growing up

My darling went off to Year 7 orientation today.
It was a nervy experience for me. I had to go to work so I had to ask another Mum to walk him to school with her son. Luckily that plan worked out well. But I went off to work (running for the tram..missed it) feeling like a bad mum. I should have been the one to take him.
But he had a great day. The transition team know how to make the kiddies happy. They got to play with bunsen burners! He learnt some wacky facts about burning magnesium, he met a couple of new kids.
So, here he is, my big kid, with the hail he collected in the back yard last week.

Works on the way

I've finished piecing the Lorna pink quilt top. I'm thinking that maybe I need a nice fat border on it. It is big enough to lie on top of our double bed, but not much overhang. I'm also thinking about the backing. Should I use a cotton sheet as the backing? Something nice and big that won't need to be pieced together to fit.
I really like the Cosy Cotton batting. It's beautifully flat and soft, and the finish it gives is like a beloved worn old blanket. It scrunches up nicely and folds perfectly. Problem is..this quilt looks like something off John Denver's Grandma's feather bed. Maybe I should be using batting with high puffosity. Stay tuned for the next thrilling installment..yawn.
My little patio tomato plant is booming. It's a chunky clump of a bush and covered in tasty green tommies. The guard chicken is doing her job like a champ. Everything in that tiny plot is growing splendidly.
Pepper chose Mumma Mia from the vid shop last night. What a stinker! D threatened to leave home but I think he enjoyed it more than I did.
Mackie's friend Emma is here today. They have known eachother since birth. They are going to different schools next year. I hope they can stay friends. I hope that Mackie makes some ACE friends and that he's revitalised by the changes that come. I know I made the best friends ever when I started year 7. Life long ones. We shared so many funny years of teenager-dom. When we get together now I love the fact that they know about all those cringeworthy events that made me what I am today. I am looking forward to a new pool of kids. Some of the friendship groups have become so set and unchanging in the course of the primary years. Some kids who are fantastic and vital can still find themselves drifting and excluded and it's heartbreaking and incomprehensible to see. Bring on the new blood I say.
I am enjoying the ultimate unsociable behaviour right now. I am very sociable. Often I feel as if it my duty to entertain everyone or at least keep things bubbling along in the household. When the kids complain of being bored I feel the criticism cutting me to the quick. I agree that they should experience boredom and then have the thrill of discovering an activity for themselves, maybe be creative! They fall so easily into the loving arms of technology to relieve boredom and that shits me! So, after banging my head against a brick wall to get a bit of chat going in the house, I have decided to embrace Martha Wainright and Vampire Weekend and Lisa Miller on my i-pod. Mix it up and blog away! Enjoy my own bit of technology.

fresh produce

I've been planting and digging and growing things in the garden. It's so fab when the weather is shiny. Last weekend I spent the whole time weeding, then planting, then mulching. I guess I wasn't alone.
I planted some intoxicating jasmine in the front yard to climb the fence. I figure it'll be right in front of us so we won't be able to forget to cut it back when it starts to take over. Just driving home from the nursery with it's heady perfume filling the car made me realise I'd made the right decision.
Then I chucked in a few tomato plants (four different varieties) and some basil, some chillies, some capsicum and some sugar snap peas. I ran out of room in the little vegie patch so D and I ripped out some rather unlovely grassy big things. Dug out the compost bin onto the barren soil, topped it off with some potting mix and blood n bone and BOB'S YER UNCLE!!
Robi and the boidies dug it all up the next day.
But, here's my delish broccoli and my guard chicken.

flashback fridays

Here's a pic of my beloved vegie patch with broad beans flourishing, rocket rocketing and my gorgeous Deb Cotter mermaid overseeing the lot. In fact, this was a couple of weeks ago and NOW it's absolutely b(l)ooming!
Wow, I am honoured to be picked by Angela to suggest the next Flashback theme.
I've been a little distracted lately by goings on, and I neglected to post a photo for last week.
Sadly I don't have any Pop photos for this week, so selfishly I will suggest a theme for next week that I can actually participate in!
Here we go..What about BEST & FAVOURITE TOYS & ACTIVITIES.
Thanks you so much to everyone who left lovely comments on my Lampshades photos. I'm hoping they'll get picked up today. I also hope that I can find some crafting mojo to get me going now that that's o-v-e-r. It's too nice a day to spend on the compooter, so I'm off. Have a great day everyone!!

growing, slicing and stamping

I am so excited. I grew a cabbage! It's very beautiful as you can see. It is around the size of a tennis ball and now I will have to say "was" because it is at least half gone.
I gleefully constructed a salad of cabbage, rocket and parsley (all from my very own garden) with a tin of toona and a squeeze of lemon juice. How delicious it was.
Back to school holiday thrills.. Today Mackie, Maddie and Dylan all decorated their own t-shirts with a mixture of painting and potato stamping. I fear Mackie is anticipating stormy weather as you may judge by his t-shirt design.