... unromantic as Monday morning

"Something real, cool, and solid, lies before you; something unromantic as Monday morning, when all who have work wake with the consciousness that they must rise and betake themselves thereto."
(from Shirley, by Charlotte Brontë)

Dear friends, I have to rise and betake myself to a new editing project. Science, off all things. The next few weeks will be busy, but I have some moleskine doodles lined up so I will endeavour to post three times a week as usual. Have a great week, each and every one of you!
xxx Anairam

An Abundance of Love

Dear friends, thank you for your messages of concern! I am quite okay now, still on some medication, but that pesky poisonous yellowtail is a thing of the past ... xxx Anairam

(Art Journal Page - origami hearts, book page hearts, tissue paper hearts, torn out hearts from magazine pages, embroidered heart, plastic mesh heart - all covered with layers of paint and tissue paper.)

May you find an abundance of love this weekend. (Just look below the surface.)

Allergy - a play in three acts.

Act 1
------
(In the restaurant, Monday 29 March, 12.30)

Fish:         I'm a fish. Eat me! Eat me! I am yummy!
Anairam:  Yes! Gobble, gobble, gobble. Yummy!
Fish:         Hehehehe. (laughs in an evil fashion)

Act 2
------
(In the car, half an hour later)
Anairam: Wow, I have a splitting headache, it is really bad.
Anairam: And my lips are feeling funny.
Anairam: Gee, my heart is racing.
Anairam: Wow, I am burning up. Do you have the heater on?
L'Usband: No. You look weird.
Anairam (looking in the mirror): OMG, look at my face! Look at my face!! It is blood red with streaks going down my neck!
Anairam (lifting up her shirt): OMG, OMG. Look at my stomach. It is covered in these hideous red blotches!!
L'Usband: Aiyeeeeeeeee!!
Anairam: Aiyeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Act 3
------
(At the doctor, half an hour later)
Doctor: You look weird.
Anairam (lifting her shirt): Ha! You've seen nothing yet!
Doctor: Aiyeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Nurse, bring the syringes! Immediately!
Doctor: Jab, jab, jab.
Anairam: Ouch, ouch, ouch.
(In the recovery room, an hour later)
Doctor: Well, you had a narrow escape. You arrived just in time. But luckily I saved your life.
Anairam: Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!
Doctor: Here is the bill.
Anairam and L'Usband: AIYEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Not a Square

(Found in Simon's Town.)

Not an Everyday Occurrence.

Wow. It is not everyday that I find

a bit of magic.
Literally.

Have a magical weekend, everyone!(Found on a walk in Simon's Town.)

The Proofreader's Bangles.

Well, I am still proofreading, but in the little bits of time in between, I made myself something. I first learnt about I-cord knitting on Anjie's blog. It is kind of like French knitting, but you use knitting needles (with sharp ends on both sides). Boy, what fun. You knit and knit and knit and this tube forms that closes itself up. It is like magic! Anyway.

I wanted to make something quickly, like in the 10 minutes between proofreading sessions. Not for me the beautiful cable-knit jersey knitted over months, or the heirloom blanket crocheted painstakingly over years. No, I want immediate gratification,  I want to make something and I want it NOW.

So I made some bangles.Oh, the colours are a bit bright - leftover cerise wool with orange car boot sale buttons - and not really suited to my black and charcoal grey and chocolate brown wardrobe, but what the hell. I need a bit of colour in my drab proofreader's life.

Dry.

Succulents in my sun room ...