on the beach

Seaweed. Sweet, isn't it?

Finally, I got a stroll along the sand. As we walked we collected pieces of colourful rope washed up on the shore.

Surprisingly I wasn't cold, though it was a cool blustery day. Am I finally becoming acclimatised to this Victorian weather?

One of the perks of being back in my home country is the ENDLESS op shopping to be had. There were no op shops in KL, at least that I could see. Thankfully I've landed in a small coastal city that is awash with treasure troves of used goodies. Mostly goodies. Often you come against someone's well worn pilled trackies. Or feather yarn. Sometimes Roxette tapes. Once in a while there's an old high school art class painting that makes you look twice, "Is that mine?"... Although I had ample opportunity, I picked up none of these things. I got a blooming good book called 'Flower Arranging in Colour' by Betty Massingham (image). A kilo of zippers. Some sweet sheets and pillow cases. A teeny yellow saucepan. And a nice chat with the woman behind the counter about the virtues of a good haberdashery collection.

Oh gee, I've been back in Oz for a week almost, and this is only my first post. A little slack, huh? It's been family a-go-go here. Booze and food. Fish and chips on the beach on a cold windy day. Rediscovering old clothes. Patting the family dog. Shoe shopping with my mother. Drinking coffee with my dad. Cutting my sister's hair. Wearing two t-shirts, leggings and socks to bed. Asking if the heating can be put on in the morning. Cripes, it's cold!

I haven't made anything yet. These are images from some cards I collaged in KL. Oh, memories!

Tomorrow I'm off to visit old friends and new babies. Hurrah!

So goodbye KL, so long Malaysia. It feels so strange to be leaving. We did live together after all. And you introduced me to some new friends, I can't help but feel a little sad. But then, holy cow, tomorrow morning when I touch down at Tullamarine...I'll probably be really tired. But happy!

Leaving you though, Thistler, is very hard to do, so you hurry home ok?

Goodbye favourite local coffee shop. Goodbye sweet red bean pastry (will I ever see you again?)



Goodbye Bangsar. You look so nice at dusk, all blurry and glowing, the evening call to prayer ringing out.

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.

It's home time. It's been almost nine months. Early Friday morning I fly fly fly out of KL and eight or so hours later I'll touch down in Melbourne. Oh my. So, goodbye swimming pool. Goodbye neighborhood.

No Coffee Blues

Yesterday our little gas bottle ran out of gas, which put our stove out of action. So here I am, waiting for the gas man. No gas means no coffee this morning, which is harder than it sounds. Yeah, you may scoff. I would, if I had coffee this morning. But I didn't. So instead I've got one of those slight, dull, no coffee headaches, wishing the gas man would hurry up. Ok ok, it's not all self-indulgent. I played around with those little giraffe's a bit and resolved the balance issue. Hurrah! Now they're a happy little tribe of giraffe brooches.

A Few Small Things

Last week I bought some fabric and gouache. Since then I've made myself a grey skirt (totally anticipating my return to Victoria!) and have painted a few little colour studies. Oh boy, the return to painting is difficult. I seem to have forgotten all the rules. Try, try again huh?

Yesterday we went to FRIM. Oh la la, what is FRIM? Forum of Really Intelligent Mice? Oh no no. Forest Research Institute Malaysia, of course! It's a big park (with lots of buildings actually) where Malaysians practice a bit of Forest Research. Mmmm. It's on the outskirts of KL, but still in the Klang Valley. We were going for the canopy walk - a high bridge walk through the rain forest, so we packed a picnic and met our friends at the train station.



Our friends recommended NOT catching the train to FRIM, as the line was unreliable and overcrowded, so we caught a cab. Ooh, the place was rather not what we expected. It was like a little, spread out village with houses, schools and a few cafes. The rain forest was sort off around the edges of this. Down at the information center we were informed that the Canopy Walk was under construction. Oh no!
'But you know,' we were further informed, 'there is sooo much more to do lah.' (Some Malaysians like to add 'lah' onto the end of some sentences, sort of like 'yeah'.)



'You can go to the fish pond where, if you clap your hands, a huge fish will jump out of the water! It can jump so high, it could eat a baby monkey out of a tree, ok!!' (Some Malaysians like to add 'ok' onto the end of some sentences. Sometimes they add 'ok lah!' ;) Well we went to the pond and we clapped and clapped, all four of us together, but the fish wouldn't play. So we went to see some bamboo that we were told was the oldest bamboo in the world!! :0



Soon we wandered down to the picnic area only to discover it had been taken over by an inter-school event, where a large noisy game of musical chairs was in progress. We found a quieter spot by a waterfall and ate, battling over sized ants all the while.



Later we took a stroll through the edge of the rain forest, following the FRIM guide, which detailed the uses of different trees. Did you know that the Campnosperma auriculata is used for match boxes and sticks, packing cases, shoe soles, and disposable chopsticks? You didn't, did you?

Quiet quiet weekend here. Some wandering, some eating. Here are some pics...

Spent a couple hours today with another Aussie ex-pat who was kind enough to introduce me to a quilting shop in KL full full full of cottons. Hurrah! Here's a few fabrics I picked up. Oh heck, it was exciting.

