Silver medal!

Okay, I was going to post something silly today about cheese but it will have to wait.

Stop the presses, halt the horses and otherwise cause astonishment and disruption!

My sister’s eight (the sister I talked about on Monday, the one rowing in the Masters Games) won a silver medal!

Whoo hoo!  How cool is that?

That is iceberg cool, that’s what it is!  And there are other finals to come, so who knows what could happen?

I’m summer happy dancing here in freezing cold Melbourne.

Also, in other news, I would like to mention that it is International Indigenous Peoples’ Day today, August 9th.  The link is to the UN information but may I make a suggestion?  As well as reading about indigenous people, may I suggest that in honour of the day, you make contact with an indigenous person or community near you?  And if you are an indigenous person, I hope you have a great day and that the celebration of this day helps you and your communities.

In honour of my Australian Aboriginal brothers and sisters, here’s a Dreamtime story you might like.

Hope you’re warm and your weekend is happy.

Atlantis Mermaid Love-in

My incredibly talented friend Resa has done it again. Another art gown, this time inspired by the sea…

Art Gowns

Did you ever get the urge to design an “Art Gown” who could swim the oceans & seas spreading love and peace?

Well, then you know she’d have to be a mermaid, and speak a lot of languages.

Le Drake Noir, as you speak 8 languages (reading and writing in 4), and are constantly posting pics of or from oceans and seas, This “Art Gown” is for you.

My personal challenge with this “Art Gown” was that I could only use what I had in stock. I was not allowed to buy anything.

I found:

Blue Crushed Velvet yardage

3 white T-shirts, of my design, and 2 boxes of purple dye. I immediately tie-dyed 2 of the t-shirts, thinking of hippies in their tie-dyes and velvet bell-bottoms.

When it comes to “Love &Peace”, the Hippies were full of it.

Scraps of $200.00/yd. French Lace

Blue and purple acrylic…

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Sunday Sounds

This week, I have been strangely obsessed with music.  Not that I don’t love it, in many forms and styles, but I normally avoid it while working.  This week, though, I had some old favourites on high rotation and in digging them out, I came across Extreme.

Extreme is basically a heavy metal band (or at least they were at the height of their fame in the late 80’s, early 90’s), but they achieved possibly their greatest hit with a gentle acoustic love song.  More than Words is a showcase for the superlative guitar of Nuno Bettencourt and the sweet voice of Gary Cherone and might be familiar, even if you have never heard the band name.  I find it quite inspiring when writing romance!

PLEASE NOTE: It is possible that the videos will have a loud and annoying ad at the start of them.  Just mute it until the proper video starts, is my advice.  All of these videos are black and white, so it’s easy to see when they start. (Note to VEVO – if you would match the music being advertised to the music being watched, your ads might be more effective.  Just sayin’…)

More Sunday Recipe Frolicking…

It’s still school holidays.  So I’m still at the zoo.  Or possibly the Museum.  Or the Art Gallery.  Or playing on the Wii.

So, in lieu of doing anything too strenuous for a Sunday post, I thought I would direct you to my other favourite recipe blog, The Nutrition Guru and the Chef.

These two are a couple and seem quite delightful and have delicious recipes that are also mostly healthy.  Really, there is nothing here not to like!

The picture above is of their tiramisu and if you click on the link you will be taken straight to that recipe.

Or, for all their sweet and savoury goodness, here’s the link to the blog proper:

The Nutrition Guru and the Chef.

Enjoy!

Sunday Showcase: Introducing Tamara Gill

UPDATE: WE HAVE A WINNER!
Thanks to everyone who commented.  The draw has now been done and Resa is the winner of a copy of an e-copy of A Marriage Made in Mayfair.  All commenters are still in the draw for the major prize to be drawn at the end of Tamara’s blog tour.

I’m very excited today to introduce a proper guest on Sunday Showcase!

Tamara Gill is an all-around sweetheart.  She is also an author of historical romance and a fellow member of the Romance Writers of Australia.

