Sunday, April 24, 2016

Prince Day and a belated LP-appreciation day

I was of course sad to hear that Prince had died, although I haven't listened to his music on a regular basis since my thirties. Back in the last 80's-early 90's, I went to see him live in Edinburgh, had his of hits on constant rotation and hung out with at least one male friend who styled himself like The Purple One.

So today I have been playing the entirety of my (small) Prince collection, but turned down low because some of those lyrics are really inappropriate for a ten-year-old to hear.

Today I also sorted out my collection of LPs, in readiness to sell them off to a local second hand record shop. (While it would have been nice to keep them and play them again, we don't have a record-player - nor the space or funds to acquire one).

The shop turned out to be closed when I got there, so they are back in our hallway. I will miss the records of my favourite NZ bands (The Chills, The Verlaines, The Bats, Sneaking Feelings, Wild Poppies) and overseas indie bands (Siouxsie and the Banshees) - not so much the Jackson Browne albums (I grew away from California rock waaaay back).

But it was only while searching the Internet to get an idea of whether my records are worth much, that I found I can listen to alot of my old favourites on YouTube. I even found the Wild Poppies, whom I had always believed to be some obscure local band that didn't get anywhere - well it turns out they were quite a popular live band in the UK back in the eighties. It's just fantastic.

Saturday, April 16, 2016

A month of it

I have been sick with one or more cold viruses for about a month now. I'm just sick of it.

Off the needles

I completed a few knits recently:
An elbow length tee knit from chunky cotton - after I took this photo I  re-knit the torso so it has the yellow strip going around the chest instead. 

This turned out a wee bit too fitted around the armhole, which means I can only comfortably wear it over a thin layer...
A pretty beanie for the boy, knit from Skeinz merino dk. He likes it, and that's all that matters. I took this photo while he was at his computer, because that's where he spends the most time.

Sunday, April 03, 2016

On the kombucha wagon

After taste-testing a range of Booch (commercially brewed and flavoured kombucha by the Goodbuzz Company) flavours the summer before last, I became a bit addicted to the stuff. It is supposed to be very good for you, I really liked the tasted, and the barely-detectable alcohol content was enough to make me smiley all afternoon (I am a cheap drunk).

But lately I've not been buying the Booch due to budget constraints. I missed it sorely and have been hoping the brewer doesn't go out of business just because I stopped buying it every day.

But now I can potentially become my own supplier of Booch-similar product, because one of my workmates gave me a kombucha scoby and I am the second-fermentation phase of my very own batch.

It's all very exciting, especially when I read about people's glass bottles blowing up because of excess carbon dioxide build-up...