House Of Poppets

Blogging Myself Into a Corner

Lately there has been a marked hiatus in my blogging activity. There are many reasons for this, for one I have been consumed by some fairly large life changes ( a new home, the impending schooling decision), but also as I have so many blogs, that form in my head day to day, and there is so little time to record them that I end up this this overwhelming pool of ideas, and am incapacitated to start. In the end i write the easiest blog. Often this is the most trite of all of the thoughts going on in my head. I am not yet free to just blog from the heart. Although I have started this entirely for my own records, I can't escape the thought, that some one will read it. even if that someone is just one of my faithful friends, and I am realising now that I really don't always feel like writing something positive. That possibly I am quite morose at times, and that the culture of life with a young family is one of multiple daily frustrations and well, failure's. In the spirit of embracing an new honesty, I would like to dedicate this blog to my husband, and tell a little story about our day yesterday.

For the lsat 2 weeks our 18 month old baby Illia has slept more or less through the night for the first time in, well, 18 months. So from 7pm to 5am Tao and I have slept, enjoying some precious R.E.M sleep, and daring to stay up a little later and take some more time for ourselves. Despite the obvious momentousness of this event not a word had been spoken about it to one another nor anyone else for fear, that if we were to utter it the spell might break and the night trauma may begin again. Despite our cone of silence, the spell did eventually break and without warning Illia woke and screamed in our company from 3am until 5.30 am, when The older child woke and Illia passed out for another hour. Tao and I stood in the kitchen arguing in desperation about who needed to go to bed the most, who had slept the least, had the least space in the bad, gone to bed the earliest, frustration and anger and desperation building, soon it was who had the most hobbies, spent more time away from home, did the most clothes washing and eventually when tao retaliated that had sewing as a hobby (having had just missed five of my sewing classes in a row due to family commitments. I threw a full glass bottle of warm milk at the kitchen cup-boards and smashes it to pieces all over the bench the walls the floor. Tao somewhat liberated from my relinquishing of the normal rules of the game similarly projected not one but two large hand full of organic carrots at the opposite wall, showering fragments of carrots all over the other side of the kitchen.  The entrance of our daughter into this scene of carnage circumvented any further argument as we busily cleaned up the mess and tried to cover our emotion with lightness and an attempt to reassure her, that we were still, in-fact adults, in control of our actions and emotions, not prone to throwing tantrums or unreasonable fits.

Later in the day Tao and I exchanged remorseful and apologetic emails. I cooked a beautiful dinner and head the girls in the bath when Tao came home from work and hour early. We laughed and played as we each wrapped warm wet children into their towel's  one chubby and dimpled and one skinny as a rake and wiggling. We tickled and bounced and played through dressing them in pajama's, their room cosy and reassuring both of us savoring the security and wonderfulness that it was to be all of us. Later as the girls played and we stood in the kitchen, Tao turned to me with a smile on his face and said "So who knew carrots could explode like that huh?". I held him and felt so glad, so relieved, so in love with this man, who is has a big enough heart to keep doing the work that you need to do to live with someone, share the raising of children with them, and to love them when they are good and not so good and everything in between and to just keep coming out loving them even more after all days and months and years play out creating and colouring that most wonderful and convoluted privilege a person can have, a rich and loving family history.

A cart and the woods

We spent the weekend in Balnarring with 6 children under four and six adults. It was lovely in that chaotic relaxed way. The best part, undoubtedly was reading on the couch whilst glancing up occasionally to see some, if not all of the six littlies tow each other around in the firewood cart, disappearing slowly into the woods, where they would collect kindling for the fire. Heaven. 

The Constant Gardener

I counted once and my mother has lived in over 40 different rental houses in my lifetime alone. Curiously, not only i smy mother a gypsy she is also a hoarder (more blogs later about the vintage baby clothes and toys of mine she has lugged around for 32 years....) and a gardener. A really clever, intuitive gardener that made magic and grew vegies in pretty much every house we inhabited over this time. 

She is at it again, and  in her little rented cottage on a hillside in the country she has planted an orchard, blueberry bushes because they are her grand-daughters favourite food, and a vegetable patch in an old sandpit. Here are some photo's from her vegies showing her snail control methods..

The old beer in an shallow container trick, which never worked for me as the rain would wash all the beer way, well these little terracotta houses cover the beer and makes them last much longer...

This one is brilliant.. apparently snails eat cardboard, so if you rip up old card board and put it round the garden they just feast on that and leave the plants alone, everybody is happy. 

makin' paint.