Her new romantic novella, A Marriage Made in Mayfair (isn’t the cover gorgeous?) has just been released and in its honour, Tamara is doing a blog tour, complete with PRIZES.  (Another first for Wine Women and Wordplay, thank you Tamara!)

Everyone who comments here will go into the draw to win an e-copy of the book and will also go into the draw for the grand prize, to be drawn at the end of the tour.  (To win, you need to provide a valid email address, so make sure you type it well!)  For more details, or to check out the other blogs Tamara will be visiting, go to her website

But now, on to the interview!

Books for little kids: Catch ’em early and hook ’em for life!

Recently, Chuck Wendig*, writer and blogger about writing, asked for suggestions for books for his little one, who has recently had his first birthday.

I responded over at his blog, but since then, my brain has teemed with further suggestions and I thought it might make a good topic for a post.

(Especially since I have already told him that I have had a dream about reading books to his baby and if I keep going back and adding comments he may start thinking about the logistics of international restraining orders. ;))

I imagine that the readers of this blog are already fully aware of the benefits of reading to young children, but in case there are any who aren’t, let me just say that they are almost impossible to overstate.

I’d like to thank the Academy…

I feel a little like Sally Fields that time at the Oscars, when she said “You like me! You really like me!”  In the last week or so, I have been given two blog awards by two sweet fellow Blogistes.

The first is this one:

which was bestowed upon me by the lovely Lea of Lea at Sea, who has a charming blog about books and writing (and often, beautiful photos).

The second is this one:

which was given to me by the brave and mysterious ‘S’, who has undertaken, for the sake of her health, to eschew sugar forever more and is documenting the process in her blog, S Isn’t For Sugar.  Sooner her than me, say I, but I am following her progress with interest!

I’m very touched and would now like to spread the love by nominating some other blogs that deserve some lovin’.

Redefining Girly – One T-Shirt at a Time

Several months ago, while tooling around and making a pest of myself on Facebook, I came across Pigtail Pals – Redefine Girly.

Pigtail Pals is a business. It sells clothes for girls (and boys) among other things.

But it is also much more than a business.  As it says on the ‘about’ page,

Pigtail Pals – Redefine Girly wants to change the way people think about girls.

Not a little goal, then!  But such an important one.  For me, as an adult, ‘girly’ is an innocent word to describe fun and frivolous, enjoyable women’s stuff.  So, if I’m going out with a girlfriend to have a facial, or buy makeup or clothes, we might say we’re having ‘girly’ afternoon.  It’s harmless, for me.

But what effect does it have on a little girl, if ‘girly’  is all she is perceived to be – all she is ‘allowed’ to be? What if she absorbs the message that what, for me, is a frivolous and fun, but small, part of womanhood is ALL a girl is supposed to be or will be valued for?

Sunday is Showcase Day

I’ve changed my schedule a little. 1st Sundays is now for the Salon interviews and on the other Sundays, I will be showcasing people who I think have things to say.  It’s not that different, it’s just that, instead of me interviewing them, if they already have blogs and such, I’ll just let them speak for themselves.  Today, it’s the lovely Bella from One Sister’s Rant, who I found through the very lovely Amber from A Day Without Sushi.

Because Bella is a fellow WordPress blogger, I was able to reblog her post.  It’s below.  Enjoy!  Engage! Support the Sisters, because we are all much more than pretty!

Happy Sunday, Imelda

Sunday Salon = Sunday Surprise. Again

So, my much-anticipated (by me, anyway) Sunday Salon program has hit another snag.  My invitee this week was indisposed.  I’m thinking I might have to rename this segment as Sunday Surprise.

However, not to be downcast, and in honour of the date today, I have cast in her place the quite fascinating Tom Lehrer. A mathematician, academic and soldier, he was also, for a relatively brief period of his life, the writer and performer of some of the cheekiest, funniest, most irreverent satirical songs of the 20th Century.

Songs like this one,