Drawing 7 of 365

The girls went back to school today after a couple of weeks of holidays. And what do I do? Sit down and draw them. Sad really.

Here's the early sketch version for the sake of keeping this all about the process:

And  here's an early version - I actually like this better than the final:

Can you spot the difference? Just a tiny thing that makes a world of difference.

It's probably a little truer to the relationship between the girls but to make a nice illustration that both girls will feel good about I changed it a little. If I had decided to make this nothing to do with my two actual daughters and called it "The McSquinty Sisters" or something, then this is definitely how I would have left it.

Now I'm going to go and wander about the quiet, quiet house wailing and wringing my hands until it's time to pick them up from school. (ha).

Pixelated laughing

I miss my folks. This is how we keep in touch. xxooxxooxxoo

Something weird and new (part one) :: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a pretty nice holiday - why didn't anybody tell me? Maybe they did and I was too busy thinking "Gah! Turkey day! I can't possibly cook a turkey... I am too terrified to even think about it!"... but when I decided once and for all that turkey was not going to be on the menu this year, mainly due to aforementioned fear but also due to our oven deciding that it has a habit of turning itself off at any unexpected time, it all started looking rosy. My dad fixed the oven on Sunday morning so we were able to have roast veg and Jamie's awesome and easy bbq chicken, but we also had bbq corn and fresh and crispy salads and delicious pumpkin pie. I think Thanksgiving is almost as good as Christmas - a little less magic but there is also a lot less consumerism and crazy stress. Over the weekend there was popcorn and boardgames, crackling fires, and good coffee (but unfortunately terrible terrible apple cider -- what I did wrong, I am not sure, but it was undrinkable). Everyone had a go at the enormous Edward Gorey jigsaw puzzle - such a good one. The scene we put together was a horrific family gathering full of murder and mayhem. It was a good one for Thanksgiving - It reminded us to be Thankful that we have such a lovely, cheerful, mellow family - as there were no babies being stuffed in vases, or people being pushed out of boats or massive tantrums on the floor (well, not many, thankfully).

I love the work of Blanca Gómez, an illustrator and designer living and working in Madrid. Her work is remeniscent of mid century illustrators but with a sparkly modern take. Makes me want to break out the gocco, and the photoshop textures.

This lovely, moving (moving) post captures the essence of what I love about Soulemama. Perfect. I am having new-home envy just glancing at her site.

Just came across this Flickr set via Ravelry last night - LCW Wool Project --- makes me want to spin (and dye roving with kids + food colouring). What a great project.

One of my TV favourites is back; Bored to Death - Jonathan Ames, the creator and writer has episode footnotes for added enjoyment.

Spy girls

There are spy girls creeping around our house wearing advanced technology bracelets. Look down and you might find a tracking device has been planted on your sleeve, or your pants.

Also -- The Quilt Project is now online. We went along last night to the showing at the (magical) Abbotsford Convent and it was quite moving. Kirsty's amazing - and so was the quilt.

Seven is my lucky number

My girl is tucked up in bed with a fever after having spent her birthday driving back in the car from NSW feeling lousy. Not much of a birthday. She came home to find a new (second hand!) desk and lots of lovely stationery to fill its drawers but she was too tired and sick to enjoy it.

I can hardly believe she turned seven today. I am so lucky to know her and her kind heart.

Happy Birthday Miss Amelia. xox

Bird Brain

I'm afraid to say that I have caught the birding bug. It's pretty hard to avoid around here... today we saw a Black Fronted Dotterel and my day was made.  But now my brother and sister-in-law have just arrived and we've cracked open a block of coconut chocolate, the kettle is on, the fire is crackling and the playful insults are already flying so I better go and join in the fun.

Saturday night pasta

There's nothing like a deliciously creamy pasta dish when you are bone tired. All the better if someone else is cooking. Phil's specialty is a weekend favourite he has nicknamed "Heart Clog" which is actually Jamie Oliver's Farfalle with Carbonara and Spring Peas. Totally delicious.

