Storytime

OMG it appears as though it is nearly July. July! Where on earth have the other six months gone! Let's face it, I do remember some of them. January was there...some heat, lots of folks in the library for school holidays. February was a crap month. My dad died the day before my birthday...which meant March was a bit of a blur. I've spent a little bit of time in the garden, but nowhere near as much as I would like or want. I've found that while living on a hill does give you lots of chances for exercise, when you have a toddler with you it is very limiting. They are forever falling on their behind....or attempting a quick getaway by running DOWN THE DRIVEWAY like a maniac. Both of these scenarios ended in tears and with me deciding that perhaps now is not the time to garden. No matter how tempting. Work has also been a time of upheaval...with people going, some moving on, some moving to the left for a few months, others moving for a year. Which of course me...

Bit lame to say but we are all different. Different in so many ways and it's our differences that make us who we are. Some people admire nature in all it's wonders. Others see nothing but problems. Animals, plants, weather...everything that can't be controlled. Some see weeds.... others have a reminder back to childhood whims. Some see ugliness..death... others see a chance for art.  It's the same with what we like to read. There are many that can only read fiction, have the best sellers noted and have to order their latest as soon as possible. There are others that only read biographies...others that only dip into magazines because they are so time poor.  No matter your preference there is something for everyone at the library.  No matter your interest or your choice of reading matter.  Little Miss has just discovered graphic novels.  Her reading is improving in leaps and bounds but she finds a novel confronting....

We see it all the time, children trying to grow up too quick. They want to be older, do the things that older kids do, have the toys/ games that others do...the perceived freedom. At the moment Little Miss is 8 turning 25. Some of her comments are so mature...she spends ages doing her hair, getting upset when this bit or that bit dares to stick up.  She keeps telling us how old she is, that she can do so much more. Yet... On the weekend we took Little Miss and Friend into the city to see the Wizard of Oz. Both are 8, nearly 9. Both have a younger sibling, nearly 2 years old. Both had totally cool outfits on. Both stuck up a pose, full of ATTITUDE in front of the graffiti. But the other side of this is that they were also little girls. They wanted lollies and ice creams and lollies and chocolate and lollies and lolly pops...you get the idea. They also asked 'can we pretend to be sisters?' They spent so much of the time, holding hands, skipping down the stree...

This week in Storytime we were superheroes. We flew through the air, we were strong, we could win against any bullies...and then we attempted some superhero yoga moves. Didn't know they existed did you? Either did I. But we did some warrior poses, some calming poses. The kids were great at this and had a blast. I have never been flexible and the older I have gotten, the less flexible I have become. Not even in my dreams could I do this. I did love the way the kids encouraged me though. There was a chorus of 'you can do it'...alas I couldn't. But they believed I could. Aw. At the moment flexibility also is being applied to work/play balance.  A bit of this... means a lot less time to write. Although we are working on naps. Working on, is the word here but we can dream. And even though I have had to adapt to what I 'thought' I was doing this week ---in fact as I'm writing this Guggle is at my side, crayons in one...

I just adore Autumn. It's the combination of the settling down of the year, when the heat from Summer has gone, yet the chilled days of Winter are just about to creep in. And then there are the trees!  Living in the Dandenong Ranges means I am surrounded by gorgeous deciduous trees, and although it has been a slow Autumn, it has now hit with a bang. It is just gorgeous. We also have a range of trees in our garden that are showing their beauty.  I love walking out there to admire them. The colours are so inspiring. Watching as they ever so slowly lose their coat of green, and seemingly overnight, appear clad in shades of sunsets. Gusts of wind, like the past few days, and the ground is covered in a flurry of colour. All this natural beauty leaves me tongue tied. I head out and attempt to take photo after photo. Hoping in some manner to capture what I see. It never works. The eye sees so much more than can ever be manually created. Yet I keep tryi...

Some folks will know that I enjoy baking. In fact, daughter (whose skills far surpass my own) and I often venture to cooking classes. I do like a challenge (although life does seem to be offering lots of those lately)...but I enjoy a challenge where I can learn. Even if it is a total failure, you learn. I'm sure I read an article the other day talking about Flearning, which is when you have a failure but learn from it. This week I attempted  created my first vegan cake. I have made vegan cookies before (we have vegan work colleagues, so only fair to share some of the baking love)...but this was my first cake. Of course my first thought was to contact said great-baking-skills-daughter who has created vegan goodies before...and ask for her best recipe. My girl has her own baking blog ---Hurricanesnozbakes- YOU MUST CHECK IT OUT - and she suggested this recipe for Lemon Coconut cake. I must admit to being terrified , worried about cooking with ingredients I have rarely / make t...

At the moment I'm running a writing group for kids. It's only for five weeks but boy am I having fun. Best thing, is that the kids are too! So far we've had a look at character, setting and plot. What the kids have produced have been so much fun. We do a lot of interactive work on the whiteboard (yes whiteboard)...with them offering up solutions to a plot problem...character descriptions....settings. (these photos have nothing to do with the writing club but wanted to share the lovely place we went to for Mother's Day lunch.... The Brass Razu bar)  Some of the children's writing has been amazing....there was the story about Miss Vicki and the T-Rex that roamed the library (the ending was quite sad).  The time traveller who had a time machine in her bedroom. The planet with the giant spider that devours souls. Another planet that had craters that took you to different places and even different times in history. Some of their insights so humorous. I showed ...