reverse strip-trees - introducing 'Treesa'

Here she is ladies and gentlemen. 

My naked lady!  Watch as she gets dressed.

Da na na. Da  na, na, nah!

I have always had a

real living/dying Christmas Tree. 

Each year I drag whoever I can to the Christmas Tree farm about half an hour away.  We run through the fields, splitting up, to find the 'perfect' one.  We take it in turns 'bagsing' the best tree and when we think we have it, it is examined thoroughly from every angle before summonsing the always cute, always muscular, always semi-clad (I kid you not and I'll tell you where you can go to see them if you like!) wood choppers!  I think it's part of the job spec!  

Now she's wearing a skirt and some shiny lights

and is protected by her seemingly startled bodyguard.

The strapping lads are then prevailed upon to jam the typically hugely pot-bellied, 7 foot plus beauty into the boot. It's usually threaded right through to the front of my car and although we have remembered in recent years to throw a blanket in to wrap her a little, she and Tiggy usually have the first argument of the festive season. 'Tree' always wins by stabbing poor Tigs in the arm and leg as we drive home.

 

Tigs added one turquoise heart (I think it's hiding round the back now!)

So although I've painted a rather fun picture of our trips to collect the Christmas centrepiece, who am I kidding.  It's always stinking hot, there are flies everywhere, the spiky, sharp bush grass has been cut down at the perfect height to strip your ankles.  The guys are cute but, honestly, I am married to a pretty cute man and they're probably 18 years old and that's just sick Emma!

Really putting on her sparklies now.

This year my vegetarian/vegan, tree-hugging sister, Flossy, implored me to buy a 'faux' tree (Tigs told his teachers we have a 'fake' tree).  She even threatened to boycott Christmas if I chopped one more tree out of the world.   Which just wouldn't do. (Hang on she's Buddhist!)

My hopes for everyone.

This year 'Treesa' has joined the festivities. 

She's actually rather beautiful, not even as far as 'fake' trees go.  She's perfect.  And as you can from my trimming I like it to all look perfect.  She came from here.

Here she is in all her finery. 

We're hoping her jewellery stays on long enough to celebrate Christmas Day.  Woo has a much higher reach than I expected and seems to take joy in removing all that she can, as quickly as she can, before I spot her and then holding my breath and biting my tongue, lest I scream at her, I remove them and return them!  I don't remember Tigs doing it at all (he probably did though).

And so starts the countdown to my favourite day of the year. 

Tree up - check
Decorations around the house - check
Christmas Carols CD on - check
Spicy Orange essential oil burning - check
Air-con on - check!

Have a great day everyone!

E x

thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to my American family.

And a little thanksgiving from me.

For my beautiful children who make everything feel wonderful.
For warm, drenching rain to play in.
For my thoughtful husband who cared enough to ask my wonderful, tireless and precious mother-in-law to help me for the whole day, without me knowing or else I would have insisted I didn't need help- but I did.
For the unexpected kindness my friends and family gave me today.  Your emails, messages and phone calls lifted my spirits and the rain washed me (and my little buddies) clean.

I suddenly feel very lucky and grateful indeed.

oh what a night

My day wasn't too good today.  Under the weather, tired, mauled by an unwell baby who had four needles yesterday and is naturally feeling under the weather too!  Felt like I was walking thorough syrup all day.  Grazed the side of Greg's nice new car.  Uggh. 

And then it all got better...

Thank you Sweetie for putting Tigs to bed.  Thank you Skype for being well behaved tonight. And an infinitely bigger thank you to my still horribly missed friend Kylie, for filling my heart with happiness and unearthing the laughter that lay hidden under a pile of misery and bad self talk.  Wish you were here...

Here's to a better day tomorrow.

little gem

It was warm today.  And I felt like having one of those awful cones from the Golden Arches.  I had to really entice Tigs into having one too.  Odd child.  All he wants is 'the toy'.  I assured him that we would not under any circumstances be getting a toy. With this in mind read on ...

Me: Hi, I'd like two soft serve cones, please.
Server: Sure, that's $1.00.  Would you like anything else?
Tigs: (said in a deep, 'adult' voice) Yes please, a toy for my son!

How I laughed!  He's getting too tricky for me this one.  There could almost have been a drama because, I'm pleased to say, I didn't cave in, and then he saw the ice-cream and forgot all about the 'toy'.  Phew!

Oh, do you like the tee-shirt I made for the trickster?  The shark is a black and silver check - very cool - and the seaweed was added with one of the crazy, whacky stretch stitches on my machine.  I'm not sure I'd ever need this stitch again, unless I'm sewing more seaweed, that is!

my happy little find

It's a blink away from Christmas.  And anyone who knows me, knows that this is my favourite time of year.  To be honest Christmas is always on my mind from Boxing Day onwards!  But I'm happiest when I can talk freely about it without everyone thinking knowing I'm weird.  I love it. 

