Today there was so much rain! I haven’t got a huge amount to say today, but I found this poem which I like so here it is:
I dwell in Possibility -
A fairer House than Prose-
More numerous of Windows-
Superior- for Doors-
Of Chambers as the Cedars-
Impregnable of Eye-
And for an Everlasting Roof-
The Gambrels of the Sky-
Of Visitors- the fairest-
For Occupation- This-
The spreading wide my narrow Hands-
To gather Paradise-
-Emily Dickinson
A strange thing happened to me over the last 8 months or so. I forgot why we are living in this house. I forgot that we love it because it’s quirky. For some reason I forgot that when we bought the house we intended to do all sorts of crazy-fun-us kinds of things around the place and instead I have been worrying about things we could do to the house to increase it’s resale value. I am not sure why this happened but it has meant I started worrying that if we painted the kitchen pink or red or if we added a mural in the bathroom then it might put off future buyers.
One day last week a few more Paumes books arrived from Amazon Japan and I was sitting up in bed feeling mesmerized (as I do) by the beautiful and bizarre interiors that Paumes favours and suddenly I remembered all the things we wanted to do, the feeling we wanted to create. Who knows when we may end up selling this place. We may have another 20 years here! Who knows? So I have dug out my old inspiration books and have started flicking through the pages again. These are clothbound sketch books where I glue in favourite clippings from magazines – mostly of interiors, all collected over the last five years.
A quick flick through reminds me of what I seem to be naturally drawn to – lots of colour and texture, whimsy and mayhem – collections of oddments and life-bits. These are some random (literally) pages I opened to when I had my camera out:
Paul and Christina have just left for home after a little pizza, a little Katamari and a lot of cutting and folding. We have been working on Christina’s packaging for some of her Blythe outfits and I am quite impressed with our combined effort. Paul got very good at wielding a tiny little scalpel with a pivoting blade and cut some very deft curves despite Amelia accidentally shaking our very wobbly kitchen table at regular intervals.
I have just published a photo over on Kiddley which the three year old daughter of a Kiddley reader took. It’s quite beautiful. And she’s THREE!
Today was a day spent cleaning and working but we finished with a walk to the park after an early dinner. Late Spring with it’s long days is very nice indeed. Late Spring, long days and a clean house is even better!
Blogging every day of the month is proving to be an interesting challenge. Today, for example, we have had a playdate, a weekly shop at the supermarket, a messy house to tidy before our fortnightly cleaning lady visits tomorrow (a treat we have had since Lily was born), a headache and a friend for dinner tonight. Where does writing a witty, creative, interesting and potentially inspiring post fit in to all of that? In any other month I would have written today off as a non-blog day but due to NaBloPoMo I am sitting here while Amelia watches Playschool and Lily sleeps a long afternoon nap and I ponder.
So because I am feeling lazy, here are a list of things I am loving at the moment: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Angela’s bears, red in rooms (via Yvonne), blackbirds singing, new Paumes books, On My Desk, Maggie Alderson books, Wee Hairy Beasties, Lily’s eyes, Amelia’s drawings, rockbuns and my pillow after Lily’s evening feed, knowing there will be a couple of hours of uninterrupted sleep. Bliss.
I have just escaped a very noisy dinner table. Oh my aching ears! Amelia was shouting her latest round of nonsensical jokes, Lily was screeching and Big-P was trying to distract her with a loud-voiced bee hand puppet.
Yesterday morning I found a wonderful way to buy a few moments of silence.
“The first person to speak loses!”
and Amelia is silent… silent… silent… for as long as I can be quiet for myself. If there’s one thing she like more than talking it’s winning.
For the longest time I have been looking for some fabric to make Amelia some cushions for her room… and tonight I found it on a Japanese fabric site. Only to discover that it has sold out! Ahhh!
My parents and my brother’s family all leave for Japan this coming weekend for fun and frolicking at the World Hot Air Balloon Championships followed by some touring around the country… and I can not tell you how incredibly jealous I am. So to keep smiling I am planning a big family trip to Japan in 2010. Yes, it seems ridiculously far away but it’s only four years and Lily will be a good age to travel with and it gives me a lot of time to do a bunch of special projects which will all add to my special “Holiday to Japan Fund”.
On the agenda? Well, already there’s Studio Ghibili and fabric shopping and mountains, trains, temples and food… and… and .. and… but now to bed and to sleep.
Yesterday I took my two little girls to Mum and Dad’s for our weekly family lunch. Amelia played computer games and Lily slept.
Six months ago I was enormously pregnant and living in a pair of track pants. But at least I had time to get my hair done. Not these days – now I am going for the long and shaggy look.
A year ago Dooce started advertising on her blog giving me some big ideas, we planted zucchinis which were all sadly eaten and Lily was just wee tiny tadpole of a thing living inside of me while I kept her a secret for 12 weeks. Lucky me was about to go and see Matthew MacFadyen play Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.
