Quote of the Day no.621

"Look! It's so dirty there are worms!"

Asleep

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Originally uploaded by Lorena_C.

Never, ever in my 4+ years of parenting, has this EVER happened. I cannot emphasise this enough!

Oh, hi!

Gosh, is that the time already? I meant to write earlier, really, I did. But, you know how time gets away, with all the... you know.... busy stuff...

So anyway. Christmas. Again! What are you doing this year?

I finally started the christmas shopping yesterday. It involved a trip to the nine circle of hell (or Kmart) which I admittedly did child-free, which explains the tiny amount of actual fire and brimstone and screaming involved. It was good. I spent money we don't have, but at least it was on COOL stuff! I hope. Instead of wasting rivers of cash on decorations, we're making all our decorations, cards etc over the next couple weeks in the lead up to the (drumroll) Big Day.

And guess what I'm making today?

Clouds

Playing again with the timelapse on the camera. Just need to increase the frame rate next time.

Happy Birthday Rosa

A little belated blogwise, but Happy Birthday our darling Rosa.

It was a weekend of double celebration. I've had little threads of political commentary running through my head for the past couple days. Now I seem to have lost them all. How about "yay!" and "hoorah!" and "about bloody time!" That's all it boiled down to anyway. So I save a few brain cells, and you save valuable reading time that you can now use to go look at the clouds instead.

Which leads me through a beautiful segue.... Have you been to the Cloud Appreciation Society website?

Northern Lights

Ah yes, Northern Exposure... I think I've hinted to enough people how much I would love to unwrap a certain dvd for my birthday on wednesday.

This was fun

One frame every minute, over one and a half hours...

Adventurous Parenting

You have Erroll Flynn to thank for this post. It was the man himself, or rather a dubious documentary, who made me sit back and think... and this is the conversation I had in my head:
'Have I starred in several hollywood films, sailed the world, or "popped over to have a look at the civil war"?'
'No, but you've go kids.'
'Yes, but...'
'Would you take the girls to "pop over to have a look at the civil war"?'
'No, but....'
'So. Q.E.D.'
'But wait. You yourself. Myself. Whatever. You/I/we have just been lamenting your lack of spontaneity, guilt about not giving the kids enough stimulating activities, frustration about every day being the same. Why not do some adventurous parenting? Get out there! Give your children some decent childhood memories! More yes, less no!'
'...'
'Well?'
'Okay, but you have to start cleaning the house properly too.'
'Fine.... Hang on, you want perfect now? Creatively and intellectually stimulated kids, a daily sense of adventure AND a tidy house?!'
'Oh, baby, yes!'
'...Fine.'

I think I need to drink less of coffee. But, I do have a point. It's too easy to stay home and let the day slip away. And that in itself, with two young children, is the hardest way to spend a day. It's wearying, frustrating and frankly boring. I'm not sure I'll be starting the Erroll Flynn Memorial School of Adventurous Parenting, incorporating the Martha Stewart School of Sparking Surfaces, but when I look at the things I'm most dissatisfied with, I realise they're my own issues that only I can solve. (Oh this is fun isn't it?)
-Stuck at home? Get out more!
-Untidy house? Organise! Throw out! Mop!
-Want to work again, preferably in a creative way? That time will come. Do what you can and lay the groundwork now; be ready when the kids start school.

And, of course, what all of this requires is for me to get up and do it. More yes, less no!

Any ideas? Living away from a buzzing metropolis means that a trip to the zoo or museum means 3-4 hours total travel. I'm not THAT adventurous on a weekday!

Mari's Blog

Until I get something into writing (it's drifting around in my head), have you had a look at Mari's photo blog recently?



For now, I'll be hiding under a rock until I get over the horror of seeing my words in print (for real!) for the first time in ages. WHY OH WHY didn't I see that misplaced comma before?!

Carotene Love

There are people out there who would baulk at blogging about carrots. Not me. I have no shame. We pulled this up from Mari's carrot patch this morning. Beautiful is it not? You know, for two carrots.

... Two carrots, locked in a beautiful, doomed embrace as their gastronomic fate looms nearer.

Port Fairy

We ventured down to Port Fairy over the weekend to catch their Spring music festival. It was all very lovely, and we had a lovely time, I heard some lovely music, bought some lovely clothes, and ate some lovely food. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Which, unfortunately, probably makes for a pretty boring blog post. But, I'll plow on regardless. I caught two performances. The first was by Roger Cui, a recklessly talented 18 year old pianist. He blitzed his way through some Mozart (Sonata in A major), Chopin (Andante Spianato & Grand Polinaise brillante) and Liszt (Hungarian Rhapsody No.6, which I'm still humming and waving my arms around a lot to, in imaginary conductoring). The second was a Schubert Special (woo!). Merlyn Quaiffe warbled fabulously through some Leider translations, and then a quintet moved in like a tuxedoed string-swinging mafia to give us his Trout Concerto.

