almost autumn

Autumn starts in less than a week and I am so excited. It is definitely my favourite time of the year, followed closely by winter. I know I blogged only last night about a hot, summery trip to the beach but I have just spent time scrolling through the photos on my hard drive. I sort them according to date and I opened the April 2009 folder - right in the heart of autumn and all the best things are there - flannette pyjamas, baking, kicking the footy in gumboots. I know the garden is sparse and dormant and the daylight hours are short but I love it. Goodbye summer, hello Autumn.

at the moment I am...

reading...

a gorgeous gift from Amber, this is full of stunning photographs of beautiful things, every one of which I could look at for days.

watching...

this is great - Kevin is really letting his personality through in a way that he rarely does on Grand Designs, at times he gets quite risque. I love him and his narrative on the amazing places he takes us makes me want to pack my bags.

listening to...

a compilation of great 50's music including Sway by Dean Martin. In the mornings after breakfast I turn off the tv and put on some music. I dug this cd out a week ago and have kept playing it. The kids invariably start dancing like crazy things, this involves pushing all furniture off the rug to make a dance floor and then jumping up and down with total abandon.

latest eBay

I bought these beautiful enamel Avery shop scales for a song on eBay last week. I have been eyeing them off for a while now, watching them sell for up to three hundred dollars and hoping they would come up at auction where I may be able to afford them. They have a great presence on the end of my very long bench and really delineate the space between the kitchen and the lounge. Perfect.

gratuitous

more wriggly photos of a happy girl. I couldn't resist...

amber beach

It is well known that I dislike the beach, but the kids (especially Sam) love it and that is where Amber comes in. She is happy to stay in for hours, roll around in the wash, teach Sam how to survive a 'wipeout' and dive under the waves. She doesn't mind in the least when her bathers fill with sand and her eyes are blurry from the salty water (my pet hates). Last summer she and I took the kids to the beach often and in the end kids renamed the Point Lonsdale beach "Amber Beach". When she was here last week we made the trek and Sam just loved it. Emily swims for a while but gets cold quickly and then happily joins me walking the shore looking for treasures (feathers, rocks, shells, pink sea weeds).

On the weekend Michael and I took the kids for a swim. It is a really lovely beach and on Sunday the tide was out and the water was still and clear (very different from the waves of only a few days before). The only disappointment came when Emily realised that Amber was not going to be there to play with her. We all swam and played until Emily and I got sick of it and beachcombed before retiring to the seawall. Sam stayed in the water for as long as he possibly could but finally came out shivering and exhausted.

big girl

A big moment in a girl's life - I took Emily to kinder to get her uniform (she chose pink, of course). She is very excited about starting in a few weeks. I am very excited about having a 90 minute window to myself each week with both children in their respective educational institutions.

It was very difficult to take a photo of her as she was squirming with pleasure the whole time she was wearing the shirt. In the end she had to take it off because it was much easier to look at and admire when it was spread on the ground.

2009 review

Last year I posted my list of things to achieve by the end of the year and it sat on the left of my blog while I slowly ticked them off. I achieved all but three and I think it is time to revise and renew the list for 2010. I will add to it as I think of things but will start with two of the three that I have not achieved.

Last year I managed to:

keep this blog up to date

visit amber in brisbane
go on a bushwalk
improve my fitness
paint emily's room
organise my room
declutter the garage
read literary fiction again

but did not:

finish quilting 'that' quilt
wear my grey pants

live without tv for a week

I am eliminating the 'live without tv for a week' goal. I have decided that it is the quality of television viewed, not the quantity. Last year I stopped watching a lot of mindless pap and have narrowed my 'must see tv' to only a few shows, which are: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency; Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour of Europe; So You Think You Can Dance; and 30 Rock. Even the dancing inspires me to keep exercising and improving my fitness (although the current trend of harem pants is highly dubious).

The 'wear my grey pants' goal is actually about weightloss and I am slowly but surely getting closer to achieving that one.

