dimensions and features of the ship itself are based on historic documents and oral testimonies (and I’m guessing: historical analysis of those documents and testimonies).

Because I am a giant history geek I decided that I would watch the entire thing while working from bed. AND I decided that since I was dedicating my time to this extremely valuable endeavour, I would give a little live blog rundown.

The video-rendered Titanic is, as the linked article suggests, very Mary Celeste-esque: the company hasn’t (yet) created human figures to represent the crew and passengers. So the captions describe what was happening on the boat at the time, while ghostly lifeboats are lowered into the sea and the ballrooms fill up with seawater. Sometimes there are distant shouts and screams (which I found quite macabre).

The breakdown

8.48am. I’m still in bed, the Titanic has hit the iceberg. Doesn’t appear to be slowing or stopping at all. Evidently they’ve all been moved to the port side (as per the request of a disembodied voice) but as there’s no human figures onboard the boat it’s rather hard to tell. We’re getting a very slow 360 view of the outside of the ship.

8.50am. The article said that the action was slow but the reality of watching this on and off all morning is just beginning to occur to me. Also: there really aren’t many lifeboats, are there? I mean, I knew that—but still, there is barely a handful on the boat.

8.54am. Crap, just missed a caption. But the noise of the engines has stopped and the ship itself appears to slowed… so I’m guessing it’s something to do with that (turning off the engines?).

8.56am. The caption notes that engines are half ahead now, so I think that noise will resume. Ooh, it’s quite a different noise… chugging. There’s some things next to the boat that I thought were tiny lifeboats but are actually supposed to represent wake.

8.58am. The new noise is eerie. Actually, the idea of a lone boat moving through a starry night—miles and miles away from any other people or land, an island of humanity as it were—feels quite eerie full stop. And that wake looks totally wacky. Caption tells me that almost 4,000,000 litres of water has entered the ship.

9.03am. Looking at the starboard side again, thought I’d be able to see the crack in the hull but apparently not. Is now a good time to have a shower? YouTube check: I read the first couple of comments and they confused me. Full of naval engineers arguing and someone complaining that they didn’t get to see anyone drowning? YouTube is truly the home of the worst of humanity.

9.15am. Boat has started to make a weird noise. I’m going to have a shower.

9.24am. I didn’t have a shower, I started doing some work instead (no pants, still in bed). Boat is definitely listing towards the starboard side, and the caption notes that the orchestra has started playing the lounge so I guess they’ve decided it’s all over? I’ve only seen Titanic once but I definitely remember that bit

9.27am. I’ve been watching this boat sink for half an hour now and there is no sign that any lifeboats have been launched.

9.42am. The camera appears to be zooming into the ship which is an extremely exciting development! The way the details are rendered is quite amazing.

9.44am. Swinging out the lifeboats! Finally! That’s one hour since the ship hit the iceberg FYI.

9.54am. Shitballs! The front of the ship is definitely sinking and the backend of the boat is lifting out from the water. The second lifeboat has been launched.

10.06am. Shots of the hallways filling up with water. Great foley sound (creaks, groans, water rushing etc).

10.11am. More interiors.

10.43am. The interiors are the best thing so far. I think the lights will blow out any second now. Very eerie watching the chairs tip backwards and realising that their position must mirror how they were found on the seabed.

10.56am. Aaah! Navigated away from YouTube by accident and thought I was going to have to find my place again, but it had been saved (thank goodness). Prow of boat well and truly swamped by now. Again, very eerie: this animation doesn’t have any people in it so I’m watching these scenes and imagining the pandemonium and screams and terror in my own head—which is probably more intense than it would be to just see someone else’s idea of it.

11.15am. 20 minutes left. This feels simultaneously as though it’s been going on forever and that it’s been happening for hardly any time at all.

11.24am. Sinking very rapidly now. The silence continues to be the most disconcerting thing.

11.29am. Smokestacks falling over and exploding spectacularly, suddenly lots of creaks and groans and explosions. The realisation that there were hundreds of people killed and that they’re trapped inside that sinking metal shell. SO SAD. When I saw Titanic at the movies aged 16 I cried and cried and cried because all those people drowned in a stupid, avoidable accident caused by hubris and arrogance. I left with my jacket over my head because I couldn’t stop sobbing. Natalie was embarrassed.

