Auckland crafting day

Stacey at Polka Dot Daze has organised a crafty day for Auckland which sounds like a lot of fun and I've just emailed her to say I'd love to come - although why is it when I sound so definite I feel like I should throw in a small caveat along the lines of "if I can, barring any disasters or illness"?  I guess it comes with being a mum.  Heh.  So if you're in the vicinity and it sounds good, email her and come along.  It's going to be an adventure for me, driving across Auckland to totally unknown territory, and in Mat's big, grubby, work station wagon too, just to make it extra exciting.  It'll totally ruin my self-image of course, I'm so used to our zippy little red Golf.  I'd have never thought I'd feel a car reflected my personality, or even care too much what I drove as long as it was reliable, but somehow I've discovered I do!  Geez, next thing I'll be getting some lame-o personalised plates or something (never!!!) ;)

Skating

I used to do a lot of skating, both figure and dance, and I miss it a lot.  There are rinks here but I've never felt that inclined to go for fear of a crap experience and getting put off it entirely.  Today we went with my friend Steph and her two kids and it was so much fun!  Hazel took to it like a duck to water (or a Canadian to ice?) and had a grin plastered on her face the whole time.  I was a bit wobbly, and had to exchange my hockey-style skates for figure skates after the first turn around the rink, and the blades were freshly sharpened which made for some fun, but by the end I was moving around much more easily and getting some of my confidence back.  I managed to keep two little girls upright for one lap, and then just Hazel, so I'm obviously fairly steady.  Boy I'd like to have my own skates here!  I do have some back in Edmonton but I doubt they'd fit me anymore.  But I might look into picking some up when we're back for Christmas.  The funny thing about being in the arena is that it was pretty much just like an arena in Edmonton, and Steph tells me just like the ones in Edinburgh.  I guess there's only so many ways you can build an arena!  Hazel's desperate to go back and I think I am too - though I think I might have a hot bath tonight to try and stave off a bit of the stiffness I'm sure I'll have tomorrow :)

Look at me! look at me! I'm going backwards!

You have called my bluff!

Alrighty, thanks to Ms Stitchbird, I now have 200 followers and I did say I'd celebrate didn't I! Truth-be-told I'm a bit stumped, I don't want to do a bog-standard give-away but on the other hand they're good fun. A sew-along was suggested and I was all keen on that but then I couldn't think what I could do and frankly I can never get my ass in gear to do one, and while I expect my readers are a lot more proactive than me, I'd have lingering doubts anyone was actually sewing. Anna suggested blog candy - now I'm not sure what that entails exactly, but it caught my imagination and I'm mulling over a couple ideas and I'll get back to you all soon I hope!

On Monday a very good friend I hadn't seen in ages came to visit so with the Design*Sponge guide to Auckland in hand we headed out and oh what a fine time we had! The first stop was the Lucy-Mae Sparkle Boutique in Grey Lynn. I used to go by that spot on the bus every day but haven't for ages so it was nice to find something new and exciting in such a familiar spot. It was seriously fabulous - from the steps that were sprinkled with glitter and loose buttons (so glad Hazel wasn't with us, I'd have had to bodily carry her past those or she'd have picked them all up!) to the masses of jars, bags and tins of buttons, the trim, the vintage fabric, the embroidered and crocheted doilies and goodness knows what else we missed! There's also a great selection of funky clothes and accessories made from the vintage goodies. I particularly liked the circle skirts made from old tablecloths! I found Hazel a lovely old wicker sewing basket for her birthday, I'm going to clean it up, replace some of the lining, and fill it with little goodies. It came loaded with bits 'n bobs but as Mat said, lots of them were sharp :) I was going to make a sewing box with Chez Beeper Bebe's tutorial, so I think I'll just adapt the ideas to this pre-existing box as best I can. No photos of it because I haven't had a chance to photograph it while Hazel's not around. I also picked up some lovely embroidered linen napkins and a cool old doily. The doily may or may not be salvageble as it's obviously been sitting in one spot for ages so has a pale circle in the middle where something was on it and the rest has gone sort of brown from age and light exposure. The fabric is in good nick though, so I'll be searching the internet for ideas on how to approach it - if anyone has suggestions I'd be most grateful. I also found a length of a very cute orange floral fabric that I'm going to make a dress for Hazel from. I know there's a term for the fabric, it has lines of puckering running along it - seersucker? Anyways, it's cute.