As for "that quilt" - I think that may be my nemesis in fabric form. Who knows when I will do it, but I refuse to give up on it.

wonderful #36 (at last)

Tomatoes from our garden, a lovely old jar filled with biscuits for the kids and a glimpse of cosmos from the garden. Kitchen bench wonder. -C

Bitossi, c1950s. (The same ceramicist who made the yellow horses). - A

loam white

We have started painting the house. So far the back wall has been done and the window frames started. It looks fantastic. We are doing it a small amount at a time, and it has been relatively easy so far. You can see the old colour on the bottom weatherboard where we have not painted yet. Michael has been charged with the task of making some kind of guard to protect the decking before we paint that strip. The old yellow really looks very average against the new, brighter colour. I can't wait for the complete transformation. The next task will be to find new front and back doors. I had a look around the local salvage shop last week and it seems promising, so stay tuned.

driving

One of Sam's favourite things is to unbuckle his seatbelt, climb into the driver's lap (Michael's in this photo) and steer the car down our lane and into the garage. He turns in, puts it into park, pulls on the handbrake and turns off the engine. Legality - dubious, Enjoyment - total.

speedos

Continuing the theme of Emily following in her Father's footsteps (piano, swimming). She has her first pair of racer back Speedos. There is nothing cuter than her strutting her stuff in her sky blue bather - this is her on the way to Saturday's swimming lesson.

reading

Sam brings a reader home from school each night and he is loving it. On Wednesday morning he woke up and read to Milly. She was thrilled.

pianist

I found this photo on Michael's phone. Taken at his parents' house, Emily was tinkling rather than pounding the keys. Out of focus, but it shows her delicate touch. Piano lessons anyone?

closed down

The lovely Griffiths Books in town has shut its doors this week. It was a wonderful bookstore that had been open (in the same building) for 99 years. I fear that the arrival of Border's 18 months ago did her in.

I also fear that I may be guilty of assisting the death as I have not bought books for such a long time, these days I am a card carrying library devotee and while this is most definitely a positive in terms of my budget, it is leaving my bookshelves (once the pride of my home in my long gone single girl's flat) looking like something from the set of a film shot in 2004. Yes, the end of indulgent and joyful book buying coincided neatly with the end of my full time wage.

So I am thinking, if I had $100 to spend in a bookshop, for various reasons, I would buy:

and if I had any money left I would also buy...

because I borrowed it from the library, thought it was hilarious and felt guilty for enjoying it so much and not contributing to Denise's income (especially as she really does seem to need the money).

more kitchen lust

This cabinet is so incredibly beautiful. Can I have it? Please?

kitchen facelift

At some point this year we will paint the kitchen and remove the awful trying-to-be-french-country tiles. I gave Amber (a regular traveller through the blogosphere) the challenge to find me some ideas and photos. She has impeccable taste and came up with this photo from a blog called a life' s design I completely love, love the black subway tiles. They would work in our kitchen. Not a safe option though.

when big brother starts school

Day one of a girl's life without her big brother. We dropped Sam at school and went to the shopping centre where we bought some necessities and then Milly had a chocolate doughnut for morning tea. As we headed home just before 11 o'clock she asked in a plaintive voice "Will Sam be home when we get there?" Poor thing - she is missing him a little bit.

sailor sam

Michael has just sailed in the latest Audi Victoria Week Regatta. Emily had a sleepover with Margaret and Tim which allowed Sam to head down to the marina and clambour over a few boats. He was impressed with Gigi (Russell and Amber's 40 foot yacht) because it had crisps; Noel's boat Veloce (brand new 44 foot racing yacht cost- 1 million dollars) was in the running because it had a television. But his very best, most extremely favourite boat was The Works (the aging and slow 26 foot boat Michael was crewing on) which came stone cold last in a fleet of 27. He is a loyal son.

day one

The first day of school today. I am too emotionally exhausted to write about much it but here are photos. Suffice to say it was a total success for him, he was so excited. In the car we had this conversation:

Me: How are you feeling Sam?
Sam: Good
Me: I feel a bit nervous
Sam: Why?
Me: Starting school is something new and I usually get nervous when I do something for the first time.
Sam: Don't worry about it Mum - You'll be fine.

So much for that. He was completely happy when Michael and I left him there. When I picked him up he gave a big thumbs up and then declared he did not really want to talk about it. In the course of the evening Michael and I managed to wheedle out of him the following facts:

• he got a bit bored one time but didn't tell anyone and it went away (the boredom, I assume)
• he liked doing the maths because the teacher said he was the best at it and "could go straight to grade 6"
  
• he wrote his name four times
• there were 17 children in his class
• he did a wee in the toilet
  
• his buddy has a bandage on his arm and hand but he did not ask him what was wrong because "some people think hurting yourself is private"
• he scratched his leg on the playground but he had a quick recovery
• Mr Arkinstall (the Principal) came and talked to them three times
• he was really hungry by lunchtime
• Miss Donnan (his teacher) is "quite kind"

I held it together quite well, although felt a little bereft and teared up when he met Margaret the lollypop lady and again when I got home and saw this on the couch...

...which pretty much summed it up.