muppinstuff

when the rain stopped

Sorting through my photos from November and as the thunder roars again, I'm reminded of a spell of lovely weather we had then. It stopped raining for a couple of days and the skies were blue. Everything of course, was verdant and green and kind of sparkly. That's one upside to all this rain, when the sun finally reappears the world glitters.

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I took these photos on the way to pick up Grace from a birthday party. How I love a drop off party. Anyway, it was the day before the election I think. And I stopped to admire one of my favourite garden in the 'hood. It really is gorgeous. All natives and many plants indigenous to our area. The dianella (not sure of the variety) in the middle picture is one I've just started to notice and hopefully some little self seeded ones I got from another neighbour will flourish in my front yard and bush up the very non native irises. The little blue bell  in the last photo is also a favourite of mine. As is the dicondra. Both are found naturally around here and despite being delicate looking plants appear to very hardy. 

Oh goodness, here comes the rain again! Time for bed I think.

this and that, mostly pretty happy

Life is whizzing past at a frantic pace right now. Not in a bad way - just in a hard to find much still time for blogging kind of way.

Yesterday we signed on the dotted line to have gas ducted heating installed. Yes, that's right five star, energy efficient GAS DUCTED HEATING. I have never lived in a house that is warm all over in winter (well except for a few short times when I moved back with my parents after they installed central heating - we certainly didn't have central heating growing up). It means cracking into the renovation stash but we decided that this is worth it. Hopefully we'll be all toasty within a week or so. No more wearing beanies to bed in the middle of winter. Just too exciting.

I've been working pretty hard on our campaign to get a high school in Coburg. Who knew that using email marketing software would be so challenging? But I have it up and running and we've sent out our first email. Did you know that people who use email marketing software can tell whether you've opened the email or not? Or that the code includes such things as a merge tag and that you can't use flash or html widgets. Apparently email code has to be written like it's 1998? The program does it for me but well, it's been a steep learning curve. Anyway the campaign is gathering momentum - we were on Stateline and I suspect the pace will just keep increasing until the election. I'll let you know when I've added the email sign up form to the website but in the meantime you can join us on Facebook here. 

Grace is reading! I know! I never expected it to happen this quickly and actually I had very little hand in it - Gerard helps her the most with her readers but in the space of a week she went from guessing and being read to - then to sounding out - then to actually reading. Blows me away. And she's finally riding a bike and I think the trainer wheels could come off any day.

Which reminds me - I rode a bike that Gerard fixed up for me the other day. It's been many, many years and it felt very strange at first. Grace was very encouraging as I tottered around the court, yelling you can do it mummy and then oh mum, you're a great bike rider!   

This led to the first family bike outing. Sure to be one of many. Grace is very keen and I've been told I need to up my exercise level as part of a strategy to reduce my cholesterol which is no longer in the totally healthy range. Mind you, when I asked the doctor exactly what the raised level of cholesterol meant he said increased risk of heart attack and stroke and of course I asked by how much. So he looked at the chart with my other factors and as it turns out, I'm still in the low risk range. But apparently as I get older that may change.So I've made a few changes like substituting buttery toast for muesli or porridge most mornings and increasing my activity level a bit. As my doctor said, more exercise, less butter. It's feels quite good really.

Oh and another thing -  I have new shoes. Kumfs mary janes and they delight me. I've even started wearing tights again - probably the last time I wore tights was in the early 90s. I still hate putting them on in the morning but I found some lovely ones that fit well and are comfortable all day (razzamatazz curves for those who care) and also, excitement of excitement, I've found a footless tight that is fantastic - Basque plus size from Myer. I had thought that this year was going to be another dud hosiery year and a couple of weeks ago, in anticipation of boot season, I had bought some footless tights from entitled only to discover that they are actually a legging. I have since sent them back complaining that leggings are not hosiery and that therefore they shouldn't advertise them as tights - but I don't think they are going to give me my money back unlike dream diva who were fantastic when some t-shirts turned out to viscose rather than the cotton elastene they advertised. But the Basque footless tights, excellent. 

And one last thing, over the last six months, we've been doing some work together as a family, with some help from Mind, a group working with people who have mental illnesses (I saw an ad in the local paper). It was totally free. They came to us, there was almost no paperwork. And it has been great. At times it was hard work, but rather than hashing out why and how you piss each other off, the course focuses a lot on the positive aspects of your relationships and gets you to work on how you talk to each other. Some of it seems really obvious but it is surprisingly effective. And the benefits have rippled through our life. I feel so proud of us. 

