fiveandtwo

I Went To Bendigo, Again.

Yes! It's now three times in the last twelve months. Beginning to be a habit it seems.

Ah, but this time was special. A mate and I conspired to vistit this exhibition:

 

Go, go if you can. The most wondrous garments are there. Day dresses, cocktail dresses, suits...and ballgowns...sigh.

I can't ply you with pictures - the garment images are copyright V&A (the origin of the collection).

Our approach with two not-terribly-interested kids each was: visit a public monument (the cathredral) with a bit of quiet inside.

 A bit of running around outside.

 Visit Rosalind Park with magnificent old trees, walk up (steep) Camp Hill to the poppet head tower on top, brave the WIND climbing the stairs to the top of the poppet head, a play in the playground nearby, milkshakes/iced chocolates and cake at the gallery cafe...then, on to the exhibition. Restive towards the end, the offspring were good for about two hours. Just enough time.

If I lived in Bendigo I'd be visiting once a week. Well, maybe not. When something like this is on your doorstep it gets taken for granted - "Oh it's here for months, plenty of time". I lived for some time within cooee of Kakadu (at Humpty Doo on the Arnhem Highway) and did not visit. How silly is that. In defence: we were going to move back to Darwin after time in Alice Springs. I enjoyed living in both those places. I enjoy living where I am now.

Clare and Ally were actually quite interested in the Couture Exhibition. I noticed Clare tucked her top in to her skirt and lifted the top of the skirt up to her waist.

 But really, they just wanted to get back to the swimming pool at the caravan park!

Broken

This lass is beyond repair.

 

Gracie was given to Linsey over ten years ago, passed on to Leah, then to Clare and Ally. Even though china dolls are meant to be ornamental, not played with, I let them anyway. What's the point of having a doll if you can't play with her?

She's been glued so many times, and adhesive bandage was used when the glue failed. Not surprisingly Gracie was often used in hospital/doctor/nurse games.

This time the injury was fatal and she's in the shed awaiting burial, or recycling (I stil have another hearth to do).

Speaking of hearths and broken things: the kitchen hearth is finished!

Well, some sanding and sealing of the wood surround is in order, otherwise...it's finished!

Did I say the hearth was finished? Yep, it's done.

 

The giant jigsaw was absorbing, I enjoyed doing it. I like having the ice cream containers of broken china out of the way. Makes access to the kitchen bench much easier.

Another hearth to be done...eventually. More plates and bowls need to be broken. I used up most of the good bits on the kitchen hearth. Hmmm, could be an excuse to seek out more china at the op-shop!

Additions To The Menagerie

Mice. Belonging to Clare and Ally. Saved up for. Bearing Sailor Moon names: Lena and Hitaru (not sure about the spelling there).

 

They're sort of cute with their long, twitchy whiskers. I'm not keen on that "mousey" smell though.

 

These ones seem to have lost that, "Oh My God, it's a predator - run and hide!!" instinct. They're not bothered at all by the intense interest of the dog, or even of a cat sitting next to their cage.

And there's that mindless running in the mousewheel. Sometimes I feel like that's what I'm doing though, so I sympathise with the small rodents.

Clare and Ally have not been fighting since the mice arrived. This is most unusual. However, it's only day two. It's been good I tell you, not having endless arguments and baiting. Very good.

Hoops And Interviews

  Hello, I'm back from Melbourne. Linsey has had The Holy VCA Interview but doesn't think it went well. A letter from RMIT awaited when we got home saying that regretfully, they couldn't offer her a place in 2009. The girl doesn't think she'll get te ENTER of 80 she needs for Monash.

I know it's extremely painful for her. It's painful for me as a parent too. That I can't make things happen as I know she wants them to. I want for her what she wants for herself.

However, from my position as an oldie, I know it's not a fatal blow. And I can see in front of me a lass who's vastly more switched on than I ever was at 18. I know she'll pursue what she wants in spite of these setbacks (something I was unable to do at that age). But...she cried, and that is a blow to my heart. Life is strewn with disappointments, and I can't make it better.

 I think I may be unduly sensitised at the moment, a fellow a year older than Linsey suicided last week in Lakes Entrance, in spite of being surrounded by family and friends...

 Gee, I'm not doing very well articulating this. Possibly I  should have waited a day or so.

On a lighter note, I've jumped on the fabric-in-embroidery-hoop bandwagon and put some on the wall on the stairs to my room. Rather hard to photograph as it's on an angle.

 

 

Weigel's 2121

I made a dress using a vintage pattern!

 

Not for me though - I'm too fat for pretty much all vintage patterns. 

I made it for Linsey to wear to her graduation. She chose the pattern from my collection, and chose view B, but didn't like the three-quarter sleeves. I was able to make it sleeveless - there was just enough fabric left from the cutting out to make facings.

It also needed it made smaller. The pattern is for a 36" bust and she is only 34". There are some extra "design features" on the bodice where I used extra darts to make it smaller.

