Please change any bookmarks/links and I hope to see you there.

Alex

Before the tricky task of piecing the height chart together

My niece was born in January and I haven’t seen her in person (thank goodness for video calling on Skype) yet. My sister asked for a height chart for Christmas. Last Christmas. I was afraid by the time I got it done, she’d have outgrown it, so I made sure it goes up to 6 foot 3…

I sent it off a couple of weeks ago and was glad to hear it arrived safely as although it is a print out (the colour was done in Photoshop), I had to piece it together and write in the measurements by hand, which took bloomin’ ages.

(I went for a jungly theme, but they requested that one of the penguins make an appearance, so Oscar got to have a ride on a giraffe.)

The Muppets see sense

I know it’s cheesy, but I loved being able to bring Kermit into the Arctic Circle!

This one was great fun to draw - I love the Muppets!

Concludes (for now) tomorrow.

The Station Trail Isn't That Scenic or Easy to Follow

I took a day trip to Clayton today – it’s about 14km from Elwood and I discovered that you can do much of that via the Station Trail. This cycle/footpath is great, even though it goes through some grotty areas and I made a few wrong turns due to hidden signage. I was going to Clayton because that is where the Monash Museum of Art is (also hard to find and strangely surrounded by freeways with poor cycle access. I guess all students drive these days.) and I thought I’d skive off and see this exhibition, which I had got wind of via Sunday Arts:

Typical scenery on the Station Trail

The exhibition was fun – lots of text-based stuff that reminded me of Colin McCahon, perhaps because Richard Lewer is also a Kiwi. But by far the best thing about my visit to Clayton was discovering the bulk buy shop. Cheaper than South Melbourne market and the owner makes sure to source as much stuff from Australia as she can.

Clayton Bulk Buy Shop

Restocked storage jars

A climate change denier argues his case with Oscar

Climate change sceptics find reinforcements

I’m still wrestling with whether to call them climate change deniers (Holocaust association, but climate change is the biggest threat to humanity since the Holocaust, so maybe that’s fair, especially when the science is so clear cut), or climate change sceptics (Scepticism implies a certain amount of rationality, which is inappropriate in most cases. Also, the word has to be changed for the US audience to “skeptic”), as “numpty” was ruled out as too British by my American editor.

Unfortunately, my experience of the climate change debate has been of a lot of name-calling by climate change deniers who don’t have the science or reason to back up their outlandish claims.

Preparing for a numpty backlash….

Climate change deniers post comments on Oscar's blog

And yes, this series is inspired by real events…

I haven't drawn Oscar's bike yet as I have to work out how his stumpy legs will reach the pedals

I love cycling. Not the lycra-clad competitive sort (I’m a wuss and my dorky bike attire only goes so far), but the freedom-of-exploration kind. You see a lot more by bike than by car and can easily stop when distracted by something of interest. Last week, I came across Brighton cemetery and took the time to wander through and read some of the tombstones. I encountered a fox in broad daylight and it was amazing to see it dash off over the crypts.

The fox was too quick for me to photograph it

Cycling back from friends after a couple of glasses of wine is, as Alexi Sayle said “the nearest anyone comes to flying.” David Byrne also echos my feelings here

There’s a certain amount of freedom involved in cycling: you’re self-propelled and decide exactly where to go. If you see something that catches your eye to the left, you can veer off there, which isn’t so easy in a car, and you can’t cover as much ground walking.

The physical sensation of gliding with the wind in your face is exhilarating. That automatic activity of pedalling when you have to be awake but not think too much, allows you to let subconscious thoughts bubble up and things seem to just sort themselves out. And the adrenaline wakes you up if you weren’t properly alert. If I’m commuting to work by bike, I’m fully awake by the time I get there, having dealt with a little bit of New York traffic en route.