11.32am. Approximately 1500 people still on board the ship. The boat just broke in two and now there are lots of screams. It’s gone from completely silent and still and slow, to frantic and loud and—oh shit. Now sinking very fast. Imagine the speed needed for something that large to sink so quickly.

11.34am. The boat is gone. And because there are no people or debris at all in this animation, it has totally completely and finally gone, the ocean just closed around the ship completely. Have I used the word eerie too much? It was very eerie.

Next time

My thoughts on Marie Antoinette’s penchant for snaffling other people’s children.

SCP history (week of 24-30 April)

2011: Epiphanies, of a kind
2009: A picture I liked
2009: Wednesday list
2008: Weekend of derby
2008: I *heart* you Squiddy
2008: Julz makes my muscles feel like head cheese
2008: Gumdigging looks like a seriously miserable profession (images have disappeared but quote is still good).
2007: My new glasses
2007: Friday night playlist
2007: Not a healthy dinner
2006: Tuesday night trash TV
2005: Liza Minnelli hair
2005: The lights go out and boredom ensues
2005: Rates rises in Auckland and the people who care
2005: Stuff and stuff and stuff
2005: Amateur theatre

Seasonal produce: the pear

2016-04-18T12:30:00.000+12:00

"Seasonal produce" is a regular section from my newsletter, reconfigured here for your reading pleasure. I write it to ramp up my enthusiasm for eating seasonally—especially when I’m eating August swedes and dreaming of spring asparagus.

Autumn rolls around, and once again we are eating fresh, seasonal pears (i.e. not the disappointing coldstore ones available later in the year with the creepy brown centres).

I don’t love pears. As a rule I prefer a crisp, slightly tart apple.

In making that bold generalisation I add the caveat that I think pears taste pretty nice as a rule. My main issue is that they jump too quickly from rock hard and tasteless, to so ripe they’re almost impossible to eat without getting covered in juice. There is a pear-eating sweet spot that’s pretty hard to hit.*

Shannon, on the other hand, loves pears, so they feature pretty regularly in our fruit bowl—which gave me somewhere to start when we had some people over for dinner the other week (our oven is kaput so my normal go-tos like pies or cakes were out of the question). I ended up making maybe the most delicious emergency dessert ever. Simple! Light! Flavours! Pears!**

Poached pears with cinnamon sour cream gelato

The gelato is incredibly easy: I’d had the recipe in my clearfile for at least a year, and found it again recently. It’s a matter of just mixing a bunch of stuff together and throwing it in the freezer and is very, very good. The recipe is from Pear Nuallak (who writes a rather wonderful food blog).

My original plan was to serve the gelato with some fresh berries—I was growing raspberries in our Wellington veggie patch and am somewhat obsessed. However, we are kind of broke at the moment, we already had the pears, and I remember seeing Nigella poaching some peaches one time which seemed pretty easy.

Cinnamon sour cream gelato

Recipe from Pear Nuallak

1 can full-fat sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Couple of pinches of sea salt
300ml full-fat sour cream (I guesstimated this as in NZ we mostly have 250ml cartons of sour cream)

Whisk together the condensed milk, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Add the sour cream and continue to mix until the whole melange is smooth and well-combined (I don’t think I did this terribly thoroughly as there were definitely parts of my gelato that were more “condensed milky” than others. Don’t be like me.).

Whack the whole lot in a container that can hold up to 1 litre, seal it, and put it in the freezer. Wait impatiently for 4ish hours until it’s frozen.

Poached cinnamon vanilla pears

Recipe adapted (slightly) from Taste.com.au

4 perfect brown pears (or, you know, whatever you’ve got)
lemon juice
1 cups sugar
3 cups water
vanilla bean, split, seeded
cinnamon quill

Mix the sugar and water in a pan that will hold the fruit and liquid fairly snugly. Heat gently-ish until the sugar is dissolved, then simmer for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile peel the pears, leaving the stalk on them if you can. Rub them all over with lemon juice (this helps to stop them going brown—but if you moved quickly you could probably leave this step out). Put the pears and whole spices into the sugar syrup, and gently cook the lot for 15-20 minutes, until the pears are tender. Make sure that the pears are cooked evenly by turning them in the liquid a couple of times.