  

   

I'm very pleased with the result.

And here are some little felt birds I made while I was at Bendigo. I find it hard to "just sit". I've learned to take some sort of handwork and some books whenever we go away.

 

Road Trip And Swap Meet

We went to the truly huge Bendigo Swap Meet! Swap Meet, you say? Aren't they just old car and motorbike parts, bloke's stuff? Well, not always. Many of them are a treasure trove of op shop-type stuff (I am being very generous revealing this secret to you).

You see, many of the fellows are accompanied by their wives, and rather than sit around doing nothing, these women have their own sideline in vintage and secondhand goods.

So, while my husband fossicks for old motorbike parts my eyes are peeled for additions to my collections. I bought buttons, old keys and scissors, books, wooden bobbins, a vintage suitcase and ice creams for Clare and Ally, my faithful sidekicks. They also got parasols because I forgot to pack hats for them.

If we go to another of these enormous Swap Meets I think some sort of trolley is in order, for carting the loot. Many more experienced than us had something on wheels for this purpose. Plenty of these:

Much improvisation of the humble bag trolley:

 

An array of shopping carts:

 

 

You've probably guessed I was very taken by the array of "transports".

Human ingenuity is a wonderful thing.

It wasn't all poking around at Swap Meets. We took the "talking tram" (running commentary pointing out landmarks and giving historical background) tour around Bendigo, took a tour of Central Deborah Mine. Part of which was underground - a big thing for claustrophobic me. I concentrated hard on the guide and refrained from looking up at the tons of rock above my head...I breathed slowly and deeply...and survived.

A visit to the Victoria Hill Reserve was rather easier. The remains of diggings and mines in that area, with the mine shafts sealed off. I forgot to ask the Central Deborah guide why the tower-like lifting structure over the mine shaft is called a poppet head. Google hasn't even been able to tell me.

 

 

The journey home took us via Shepparton, morning tea at Benalla, Bright, lunch at Harrietville, over Mount Hotham (some hard, icy patches of snow remaining) to Dinner Plain and Omeo, then on to Bairnsdale. A very scenic route.

The teenagers seemed pleased to see us after five days fending for themselves. The dog was ecstatic. I am hoping that a greater interest might now be taken in learning to cook well, and generally care for, and organise, a household. What do you reckon my chances are? Truly, I have shown each one of my three older offspring how to use the washing machine. Obviously it didn't imprint, they got a friend to come over and show them.Sigh...

Banner

Oh, the frustration. I am trying to make a custom banner for my blog. Correction. I have made one, I just can't upload/insert the damn thing. Man, it's doing my head in I tell you!

I've put it all aside for now, to deal with next week...mutter,swear, mutter, swear.

The Battle of the Banner has meant no crafting or other interesting pursuits. Have a look at my bathroom medicine cabinet instead. Finally installed in the bathroom! Came from a garage sale years ago, and fixed up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I read/heard somewhere that greyhounds are cuddly pets. They don't look as if they would be but here is some evidence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clare having a snooze with Suska. That's cuddly.

With the cold weather upon us out comes the winter kitchen window covering. Put on at sundown to keep the cold out and the warmth in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news: I've been having a go at patternmaking. I have a (long term) plan to open an online shop, probably Etsy. Selling little kid's clothes, toys, felt purses, cards and bags. Or maybe just the clothes and toys. Either way I need to make patterns from my sketches. Nothing like a new challenge - but it's nowhere near as frustrating as that banner thing! Of course, it's a slow process...meaning: don't expect grand shop openings anytime soon.

Those of you with Etsy shops, I'd appreciate any ideas/feedback.

I'm off tomorrow afternoon for an overnight stay at Lakes Entrance - tea out Saturday night and a sleep-in on Sunday...ah. This little interlude has been in the pipeline for a good eighteen months! My two buddies and I have found it hard to score a weekend when all three of us don't have other commitments!

A Very Muddled Week

Ally's description, "This has been a very muddled week". So accurate.

It started last Saturday with me going to the Curves gym (recently joined to deal with stress and apalling level of fitness) and developing a blinding, excruciating headache halfway thruogh the circuit. Carted off in an ambulance. Nausea and vomiting, photophobia. In retrospect, classic migraine symptoms.

It was decided, eventually, that I'd had a sudden migraine. Fortunately, I don't have these evil headaches very often, but in the past there's been some warning: a thudding headache that doesn't go away, thirst and fatigue. One coming on suddenly was rather disturbing. I was out and couldn't get back home under my own steam. What if that happens again?

I'll go back to Curves, but I'm really nervous about doing so.

Oh, and there's nothing like a shot of morphine to deal with pain, and Stemetil for nausea/vomiting (Maxolon didn't work).

Took a couple of days to throw that post-migraine weird, disoriented state.

