A winter's day

The moon at dawn

The grass was a crystalline silver carpet.
The morning air nipped at cheeks and finger tips.
But it was impossible not to stop - and admire.
A golden moon in a watercolour-wash sky.

Autumn sunset

The party's over

Balmy autumn days had their last hurrah.
Blue skies bid their farewells.
The sun packed up and headed for northern climes.
Melancholy grey clouds took up residence.
A saturated cold set in.
But as I stood under this tree - just for a moment - I was bathed in the warmest glow of gold.

Today's forecast

OK, can anyone remember thinking the metal roof was a good idea?

Unpleasant conditions prevail.

Blustery parenting and gale force children are expected to continue unabated well into Saturday. A deep low pressure system continues to adversely affect all craft and computer-based activities, as a ridge of high pressure to keep preschoolers amused indoors from sun-up until down, persists.

Mostly sunny. 43ºC/109ºF.

Returning

Happy 2009! I hope the new year is filled with promise and happiness for you.

I have had a lovely break.

I missed sewing and writing a little, but loved the slow pace and change of scenery of our family holiday. Lazy days spent visiting my sister in the beautiful Western District were punctuated with seaside jaunts, tearooms and nature walks (and maybe a little crochet in a national park). Pictures were duly taken for holiday posterity; snaps to follow!

But in the meantime it is time to look ahead and get organised.

By the end of last year I was treading a fine line of chaos; operating without a diary. My appointment system completely reliant on scraps of paper and a sketchy memory. Such a stark contrast to the former (working) me. I was scheduled, notated and reminded within an inch of my life with Microsoft Outlook, a wall planner, a PDA and the regimented Franklin-Covey planning system.

My new happy medium is a weekly planner to put on my fridge. Its very simple. It comprises a thumbnail 5-week calendar (one week back, four forward) and space for handwritten appointments and reminders for each day of the current week.

If very plain (free) planners are your thing, you're more than welcome to use it too. There's an A4 or Letter-sized version (in PDF format) covering the first four weeks of January. I will add February in a week or two.

Miss January features the pretty face of Blue Hydrangea, who hails from my garden. I shall leave you guessing as to which gleaming white porcelain surface I might have posed Miss January on, for this photograph. (Wait til you see Miss February.)

My Christmas

Anticipation.
Balmy northly breeze.
Sunshine.
Warm fare on a warmer day.
Pretty lights at night.
Chirruping crickets and humming cicadas.
Contentment.

Wishing you peace and happiness with your loved ones at this festive time.

A new tradition

I have come to the end of the Big Sewing List. Actually "end" is a bit misleading. Its more a case of what is made is made (and what is not, now had a retail substitute). The last project was to sew some Christmas pillowcases for Argy and Bargy.



The colours are a bit of a visual assault and the fabric is perhaps a little short on the thread count. However, I don't think any of this will matter. I have promised the boys that the night they have the special pillowcases is the night that Father Christmas will be visiting.

Woohoo! Christmas bed linen is in place. Its all systems go. Bring on the portly man in red.

If Argy and Bargy have trouble sleeping tonight, I suspect it won't be entirely attributable to the loud print on their pillowcases ...

Christmas stockings

For many years now, our family have been making Christmas crackers for the table. Not the kit sort either. More the sort where there are bitter recriminations should anyone actually dispose of a precious toilet roll in the months prior to Christmas.

Handmade from scratch.

There's been fancy creations with colourful hats, cracking snaps, special trinkets, fine chocolates and fancy sparkling wrappings. Works of art, that have sometimes taken until the wee small hours of Christmas morning to construct (ok, this is only when I make the crackers; other family members are more organised).

But this year mum had an idea. How about a stocking, instead of a cracker?

OK, they wouldn't go bang, but it did seem like a rather good idea. The novelty of locating clever trinkets to fit the diameter of a toilet roll wore off some years ago. As did the tetris-like challenge of arranging the contents in each cracker and closing it up without spillage. Stockings were a sterling idea.

So here they; ready for the big day. With the Big Sewing List still hanging over my head, I decided some shortcuts might be in order. They are cut from felt and blanket stitched by machine. I have threaded a little wooden ornament through the top of each one.


Did I choose to make one "special" stocking or simply run out of red felt?

I hope they might be sturdy enough to last for a good few years. (Though with Argy's request to wear the stockings, I should probably knock a year or two off their life.)

A magazine Christmas tree

I didn't mean to. I couldn't resist. You see it was just left here. On the dining table. And frankly - despite my best efforts - I don't seem to have any finished Christmas handicrafts to show you. So I stuck a star atop, whipped out the camera and was all ready to call it my own, when I reconsidered.

What made me pause? A moment of morality? Or perhaps the thought that once you put something on the Internet, there is no going back. That every detail is indexed, cached and crawled. Every plagiaristic detail recorded forever. And that I might eventually ... get caught?

I'll leave you to decide.

In the meantime please admire my sister's handmade Christmas tree. Auntie HB has made this tree from an old glossy magazine. Each page has three folds, that help shape the tree and secure the pages inwards (see below).