The only television I don't mind my children watching is Playschool. For the simple reason is it the only show that doesn't immediately cause some sort of trance like immobility in the child viewing. Truly if you ever turn the TV on when a child is on their way to the couch you will see them just freeze mid-stride and remain motionless, mouths slightly agape and eyes blank. It is nothing short of totally disturbing. In contrast, when Xavie watches Playschool she leaps to her feet and dances along, talks aloud in response to the presenters questions, and often runs to me immediately when it's finished full of inspiration to bake or make something that she has just seen them do. We have made raisin pinwheels, rice maracas, and fruit smoothies, all from Xavie's instructions, remembered perfectly from and episode of Playschool. This green paint was a good example. Xavie explained the recipe, as I had not been watching, although often I do, (Apparently its quite normal for parents to develop a sort of daytime crush on their favourite presenters, go Justine and Jake!) Anyway more or less it goes like this:

corn starch (a couple of table spoons)

food colouring (a much better use for this than actually putting it in food!)

castille soap or chamomile dishwashing liquid -- quite a lot of this

lavender oil- a couple of drops for lovely smell

mix and add to a squeezy bottle. 

This paint is really a sensory experience rather than one that will produce great artworks. It is a great finger or body paint on a warm day outside and I think if you had a dog it could be fun to get them in on the action, as everyone ends up pretty clean after a good rinsing!

foot note: I think the reason Playschool is cool is because it is totally naturalistic, devoid of branding or complicated themes, and heck it was my favourite when I was little so its fills me with nostalgia...

sewing cards

While I am on the topic of sewing, X and I had great fun the other day making these sewing cards. Inspired once again by the Amanda Blake Soule's book  The creative family , These were great as I got to exercise some long stifled drawing skills and Xavie decorated and used the hole punch and a needle two of her favourite things. You draw a good chunky picture on some heavy card (the back of used drawing pads works well). I used some children's books as inspiration. Then  punch some holes around the edge and the kids can use them to practise threading with some wool and a very blunt needle. In actual fact making these took about an hour and X threaded them in about 2 seconds flat, I think it will be more a good thing for Illy when she is two. I keep one in my sewing kit so I can give it to her when she comes for a rummage.

The cutest toy ever...

Every now and then you see something on etsy that just deserves a little shout out.. These are the most divine wooden toys I have ever seen, little sewing machines made from reclaimed wood parts, with turning cranks and vintage spools. I love them so much I am inspired to start sewing again, just so I can incite my girls interest enough in my machine to justify giving them one of these... I, I mean they, just have to have one.. check them out at woodclinic

And now for something else to worry about...

Nano-technology, or as I like to call it 'dodgy small stuff' is now used in products though-out Australia despite wide spread scientific concern that certain nano particles behave like asbestos, and are potentially toxic to humans in a similar manner. Nano technology is used in processed food products, appliances and cosmetics, most commonly suncreens. There is no requirement in Australia to indicate on the packaging that nanotechnology has been used. Luckily, our friends at  friends of the earth have put together a safe sunscreen guide that gives us a list of sunscreen manufacturers that have publicly stated they do not use nano- products. But! as if it were that simple! most sunscreens also contain a whole bucket-load of potentially carcinogenic or at the very least, just very irritating chemicals in their formula. So before you rush out and buy some banana boat check out the Skin Deep site. A very useful site for checking what's commonly found in most of the cosmetics we use. It is American so not all Australian brands are in there, but it is a good start. basically look for something that has a zinc oxide based UV blockout and not much else in it. oh and make sure thats not nano-zinc. Simple Huh? At this point I would love to recommend the great product I have been using as its entirely plant based, Australian made and doesn't cost $40 for 50ml. see here. I am still waiting for confirmation however on whether they use the dreaded nano. Ideally, of course, we all know that slathering our skin in chemicals to protect it from the sun is not the best option and the real solution lies in dressing your children like this, every day from September to February...

5-cup muffins

Making muffins is X and my favourite way to pull a grumpy morning together. And there is no better recipe to do that with kids than 5-cup muffins. Its genius. Its the only recipe I have ever committed entirely to memory and it has nothing allergy provoking in it, which means you can safely take it to kinder and kids parties. X is allergic to egg and dairy and has been from birth (much to my horror, I thought childhood allergies we just something created by semi -hysterical parents. I was well displeased to discover that free wheeling, non- household toxin using, organic peddling parents make bare-foot ragamuffins with medically diagnosed food allergies as well!)

