29.07.10 - Jollies!

Cheerio! Off on our jollies for 2 weeks - yes two whole weeks!

Well my friends, I am so stupidly ridiculously happily looking forward to my holidays that I can't stop smiling - nay grinning like a rat!

We are going to find castles

We are going to frolic in the sun

We are going to eat ice creams

Woo Hoo! gotta go and pack now :) 

Err - where's the wool and crochet hooks - (got to get my priorities right!)

He hehe he!

Now.........Who's for a cup of tea and the most spendifulous cake I have tasted in AGES! 

27.07.10 - School holiday traditions

Pyjama day:

The boys appear as I am writing my last post, tousled and sleepy-eyed. You can hardly see them under their pillows and favourite blankies. Brief sleepy kisses and hugs are given to me then they tumble sloth like onto the settee. They watch a few morning cartoons from their 'nest' as they slurp tea noisily from their mugs. Pyjama day - their favourite favourite thing for the first day of the holidays - only getting dressed at the last possible moment. Eldest lounges across the settee, draped like a budding teenager (oh hang on , he is a budding teenager......ooh err...) whilst Youngest bumbles about busying himself collecting toys, making things, complaining about the amount of space his brother is taking up. 

'Breakfast?' I enquire, half expecting a languid hand waving a consent, not expecting the stampede upstairs to get dressed. They return looking quite respectable expressing their hunger in loud tummy groaning fashion. How is it my men (of all sizes and ages) seem to appear half starved at the merest hint of food? 

Copious amounts of breakfast and more tea is consumed and then Youngest says.. 'Caterpillar calender!'

Which leads us onto another holiday tradition.

When I was little, my Mom would make a caterpillar calender - a long paper caterpillar with each segment representing a different day. We would fill in any proposed events, special days or birthdays as it led up to the big summer holiday. And as each day would come we would cut the segment off.

When my boys were small - I would make the caterpillar calender and they would scribble their token decorations on but now they are older they take over and make the entire calender themselves. And - boys being boys - their caterpillar calender is HUGE and gets bigger each holiday. 

Youngest uses the top of my fave crochet tin to make the head - 'it's going to be a green caterpillar' he cheerfully informs me.

Eldest starts on the marathon task of making each segment - a different colour per day. There is much counting and confirming numbers of days before returning to school. A serious debate starts as to which actual day the school opens and we have to resort to checking the school's details to prevent  the debate from becoming verbal fisticuffs.

Eldest - grumpy on discovering he has one less day than Youngest - returns to his circle-making then starts painting flowers and spirals around the caterpillar. Youngest slaps on bright green paint cheerfully. Sketches of caravans and land-rovers appear. Paintings of ice-cream cones laden with such generous scoops of multicoloured ice-creams are added.

While they are engrossed I sit near, crocheting - I love being just outside of their activities. Close enough to join in if invited - far enough away not to impose. They chatter away, part conversation, part ongoing game. I watch as a paintbrush becomes a jet and soars over the page and I smile as Youngest holds a conversation with a plastic dinosaur called Bessie and a yellow chicken known as 'woondachook'. 

But, now, it is time to put the paintbrushes and games aside, they are off to spend the afternoon with Granny and Bumpa whilst I go to work..........I'd much rather spend the afternoon with my boys than go to work - harrumff  :(

More holiday traditions to follow x

26.07.10 - Things

Weekend round up.

Help move a friend

Fall in love

Road trip in a removal van

Start a new WIP

Fall in love again

Start a new diet (a high fibre diet!)

Return home, tired, sad but we need to see our boys

WIP grows

Miles and miles roll under the wheels

See a large wild cat

Home.

21.70.10 - If I was........

I recently read this on summertime dreams' Friday 16th post, and instantly fell in love with the idea, so here is my interpretation and pictures.

If I was a month, I’d be June.

If I was a day of the week, I’d be Friday.
If I was a time of day, I’d be dusk.

If I was a planet, I’d be Pandora.
If I was a sea creature, I’d be a mermaid. 