Next step I missed out, but: take the pears out of the liquid, and continue to cook the syrup until it’s reduced by about a third.

Finally: serve the gelato and pears together with a little of the syrup. You could reheat the pears if you’d like, but I didn’t bother (too lazy). It was *dancing lady emoji*.

*Yes! There are lots of different kinds of pears. We seem to always end up with brown pears like Beurre Bosc though. I had a good experience with some little green crisp pears once but haven’t seen them since.

**In the event there was a delicious misunderstanding and our guests brought a delicious butterscotch nut pie-flan thing that was crazy delicious. We ate the pears and gelato over the last week. Much excellent, very recommend.

Notes: I am in Auckland

2016-04-12T22:20:00.001+12:00

It’s just over a year since I announced my blog break. In that year my father passed away, Shannon and I bought a house in Wellington, I went freelance, and we moved to Auckland (in that order). It’s been massive, and stressful, with very big highs and lows.

And here we are, three weeks after the move north... the novelty of Auckland is yet to wear off. I’m writing this from an exceptionally beautiful cafe around the corner from our house in Herne Bay, featuring many gorgeous pot plants in eclectic vessels. It’s all very artful and well staged, and makes me want to throw out everything I own and redecorate in the “deliciously distressed Hamptons beach house” style.

As for eats: the coffee I am drinking is ok, but weirdly acidic which is not so nice. I am not eating here because it’s really expensive moving city (quelle surprise) and at the moment I’m tilting towards saving and recouping our moving expenses, with some success I think.

Life grinds inexorably onwards

I’m currently knitting two socks on the same needle. I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do when you get to the heel, so I kind of fudged it and made a mess—I’m proud to say I was able to fix without doing too much damage. I like that I’m avoiding second sock syndrome, but really need to figure out how to turn heels with this new technique.

My kitchen here is great, so much better than the one in our house in Wellington (which will be first against the wall when the renovations come). It’s inspiring me to try new things and get excited—I want to get my Ferment on, so I’m sussing out kefir and kombucha cultures; I dug up a whole heap of recipes that I’d bookmarked and am slowly cooking my way through them; we are eating homemade bread again on the regular.

Finally: I’m hustling for work! I’m best at Plain Language web content writing and am looking for contracts or part time work. I’m keen to ghost-blog also. Let me know of any leads, or hit me up if you’re keen! All details are on my website.

What I'm reading right now

2015-06-21T09:45:00.001+12:00

"If I wish to believe that my infancy was an Idyll, I had better not remember any more of it." Troy Chimneys by Margaret Kennedy.

Another letter from Sarah

2015-04-08T18:06:00.003+12:00

In the spirit of experimentation, I've decided on a hiatus from SCP - and to write a weekly TinyLetter instead. Lately I've been enjoying receiving pretty great emails, and when I am keen on things, I want to EMULATE. Stat.

I started this blog a long time ago now, strictly in the vein of a Live Journal - and it's swung from the very personal to a strange hybrid that I'm not entirely in love with. I'd like a change and the space to start fresh.

So: my plan is to send out a letter once a week on a Friday. I'm hoping that it will be chatty and fabulous and that it will give me some scope to be a bit more personal, but I foresee that it will also include things that I've eaten/read/heard/watched and loved, and ideas about money and saving.

So. This is your subscribe link. I'm not creating an online archive but I guess if I write something super amazing I could regurgitate it here.

I'm excited to see you in your inbox x

Something I saw today

2015-02-21T18:01:00.001+13:00

Here is a sweater I knitted for my mum's dog. #t

Books, re-reading, and finding something to be anxious about

2015-02-18T16:00:00.000+13:00

books, by Pimthida.

I am an avid reader, if not always particularly discerning. Voracious might be the best term. I’ll consume pretty much anything, especially if I’m over-anxious, sitting in the sun, or sick.

This year, I’ve set myself the goal of reading fifty books. So far I’ve read 12 and they run the gamut - from the sublimely silly to the truly fabulous.

