the pal in paypal does not mean friend

a little experiment to put the brakes on casual spending in september
31 august, searching for ipad covers, i found these .... important note - i don't have an ipad
us$95 (for the summit bag), us$80 for the 3degree puffy sleeve
"ethical" soft snake made by a self-managed community of women in bolivia, snake is us$68 made from alpaca wool
yummy velvet pompom pillows $49 from castle&things

lots of pompom pillows

magical thinking

i'm prone to magical thinking. i think i get it from my mum.
at the moment, i'm thinking about a house in alphington,

22 yarraford ave

the agents tell me, it's a Once in a lifetime opportunity to secure charming family spaces in this prized Riverside locale, just a stone's throw to Yarra and Coate Park

it's just up from the river, and just down the street from apte (which got a gong from the breakfast blog for a 20/20 breakfast. zowie)

between the fairfield boathouse and the chandler highway, the pretty bit where p and i like to walk

sometimes, under the bridge to the alphington wetlands, and across the river from the guide dogs training school (i love hearing all the dogs barking, it's so joyous and a bit like hearing the lions roaring and monkeys hooting when you walk in parkville in the early morning or evening)

the house has a lower ground floor with a studio and office space

where does the magic come in?

**i got the alert about the house on my dad's birthday, 27 august (i think my dad would approve of it)

**it goes to auction 2 days after my birthday (not too magical, but you see how you can tweak it)

**the house backs on to Coate Park, and Kasia and Nick took Tom and Henry to play at Coate Park on Sunday, and spoke to me while they were there (as far as i know, no-one i know has ever been there before...) it's nothing, but if you thinking magically, you can make it something...

**i've been hankering after this area for a while and recently read a story about a bungalow/boathouse which looks cute and i became envious
i remember, when i was looking for the house i have now, a friend recommended a spell for finding a house. you draw a picture of the house, and what you'd like, and then you find a body of water near to wear you want to live. you say a special incantation and then you wish on the piece of paper and let it float downstream. and your house finds you.
but where does the magic come in?? we'd need to win tattslotto to buy it

i just found some old local history, harold harless talking about a loquat orchard near Coate Park,

oh well, nice to read about the area anyway

and i can always make do, walking by the river

from walkweb, heidelberg gardens to fairfield via main yarra trail

addendum

this was funny - i found someone's blog, they'd created a very ace zombie garden in alphington but a pesky neighbour made them get rid of it - thank heavens (or zombies) for online memento mori!