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! )

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

Endings & beginnings

Did you celebrate Christmas? Are you having a relaxing time lately? I love the post Christmas period, the sleepy days where we all just mooch around & the pressure is off. I've been enjoying looking at photo's from the last couple of weeks too, here is Rosie on her last day at kinder/creche. She started in the Possum room as a one year old and moved her way through all the fantastic rooms, to become a big kinder girl. We will miss our local childcare centre where the staff have become friends and there is so much space for free play, adventures & fun. I had a few tears as we said goodbye, endings & beginnings can be hard can't they?

On Christmas Eve we went to an annual gathering up on Wombat Hill with some lovely locals. The kids played cricket, we ate and drank and had a ball.

If you are in the Daylesford area the Botanical Gardens are so worth a visit. Lots of beautiful heritage trees to enjoy and winding paths that lead you along, it's a kind of wonderland.

We have had fun this week, opening pressies and being together. The kids were so excited to all receive on of Jess's creatures on Christmas day!!

They have joined my two, Moby & Pearl, and we now have a whole family!! Billy's turtle, Larry, is a real superstar and I suspect he is the ring leader of the bunch. Aren't they fantastic? Thanks Jess, we love them so much.

Christmas Day was spent at Hepburn on Mum's deck, 

eating,

smiling,

hanging out together (here are my two favourite Bill's),

and generally being festive! We invited our neighbour, Fiona, and her sons and together

with our extended family we had a great day.

Lucy

The weather was perfect and the food was delicious.  I hope you are having a happy time lately, I wonder what the new year will bring? I'm looking forward to starting a fresh new year, I hope that it will be a great one for us all. With one daughter starting uni & one starting school there are sure to be lots of new things happening. I'm wondering where 2011 will take me too, perhaps it's the start of new things for me as well. Enjoy your last few days of 2010, see you soon lovely friends xo

Angels & other creatures

It's been an eventful day today! We had a lovely visit with Santa this morning, he was in fine form and so friendly. He gave the girls paper angel wings and chatted with them for ages. But someone was missing...

oh there he is! Bill wandered off looking for books but we found him and convinced him to have a photo. Char stayed home, she had her fair share of Santa photo's when she was little!  The visit to Santa was so much fun and a nice distraction from a rather scary event this morning. I was out the back checking on the chickens, and having a cry about Henrietta, who didn't survive the night. Her injuries were too severe and she didn't make it. Poor chookie. I'm glad at least that she was back home and died quietly in the night, curled up in the straw in the chook pen. Anyway, I then found myself looking at my tomatoes and as I kneeled down to have a closer look this is what I saw...

...a snake caught up in the netting I had put over the vegies. Ahhh!!! I guess it hadn't been dead long and although I felt sorry for it I was also glad I hadn't come out a bit earlier, who knows what might have happened. This was a timely reminder that we live in the country and that we are entering snake season.

The kids all had a look and we went through what to do if they find a snake. Lets hope we don't see any more. I don't have anything against snakes but I'd rather they didn't visit our garden!

Guess what? There are four new bunnies in the shop!!

Do pop over and have a look, Freya is waiting to say hi!

And so is Angel, above.

By the way I am LOVING the stories about your childhood toys, it's so much fun hearing all the different dolls, teddies & other play things. It would make a fascinating book, wouldn't it? Each story is so unique but all have a similar theme of love & comfort & fun & childhood. Thanks so much for sharing your memories with me. My giveaway is on until next week so do enter if you haven't, or feel free to mention it on your blog.

Hope you are having a happy week, see you soon xo

Lucy & Chloe

Hey, hey, hey, it's a Dandelion Giveaway!

Hi lovely friends! How is your week going? I have been SO tired but am feeling a bit better today. The girls helped me with some bunny business this morning, there are two new bunnies in the shop and I will be putting more in the shop this week so keep an eye out!

There is this little sweetie pie

and this pirate fella, both can be sent asap, ready for Christmas! I will be adding more bunnies every day, a lovely purple girl, and a sweet pink one too. Oh and the baby blue one...& lots of others!

And as I'm feeling so happy and festive today,

and also as a thank you to all my lovely friends out there, I have decided to have a giveaway! Woo hoo!

I also noticed this morning that I am almost up to 300 posts, and have almost 300 followers! That's pretty exciting too.

So here's the thing, all you have to do is tell me a little about your favourite toy from when you were a child.  Do you still have it? What was it's name? I loved my toys and still do. Helen Holiday, Floppy, Knitted Horsey & Looby Lou were some of my faves. If you are a follower you get an extra entry of course. The giveaway will be drawn next week so you have plenty of time to enter.

You might win one of three things! This green bunny that my helpful assistant is snuggling with,

            .... or this dear bunny above, or one of my Susannah dolls, pictured below with Sunday!

Thanks for all your comments & thoughts this year, I always love to hear from you. I love the support, humour, kindness, generosity & love that is out there in blog land, what a wonderful community it is.

Good luck & see you soon! xo