Monday, May 30, 2005
Artwork 2, and an apology of sorts
Julie commented in the comments section that it (was then) 10 days since my last update. I started to write a reply, but rapidly noticed that it was turning into a blog entry, so here we are...
Julie, patience mate. As mentioned in the slack arse update, I've been working 10 hour shifts which leave me unable to do anything, and then picking up D'Arcy and still having no sleep. To prove the point I now have a cold as a result of finally having a day off on Sunday - you know the theory, slow down and suddenly you get sick. So I am sitting in bed this afternoon having not worked 10 hours and trying not to fall asleep so that I can go to bed early...
Which is as far as I got before I realised that I needed to write an entry. Often it seems too hard to update, that I don't have anything to say, or any new photos, but now all my excuses are worn out. In fact, there was an event about which I did want to write, though it was very small. It did have my mum in stitches, as she heard the encounter over the phone. It went like this...
I had asked D'Arcy to close the bathroom door to conserve heat, which he did, without incident, or so I thought until I went to go to the dunny some time later, and found the door inexplicably locked. After fiddling with it for some time, it became obvious that it really was locked, and not easily fixable. I rang mum, after doing my block at D'Arcy, to see if she had any solutions up her sleeve. It's the kind of privacy latch that you're supposed to be able to open from the outside with a screwdriver, but not in this case. While mum was making suggestions, and I was resorting to taking the entire door-handle off and sticking the screwdriver in the works, D'Arcy came up with what he thought was a plausible explanation for the failure of the lock... "perhaps someone came and put glue in it, while we were asleep"
Sadly no new photos in existence, but some thoughts on artwork to offer...
So this pic is called 'this monkey has lots of ears'. I think all the purple circles to the left are the ears and the purple and green concentric circles are the monkey.
Julie, patience mate. As mentioned in the slack arse update, I've been working 10 hour shifts which leave me unable to do anything, and then picking up D'Arcy and still having no sleep. To prove the point I now have a cold as a result of finally having a day off on Sunday - you know the theory, slow down and suddenly you get sick. So I am sitting in bed this afternoon having not worked 10 hours and trying not to fall asleep so that I can go to bed early...
Which is as far as I got before I realised that I needed to write an entry. Often it seems too hard to update, that I don't have anything to say, or any new photos, but now all my excuses are worn out. In fact, there was an event about which I did want to write, though it was very small. It did have my mum in stitches, as she heard the encounter over the phone. It went like this...
I had asked D'Arcy to close the bathroom door to conserve heat, which he did, without incident, or so I thought until I went to go to the dunny some time later, and found the door inexplicably locked. After fiddling with it for some time, it became obvious that it really was locked, and not easily fixable. I rang mum, after doing my block at D'Arcy, to see if she had any solutions up her sleeve. It's the kind of privacy latch that you're supposed to be able to open from the outside with a screwdriver, but not in this case. While mum was making suggestions, and I was resorting to taking the entire door-handle off and sticking the screwdriver in the works, D'Arcy came up with what he thought was a plausible explanation for the failure of the lock... "perhaps someone came and put glue in it, while we were asleep"
Sadly no new photos in existence, but some thoughts on artwork to offer...
So this pic is called 'this monkey has lots of ears'. I think all the purple circles to the left are the ears and the purple and green concentric circles are the monkey.
Artwork
This pic goes with a blog entry from 23rd March this year...
We put on a show for some of his toys today, which consisted of making a collage and telling the related story, taking turns to add a line each....
"Once upon a time Goldilocks was walking. Suddenly when she was walking it became night." It went on for some time with a massive thunderstorm, Goldilocks getting lost, and then returning home with the help of a "kind lady" to find that her parents had gone to the supermarket, and were perhaps even dead on the floor. What is it with the obsessing about death? It all turnd out fine in the end, they weren't dead after all. The collage Goldilocks has a suede leather head with a big square mouth drawn on, and arms and legs made of feather wool sprouting directly from the head. I love that phase of human representation.
