Storytime

It is official...the year is half over. Half of it gone without a trace. Whizz. Zoom. Goodbye. I swear it was just February the other week..but here we are, and with repeated checking of all available calendars...it is the end of June. We know it is winter because of the cold, and the rain, and did I mention the cold? But the fact is that a good one hundred and eighty or so days have gone by and I'm left wondering what have I done? In truth quite a lot of things. There has been Cats the musical with daughter....there has been two plays with various children....been days spent up at my sister's place and doing not much...a few garden shows, okay quite a few.....and friendly catch ups.....Purple Rain and biscuit decorating classes....Goodbyes and welcomes....children sleepovers and some outings....and a bit of writing. This year I cleverly set up a file for each month. Very easy to see what exactly has been done..and when.  For me, it's a good system a...

There have been so many times at work (either running a children's program or just helping folks out) when a parent has stared aghast at their child, horrified and said quickly 'you can't tell people about that.' It happens all the time. And if I was inclined to blackmail, I'd be set for life! But apart from revealing bare naked truths, children are great for noting down ideas. On the weekend, we had Little Miss. At one stage as were putting on our gumboots to head outside she told me to 'lift up your feet.' 'Why,' I asked, puzzled. 'Just lift them up so I can check something.' I did as requested. She then nodded. 'Good, you have them on the right feet.' I didn't really doubt it for a moment but I'm glad she was there checking for me. It's always interesting how they see the world. When my son was very small I remember him watching as I plucked my eyebrows, then he became quite upset. When asked why 'be...

For the long weekend I headed east....north east..ish. Went to my sister's place in Swifts Creek, nestled in the Tambo Valley, East Gippsland. It's a small country town and my sister lives just out of said town. My phone doesn't work there....I have no ability to call anyone (unless I borrow their land line)...and I have no access to the internet. No messaging, no facebook, no google...no 'quick let's just check that.' So I go there to rest and relax. To spend quality time with my sister, her husband and which of the children are there at the time...currently two teenage boys. I've been coming up there for so many years that we have acquired rituals without realising it. There is the slow walk around the garden as we talk and compare plants. She gives me a few cuttings of this and that, I give her a few plants I've grown and we see which succeed. Her youngest son always wants me to play Monopoly ---have I ever told you how much I HATE...

Wow, last weekend was ENORMOUS. HUGE. Even quite BIG...in fact I think we both went back to work to get some down time :) Not that anything really big in the scheme of things happened...but we had people over...in fact quite a lot of people over at various times during the day. My Dad, daughter, brother, sister-in-law, and two nephews and two nieces (from different sides of the family) Hubby and nephew went to the movies (some adventure smash bang thing) and daughter and Miss C and myself were alone with the cookies. Teenage Miss C was first to decorate. Cookies were pre-baked, then some more were baked, and piping bags filled with royal icing in a rainbow of colours. Then she set to. With amazing results. What I love about this is that there is no right or wrong way. You experiment, try different colours, add sprinkles. Pipe an edging and heh presto... The two girls even made some bark...of the edible variety. Once again this was done by 'heh how ab...