We also went to Salvage in Mt. Eden, which is along similar lines but is closing down at the end of next month! Sure, I finally get there and it's leaving. Accordingly she doesn't have a lot of stock but it was still wonderful. I almost got there a couple years ago but it was closed when I went past so missed out. I've always been a bit nervous of going in in case I spent too much money, and looking at the photos from the shop pre-moving I think I may have been wise in that regard! I bought the lovely pink flannel in the photo above to make some pjs for Hazel, and a couple of kitschy kid's hankies so she can blow her nose just like daddy.

Of course, being in the locale I had to go into Global Fabrics and found some Donna Karan fabric to make a shirt for Mat. I got him some fabric he liked for his birthday but wanted to test out the pattern (yes it's Kwik Sew!) before I cut into it. This one also meets his approval so he's now pestering me to make two shirts instead of just one :P

I also got a couple of panels of a rather Marimekko style fabric to make a skirt. I took a photo of it today but realised when I put it on my computer that the reds and oranges have totally blown out and you can't see the difference between them so I'll have to try and re-photograph it. The lozenges have orange and red circles in them and there are orange and red stripes at the bottom. But boy you wouldn't know it from this photo!

It's interesting that this has happened because Pioneer Woman did a great post last week about it happening in her photos and there were some very useful tips in the comments on how to avoid it or at least minimise it, I must go and read them again.

Sewing Haiku

Or is that haikus? No, must be haiku plural.  All I know is that I suck at them. But the Selfish Seamstress doesn't!  I've only recently discovered her blog and really love it, though I don't love how she's all petite and can wear clothes I can't. Don't love that at all! :)  But for a petite person she writes a mean haiku and she writes them about sewing!  AND you can get them on tshirts and mugs etc.  I felt moved to post about them after her latest one about bobbins.  As they used to say about Seinfeld "it's funny because it's true".

200!

200

As a friend pointed out, I'm heading towards 200 followers - or as I obviously like to term it 200 people of taste and discretion.  She wondered if I was going to have a party.  So maybe I should - what do you guys think? What should I do? Suggestions please!

Speaking of parties, have a look at this very funny post over Suburban Snapshots entitled Why having a toddler is like being at a frat party. Hilarious and the comments are brilliant!  Via Oliver + S's tweet.

Jump Rope Dress

Can I admit that this dress has taken nigh-on a month to finish up? It was part of the 'Kid's Clothes Week Challenge' but didn't quite get done in that week. All it needed were buttons but to do that I had to remember to get thread for the buttonholes and get some matching buttons. It's the little things that slow me up!

This is the Jump Rope Dress from Oliver + S. I've had the fabric languishing in my stash for over a year, meaning to make something for Hazel and I thought it would really suit the dress. In the end though, I'm not so sure. It looks nice but the fabric is a very high-quality cotton and it's actually quite stiff. Hazel complained about it the first time she tried it on and I'm not sure that I blame her to be honest. The fact that she complained means this may be as close to it as she ever gets

Oh well, I've learned my lesson when it comes to clothes she's iffy about and I'm not asking her to wear it, or making a big deal out of it. It's a bit too big which means that she's got plenty of time to come around to it! I made Dress A with the long sleeves from Dress B, so if she gets interested by the time summer rolls around I can always turn the sleeves into the short version of A. The dress went together well, although the belt loops were crazy long and the markings on the pattern for where to put them were just plain bizarre - I must check the errata and see if there was some issue. Or I may have just completely lost the plot in regards to the pattern/instructions. I got them right the second time around with alterations. The collar ended up being too stiff with the addition of interfacing, if I made it from this fabric again (which I wouldn't) I wouldn't put in the interfacing, the collar needs to be fairly soft to fold correctly.

Doughy pawprints and the mysterious box!

When I make quiche I don't do the pastry myself, I just buy it from the store (oh the shame, the shame!)  I left a couple sheets out to defrost this morning and came out into the kitchen to find this

Lucy had obviously jumped up on to the bench to see if these things were edible and probably got an unpleasant surprise. I can imagine that pastry dough probably doesn't feel all that great under paw.  Although the pastry sheet was completely ruined* who could be mad at such cute pawprints?

