Matching Pegs

On the morning of the wedding, I had organised to meet up with Lily, of Block a Day for a cuppa.  Thanks to Lily’s generous hospitality, it turned into a luscious morning tea for the whole family.  She laid a beautiful table with fine china and linen – I wish I could show it to you, but I was silly enough to leave my camera back at the hotel.

Our visit with Lily was like a little bubble of calm, in an otherwise hectic day.  The kids had a lovely time with Abigail, and we discovered that Lily’s husband, Julian, had worked one floor up from me about 9 years ago, when the family briefly lived in Melbourne.  It is such a small world.

During our conversation we were talking about homes, and I described our house as a triple fronted brick veneer – a term familiar to most Melbourne residents – many of our suburbs are full of them.  Lily didn’t know what that meant, so Lily, here is what our one looks like….

The triple front relates to the three “front facing falls”.  It is hard to tell from the photograph, but the faces stop at three different depths from the front of the property.  Here is one way these homes have been described…..“This style dominated suburban architecture in the 50′s – 60′s. In its basic form it is a bland and unimaginative style which has been propagated by developers”. It is a pretty basic, humble home, but it’s ours, and the inside is a little more interesting.  It doesn’t compare to the beautiful “Queenslander” that Lily’s family is living in, but one of those would not really work in the much colder south.

I am always in awe of Lily’s productivity, and creativity, and her home was certainly full of examples of her talent.  Overall it was lovely to meet a bloggy friend in real life.

Have any of you met up with your bloggy friends?

This was one of the last photos I took in Queensland, on Saturday, before flying back to Melbourne.  We went from a 29 degrees C day (84 F), to an 11degrees C evening in Melbourne (52 F) which was quite a shock, as Melbourne was pretty hot just before we left.  That is the city of my birth though, always changing.

We had a lovely time in Queensland, a trip that was prompted by Tim and Danielle’s Wedding in Brisbane.

Tim (Luke’s brother) and Danielle met in London, and managed to find London Taxis for Bridal Cars, which was a pretty cool touch I thought.

The wedding took place in a marquee on the grounds of a golf course, which was lovely.

Here is a photo showing just over half of the bridal party.  Our vantage point made it a little difficult to get everyone in, as did the sleeping child in my arms (Michaela).

Here is a snap I am particularly fond of, my dressed up family leaving the wedding to return to the hotel room for pizza and bed (the kids that is – we returned for the reception, and a much classier dinner).

I am so glad we went, it was great to be there with almost the whole clan.  More about that next time.

Firstly, a winner.  I held a random draw, and the lucky peggy giveaway goes to Rachel L from Contented over in the UK.  Rachel’s favourite stationery is notepaper, the type you write a good old fashioned letter on. I have a hand full of the wooden pegs along with a couple of even smaller gold pegs I found yesterday to send her.  I am sure a few other little curios will find their way into the package as well.  I will give you all a look at what I send, once I know exactly what it is.

Lately I have been really neglecting my blog, and even worse, I have not been replying to comments.  I feel terrible about it.  Yesterday the penny dropped as to why it was all getting too hard.  That dropping penny was a bunch of flowers.

When I pulled up in the driveway yesterday afternoon, and saw them on the doorstep, my first thought was “The delivery truck must have stopped at the wrong house” as it was not a special day of any kind.

It turns out that the flowers were from my hubby’s boss.  Basically they were an apology for keeping him at work so much lately (last few months), and leaving me with the brunt of the work (and child rearing) on the home front.  Quite a thoughtful touch wasn’t it.  It has been hard, but until yesterday I hadn’t realised how much it was getting to me.  Lately I haven’t even been reading all your blogs,  I have been just too exhausted.  I will eventually reply to your comments, at least the recent ones.  Please accept my apologies if you have left a comment that I have not responded to it.  I also owe my blog roll an update, there are so many blogs I read that are not on there.

At the end of next week we are off to a family wedding in Brisbane followed by a family holiday on the Gold Coast, so I am sure we will be much more relaxed, and recharged after that.

I have a small collection of teapots on my kitchen windowsill.  There are 3 (I said it was small).  I have been drawing them for my mug-bag design, and now I am drawing them up neatly in Illustrator, so much fun, (the pencil part more than the computer part).

The design is most likely to feature this bamboo handled one, as well as one of my butterflies and a cherry blossom.  I think I will start cutting out paper copies of these drawings at different scales to work out where I am going with this.  I just wish I had a super-teacher to teach me how to use the parts of Illustrator that I need to use.  I keep thinking in a tech drawing, auto cad kind of way when I am using it, and it is the wrong way to approach it.

Here are adorable photos of two of my kids.  It’s my blog, and I like to admire my handiwork – I just gave them both a haircut.

Michaela is going through a skirts and dresses phase, hense the skirt and pants look.  I cut her hair to angle in at the back.

I am no hairdresser, but I think I did OK.

Rory told me a minute before I took that shot that he would only pose if he didn’t have to smile.

I love my son so much that I took both he and Amelia to see Star Wars, The Clone Wars this afternoon.  I almost fell asleep.  Next week we are going to see Wall-E, which I am really looking forward to.  Tomorrow I am taking Amelia to have her ears pierced – so I will probably be posting her new look tomorrow.

