Art and Abart

Is it possible to buy cakes from yesteryear anywhere? The type that are exquisitely delicious but not too sweet? The entire cake industry in...

Lilies are white, Roses are pink, Both lilies and roses, Fade in a blink Watercolour paintings that didn't make the cut land in my ...

Reading two books at once, like these two which are as different as chalk and cheese, is very rewarding. Each if them is a bit overwhelmi...

Sort out, give away, throw away, modify. Does Marie Kondo do 'modify' I wonder?  I had too much bed linen and not enough bedwear, so...

The window sills on the western side of this house need painting every couple of years as the harsh Australian sunlight destroys the paint. ...

Having a visitor this weekend had two benefits: firstly the company, very appreciated after so long alone, and secondly the need to be a bit...

Puzzles seem the ultimate time waster don't they?  You work and work and when you have completed your puzzle you take it apart again. It...

Over the past week I have been completely entranced by George Eliot's Middlemarch . It is so well written I have been reading very slowl...

Convalescence project: A multicoloured woollen poncho, intended for a 9 year old violin player who complains of the cold on autumn mornings,...

It has been five days since the Christchurch terror attack. It feels like a month. The previously much vilified Muslim community has been ...

The cover of Framley Parsonage shows that I bought it for $3:50. I have forgotten where. I read the first couple of chapters yesterday,, ...

Frankie, the cat with green eyes Well yes, all cats do have green eyes don't they?

It's the perfect read for the indisposed. Light, witty, and light enough to hold up lying down.

Taihape landscape I am feeling much better today after a sofa bound week. I made another little lamb painting to celebrate. They say ...

I heard a few episodes of this book on ABC Radio's late night program last year, then missed the rest,  so I ordered the book. It was a ...

Here are some lambs in springtime, painted from a picture taken years ago in Taihape. Ewes and lambs in Taihape My brother, who has h...

The Ordeal of Richard Fevrel is apparently the most famous of George Meredith's novels. Born 10-20 years after Trollope, Dickens, Thack...

Cardinal Pell.  Yuck yuck yuck. Pell, friend of the far right, bully and now convicted pädophilie. The decision by the jury was unanimous. ...

It has been a week since my last post and in that week I have learned what a nightmare shingles can be.  It isn't the itchy blistery...

Outside my window is a bush with little  butterfly-like flowers. The bees love these flowers which renew themselves daily as their long s...