Photo Booth Animated Gif

Last month we went to our lovely friends Tamara and Andy's wedding, where they had a photo booth at the wedding reception - very cool! I finally got around to scanning our photo booth strips, then I figured, why not turn us into an animated gif? :)

Internet Archive

If you haven't already, check out the non-profit internet library the Internet Archive.

There are now 3 million freely downloadable texts available, so enjoy a browse. You could find yourself browsing the Last Letters of Aubrey Beardsley, or something as equally random and interesting.


P.S. Apparently the town of Boscombe was "ignominiously dull" in 1896.

Canberra Trip

Matthew and I went to Canberra this past weekend with our friends Lindsay and Grant, who grew up there. They did a wonderful job showing us around Australia's capital. We went to the Australian War Memorial, Parliament House, the National Gallery of Australia, the National Library, the Royal Australian Mint, the National Zoo and even a few wineries on the way home.


While the National Zoo was quite small, a particular highlight was that we got to pat a kangaroo! I have now patted a kangaroo and a koala. If I ever get to pat a wombat, I will be in heaven! ;)

Here are the rest of our pictures from our trip:

Lemonade Tasting

Lemonade in Australia is different than in the US. Here, it's carbonated, and comes in a can or bottle, made by a soft drink company, rather than something one makes at home. Depending on the maker, it may use  club soda, or mineral water, and some are sweeter than others.

I decided to do a tasting with Matthew, so I gathered up several of the most popular brands. They're all full of sugar - about 11 to 12 grams per 100ML. (The 600ML bottle of Lift - couldn't find it in a can - has 66 grams of sugar!)

1. Lift - owned by Coca-Cola. Chemical-y aftertaste; not highly carbonated; least natural-tasting of the bunch.

2. L&P/Lemon & Paeroa - founded in New Zealand, with mineral water from the town of Paeroa; now owned by Coca-Cola. Sweeter; a little more carbonated; slight floral flavour.

3. Schweppes Lemonade. Very carbonated; flavour is mostly mineral water, less pronounced lemon flavour; slight savoury aftertaste (almost like clove).

4. Solo Original Lemon Drink - owned by Schweppes. Tart; tastes the most like lemons; aftertaste almost like aspartame, although there isn't any in it. It's basically carbonated American-style lemonade, although it's not highly bubbly.

Solo, "the original thirst crusher," is marketed towards men. Even though it has just as much sugar as the others, it has the most tart flavour, so I suppose that's masculine? :P

If we were to rank these, Matthew and I would say Solo is #1, then L&P and Schweppes Lemonade, with Lift coming in last. Since these have so much sugar, I wouldn't drink any of them regularly. However, if I were to come across it, I might try the sugar-free version of Solo.

Knitting

I am attempting knitting again. I taught myself from a book many years ago, but never really got very far. This time, I am attempting 16 squares to make a blanket for Save the Children's Born to Knit campaign, which sends blankets to children in places like India and Cambodia. This year's campaign actually just ended, so hopefully they will do it again next year, and maybe I'll be done by then!

This is attempt # 2. Attempt #1 was made using a ball of red yarn that came in the Born to Knit kit. I got some new green and grey yarn over the weekend, and now I'm starting over.

Art & About

The other day, M and I walked to Town Hall to see an art installation that's part of the Art & About Sydney festival. "Tsunami 1.26" by American artist Janet Echelman is a big floating lace sculpture that is currently anchored above George Street, between Town Hall and Woolworths. The rope has a tensile strength 15 times stronger than steel, and the netting was machine-knotted in a pattern based on a 3D model of the tsunami after the 2010 earthquake in Chile.

(Click photo to enlarge.)

(Click photo to enlarge.)

It's interesting during the day, but I'd like to go back to see it lit up at night, when I bet it's even better.