Curiosity : Meet me at Frankie's

Among the many gorgeous blogs I check daily, Meet Me At Mikes is a favourite crafty one. It's clever and nice and funny and everything I look for in a friend. The other day they had a post called Here's Where I'm Up To and they encouraged other bloggers to steal their idea (like only a good friend would). So I did. And here's what I'm up to...

Making : A silly card for hubby's birthday tomorrow... drawn with crayon
Cooking : A whole chook with preserved lemon and Herbie's Jamaican Jerk seasoning in the slow roaster
Drinking : Dandelion tea with manuka honey
Reading: Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Wanting: A roomy (massive), dreamy (old yet structurally perfect) three-story terrace on Bourke St to decorate
Looking: For new ways to decorate our current terrace home!
Playing: Little Voice by Sara Bareilles
Wasting: Less and less the older I get
Sewing: Not so much, really
Wishing: These early spring days would go on forever
Enjoying: The sun rising a little earlier each day
Waiting: For an excuse to wear my new Miss Selfridge maxi
Liking: Green & Black's organic dark chocolate with cherries (if by 'liking' you mean 'addicted to and cannot live a day without')
Wondering: What new words my niece is trying out this week
Loving: Stewed apple and rhubard with fresh ginger on my morning porridge
Hoping: I can find a good, local upholsterer for my bargain chairs that won't rip me off
Marvelling: At the nasty sting a paper cut can deliver
Needing: A bandaid
Smelling: The divine Sohum Apple Fig & Vanilla candle on my desk
Wearing: MNG peachy pink cardi, FCUK jeans & ugg boots
Following: The creative lives of angry chickens, pretty things, constant gatherers & funny cats
Noticing: How much happier I am with a kitchen full of organic whole foods
Knowing: Enough about pesticides and hormones... ewww... to stay well away
Thinking: About how much I'll enjoy devouring my new Mindfood mag tonight
Feeling: Good
Bookmarking: Etsy Etsy Etsy, Oi, Oi, Oi
Opening: The glossy black door to No. 9 this morning to meet a friend for brunch was the nicest surprise
Giggling: At the sigh of a sheep toy being tossed about by my staffie

Steal away! Write your own somewhere and let me know so I can check out whatcha doin' xxx
Pic above by me at Central Market, Kuala Lumpur

Glazedware : Alive with age

How much fun would an architect have had a couple thousand years ago. They'd spend their time outdoing every other elaborate designer in town with baroque touches in every corner, crazy gargoyles and stunning, stunning, tiles. Fun times my friends.

Zavisa has a gorgeous range of photos on his flickr photostream. The Portuguese tiles (above and below) caught my eye straight away. These painted, tin-glazed tiles are called Azulejo; they're found on the walls, floors and ceilings of churches, palaces, houses and train stations. I think they're beautiful.

I asked Zavisa why he likes them so much...

First they are imperfect. If you check carefully, even if they were built in an industrial process, they never seem 100% equal.

Secondly, their surface and glazing shows signs of time - they've been consumed by years and probably sun and rain. They are simply alive. Old and alive.

Finally, they are always different. You will never see two equal patterns in a street. To be honest, after walking and riding a scooter for days, I never saw two identical patterns in the whole time I was in Lisbon.

What are you reading? Psychology and Alchemy, a fascinating book by Jung. Symbols and numbers. And then I start seeing the beauty of these patterns in a completely different way...

flickr.com/elkabong