Monday, June 28, 2010

Me 'n' GrannyG.

I've spent ages pondering on this post. Thinking about clever things to say and funny ways to say them. Wondering if it was strictly ethical to blow the dust off my much neglected blog just because some loot was in the offing.
The aforementioned Granny G says its fine, so who am I to argue........

I am a dedicated podcast listener. I actually let out a squeal of distress when someone on Ravelry shared the distressing information that my iPod has a finite life span. Life without my iPod- unthinkable!!!!!! And amongst the dozens of podcasts I listen to religiously, one of my faves is Crafternoon Tea with grannyg. Y'know, I think it will just be easier if I list the reasons why. Plus, I love a dot-point.
  • It's nice to listen to something from the southern hemisphere. Grannyg is New Zealand based, and despite ferocious denial from various quarters, New Zealand is very like Australia. There are many differences, of course, but there are also a bloody lot of similarities, too. Through sites like Ravelry knitters all over the world have come together in fibery communion, but, Ravelry being American based, means there is a huge American and Canadian contingent in terms of members and subsequent knitting podcasts. This is excellent, and I enjoy all of it a great deal.
    But I do like listening to something a bit closer to home. It's..well..homey.
  • The inimitable grannyg is warm and funny, and, on a personal level, by some quirk of fate she has exactly the same speech patterns as my oldest friend (apart from the Kiwi accent). The rhythms of her voice are so like Sandi's it's uncanny. I sometimes wonder if she has the same small, square handwriting as Sandi, too (how bout a photo, Gen, just to satisfy my curiosity?).
  • It's a cold, tough world sometimes. The invitation to 'put your feet up' while someone makes me a cuppa and puts home baked treats in front of me is unbelievably comforting, even if it is cyber-comfort. Hey, I'll take it.
  • Which leads into my next thought- it's comforting because it's familiar. I grew up in a small Victorian country town in the 1970's. The whole 'dropping in on neighbours for a cuppa and a chat' was the predominant form of female social interaction . It doesn't happen that much anymore- although I have to admit that, for the first time since I was a kid, amongst my friends and neighbours it still happens quite a lot. But that has more to do with the fact that I live in the Suburb That Time Forgot.
  • I am always inspired by the amount that grannyg gets done in terms of crafting. With a full time job and a family and everything. And the fact that she recognizes the importance of creativity in her life and gives it respect and as much time as she can, while still being charmingly self effacing and down to earth. I like that a lot. I've had a lot of life changes in the last decade, and I have come to recognize how deeply important creativity and beauty is to me. I am unapologetic about it, and neither is Gen, and I like that a lot, too.
  • The 'In The Tin's' sessions with Jasmine just crack me up.
  • I like the interviews. They always start off business-like, but there is no telling, once the interviewee warms to their subject and often, I think, forgets they are being recorded, where they will end up. There are some absolute gems of philsophizing that happen. I think a lot of this happens because of Genny's warm and hunourous interview style. Who could possibly resist someone being so interested in what you have to say?
So thats it. Thats why I like Crafternoon tea with grannyg. And whenever I hear her invitation to put up my feet and have a cuppa, well.....I really do :-)