The joyful festivities, the traditions, the drawing together of family and friends, the drawing to a close the end of a year, not to mention the drawing of funds! 

I also celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. 

So what joy and happiness I found in the bottom of a dusty box at my favourite Oppie Shoppie.  The note pinned to the box read "50 cents per booklet".  So I carefully selected six, being me, I also made sure I didn't double up on the editions.  Although the lovely ladies charged me only $1 for the lot - I should have grabbed more.  I thought they would make some lovely decorations or Christmas cards. 

I became a little more intrigued by these tattered, yellowed, well thumbed sheets and delved a little further.  Only to discover that the oldest of my booklets was published in 1927 and the most recent in 1939!!  What a find! 

And then I came home and I thought more about the careful, even, hand written name on the cover 'Enid L. Davey'.  It's written in ink, by someone who was taught, in the 'old' way, you can tell.  But now I'm left with a question, who was she?  Was she kind?  Does she have family living in the area?  How was her collection found and then let go to the charity shop?

I've spent much of this evening trying to learn more about  Enid and the Ormond Methodist Church Choir, but good old Google couldn't  help.  I'm on a mission now and will talk to the library and the local historical society.  She has me thinking. 

Anyway, as I now appear to be completely attached to these flimsy, musty, shabby sheets, I hurried back yesterday morning and bought up the rest of the vintage pages so that I'd feel less guilty about cutting the duplicates up.  Phew, still there!  I'm happy!

I'll leave you with the words to one and hope that it reminds you, as it does me, to be aware of the small things and to be grateful.

Thanks Be to God

Thanks be to God for roses rare,
For skies of blue and sunshine fair.
For ev'ry gift I raise a prayer,
Thanks be to God.

For mystic fields with stars bedight,
For hours of dream and deep delight.
Thanks be to God.

Thanks be to God for love devine,
The hopes that round my heart entwine;
For all the joy that now is mine,
Thanks be to God!

For all the joy that now is mine,
Thanks be to God!

"milk"

All milky, taupy, blush & dusty French reds.  Just wonderful!  French General for Moda

I could have sworn this was the milk I was referring to on my shopping list! You know.  Have you heard about Amitie the 'grocers'?

And almost as practical as "milk".

mildura - day 4 - this is long - lots of photos though - make a cuppa first!

Our last day, both happy and sad.  We were so delighted to be able to spend so much time together with such generous hosts and such special friends.  Typically it's a couple of hours for lunch when we meet up in town.  To have this block of time together was just wonderful.  We all get along so well, biggies, littlies, girls and boys.   A real joy for us all.

Miss Z is Croc Crazy and wears her big brother's all  the time!  In a bid to secure his for herself, and to rid herself of her own, she helped Woo to put her pretty red ones on.

In the end she needed a little help!

We ate inside this morning as the temperature finally dropped (I may have been a little affected by the heat I think!) and headed into town/the river for a walk and look-see before we saddled up and headed back to the Big Smoke.  Ian works in earth moving, which I think doesn't fully describe the size or importance of his job.  One of the jobs they have on at the moment is an enormous overhaul of the 'new' park area along the banks of the Murray. 

We ran a trial on some of the new equipment.  Mmm, that's the big girls on the humiliatingly awkward pully-up-and-down-thinga-ma-jig!

The little boys look so much 'cooler' on the equipment than we did!

It was the perfect morning to go walking.

This is one of the old paddle-steamers, the Rothbury, built in 1881

Beautiful pink pepper berries, unfortunately not edible.

Miss Z

The Chief Photographer - half of these photos are his.  Thanks Ian.

This one is savvy!  She can sense a camera from miles away and will shut down the smile.  Maybe she thinks it'll steal her soul?  Anyway this is a rare photo of her beautiful grin which is usually on display, unless she hears the click of a lens-cap!

This is K175 and that's about all I know!  Oh Ian said that when they were little they were allowed to climb on it.  Grrr for OH & S.

I do love the levers. 

This one was taken by me holding the camera above my head and flailing around wildly until I got a shot.

Our little family.

Air kisses.

Now I tried to edit the next few but when your subjects are a) willing and b) drop dead gorgeous it's just not possible.  They melt my heart.

Friends.

My favourite.

The lilies again.  They make me happy.  Their wide, flat pads and little upside down tutu's popping up almost as if a ballerina has stooped to do up her ribbons.

The jacarandas with the jack .....  For you Alice, I know how much you love them and summer in Australia. 

And with that we packed up and headed for home, with the most glorious sunset following at our sides. 

If you've made to the end, congratulations and thank you. 

E x