Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Dreaming, thinking, planning


Today I went for a lovely long walk around Lake Daylesford and found myself thinking about lots of things. Blogging, life, the kids, creative outlets, books, love. Walking is good like that. Lately I've been noticing how much I need that time to myself to think about life, to have space to contemplate what is happening for me at that moment. It's just nice to have some quiet time, something that is fairly rare in my world!


Do you find that too? I love the space I get on long walks or long drives, like to Melbourne, on my own. I get to think about all the ideas that are on hold in my mind. 


 I've got an idea for a film I'd love to make, about motherhood actually, and recently I got so caught up planning it that I totally missed the turn off and ended up in Bell St, Preston instead. Funny.


Anyway, Christmas has been fun but I'm glad it's behind us now.  I'm loving the summer holidays already, the more relaxed pace and just hanging out with my family gang.


 I'm also trying to tackle some of those projects that need some attention.


 Boring but necessary ones like fixing up the front garden, sweeping out the dogs 'room', etc and fun ones like my vintage sheet bed cover/quilts. I can't wait to finish the first one, it's almost done. Lovely Phillippa has let me borrow her overlocker which is ace!


How was your  Christmas? Do you celebrate it? The main thing I love about  Christmas is being with family. I love our traditions, like going to Mum's on Boxing Day.


Mum loved her Nanny doll, a little present from Rosie. Rosie sewed it all by herself and I helped her with Nan's glasses,


and the teensy tiny knitting needles. We made the needles out of skewers and added red beads to the ends. The knitting part was hard, but fun! I noticed Mum was itching to keep going on it too. Maybe she will! She could make her doll a scarf!


It was also good to see our extended family that we don't get to see very often, on Christmas Day.


Kate with Charlotte.


We drove down to the beachy parts of Melbourne to have lunch with my cousin Kim and her family. There were lots of people, about 32 I think, and we had a great time, eating and chatting. They have a beautiful house, I fell in love with their hallway, again.

I also made my first pavlova!  Wow, I wonder why I haven't tried it before. Char helped me whip the eggs and Alison From Next Door gave us some of her amazing logan berries. We covered the top of the pav with mixed berries and cherry juice, it was AMAZING! I'm hooked, now I just need to get a good supply of eggs! We only have on chook laying at the moment and the dogs are the only ones who know where she lays. We only ever see the egg shells...! Oh well, the farmers market is coming up so we'll have to get some more chookies.


Anyway lovely ones, I better skedaddle and make the most of this beautiful sunshiny day. I hope your end of year is a happy one and that you too get some space to think, to plan, to dream.
See you soon xo


(There's a good reason for Julia's sideways glance at my brother, Ben..he is a cheeky boy! )

Monday, December 19, 2011

The week before Christmas..




Hi! These three happy faces are smiling so much because school has finished and we are on summer holidays!!! Woo hoo! I'm loving it already. I love to sit in bed in the morning with a cup of tea and read the paper, and just relax without rushing around like a headless chook!


We've had a busy end of term with another ballet presentation, this time it was Lucy's turn. Lucy began ballet only this year and has come a long way already. She danced beautifully on Saturday and we were so proud of her. She also helped out with the prep class this year and it was so sweet to see her getting cuddles and love from all the little ones backstage.


At school we had an emotional week for a couple of reasons, 


one of which was a much loved teacher was leaving after 13 years, there were many tears at the final assembly. Luckily the preps put on a beautiful nativity play which cheered us all up a bit...


and then there was Elvis... 


Yes, he has lost a bit of weight. I think he's ditched the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...


 So the clock is ticking and it's getting closer to Christmas! Are you excited? Exhausted? Organised or in a mess? I'm a bit of everything, although I think mainly I'm happy as life has slowed down and I really need that break from the whirl of busyness.


My kids are settling down too, they have been so tired and yes, quite cranky lately.  Not all of them, and not all at once, thank god, but I guess they need time to relax too.


We're all looking forward to Charlotte coming home on Friday! I love it when we are all together.


In the mean time there is plenty to do this week. Finish of Christmas cards, find homes for our baby ducks, clean up at school, get those last minute presents sorted, and today I'll have to clean up our sunroom that was seriously flooded last night after a massive and scary storm. I'm also hanging out to see a lovely friend who is just back from her big trip around Australia. Yay!
What are you up to?
I hope the week before Christmas is a happy one. I hope you find much to enjoy, to celebrate,
and to love. I hope you have some time to unwind, to relax, to see the small things of beauty, some time to laugh & have fun with your family and friends.  Life is so fragile isn't it? 
Much love to you all, 
                                                              see you soon dear friends xo



Thursday, December 8, 2011

Helllloooooo!!!




