number one
This is what I want for Christmas. I want blushing peonies streaked with red and pink, sponge cake with cream and strawberries and chocolate buttercream icing, lots of sun and laughter and ridiculous...
View Articletremblement de terre
We had such a big earthquake in Wellington yesterday. Living here, you get used to the ground shuddering underneath your feet but yesterday, it wasn't so much a shudder but a huge jolt. It sounded...
View Articlepipe dreams in viennese thrift shops
The bag below comes from a thrift shop in Vienna. I dragged my friend round various metro stations and through broad, sleepy, leafy avenues on a brilliantly sunny day. Not knowing what to expect of...
View Articleslow letters and seasons greetings
There's something cold about the internet. Peering into a light source, tapping into keys, half your attention on the tv or a text message or something out the window. In the lead up to Christmas,...
View Articlethe island of the chair
The place where you live is empty. You're alone. You just loaded the dishwasher and it's humming in the living room downstairs. The windows in your room are wide open and in the distance, a car alarm...
View Articlesouth
Maybe one day you'll be here too. We'll load up a car or a campervan with big, old quilts, sunscreen, cameras and film. The chilly bin will be packed full of home brew, strawberries, cherries, and ice...
View Articlemeeting of minds
When I first heard Christine talk about Mark, she used the words "soulmate". She talked of a man who wrote poetry, left quotes about the universe and astronomy on her work desk, and with whom she was...
View Articlesnow angels at fontainebleau
I took a train from Paris and stood shivering at the bus stop to get to the chateaux. The two women at the ticket counter looked surprised to see me. There was no one around. For hours I wandered the...
View Articleaimless wandering
The day the ground beneath my feet stop fascinating me will be the day when I know I've lost - lost what? you ask. Lost wonder. Lost hope. Lost admiration. Lost all hope of growth. So many people pace...
View Articlebenadryl haze
Notes for Sick Days ♥ Don't try to read Jane Austen. Too hard. ♥ Instead squint at books like Open Studios by Lotta Jansdotter, Modern Vintage Style by Emily Chalmers, and Garden of Eden by Walter H...
View Articlefield guide
There's an element of naivete to all this talk about getting back in touch with the land. It gets sold to us as an idyllic paradise where waste is greatly reduced, the sun always shines, and if you...
View Articlemicrocosm
I went out today with the intention of buying a kindle touch. The words marched, business-like, across the grey, monochromatic, matte screen. I tried very hard to get excited, flipping pretend pages,...
View Articleblackberry clafoutis
We made a blackberry clafoutis with two punnet of blackberries we collected from the riverbank. The berries were soaked in salted water for an hour or two to draw out any maggots that were hiding...
View Articlefractions
I like waking up on a Sunday and being pleasantly surprised that the sun is out. Jumping on my bike and cruising down to the harbourside market, there's nothing better than a spot of people watching,...
View Articleforeign country pasts
I spent years here, bleary-eyed in wood panelled, green-carpeted reading rooms, hunched over text, yellow highlighters and pens scattered across the table, milky light in winter struggling through the...
View Articlenumbers are a state of mind
There's a certain defensiveness to being in your late-twenties-approaching-thirty. On a Friday or Saturday night, staying out past midnight becomes a kind of challenge. You sneak at a look at your...
View Articlego back home
It's a town of alpine perfection, icing sugar frost, crumpled tissue snow and ice thick as a boiled lolly skittering and skidding over the sides of the road and on top of the Remarkables. The pubs are...
View Articleflannel shirted rain
Grey days make time stop and people hibernate. There's this weird, spitty moisture in the air, half-heartedly splattering water against the windows. Its as if the the rain can't even be bothered with...
View Articlelifestyle
I'm not sure I understand people who constantly have others round to their house, tramping through their front door, swilling their wine, chomping through their food. Maybe if I kept my apartment...
View Articlealready yours
Hey. You. This place is too full of us. Too full of our memories and our stupid jokes and our silly rituals. We already have it all. So why more? I'm already yours.
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