rains hit Canberra

The Australian National University, where I work is closed today due to the floods and hail and electrical damage. Lots of damage over there. The music school was flooded and the pianos are all damaged. One of the biggest libraries with a rare collection of books has been flooded. The art school where our office is located has also been hit badly, the gallery and various workshops with sensitive equipment have all been flooded and our office is also flooded with computers, paper work etc all at the mercy of the water. And its raining still.

While I am discussing local issues: the David Hicks case runs hot and cold : And Yay Maxine McKew enters politics.

Not just another tattered old book

Image: there is something about this book, this image that I can't get enough of. The colour is soft yet intense. The texture is so real, it leaps out, I can almost feel the roughness of the ragged edges on that linen cover and the fragility of the aged and yellowed pages. What is this book. I is old and well loved and used often - that is clear. ... A recipe book. My mother-in-laws. Full of Latvian recipes scribbled down in the years before her mother died. Capturing some of the history soon to be lost as family history often is with the passing of the generations. We have tested a few of the recipes in this book and they are all wonderful, with marvelous memories attached to them. Rob has memories of various Latvian dishes from his childhood, from the small Latvian community in Tasmania and from his beloved Granny. ... All of this inside this tattered old book.

swimming pool antics

Image: Orlando doing his pre-swim lesson stretches. He does a series of yoga poses, tai-chi moves as well as star jumps and push ups. Not sure where he gets all the moves from but it keeps him occupied while he waits.

Still at work at 7pm, Rob is cooking steak for dinner. I have this weird sensation of missing the kids, but what I am missing is the fantasy of loving children, freshly bathed and waiting quietly for a bedtime story. The reality is that they are probably running madly around the house, being naughty and fighting with each other one minute and backing each other up against 'the system' the next.

Sunday roast dinner

Image: kids today at grandparents house

Sunday roast chicken and baked potatoes for dinner. The best part is that Rob is cooking. Some rain today - hooray! More mosaics - this time I got a chance to do a whole design all by myself. Nothing brilliant though - just experimentation. In about 2 mins I will be partaking in a gin and tonic, watching the rain on the deck and listening to Rob play the didgeridoo. ... There is something so wonderful about roasted rosemary and garlic potatoes.

Good things in blog land:
Me at TreeHugger
Yarn storm - a book
refashioned crafty apron

pea soup's flowers
knitting iris' knitted babes
the beach

mosaic weekend

The weekend for me is always a little fraught. I am often torn between my need to feed my creative spirit and the kids need to feed off me. Today a good compromise. Rob went to work (Saturday I know!), and the kids and I went to the hardware store to buy mosaic materials. We got stuck in straight away and collaborated on several paving stones for the garden, we used a combination of colourful kitchen tiles which we smashed with a hammer, some lovely delicate glass squares, some fun glass wishing stones as well as beautiful smooth black and white river pebbles. Quite the combination!

Good things in blogland:
Shay Alkalay
goodbye kiddley and loobylu (will miss ya but totally get it)
52 projects

3191
ana voog
oh joy

Mosaic links:
mosaic stepping stone
mosaic tile guide
mosaic madness
using beach shards in mosaic

oh kids eh!

Otilija wearing a tie dyed top that she designed and I helped with the hot water dye, and one of my patchwork skirts that she seems to love so much.

Lately weekends seem so unsatisfying. After all the cleaning, shopping and cooking is done and weekend sports (swim lessons and tai chi) are fitted in well doesn't seem to be much time for anything else. The garden is suffering, only crafting that involves kids is do-able, and reading a book seems impossible. Working full time is tricky stuff. I envy those creative home schooling mums who seem able to do it all...

But good things include how energising the kids wonderful small community school is, continuing with my online community brings me so many ideas and inspirations. And despite everything at work, I do somehow enjoy it ... at least it is satisfying and rewarding.

Good things in blog land

crochet anarchist
managing spam with akismet
the art of the snooze

path to freedom blog
treats and treasures blog
ball-saal blog

its been a long time...

I make no promises

but things will be simpler as all new beginnings should be...














Image is from an exhibition I was part of last year.

Good things in blogland:

Design your life blog
Irish craft worker
moda muse

these dishes
futility pole
vegetable love
felt mobile