A long appointment sucked up Tuesday. I did fly in to work and do the pays though - disgruntled employees weren't on my agenda.

The usual routine was thrown completely by now. Transporting kids uses so much time. With Giles, mostly I drop him and some mates at the favoured surf beach, one of the other kid's parents pick them up. It's still a 1.5 hour round trip to drop them off. Sometimes, if the bus timetable works, they can catch the bus both ways. Their favoured surfing area, Red Bluff, doesn't have a bus for them to catch home. V-Line buses = strange timetables.

I managed to buy some food and pick up Leah from Lakes Entrance, where she'd stayed with a friend. Leah looked pretty crook, she could hardly speak. Criminal sore throat. GP appointment...tonsillitis? All the glands around her jaw were huge. Can only imagine the state of her tonsils. Antibiotics prescribed and duly taken. I worry about her fluid intake. It's so painful to swallow that the poor kid just isn't drinking.

Thursday: buy more food. Take Leah to A&E because she finds it hard to breathe, and looks really "flat". Leah is admitted to hospital, IV fluids perk her up a bit. But only a bit. She's on her third type of antibiotic now.

Ah, but the waiting with Leah in A&E meant reading time! Good progress made on this:

When I read As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, well, I was going to Spain. Never did though. A friend who read it around the same time spent three months in Spain with her baby daughter.

I've enjoyed all of Laurie Lee's books. This one came from the op-shop. How lucky! A $50 book for a couple of dollars. I'm enjoying this biography.

This pre-order came too, last week:

Resisting starting it until I'm done with the Laurie Lee biography!

Back in the early 80's I read Monkey Grip. My impressionable seventeen-year-old self wanted in to that lifestyle. Never did though.

Gifts, Birthdays, Mess

Look, look, look what came with the parcel man today!

From Victoria, whose art I really admire. It's a beautiful piece of work which I'm honoured to have.  It's of Clare and Ally (and Suska the dog) dressed as princesses (one of the Twelve Dancing, and Clara ,from The Nutcracker) for Book Week.  Lucky, aren't I.

Speaking of Clare and Ally, they've just had their eighth birthday. We made this stupendous cake which started out as a castle but was so loaded with lollies and the like, well, you wouldn't recognise it as that.

See what I mean?

But it was "all good".

Hmm, but their room is something I'll tackle with them this week, now that the birthday and all is done. Look at this (or maybe you should avert your eyes).

A bit of sorting and tidying is in order, I think.

Now for some peaceful sunlight.

Now that the days are getting shorter there's sunlight all the way across the kitchen in the late afternoon. The tall windows require ingenuity to keep extreme heat out, and cold out (thick blinds and curtains) but it's so worth it. So I can gaze at patterns of sunlight on the floor, on the wall, across the furniture.

This place was an absolute dive when we bought it. But like our first place, it meant we could still pay for it even if neither of us had paid work (because that's been the case in the past). Heck, the first house was four rooms plus lean-to. No bathroom, outdoor dunny (bonus!), rusted out wood stove in the "kitchen". Paper-and-hessian wall lining. Good living, but got really squeezy when bub number three (Leah) came along. And I really wanted more room to grow vegies.

We'd fixed up number one house slowly, over four or so years, and were fortunate to get a buyer who really wanted it.

So to house number two, this one. We're here for the long term. All the work over the last twelve years has kind of custom-made it for us (contrary to teenage opinion - why haven't we got a TV Room, a Family Room, a Pool, a Spa, a Tennis Court, a Boat Mooring with large motor boat, and so on...) I must say this comes from Giles and Leah. I think Linsey remembers the "poor years".

Well, this is rather a ramble. Not  what I intended.

Cheers.

Bubby Stuff

Guest appearance of Clare and Ally.

I've made some things, but the photos I took are not up to scratch. When I've taken better pics I'll post about that.

Meanwhile I'm posting some bubby-pics. They're not "bubbys", but because they're the youngest, that's the tag. Give the girls the small digital camera.

I remember being really nervous with the older kids and the camera. Gosh, developing and printing film was expensive. With digital they can muck around, experiment, with the DSLR there's as much scope as my old film SLR.

But there's nothing like seeing the photographic print emerging from the chemical  bath.

Here's a selection of photos:

This is a "cop out" post. Pictures instead of words. There's nuthin' of reading and considering 'round here lately. I'm doing my usual "escape" reading. Young Adult fiction. Quick to read, no strain on the brain. So many extraordinary YA books out there (oh, I'm so glad). Gary Crew, you're splendid.

When I was breast feeding the twins I read the entire "When the War Began..." series (John Marsden). Breast feeding is terrific for catching up on reading. Once the bub is latched on...it's hands free. However, many were the times when I fell asleep and was caught dribbling on my shoulder by the older kids. More dozing than reading went on, I reckon. The fog of those first couple of twin years...I'm not sure it's lifted, actually. Could be an excuse, possibly.