Alright, that is it for me tonight. We've had our broadband slowed - again. At least this time we're close to the end of the month. We'd planned on a couple of big download days to get value for money from our plan but it only took half a day for Gerard to download enough music to completely max out our usage. So I guess I won't be on the internet much tomorrow - dial up is just so last century. Maybe time for some craft? 

more about our vegie box

Downloaded about three weeks worth of photos the other night and right at the beginning are the ones I took on the day we had our turn sorting for our organic fruit and vegetable collection. Some boxes are better than others, that was a pretty good one - the nashi pear were absolutely sensational, with more crisp crunchiness and taste than I've ever had in a nashi before. I must find out which variety it was so I can plant a tree. The strawbs were also rather good, even though we didn't get many. It was a box of much halving - half a punnet of strawberries, half a pumpkin, quarter of a cabbage. A bit hard for the families that get a half box, some of them got a slither of cabbage and four strawberries... or so it seemed.

These days we have a rhythm for doing the collection. G goes to Ceres and does the pick up (which I don't much enjoy - driving into Ceres makes me tense), we both bring it all into the kitchen and I do the sort. Which I do enjoy. But I'm glad we only have to do it every ten weeks or so. When it's not our turn to sort, the pick up is much easier and more pleasant than going to the supermarket. Drive or walk with the trolley (ok mostly we drive and so do others) to a neighbours house - have a chat (or not), pick up vegies, go home and make dinner. 

The biggest challenge is actually getting through the box. It's $40 and given the quality most of the time, very good value for organic fruit and vegetables. But we have to be very disciplined and not buy extra fruit or vegetables until we eat what we have. Even if it's not exactly what we want to eat. Otherwise you end up with a fridge full of slime. It's definitely a different way of cooking and eating and we're getting better at it - although we have been known to fall for the fresh figs at Hassoons and it's hard to go without cucumbers or salad. I'm starting to see a pumpkin and go, OK, we could have pumpkin pie or cake, a pumpkin pizza or roast pumpkin with brown rice and almonds and then prepare the seeds. Or I look at a cabbage and think, yay coleslaw! And Japanese style cabbage pancake - which someone from the co-op suggested and is new on our rotation.  Leeks, on the other hand I struggle with. I know lots of people love them but Grace won't eat them, even in pie and I can't say I blame her. Leeks seriously underwhelm me. At least we're having a break from them this week. The plums this week are very nice. Sweet yet tart, juicy and crunchy - they'll go quickly. Must plant a late season plum too.  We also got bananas again and nobody seems to be eating them before they become too ripe. So I think tomorrow I'll make at least four loaves of can't be stuffed banana bread for the freezer. And perhaps try to give some away. People like to share their food around here - abundance is good like that.   

holiday snaps

Finally loaded the rest of the holiday snaps onto Flickr last night. I've been looking at the pictures again, especially the ones from the second camp site, which was much nicer than the first one in amongst all the powered sites, and remembering bits of the holiday. Like the big family group camped across the flat who were from suburban Melbourne and somewhere in Eastern Europe, Russia perhaps. And they seemed to be having the best time. All day, when they weren't walking or visiting the caves, they collected wood. Huge amounts which they dragged back to one of the fireplaces. The first night they sat around a small fireplace, toasting marshmallows and singing. Beautiful songs in another language, accompanied by a blue guitar. However they built such a big fire that the fire truck came and their singing was cut short. On the second night, they collected even more wood but used a big fireplace and settled in for the night. I worried the singing would keep me awake at night but it was rather pleasant.

Life since then seems to keep getting busier and busier. Each day seems jam packed. It's the school term I think. It's all good - but I'm starting to look forward to the holidays again. 

Oh look at the time, must go to bed. Have been cooking for the stall tomorrow at our Playtime in the Park event. Yo-yos, chocolate peppermint yo-yos, lemon slice and I made pumpkin pie for dessert tonight. Not sure whether pumpkin pie is my sort of thing, but it does use half a pumpkin which is a bonus. Particularly if everyone else is also eating said pumpkin. Oh, and before the playtime in the park, where I will be rushing round like a mad thing taking photos and talking and helping out, is another community event to save our open space. Where I also want to take lots of photos. At some points of the day I will want to be in two places at the same time. A tardis or some for of instant transporter would be handy. 

big first day at school

On Sunday I cleaned Grace's room to a degree of unusual orderliness and quizzed her on all manner of things - could she open her lunch box? what would she do if she wanted to go to the toilet and it wasn't playtime or lunchtime? how would she be brave of the noisy thing (aka the hand dryer, a major issue for a year or so)? what did she want for lunch? We even went shopping together and bought a lunch bag and some little freezer packs. Everything was laid on the table and labelled with a laundry marker or sharpie pen. We were ready as we were going to be. And Grace was super excited. I set my alarm. Just in case. But Grace and Gerard were up at 6.30 am anyway, ready to get ready. I had thought we were going to be really stupidly early, but we were just in time. The school crossing supervisor took extra care to explain the rules as each group of preps crossed the road and some of the grade six girls stood inside the fence exclaiming how cute the preps were. Grace walked along the last bit of the path to school holding hands with some of her friends. Her buddy pounced on her and gave her a big hug. Amongst the melee of parents and cameras, I got one serious "for nana" shot. The rest was pretty much a blur.