*In the interests of honesty I did very briefly wonder if the pastry was still edible but the dirt left behind disabused me of that notion very quickly, considering what Lucy does out in the garden... and ewww, she was up on the bench!  Good for the immune system right? right?  I refuse to be drawn into the mad fantasies of the advertisers who want us all to be terrified of germs on all our household surfaces and to spray their horrible products liberally on everything - nothing makes me talk back to the TV more than one of those stupid ads.  See even now I'm having to resist the urge to launch into a tirade against them.

The mystery of the box around the text in my blog has been solved - it was simply that my version of Firefox was about 2 years old. For some reason it hadn't been updating itself automatically like I thought it was.  So that's fixed and now I can see the box darn it!

A winner and thinking about blogging

Wow, so the giveaway didn't generate as many entries as I'd expected; but hey, more chances for you guys eh? Do I sound Canadian when I say that? Sorry ;)

Ok, so Random.org says the winner is

And #8 is Chic Too who said I have to agree with Kris I love the bunk beds with all the drawers and storage!!! I would love a sleigh bed too.

Congratulations Chic, I'll be forwarding your email to the lovely Caitlin at CSN and she'll be in touch about the prize. And remember, if you don't tell me what you chose I shall be forced to come to your house and demand to see it in person! And you don't want that. Oh no. I loved those bunk beds too, especially the way the top one was perpendicular to the bottom one. How perfect for sleepovers!

This weekend I'm going to do some sewing and creating so hopefully I'll have something to report back on. Though having said that I read Anna's post over at Noodlehead this morning (do you read her blog? If you don't you should!) and it really made me think about why I blog. Initially it started out as being a way of just documenting what I was doing in the craft realm and I had a blog over at Live Journal for my personal stuff. And then it got to be all about the craft and my LJ blog hasn't been touched for over a year which is so sad. When you have an audience who aren't people you already know that you made come and read your new blog, the whole blogging thing subtly shifts, or not so subtly. Suddenly there are 'followers' and subscribers, stats, comments, giveaways, advertising to consider etc. etc. It's incredibly cool when people find your blog and start reading it off their own bat, I mean what a rush! But then you have to decide if you're going to chase that and promote your blog (I don't), have stats (I do but sometimes I wish I didn't), have ads (I won't), give things away (which is an unexpectedly fun part of blogging), mention your family's personal names (I do), show photos of your child(ren) (I do but sometimes I worry about it). Add to that the feeling that you should be creating so you have something to show off, or feel worried because you've only posted once that week. Phew! So why am I promising to do things on the weekend to show you guys, it seems kind of silly considering my train of thought this morning :) I guess it's hard to break out of your self-imposed feelings on blogging huh? But having said that don't we all like to show off a little, and having a friendly and like-minded audience for it is rather irresistible! I sort of think of it as a replacement for a real-life sewing circle or a ladies' group of yore. What do you guys think? Does blogging sometimes get away from you? Do you find yourself places you didn't mean to go? Or is it all good?

A penpal for Hazel

I'm wondering if anyone out there has a 4-6 year old who would like a penpal in New Zealand?  Hazel is desperate for mail and of course it being the day and age it is there isn't a lot of letter-writing going on! I have no idea if such a thing is still popular, but if anyone remembers being a kid and the thrill of getting a letter in the mail addressed to you personally, then let me know!  Boy or girl wouldn't matter, and I'm not thinking anything more fancy than a couple letters* back and forth, throw in a pack of stickers or a postcard kind of deal.  Anyways, drop me an email or leave a comment and maybe we can set something up for the sprogs :)


*Hazel's will be written by me at this point but there will be large printing and creative spelling in the near future I think.

Looking for a pattern - help!

I'm wondering if the great crafty hive-mind might be able to help me track down a tutorial/pattern. It was for a really nice laptop craft space/organiser for kids, with a pillow underneath and a hard top, and flaps with pockets that hung down either side.  I can picture the tutorial so clearly but I'm darned if I can remember where I found it, nor can I find any downloads or bookmarks. It's driving me crazy! 

And while I'm asking, does anyone have a good pattern for a back-of-the-carseat organiser for kids to store their junk in on car trips? 

Hazel's just come out of the harness on her car seat and is now using it as a booster with the seatbelt, which means she can now lean far enough forward to reach things on the back of the front seat. Though the novelty of that range of movement has faded fairly quickly which is much easier on the nerves. Plus I don't have to keep saying "sit back in the seat" "stop pushing your feet between the seats" "stop tickling the back of my neck" "stop pulling my hair".  Mostly it stopped when she made the mistake of tickling her daddy while he was driving and got growled at in that special daddy way that seems to instantly succeed where endless mummy admonishment fails.  I'm sure that safety was paramount in his mind and not the fact that he's rather ticklish :)

A giveaway!

