Emma

Hilarious for those millions of Australians and Canadians and New Zealanders with British -born grandparents who got TF outta there.

Ah ok. Have a look for Blundstone boots? The round toe ones are v good for me and slightly more heel

Duckfeet - handmade shoes since 1975 Duckfeet offers handcrafted Danish leather shoes since 1975. Made from natural materials with timeless design, comfort, and sustainability in mind.

Have you seen these? duckfeet.com. Not cheap but I love mine

Saw jam and condiment dispensers in Dutch and Belgian hotels in September. One had small paper cups to collect the jam, one had edible cups like little ice cream cones. Butter was still in single use packs tho.

Australian here, and I grew up eating these every day. They also cook down beautifully into what we call stewed apple and you call applesauce — making a beautiful smooth purée with no effort at all. New season Grannies are the queen of apples.

We have compulsory 12% superannuation savings for all workers and it’s not that recent — I’m retired and it came in early in my working life, in 1992. As always the super wealthy have exploited the tax concessions outrageously.

Australia does and has for decades. Not saying it’s good and it certainly has its issues, but it happens.

Thank you! I have ordered for my summer reading.

Ewww

A child’s cardigan handknitted in purple merino and royal blue kidsilk with an I-cord tie at the neck.

A fluffy cardigan for a granddaughter in chilly England #showmeyourknits

Absolutely. Knit something that does not fill you with existential dread.

Australian Cattle Dog - Wikipedia

Yeah, she’s a Blue Cattle Dog. Her sister and Mum are Red Cattle dogs. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austral...

It does vary—I hardly noticed either dose, not even a sore arm.

In many places in Australia they will grow all year round, with no off season. But they are rarely available in shops.

We call them chokos in Australia and they are strongly associated with hard times, like the Great Depression when people had to grow their own food.

Technical and medical editor for decades. Single space for double space was always the first of my routine find-and-replaces.

Beautiful work!

An Australian Currawong sitting on a balcony rail having just jumped out of the birdbath

Apex predator bathing on my balcony

This is all so unfair. I’m sorry you have had to endure it. From what I see you remain an excellent parent and a staunch human and I value that.

Unfortunately we in Australia also let our long distance passenger rail wither, probably beyond repair. Canada seems to still have some. But Sydney trains are pretty good, and cheap!

YouTube video by Beehive Productions Brother Brothers - Angel Island

Thank you — this has explained this beautiful song to me youtu.be/-NsWo5ck8wE?...
The Brother Brothers, Angel Island.

I’m lucky to have inherited my quilter mother’s stash on top of my own.

Yep. I have had to say to friends who wanted to buy one of my quilts that I’d be happy to make it for them but they couldn’t afford to buy it.

As a relatively decent home sewer and knitter who makes a fair amount of my own clothes, these numbers make me feel sick. To sew a shirt takes me at least 2 full days of hard work.

I used to regularly pick them off, wearing gloves, and drop them in a bucket — they can’t swim. You can get them down to a level where they do minimal damage with a few minutes every day for a month or so.

@spindlypete.bsky.social your kiddos have fans

That puts me and my daughter in the same generation, which seems a little harsh on her.

Ugh was that headline written by Copilot? Since when is ‘up’ a verb?

Good lord, I miss Making Light.

I once gave a full academic paper at a conference in the US and the first question, more of a comment really, was ‘oh my god, I LOVE your accent.’ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