Snow fight at dawn

The girls were awake before 5. How could they not be? This was the first time either of them had seen a blanket of snow. We held them back until the sun came up (a little) and then it was on for young and old. We probably should have fed people breakfast before we went out as energy levels plummeted fast with all the building of snow creatures and piffing of snow balls... but now we're eating raisin and and cinnamon bagels by the fire while we watch our tracks get slowly covered  in a fresh sprinkling of snowwwww.

First snow

Ah look! Snow. There wasn't enough of it to settle on the ground, but the woods around our house looked so pretty with the flakes falling through the trees. I am feeling a little more prepared for winter eventualities and thank you for all your awesome suggestions and comments on my winter-panic post. Now that I am all stocked up with batteries and powdered milk, I am thinking about ways to while away the hours with possibly no internet (quelle horreur!).

Phil is bringing us home a swag of art and craft supplies from California where he's been this week but I also have some reading - mostly stuff to fuel my home-buidling fantasy. It's hard not to have home building fantasties when living on an island full of people either building houses and studios with their own hands, or having their dream house built for them or at the very least planning their dream home while they live in something already amazing. Maybe that will be us one day. I think I can contemplate building my own studio... something with beams across the ceiling and light (and heat) and nooks and crannies. Hmmm.

Hey look! I'm interviewed over on the Design Files today -- how exciting! I love Lucy's blog. And jeesh, I talk a lot.

Cold Grey

This has been one of those long winter weeks.

Phil is away working in California and both girls (and now me too) have been sick with temperatures and ear aches, and there have been sleepless nights and lots of hiding inside away from the chill and the rain. I am still not complaining about the rain (oh why didn't we get a rainwater tank installed before the winter?)- but I took a fully recovered Amelia to a (disco) birthday party this afternoon and the car almost got bogged on the way home! Yes, it was Greensborough but honestly - that's not exactly rural.

But at twilight tonight I realised I could hear blackbirds in the garden and I wandered outside and while the sky was still a cold-grey, I could smell blossom, so the end of our winter hibernation is nigh.

And look at the garden! Some serious work is needed in the vegie patch.

And I need to get to some marmalade making - the only cheerful thing in the garden are the kumquats.

Bring on Spring!

Collaboration

I left a doodle in blue pencil on the kitchen table on Friday night. On Saturday morning after breakfast I found a little elf had elaborated on it in yellow texta. I like the composition.

How about this freezing cold weather?! We've had the heating turned up an extra notch and the kids are all into lego, library books and pancakes so Winter is still okay around here. I had forgotten how exceedingly delicious it is to get into bed early with rain on the roof, the electric blanket on and a good book.

File under inspiration - from my weekend of blog browsing: felt balls (what to do with all those yarn scraps!), sampler pillows with two colour embroidery, elves on mushrooms (via the Lark), gorgeous toys from Udder and primitive tea and coffee stained creatures from Little Black Crow Studio.