All, lovely, lovely, lovely. Photos (kids, beach, etc, irrevocably out of order for some reason) here. Remind me to tell you about the great company of friends, rollicking beach visits, and shrieking bull ant encounter when I've had a bit of kip. Goodnight.

Let me whisper in your ear...

Remember the great laryngitis affliction of 2006? Well, repeat. Verbatim. Ad Nauseam. Etc.

Now for something completely different (I'm going all monty pythonesque on you now), here's a picture of a duck. It was taken amidst many cute pictures of the girls at the park. I figure you've seen plenty of cute pictures of my kids (again, ad nauseam) so I give you; an extraordinarily winsome duck.

Run for your lives...

The invasion has begun.

Car Conversation

Mari: Blah blah blah (Lorena not paying attention until:) ...and a lion bit her hand off!
Lorena: Who? What? Who had their hand bitten off?
M: The lion bit my mummy's hand off.
L: Oh!
M: She got it stitched back on again!
L: Is she ok?
M: No. It keeps falling off.
L: ...
M: And then she died.

Lorena is...

... a little obsessed with facebook at the moment.

Normal programming will hopefully resume when she gets over the instant gratification that "social networking" gives her.

For the time-being there are some new photos on her Flickr page. Or, come be my facebook friend!

The start of something good

Anyone who knows me, also knows how passionate I am about food, particularly (and obviously) good food. Sourcing it, cooking it, and (again, obviously) eating it. So it was a moment of great pleasure when Mari asked me about making her own cake. All by herself. And could she, she asked with the thrill of danger and excitement, even... put it in the oven herself? Of course! Lets go! And she did. Every bit. She's an eggspert ("No daddy, it's EXpert!" Nice try.) at cracking eggs from way back, and I made sure the butter was on the point of melting so she could mix it all together by hand without any trouble. And she did it! It was a breeze.

And the cake? Really , truly, delicious!


You can see (nearly) the complete process here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14876769@N00/tags/cake/

Falling Water

Feeling much, much better after a good night's sleep.

Have a look at this beautiful computer graphic movie, Falling Water. It takes you on a flying tour of a digitally recreated version of the Frank Lloyd Wright House.

Bad, naughty blogger

Yes, that's me. Neglectful. Flashing you a photo here and there. The blogging equivalent of sending you a bunch of flowers because I haven't called for two weeks.

So. Hi! How are you? Good? I'm ok. Been sick. Kids sick. Everyone sick. But coming out of it now. Enjoying spring weather. Drinking more coffee than ever but still needing more. Tired. Rosa waking up at 3am-ish and staying awake for a couple of hours. Two nights in a row now. That's a trend. I don't like it. We're bleary and wading through the day. Hence the coffee. Never make it to bed early though. Facebook partly to blame. New fad. New way to avoid the dishes. My children have decided that fighting is the new fun. Want that toy? Scream! Wrong colour cup? Collapse to the floor in writhing mess. Sibling looks at you? Headbutt! Can you feel the love too?
...
What's that you say? You have to go? To wash your hair? And take out the garbage? Oh. Ok. Well, call again soon, yeah? Lovely to chat! Look out for the bunch of carnations I sent... Yep, ok, byeeeee!

Rebel

I sometimes worry (not too much, but a little) about what it will be like to have two teenage daughters. Will they rebel? Will they drink vodka cruisers and have inappropriate boyfriends? Will they have a penchant for death metal and piercings? I'm sure the answer will be varying degrees of yes for at least several of these possibilities.
But then, I just looked out the kitchen window, suspicious that Mari had been a little too quiet outside for the past few minutes. But no, she wasn't setting fire to the pear tree or torturing gold fish.

She was windex-ing the outside table.

I'm good for a few more years at least.

Eclipse

This sequence would never have been possible without the patient child-putting-to-bed skills of my dear James. I had the easy job of standing out in the quiet darkness, leaping for the shutter every time the moon ducked from behind a cloud, and poking my head inside every now and then to say "Sure you don't need a hand?". Thank-you darling. 

Spring!

It's time for the annual first blossom of the year photo. There are some more Joy-of-Spring photos here. I went a little crazy with the camera on the weekend.

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Originally uploaded by Lorena_C.

I'm Happy!

I think this is our new family catch phrase.

Party!

Blog, shmog. Pass me a glass.
Click here, on this text, for more photos.

Happy Birthday Mari!

Snow Trip

Excellent

Goodbye Wolfgang. 1913-2007

You were one of the best. You'll be missed. 

Hmm...

You know it's time for a spring clean when you find a croquet mallet in the back of your wardrobe. 