Firstly, I just have to say that I won't be doing this kind of giveaway very often but I figured that I honestly loved what was on offer so much that I might as well make someone else happy - sort of a payback to the North Americans for not being able to enter the Anna Maria Horner book giveaway :) I have no idea if anyone will ever approach me again to do this kind of thing but I can promise you that if they do I'll only ever present you with stuff that I'd personally like to win, and I would never ever take a freebie or a payment to host something like this.

Having got the boring disclaimer out of the way - A little while ago CSN approached me to host a wee giveaway for them, and after I had a quick look around their shops I was happy to agree because they have some really lovely stuff!  The winner will get a US $60 gift certificate to use in any of their shops (and oh boy do they have a lot!) and you can use it alone or towards something a bit more expensive.  Now they only ship within the States and Canada, but that doesn't necessarily preclude the rest of the world if you have a nice friend who lives in North America and who would send the prize on for you.  You also need to keep in mind that you need to include potential shipping charges and/or customs or other import duties you might be liable for when considering what you'd like.

So what do you need to do?  Well click on over and have a look at their Beds and tell me which one you like best.  That's it!  Personally I really like the Modus Nevis Espresso bed - we need a new one ourselves and I'm desperate for something with a footboard to keep the blankets from slipping off the end of the bed in the middle of the night!  Of course, shipping it to NZ isn't exactly practical...

But you don't have to use your prize on a bed - they have heaps of great bedding there too. Or how about on something at another of their stores like the really neat stuff at All Modern?  This is the site that caught my eye when I was checking out their initial email and while I knew I was going to be all virtuous and do the giveaway, I really REALLY wished that I could go for a product review of some of this stuff and get to keep it myself :)  How about something from Dwell Studio?  Ok, so I'm just living vicariously through one of you I know, but I do like looking at pretty stuff and there's some gorgeous gorgeous textiles and patterns on this site.  They have a handy way to limit your search to products within a price range, so you can select $0-60 over on the left sidebar there.  Or how about shoes?  Ok, so I didn't even look through that store because shoes I can't have would just send me over the edge!

So clicky clicky over to the beds from the first link up there and come back and tell me what you like. I will draw the winner with a random number generator (the internet kind!) on Friday, June 18th at 9am NZ time, which I think is something like 5pm on Thursday the 17th EST.  Don't forget to include your email address in the body of your comment or make sure you enter it into the Disqus field with your name etc., that way I see it but it's not publically visible.  And for the lucky winner, once you've chosen your prize you have to come back and tell me what it was!  Well ok I can't make you do do that, but it would totally make my day!

Far Far Away auction at Stitchbird

Lyndy over at Stitchbird is auctioning off a gorgeous FQ bundle of Heather Ross's Far Far Away in aid of the Mary Potter Hospice in Wellington. A wonderful bundle (I should know because I've got one!) and a worthy cause. I think hospices are one of the best things when it comes to contemplating mortality and how the tide should go out in a dignified and painless way.

A few thoughts on MSL's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts

I've spent far more time than I probably should have thinking about what I'd say if someone asked me what I thought of this book and should they buy it. No-one has, but I'll tell you anyways! Part of me really likes it and is glad I bought it, part of me is glad it was birthday (ie 'free') money I used on it because I'm not entirely sure whether it...mmm...how to put it...justifies its price or size?

So what I'll do is the good stuff first and I've scanned a few of my favourite projects out of it to show you - and to be honest there were this many again I could have put in so the hit rate in terms of things that make me go "ooOOO!" is pretty high. The book is organised with a large section at the beginning that covers various techniques necessary to do the projects in the book. The projects are broken down into categories like Animals, Aprons, Bed linens, Clothing, Coasters, Decorative Pillows, Flowers, Nursery, Organisers, Pets, Quilts and Patchwork, Slippers, Upholstery, Wall decor etc. etc.

In the order that Flickr gives the photos to me (which is the opposite of their order in the book!):

Menswear Mice. I'm not sure if Lucy would actually be interested in them as she's not a catnip cat and can get a bit scared of anything too big lobbed towards her, but damn they're cute! I suspect little kids would like them more.

Felt slippers. I love love love the cut-out treatment, they look gorgeous. I'd probably do the soles in something warmer than just felt though.

