Twelve times round the sun....

 Wow, just wow ...she is TWELVE!

She is so grown up and beautiful, clever, bright, silly, funny, quirky, fit, healthy, fun, loving, tall! and deliciously wonderfully herself. I do love her so.

She put it a request for a Ferrero Rocher Croquembouche cake... I think I may have actually had a panic attack just before construction began but you know what? Melted chocolate is my friend - it didn't hurt that we are deep into autumn and the weather was quite cool.

I made dozens of little 'roses' out of the chocolate wrappers and added some thin toffee shards to make it pretty - She was delighted, I was pretty pleased. It tasted divine!

I made a dozen little cupcakes too - one can never have too much chocolate cake.

Some kind of wrap up catch-up...

We spent a couple of days of the Easter long weekend at our 'own but can't live in' old/new house. The bunny with the eggs found the girls even tho we were not at "we're other home" and they delighted in the early morning hunt through the dew and native violets.

We did lots of tidying up. First we un-bogged the tractor which has been patiently waiting for some dry, not quite so slippery ground since our rain sodden last visit. The big girl got in plenty more practice on the ride-on mower; first actually mowing the couple of flat acres around the house and then later driving about doing pick ups with the trailor on the back.

We hunted about and made lots of new discoveries, especially in the very overgrown vegie patch. The wee girl filled her easter basket with loads of bright red cherry tomatos which we added to our inside dinner of 'campside' beans (I'd give you a recipe but it is different everytime!).

The girls and I found a tiny nest with four abandoned teeny tiny eggs and the prettiest little feather. I am not sure what kind of bird built and later left the nest, I will have to do some more investigating.

We have found a tenant, so there will be no more trips south to our little hinterland hidehole until we can call it home. So we left a new letterbox with gnome type personality to stand guard til we get back.

* Rabbit pattern is one from the talented Linda of Mamma-4-Earth Molly Bunny

Little fox...

Once upon a time there were three little foxes
Who didn’t wear stockings, and they didn’t wear sockses,
But they all had handkerchiefs to blow their noses,
And they kept their handkerchiefs in cardboard boxes.

And they lived in forest in three little houses,
And they didn’t wear coats, and they didn’t wear trousies.
They ran through the woods on their little bare tootsies,
And they played “Touch Last” with a family of mouses.

They didn’t go shopping in the High Street shopses,
But caught what they wanted in the woods and copses.
They all went fishing, and they caught three wormses,
They went out hunting, and they caught three wopses.

They went to a Fair, and they all won prizes –
Tree plum-puddingses and three mince-pieses.
They rode on elephants and swang on swingses,
And hit three coconuts at coconut shieses.

That’s all I know of three little foxes
Who kept their handkerchiefs in three little boxes.
They lived in the forest in three little houses,
But they didn’t wear coats and they didn’t wear trousies,
And they didn’t wear stockings and they didn’t wear sockses.

A. A. Milne
 

I've been knitting again. This time for Mrs Bloom who lives in a place where she really doesn't need such things but well.... it is cute, yes?

The pattern is the mini fox stole from the highly talented and whimsical Tiny Owl Knits

A weekend tease

We bought a house, an old one...like 100 odd year old one. It sits on 8.5 acres of lushness and is the result of about 10 years of dreaming. BUT we can't live in it yet - complexities to tease me. So last weekend we went out to visit our house and play with the farm toys.

We met the neighbours

and said hello to (and sized up) a squatter. I am pretty sure without being positive it is a Huntsman Spider and probably a female.. not poisonous but I didn't want to get bitten all the same. She has a span of about 6 inches.

From little things...big things Bloom. Making Peg Dolls - the book tour continues!

This post brings me such delight. Two years ago, maybe a little more, I recieved a comment on this blog which read something along the lines of "I have an idea. Please email me". The author of that comment was Margaret Bloom of we bloom here, her idea was a swap, a peg doll swap. In the months that followed I made a firm and treasured friend and my house slowly but surely became home to dozens of tiny peg dolls...

In the years since, our family collection of tiny peg dolls has grown beyond the walls of the little doll house they first populated. They now peek out of bookshelves, stand tall on windowsills and dance upon tables. I find them in baskets and tiny boxes, in pockets and bags... in the bathroom and in beds. They never fail to make me smile.

And then, one day Margaret told me she was writing a book. A book to be filled with the little people and sprites, gnomes and creatures that were filling her house too! Over what felt like an eternity she fed me with little morsels and pictures that made me croon. I can't remember a time I was so restless with anticipation.