We had a birthday party for Amelia's school chums today and I am so tired tonight that I have made an annoying animated gif.

Hmm. Annoyed yet? Here's something soothing:

Left over musk sticks from the party bags. Yummo.

Kitchen table drama

This afternoon: Marshmallow bunny factory

This evening: School project 11th hour

Yesterday: Paper dolls

Last night: Testing every felt tip marker in the house and throwing out the duds.

Happy Father's Day

To all the Greatest Dads in the Universe. Have a fabulous, chocolate-croissant-laden, socks'n'underpants-gifted Father's Day.

Stepmothers - Meg needs you!

Are you one of those wondrous creatures who has taken on the role of stepmother? Or do you know anyone who fits the bill? If so, my lovely and talented friend Meg would love to speak to you.

"The best books i have read on the issue of step-parenting have all been from the 70s and early 80s. I am wanting to document the modern stepmother's experience, particularly as the laws have changed more in favour of the biological dads, which directly impacts stepmothers."

If you are interested in being interviewed for this project, you can find more information on Meg's blog, and contact her at megland [at] gmail [dot] com. All conversations will be kept confidential.

Thanks to Meg, PJ and Z for the use of the image. xx

I love Lucy

The girls have gone through the fence for a play with the neighbours so the house is suddenly very quiet and very empty... apart from the mess! I started to tidy things up and found this in Amelia's school bag. Lucy is a reoccurring character around these parts. There have been stories about building tree houses, going to school, dealing with a little sister and so on. I was happy to see our heroine in heart-shaped glasses busting stereotypes again in her most recent adventure. Go Lucy!

Werribee, 11.30am

Werribee Open Plains Zoo - it was a perfect day for checking out the animals. We even had to wear sunscreen.

My favourite part was watching the beautiful female lions have a snack, with a little growl accompanying each mouthful. I only felt slightly nervous that Lily wove her way right to the front of the crowd and watched with her nose pushed against the fence. The girl knows no fear.

My least favourite part was standing in line about to board the tour bus only to have Lily say "I need to do a wee!" followed by me hoisting her onto my hip and running (staggering) my way through the zoo to the bathroom and back just in time, cursing my too tight jeans and my general state of complete unfitness. I felt like one of those wooden hippos up there, only not smiling so much. Oh, of course! That's why I feel completely wrecked tonight! I'm off to collapse on the couch and enjoy (seriously) some more old episodes of 30 Rock. Brilliant. Even better than the zoo.

How cool is three?

Today Lily turns three.

Already! Blink and you'll miss it, as they say.

She's the kid with the wild, unkempt hair, the mismatched socks, the too short pants, the three week old temporary tattoo, the temper tantrums that makes her pass out (seriously), the blues harp, the collection of gravel, the love of monsters, the endless poo jokes. 

But she's also the kid with the sweetest smile, the gentlest kisses, the most infectious laughter, the well loved dolls, an eagerness to help make dinner, who already tells long, involved stories about adventures which are yet to happen, the one who calls me Muvva and Phil Farva as a kind of joke, the one who sleeps all night, and then who snuggles in beside me every morning for a sleepy cuddle, the one who likes to jump and hop and dance, the kid who plays peacefully for hours on end and listens patiently and devotedly when her sister reads her stories. 

I used to call her my love blob when she was a baby because she was so easy to love. She still is - but now with added extra bits.

Happy birthday Lil!

How to Build Community

Love this - building connections and community is big on my mind these days. It's the stuff of life, don't you think? This should be stuck on our fridge.

(via shauny on tumblr)

I collect memories of homes

Here is the roof view of every single house I have lived in since I was born, thanks to google maps and a little photoshop.

Some of the houses are altered, one demolished and replaced, but most of them are exactly as they were when I lived in them.

From left to right, top to bottom:

1. Small baby time. This was a little house nestled in amongst the slopes of North Sydney. Mum and Dad had a kind of idealistic early 70s life full of interesting, artistic friends and communal Sunday lunches, despite towing around a newborn. Apparently I sneezed a lot every morning. Not much changes with the passage of time.

