It really isn't my fault...

Don't they know I CAN'T vote?...!

Bromhead 2

After sending fellow Parnellian, and Simply You Living contributor, Peter Bromhead my shot from NYC of the imitation Bromhead...
....he sent me the real thing
Much snappier sneakers Peter! "There's nothing like the real thing baby....there's nothing like the re...al thing"

Great show!

We recently took in a great concert - David Byrne playing some of the music from his legendary Talking Heads career, as well as some more recent of his collaborations with Brian Eno.

The show was held at the very beautiful Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, a smaller more intimate venue. He came on stage very simply, leading his band and backup singers without fanfare or opening act - all of them dressed head to toe in white.

The show was electric. The simple act of having 3 contemporary dancers out on stage for some of the songs made it so much more entertaining and infectious. And it was pure David Byrne...

(Looks from the photos like we were miles back - in fact we were only about 12 rows back)



A friend from San Francisco said he even had a marching band on stage at that venue...and later turned up on his bicycle at a nearby bar where he and some friends were drinking post-show. Apparently he was extremely gracious and very cool...

Check out his new single Every Thing that Happens Happens Today - and Strange Overtones - great. (Strange overtones is available as a free download off his album website here)


Thanks to okeastron and zippy1969 for the YouTube videos!

Long distance Wearable Art Awards entry

Spotted in the Downtown window of Anthropologie, a national womenswear chain, at the weekend was this great merchandising display - a skirt of plywood with accompanying plywood cutout sheep (complete with accessories) - tres cute. Although not sure sheep farmer Dad, Pat, would have approved of the hat and scarf get-up.
Double click the shot for a better view.

Busy fall weekend

While New Zealand celebrated the long Labour Weekend those of us at Lake Okauchee labored most of the weekend (you don't labor with a "u" in the US - they can't spell proper)...

We are in fall (or should that be "full") leaf season...our glorious trees are shedding their coat about as fast as Miles the Malamute is gaining his.

And to be honest, it's a challenge to keep up...we're now the proud owner of a leaf blower vac which is put to good use for 3-4 hours every weekend.

Here's a shot of Robbie in the back yard on Memorial Day weekend back in May, the first weekend that we got the lawn mower....
...and here's a shot - post vacuum - a week ago...(since then about half these leaves have fallen too...).
Being close to Halloween we have had some visitors in the backyard...more on that later.Some of us have worked harder than others....

The colors have been truly spectacular.
This next shot was taken a couple of weekends ago in a nearby state park...And it was also the weekend of the big lift...when the neighbors all get together and pull the piers.
It was something of a military operation...a couple of the guys in wet suits in the water, while the others oversee the lift. They use an ATV and pull the docks up onto the front lawns (where they live for winter).
Not the prettiest of sights...but we have to make room for the ice skating rink...
Back indoors I was busy making spider poos...Saturday night our neighborhood celebrated Halloween - for some reason, some neighborhoods do trick or treating a week early - and Saturday was our night.
Although Robbie warned me that kids are usually told not to accept homemade treats (for fear bad adults poison the treats - which used to happen) I couldn't resist. None of the neighborhood kids (who all know us) said no - and in fact some of the kids the next day said "your rice crispies are the best"...prompting a second helping of leftovers (no cook can turn down flattery!).

And of course, the candy got taken too.

We downloaded some spooky sound effects off iTunes and played them on the outdoor speakers for the kids. I think they were a hit...at least according to the Moms we saw the next day.

The Birthday Tea 2 (NYC)

Some more shots from my great weekend in NYC earlier in the month....

Saturday morning started with taking Adele and Paddy to Doughnut Plant. Who would have thought heaven was just two blocks from Patrick's apartment. I wrote about this place the last time I went to NYC - deliciously sumptuous, made-with-love doughnuts - made from all organic, all natural ingredients. Mine was a Italian plum jelly-stuffed vanilla glazed...yum.
Later in the morning, after picking up Wee P (he needed a little more beauty sleep), we headed off on a walking tour of NYC. Starting with brunch in Nolita at Public...the restaurant established by a bunch of Antipodeans and a head chef who worked with Peter Gordon at The Sugar Club and Providores. It was delicious and the Bloody Mary was the BEST I have ever had.
Everything in the restaurant is carefully curated and designed - from the retro menu clipboards, to the typeface, yellowed mock-aged paper stock that everything is printed on, to the very cool light fittings and furniture. A class act.
The Fry-up...
On the way we wandered by the New Museum of Art on the Bowery
Out of a building in front of me walked Peter Bromhead 2 - I nearly yelled out to him thinking it was Peter - his mannerisms were dead pan - he was just missing his little dog!Really wish this place was open...it was very ME!


The following shot shows a woman on the subway platform...but she was actually on the other platform - behind the moving train. The speed of the train, the spacing of the windows on the train - or something! - caused a pretty cool effect...

We took the Subway up to Central Park and went wandering in the Sheep Meadow
And took in some live musicCheck out the double horns...Outside the Metropolitan Museum of ArtWe wandered upon a street festival
We stopped en-route for some Mexican tacos at The Diner (it's about as hard to get a reservation at this place as it is at El BuliAcross the street at an architectural exhibit...
Later that evening Panda and I went to the Met to see Don Giovanni (thanks Paddy SO much for the ticket!)


We headed back to the Lower East Side and joined Wee P and his mates at his neighboring bar - across the street from his apartment - where he was celebrating the birthday with some cups of vodka. The Toy Co bar serves cocktails in cups and beers in brown bags..!


Sunday, while the birthday boy recovered Panda and I headed over to Brooklyn to go to the Brooklyn Flea Market - a rather cool flea market I'd read about on the internet, filled with vintage, new, and remade...I fell in love with this chair




Mini cup cakes..A great little snack from the Mexican tacqueria standThis stall is from two women calling themselves Nightwood - they go around NYC at night pulling used furniture off the sidewalks, before the trash collectors get it, and then they remodel and recreate new pieces.
Vintage fabrics just waiting to be reloved...
A rather novel way to display magazines, as spotted on the Lower East SideChinatown smoking - and live prawns literally jumping out of their buckets
Art was everywhere - old, new, new old...



By chance we even wandered by the famous Banksy art piece. Banksey is a very famous, once underground (now somewhat of a celebrity) graffiti artist from London - who was recently spotted in NYC...

Thanks NYC!