Anyone for a game?

Hey! Hi!

I've been to life drawing classes!

I think maybe I was a little enthusiastic. This is a not-too-exaggerated transcript of my several conversations of the night.

ME: Hi!
Innocent Bystander: Um, hi.
ME: My name's Lorena! What's your name!
IB: Um...
ME: Hey! Great! Do you live near by?
IB: Um...
ME: Hey! Me too!
IB: Oh. Good.
ME: Isn't this great! I haven't done the for eight years! You know, life drawing! On big paper! And look, I'm out without my kids! They're lovely (insert diatribe on the loveliness of my kids, their names, ages, likes dislikes etc). But hey! They're at home. And me? I'm out!
IB: Um, I think the break might be fin-
ME: Oh, hey, did I tell you about my Uni days? Oh, those halcyon days... Hey! Wait! Where are you going? WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND?!

The Transformation

Did I mention James has a peg leg to get around on? Life is much more fun now...

(Thanks to Chris A. for finding this)

Our Second Life

Because we're always ready to jump on a technological bandwagon, although usually too late to be innovative, and just in time to battle the crowds doing the same, we've been exploring Second Life ("SL" to those in the know). Call it research. If you meet us in the ether, please call us by our real SL names Kantor and Nena Klees.

Thank you.

Oh, and we galavant in the sky. Together. *sigh*

Catch-up

Well, James is getting around ok on his plastered leg, my gold ring turned up, the coffee machine is being fixed under warranty, and I'm sculpting a new vital bit out of araldite for the food processor as I type. Maybe whoever-it-is is finally pulling the pins out of that doll.

And I can't stop looking at this photo of the girls skillfully (ahem) merged in photoshop.

All the Love you can 'Bear'

My old bear has had a lot of hugs over 20+ years. He's been washed and pegged on the line by his ears countless times, and partially restuffed once. His fur is scruffy, and he has a little bald patch on his bottom. But, even after all that wear, Bloomies is still the only bear that Mari will cuddle at night.

Voodoo Curse Pt. 2 (The photo edition)

The naked hand.
The vital 2mm.
The embossed kangaroo.
The break.
The long, long morning.
The sniffles.
The flood.

Okay, ha ha, very funny.

Whoever it is out there, you can put the voodoo doll away now. Yes, you. Really, it's just not funny anymore.

First, it didn't start too badly. Two weeks ago, I lost the gold ring that James bought me nearly six years ago, but I'm fairly certain it's around here somewhere. Then our food processor lost 2mm off a vital piece of plastic which rendered the whole thing useless. Yes, annoying (I use that thing a lot), but not devastating. Then what was it? Oh yes, the car. Want to argue with a kangaroo at 80km an hour? Sure you'll probably win, but you'll be limping. New bonnet and grill? $1000 thanks. Then the bad one, the really bad one. I feel bad making light of it really. It probably deserves it's own paragraph at least, but here we go. Last sunday, unrelated to the kangaroo incident, James completely ruptured his achilles tendon. Yes, you may wince. It hurt. It still hurts. A lot. I won't even go into the medical saga (that's another blog entry and tempting law suit entirely), but lets just say it took five days to get him operated on, and the recovery period is, well, impressive. Nine months before he can use that foot. Nine months. On crutches. And then it'll need continuing physio and support. So that's the big one, but that's not all, oh no. The morning after we got him home from hospital, after all the stuff that goes along with surgery and hospital stays, and oh yes, a night sharing the bed with Mari, coughing, and struggling to breathe through a cold, I stumbled out to the kitchen to make coffee. Now, our espresso machine has been a little noisy lately, but I was okay with that. It hadn't woken any children or taken off on a spontanious trip to Mars via our kitchen ceiling. But that morning, of all mornings, it made a bigger noise, followed by a pop, a hiss of steam, and a cascade of water out of the front panel. ... "So, your coffee maker died, at least it's under warranty, right?" you might ask. Let me just remind you; this is me, Lorena, you know, me? That stuff running through my veins? It's caffeinated. Permanently. And my only source of decent coffee exploded. Don't get me started on the sequence of events that ruled out the percolator (stale embedded coffee stains), plunger (broken), and god forbid instant (mysteriously tastes like mushrooms).

So now, just as the icing on the cake, along with James in plaster, and Mari with a hacking cough and snot galore, we have Rosa (we can't forget her can we?) with raging gastro. You knew there had to be a kicker didn't you?

So. Not funny. Stop it now, please.

Sincerely,
Lorena

Why I Love the ABC...

As heard on Playschool radio. You know, for kids under 5.

Humpty Dumpty, Mary had a Little Lamb, Baa Baa Black Sheep... etc.