Recently I read a piece in the Guardian about choosing your books carefully - the theory being, that there is a limit to how many books you can possibly read in your life so you'd better make them Worth Your While (insert panic here). The conclusion being: life is too short - too short to read Ayn Rand (agreed), Infinite Jest, and maybe anything by Virginia Woolf. The writer doesn’t pan the Lite and Silly outright, doesn’t condemn reading YA books as an adult - and the commenters appear mostly concerned with defending Virginia Woolf, rather than making their own lists of unworthy books.

This made me think Many Things - or rather, worry about things. Worry that I was wasting my time re-reading books (too many books in the world!), or reading infinitely disposable books. I mean - I just completed some research into the Zeitgeist (ahem) by reading all three of the Fifty Shades books. I probably could have finished Middlemarch by now.

But the thing is, I think that I mostly read books for atmosphere. For the feeling that a book gives me while I dip in and out on the bus or at lunchtime, or the feeling I get when I read a book in one sitting, fully immersed and outside on a summer’s day. So does it matter if I’m not sublimely well-read in terms of 'high literature' or the canon? I don’t think it does terribly much - especially given that essential reading changes from place to place, and person to person. I have my own categories of books good, bad and indifferent, and I guess you do to.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I wrote some of my categories down:

The kind that is best to read when you're sick with glandular fever. The protagonist will be southern and the prose will be badly written; you'll discover that you're deliriously desperate for all characters to get married, no matter how minor.
Examples: any Sookie Stackhouse book, The Wedding Bees by Sarah-Kate Lynch.
The kind that you initially read as a child or a teenager and really enjoyed, especially for their portrayal of historical times. Later re-reading will destroy your earlier opinions as the books prove to be horribly full of violence against women and otherwise deeply problematic.
Example: The Sonne in Splendour by Sharon Penman.
The kind described as "cult" that was recommended to you by an apparently well-read but overbearing man while you were drunk and insecure at a party aged 25. Sex will be described in ways that will recur to you in flashbacks throughout the rest of your life, all the female characters are hollow and hateful projections.
Examples: anything by Henry Miller, Last Exit to Brooklyn, On the Road.
The kind you know are very clever, and possibly too clever for you - so you claim you will read them twice, the first time for the plot and the second time for the cleverness. You never read them the second time.
Examples: anything by Umberto Eco, The Luminaries.

Conclusions? I have none. I just have a head filled with irritating Anastasia Steele lines, and bookshelf of good intentions.

But, you - do you have categories? What are they? Does the thought you can only read, say 2500 books in your life, freak you out as much as it does me?

Sunday Film Fest: Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

2015-02-08T11:00:00.000+13:00

Have you seen this whimsical guy? I am awfully fond of him. And part three is a recent(ish) release!

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

What is making me happy: The Power of Exercise and homemade ice blocks

2015-02-06T10:00:00.000+13:00

Christmas party at works, 18/12/1937 by Sam Hood. From the Collection of the State Library of New South Wales.

While most of January has passed in a whirlwind of balmy days, salty swims and delicious summer food, I was afflicted by a pretty severe case of post-holiday blues after I returned to work - and it took three weeks to resolve it! I was grumpy, I was short-tempered, I suffered near-daily life-crises.

Things didn’t start to improve until last week, due to the amazing weather we were having, and my decision to start running again.

So. Running. I don’t enjoy the act of running terribly much, but I do love the effects of running. That is: increased smugness, and the ability to cope a little better with the world around me. While I haven’t found an exercise that I love since my rollerskating days, running is free(!) and encourages me to take advantage of the beach and parks near my house.

It is a total cliché to state that exercise is good for mental health, but the difference between the grumpiness of sedentary Sarah and the coping skills of exercising Sarah is marked. For me, its a good decision.

ALSO: as of this Wednesday, I started my four day work weeks - with the fifth day devoted to my own projects and hopefully drumming up a bit of copy- or web writing work. Hit me up if you like my kool style and are in need of such skills - you can contact me through my website (sarahjanemiller.co.nz).

More things

COOKING: Lately I’ve been trying really hard to perfect the Beef Rendang recipe in Slowcooked. My first attempt was delicious but too saucy, my second an improvement but still on the saucy side I think.

