inner pickle

here or thereabouts

Want to come for a bit of a walk with us?

First stop, chook house. 

They're settling in well but after the first two eggs on the very first day: nothing. They didn't eat much of the layer pellets for the first week either and they're really gobbling those up now, so hopefully it's a settling in thing. 

 

They're much more relaxed around us now. 

Hey check out the amazing roost Adam built. He made them a ladder! 

 

Thanks for holding the gate Tilds. 

 

I love a fencepost. You?

 

Come on chicken, up the hill.

 

 

 

 

 

We have an unoccupied pen...

hmmm.... 

And you know, I'd really love a dog...

Right then, cup of tea?

xxx

distracted

I blame that sweet baby. 

I cannot focus on anything today (except your funny comments on what you think of greying women.)

I also blame the absence of caffeine. 

Even when I was pregnant this last time I had the odd (*cough*, not so odd) espresso, formerly being really very dependent. But there are a few things which seem to upset wee Ivy - coffee, chocolate, garlic, chilli. Shame, hey? 

Nonetheless I love love love breastfeeding (again) so am happy to give up stuff I don't need anyway!

So today I'm trying to clear my mind with chamomile tea and concentrate on the good stuff. 

~ The joy of friends:

~ A quiet place to play:

~ Settled, sleepy babies:

So: the good stuff 'round you today?

xxx

a Friday in pictures

While she napped ~

~ I sat at my new desk (thanks, babe) ~

 ~ and calculated the cost per cupcake of a small catering job I'm doing tomorrow for a friend's business (my favourite kind of work). I didn't look at the mess behind me. I ignored the chaos of those shelves. I'm just grateful for this space which includes somewhere for my sewing machine (the space used to look like this) ~

That gorgeous quilt Tilly is napping under is one of a few absolutely gorgeous quilts our friend Jodi has made for us. And this week she gave me a quilting lesson! Here's a tiny one I made to practice matching the corners up etc (obviously haven't finished the binding) ~

~ am now raring to go! ~

~ while I was matching up fat quarters and diving into my fabric stash to see if anything coordinated, a batch of my favourite favourite no-knead bread was rising on the bench; happiness under a teatowel ~

 ~ and while it was in the oven I dove into one of the many boxes of hand-me-down (actually mostly hand-me-back!) clothes for the baby... some I remember from Henry, some were Tilly's, some new sweet additions too ~

~ these tiny shoes Tilly wore when we flew from Brisbane to Sydney when she was 9 days old... I can't tell you how excited I am to be about to put them on another wee pair of feet. So excited. 

  And when she woke up, Tilly and I had our favourite afternoon snack: homemade bread with homemade peanut butter. I don't care how crunchy granola hippy tragic that makes me sounds. It's delicious.

I hope you have a truly delicious weekend. 

xxx

 

more corners of home

 

Another favourite corner has this old thing in it...

I used to play all the time. I mean, all the time, when I was a kid. I played for exams and I played for fun and I auditioned in Composition for the Conservatorium in Sydney when I finished high school, and was accepted, but decided to go and study Medieval History at Sydney Uni instead.

We still have a relationship, the piano and I, but it's no longer solely monogamous. I like the guitar too. And I flirted with a saxaphone at highschool, I'll admit. It was fun. Short-term though.

The piano, we're long term. I've introduced it to my children.

 

This is Tilly (today.)

This was Henry in 2006 in Brisbane (which is my excuse for why the child is not clothed. It's HOT in Brisbane.)

This is a photo of when the piano was new (to me - it's about 80 years old) and didn't need the serious dusting it requires now. 

Yes OK, I threw that one in because I wanted to look at that little dude again. Check the curls!

Oh, little man. I hope one day you have a piano that you can watch being moved from house to house by skinny tattooed fellas called 'Tiny' who lift it like a shoebox and hurl it into trucks. 

It'd be awesome if playing something, whatever you like, brought you joy. 

Drums? Maybe could we start with a bongo? 

xxx

more corners of home

dinner time, our place, tonight

You know I don't really know anything about blogging.

I only read my first blog this year, Soulemama, which impressed me no end, in fact, the first post I read was this one, which impressed AND inspired me. She made a felt pea, for heaven's sake. 

Were there really women not so wrung out by life and small children that they were doing such excellent crafty things? 

In May this year I had a revelation... not only were they doing them, they were blogging about doing them. Perhaps I could blog too! I love writing! Given I'm not overly crafty, I thought I'd blog about my edible craft, food! Food and feeding small children!

I thought maybe Mum and my sisters might read it.

Then I found myself digressing.

I started with food then got sidetracked into taking photos of what I'd accidentally left out of the dinner as I cooked it.

Turns out I was a long way from taking photos of a gorgeously dressed little girl playing with a felt pea I had made. 

Even my best-brownie-ever claim was hijacked by small child sticking her fingers in the photo to pick up the crumbs. 

But still, here you are! 

Thank you SO MUCH for reading my blog. I know you're there, I see the stats, even if you don't comment. (PLEASE comment! Have I told you lately how much I love reading your comments?! Thank you to my fabulous regular commenters, you make my day.)

I got an email today from a lovely reader in Germany (Hi Andrea!) who found my blog through my sister Naomi, and who reminded me why I love this so much. 

And why it doesn't matter that I'm not fabulously inspirationally crafty or artistic, that in fact, it's the underbelly of parenting that you relate to. (Or the picture of the garbage bin the kids are nearly put in, thanks, Andrea!)

So while I was going to continue my corners of home thing after I'd decluttered and sorted out the house, I realised you don't care if there's stuff all over the mantlepiece and last night's quinoa on the floor under the kids' stools (in themselves pretty scrappy) - here's one of my favourite places. Our dining table.

Organic pumpkin soup and spelt bread. IKEA cups. 3 bowls - Adam is due home any minute and his is still on the stove staying warm. No kids because they're allowed TV time while I'm cooking dinner. 

Thanks for reading, it's so nice to know I'm not going barmy on my own. 

xxx

Corners of home

I have lots of favourite corners of my house.

You've seen the stairs a few times.

This (above) is another one. A couch that always has a bit of sun in the morning. Perfect for scrambled eggs and toast and a novel on an unscheduled non-work day.

I hope you have a little reading corner you can escape to. 

Evacuating to corner now...

xxx