This beautiful Helleborus, or Winter Rose (also known as Christmas Rose in the other hemisphere ) has been growing in the garden for quite some time.  Today I decided that it was OK to cut some blooms to bring inside, as with the warmth of spring, I am not sure how much longer it will be in bloom.

I have also finished my scarf, just in time for the warmer days, isn’t it always the way.

It is a much larger version of Michaela’s scarf, it took 4 balls of Bamboozle yarn (70% Bamboo 30% Cotton) to make it up.  This is the 5th scarf I have made, using a 2×2 rib, following my beginners book.  This is the first time I have “cast off in rib”, my beginners book only showed me one way to cast off.  I had no idea there were others, and this way works so much better (as you cast off you just follow the pattern of knit two, purl two).

Rory took the photo above, (under direction). I think he did a fantastic job.  He is home today with an upset tummy following a very big weekend.  We packed in Swimming Lessons, a Spring Fair (I was a face painter extraordinaire), Fathers’ Day and the purchase of a new(er) car (4 years rather than 13).  It looks a little like this………

On Wednesday, I have to trek back to the complete other side of town to pick it up, and bring it home, probably by driving on the notorious Punt Rd/Hoddle Street – one of the busiest roads in all of Melbourne.  While it will definitely be worth it, I am a little nervous.  Anyway, this little beauty (A Toyota, Avensis Verso) has 2 extra seats tucked away in the back section of the hatch.  They fold completely flat, leaving a boot capacity similar to the one we have in the old Liberty.  This will enable us to transport other additional people occasionally when we go out (when the kids want to bring a friend) which I am sure will come in handy.  We will still be a one car family, but have a little more flexibility.

In the next few days, I will have to post some pictures of some painted faces, but it has taken me ages to write this short post, so I will save it for another day.  Why is it that having two kids at home today makes me feel like I am moving through quicksand.  I don’t seem to get anything done.  As much as I love my kids, I am craving a little alone time, and that little glow of satisfaction that comes with finishing a project of two.

Happy Birthday our little ray of sunshine.

You surprise us every day with your confidence, and the joy you get out of life. You smile more than any other member of the family, and have done so since you were a tiny baby. Here you are when you were 3 days old.

Your arrival completed our family, and never has a baby been more cuddled than you.

At three months old when you had an uncomfortable hip brace fitted, the lady fitting it was amazed at your good humor…”This is usually when they start howling”. Every couple of months when they adjusted it, you were so good for the orthotist, and she was always impressed with you sunny disposition.  in fact, most people are usually impressed with your sunny disposition.

This is you when you were 11 months old. You love to join in with any game that the big kids are playing – you often get to be the sick patient, or the student, not to mention Darth Vader.  What ever you are, you always join in, and imagine along with the action.

This is when you were 17months old, and it is one of my favourite photo’s of you, with your big blue eyes and your smile.

In fact, with your smile you can get away with almost anything.

Micky Moo, no matter what, remember that we love you, always. We are so lucky to be your Mum and Dad.

*Michaela’s birthday was yesterday, but we were too busy celebrating it for me to write this post.

We had a beautiful sunset tonight and I could not resist sharing it with you.  This is the view across the top of the neighbouring houses.  As a family we all went to see Kung Fu Panda this afternoon, which was actually not bad as far as school holiday movies go.  It was Michaela’s first movie and apart from moving between Luke at one end of our 5 seats, and myself at the other, she made it through the whole movie without making lots of noise.

Here is an update on the fort/lookout/cubby in the backyard.

This was Luke working out how high the step needed to be, so that Michaela could climb up.

She was a real little Tradey, helping out Daddy.

As the kids had a curriculum day today (no school, teachers plan the curriculum) we stayed in the country for a long weekend. We enjoyed the slower pace, the space, as well as catching up with family, and catching the local footy (Aussie Rules of course – this is Victoria).

Of course I took along the camera and took more photos of the area where my husband grew up.

on the left are some Peppercorns and on the right is a magnificent eucalyptus.

Here is a view of his home town, which is in the north of Victoria.

And, because I can’t help myself, here is another sunset.

Hopefully my next post will be some sewing/creating.

They shall grow not old,
As we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning
We will remember them. Lest we Forget

This is the verse of the ode that is said during the minutes of silence on Anzac Day.

For the sacrifices that have been made, and those that continue to be made, by the men and women that serve their country, and the families that they leave behind, we are grateful.

I have been writing and rewriting this post all week…

Andrew Denton’s interview show “Enough Rope” has a slogan, “Everyone has a story”.

Last week he touched on my story, my family’s story.

Among the stories of celebrities, Andrew shows us stories that do not get much coverage. Last Monday his show was called “Angels and Demons” and was about living with mental illness. I have a close family member who has schizophrenia, and other members of the extended family who have this nasty illness as well.

Andrew treated the people that he spoke to with dignity, and let them tell their stories in their own words. Together with the people he spoke to, he shone some light on to what living with “Angels and Demons” can be like. The more people that talk about this, the better. We need to break down some of the stigma that gets heaped upon people that already have enough to deal with.

I am profoundly grateful that Andrew and the Enough Rope team have made this show.

I don’t really want to say more here on this blog, as this blog is really a place for me to show my creations, but wanted to publicly acknowledge Andrews contribution, and my gratitude.