I am confused by the instruction to reduce the curry in the slow cooker. In my experience, that’s just not possible as in, the whole point of a slow cooker is to lock in the heat and moisture. Perhaps if I fiddled with the lid less, I’d reach the desired outcome?

Because of the heat, I’ve also been making homemade ice block. I made some lemon manuka honey yoghurt ice blocks based on a recipe for Creamy Lime Honey popsicles which were crazy delicious, and freestyled some soy iced coffee ice blocks using cold brew coffee as the base. If I can get a good photo I’ll share a recipe which will include some tips on how to avoid getting coffee grinds in the finished product (which I can attest is pretty disgusting).

READING: I spent most of Sunday with my face glued to my eReader, demolishing Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth. It’s silly, but I’m loving it - it has a great pace, and it’s pretty fun. The evil characters are very mustache-twirly, the good characters have just enough flaws to make them likeable but not so many flaws that they are challenging to think about.

FAVOURITE PODCAST EPISODE: As always, I am enamoured with podcasts with lots of primary sources and little narration. The Radio Diaries podcast The View from the 79th Floor, about a 1945 bomber crash into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building, had some great interviews with eyewitnesses, primary audio material from a dictation machine, and media reports from the time.

KNITTING: Always I am knitting this Featherweight, but I have almost finished the body, and I’m much happier with this size than the abortively tiny one that resulted from my previous attempt.

I have only used one skein of the five ridiculously expensive skeins that I bought. I might use another half skein, but still, it’s looking as though I could knit something else out of the yarn.

SEWING: I am actually struggling a little with the excessive number of clothes I have. I think that it would be a good idea to have a bit of a purge before I start making anything else.

LISTENING: I splashed out and bought a bunch of albums when I arrived back at work, and I currently have Sylvan Esso’s album on high rotation. I particularly love the opening track which seems to be the Mary Poppins of pop music - Practically Perfect in Every Way. When it opens it reminds me of Polka Dot Dot Dot to the extent I had to Google and make sure that it didn’t actually feature anybody from the group.

Also: very excited for a new Marina and the Diamonds album.

Wednesday List: six delicious smug lunches

2015-01-21T11:56:00.001+13:00

Lately I've been doing this basically quite ridic thing where I smugly take a picture of my lunch and post it on a dedicated Twitter account.

I tried to come up with some reasons but really it's just silliness that allows me to humblebrag about my lunch. Here are some best ones:

Recently finished objects

2015-01-12T09:00:00.000+13:00

If there have been any themes to my summer holiday sewing, they have been

NSFW: as in, I've made cool, shapeless garments that aren't formal enough for the office (shapeless is my new favourite shape);

and

fiscal responsibility: I’ve been crafting from my stash, so spending very little. I think this has made me slightly less inclined to make things, but it has meant that I’ve managed to make a dent on my pile of fabric, and have developed some new pattern-making skills.

Tunic dresses

These were made from a free Japanese pattern that I drafted from instructions. The tunics have that Japanese-pattern aesthetic that I'm really keen on at the mo’.

I’ve made two versions - one in a striped voile (above), the other in a sort of cotton houndstooth that reminds me of Aertex shirts (top). Both tunics are in variations of navy and white - I’ve been obsessed with sewing things in navy for some time now and I don’t seem to be bored of it yet.

I’m not entirely convinced of how flattering they are BUT - I wore both tunics incessantly while we were away, and they were gloriously cool and comfortable to wear. Waists! I’m against them.

Here I am wearing one of my new fave dresses while standing near a beautiful waterfall near Lake Tarawera

80s kimono t-shirts (midriffs ahoy-hoy)

I’ve also made two of these kimono t-shirts - one in a black striped linen and one in an apple print fabric that I think looks kind of Marimekko-esque (above). The apple print is the last of my Berlin fabric, and it brings a little tear to my eye now that it’s all gone.

If this fabric looks familiar - it's because I've also made a dress and an infinity scarf from it. Good mileage!