If I was a direction, I’d be skyward.
If I was a piece of furniture, I'd be a book laden shelf.
If I was a liquid, I’d be the incoming tide.

If I was a gemstone, I’d be African Jade.

If I was a tree, I’d be the magickal Hawthorn.

If I was a tool, I’d be a box full of pencils.

If I was a flower, I’d be a lily.
If I was a kind of weather, I’d be a warm spring day.

If I was a musical instrument, I’d be a fiddle.

If I was a colour, I’d be the colours of nature.

If I was an emotion, I’d be the love I have for my boys.

If I was a fruit, I’d be a sun ripened alpine strawberry.

If I was a sound, I’d be the sound of the sea on pebbles.

If I was a flavour, I'd be sun ripened tomato.

If I was a  mammal, I'd be a cat.

If I was an element, I'd be air.

If I was a phase of the moon, I'd be a new moon crescent.

If I was berry, I'd be a raspberry.

If I was a bird, I'd be a swallow.

If I was an island, I'd be an archipelago.

If I was a book, I'd be a book of mythical and magickal stories.

If I was a food, I’d be an Italian dish.

If I was a drink, I'd be a mango juice.
If I was a place, I’d be a wild valley between towering mountains.

If I was a material, I’d be turquoise silk.
If I was a scent, I’d be the smell of the wild rose.

and if I could choose who to be, I'd still be me..................

Thank you summertime for the inspiration :)

And you?

 

20.07.10 - Can you tell what it is yet?

There will be a certain age group that will remember watching black and white television (erm - think I fall in that bracket) and who will remember the excitement of the Saturday evening show hosted by an Australian artist/singer/entertainer. 

This personality would huff and puff a strange antipodean inspired song whilst slapping black paint (I assume it was black - we were watching monochrome TV!) on to a huge white canvas. Every now and then he'd turn to face the camera - face us - the audience sitting on the floor heads back, mouths open, watching - and say....

"can you tell what it is yet?" 

...he'd grin, sometimes wink and then turn back and continue waving his large brush about until the strange squiggles turned to a kangaroo or wallaby or something equally comic or unexpected. 

Bravo!

What a man, what an entertainer!

I grew up, I moved countries, I forgot about him.


Then I landed in the uk, and there he was, older, heavier and sporting a fair bit of grey hair (mind you, that could also cover that same certain age group of tv watchers!) He was still waving a paintbrush about, but now as an accepted serious artist and he was still involved with animals only these were real and not part of his painterly act.




The other day, I was asked if I could crochet this man - as a birthday present. 

...'Oh, umm, yeah'... (slight wobble in voice)

So, after much delay and procrastination and reminiscing, I now present my version of a childhood hero - and inspired by his own words ..................... I ask -

Can you tell who it is yet?

No - I don't mind if you don't know - it's not a good likeness!

19.07.10 - holiday visitors

We have a couple of lads staying with us for the next fortnight. My two boys are delighted at the additional family members. They are really sweet lads, very well behaved and for boys don't argue or scrap that much.

They do however - have gargantuan appetites! I am used to my two boys eating habits and feel fairly capable at coping at feeding hungry hordes. But these two take the biscuit (and the celery and the lettuce and the cucumber and the carrots and the muesli !) 

I am all for boys eating their greens and wish my two did too - how ever Will and Dan (our little visitors) munch there way through a small fridge's worth of vegetables at every meal..............

Meet Will and Dan - oh? What's that? 

You thought I meant  our visitors are kids not guinea pigs? 

Ho ho! 

How many kids do you know eat their way through a greengrocer's amount of vegetables in one sitting? 

not many I  bet!!

A couple of characters these chaps, and if my boys had their way, we'd be getting guinea pigs too (to go with the fish, the chickens, the cat and the dog........ !)

Mind you - how could you resist such funny little furry faces like these?.......

***Note to self - do not weaken in the face of kid pester power and the limpid wet eye look these little piggies are giving.