Two years ago I launched A Month of Softies (which is still going strong thanks to Amy who is moderating the group with great gusto), I created two of my favourite illustrations ever which then went on to inspire my first exhibition, we were hunting for a house to buy (we almost bought one with six bedrooms!) and I was living and breathing fabric and sewing and softies and crafting loveliness.
Three years ago I was having motherhood / work conflicts — ahh how times change (not). I just read that entry from three years ago and I still like the sound of LOOBYLU HEAVY INDUSTRIES… I think I will go and work there. Amelia had just started to crawl and was a happy chubby little thing.
Four years ago Amelia had turned one month old. She didn’t sleep much. I was having an awful time feeding her and I disappeared inside a strange, drawn-curtained cocoon world. I didn’t know motherhood was going to be so hard. If I could float back through time I would definitely pick this point and give myself an enormous hug and say “this soon will pass”. Because it did. And here she is, four years old, cuddling her little sister and arguing the reasons why she should get a Bratz doll for Christmas (forget it).
Five years ago we were newly weds, I was writing a novel, I had just embarked on my new freelance illustration career, we ate sushi twice a week at our favourite local restaurant, we saw movies, slept in, read magazines and did all that pre-baby stuff. (“before you were born dude / when life was great / you are the burden of my generation / I sure do love you, let’s get that straight”).
Six years ago — speaking of when life was great — we headed off to a tropical island for a romantic, beach-bound holiday. Of course it rained for the week and the beach was made of broken up coral (horribly sharp and uncomfortable) but we ate incredibly well every night from the all-you-can-eat buffet, and there were great cocktails.
and Ten years ago I moved into a house with a group of friends and we experienced Melbourne’s WORST landlord! We lasted there two weeks and lost a huge amount of sleep, money and sanity. And looky! Ten years on he’s still at it.
I can’t believe that our house has become even noisier – already. Amelia has always loved to talk – big long sentences either staggeringly wise for such a small person or wandering and nonsensical. It doesn’t really matter what it’s about, she’s happy as long as she’s talking. She talks to herself, her toys, the TV and to us – all the time. And she has two volumes – loud or loud whisper.
Just recently Lily has joined the chorus with loud, long screeching noises. They are mostly angry screeches when she is hungry, tired, bored or uncomfortable and they are usually quite ear piercing. At my last appointment with the Maternal and Child Health Nurse I asked her if it was a normal kind of thing – Amelia cried and squealed with delight but she never screeched quite so.
And this is almost verbatim what the nurse said to me:
“Well, I have met Amelia [which she had, briefly] and you have a very spirited, strong willed little girl there – obviously very bright but one who likes to make a lot of noise… and I think you may have another – babies at 4 months are already feeling all the emotions – joy, anger, frustration and so on… and I think Lily is simply learning to express herself and she likes to do it noisily…” and then she concluded with a wicked smile; “…so, um… good luck with that!”.
I honestly don’t understand this. Big-P and I are quiet people, not big talkers and certainly not loud talkers. This is obviously some genetic throwback. Our girls are obviously filling our gaps.
Usually around 5 or 6pm they both start in earnest. Amelia talks so much that food falls out of her mouth despite being reminded to wait, and Lily has reached her “No, I totally refuse to sleep despite being desperately tired” point so her screeches are intense. Big-P and I look at each other across the table with tired, heavy eyes and sigh sympathetically to one another. I am sure we will remember with fondness these noisy days when two sullen teenagers sit with us dinner with barely a grunt between them but at the moment I am feeling nothing but jangled.
Lyn posted her beautiful Ruby doll the other day and I looked at the hair (as well as the rest of the doll) with complete awe! I must admit to being slightly relieved when she revealed today that the hair was a challenge — because hair on dolls is one thing I have vast amounts of difficulties with.
I have cut all the pieces out for my two little Christmas dolls but before I stitch them all together I need to work out what to do about their hair. Lily’s especially needs to have hair that she won’t choke on and that will withstand a great deal of chewing, so I think yarn is out.
The times I have tried stitching on yarn for hair it has been a pretty big disaster… perhaps it’s something that needs a lot of practice before you get your technique down. In the mean time I am going to experiment with Hillary’s Make-a-long doll idea of having stitched on felt hair or something similar.
I have also decided I am going to make them little quilted dresses to make them even more cuddly. That might be a challenge for me, never having quilted anything before.
Well I think that has to be my entry for today. So far it’s been 100% when it comes to NaBloPoMo — but I am incredibly tired tonight, as I am fighting off another cold which has moved rapidly through the entire family. My further thinkings into puddings, dolls and motherhood (oh-so hard today) will have to wait when I have a little more energy. Now it’s time to change a nappy, make some tea and kick back and watch some reality tv (probably while pacing around the room rocking and patting a non-sleeping baby).
