barcelona gingerbread pavilion

We made our first ever gingerbread houses, loosely modeled on the Barcelona Pavilion by Mies Van der Rohe. So fun! Although decoration was a challenge, since m&ms and liquorice swirls seem out of place on a stark modernist building.

love is a micronation

I have always been totally crazy for micronations. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and wrapped up in people's wacky hopes and dreams and ideologies. Some of them only exist in the imagination. I like that they exist almost in opposition to conventional notions of nationalism - they are communities defined by ideas (however bananas the ideas sometimes seem), the citizens come together because of a common ideal. While macronationalism so often seems to be about instilling a false sense of 'commonality' that is really about affirming the differentness of other people. But maybe really I just like them because they are cute and small and stand testament to a crazy beautiful optimism in people. 

This is Sealand, which was established in an abandoned WW2 gun platform in the North Sea in 1967.

A stamp from the Kingdom of Elleore, just north of the Danish island of Zealand. Elleore standard time is 12 mnutes behind Danish time.

An aerial shot of and a representation of the flag of the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands.

The Republic of Rose Island, that was established - and shortly thereafter destroyed by the italian government - just off the coast of Rimini in 1968.

A map of the Hutt River Province, not so far from my hometown in Western Australia.

you are surrounded by enough virtual things already

hearts newly arrived

it was a grungy, dangerous, bankrupt city without normal services most of the time

i want to live here
or here

or in one of these

Maybe S could design me my very own tiny turtle house (with a tiny turtle bathtub?)

i just have to work out where to keep the hair computer!

For more, check out the adorable TinyHouse blog, where I stole the pictures. So inspiring!

peanut butter froyo

Thanks C for the awesome icecream maker! The first thing I made was a vegan peanut butter chocolate chip frozen yoghurt. Super tasty!

Basically, this involved making a peanut butter caramel with peanut butter and sugar and vanilla essence.

Churning it per the instructions with a few tubs of vegan vanilla yoghurt.

And stirring through some chocolate chips. Perfect. Even R - not a fan of peanut butter (?) - had to admit it was delicious.

jardins en fete

E and I spent a perfect sunday at Jardins en Fete in Coppet: Ikebana, beautiful gardens, tea, cake and a funny bit with a dog.

Next stop: Sissinghurst

Oh, I can't wait to have a house (and a garden) of my own.