Dog Coats. One of my nephews is a small terrier named Duncan. He'd look adorable in one of these.

Covered button boutonierre. I love this, so small and perfect. Though I never have floral wire or tape around for these sorts of things and I never do them, maybe I should lay some in.

Stencilled curtains. These are actually very similar to the fabric we used to make the curtains in Hazel's room and I love the Scandinavian feel to them. Beautiful.

Girl's shirt dress. Can't get enough of these little girl dresses out of men's shirts! This one looks very cute and has the added bonus of a great construction technique with means you don't have to pfaff around with sleeves etc. Now if only Mat would tire of his shirts before they were worn out! This picture is like my fantasy little girl shot, so demure, the freckles, the sweet little (non-pink) cardigan. I think Hazel would run screaming the other way if I tried it though...

Little felt bags. These are the ones that inspired the Totoro bag. Nothing startlingly new but I just love the colours and design. Hazel likes the birdy one best and I'm very keen on the cat. There are several other more grown up versions in the book as well.

Menswear Bunnies. Oh my goodness I heart these bunnies so much! Wook at deir widdle faces! But really, how cute. These definitely got a "can you make me one mummy?" from Hazel and I will!

Sashiko. I've only recently become aware of this Japanese style of embroidery and I love the patterns shown here and in a couple projects in the book. It's used particularly effectively on the edges of pillowcases in one project. The circles are my favourite but they're all just so elegant and restrained. Again, love it!

Ok, so that was the good. And it was pretty good right? Plus there are lots of projects for things that I don't need right now, like curtains, but might in the future, so it's a good reference book as well.

The bad. Even I, with limited access to the MSL magazine, recognise some of the projects. Like the stencilled curtains - a couple of projects come from that particular issue, which I picked up last time I was home for a visit, as do some of the upholstery ones which I know from another magazine from a previous visit. Needless to say I've been treasuring them since, but I think it illustrates the point that if you have every magazine then you probably have a decent section of this book already.

The same goes if you're an online tutorial addict like me - many of these projects rang a bell or two as to tutorials I'd come across elsewhere. Not identical or anything, but there are only so many ways you can make a small felt purse, or a small dog jacket if you know what I mean. A little searching and perserverence will yield similar projects.

Some of the techniques are in reality quite complicated and I don't think that a page or two of rather superficial instructions are going to get you good enough to tackle the projects successfully. Like the sashiko - to be honest I'd go elsewhere for instructions because I'm not sure I'd get good results based on the book's. The pictures are pretty and it's fabulous to leaf through and read, but I'm not convinced about the achievability of many of the projects. But actually, maybe that's not the point? It's quite likely that the intended audience isn't going to try 90% of these projects, just like they probably don't from the magazines, so I may be judging it by criteria that it simply wasn't meant to meet.

My final verdict? Well I think it depends on how you feel about the Martha Stewart brand and the styling, as well as what you want from a book like this. If you have all the magazines probably don't bother unless you want one of the new projects. Personally I'm a total sucker for the MSL styling and the aesthetic, if not the über-frau ethos. But if it irritates you then don't buy the book. If you need all the projects to be practical or achievable based on the instructions included then be wary but not totally put off, most of them are achievable with just a few that you'd need a gazillion dollars to do, or a personal coach to show you how to do it. If you are more of a free online tutorial kind of person then stick with that because there isn't much in here that you couldn't get online.

On the whole though, I'm pleased I've got it because really, nothing beats sitting on the couch with a cup of tea looking through a lovely great big book, with the promise of page after page of neat and wonderful things stretching out before me. Computers are great, online tutorials are great, but a book's a book and it doesn't need to be plugged in or printed out. So I like this one, it's like a chunk of the crafty internet made real.

Totoro felt bag

I'm still in the process of trying to figure out which projects in the Martha Stewart book to show you, but one that I will are some cute little felt bags. Nothing stunningly innovative, but they're really quite adorable and of course the second Hazel sighted them it was the standard "can you make that for me mummy?" I love little projects like that because they're so quick and creatively satisfying so I said yes. Then Totoro came into her life and I had the clever idea I could just whip up a Totoro bag for her - you know, slap on a few bits of felt and voila! there would be a Totoro. Two days later...

Hazel told me tonight that she really likes my sewing, which was a huge compliment and I have to say I'm more than a little pleased with how it turned out! You know when you do something that you just like looking at because every time you do it gives you a wee rush of pleasure? I don't get it with everything but I do with this.