So I finally got to take a photo of it for your enjoyment, all. And BTW, that is Goldilocks in the bottom right corner of the paper...
We put on a show for some of his toys today, which consisted of making a collage and telling the related story, taking turns to add a line each....
"Once upon a time Goldilocks was walking. Suddenly when she was walking it became night." It went on for some time with a massive thunderstorm, Goldilocks getting lost, and then returning home with the help of a "kind lady" to find that her parents had gone to the supermarket, and were perhaps even dead on the floor. What is it with the obsessing about death? It all turnd out fine in the end, they weren't dead after all. The collage Goldilocks has a suede leather head with a big square mouth drawn on, and arms and legs made of feather wool sprouting directly from the head. I love that phase of human representation.
So I finally got to take a photo of it for your enjoyment, all. And BTW, that is Goldilocks in the bottom right corner of the paper...
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
A slack-arse blog update
Because I've been working 10 hour shifts in the shop and then being tired at night, here is the easy version of a blog. Aunty L posted a reply to the mothers day blog, letting on that she had stolen the recipe for the fab cake from The Pastry Wizz. So I now present it for your delectation. Enjoy.
D'Arcy is going well, for those of you who want to know, and he talked to my cousin Cressida on the phone tonight about her new baby. We're off to the magnificent science centre tomorrow to see the dinosaurs and investigate a new display they have up....anything else new and exciting we'll let you know!
Honey Cardamom Coffee Cake
Yield: 10 servings
1 c Liquid honey
1/2 c Butter, softened
2 Eggs
1 ts Vanilla
2 c All-purpose flour
1 ts Baking powder
1 ts Ground cardamom
1/2 ts Baking soda
1/2 ts Salt
2/3 c Sour cream
Streusel Topping
1/2 c Sliced almonds
1/3 c Packed brown sugar
1/3 c All-purpose flour
2 tb Butter
Icing
1/2 ts Cinnamon
2/3 c Icing sugar
2 ts Milk
For Valentine's Day use an 8-cup heart-shaped pan and bake for 1 hour and fifteen minutes.
In bowl, beat honey with butter until smooth; beat in eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Stir together flour, baking powder, cardamom, baking soda and salt; add to honey mixture alternately with sour cream, making 3 additions of dry mixture and 2 of sour cream. spoon into greased 9-inch springform pan, smoothing top.
Streusel Topping:
In small bowl, stir together almonds, sugar and flour; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. Bake in 350F 180C oven for about 1 hour or until tester inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan; let cool completely.
Icing:
Sprinkle cinnamon over cake. Whisk icing sugar with milk; drizzle over cake.
D'Arcy is going well, for those of you who want to know, and he talked to my cousin Cressida on the phone tonight about her new baby. We're off to the magnificent science centre tomorrow to see the dinosaurs and investigate a new display they have up....anything else new and exciting we'll let you know!
Honey Cardamom Coffee Cake
Yield: 10 servings
1 c Liquid honey
1/2 c Butter, softened
2 Eggs
1 ts Vanilla
2 c All-purpose flour
1 ts Baking powder
1 ts Ground cardamom
1/2 ts Baking soda
1/2 ts Salt
2/3 c Sour cream
Streusel Topping
1/2 c Sliced almonds
1/3 c Packed brown sugar
1/3 c All-purpose flour
2 tb Butter
Icing
1/2 ts Cinnamon
2/3 c Icing sugar
2 ts Milk
For Valentine's Day use an 8-cup heart-shaped pan and bake for 1 hour and fifteen minutes.
In bowl, beat honey with butter until smooth; beat in eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Stir together flour, baking powder, cardamom, baking soda and salt; add to honey mixture alternately with sour cream, making 3 additions of dry mixture and 2 of sour cream. spoon into greased 9-inch springform pan, smoothing top.
Streusel Topping:
In small bowl, stir together almonds, sugar and flour; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. Bake in 350F 180C oven for about 1 hour or until tester inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan; let cool completely.
