« March 2007 | Main | May 2007 »
April 27, 2007
Farmyard adventures
I discovered this yesterday.
Only, it seems, six months after everyone else. It provided a whole morning's worth of glee and fabulousness. Jacob forces me to read most evenings from "Avonturen op de Boederij" (Adventures in the Farmyard). After this clip it is a book that I will never be able to read with a straight face again. But what I really want to know is why this wasn't part of their Melbourne show a few months ago?
Posted by Faith at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2007
The damned and the lost
Ronnie took Jacob to the zoo yesterday so that I could slave away on my work while the rest of the nation had a public holiday.
Jacob has become very independent of late and one-way-or-another wandered off from the lakeside Bistro area to visit the seals by himself. We won't go into why or how it is even possible for this to happen; cliched phrases such as 'looked away just for a moment', 'so quick' and 'you just CAN'T do that' have been bandied about.
I am still suprised at just how little sympathy I feel for Ron after he went through what must have been the most terrifying ten minutes of his life. I don't even feel guilty about pointing out that he needn't have bothered coming home if Jacob hadn't been found. I may have even suggested that if that had been the case he would be better off getting straight out on the ring-road to the airport and onto the next flight back to the Netherlands. Isn't that horrible? I seem to have come over all mother-tigerish.
Anyway, before this virtual-deportation became a reality, Ron told a zoo employee Jacob was missing and within seconds it had been walkie-talkied to all employees and Ron had been escorted to the reception area to wait. Jacob was found soon afterwards, standing crying near the platypus house, by a keeper who recognised his decription, (was it the Olive Grove skull-and-cross-bones t-shirt?) gave him a biscuit and stayed with him until Ron arrived.
Lately Jacob's response to being told that he can't do something or that he might have to wait is, "Well, I can do it by myself." I'm just hoping that maybe he will be a little more cautious about rushing off to prove it in future. And that his father won't be telling me to 'Relax!' quite so often. Poor man.
Posted by Faith at 01:25 AM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2007
Jacob eats Vegemite
Jacob eats vegemite. Nothing special about that in these here parts but I know the Dutch and English find it strange to say the least so here is a little film to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.
Posted by Faith at 07:05 AM | Comments (0)
April 23, 2007
Beautiful things
My mother's local bottle-shop, previously a dreary place full of bad cleanskins and a very average range of bland big-brand name wines, was sold last year. The new owner has not only re-stocked with much more interesting wines but more recently started renovating. I haven't set foot in there for six months until last Saturday.
While browsing for something with which to reward my mother for taking Jacob off our hands for the day it struck me that I was sorrounded by some of the grooviest wallpaper I'd seen in a long time. Not only seriously funky but the quality of the design practically leapt from the walls and smacked you in the eye. Looking at the wallpaper it was really difficult to tell if it was very very new, or very very old. It also seemed a bit over the top for a bottle shop. Even a very funky bottle-shop.
The owner explained that during the renovations they had removed the old cladding on the walls and uncovered the wallpaper, much of it in near-mint condition. He had started scraping it off but luckily soon realised that it was actually by none other than Florence herself! Now he is planning to steam it off and sell sections to those interested. I left my name and phone number.
The wallpaper was a hard act to follow and I didn't expect quite the same from my $19.00 wine but it wasn't a terrible let-down either. I went for The Black Chook Shiraz Viognier 2005 in honour of Willemijn, our very own black chook, and while lacking the finesse of Florence's designs it proved good value being considerably cheaper. Re-issues of her wallpaper are almost $400.00 per roll!
Posted by Faith at 01:37 AM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2007
Photo Friday: Country
Posted by Faith at 05:59 AM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2007
Autumn
Autumn has definetly set in. It is still in the low to mid twenties most days but there is a decided chill in the air that wasn't there a month ago. Still, it reminds you of what is so nice about winter visits to the beach. Here's Jacob at Elwood beach, right next to one of our favourite coffee places, the Elwood Beach House Cafe.
Posted by Faith at 05:11 AM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2007
Kick
According to one of the actors involved, Kick, the series filmed in our street shortly after we moved in, goes to air on SBS (Australia) on June 9th. I don't know when it goes to air in the UK but you might be able to find out by keeping an eye on the High Point Films site.
