Wronky Sock Man

I'd like to introduce you to Wronky, my first Stupid Sock Creature from the book by John Murphy. I would describe him as innocent, guileless, sweet and not particularly bright. Wronky was Jimmy's birthday present and quite well-received, although I think he is getting a bit lonely now. He's probably yearning for friends of his own kind.....I need some more old socks!

Our Harvest

We're enjoying the fruits of all the recent rainfall we've had. The passionfruits are the best ever! Now we know the secret: lots of water. So let's hope it rains buckets next time they're due too.

Prepare for the tiniest pineapple you've ever seen....drum roll please.....Ta dah! This took about three years to grow :0) . (The koala is a salt shaker.)I have it on good authority that this was "the best lemonade in the WHOLE WORLD!" I think that may have had something to do with the extra cup of sugar...

And the first of our many pretty starfruit. What are you harvesting right now?

Happy Birthday Jimmy.....for two weeks ago!

On Friday, the 12th of March, Jimmy turned one! What a joyous day is a baby's first birthday! Jimmy loved the presents, cuddles, spaghetti bolognaise and cake. And we love him, sooo much!

We celebrated with a little family party which Jimmy really enjoyed.

We loved having you all over to celebrate our dear little man's special day and we thank you for your lovely wishes, gifts and food. Thank you also very much to our beautiful friends who gave Jimmy gifts too. Thanks for loving little Jim. xx

Lullabies

What am I doing right now? A very important task: learning a couple more songs to sing to the children to send them off to sleep. Even though I love little songs and nursery rhymes, I like to have something a bit longer to sing, and I'm ready to leave "Scarborough Fair" and "Carra Barra Wirra Canna" behind for a while, God love 'em. Tonight I'm working on "Starry Starry Night" (nice Youtube video here with slideshow of paintings) and "The Teddy Bears' Picnic" (because Kees wanted a song about wild animals, a cave and a bear....ummm, this is the best I could come up with :0)). Any brilliant ideas?

Jimmy's Little Game

If you have a few minutes and want to see our little one playing his made-up ball and cone game, here's a video for you. (If you don't have time, the picture will give you the idea.) Of course, I think this is almost unbearably cute. And he scored loads of brownie points by actually creating a game with the ball I made him for Christmas! PS: I hope certain "aspects" of this video don't offend ;0). I don't know how to cut it short, so if you don't want to see a baby-willy, just stop watching around the two minute mark. And do excuse my voice-over; we all know how excruciating it is hearing your own voice on tape. PS: THANKS Martine for the completely helpful advice about the text-photo thing! xx

4.30

For some reason, I have always found 4.30pm to be one of my favourite times of day, and in this beautiful dappled Autumn weather it is just delightful.



A stroll down the street to pick a posy of flowers is a lovely way to spend the time.




If you are sitting under (or in) a tree then it's extra good. I used to climb the bottle-brush when I was a kid and sit up there all afternoon.



There's just something about that sunlight. It's a kind of quiet and soft time.



What's your favourite time?

PS: I am having some blogging difficulties - can you help? When I upload pictures, they don't appear on my draft as pictures, just all that gobbledeegook text. I must have pressed some weird setting but wouldn't have a CLUE how to change it back. That explains my lack of posting lately. Any ideas?

I've Got Bad Hair

It was supposed to look like the magazine - hahahah! But apparently it's my "bad hair" that won't do it properly! ;0) One of my lovely young friends is doing the first year of her hairdressing apprenticeship, and has been dying to give me a blowdry. She is actually very talented, but it just didn't work out on me. It was very funny! I can't say I really enjoy going to the hairdresser: all that yanking, spraying, clipping, cape-wearing and avoiding my reflection for hours is just not all that fun for me. And that is why I cut my hair in the backyard, without a mirror, in two minutes flat.

A Beautiful Rainy Day...Week...Month

The wet season is well and truly upon us. So what's to do on these rainy days?

First, make pancakes for breakfast. Yes, I did burn them. All.

Next, play hide-in-Mum's-new-op-shopped-suitcase.

Then you can construct a deluxe rocket with fire flames. After that we went to the op shop, did the groceries and went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. This morning, Kees got some "gold" coins from his piggy bank and put them in his purse so that "I know! We could go out to a restaurant for lunch!" So we did!

And finally, get out and enjoy that rain with your brand new op-shopped wellies and your favourite pink umbrella! We caught baby toads (yeuggh), followed the connecting stormwater drains and marvelled at the height and speed of the flowing water. Kees loves baby toads and wanted to take two home. As a compromise, I said he couldn't bring them into our house or garden, but he could leave them on the grassy footpath. He did, and when he wasn't looking, I stepped on them and squashed them. Is that bad?

My Husband

Matt said this to my Dad: "Here, Tony, you could live here."

And on another note, I'm ready for my first sock creature!

A Bit of Up-Cycling

A while ago I bought this dress, which, between you and me, I actually secretly loved in a comforting, drop-waisted, nostalgic kind of way. The material is a lovely grey with little sort of shiny flecks in the weave. But I couldn't really wear it in public. Not really. I'm not quite confident enough for that yet.
I considered wearing it like this, with the sleeves removed, even though it would be terrible for breast-feeding. And maybe I should have left it like that, because I do have a dreadful feeling that drop-waists are going to come back in fashion, and anyway, I just still really liked it. But, like Humpty Dumpty, once it's broken you can't put it back together again, so.....

Here's my new favourite top!! I added a band to the bottom, skimmed the sides in a bit and there you have it. I can't wait for the weather to be cool enough for jeans, or maybe a pencil skirt to go with it. I'm so pleased this worked out; I would have to say that I only wear probably one out of every three or four things I make for myself, because usually they turn out bad. Happy day.