Special delivery

To be truthful the actual delivery wasn't so special (the less said about UPS and the grumpy guy that came to our house, the better) but what was in the box was a real treasure trove.

Some of the excitement contained within was...

• a microscope that magnifies 200x and connects to your computer (with some shenanigans relating to trying to insert one of those mini CD's into a disk drive of the sort that doesn't have a tray) - some AMAZING photos will follow
• a protective box for the geiger counter that my husband put together some time ago (a long-overdue post)
• a super-bright LED
• a teeny-tiny Wi-Fi device
• some screens and digital displays
• and some skill badges like this one  ------>

All of this excitement came from Adafuit - the most exciting online store, just full to bursting with inspiration and possibilities.




PS. Don't you think the packaging paper that they used instead of polystyrene peanuts is just great?

Telkom - hard at work

Would you believe it. Telkom was working on our lines yesterday (intermittent internet, interchanged with intermittent phone) and we had not one, not two...

but...

three(!) Telkom trucks in our street (there are two on the right).

September Spring Shopping Saturday

The I Heart Market is this Saturday. And if you're busy on Saturday morning, you could always go to the Jomba! City festival at North beach skatepark on Friday 31 August where there will also be a nighttime I Heart Market!

And for people like me who like to know exactly where they're going there's even a map!

Tate tanks

The Tate Modern gallery in London has opened a new area of the building to the public. Part of the old Bankside power station that was originally oil storage tanks has been opened as a new performance art gallery. From the photos in the Telegraph online, it looks awesome. One of my favourite parts of the Tate is the uncannily vast Turbine Hall and from the pics, these new galleries seem to be similarly cavernous. I honestly cannot wait to see them.

Architects Jacques Hertzog (L) and Pierre de Meuron (R)

Picture credits: 1. REUTERS/Luke McGregor, 2. Ray Tang/Rex Features, 3. Sang Tan/AP (all via telegraph.co.uk)

Top greens

In this post a while ago I mentioned my top three "green" bloggers. They are (in no particular order):

Karen Cannard at The Rubbish Diet

Beth Terry at My Plastic-free Life

and Mrs Green (Rachelle Strauss) and her family at My Zero Waste

Each of these women started out in a small way to change their impact on the environment and have gradually become experts through diligence and hard work. They all know that it can be a battle to do things right but they keep on trying and that's what makes them outstanding in my book. All of their websites contain a wealth of information and advice for anyone interested in recycling and caring for the environment.

Book List

Here are some of the best books I've read recently (I'm not getting any money from anyone for this)

Don't let the cat out the bag!

I love this pic because he's my cat, the photo reminds me of laughter (though of course cats hate being laughed at) and it's a photo of a cat in a bag.

Bamboo toothpicks and take-aways

A strange ironic delight fills me each time I read the caution on what was actually a set of chopsticks. I think what has happened is the packaging was originally intended for toothpicks but has been used accidentally to wrap chopsticks.  It's rather like the "open packet and eat nuts" instruction on a packet of nuts but what bothers me most is that the toothpick may be more likely to hurt your mouth than your finger!

 

"Toothpick may hurt your finger"

And to Mooki Noodles, I'd like to say:

Getting crafty

A little while ago I was lucky enough to visit Fat Tuesday in Kloof where I treated myself to (amongst other things) a cool set of postmark stamps. I hurriedly used them on some gift wrap to justify their purchase. Future plans for the stamps include more gift wrap and some birthday cards.

A postscript (if you will): the UNISA logo is not one of the stamps. It's just me recycling a very old envelope.

A gift

I thought this little tea caddy was so cute that I just had to get it for my niece who will be going off to University soon. 

I've always loved the robin redbreast as he's such a cheerful looking fellow.

Cape Town holiday with someone special

There's a special person in my life. So special that just thinking of him brings a smile to my face and warms my heart.

Strongbox

This safe is made from used cardboard boxes by an Italy-based sculptor.

Chris Gilmour's cardboard sculptures (with no internal armatures or wooden skeletons) vary from life-size to desktop-size, cars to typewriters. Thanks to a tweet from @Etsy for the link

Cool new typeface

Once upon a time I worked with a graphic designer who insisted that the correct term was typeface and not "font" as we have all learned from using Word.

Well, this is a new typeface designed by illustrator and typographer Alex Trochut for Wallpaper magazine.

I love it.

Thanks to Creative Review magazine and @wallpapermag for drawing my attention to it.

Idyllic mini-break

Our weekend away was perfect.

Something for the weekend

I'm really looking forward to this weekend being low-tech. We'll be reading books and soaking up the sun.

In the spirit of relaxation and the proverbial getting away from it all, then...

New from old

I'm unreasonably proud of my little celery plants because I grew them from the cut off bit from some bought celery stalks. I love to reduce waste and having them grow instead of throwing them away is so rewarding

Digilympics! Tweet your team to success

I found this through the Adafruit blog and as it combines my love of Lego and the maker culture I just had to post it here.

Samuel Cox has designed a Twitter-powered Lego race where related tweets move the competing Lego figures. To support Tweet @UK_Digi (TeamGB), @US_Digi (USA), @CA_Digi (Canada) or @JP_Digi (Japan). South Africa is not represented, but it's still so inventive that I must participate.