Then, "Something or other in a clapped out kombie with stoned zombies (or something like that) ... where women blow and men chunder." Ahem.

Something about cute fluffy ducks, then...

"The first pub we come to, it's there we'll have a spree,
And everyone that comes along it's 'Come and drink with me!'"

Fluffy animals!

And something about sexy macarana on the dancefloor.. No wait let me give you the full lyrics.

When I dance they call me macarena
and the boys they say that I´m buena
they all want me, they can´t have me
So they all come and dance beside me
move with me jam with me
and if your good i take you home with me
A la tuhuelpa legria macarena
Que tuhuelce paralla legria cosabuena
A la tuhuelpa legria macarena Eeeh, macarena
A-Hai 2x
Now don´t you worry ´bout my boy friend
the boy who´s name is Nicorino
I don´t want him, ´cause sent him
he was no good so I - hahaaaa
Now, come on, what was I supposed to do ?
He was outta town and his two friends were soooo fine
Ref. 2x
Claps Ahai Ahai
Keys
Ref. 2x
Lach
Come and find me, my name is Macarena
always at the party,
´cause the chicos think I´m buena
come join me, dance with me
and all your fellows cat hello with me
Ref. 5x


But lets face it, I'd play my kids death metal backwards if they danced to it.

Niger

Look here. You must.
Photo essay by our good friend Jim McFarlane.

Rosa's a Photographer Now

Do I have to start up a blog for her too?

Quiz

Go and play my Quiz if the inspiration strikes you. I didn't write the questions - it's a different theme each day of the week.

Sideways

Well, this clip really illustrates two salient points about me. One; I'm too much of an idiot photographer to remember to film video horizontally. And two; I'm too cheap to spend $3.95 on the plug-in that could turn it round.

But it is cute though. If you just tilt your head a bit.... and ignore the tear away at the end.

They were actually listening to the Macarana (don't even ask how that came about) but I didn't want to inflict that on you, gentle reader.

Now That Was a Good Weekend.

It's cold and drizzly but that's ok. We've had a lovely two days. Saturday morning, we heading down to the market. First stop was the Albion for mushrooms on toast and the best coffee and hot chocolate in town. It's run by a wonderful couple who greet every patron like an old friend, and really do know half of their customers by name. Mari and I sat in the warmth and, well looked at an anatomy book actually, while James and Rosa ducked in the swarming market for some fruit & vegies. After that, I went shopping in peace, then in the afternoon we did some gardening and tidied up before our very good friends Dan & Melinda arrived for dinner with Dan's sons Ambriel and Zephyr, two of the most charming and polite lads I've even met. They're 13 and 11 (I think) and if I had boys would want them to grow up just like that. So, after unwrapping some cheese and cracking a bottle or two, we sank in to a lovely evening of food and wine.

Sunday morning James took the girls to the park for a hour or so, while I spent some time being unashamedly lazy. They returned keen for more adventure so off we went to a nearby pine forest - such wonderful colour after all this rain, and mushroom and toadstools everywhere! We found what must be a scout outpost, complete with climbing web. After a winnie-the-pooh like expotition, we scavenged a bag of pine cones and headed home for an unexpected nap (for me!) which inspired me to cook up a batch of wintry minestrone and chive flat bread. The house was full of warmth and the smell of soup.

Glorious Rain!

Aren't Friends Wonderful?

Good girl.

She humours her mother.

Thank goodness.

We're back. Hi! Fully visual again. Bought a tiny fujifilm f20 for snaps. Very nice little beast.

It does this.




And this.


It actually takes a very snappy little video. Hard to tell from the massively compressed youtube verson, but much better than the video camera that we bought for (ahem) a lot more, just a few years ago. And it takes the same size images (6 megapixel) as our (admittedly 5 year old) ex pro nikon. Don't know whether to get very excited about the wonders of technology, or just get very depressed that it only takes a couple of years for equipment that cost thousands (and thousands!) of dollars can now all be done by a tiny little silver bullet for a couple hundred.

I'm going with happy.

nocturnal bovine

"What do cows say Rosa?"

"...Mooooonnn!"

Now try to get the image of a paddock full of cows baying at the night sky out of your head. Just try. I can't.

Rain!

For all those who live nearby - did you see that?! The rain! The storm! The wind! The RAIN!

The puddles!

Apologies for my camera work. Must work on that.

Getting my fix

Some photos Mari took with MaJenny's camera on her blog.

RIP

Possible the last photo our camera will ever take... Waiting for Dorothy.


And then:


We think it might be worse than a dodgy spring. It has started making an odd noise. Kind of a grating, scraping noise. The mirror's all floppy. And the aperture keeps getting stuck shut. Well, at least it's probably mechanical. So maybe it can be fixed for less than the cost of a 2nd hand porsche.