Icing:
Sprinkle cinnamon over cake. Whisk icing sugar with milk; drizzle over cake.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Short hair + thylacines
Today was one of those days when you just have to get a haircut. So we trooped off to our lovely hairdresser to get done. We had a ball, drank hot chocolates, and D'Arcy even let her wash his hair!
Hair by she-Lee, shirts by Stringybark Graphics A big hello to Sandy and James.
Hair by she-Lee, shirts by Stringybark Graphics A big hello to Sandy and James.
Silly facial expression to go with silly hair style
D'Arcy took this one, and I cropped it.
The silly hairstyle happened when the hairdresser said "you know, I learned how to do curls with a straightening iron the other day, and your hair is perfect for that. Can I practise on you?" Naturally I jumped at the opportunity to do something different. D'Arcy was most concerned that it would be curly FOR EVER. We both reassured him it would be back to normal by dinner time (this is my hair we're talking about), and sure enough, it was...He was worried about it all afternoon though and kept asking "is your hair still curly?"
The silly hairstyle happened when the hairdresser said "you know, I learned how to do curls with a straightening iron the other day, and your hair is perfect for that. Can I practise on you?" Naturally I jumped at the opportunity to do something different. D'Arcy was most concerned that it would be curly FOR EVER. We both reassured him it would be back to normal by dinner time (this is my hair we're talking about), and sure enough, it was...He was worried about it all afternoon though and kept asking "is your hair still curly?"
Post haircut, note new hot chocolate on face (thursday)
One of those DIY photos. Bloody flash made me blink. At least in this one my eyes are fully closed! Waht you don't see in this, as it had worn off, is that today's hot chocolate (provided by the hairdressing salon) left a ring all around the face, including across the bridge of the nose!
Pre haircut, note hot chocolate on face (wednesday)
We'd just been to visit work to buy some 'lady bird bananas' and Brooke had supplied a bag of pecans. While at the shop it was coffee time, so we went and got hot chocolate. As you do.
Monday, May 09, 2005
A spot of fishing
Mothers' Day, we went picnicing (golly, that word looks funny) by the river. Mal brought his fishing rod so that D'Arcy could have a go. Nothing caught of course, D'Arcy is much too noisy for that, but fun and wet trousers ensued. The weather was superb, as you can see in the photo - we all got very hot sitting in the sun. We had 3 generations of mothers in attendance me, my mum and Pete's mum, so we felt pretty proud of ourselves. We ate a lot of food, with an especially yummy cardamom and honey cake made by Laura for which I should get the recipe. She had brought some fab King Island yoghurt to have with it, along with the obligatory cream. All in all a successful day.
On the non-mothering end of the spectrum I've been wondering about a new book by Virginia Haussegger called Wonder Woman; The myth of 'having it all' . It is getting a lot of media coverage, presumably because of the launch time. Any one out there read it, or know more about it than me? Is it worth reading?
On the non-mothering end of the spectrum I've been wondering about a new book by Virginia Haussegger called Wonder Woman; The myth of 'having it all' . It is getting a lot of media coverage, presumably because of the launch time. Any one out there read it, or know more about it than me? Is it worth reading?
8/5/05
Ah, I've just noticed that the fishing rod is invisible in this size of the photo...D'Arcy and Mal are casting.
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
food for thought (for want of a better post title)
I read an article in the local paper today about this Medical Journal of Australia article. It mentions a bunch of things I've been pondering lately, and gives it a name "bubble wrap syndrome". Scary. Over-parenting. Can lead to obesity and mental illness, they imply. If you don't let your children run around and climb trees they turn into overwieght weirdos. Makes sense to me.
Making pasta with Jan
One of the favourite activites is going to the grandparents' for dinner where D'Arcy knows the pasta maker will materialise. And he gets to help.
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Thermal tights. On the head. Talking on the phone to daddy. Need I say more? A photo op if ever I saw one.
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One of those dressing up events where it all got layered...the fairy wings, the painting smock, the mens' dress shirt, the beads, the gloves, the sword, the helmet, the belt...what more can a guy want?
