Enid and other stories...

On Saturday I flew the coop and headed down to Melbourne for a catch up with my old mate, Hannah. Han & I go way back, we met when we were 13! It was good to hang out with her and hear all her news. Like old friends do we have a natural ease with each other, we just pick up where we left off! Our lives are very different ie: her - city life, no kids, city job and me..well you know all about me!

I LOVED being in Fitzroy, the lovely familiar place where I grew up. I still know every corner, every crack in the footpath, but there is always new things to see too. I love the smell of the inner city in the early evening, jasmine & warm asphalt, cooking smells & perfume. And the twittering of city parrots, chirping and swooping through the streets.

I had an amazing find too!! Just as I turned into St David St I saw a large skip filled with building material. And sitting on top was an old toy dog. From a distance it looked like a real doggie, (that's my ageing eyes for you!) but as I got closer I saw it was a beautiful, vintage toy with only one ear, perched on top of the pile, obviously waiting for me! Oh my excitement. You will understand this if you are also a treasure hunter, a skip scrounger, an op shopper. I blame my dad really for passing on this gene, actually it's a pretty ace one to have. But anyway, back to The Dog. I wondered whether she had been found in a ceiling or under the floorboards, I guess I'll never know. I picked her up, tucked her under my arm and set off for the restaurant. (I did get some odd looks.) At the Fitzroy Commoner I sat my new friend under the table where she quietly rested, pleased I hope, in the knowledge that she was going to a happy retirement in Daylesford. I've called her Enid, it just seems to suit her. I'm in the middle of researching her history, the old label on her tummy says she comes from England. Imagine all the things she has seen in her time pre rubbish skip?

I stayed at my mum's house, a home full of interesting things. It's always a pleasure to stay there and I love the memories that seem to drift through my mind of days gone by in Fitzroy. Walking home from school past the Perfect Cheese factory (pretty stinky on Parmesan day), past the Glo Weave factory, past the old nonna's sitting on their front veranda, shelling peas, of the Milk Bar next door, the dirty old shops of Brunswick St (now such a thriving, bustling spot), oh the many memories..a happy time.

Back home things have been busy. Hence the lack of blogging lately.

It's that crazy end- of- year time that creeps up..lots on and not enough time. I'm working on keeping myself calm, it's not easy sometimes! 

My kids are hanging out for the holidays and I am too. It's been a big year.

I've been working a little bit too, at a cafe. It's only a few hours but so far it's fun and I'm loving learning to make coffee again.

And I'm so excited as I have a new project!! Yes, I'm making doona covers/quilts from my collection of vintage linen. I want to make them super beautiful and perfect so I'm working really hard to get them right. So far I've soaked, washed and ironed a massive pile and right now I'm working on cutting them out. I hope to sell them through my shop and maybe in Melbourne too. Watch this space for

  Dandelion Dreams!

I'm hoping that next time I post there will be some photo's of our new ducklings. According to my calculations they should be starting to hatch any day now. Oh wow!!! As you know they are just the cutest things, I can't wait! What's happening in your world? I hope you are happy and well, lovely ones.

See you soon xo

ps: special thanks to Char who helped with with these photo's that I managed to lose when downloading from my phone. Honey, you are the best xo

city

I'm in Melbourne for a few days with my two youngest girls,

staying at my mum's house in Fitzroy. It's been a nice break,

and good to have a change of scene.

The kids have been enjoying themselves too.

For Rosie it's been big. She hasn't been to Melbourne much, she's a real country girl. She has been amazed at the graffiti, the trams, the many different people....lots to take in.

Things I've been loving...cool shops,

 variety, colour, bright lights, being anonymous,

a last visit to our family home, sold on Saturday.

Seeing our beautiful friends, spending every day kind of time with them,

visiting Charlotte,
who we love & miss.

Dusky city streets, big moon,  the weather,

and playgrounds! They are everywhere, and so they should be!

Tonight before dinner we walked around the corner to the little park and

had a quick play, just like that! Fun :)

 Things I haven't enjoyed so much...cars, cars, cars, the smell from cars, traffic,

and noise! It's loud here, neighbours, helicopters, sirens,

and it's dirty. Yep, cities sure are dirty. But I knew that didn't I? Growing up in the inner city

I knew all these things, I lived them every day.

Anyway, it's been fun to visit, and I can see how quickly I could get used to living a different kind of life. It's funny to walk out of your comfort zone & see things from another perspective.

I'm looking forward to going home though,

back to Mark and the other kids, the ducks (growing every day), dogs, chooks,

I'm looking forward to going back home. 

What have you been up to lately?

Hope all is well in your world,

nighty night xo

night wheels!

yesterday, today

One of the good things about de-cluttering are the treasures that are uncovered, rediscovered. Today as I started the mammoth job of cleaning up my sewing space I found this family heirloom, a patchwork dress my mum once wore in the 1970's.

I think I kept it because I loved the fabric, but also because it reminds me of Mum & of happy times as a family at our old, two story house in the rolling green hills of Eganstown. That same house that is now being renovated, by another family who are making memories of their own.

Here we are in a photo taken by the Women's Weekly (back in the days when it was weekly!) It's funny how sentimental I am, are you? I sometimes wish I wasn't but I guess that's just the way I am. This month will also see the sale of our family home in Moor St, Fitzroy. Another amazing house that I spent so much time in as a child. The town hall clock out my window, sirens in the night, kittens born in the wood stack, climbing the almond tree, the shoe factory behind our house, lollies from the milk bar, dinner parties that seemed to go all night, Mrs Mac, jasmine growing on the fence, tripping on the stairs, turtles & fish, sleeping on the verandah, reading by the street light, Kung Fu on tv, Christmas presents on Mum & Dad's bed, our cat Miffy...so many things, so long ago.