Anyway, I digress, The point is most of the cakes and biscuits you find that are dairy and egg free read like this :

1 kilo of wholegrain buckwheat rice flower

1 cup of water

2 kilos of dates

juice of one orange to taste

The results could generally be used to throw through the window of Mcdonalds if you were so inclined.

If your not planning some vandal style activism and just want something to go with a morning cup of tea,  try these instead:

1 cup flour (whatever sort you take)

1 cup coconut

1 cup milk (cows, soy, rice, almond, oat etc etc etc)

1 cup fruit (anything at all)

1 cup sugar --- I replace this with 1/4 cup of xylitol or honey or molasses or just suger, but there is no way you need a cupful!

Place in greased muffin tray and bake for about 15 mins on 180 degrees. Note: I never time my baking, I just poke them every now and then. This is why I like muffin's, due to their smaller size they are much harder to burn on the bottom or not cook in the middle etc.

My favourite combo's  are pear and ginger (add two teaspoons of ginger powder), or pear, lime and coconut, or chocolate banana, or raspberry like these one pictured

The post is meant o be finished with a photo of the delicious steaming muffins but as is often the case by the time they came out of the oven, things had unravelled a little, we were running late, X couldnt find her shoes, we broke half of the muffins trying to get them out before they had cooled properly, and the photo never got taken, so instead here is another of X eating them the way she likes them best... straight from the bowl. 

p.s. please note my avant-guarde dish stacking skills in the B/G which although have a sculptural quality to them, are prone to crash all over the floor when you try to remove a teaspoon.  

The last green spot

For some reason this is the only part of our edible garden that has survived the heat-waves. I'm not sure why as it is actually in the sunniest spot of the garden, hence also being my nappy drying location. Most likely it is its relative proximity to the bathroom and back door. All of our buckets of shower water supporting 1 rosemary bush, 1 wild strawberry 1 potted tomato, 1 curly leaf basil. I will remember that. 

Our in ground vegie garden is carnage and the entire crop of tomatoes has holes scorched into their north facing side. I raised them from seedlings. my babies! all our precious tank water! and for the illustrious honour of one beetroot  salad and some burnt tomatoes... My dissapointment can only be a meer zygote of how our farmer's feel when whole crops fail. I'll cut my losses and focus on my winter crops. First priority to get some mulch into that parched ground. at least my compost has been cooking nicely. Hat's off to our rural people for their sheer  resilience. Yet another reason why local food is best. Urban people support your local farmers! we are all in it together...

The Fire and the Fury

This post was meant to be titled Heat wave, and be full of non air-conditioning related tips about how to be cool. The photos are of Illia enjoying a spritzing from a pump bottle of cool water. That, a fan and wet flannel layed on my children backs at night was how we kept cool on last weekend's 46 degree saturday. However when we woke on sunday morning to read the devastaing news that 20 people had perished the days before on the outskirts of our city in ferocious and unstoppable fires, keeping cool no longer seemed like such an issue. Of course we know no that the toll from these fires is in the hundreds and the pain of this natural disaster has sent shock waves through our whole country. 

We are left now with fires still burning and whole communities devastated. Quaint, gorgeous country towns full of salt of the earth type australians and tree-changers young and old alike. There is terrible mourning for the horrific toll, and a feeling of great unease in our country. Never before had fires wrecked this much havoc, been so out of control or travelled so fast. Years of drought and weeks without rain, coupled with unbearable temperatures have created a monsterous new reality of living int he australian bush. In most cases, fire plans didn't even have time to be activated, people told of getting a wiff of smoke and then moment later the fire roaring over the hill towards them. I fear of course, that this is not the worst to come with our changing climate. Suddenly we are very unsettled. Many of my friends are keen campers, and we all camp during summer, in the bush, as remote as we can get. Perhaps this will no longer be the way.

Our greater communities response has been wonderful and heart-warming. Australians have been very generous and the giving from business and individuals alike has been breath taking actually. 

The peeps at meet me at mikes have started a site called Handmade Help that has a truly inspiring list of ways to help the recovery and rebuilding of bush fire survivors lives.

For now we are a somber country. And still we have only the most pitifall 5% by 2020 carbon reduction targets. I truly hope some one in the government can wake up and put two and two together. I am reminded of midnight oil song, whose lead singer/ turned politician could ask some of his collegues perhaps "how can we sleep while our beds are burning".

Yes yes I know, it doesn't make any difference what we do if x and x country aren't going to reduce their green house pollution, but please, surely its our responsibility as privileged inhabitants of this earth to try?