18.07.10 - My kind of Rainbow

Rain, lots and lots of rain (we do need it) 

with a little bit of sunshine 

produces 

the 

most 

...beautiful rainbows...

All photographs supplied by Eldest today - as he wandered around the garden.

15.07.10 - Eat the garden

Tired - too tired to post anything of any interest except to me.

 - For lunch - 

I ate the garden.

From the garden: - 

Lolla rossa lettuce

Tomatoes

Spring onions

Swiss rainbow chard

lemon sorrel

baby potatoes (the first to be cropped)

Our hen's eggs

Mange tout peas

Baby broad beans

Green and yellow baby courgettes

Oriental red mustard flower heads

Calendula petals

The exception to the rule - Olives stuffed with slow roasted garlic gloves and some sort of rustic bread that Himself bought and was just so delish!!

All tossed in my favourite home made garlic salad dressing.

Yum.......

13.07.10 - world domination....

...No, wrong spelling, it should be 'work domination' as in work-has-taken-over, and my life (as I would like it to be) has evaporated...... So as an antidote to all the

script printing, 

medication collating,

medication dispensing, 

telephone ringing, 

desk bell ringing,

computer ordering and data in-putting, 

patient queries and ordering,

panic induced last minute holiday requesting,

stock counting,

medicine synchronising,

drug shelves re-stocking,

reps dealing,

carehome liaisoning ,

pharmacy contacting,

Nurses ordering,

bandages packing,

drug company delivering,

Doctor's advising,

tea drinking,

emergency chocolate eating

 and general working.....

I made these -

Instant gratification ............. aah that feels better. 

(Almost time to go back to work - all these double shifts are seriously interfering with my crafting time!)

06.07.10 - Blush

Friends come, friends go, some you remember with wistful longing for their company again, others you remember for the fun you had but know that those times have long gone. Some friends remain firm despite not seeing them regularly  while others just make you smile every time you think of them.

And this lady, fits that bill perfectly. She exudes creative warmth and inspiration, so you can imagine my delight when she asked if she could feature me on her blog -  So - Angela - thank you :) xx

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**Added later -

Jan from Bobbypinsboardwalk has very kindly invited me to join her 'Boardwalk Bragfest' with my 'plantified' 2CV, so I have done so and linked to her Wednesday Party. Thank you Jan :)

05.07.10 - wow, what a weekend!

It's Monday and I am still on a high!

Why? well I will let the pictures do the talking......

A 9 year old Youngest's Mini garden gains a first and in his extremely blasé joy  says to his Dad - Told you that I would win...................

 Aaaah to have such strong self belief!

12 year old Eldest is equally pleased and surprised at gaining a 2nd place in his 'Child's Creative Container', particularly as this is the first time he has entered.

My garden (complete with missed  weeds and next door's dying rats**) came a very  unanticipated 2nd in the large garden category - wow - didn't see that one coming..... (Stands back in amazement with furrowed brow at the unexpected turn of events - but still delighted)

In the Adult 'Creative Container' I came away with a 1st for our 'plantified' up 2CV. I think what appealed was the retro-feel. Picnic basket, bunting,  crocheted picnic blankets, beads, guitar and flowers all helped.

The car also went down very well with all our visitors that came during the weekend. So many photographs were taken, toddlers posed, families lined up and grinned as cameras clicked away. The boot never failed to raise a smile at the 'nest' filled with our hen's eggs and the carefully collected weeds!

Even the local paper sent a photographer around and I had to pose with my car - she (the car) grinned happily and fluttered her eyelashes,  while I grinned uncomfortably because I was definitely on the wrong side of the camera lens!

But best of all - best of all - at the end of the presentation ceremony, our little car won 'Best in Show'........

Ooh err!!

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So much happened over the weekend. Later on in the week, I will post photos from the scarecrow trail, other beautiful gardens, owls and other suchlike delights, but until then!...........

**dying rats - (shiver up and back down spine) another story to be revealed! Urgh......