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!