The pattern is Simplicity 7517. I picked it up at my local St Vincent de Paul's, from memory. If you’re looking for the pattern, the envelope looks like this:

An almost-Japanese riff on a Scout t-shirt

I had an idea that it would be kind of great to have a dress that had a wide t-shirt style bodice and a gathered skirt - and in the absence of a budget for new patterns, I drafted my own using the Scout t-shirt for the bodice.

I’m pretty stoked with how it’s turned out TBH - it’s super comfortable, and while the fabric has a bit more weight to it than I think would be ideal for this style of dress, it is really lovely to wear. Also: navy and white stripes are my boyfriend.

This the bias binding I used, it feels like a special secret while I’m wearing the frock - and it saved me having to make my own. This came from Japan City - they always seem to have a heap of fun bias.

Wooden yarn bowl

My excuse for my paltry effort at holiday sewing is that the weather has been so beautiful that it's felt almost wrong to sit inside and sew. Instead I’ve been sitting outside in the sun, reading my eBook* and knitting.

Outside knitting has its issues - the biggest being that it’s too easy for the yarn to fly out of its bag and get dirty. Dealing with this very serious problem led me to research yarn bowls, which in turn led me to a Pinterest image of a wooden bowl up-cycled to a yarn bowl, which inspired me to make my own.

This is my first woodworking project since technicraft woodwork at Waitangirua Intermediate, aged 12

Given that I had only a handsaw, a drill, a couple of grades of sandpaper, and a patient Shannon at my disposal, I’m feeling pretty good about my attempt. In future I’d like to polish the spiral a bit, and maybe make some tweaks to the curve, but - in the meantime, it’s working like a charm.

Total outlay for all projects

I already had thread, fabric and patterns for all the sewing projects - the only thing I bought was another reel of overlocking thread (about $6).

The bowl cost me $12, and the sandpaper about $20, bringing my holiday projects to a total cost of around $40. Not too spendy!

*eBooks have solved that pesky knitting-and-reading issue of the book not lying flat, and the problems in juggling knitting and book while trying to turn a page. I’m a fan.

Something I saw today

2015-01-07T10:46:00.001+13:00

Ridiculous breakfast macaron.

Something I saw today

2015-01-06T13:02:00.001+13:00

Taupō.

Sunday Film Fest: The Ancient Worlds - The Spartans

2015-01-04T09:00:00.000+13:00

Do you have almost two and a half hours to watch Bettany Hughes being excited about Ancient Sparta, and particularly about the role of women in Spartan culture (cf. to the role of women in Athenian culture of course).

You should MAKE THAT TIME. I have watched this three times now and I can almost look past Bettany Hughes' breathiness it is so good.

What is making me happy: a new year just begun

2015-01-02T09:00:00.000+13:00

Lunch and salad and beer and books

The main thing making me happy is the fact I’m still on holiday. Bliss!

I have been making an effort to be social which has been pretty great - so, Skyping with Bex, coffee with Mum, catching up with lovely Ange and family, and plans to visit my grandad on Saturday. I’m also hoping to see Liz while she is over here from the UK.

The question then is: will I be able to maintain this level of socialness when I am no longer lounging round the house? I’m not unhappy with how social I was last year, but I’d like to do a better job keeping in touch with certain people. Perhaps this should be another New Year’s resolution.

READING: I am blasting through things, and making some mature decisions about putting aside books that I am not interested in finishing (looking squarely at London: A biography).

I have been reading many Phillippa Gregory books because it’s summer, and thus the best time to read something a little trashy. I finished the Wideacre trilogy which is spectacularly silly. All incest and frocks and mysteriousness and horses in the Sussex countryside.
Affinity by Sarah Waters, which I am loving. I wanted to read The Paying Guests but I’d need to buy that, and I already had a copy of this lying around that I’ve never read.
Still trucking with the Portable Dorothy Parker and Middlemarch (but I feel Middlemarch is a bit worthy for summer holidays).

WATCHING:

The Staircase and all the DVD extras. Mon lent this to me after a very long discussion about Serial, and it’s a pretty amazing series. We watched the whole lot in one evening which meant that we went to bed after midnight, but it was well worth it. I urge you to seek it out.
Midnight in Paris - pretty silly, tho' I thought the Hemingway characterisation was on point.
Only Lovers Left Alive - Katherine recommended this to me (it was one of her top movies of 2014). A super stylish movie that features Tilda Swinton as a vampire which is A+++ casting.

