Appliqued Elephants

My crafty finger was itching for a sweet and simple project -- 20 minutes of cutting, ironing and machine sewing later and Boo's little singlet and trousers sported appliqued elephants.
I've never really done anything much like this before, and I'm delighted by its simplicity and effectiveness (although I certainly do need to practise to get the stitching just right).
I left Boo's little trousers in the lounge room for him to find this morning -- he shrieked with delight, put them on immediately, and paraded up and down the passageway for Daddy and I to admire him.
Which we did, of course.

Golden Rain Tree

This beauty blooms just outside our front gate, so I catch a glimpse of its yellow blooms each time I walk to and from the office. It brings a welcome burst of colour to a grey-sky-and-chill-breeze kind of day.

Boo's Bedside Table

A boy's domain: soldiers of two armies; police badges and a holster; a Thomas the Tank Engine catalogue for bedtime browsing; an early-morning (or midnight) snack ...

... and a vase of pink roses, which he picked from the garden and carefully placed beside his bed this afternoon.

Out of Africa

To my surprise, at the market yesterday one of the greengrocers had a box of prickly pears for sale. No-one was buying them, and when I asked him to choose four ripe pears the lady next to me asked what on earth they were.
Anyone who comes from Africa will likely remember buying them from stalls on the side of the road, and peeling them oh-so-carefully to avoid the vicious transparent little thorns. But the taste is so unique --and delicious -- that they're worth the potential perils.
I think these look so pretty in an exquisite bowl hand-made by my very crafty African Aunt. I love so many things about this bowl, but especially the fact that it is cleverly ornamented with beads from a necklace that belonged to my Ouma.

White Crocuses from the Garden

Once I finished university, my best friend and I spent eight months in England. We did nothing purposeful at all, but frittered away our time pottering through little villages, taking the bus to National Trust properties, and eating jam tarts and cheese sandwiches in Hyde Park while learning to juggle. It was bliss.
We arrived early in a cold and grey February. On our first day we wandered through a country churchyard in Chester, and the only colour I could see anywhere was the vibrant purple and yellow crocuses, poking up through the carpets of dead leaves. It felt perfectly "English" to me, and since then crocuses have numbered among my favourite flowers.
These white ladies are less spectacular than the coloured crocuses, but just as charming none-the-less.

Morning Sunlight

Morning sunlight lit up the rosy-sprigged rug, then grey clouds rolled in before the rain pattered down in earnest. But I don't mind a bit -- I love it when it rains.

Daydreamer

It's peaceful watching happy chickens scratching for bugs in the long grass.

After the Rain

The garden is lush, and the grass is knee-high, after the rain.
Boo told me on Tuesday that he has decided "not to cry" when I leave him at preschool, and he was brave and cheerful this morning when he went. I know he has a happy day there, and he always comes home in high spirits, but he still likes his days at home. I love it when he's home with me, too, but he needs the company of other children more and more, and it's time I picked up more work at the office. So off to work I go!

The Road Home

Coming home we watched the clouds scud away after days and days of rain, leaving blue sky and sunshine behind them.

Be My Valentine

Strangely enough, we're celebrating a 'Valentine's weekend' this year.
On Friday Boo and little Maeve made heart biscuits, and decorated them on Saturday (Valentine's Day).
But our weekend was so crazy with the wedding and scores of visitors popping in and out, that we only exchanged cards and ate our heart-shaped waffles on Sunday, after everyone else had left.

At least we've had our heart garland hanging up for over a week!

Rachael Getting Married

The venue ...
The vows ...

Bride and groom ...

... and the cutest little cherubs.

And then the after-party ... but I was having too much fun with friends to photograph that!

Boating

Jumps and Papa have been installing new pipes for a watering system in the manor's garden, and were faced with the problem of how to install a pump in the dam.

Quick-as-a-flash Jumps hauled the canoe from the barn, and paddled into the water to install the necessary equipment. Boo was thoroughly delighted with the idea of 'boating', and so our little damn has become a place for pleasurable paddling.

I sincerely hope they don't fall in -- the water smells dank and boggy, and I'm sure no amount of soap and scrubbing would remove the smell from clothes and skin!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

Do visit Peggy's to see all the Daybook links this week.

Wednesday February 11, 2009 ...

Outside My Window... The sun is setting, turning the clouds pink and golden, and lighting up the few patches of blue sky that have emerged late after an overcast day ...

I am thinking... of the many chores I have to complete in the morning before our visitors arrive for a long weekend ...

I am thankful for... a group of lovely girl friends from high school, who I caught up with for a hen's evening last week ...

