What a Week!

Well this has been a week I would never want to go through again! The scenes of devastation from the Victorian bushfires have left everyone speechless. How will those families involved ever recover?

It has been a busy week for us. The boys have started back at all of their usual activities and the days seem to fly past. I attended my second and last felt-making class and made a handbag. It is still drying and I haven't yet attached the straps so I will photograph it when it is finished. I learned so much in the classes and am full of enthusiasm about making some slippers for the boys and some more bags for myself. I'll have to see if Inger would like a pair of felt slippers as well! Felt is so forgiving and fairly unpredictable in terms of what type of pattern emerges.

Next Sunday I am doing a course on Oriental Bookbinding. OK, I admit it..........I am a craftaholic. I just so love making things with my hands. Oh, for more time................

This morning we went out for our usual breakfast at Mama Carmela's. We seem to have become regulars. It was such a surprise when we arrived there this morning. The chef came out and asked the boys if they would like to come and help him in the kitchen. He showed them how to poach eggs. Now that is a skill I have only just perfected through a lot of trial and error so I will be very happy if they would like to take over from me. Not only that but as we were leaving he came out with a bag of home-made meringues for each of the boys. Oliver the sweet tooth was overjoyed! I hadn't tasted meringues like these since my childhood. They were large, golden and smooth. They had a crisp, brittle exterior and just the right degree of chewiness in the centre. The mass produced meringues you get in bakeries these days don't even come close.

After arriving home Inger started to re-stain our wooden driveway gate. The boys were mad-keen to help but I was concerned about them running out on the road. I had to find an activity to amuse them long enough for Inger to paint the gate and for me to water Seasol into the front garden with my watering can. Water play was what we decided on. They had such a lot of fun pretending to have their own cafe.

There were the usual disputes over who owned what but they managed to sort it out themselves.

Here is Oliver carefully pouring the water back and forth from the jug to the teapot.

At some point everyone always seems to end up in Mummy's office. My office seems to hold an air of mystique for the boys who see people come and go up the hallway. The boys come in and want to play Dr Brownlee and the ladies or otherwise they want to search through all of my belongings, use the fax machine or computer.

I have photographed them in this shot not because it is a great photo but to show them both wearing some shorts I made for them lately. They are very simple but cool and comfortable. William who is a Superman fan loves his shorts which are made from some groovy fabric I found in a quilting shop.

This afternoon we went off to a very child-friendly cafe in Prospect called Cafe Komodo. The cafe has been designed with a decidely retro feel and is decked out with second hand furniture and fixtures. This gives it a 1970's living room disaster look which is totally comfortable. I have no worries at all about the boys spilling or breaking anything there because it is all so lived in. We sat in what must have once been someone's converted garage and watched this duo called The Minstrels.
The boys played cafes and had fun playing with this aged cash register with a couple of other children. Oliver who has a penchant for china cups was very pleased to have his babycino served in a tiny floral cup on a matching ceramic tray.

You can see what I mean about the decor! It was a fun and relaxing afternoon. The little boys could hardly keep their eyes open as we drove home.

The End of the Heatwave

The 13 day heatwave ended today. I don't think we could have taken much more of being cooped up inside. There are only so many games of doctors, offices and shops that one can manage without being driven completely crazy!

On a more serious note though the bushfires which have ravaged parts of NSW and Victoria have been horrifying. The death toll hit 181 at last count. It is so hard to believe that some of these fires would have been as a result of arson. We can only pray for the families involved at this time.

I was looking back at some earlier photos of William and Oliver and came across this one of William with his teddy. He was only one month old at that time.

Now here is Oliver this week with that very same teddy! Quite a difference in size!

As I mentioned, we have had a week of playing doctor. Here we can see Oliver playing the part of the patient. He looks suitably worried. We went through a lot of Wiggles bandaids that day.

Oliver is now the doctor and has come to William's aid. They had both been camping under the table and had skinned their knees.

Most things can be fixed with a cuddle!

Or if not with a cuddle then certainly with a nice hot cup of tea for both doctor and patient.

It looks like the patient has recovered! You will notice though, that he has a bruise in the middle of his forehead. He hit his head on a didgeridoo. I kid you not! William was given a cut-off but still very heavy didgeridoo by a stallowner at the Eumundi markets in Queensland. He used to be frightened of didgeridoos after I demonstrated how they worked one day at the Australian Geopgraphic shop in town. While we were on holidays he mustered up the courage to investigate didgeridoos more closely and for his troubles he was given one. The other day he had his didgeridoo out and accidentally hit his head on it with some force. He ended up with a lump and a big bruise.

Here we had another attempt at painting inside. You'd think I'd learn....................... I had the idea that I could dilute some paint and get the boys to blow the paint through a straw to achieve some interesting effects. By the time they had finished there were more interesting effects on their faces, clothes and the table than there were on the paper. After that I introduced my our next craft activity. Yes, it was the old glue the dried pasta and peas on the painted box to make a treasure box idea. I won't even tell you what happened with that idea except to say that I am still occasionally stepping on the odd hard chickpea.

I think we'll take a break from craft.


This morning we walked down to Mama Carmella's for our usual Sunday breakfast. The boys always like to play in the ambulance station grounds in this big old tree.

William was being a terror with this stick which he found.


Here he is demolishing his pancakes.

And then enjoying a leisurely read of the Sunday newspaper.

Before I finish my weekly update I must introduce little Maddelena who is now two months old. She and her mum, my dear friend Marianna, came over for coffee on Thursday.

Maddelena is Marianna and John's youngest child. She has three older brothers!

Scandinavian Hand Felting

Yesterday morning I attended a felting workshop at the WEA Centre. This is my creation. We learnt how to make a flat piece of felt with wool roving, silk/alpaca, warm soapy water and bubble wrap. It was a surprisingly strenuous activity! We also learnt how to make felt beads. I think I am going to make my felt into a clutch purse with some surface embroidery. Next Saturday we will be making a bigger project and learning how to make seamless hats, bags and shoes!

Our hardy chooks

Here are the latest updated photos of some of the chooks. This is the fellow we think is a cockerel. I guess we won't know for sure until he starts to crow. All of the chickens are in the same coop now. The transition was surprisingly easy. Dragon, the white silky is still at the bottom of the pecking order. She just looks too darn pretty to be a chook.

This is the chick named 'Tickled Pink' by Oliver, after his favourite cupcake. She has quite wavy feathers and 'bed hair'.

This one is named 'Dot' by Uncle Rowan. She is a funny little absent-minded sort of girl who scurries around everywhere.

Here we have our oldest girl, Mrs Diamond, who is the neighbourhood stickybeak and also at the top of the pecking order. The little ones are scared of her schoolmarm presence.


Lastly, here is Stella, a fine figure of a bird, who is somewhat standoffish.



They have all survived another day of terrible heat. I had water containers dotted around the yard today. The chooks all look so hot but they tend to burrow down into the cooler soil under the fruit trees and seem fairly content. Tomorrow the temperature drops to 39C so it will seem almost cool in comparison. Last night at midnight everyone in SA received a text message from the state government warning us to stay inside and drink plenty of water.