All I did was find an image from the rainy bus-stop scene (You Tube clip in the post here) and print it off, cut the various bits out and use them as patterns. I cut the brown felt out first, then cut out the tummy, eyes and nose pieces from the picture. I cut the various shapes very carefully and used the empty spaces left behind to position the felt elements on the brown background, and then stitched them down. After I had the tummy, nose and eyes done I cut the arm shape out and attached that. If I were to do this again I'd make the tummy round and put the arm over the top instead of the fiddly way I did this one with the shaped edge. I had planned on doing the little chevrons and claws out of felt but that proved insanely fiddly and essentially impossible so they're embroidered instead. The umbrella gave me no end of grief and there were many versions trying to replicate the inner and outer you can see in the picture. In the end I just made the outside and skipped the angled look to it. I'd love to try and make her a larger backpack with fuzzier fabrics though, that would be freaking amazing!

Other Totoro crafts I've found and bookmarked:

Blue crocheted Totoro from Heaven's Hellcat
Tiny Totoro doll's hat from Netherwood Creations
Knitted Totoro Hat by Hello Yarn
Totoro Norwegian-style mittens by Andrea (free Ravelry download)
Paper Totoro by Cubeecraft
Totoro bag pattern on DeviantArt

And here is Hazel "My destiny. It is out there. I face it with my Totoro bag."

And look at those lemons! They'll be ripe in a couple of weeks and then it'll be lemons, lemons and more lemons. I'll have to make some lemon curd and some tarts and... They're not lemony lemons if you know what I mean, I think it must be some sort of Meyer cross, so they're fat, sweet and juicy but not very acidic. And they come all at once! So if you visit me in the near future I will probably offer you lemons to take home, which is never very successful in Auckland because most people are having similar problems!

The even more mysterious box

Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to respond about my mysterious box - I'm even more puzzled about than ever as there seems no rhyme nor reason to who can see it and who can't. I just checked and it shows on my computer if I use Safari. O_o  Don't you just love the vagaries of computers and the internet?  If I have time I'll check into it further in case anyone other than me and Anna have a box they don't want!

The mysterious box on my blog

The other day I was having a look at my blog from my computer at University (a PC using IE) and I noticed that there was a box and shadow around the text area of the blog that made it stand out from the white background. It doesn't appear on my Mac using Firefox so now I'm wondering who it appears for. If you can see it I'd be curious to know what kind of computer/browser you're using.

I also need to say hi and thanks to the mysterious person(s) who have been submitting my images to Craft Gawker! It's not a site I'd come across before but it's quite neat and I've been enjoying looking at some of the other images that appear there. It's an eclectic mix!

I'm in the midst of completing some UFOs - the boring stuff like hems, repairs and taking in. Need to get it done so I can get on to more fun stuff! This is the point in projects where I tend to fall down, get it all done bar the final finishing touches and it languishes for far longer than it should.

I made some focaccia with 'Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes' and it was great! Onion and rosemary and it really was wonderful. It took a 1/4 of the dough so the rest of it's sitting in the fridge waiting to go - problem is that I'm meant to be trying to lose weight and having yummy bread minutes away is an awful temptation... I'll post more about the book when I've had a chance to try some more of the recipes but it's looking VERY positive so far :) Not that I doubted it because it's had such rave reviews everywhere I've come across it on others' blogs.

Opera 'n stuff

Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been mostly reading about crafting. And watching My Neighbour Totoro which is the most amazingly wonderful movie EVER. Rent it, buy it, watch it with your kids and your significant other(s). This clip is in the original sub-titled Japanese, but the English version that we've been watching is extremely well done.



Last night Mat and I went to see the Marriage of Figaro.

I enjoy opera though I suspect I probably wouldn't go if he wasn't keen and organising it. Personally I prefer the more modern operas like Verdi's because they don't sing the same thing over and over again ad nauseum - you know, snappy plot lines, everyone dead at the end :) But I was thinking as the lights went down that opera really is a cultural connection with the past. I mean, you can sit in an opera house and listen to the rustlings and coughs, clap when the conductor comes out, dash for the refreshments at interval, people watch, admire shoes and dresses, gossip about fellow attendees, run into friends and generally do things that people have been doing for hundreds of years. Pretty cool. Oh, and if you've had a long day you can doze off too. Ahem.