...lovely friends!! Just checking in to say hello as the madness of the end of year hovers around me.


Some thing has to give when life is so busy and I guess for me lately that's been my blog. I hope to catch up more with all of you over the summer, I'm sorry I haven't been to visit much recently.


Since my Sydney post (still on a high about that trip!) Bill has turned 10,


and my mermaid girl,


turned into a flower for the amazing end of year ballet recital. Rosie and Sunday both dancing beautifully and it was so thrilling to be in the audience watching them on the magnificent stage at Her Majesty's in Ballarat. Wow!


I've been busy helping out at school with various events which is a lot of fun but time consuming too!
I'm so looking forward to the holidays and having more time for the kids & Mark, the ducks and all our pets. Yes, that means YOU Daisy!


My plans for making vintage linen quilts has gone by the wayside, temporarily, and I'm itching to get back into it. All my beautiful sheets and pillow cases have been soaked, washed and ironed and they are waiting patiently for my attention.


I'm sad because I haven't had much time to take photo's lately and I'm missing it. Luckily Instagram has been a fun and easy way to get some snaps into my life, thank god for Instagram! Another thing on my list for the summer, photography! And reading, walking, swimming, relaxing, decluttering, catching up with friends and hopefully planning our renovation!

What have you got planned for the holidays? Hope to see you soon, bye for now xoxoxooxoxox

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Sydney!!!!



Bill and I had a fantastic trip to Sydney! 
Probably the best part for me was the look on his face when he read out my last post on my iphone as we took the turn off to the airport. He just couldn't believe we were going to Sydney not Melbourne!  I don't think he really did until we were on the plane, what an excellent surprise it was!


Although it was raining quite a lot of the time we were there we still had fun and did so many things. We both loved the ferry ride across the  magnificent Sydney Harbour...where we saw..


(replica) ships from the First Fleet....


sail boats...


..tug boats...


....and massive ships. I loved being on the harbour, there is so much to look at and it is truly such a beautiful place to be. How could you ever get sick of such views? Lucky Sydney siders.. :)


Over on Manly beach we just enjoyed being at the beach, something we miss in Daylesford.


 We looked for shells, swam in the water, watched people, boats and clouds.


It was simply..


blissful.


Bill and I packed a lot into our 24 hours in Sydney, we stayed at the YHA in The Rocks (which was great) and climbed a million steps up and down. It's such an amazing historic area, I loved it.


We watched a film about the making of the Harbour Bridge, went to a book shop & a movie, we ate waffles, and hot chips and ice cream.



We caught trains, and cabs and ferries,


 and the monorail! Fun!


One of the highlights was the Power House Museum. We both walked around in awe at the many mind blowing exhibits. The oldest steam train in NSW, planes hanging from the ceiling, rocket parts, the penny farthing..old tram cars and carriages...all so beautifully made and decorative.



I have so many shots from the museum so I won't bore you with them all but we had the BEST time there and I can't wait to go back one day. Bill loved all the scientific sections with experiments etc. Not so much my cup of tea but it was fun to see him enjoying it.

Another highlight was catching up with Susie from Flower Press. We almost didn't make it but I'm so glad we did. Susie took us on a trek for coffee through the crowds of School Spectacular students, an amazing motor bike jumping display (!!), Darling Harbour and past Paddy's Market. A real splice of inner Sydney! It was great to finally meet Susie and sit and have a chat with her. Susie, thanks so much for coming in to see us, I hope next time we can come and visit you and meet your family too.

I could go on forever about our mini trip to Sydney but I'll finish up  now as it's hard to know when to stop sometimes. I'm SO glad I did this with Bill, it was a precious moment in time that we will both remember. Life with kids is so busy and it's easy to get caught up in the Managing and the Surviving, the Cleaning and Organising that sometimes you need to step back and just enjoy time together.

 I really enjoyed chatting with Bill and hearing his ideas and observations. It was good for him to go somewhere so different and bustling, a big city with so many different cultures and things to see.  I like having some special one on one time with my kids, whether it's a big trip like this or just doing something more simple. I guess it's the time spent together that is what you remember. I definitely want to do this with all my kids - I hope I can.

So I've been rambling on..what have YOU been up to lately?
Hope it's been fun and inspiring, and that you are not to caught up in the end of year stress.
Take care lovely ones,
I'll see you soon xo