Inside we found Grace's hook for her bag and placed her lunch in the box provided. The class room was even more chaotic and for a moment I thought Grace would lose it. She stayed close and sat on my knee with her arms around my neck for a moment but then happily went off to play with the toy cars and loop de loop track. They're not silly, these prep teachers - lots of interesting playthings already set up. I felt all teary, well actually I did get a bit wet around the eyes, but I wasn't the only one. Lucky I had a champagne brunch with some other mums and dads (G went home to work on the shed extension) to go to. It was a good debrief and then I had some pamphlets for a community event to deliver and before I knew it, there were only two hours left until pick up time. Even so, I wanted to be a fly on the wall all day. To see how they were going, to know that she was OK. Apparently one of the last parents to leave peeked in the window and saw the kids sitting on the mat, happily listening to a story. 

When I arrived to pick Grace up, everyone was happy and excited. It had been a good day. Not that I could find out any details because if I asked Grace about her day at school, she said it was good and that she learned to use the noisy thing. So we went through the orange state government show bag they were all issued and checked out the propaganda while eating trashy fruit juice icy poles. A little while later she fell asleep on the couch in her fairy dress and woke up all rumpled and ready to give it another go tomorrow.

more green summer, while it lasts

It seems so long ago since I was here... We've had scorching heat, nights when I've done the bare minimum at the computer because being in the study means being attacked by gnats and sweating from my eyeballs. We've had gastro. Ick. Especially the stinky burps. TMI, I know. I've inhaled a fly and spat it out half an hour later. Even more icky. But all in all, I've been in enjoying summer. There was a lovely dinner at the park the other night, perfect weather, gorgeous company, the kids played beautifully. Even though everything is starting to dry off a bit, there's still lots of green to look at and that makes me happy. And there have been many cooler days. How I love a mild summer.

The picture above is of some of the younger boys of the court hanging around with their older friends, the boom boom boys. So called because of the music they play in their cars that they are constantly renovating. Sometimes they shut themselves in the car on the street and turn the music up as loud as it will go and our windows shake. I find it kind of endearing, it's never at night and they're friendly enough kids if you say hello. 

Anyway, we're off for a while. Camping. It's taken us two days to pack but I think we'll be out the door tomorrow morning. See you on the other side.

everything was happening yesterday

Ahem.... added on Monday night. This post needs an edit. Obviously I really was a bit worse for wear. Some of it just didn't make sense at all....

Well, my computer is back (big thanks to my Dad!). All repaired with a new motherboard and new hard drives. It's blisteringly fast compared to before. There is still have some work to do. We need to re-install my beloved photo processing software (ACDSee). And there are questions I keep asking myself now I see myself at a sort of crossroads of the new. Do I go with internet explorer or make the leap to google chrome? Or run both? How am I going to set up my favourites? How different is Windows 7 to Vista? It all feels a little strange, so I think there will be an adjustment period before blogging and working on my photos begin in earnest. But I have my Outlook back! Yay! I felt so cut off from internet land and even my offline life without it. Although I was beginning to adjust.

Anyway, it will all have to wait a bit. I'm still feeling a bit fragile. Like a rose wilting in the heat. We had a double birthday bash here last night for G and me. There was no escaping the inevitabilty of this party as it was a significant birthday for G and really, it just had to be done. Of course, we decided that everything had to be ship shape - why I don't know, because once those kids go through the house it's not like anyone notices whether you've tidied the laundry or not. I had nightmares about not having enough food and as a consequence we have a fridge full of leftovers. All up, it was a pretty good party though. Lots of neighbours and children, who for the most part were charming and had fun without hurting each other. Some cool presents including a hilarious book on fruit carving. I also made the executive decision to clear all the savoury food before setting out a dessert table, as I'd made cheesecake, cupcakes and a big cake and others had bought slice and meringues and there was fruit and sesame biscuits and Mim's lovely banana cake. I rather liked that bit and people seemed to enjoy it. Then when it was just us and the stayers, I relaxed into a serious bit of trashification. For which I am paying today. But it was so totally worth it. I know I keep saying it, but I really like living around here. It's the best.  