2. This is just a slice of my 1970s Childhood home in Adelaide as I have chopped off the garden so the house will fit neatly in my grid. The house has been seriously extended and changed but a place of many, many happy memories. The stuff I am made of.

3. First house we lived in when we moved to Melbourne. My memories of this place are limited; Roller-skating on the footpath, vicious sibling rivalry, our first VCR on which we watched Time Bandits.  I know I seriously contemplated jumping off the back deck in the hopes of breaking a limb to get out of school swimming sports that year. 

4. Lovely house and home. Again I have chopped off mum's enormous garden for the sake of my grid. I lived here for my entire high-school existence and it was an oasis of calm away from a high-stress teen-angst life. Mum and Dad still live here. We visit at least three times a week. It's a house and garden full of magic, and I am not the only one to have noticed that.

5. First share-house, St Georges Road, North Fitzroy. One of the best times of my life, natch. Home of the tofu burger, large parties, squallor and experimentation.

6. House owned by the WORST LANDLORD in MELBOURNE. If you google that, you will find him. We only stayed a few weeks before fleeing. While a slightly harrowing experience it made for some very excellent material for a comic and perhaps even future novels.

7. Temporary accommodation after speedy evacuation from the house-from-hell. Too many housemates in too small a space. One housemate had a fridge in his bedroom... there was a strict no-share policy.

8. Lovely house in Brunswick. I worked long, long hours at the Big Issue when I lived here and would walk home late at night through the (then) very dingy back streets of industrial Brunny. I think I thought I was indestructible. Nice housemates, wicked food on Sydney Road and I got together with Phil while I lived here so I will always have a soft spot for Brunswick.

9. Glorious Bell St, Fitzroy. For a very short time this was the perfect share house. But folks come and go, and we went.

10. The worst house on Alfred Crescent. See Lost Cake comic. 

11. Tiny flat in Hawthorn. There were no spiders, slugs or crappy landlords to be found here, which was a nice change from the recent past. From here I launched Loobylu in 1999. 

12. This is not the house we lived in. We were evicted from a cute little 1940s clinker that sat on this site. The owners bulldozed it and built a McMansion. Sadness. Amelia was a small baby here so all my memories are of small baby days or big, fat pregnancy days.

13. Back home again while we searched for a house to call our own. As I said, the house is full of magic and I always find myself being incredibly prolific and creative in this place. Added bonus: Mum and Dad were still speaking to us after the two years of co-habitation so we did pretty well.

14. Home-sweet-home. Read all about it right here, almost every second day (lately).

15. Future Dream House: Big, rambling, sun-filled house full of children and dogs and chooks and home-cooked meals (and clearly nannies, chefs, dog walkers, gardeners and other people's children). I will have a big studio overlooking the jungle-like garden and I will drink whiskey in the evenings by an open fire with my feet resting on a large, kind hound. I am very specific.The stuff dreams are made of. For after we win tatts.

16. Retirement villa: Will you still be sending me a valentine? I am imaging a tiny little cottage on a cliff by the sea. Knitting. Noveling, walking by the ocean.

More Words and Pictures about Collecting here.

Gloom remedy

Autumn days are well and truly here. I love it. Grey, heavy skies, drizzle, woodsmoke. There's nothing better for an inside-day than playdough, and all the better if it's bright orange. 

Stir playdough, cook, cool, play Wake Up by Arcade Fire (via the Where the Wild Things Are preview) very loudly and make dinosaurs.

Check out Specialasaurus. He's a bit special.

Thank you for your kind thoughts about Amelia's long fortnight away. She is having a ball and while I was expecting it to be quiet around here, it's nothing of the sort. It's as if we have cut off a head, and another has sprung up in its place. Lily is well-and-truly enjoying the space her big sister has left. While she has moments of missing her, and asks when she'll be back and likes chatting to her on the phone (I don't think Amelia can understand a word), she's become loud and opinionated in her absence. We're having quite a lot of fun.

A Long Drive

It's the eve of the school holidays.

Tomorrow Amelia is heading 8 hours north with my parents for two weeks.