Took a little walk this morning. The sky was very blue and clear and our shady street almost felt cool. Now the clouds are gathering once again and you can bet it's hot!

Who knew a monsoon drain could be so pretty?

Be still, deer.

Yesterday a friend and I took a trip to the Deer Park here in KL. It's in the same area as the Butterfly Park Thistler and I visited some time ago. It was my friend's birthday, and we had already had nice lunch together with our husbands (!) in Mid Valley (Oh mega mall, where would we be without you?). We bought drawing supplies along to the deer park and settled down to an afternoon of sketching. The rain settled in also, and you can see how the deer (and two stags) congregated under the shelter. Oh, they really were so sweet! Standing there, staring back at us. Very very still most of the time then of course, at the inopportune moment, a little shuffling and the drawing is ruined. Never mind, it was so lovely to sit there and watch them as it rained, thundered and lightninged around us and I slowly re-acquainted myself with drawing.

This weekend Malaysia celebrated Merdeka, or independence (from British rule). There were many many flags adorning houses, buildings and cars. A car covered in small flags is quite a sight, each one flapping gleefully in the breeze. There were lots of thing happening in KL (many sales, of course) and on Saturday Thistler and I headed down to the Annexe Gallery in Central Market for the Art for Grabs market they hold there every so often. The gallery was also putting on a programme of films and lectures about Malaysian identity (and constructions of) that looked pretty good, but our love of craft won out over intellectual curiosity...
Lots of handmade goodies to see, here are a few we bought home for ourselves.


This little critter is a handmade softie constructed from a glove. Rather in keeping with my own sock kitty. Below is a set of hand cut perspex brooches. The black fruit is a durian - a beguiling fruit that stinks to high heavens but is heavenly to taste, apparently. Never eaten it, but have certainly smelt it at the markets. That and the umbrella are perfect Malaysian souvenirs!



We totally made it up to our intellect this afternoon though. We were hanging out in the city when, surprise surprise, it started raining. We thought we'd pop in to see a film. 'Don't Mess With The Zohan'. Yes, it is as bad as you think it may be. At one point Zohan says he's from Australia (hiding his true identity) and another character says 'Oh, it must be nice there now that Apartheid is over.' We must've been the only Aussies in the cinema, cause no none else chuckled. Now I've told you the 'funniest' part, you don't need to see it.

Rainy Days

It's been raining all morning. Really raining. Tropical rain. I wonder how long it will last and how many parts of the city have flooded already. No matter, I'm enjoying it. It's a complete distraction.



I wish I smoked so I could stand in the open doorway, arms folded, sucking that cigarette and looking sardonically to the sky. Or reflective, like I was contemplating something REALLY big. "Yeah," I'd think, "it sure is raining."



These pictures go no way to showing you how much water is falling from the sky. But you get an idea of the colour scheme.

We have been getting lost in the city (again), eating banana leaf meals at 'lost' locations, dining with Russians, cleaning our drains and spying piano players in fancy malls.

Mr David is Selling His House

This banner was hard to miss as we walked up the highway to the shops. It wasn't there the next day. I wonder if Mister David managed to sell his house. With 5 bedrooms and 7 toilets I bet it was snapped up quick smart.

Hey Nephew

Big shout out to my nephew (who likes to be referred to as X) whose parcel I've just received in the mail. It came covered in sweet little dog stickers and included great little gifts of chalk, Malaysian money and a nifty little rock. Thank you Mr X, you made my day!
xox k

Right. I'm doing this for the first time. Participating in a 'meme'. Lauren from lauren williams handmade has tagged me. It goes like this...

The rules are:

1. Link to the person who “tagged” you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Here are six random things about me.

1. Yesterday evening as I walked to the supermarket to gather food for dinner a man on a motorbike yelled out to me, "Hello, nice dress!" I was too bemused to yell anything back. I wasn't wearing a dress.

2. I am going to commit the Malaysian word bodoh to memory. It means idiot.

3. In the town where I grew up there was a shop called 'Bali Bagus'. I used to spend a bit of time there, looking at the exotic housewares and batiked clothes. They had a novelty section. You know, rude novelty. There were also lots of framed prints of Bob Marley and traditional American Indians. It was the only place in town that sold incense. Malay (with dialect variations) is spoken throughout Indonesia. In Malay bagus means brilliant, cool, fantastic. Fantastic Bali! Naff shop!

4. I am home sick.

5. I am working on a series of paintings called 'I Dream of a Beautiful Home'.

6. I have an etsy shop. I set it up a little while ago. I should have told you I know, but I was waiting until I got more products on there. You can have a look, just don't laugh at the lack of variety, ok?

Hey Lauren, I know it's illegal, but I'm not gonna tag anyone. I uh, don't know enough bloggers...Is that sad? Maybe if your a blogger and wanna be tagged let me know, I'll tag you.


I can, however, introduce you to Frank and Iris. They're finger puppets, although here they're featured as pencil warmers. They're pretty versatile. You'll find them at my etsy shop soon.



edit: LilliEve has been tagged. I'm gonna tag you too Thistler.