In the meantime there are two trailers on Youtube. You can't see our house in either but it is fun seeing the interiors of all our neighbour's houses. And interesting, the extent to which they did or didn't use our neighbour's furnishings and fittings! Who'd have thought Gen and Simon's microwave would be captured so artfully? And as for the next-ddor neighbour's kitchen! The second film shows more local streetscapes and views of Brunswick, for those who don't know it.
Posted by Faith at 06:51 AM | Comments (0)
April 17, 2007
Hans the Hunstman - Update
Hans the huntsman finally re-surfaced.
I put off doing the washing for as long as humanly possible but after we'd all been forced to wear yesterday's undies had to finally arm myself with a pair of long-handled-barbecue tongs and shake it all out before loading up the washing machine. Three loads later and no sign of Hans. I assumed he'd met his destiny in one of Jacob's jean's pockets full of sand and pebbles.
Until last night when Jacob, during his evening bath, splashed water on some of his trucks waiting on the side of the bath sorround and Hans emerged, grumpy and six-legged, but triumphant, from underneath.
Jacob took it very well for a three-year old suddenly finding himself having a bath with a cranky huntsman. No screaming, no hysterics, just "Mama, mama, spin, spin, spin". Hans, we decided had to be re-located. His new enthusiasm for mobility stretching our hospitality just a bit too far.
Besides, he's obviously more than capable of looking after himself, after all.
Posted by Faith at 01:34 PM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2007
Posted by Faith at 04:22 AM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2007
Pocket money
Seems there's some quick cash to be earned keeping an eye out for our next door neighbour's first cousin. Unfortunately, while he used to be a regular visitor, he hasn't been seen in these parts since he skipped bail. I'm sitting here in the front window, blinds twitching like mad but haven't seen hide nor hair of him. Looks like the renovations will have to wait after all.
Posted by Faith at 04:42 AM | Comments (0)
April 09, 2007
Easter
We spent an extremely fabulous Easter at The Blue Duck Inn in the High Country. Rodeos, red wine and horses. More later.
Posted by Faith at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2007
Retail damage
Having previously bought a car and then almost-a-house on impulse it was quite a relief to discover this weekend that our retail-damage had been restricted to some small but very pretty items of furniture.
On the other hand it will be a while before we set foot in Retroactive again. A VERY dangerous place full of gorgeous things!
(There are TWO of the bedside cabinets by the way. The centre photo)
Posted by Faith at 04:18 AM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2007
Hans the huntsman hid hastily in the hamper
Hans-the-huntsman vanished a short while ago. As I've mentioned before, Hans has only six legs and hence I was quite worried about him. Given his almost complete indolence his sudden disapearance led me to suspect that he may have been escorted-from-the-premises, despite my strict instructions to the contrary.
Happliy this week saw Hans reappear, triumphant, at the other end of the house, on Dad's towel in the bathroom. Revenge or just coincidence? You be the judge.
You know how all those years you've never been sure if it IS the same Huntsman that appears in your house after you've thrown one out? Hans' unique leg-situation means we are in the position to know for sure. Unless of course there is a specific Brunswick mutation that has bred a sub-species of lop-sided-six-legged Huntsmen?
Shortly after re-appearing Hans took a dive into the laundry basket. This has created a conundrum. I'm loathe to shake out all the items in the laundry basket one by one as no matter how fond of Hans I have become, I am not fond enough to want him crawling up my arm. But it doesn't seem right to just hurl him nilly-willy into the washing machine. I always wash on cold water, use the shortest spin cycle AND use an enviromentally friendly powder but even so, I doubt the Asko Normal cycle is going to be a Huntsman-friendly experience. And Hans has been through so much already, it wouldn't be right to finish him off. But what to do about all that washing?
Posted by Faith at 03:18 AM | Comments (0)
April 02, 2007
Sydney Road bakeries tour
As part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival Jacob and I went on the Sydney Rd Bakeries tour which focuses on local Middle Eastern bakeries. Many of the bakeries on the tour are already a part of our weekly shopping but we also discovered some new ones and it was great to see behind the scenes, meet the bakers and find out what the specialities of each were.
We also got to bring home a huge sample bag full of oregano pizza, cheese and spinach pies, turkish pizza, lebanese bread, turkish bread, potato pizza, baklava and other delights.
Posted by Faith at 03:24 AM | Comments (0)