Free accommodation for creative types!?

Oh how I wish this place was in New York...! (I've been hunting for somewhere to stay there and it's tough on a small budget!)

An overnight at Creators Inn offers all the standard features and comfort associated with a modern hotel but the crucial difference is that you as a guest do not have to pay anything. It's totally free. No hidden fees. The aim with Creators Inn is to promote the local area and give something back to travelling creators whose presence contributes to a more interesting city, whether they are in a band, DJ, designer, artist, writer etc.

I think the Swedes are onto something good here - there's also LAT:

LAT offers a free guest room & work space for visiting creators in Gothenburg. Creative collective LAT has built their own version of a joint work/living space at Lindholmen in Gothenburg. The space contains 4 small sleeping quarters, a big collective workspace, kitchen & dining area, a music studio and an equipped work shop in the basement. 

Besides that you get the usual Creators Inn benefits such as clean sheets, bathrobe, slippers, free wifi and consumables. 

http://www.creatorsinn.com/

http://www.creatorsinn.com/index.php/2009/02/lat-%E2%80%93-an-alternative-free-alternative/

From one winter to another..

Polaroids

I was going through a bunch of image folders today, looking for something I still haven't found. What I did find though, was a few old polaroids I haven't looked at in a long time. Oh I miss instant film.. For Christmas I got Fred some of the new Impossible Project Silver Shade film and it's divine! I'll have to get myself some soon as I can afford a little treat... 

Birthday blessings

I celebrated a milestone birthday on Wednesday and after a delicious dinner with Karine and Jérémie, I was sat down in front of the tv and presented with a video of birthday messages from near and afar - mostly afar - that had me laughing and crying simultaneously. 

I've been asked to show the video but I've chopped a good deal out of it for this showing; some things are really personal and I know those friends would hate to be aired publicly, and some messages were just too long to play in full or too full of private jokes that would require too much explaining. All of it meant the world to me.

So here are some snippets of a gift that moved me more than I can possibly say. To everyone who was involved, I love you and I can't wait to see you. There could well be tears. There will be bear-hugging.

xx

ps. I got two videos sent from Berlin and couldn't edit either of them. There must be something in the water there... whatever it is, I love it!

Thursday

It's midday and I sink into this seat, breathless. I've hollowed out a cavity in my chest; it gapes from my throat, down through the space where my lungs should be, back to my shoulder blades and the thin skin stretching over them. It's hard not to sucumb to the hum of the metro and sink into sleep. An Asian girl standing in front of me has the most incredible hair. I eye her skinny legs tucked into fabulous boots and am reminded of something I read recently: "There is a special place in hell for fashion bloggers". So that's all I can tell you. Across from me there's an older woman with a pinched face and a just-sucked-on-fresh-lemon look. She looks me right in the eye and then down over my bag, my jeans, my shoes with an expression of distaste. I'm tempted to hiss at her but I don't. I start to cough again and she looks away.

All together now: Awwww......

So while we're on the subject of old family photos... I give you - Little Frédéric! Apparently his love of cameras started earlier than I thought! And as for the shiner on his right eye? He fell down three stairs. One, two, three.

A tiny little bit of my history - Pt. 2

My grandmother waving her hankie to the ship. I'm not sure if it was a send-off or a welcome, but I love this picture..

My mother with my grandparents

More of Mum - I love her with this haircut..

No caption required here, right?

I think this was a birthday celebrated on the ship where she met my father..

I really was a cranky looking baby. Apparently I was the first of the bunch (Mum's close circle of girlfriends) so nobody had much experience and it took a long time for them to realise that I was lactose intolerant.. It can't have been easy.

 

This was the first little house Mum owned. Cute and colourful in Chifley.

Yes. Excited by an iron. Thrilled to bits even. How things change!

I had to include this one. My stepfather couldn't be more seventies!

This was my neighbor, Andrew West I believe. We played Abba in the backyard and believed we were Swedish megastars. 

It's always fun until someone loses their entire lower body.... 

And then there was a baby sister. Cass was the cutest child you've ever seen. I would post so many of my favourite pics of her here but I fear she wouldn't forgive me. Cass hardly wore any clothes until the age of four and I used to love showing pics of her wearing nothing but a string of pearls and a pair of knee-high boots but she was less than impressed! Maybe now that she has her own 2 yr old....... 

Homeward bound

May 22nd:
Montreal --> New York --> Los Angeles --> Sydney --> May 24th: home.

A tiny little bit of my history

A few days ago a friend dropped in with an old photograph she needed to scan; she had bought it from a woman in Havana last month who sold it to her on the street for a dollar. It reminded me of a very old picture I have of my (great?) great grandparents, posing for a portrait before being presented to the Queen. Why they were being presented to the Queen I have no idea (Mum, do you know?) but the photograph itself - ragged and yellowed with age - is really something.

I searched my mac for this and several other family pictures I know I've scanned, but they must be on a hard drive at home. I did find these, mostly of my mother and myself; though not quite as aged, they've satisfied tonight's burning need for 'old family stuff'. And seeing that I'm about to turn fdzxhcfzjhdx years old in a couple of weeks, these must be able to pass for ancient documents right?

(The last two won't quite pass for childhood pics but they were in the folder and I like them)