Boynton awoke to no power today. She had forgotton to pay attention to the third citypower pamphlet that advised her of the pending interruption. So she quickly trekked the 4k over to Nora’s for toast and coffee and surfin.
The above image is from a fabulous exhibition called What was Home Economics (via Plep) a history of the school at Cornell.
What was school Home economics for Boynton? Fighting for flour rations to produce only adequate scones and blanc-mange in bad aprons handed down in turn by four older sisters. The menus like the aprons and caps never changed. Only the badly sewn initials on the pocket changed. Except Boynton actually never sewed her own initials in but quietly wore the two red letters of her outgoing sister. No one noticed.
Perhaps if it had been called Human Ecology she may have learned to balance the budget. Or to think outside the square (meals) of chow mein and stewed apples . Actually dandelions may have been a good nutritional supplement for Wallis Simpson, who reportedly 'served nouvelle cuisine before the term was invented. But she ate little of it herself, and in her later years consumed little apart from vodka and lettuce'

Boynton was too late at the op-shop today, for the curved 50's retro chic couch had already been baggsed. Hold said the sticker. Not a directive. More a metaphor. And anyway lack of space et al means Boynton would have only thought about it for five before moving onto the dollar rack and the bulky space killers. (Enid Blyton's Dog Stories (the yellow edition) for $2 today). On the vintage note, this example from the ugly bridesmaid dress collection, sounds a warning that not all retro is neccesarily fetching. (via Pop Culture Junk Mail)

As January draws to its sober conclusion, Boynton can now countenance the practice of intemperance again. She may break out and have a glass of fizz tonight, or she may get her card restamped.

EYD - Part Three – CMCTMHS – creative memories are close to my heart, sister.
If Boynton came across a tad too cynical, she’d like to endorse the various memory-crafts showcased recently. Although she practiced an early childhood form of scrapbooking (pasting) she has a deeply–rooted fear of handicraft, but admires those who can. Alas, she is simply NNE - not neat enough. And NHB - never has been.
The wider therapeutic and creative effects of memory projects journaling and story-telling are well known , and the new order of Creative Memory Consultants often work with issues of memory loss and Retrieval. I was here.
If the internet is actually some dynamic universal memory machine, it's appropriate to see some of the global nodes literally recording the local. This is an example of one of the many community projects, and this is a kind of hybrid home page/cultural history.
Still, sometimes it’s the old technology of words that can out capture, as seen in this extract from a suburban memoir(via the digital) and this paper on the phenomenology of memory... Thus endeth the scrapping.

EYD Part two. TSC – The scrappers connection.
Nora was telling Boynton of some friends who are heavily into scrapping – a craft craze that Boynton had never heard of. After extensive research she concluded “It’s just decorating your photo album isn’t it?”
Why should you scrapbook?
Life is a series of moments and stories, which can be captured in a scrapbook that can be handed down through generations. Let us spare our children the yellow faded colour photos of their childhood that many of us own now
As a craft cult scrapping can become all consuming, and has all the usual trappings: superstores, style-gurus, conventions, community where people chat with customised acronyms : CIS – Crop in style and SSS Secret Sister swap but converse mainly about vellum and glue and AF (acid free) stuff.
Of course it has its antecedents – Victorian ladies used to spend their leisure compiling scraps into beautifully embossed albums. But then Boynton always thought that inclination was part of the peculiar mortality mindset of middle class Victorians.
To catch life when you still could. Is this new incarnation also a sign of sublimated nihilism? The desire to preserve the transient? To create a parallel universe of memory, where reality is either miniaturised or replicated? Memories are literally created, cropped and embellished. This is an interesting variation of the commissioned portrait. For the age of the universal private (folk) museum.

EYD – express your dreams. Part one. NSBR – not scrapbook related
TMWIAFC - The mini world is a foreign country
Since discovering that 50’s moderne mini house, Boynton has been roving round the curious world of miniature enthusiasts. It began with a gallery of projects. There are many more like this where builders document their construction, and mini empires. Some enthusiasts start small and end up planning a town.
According to another, this may be why the scale keeps falling:
Many miniaturists are drawn to the challenge of smaller and smaller scales as their homes fill up with larger dollhouses
Our goal (except for the fantasy contingent) is to represent reality in miniature… claims one member... I am not limited to what others have discovered, downsized, and deemed worthy of drafting. The world is much larger than that.
But the world is also much much smaller : a barbecue... a kennel... a fish tank... a ping-pong table.
And the world is complex - a pet bowl stand with food
“I had never made a driving school before.” Says Yuki Yoneda
This electrified mini box depicts a gentleman’s corner. You can almost smell the missing specimen.
A variation is the reconstruction of a childhood home as seen in Hilde Lippet’s beautiful Eichwalde house. The past in 3D. This opens up a fascinating area of ways of memorialising/containing/compressing the past - in analog form - from shadow boxes, urns, to the craze of scrapbooking, and the digital comparisons... Stand by

If Boynton was dismayed at reading her Sunday stars: 'No sensible astrologer would tell you that your life is a pyjama party right now ' at least there was a sensible solution offered to the extreme planetary lows... 'Cocoa, breathing exercises or Harry Potter will work'. Boynton can be seen here trying out each remedy... ah well, c'est la PJ vie

bought by drought ... So after the furnace of Saturday's 44 degrees, it took a while to accept yesterday's cool change - that it was safe to step outside again. As Boynton walked her two stir-crazy canines up to the golf course, there was a beautiful soft light. Classic evening pastoral after the full assault of summer. No one about, birds reassembling on the bare oval, the soft greens of gums with pale pink trunks - the dry yellow ground. The height of drought. Interesting to read that the golden summers of the Heildelberg painters were drought landscapes.

'The brightest gem in Albion's crown
While the prolific bosom pours Earth's richest gifts in lavish showers' Charles Tompson

Boynton awoke to the birdsong of radio sports jocks saying Happy Birthday Australia

"This is the joy-inspiring day
That gave these blessings to our lot
Then let us share the social rites
Join hands, all malice be forgot!
This little star, once marked by none
Now shines a bright - a BLAZING SUN! " ... (C.T. 1824)