Two whole weeks.

When Mum first suggested it, I was totally stoked. The thought that this little restless 6 year old, so used to constant school-style stimulation, was about to land in our laps for a fortnight of boredom and quibbling, had been weighing on my mind. As an alternative, two weeks of running in paddocks, fishing in dams, wading in mud, visiting caves, hot air ballooning (oh yes) and evenings snuggled by a fire is the stuff childhood holiday dreams are made of. I couldn't be more pleased for her. Although I am sure there will be wobbly moments when she misses home, and phones calls will be made, I know that being away from us in a safe place will give her such a sense of independence and pride, and she's going to have so much flat-out fun, that I feel really good about the decision.

But then I feel bad.

For me!

Now that she leaves tomorrow, there's a very big part of me that doesn't want to let her go. Obviously I'll be brave and set her free (etc. etc.) and anyway, it's way too late to change minds and she's so excited and her lists have been written (an extensive packing list and a schedule for holiday activities broken right down to each hour). I share her excitement and we are packing with clothes-flinging enthusiasm, but I also want to hold on to her and step back to before the decision was made and remake it again. She'll be such a long drive away.

Our two weeks without her will be long. I know from experience that the first three days of the usual school holidays are nigh on nightmarish as exhausted kids wind down and get used to the new, slower schedule. But after that we fall into gentle rhythms and quiet joys with no need to rush anywhere. No 9am deadline to be in line at the classroom door, no need to get out of our pajamas until lunchtime. Time expands allowing for imaginary friends and cubby building in the garden, 'chapter books' are written (hers, not mine), friends come in from next door, sisterly affection blossoms. We'll miss all that.

I already know that I will go into her room while she's away and listen to the stillness and look at the neat, unslept in bed and feel completely strange and empty. I am already looking at her and missing her. There are moments when she seems so small and waif-like which, oddly, she was nothing of the sort just a week ago. Now she seems thinner and paler and her eyes bigger and more pool-like and those eyelashes! There are other moments when she is funnier than I ever remember her being, and more interesting and full of startling, grown-up confidence. I look at her soft profile and go quite gooshy - there is no other word for it. I am falling madly head-over-heels-again. Funny that.

Only 16 days until she's home again. Counting down. 

Other words and pictures for "A Long Drive" can be found here. Thanks Pip for hosting again. xx

School Lunches - words and pictures

When I was little I went to a nice school in a leafy suburb in Adelaide. It was the 1970s so we wore roman sandals and my uniform was pink with a zip down the front. What a crazy uniform. I think they have changed it to something far more conservative now. Roman sandals? The toe-jam was insane in Summer. And that zip? Gawd. There was always the risk that some boy would grab the round ring at the top of the zipper and whip it down, right there in the playground. Honestly, whoever designed that uniform was not thinking. 

I had a 1970s Mum - she wore very nice a-line skirts with big floral prints and cute t-shirts and roman sandals. She did 1970s things like, she worked at the university for a while, and she did batik and she had dinner parties. She was pretty cool. She also helped out at our school from time to time  - she came and ran a batik session for the grade ones (all that hot wax and small children - wow - the 70s were out of hand!), and she helped with "Healthy Lunches" scheme.

Healthy Lunches were the bain of my existence. Healthy Lunches were the 1970s conchy Mum's answer to tuck shop lunch orders. I know whole families of kids who got tuck shop orders with glee at least once a week and I would look on with enormous amounts of envy at their sausage rolls and cartons of milk. But a gaggle of 70s Mum's came up with the funky alternative - Healthy Lunches. Hey kids! It's fun because you can buy it at school! You could bring along a dollar (or maybe it was only 50 cents) and you could get a brown wholemeal role with thick butter and vegemite, a chunk of cheese and a plastic mug of Nippy's orange juice. Nippy's 1970s orange juice was really just pulp with a little bit of juice in the bottom. You know, I can still remember the taste of that plastic mug full of that foul pulpy, sugar free juice. Put me off pulp for life.