FAVOURITE PODCAST EPISODE: It’s a little late (and off-topic?), but the Christmas episode of the Truth was great and I experienced some LOLs while listening.

KNITTING: Making great progress on my Madeline Tosh Featherweight cardigan. I also made a wooden yarn bowl using a second hand fruit bowl and my own ingenuity. More information to follow.

SEWING: I made yet another dress with no waistband (a current passion) and a top I adore out of apple print fabric. Again, more information to follow.

Wednesday List: New Year's resolutions

2014-12-31T09:00:00.000+13:00

New Year's Eve At Gary Indiana Pubs. Photographer: Francis Miller. Google Life photo archive.

The matter at hand: with 2015 approaching, it seems a good time to put some thought into resolutions. I like making resolutions. In fact, I think the best thing about resolutions is making them. My 2015 resolutions are:

Stay committed to my budget: bring my lunches to work, even if it means preparing lunches en masse; craft from my stash; op shop and check Trade Me before buying brand new. And - plan for any splurgy away-periods.
Spend less time on social media: especially when I’m at work. Something about Twitter while I’m working makes me feel filled with ennui and a kind of mild horror, and I get so angry. It’s not good
Make time for writing: it’s amazing how time doesn’t just magically fall into my lap and make itself available to me.
Keep using all the techniques I learnt in 2014 to manage my worry and anxiety: especially “worry once, worry well” - that is, make a plan and refer back to it when worries intrude. That approach has served me pretty well so far and I’m quite proud of the things I’ve achieved while using it.
Be kind to myself.

Over the next 12 months I’d also like to:

Make a decision about my spinning wheel (which is looking at me reproachfully as I write this): to spin or not to spin? If I’m going to spin, I should probably work at getting better (classes?) and get myself something to card with; if not I should just sell the wheel and get it over and done with. Correspondence on this matter is invited.
Finish Middlemarch.
Have a good declutter. I haven’t moved house for over three years now and you can tell from the amount of crap I have acquired. I feel the urge to purge.

Do you have any suggestions or help for the spinning wheel situation? How do you feel about resolutions?

Let me tell you about my budgeting spreadsheet

2014-12-29T09:00:00.000+13:00

A Google spreadsheet is much more manageable.

My obsession with budgeting has been fairly well established by this point. But! I’m always making new discoveries, increasing my budgeting accuracy, and trying to find new ways to save.

In an effort to have a much better understanding of how I am spending my Mad Money, a few months ago I reincarnated my budgeting spreadsheet. I’m really keen on having such a minutely detailed record of my spending - firstly, it tickles my lizard brain and secondly, I now have an answer when I ask myself two days before payday: where the hell did all my money go this week?

In fact, keeping such a spreadsheet enables me to tell you that for the period 12-26 November I spent:

24.21% of my spending money on food
9.51% on coffee
10.31% on booze
38.50% on clothes (An anomaly. I must have been feeling rich.)
1.46% on homeware
13.14% on presents or donations.

I made my spreadsheet on Google Docs so that I can make updates on my phone in real time. No collecting receipts! I can make my entry on the spreadsheet between ordering and receiving my morning coffee - so no excuses for not keeping the spreadsheet up to date. (Of course, I’ve been horrible at keeping it over the fortnight before Christmas. But I am back on that bandwagon and feeling smug. Aw yeah.)

Because I am quelle generous, I have made a shared version of my budget spreadsheet that you can download and keep. The cells that are highlighted in yellow are for you to plug in your own information - there’s a space for the date and a space for the amount of money you’ve allowed yourself per fortnight. You are of course welcome to make any changes you like to your version of the spreadsheet - mine has some pretty specific categories and the pay period might not suit you.

Another recent budgeting triumph

I have some regular appointments that were annoyingly skewing my budget and leaving me broke at unfortunate times. So in November I worked out how much I spend every two months on all the appointments, and then how much I would need to put away each fortnight to cover them.

I opened another bank account for the Appointments money - and I set up a function that automatically sweeps any money over $300 straight into my savings account. It’s like magic! Magic savings.