It's funny sometimes watching my own kids growing up, I wonder what their childhood memories will be? I find myself often tripping back into the past, do you?

 There's plenty to keep me in the here and now though. Lots happening around here, autumn sunshine,

our sweet doggies,

my big, little school girl,

a big, fat, fluffy mumma chook,

a boy bunny,

piles to sort,

more quinces to cook,

and a pink ballerina bunny who is waiting for her cardi. Did I mention crazy hair & clothes day at school? Oh yes, it's happening! Lots of excitement and wackiness for the last day of term.

 Bring on the holidays! Yay! I can't wait to slow down and have some time with the gang, what are you up to?

See you soon xo

at my house

At my house I'm thinking about my weekend. It was a busy one as usual and there were lots of nice distractions such as looking at window boxes and streetscapes in my old home town of Fitzroy.

After having breakie with an old mate in Gertrude St it was back home to these two beauties and then off to Daylesford for some party action.

Rosie had so much fun at Maggie's 5th birthday, with all the other fairies.

This gorgeous girl had organised such a great event and I fell in love with the little houses they made.

At my house I'm loving the colours, shapes and idea's that the children bring into our lives.

Their originality and sense of colour & fun brighten up my world.

At my house I'm loving the way a brand new day means a brand new start. I'm feeling happy & positive this week and looking forward to new adventures, some sunny days and hopefully my new camera arriving!! Woo hoo!

Hope your week is sparkly & new too, whatever you are up to. Why not pop past Lou Lou's and play along? See you soon and don't forget...

xo

City

Hey lovely friends. It's Sunday night & I have just been reunited with my computer cable which I left in Melbourne on Thursday. It was a weird feeling being offline for a few days, weird but good. Having said that it's so nice to be back & having a look around other blogs to see what I've been missing. Here's what I've been up to lately....

After Rosie's dental visit on Thursday (more about that in a minute) I drove to Mum's place & she took Rosie back to Daylesford. Suddenly I had a couple of hours to myself....wow!

I sat outside in her little pretty garden and read the paper & had a cup of tea. Ahhh..

There are alot of great plants and things in her garden, like the huge banana plants and this giraffe which was a present from my stepfather, Len.

And towering over the garden, well not exactly towering but very much there, is the

Fitzroy Town Hall. When we lived at Moor St I spent many hours staring out my bedroom window at this magnificent building. Thinking & dreaming and as I got older having the odd sneaky cigarette.

I went for a walk around the old neighbourhood. Some things have changed and some things are still the same. Lots of graffiti & wall art.

This is the side of the house we grew up in. In the old days it just had one bit of graffiti which read "Free Hess'. I didn't realise the political implications of this at the time, as a kid I thought the last few letters had dropped off and it was supposed to read "Free Hessian". Such a child of the seventies...

Our old front door. It didn't used to be blue but hey, I like it!



And here she is again, what a great house it was, and is. When we moved in in 1973 it was a boarding house where Weary Dunlop once lived. There were five families living there and many tiny rooms and kitchens. My room was on half of the balcony which in those days was boarded up and had louvre windows. I remember reading by the street light at night when I was meant to be asleep. After moving out when I was seventeen I returned when Charlotte was a baby & we lived downstairs. Lots of memories from this house that was once our home.

Ok, so then I popped over the road to the good old Napes. The Napier Hotel was a big part of my life for a long time. The first pub I had a drink at, kahlua & milk while listening to Joy Division on the jukebox. Then later I worked behind the bar, for seven years actually, seeing many crazy, scary, funny things happen and serving/meeting millions of people. I worked there until just before I had Charlotte, wobbling around the bar with my big tummy, pulling beers and chatting with the locals. Fun days.


It was nice to see Guy, who has been the owner for a few years now. We chatted about old times and regulars. It was good to see it's still pretty much the same old pub. I'm very fond of this old girl.


But then it was time to head off for Charlotte's parent/teacher interviews which went well. After a quick dinner with her I walked over the river to the MCG to meet my dad & watch Richmond get done by the Blues. Boo hoo. Yep, you guessed it, more character building.

So there you go, a big day in the city. It was fun to wander around with some time on my hands, this doesn't happen much! I like being in the city for short bursts but I'm always relieved to get back home. As soon as I turn off the freeway and head into the country again I feel happy. I love living in the country.

Before I go here is the lowdown on Rosies tooth problem. We went to see the specialist who had a look and explained it was most likely that the tooth was broken and it would need to come out. This was disappointing but not the end of the world. Then the xray came back and...if you don't like xrays tune out now.....

it turns out she has an extra tooth!! Nothing broken at all. Which explains why we couldn't work out how it happened. Anyway you can see above she has a small, pointy extra baby tooth pushing out her front tooth. This crazy, renegede tooth will then also fall out and be replaced by her adult tooth. Wow. What a freakout. So it was a good outcome after all, unexpected but good! We may go back to have her baby tooth rounded out (Charlotte kindly keeps referring to it as her 'animal tooth') but we'll wait & see. Phew. I'm glad that's all over.

So now we're settling in to the holidays. Char is home, yay!! Unfortunately both of us have bad colds. Sniffing and snuffling we are. Hope you sweeties are snuggled up warm and comfy on this rainy Sunday night. To all who sent good wishes, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, my bloggy mates are super special to me. See you soon xo