Was that just one week?

It's been a busy time!

Last week I dropped my strip off at the NGA, and Dotter and I got to meet Magda Sayeg, the American woman who started Knitta Please! We had a great 10 minute chat about knit graffiti, and got to see her in action, sewing (and gluing) striped panels onto the bollards. Unfortunately we missed out on meeting Denise of grrl+dog, who was running a bit late driving down from Sydney ...

Last week this happened too : Dotter turned 18!

There was a big lunchtime party at our place on the day (Wednesday), with her school friends. She didn't want junk food (good girl!), but this meant I was cooking nearly all day - home-made chocolate cake, bran muffins, pizza toasts, popcorn ... one of her friends brought penis straws, but we'll gloss over that! There was champagne with the cake, but no other alcohol. She had 3 friends sleep over too, and I made a big dinner for that as well. The extended family lunch is this weekend.



Amongst other gifts (a gold and diamond ring being the main event), I made her a Nautie, which she loves! Cleckheaton Vintage Hues for the shell ...

In the midst of all this my agent urgently needed me to write of 4 new Gourmet crosswords for Reader's Digest. Aaah! Still, they got done, and it's rather cool to be getting work in Reader's Digest's new puzzle booklets (which I've yet to see, not sure when they're coming out).

On the weekend Dotter and I went to the NGA to see the final wrapped columns! Aren't they SPECTACULAR? You can see the Gallery's photos on Flickr here.


See the arrow? Yeah, that's where my strip was. Third from the top. So high up that you couldn't see the cables. Ah well, I knew they were there!

This was the seventh pole. What struck me was how many people were stopping, touching the strips, looking, talking, taking photos ... it was inspiring.

I've also had several long lost friends come over for lunches - the Clapotis has gone to its very happy new owner - and even met up with an old friend from graphic design college days (through the wonder of Facebook!).

I'm currently busy as Technical Editor on Spanish Word Games for Dummies - thankfully I don't need to know Spanish too much to do this job (there is a second TE who is checking the language in detail). A fun project. Work is going a little slowly as I often seem to end up working one handed, cos of this little bundle of nips and joy, who needs to be cuddled and wrapped in woollen shawls, resting on my arm, to stay warm (or so she tells me) :

All together now ... aaawwwwwwwwwww

Now I just need to shake this dratted cough, and all will be well!