From the very beginning my favourite was the Michaelmas dragon; I can't explain why but I LOVE it. For me there was no question, it was going to be the first doll I made when I had my hands on the book.

And then it arrived :) The book feels great in my hands. It is weighty and bursting with colour and cuteness! There are step by step instructions to make over 60 different dolls - dolls for every season, dolls for festivals, story telling and sheer sweetness. Patterns made to follow exactly or inspire new ideas. Doodle pages and painting tips, snippets of stories to make you want to read more. All things to make you smile.

I am so gratified to be part of Margaret's Making Peg Dolls blog tour (tho it is very likely I would have sulked and refused to answer emails if she had not invited me). I hope to do her creativity and cleverness credit with this little story crafted from a few wooden peg dolls, a bit of paint, felt, silk and just a little twist on the patterns in her book.

Tell me a story - The Paper Bag Princess

 by Robert Munsch & Michael Martchenko

Once there was a beautiful princess (Elizabeth). She lived in a castle and had expensive princess clothes. She was going to marry a prince named Ronald.

Unfortunately, a dragon smashed her castle, burnt all her clothes with his fiery breath, and carried off Prince Ronald.

Elizabeth decided to chase the dragon and get Ronald back. She looked everywhere for something to wear but the only thing she could find that was not burnt, was a paper bag. So she put on the paper bag and followed the dragon....

 

...Finally Elizabeth came to a cave with a large door that had a huge knocker on it. She took hold of the knocker and banged on the door. The dragon stuck his nose out of the door and said. 'Well a princess! I love to eat princesses.....'

Elizabeth is a resourceful and clever princess and the dragon is a bit of a flaunt - 'is it true, said Elizabeth, 'that you can burn up ten forests with your fiery breath?' 'Oh yes,' said the dragon....

At this point I must abandon my story telling because I don't want to ruin the middle or the ending! It was not my intention that you would read this post and immediately sucumb to the overwhelming desire to buy two books - just one! The Paper Bag Princess has a most fabulous and unconventional ending and can be found free and well loved on the shelves of your local library. Making Peg Dolls by Margaret Bloom on the other hand is so new it is nowhere near a library shelf and will be so well love by you and yours, you would never want to return it anyway!

You can get your very own copy from one of these places -

• Amazon
• The Book Depository
• Barnes & Noble
• Waldorf Books
• Powell's
• Booktopia

You can get more sneak peeks and treats by browsing the official blog tour -


February 4th:  The Crafty Crow
February 5th:  The Magic Onions
February 6th:  The Toymaker
February 7th:  Clean
February 8th:  Anna Branford
February 11th:  Red Bird Crafts
February 12th:  Art is a Way
February 13th:  Softearth's World
February 14th:  Chocolate Eyes
February 15th:  Rhythm and Rhyme
February 18th:  Wild Faerie Caps
February 19th:  Sacred Dirt
 

 

Hawaii

Day 1... a Monk Seal just hanging out on the beach soaking up the sun - so beautiful. We are so lucky!

Mouse house... fat cat

Yesterday the girls discovered a little mouse house under the mock orange hedge. A little grey mouse with a cute little twitchy nose poked its head out. The wee girl sat for hours waiting to see the little fellow again, she asked me for food to tempt it out. I told her it was getting plenty of food from the chook grains.

My beloved states that where you have chooks you have mice, where you have mice you have snakes. I've never seen any snakes but we have a couple of fat cats.

Last night we had friends round for dinner. Late in the evening while we sat in the breeze on the lower deck a cat shot past with 'something' dangling from her mouth (something furry and grey with a long tail).

The wee girl was quite distressed, the cat had 'her mouse'. A mummy mouse coming out to get food for all its babies! We followed the cat, she dropped the mouse in the lounge room and patted it playfully - it was clearly dead. Poor wee thing (clever cat). I turned to my wee girl and told her so, said there was nothing I could do for the little mouse... I was sorry but that is what cats do.

She accepted my words and walked away. Five minutes later she sobbed, distraught - I had to do something! I did the only thing I could, wrapped it gently in a paper towel, stroking its little warm body and remarking how soft and pretty it was as we did. Then we went downstairs to the back garden (one adult and four little girls) dug up some soil from under a border rock and gently laid the mouse to rest. She picked a frangipani and cried a little.



She cried some more a bit later and again this morning. Her little three year old mind is so busy. In her short life we have burried our 18 year old cat and two very nice chooks - she was facinated by the process - daddy digs a hole we put a creature in, plant something on top and then she skips off to play - not this time. This time something died and it was sad, her tiny little heart broke a little.