2. 3. 4.

[1.] Open magazine out to centre seam (where the staples are visible). [2.] Fold top right corner inward to magazine centre seam. [3.] Fold the whole page inward once again to centre seam. [4.] Turn up bottom most point of folded page, to level with the bottom edge of the magazine. [5.] Repeat with remaining pages.

I hope there might be time to make a few more of these for the table before the big day. With the magazine supply we have over here at Chez Hoppo Bumpo, there is potential for a veritible forrest by Thursday.

Sunset

Sometimes its the dullest, greyest days that have the best endings.

Wishlist

Dear Father Christmas,

Please let the elves know to ditch the toys and just pack the box.

Love Bargy

PS. Just so you know, I have been very good this year. Any reports of me ironing the hall runner and drawing on the dining chairs have been greatly exaggerated.

A perfect storm

Melbourne eastern suburbs, 4.30pm Thursday 27 November

Please complete the following sentence.

If I saw this coming, I would ...

(a) ... rush out and bring the washing in off the line
(b) ... reassure the small children about the accompanying thunder
(c) ... try and photograph the forked lightening

Excuse me ... have to dash now ...

Weary

Welcome sweet eve thy gently sloping sky,
And softly whispering wind that breathes of rest;

from Sunset, John Clare (1793 - 1864)

By the light of the silvery moon

I'm throwing a party in the wee small hours of Sunday 5 October 2008. You're all invited.

Those of you living in the Southern Hemisphere* and with small children may have an inkling of the auspicious nature of this time and date.

Yes, at 2am exactly, I'll be popping the champagne, as we wind the hands on the clock forward an hour.

I have all my hopes and dreams pinned on this day.

For its when the fabled later start to the day will materialise. This is the day that I will truly appreciate the nature of circadian rhythms, as a disagreeable 5.30am start becomes a luxurious 6.30am. The day when I no longer wake to the loud strains of m-u-m-m-y, m-u-m-m-m-m-y-y-y-y-y being called well before the moon has had the decency to set.

What could possibly go wrong?

* Commiserations to parents in the Northern Hemisphere. You've got a tough gig ahead.

We love Spring

A stand-back-and-throw soup

Braving the elements yesterday morning, I ventured out to the local Farmers' Market. It was 3oC and pouring rain. Instead of the usual stroll admiring produce, sampling wares and chatting with the producers, I had to employ my emergency smash-and-grab technique. This is usually reserved for trips out with Argy and Bargy and makes for a far less satisfying shopping expedition. Never-the-less, I managed to come away with some rather scrumptious things from here and here.

As my nose went red and fingers a little numb and I slid clumsily in the mud, I found myself drawn to a huge stand of pumpkins. And so it was that I came home armed with a mountain of butternuts. This could mean only one thing: soup, the lazy girl's way!

After completing the detested task of chopping all the pumpkin, I petulantly tossed it into a baking dish. This was followed with a liberal glug of olive oil and a smattering of salt and pepper. Then I roasted it all in the oven until the pumpkin was partly caramelised. And yes, that is a fancy term for I-got-engrossed-in-something-else-and-they-went-a-bit-black-at-the-edges. Next I threw it all into a pot with a packet of red lentils and about two litres of chicken stock. I then popped it onto the stove and neglected it 'til the lentils were soft. To add a little extra flavour, I fried a bit of bacon and hurled that in with some chives for the last minutes of cooking.

Finally I confronted the pot with a potato masher. A bit of judicious mashing always ensures that the kids - and, more importantly, Mr Hoppo Bumpo - are not able to identify or reject the pumpkin that hasn't already disintegrated.

Isn't deception the key to all successful family meals?

There's no business like snow business

Sunday at Lake Mountain

Forty centimetres of the white fluffy stuff and two toboggans.
A good time was had by all.

But gosh, my legs hurt ...

Wednesday's winter sunset

Placemats and other softies

Its been a very bleak day today.

After venturing to the park with Argy and Bargy this morning, I made a firm resolution to stay indoors for the rest of the day. This afternoon's project has been to start work on a soft toy.

I have only made two softies before. The first was when I was about 9. He was a frog made out of a very 70's brown stretch leatherette fabric. I was proud of him and he went to school with me. Not only did he end up getting grubby in the playground, but he contracted some kind of vinyl-itis and started to peel to reveal that he was no more than a jersey frog after all.

The second softie was made in a sewing class in Year 7 at high school. She was a black swan. And rather two dimensional. This particular softie was probably quite passable as cushion or a slightly padded placemat. (I'm telling you, it was very flat).

So when I decided that I would like to do something for Softies for Mirabel, I clearly needed to purchase a pattern. I wanted to ensure that my "creation" was less Bride of Frankenstein and more cuddly toy. If my Elsie elephant (distant cousin to Edward by Audrey and Maude) looks vaguely three dimensional, she'll be packed off to Mike's as soon as she's completed. So far, she's looking good.

Let's just hope she's not mistaken for a placemat.