p.s the picture above is clearly not our house. I got the photo from here. Real life photos will be a while coming I think.

hurray! barbeque in the park season has begun

On the way home from childcare, we popped in at a neighbours to see if they were going to barbeque at the park tonight. Several little impish heads popped over the fence from the new deck and Grace was swept into kidworld. Another neighbour said he would go if others went, which given the chill in the wind was my thought too. Our night confirmed, I went home to prepare some food and let G know. It was lovely seeing our neighbours and meeting new friends. Catching up on gossip. Confirming that the self-raising flour from the co-op is indeed plain flour and that I'm not the only person who's had some cake disasters. Talking about the vegie co-op. It's good but strange sometimes, and it's reassuring to talk to others who've been vegie co-opping for longer. G came down for a while and then went of to the Megadeth/Slayer concert. That was one I passed up, not even the prospect of a big night out would have got me to that one. I am so boring, I know.

 
After the park went back to Mel and Andy's and lounged around there. I love their back area, sort of like an outside lounge at a groovy cafe, with added northern suburban charm. It was so very good to see Mim again who is back from overseas and I met Sherrin, another fellow blogger - also doing blogtoberfest- waves hello! She's lovely like heaps of bloggers I meet and she knows my sister too. Small world eh? Keep meeting bloggers everywhere these days, or maybe I'm just less self conscious about it. Grace disappeared inside to the world of dress ups and reappeared an hour or so as a very cold mermaid wanting me to get her dressed. And then wanted to go home. Just I could have stayed for another hour. Anyway, I don't think I've got much more to say tonight. I'm tired and have had beer which slid down quite nicely thank you and is combining with the purple pill to make me feel very relaxed.

ps, you can see the same night through another pair of eyes and another lens over at starashan. How cool is that?

 

I go out walking

So far I've only missed one day of my walking this month. And that was Monday which I'm going to forgive because I just don't see how it could have been squished in, and anyway, I did walk down to the pizza place on the corner where we had the meeting and back again so it was about half a walk. Today I didn't stress about it and predictably, because I was tired and coldy and was home with Grace for a good part of the day and then we all went out to run some messages together, the chance just didn't come up. Indeed I felt pretty good that I manged to get the house sort of tidied, the washing put away and drag Grace away from ABC kids. Oh, and clean out the fridge and make left over vegie pie for dinner. Then after dinner, once Grace was in bed, I put on my backpack (for the camera), a hat and scarf and went for a walk. Just like that. Easy.

 
I love it that I can go any time. That I don't need any special equipment or funny clothes. And there is always something to see. Walking at night by myself probably rules out walking by the creek. Although I do wonder how much more dangerous it really is... parts of the bushland down there are pretty isolated during the daytime too. Anyway, I like to swing my arms and I don't really think, I just let things float and notice things. Like the telly is on in the front room of the house I just passed, ooh and there's a pile of clean bricks with a sign saying free, please take or how some people seem to go to bed really early. I see teenagers hanging round in cars swearing and playing boom boom music. Other people out waking their dogs. Lights shining through the trees. And then I get home and it's all warm and nice and I feel good that I went for my walk again. 

good tired

I'm tired. Good tired. Muscles aching from working in the garden and four days in a row of walking. Today G and I went down to the park and salvaged a big tree branch that had broken in the wind. G used his hand saw to liberate a long silvery grey gum log from it's smaller branches. Together we carried it home. It will edge the front garden alongside the path I'm planning. Then I went back and dragged home all the smaller branches with leaves on them. These have been chopped up with the big and small secateurs into a nice leafy mulch. It crackles when you step on it and smells eucalypty. My favourite sort of mulch.  

 
One of my neighbours is working in her garden a lot at the moment too and she said my mulch looked very pretty. She has an awesome pile of woodchips and said she tried to convince the guy with the truck and shredder to go and pick up the fallen branches in the park but he said they didn't do that. I'm probably stealing, but it had been there for over a week and the branches were much to big for the kids to make cubby houses out of. My neighbour and I talked about our court and some of the goings on. She even finds the boom boom boys at the end of the court with their wheelies and hotted up cars amusing. I do too, except if Grace or the other kids are out on the footpath. And then there's the checkerboard house which can see faintly above. Classic really.

That's all I've got tonight. Braindead. Thinking social media for tomorrow night. Work tomorrow. Daylight savings. All out of whack. Better go to bed. Yikes. Goodnight.