tsk tsk

windy

promise that this will be the last of the holiday snaps....nothing worse than looking at someone else's holiday right?
I'd post something perhaps that I have completed or designed....Oh that's right I forgot....there is nothing to show. School holidays won't be over until next week. Apologies if you are still waiting on work or emails from me.
I'll try my best to get to these as soon as I can. I'm beginning to feel frustrated at not being able to commit to my wants and needs again. The PAUSE LIFE button seems to be working well.

Thanks to those well wishes for my father in law. He had two stents put in his 80% blocked artery yesterday and is already up and about in the ward wanting to go home. Very lucky man. Must be something about all those oragnic, homemade vegies he grows.
Sadly there will be very little home made vino now.

The wind turbines seen here are apart of a wind farm located just outside Australia's capital, Canberra. Mr N worked on some engineering components of these (in layman's terms he makes sure that they don't fall over). We drove up to take a closer look and holy cow was it windy. About 35 knots we think. Poor Miss M was blown over and I almost lost my camera whilst trying to get some shots. Serious wind factor. I guess that's why it was a good place to put a wind farm!!

It was a very, "yes this is nice dear. now can we get back in the car before our kids get blown away?" moment.

Every Sunday

Every Sunday in a small country town on the border of two states parted by a river there is a tradition honoured.

Every Sunday.

Every Sunday for the last 50 odd years bocce is played at Zia Lucia's house. Gusieppe's sister.

Normally just the men play. I told you it is a tradition. Women play with the men occasionally. I played with them a few times, many years ago. You need to know some Italian, but there are a few regular 'aussies'. Some come and some go. They play for beer. Once upon a time beer was sold (and home made vino tasted) in the old cottage when there were many players. That's when they used both the courts. Now only one is maintained as the young men of 50 years ago are now old, weathered and wise.

Last Sunday we dropped in on Lucia and Don whilst on our way home. We wanted to show the kids what farm life is like and of course to show them the tradition of bocce that their nonno played every Sunday before moving to the city.

They played, they rode a motorbike, they discovered cow patties, held 4 day old chicks in their tiny hands, chased a cow up the road, and lit a fire. And we were only there for 2 hours.

It was a good Sunday.
But my thoughts are now with their nonno, my father in law, Gusieppe or as he is simply known by all as Jo.
Last night he had a mild heart attack and he is on his way to Brisbane for further tests.
We'll know more in the morning.

I'm glad we are now home, to be close to him.

saturday night with a monkey, a snorer AND LOUSY INTERNET CONNECTION

We’re in a motel room in the middle of NSW. On our way home. I’ve been away from computer world for almost a week and it has been super. The road trip has been great, and so far we have all managed not to kill each other. Plenty of café meals in country towns, plenty of kids’ menus, plenty of cold weather which has satisfied my winter fix. Our last and longest stint tomorrow via Zia (Aunty) Lucia’s house for a cup of tea and a game of bocce. And I’ve saved a brand new I SPY 3D game for the journey.   But right now we are sharing a room with the kids and Miss M is up to her usual ‘I can’t sleep tricks’. I’d love to put on the TV but I think it is lights out time! Help there is no escaping, I’m stuck in a room with a 6 year old snorer, a newspaper reading husband and a 5 year old monkey who just has to keep hopping out of her bed to get a tissue or go to the toilet. I’m considering Phenergan!

road trip

2 kids
1 car
many many hours on the road
counting cows
playing eye spy
snow.....oh please let there be snow!
stalagmites and stalactites
three sisters
2 states and 1 territory
wind farms
petrol stations
and hopefully one happy family.

blog guilt

do you ever have blog guilt? I have it right now. I should be working. I came into the studio this morning, cleared the desk to make some room so I could work and intended then and there that I would start my day.
But then I took a photo of my dog and then my shoes and studio floor to see what the light was like, then these dolls which have fluff coming out of their bums! And don't tell the kids I said 'bum' because they will take money away from me. That's what Mr N does when either of them say  "a rude word"  or a "naughty word". Please don't dob.

Breaky dishes are still there in the sink.
Dishwasher is only half unstacked....i do that all the time. Half now, half later.

Maybe it is a hangover from when I was a child and my sister and I would have a share each! looking back on that seems so pathetic. A half each! Honestly, both our parents worked full time and the fights we would have about the dishwasher. "Tiel hasn't done her share" "Larah is meant to do the plastics!" Now as a mother, I cringe at our selfish teenage ways.

But I digress.
I am still procrastinating.

Oh, and I have wet towels in my laundry basket that need to be dried and I am thankful that is has been wet so I can not feel bad about using my dryer.
I haven't thought about dinner and probably won't do until late this afternoon.

Now I really must stop, because I could harp on and on and on!

brighter the bird, better the day.

I've spent most of today and all of last night with a migraine. Only now at night do I feel OK. But I have felt frustrated at not being able to do anything. So before I shut down my computer I thought I would quickly post this pic I made.
The weather here is dreary and wet and this bird makes me feel a little brighter.

 

blogs and New York

Whilst blog hopping I've discovered two new lovely blogs full of beautiful things.
at-swim-two-birds where I fell in love with this Sonia
Delaunay book. I think I need to add this to my wish list. This print is really striking to me.

  If you are a fan of vintage ticking and you don't know about this beautiful site, Red Ticking, go and look AND drool awhile. They have a blog too. One of these cushions would do nicely please.

On a completely different note. I recently sent some work to New York for a brand new bub. I sent the canvas unstretched and this is a pic of what it looks like stretched and in the nursery. Kris bought an 'ABCme alpha poster' giclee print and loved it so much he asked if I could make something bigger. I love seeing my work in context. Thanks Kris for sending the pic through.

homeward bound

I have been saying for far too long now that our spare room needs a bit of TLC. It consists of a bed, some daggy bedside tables and a lamp and a pile of clean laundry that only gets removed when people come to stay! I'll take a photo one day to prove it. I'm in the process of making a quilt from vintage kimono fabrics, but based on my track record that could take a few more years to complete. It is a dark room with little light so I'm thinking of keeping it simple with whites, greys and a touch of yellow.
Maybe a mirror to make it appear bigger and brighter.

Perhaps I might get to look around this week for a few things in some real shops. But in the meantime I've been flipping through mags and online.


These three pics are kind of the look I had in mind....well that will probably change, because I can never make my mind up about these things.




Top left : discovered at Far Out Brussel Spout

Top right: discovered at Swish and Swanky

Bottom: discovered at Glimpse of style