The whole thing has been going swimmingly. Best idea ever.

It seemed like a good idea but didn’t really pan out that way

I had a plan to reward myself for not buying coffee by putting that money into my savings account every day that I bravely and maturely made the decision not to splurge.

However, this never really happened. It was a good idea though - and, at any rate, it would show in a very real and visceral way how much I could be saving if I wasn't frittering my money away on coffee. You should try it and let me know how it goes.

Sunday Film Fest: Hoplites! Greeks at War

2014-12-28T09:00:00.000+13:00

Do you like Ancient Greeks? Do you like vases? Do you like geekery with your animation?

May I interest you in this video. It's pretty great, brings back many memories of high school Classics classes (this is an animation of a black figure vase, in case you were wondering).

The guy who made this animation has made a bunch - this is the longest, the rest are usually less than a minute. You should watch some more now.

What is making me happy: Christmas week and summer holidays

2014-12-23T10:01:00.000+13:00

Two Christmas trees are not enough. Also, please note my artful(!) use of vignette: I should not be allowed to play with filters.

I am on holiday now - three weeks of glorious me-time; cooking and sewing and knitting, and planning for Christmas and next year’s projects. Yesterday I put up our beautiful tree, I’ve made some simple mincemeat and we have a fancy free-range ham in the fridge for Christmas Day.

After New Year, Shannon and I are going on holiday for a week with the ever-lovely Nat and Mark - Taupō and then maybe Tauranga. Sunshine is nigh! Exciting because until very recently, Wellington has been proving itself true-to-type in the weather department. *Sighs as though her heart would break* *looks wistfully out the rain-smeared window at the rain with chin in hand*

Related to Christmas planning: I’m also enjoying planting succulents in teacups/stoneware goblets/dessert glasses.

READING:

Naked by David Sedaris - I bought a copy of this for Nat for her birthday and then borrowed it off her - only to discover three essays-in that I had definitely read it before. I had a look on Good Reads in the vague hope that I’d actually made a note of it and it turns out I'd totally read it in August last year! How about that.
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood - long conversation with Mon after I’d read this about loving everything that Margaret Atwood represents but then not really loving the books themselves. There was so much I liked about this book, but I did feel it was a bit laboured.
The Portable Dorothy Parker - dipping in and out of the short stories, and skipping over most of the poetry. Not keen on poetry, even the comedic rhyming couplet type.
Always sitting in my reader and making me feel dismayed with my lack of commitment to Serious Reading - Middlemarch and Peter Ackroyd’s London: The Biography.

WATCHING: A lot (SO MUCH) of Nigella Lawson. On Saturday I watched two series of Nigella's Christmas Kitchen in a row, six episodes in all. I am totally Christmassy right now. I want Poinsettias.

Also! Last night: Home Alone which was better than I remembered.

FAVOURITE PODCAST EPISODE: Fugitive Waves (the Kitchen Sisters) - the Nights of Edith Piaf. SO.GOOD.

The Kitchen Sisters are amaze, also I am fascinated by Edith Piaf's life story. I love a mostly non-narrative/non-editorialising podcast with lots of oral history and primary sources - so: A+++.

KNITTING: I bound off a pocket of my tunic dress and have put it away until next year.

Finally, I began swatching for my Featherweight in Madeline Tosh Lace and the tiny stitches are basically quite terrifying.

SEWING: I have many plans, lots of patterns and a fairly hefty stash - but an empty cutting table. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

LISTENING: Michael Buble’s Christmas album is on high-rotation at the moment. I enjoy his unabashed cheesiness mightily at this time of year.

Something I saw today

2014-12-20T14:13:00.001+13:00

Good use of a stoneware goblet.

Something I saw today

2014-12-18T20:33:00.001+13:00

Dinner: three salads feat. carrot and tahini slaw, and slowcooked beetroot and goat feta. Smug much? (yes)

Something I saw today

2014-12-16T20:31:00.001+13:00

Cannelloni and asparagus from my Shaggy.

Something I saw today

2014-12-15T21:04:00.001+13:00

Pie and salad.

Something I saw today

2014-12-08T18:16:00.001+13:00

This tui, hanging out by the campervan park on the waterfront #t