But now I am a mum and I appreciate what my Mum was trying to do. I appreciate her conchy 70s ways and I am proud to be following in her footsteps. Get those sweets OUT of the school canteen! Haven't they seen anything Jamie Oliver has had on TV in the last five years? Geesh. That being said, I'm getting a bit ... relaxed... about some things.

When I was a very new mum, food was my big thing. All organic, all home made, no McDonalds, not ever, no frozen food in a box from the supermarket, no sugar and so on. I bought enormous amounts of cookbooks chocablock full of nutritional meals especially designed for the wee kiddies. We ate well all the time. In the last couple of years I have become a lot more slack about it. We still eat well, and I still enjoy making yummy nutritious stuff, but there are days at a time when we might not make a salad, and there are times when we dash out for fish and chips, or whack a handful of potato smiles in the oven to go with the chops. I figure we are still going to be ok, because that's all still an exception to the rule. I look back on my earlier (slightly uptight - or massively uptight if you ask some of my friends) ways and realise that food was the only thing I felt I could control. I didn't have a clue if I was doing anything else right in the parenting department, and spent a lot of the time being completely freaked out about it; but at least the freshly stewed and pureed organic apple baby food that I was putting into my baby's mouth was exactly the right thing to be doing. I was defining myself as a good mother by the food I made.

These days I'm a slightly shabby mum, with maybe a slightly better sense of humour and a box of frozen "fairy shapes" in the freezer.

The hugely healthy roll in the photo is one that I have in the cupboard for Amelia's lunchbox tomorrow. Old habits die hard.

Thanks to Pip for hosting Words and Pictures! Why not join in too? We'll make Anne Lamott proud!

Midsummer Magic

I have had a couple of incidents this weekend which make me wonder if there isn't a mischievous Midsummer Puk in our midsts but mostly it's been fun and frolicky with some perfect weather to accompany it.

Solstice Goodness:

1. Fairy rings for fairy chocolates. The girls constructed these (above) late last night, as you know Summer Solstice is when the fairies come out, and sure enough there were squeals of delight when gold covered chocolate coins were discovered (way too early) this morning. They managed this despite some discussion as to whether they would come out to play Midsummer Eve or Midsummer Night.

2. Dress-up (fairy wings encouraged) Solstice dinner with roast goodness, chocolate desert and plenty of ice-cream but best of all, a new growly baby guest in a sling at our table.

3. After dinner I walked Kim and Georgina to their car and exclaimed that it really did feel a bit magic-y out. We stood saying our goodbyes and two great owls flew out from the tree across the road - great silent forms in the twinkling dark. Owls here in Melbourne! I know they are around but I have never actually seen one. One perched on the electricity wires under a street light and I couldn't have wished for a better Midsummer sighting.

4. Christina and Paul's Christmas get together - macaron mania, beautiful decorations, gorgeous people, new acquaintances with cute patchwork bags, pretty dolls, fancy tattoos...

5. Christmas lunch #1 at Mum and Dad's. Phil was given a remote control helicopter from my Uncle which is tiny and delicate and hovers like a dragon fly (unless it's caught in a evaporative cooling airstream and then it's "duck for cover!").

6. Happy girls - it has taken a few days to adjust to holidays and rest off that end of term tiredness but I think we are almost there.

7. Happy me - all feels good in the world.

Peas in the pod

Lily loves to pod peas. She has such a sweet, methodical way of popping them out. It's a bit of a joy to watch. The olives? Her other passion.

And speaking of little peas - My dear friend Kim had her baby last night. I can't be any more excited. I spent most of the night tossing and turning and waiting for text messages with updates. Kim is my all time super-star-action-hero. And now little Georgina is here and she is beautiful. Amelia announced to her class at ten to 9 this morning that she has a new Fairy God Sister (which is perfectly logical because Kim was her appointed Fairy God Mother). While all this was going on, all the way up in Sydney, my lovely one and only cousin and his wife were going through much the same and little baby X (still waiting on that name) will be next in line for one of my Punkdorf dolls. We will get to meet him in the New Year. I keep weeping... so much emotion!