From the kitchen... a heart-shaped zucchini and ham slice for today's Valentine-themed lunch at Mum's group...

I am wearing... brown cord jeans, a black skivvy top, and blue fleece ...

I am creating... woven paper hearts for a Valentine's garland to hang in the lounge room ...

I am going... to Rach's wedding, where I'll meet up again with my old schoolfriends on Friday evening ...

I am reading... Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis ... can't say it's really caught my fancy yet ...

One of my favorite things... is a long, hot bath (with or without Boo's company), with plenty of bubbles and a trashy magazine to read ...

Here is a picture thought I am sharing ...

Boo runs to the manor after a walk to Pinecone Station.

Grandma's Birthday

Together Grandma, Boo and I baked her birthday cake. The recipe we had been given won first prize in the Country Show for five years running, and we had high hopes. When it came out of the oven Grandma and I laughed until we cried -- we've both never seen a cake with a hollow in the middle quite that large.

A dollop of chocolate icing, gold ribbon and a posy soon disguised even this disaster, and Uncle Edmund and Aunt Elizabeth thought our cake very pretty when they came for birthday tea.

A quick note on the fires here: they are tragic and frightening, but don't affect the State we live in at this time. We do know friends who have been affected; thankfully their lives and home are safe, but nearby townships have been razed by fire and the countryside around them is destroyed. It is all the more terrifying because for years people have been told to either leave the area of a fire, or stay and fight for their properties. This time the wind was so wild and fast that those who stayed had little hope of survival.

Awakening

We've had a busy weekend in the city.
On Friday I went into the hospital to get a new insulin pump, and find out more about how it works. It seems to be quite an improvement on the old one, and I'm very grateful to have such good medical care. But there's plenty to learn and I'll be reading textbooks for a while.
Saturday was a day at the PowerHouse Museum with Maggie and the kids, where we took a look at the Star Wars exhibition.
Then that night I set off to a catch up with schoolfriends, and celebrate Rachael's hen's night at a fabulous restaurant.

We arrived home from a weekend in the city to discover that two of our butterflies had emerged from their coccoons. Such a nice surprise, and so lovely to be home!

Wanderers

Each day Boo and I have fetched green sprigs of milkweed from the garden. We brought them home to feed a half-dozen ravenous Wanderer caterpillars, who lived in a large glass canning jar on the kitchen counter.

Now each in turn has transformed into a perfect, silent, emerald chrysalis.
And today Boo has taken these, wobbling and jiggling on twigs, to preschool. Slowly the chrysalisis will turn black, then opalescent, and in two weeks or so the children should hopefully see the exquisite new orange-and-black butterflies emerge.

Pikelets at Preschool

This morning Boo and I packed a very full basket of goodies to take to preschool.
Flour, sugar, salt, milk, eggs -- still warm from under the hen -- raspberry jam and cream were packed and ready to go. The special duck measuring cups came too, the prize-winning recipe, and of course Boo's Show certificate took pride of place.
When the cooking began, seventeen little eager children excitedly took turns mixing, pouring, cracking and stirring. Then Grandma baked batch after batch of warm brown pikelets, while I opened a 'shop' in the preschool kitchen, and each child waited in line to choose whether they wanted jam or cream (or both) on their pikelets.

Anniversary

Cheryl Gad

5 June 1971 - 1 February 2007

No, forgive me.
If you no longer live,
if you, beloved, my love,
if you
have died,
all the leaves will fall in my breast,
it will rain on my soul night and day,
the snow will burn my heart,
I shall walk with frost and fire and death and snow,
my feet will want to walk to where you are sleeping,
but
I shall stay alive,
because above all things you wanted me indomitable,
and, my love, because you know that I am not only a man
but all mankind.

-- Pablo Neruda (The Dead Woman, translation)

Lazy Baby

Boo's been lazing about, while Daddy, Grandma and I have been crazy busy. We moved all the outdoor furniture off the deck, then scrubbed it down with sugar soap. The minute the job was done I crashed heavily with tonsilitis.
Luckily Grandma came to the rescue and has entertained Boo for most of the weekend, while Daddy got on the with job and I stayed in bed. For 12 hours.

I have been rather a baby about it, but I am seldom ill, and this bout seems to have been particularly vicious (but nothing a course of antibiotics won't cure).

But no matter how terrible you feel, there's still something luxurious about lying in bed under the cooling fans, and hearing the quiet murmers as one person looks after your baby and another works like a slave sanding and painting your verandah.

How lucky am I?