Cuddle Up

Wesley the Owl made me late for work yesterday. When Bobby popped the magazine with the feature on my bed, five minutes before we were supposed to leave to catch the bus, he really should have known better.


The feature was long (well, long enough for me to have missed my bus), and I'd rather keep this short so I'll just point you here, to the article itself. To summarise though, Wesley's pretty much the coolest owl in the whole world ever. The little guy followed his adoptive - human - mother around everywhere, constantly chattering. Then, one evening, he stretched his wings out, laid on her chest, and fell asleep cuddling her. This became their regular thing, could you believe? He died at 19 years old, bloody ancient for a barn owl. I know I want to have just about every animal that has ever existed (if I had my way, I'd live in a zoo), but I'd like a baby owl, please. Stone and ceramic just ain't cutting gonna cut it anymore.

The Little Old Lady

I'm 110% sure I'm going to make an awesome old lady. You know the way that sportsmen talk about giving it 110%. That's how confident I am. I'll be the grandma with the four cats, huge glasses, pearl necklaces, lots of lace and killer style. I'll be the red wine that peaks in it's late '60s. I know this because, truth be told, I'm more or less an old lady already. And I can only get better at it with practice, right? I'm weary of going out more than once a day lest I exhaust myself too much for the evening's activities, I wear stupendous grandma undies (my thinking is that everything else is high waisted, so why shouldn't my undies be too?) and lately I can't take off my lace gloves or pearl necklace, not to mention my houndstooth jacket and little old lady hat. I love cats and squirrels and while I'm no gardener, I bought a coriander plant the other day.


On a separate note, we booked our trip to Paris the other day, we'll be arriving on the 6th of May and staying till the 12th. That means there's only three weeks till we can indulge in cheese, wine and baguette's in Paris' left bank and, sadly, only four months till we return to Sydney.


Finally, I'm going to leave you with a music video for The Wave Pictures because, while I'm not far from being an old lady, I can't say I'm a fan of Val Doonican. We ventured out to Brighton to see these fellows last night. If you can get past his voice (it might take a little while) they're very good indeed. Read Bobby's review of their latest album here.



P.S. There's a cat that lives down the street from us in Eastbourne who has very short legs, so much so that when I pet him he sometimes falls over, and so we have (very creatively) called him Short Legs Mini Cat McGhee. We've even made a song to go with his name. And it's only just clicked that he's probably a Munchkin cat and/or a dwarf and now I feel really guilty. I just want everyone to know that I have nothing against little cats with little legs. There's nothing wrong with being little. Unless you're a pair of undies.

Vintage and Retro Fashion at Hibernian House

Dear Sydneysiders,
For you and you only, Owl and the Grapes and SixOhOne are collaborating to create a one-day pop up store. Just like those fairy tale pop up books you had as a child, but better. You wouldn't have imagined such a thing was possible back then, but trust us, it certainly is.
.

Okay, so the 'collaboration' thing is a partial lie, considering that Owl and the Grapes and SixOhOne are essentially run by the same people. That the event will be a treasure trove of vintage and retro fashion however, is definitely no lie.

In the Green Room housed by SixOhOne, we will be bringing to you all that Cinderalla could have ever wanted. Indeed, we will have food (of the cookie kind), drink (of the BYO kind), The Beach Boys (of the Ipod kind), two cozy cats, a big comfy couch to chill the fuck out on, shoes, bric-a-brac and lots of vintage clothes, mainly of the female genre.

It's the same Saturday as Surry Hills markets so drop down before and/or after to enjoy a laid-back Saturday in our company - we're quite literally just down the street. In fact, we're close to Crown Street, Oxford Street and the City too.

Find us on Level Six of Hibernian House, 342 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills. On the corner of Kippax St, just up from Eddy Avenue, opposite Ding Dong Dang, entry via the Stained Glass sign and next door to the (dodgy) Indian restaurant. Zip up in the lift to level 5 (be patient) and there's a security gate on your right. Head up the stairs and at the top you'll see two doors. We're the one on the left. If you're worried you'll lose yourself, don't. There'll be signs.