Category: The Life of Lara

It’s all here. Adventures in extreme knitting, the house of poop, and suburban permaculture. You may also find rants about politics, ecology, humanitarianism, responsible living, toe floss, and other topics not covered here. Expect profanity and irreverence. You have been warned.

One Week Down….

And 1/2 a kilo gone !

Mark and I joined Weight Watchers last monday night, and at our weigh in last night we had each lost 500 grams. Mark didn’t think that was such a huge loss for so much effort, but I am really happy – that’s a whole tub of marg I am not toting around with me every day, and I know I can put more effort in and get good results. I am not in a hurry to reach my goal weight, this time I am happy to focus on changing my habits, and becomming a fitter, healthier, more organised, and happier person.

Yay for me ! And yay for Mark.

Why I Won’t Wear Silk

Or knit with it…

Silk is a fibre made by larvae to protect them while they metamorphose into their adult form. It is very fine, soft, and strong, and when collected and made into clothing etc, is light and soft against the skin, yet very durable.

But it requires the death of thousands of creatures. The cocoons are “stifled” (they don’t call it killing), before the silk can be harvested. I don’t have any scientific knowledge of whether they feel pain or not, but to me that is beside the point.

To kill another creature to save my own life is one thing, to kill for comfort and luxury is quite another.

For an in depth explanation of silk “processing”, listen to this

Since I know that angora bunnies are farmed for their coats, and I know that bunnies are intelligent and sensitive creatures, I also won’t buy or knit with angora. And NZ possum? Four Australian possums were taken to NZ many years ago, and now they have reached plague proportions. Many people have no problem using the fur from their pelts to knit with, knowing that the animal was killed to get it. I’m just not comfortable with that.

Life has been…. Interesting

And I’ve been slack with the blog. Sorry.

I took time off work from Christmas Eve till Jan 9th, and spent a fair whack of that time up at Pearl Beach. For those of you that don’t know it, Pearl Beach is a tiny little place on the NSW Central Coast, about an hour and a bit from home. It’s earned a reputation for being very pricey, and rather exclusive – only the rich can afford to buy a house there, or even rent a holiday house. Except me 🙂

My grandfather, George, bought a place in the early 80’s – I think he paid less than $40k for it, and even though the house is crappy, it’s now worth about a million dollars. Just because it’s in Pearl Beach.

George died just over a year ago, and left the house to my mum and her brother and sister, so we can all use it as a holiday house. Great, but my uncle and aunt want to sell. Not great. So while this is all being decided, I want to spend as much time as possible up there.

While we were there we; relaxed on the beach, woke up to possums eating fruitcake on the kitchen bench, had a brush turkey steal Mark’s Clapotis, ate the worlds worst hollondaisse sauce (veg eggs benedict at the local cafe – bleugh), had a picnic on the beach for New Years Eve, and prepared for evacuation on New Years Day.

Happy Fucking New Year.

Anyway – the house didn’t burn down, I’ll count that as a win. We spent most of the day in a state of extreme stress, in extreme heat, but we are safe, and the house is safe. It wasn’t the ideal start to 2006, but I am determined to see it in a positive light.

Jorgia is Staying with Us :)

This weekend, we have the pleasure of the company of the lovely Jorgia for a few days, while her humans spend quality time together.

Here is a picture of Jorgia from our wedding – but her hair has grown, and she is nearly 2 years older now.

Jorgia at our wedding

Jorgia is the one on the right, Charlotte is in the middle.

Last night we saw the new Harry Potter movie, and I thought it was a bit scary. Mark has bruises on his thigh from being grabbed, but it was fun.

And in Knitting News

You can’t take a camera phone into the Downing Centre Courts, so I had to check my phone at the door. And my embroidery scissors, and a small pen knife I had. No big deal.

But after court I went to meet my father for lunch at the Supreme Court – he was there as the Executor of George’s will, lodging some paperwork. Mum and I were meeting dad at the restuarant on the 14th floor for lunch. I expected that they would take my phone, so I surrendered it, only to be told it was ok.

BUT THEY TOOK MY KNITTING !!!!!!!!!!!!

A Minor Win

Brendan McMahon’s application for his case to be considered under the Mental Health Act was denied today.

Judge Helen Symes found that while he met the criteria for consideration under section 32 of the act, she belived that the serious nature of the crime meant that the public interest would be best served by having the matter heard before the law.

McMahon has pleaded not guilty, and a date for a hearing will be set next thursday, the 23rd of December. The hearing will most likely take place in February or March of next year.

I must admit that I was not feeling hopeful that the courts would treat this matter with the serious consideration that I feel it deserves, and todays decision was somewhat of a relief. It is still very possible that he won’t receive a custodial sentence, but hearing the Magistrate use the words “protection of the public”, and “serious nature of the crime”, was a glimmer of hope in what has otherwise been a very bleak horizon.

Mental Health Hearing Tomorrow

He was locked up again for breaching bail. Apparently he moved house without informing the police.

He was due to go before a magistrate this afternoon, and I haven’t heard what happened, but he probably was released again.

Tomorrow is the mental health hearing. I expect that the judge will find that he was nuts when he broke the law, but perfectly sane now. He can’t go to prison because he was nuts, but he can’t go to hospital because he’s sane now.

I could be wrong, and he may get prison time, but it’s unlikely, and we need to be prepared for the worst.