If You Build It She will Come

This morning I had high hopes of getting out there and looking for more work. Shorty had a more relaxed schedule planned. If you had x-ray vision you would see cogs turning.

We decided to build a cubby. There was a wall,
a charming gabled roof and decorative dangly bits.

The crocheted bunting turns up all over our place. The pattern for the little ones is from ingthings and the big star pattern was from the Royal Sisters. The stars used to hang in the back room but have faded over the last year so now they will be play bunting.

Non-verbal stuffed friends like Dora and Ted sufficed for a while....

but the faraway gaze indicated something was missing.
So we phoned a friend. There has been cubby- reading, cubby- eating, cubby- hiding- under- a- blanket- and- laughing- yourself- silly and cubby- two year old banter that I can't quite follow. It is a special dialect. I still haven't got a new job but this one feels pretty good today.

Google Earth to Noah

Shorty- in the bedroom- with a toy explosion!
At least it has stopped me worrying about her putting things in line. I must embrace the disarray.

Although you have to wonder what gets it to this stage
What catalyst sends you from a perfectly tidy space
only a few hours ago,
to a bit of a mess, really? Oh...
I might have known...it's the Noahs!

eclectica domestica 1

Sometimes I'll spot a little' vinaigrette', intentional or otherwise, around the house and it makes me feel good. The dumping spot on the sideboard had a few favourites last night. There was a little set of clay pippis bought at the Redcliffe gallery shop, a dollar-shop bird and one of my favourite Elk necklaces. It's pretty old and chewed from when Shorty teethed but I still love it. (Inspired by Julie a long time ago. If you have a moment look at her Samoan sea change blog. 'Tis lovely!)
This little bit of Wedgewood cost $5 last week end and has held these flowers for days. Does anyone know what the white ones are? They are quite lovely. I found them on a large shrub outside an empty house.
Shorty's bambi vase has made it onto the piano of destiny where all the Christmas table bambis were left to languish. She looks a bit of a poseur.
Shorty and I have also been after something like this for a while but they have been rather expensive on line. It's a perfect night light and changes colours as it glows up the room. Last week they turned up at good ol' Aldi for $5. I may have to get more for all the toddler friends' birthdays coming up.
Saurday, the entourage spent a bit of time making crowns at the art gallery too. This one turned up in the back of the car.
Here we have 'Creative Corner' where the Planet lamp sits pretty with Valdermort's wand. It's the only one we got from the set- so creepy and bone like. I may have to use it on the laundry some time. "Ex-laundry-amus!!!"

Finally, for today's eclectica and your viewing pleasure, there is the little bit of Clarice passed forward to me by MMMC at the Paddo meeting on Friday. She was not wearing it on her head as promised but is forgiven.

I love that it is crazed and a little bit wonky in shape. Can't imagine why.....

Baked Blue Tongue and Banana Bread

He is almost as endearing as a household pet but edible! The boys are going on Boot Camp tomorrow so I thought I'd carb them up with a bit of bush tucker before they left- a Lizardy Last Supper if you will.
The oven has been off through the last few hot weeks but ripe bananas call for banana bread to be baked.
I throw some LSA and walnuts in mine to fill those skinny little swimmers when they get home from school.
It makes the house smell goooood.
Mum always said to bake at least two things if the oven was on so I decided on the baked blue tongue to pique their interest. The recipe is my own spin on a Real Living one (they did a snake) that uses Pork mince. I just use beef mince, grated carrot, chopped onion and celery, eggs, lots of fresh thyme from the garden and salt and pepper. Fry off the veges, mix it all together by hand..
then stuff your lizard. It's just that bought puff pastry sprinkled with sesame seeds. Mine don't like poppy seeds so it's an albino lizard. The stuffed legs are necessary, like little sausage rolls. The tongue is food colouring on pastry. Seriously simple! He looks all soft and newly hatched here.
After baking for 40 minutes or so he was a bit more scaly and reptilian.
mmmmmm! Smell that lizard!
Would you like one leg or two? The lizard drumsticks amuse me entirely. They just make me laugh!
I recommend making several tongues if you have multiple offspring. Due to an unfortunate incident over the custody of the actual blue tongue, one diner took her meal in her room. She found her supper waiting for her and it was still hot.

A Tree Swallowed my Children

This is where they were last seen.
They were heading north into the muscly old branches.

Where'd she go? Is that the sound of pan pipes?

Monkeys!
"T'was brillig...

and the slithy toves...
did gyre
and gimble
in the wabe.
All mimsy...
were the borogroves
and the mome raths
outgrabe."
This tree was a fantasia tree. The children got all Avatar, I started channelling Lewis Carol's 'Jabberwocky' and the abandoned thongs just spelled Picnic at hanging rock. Don't you love a really good tree- for- all?

Cultural Capital

You know how sometimes a truly special day will just drop into your lap like a small gem? Today we went to the Redcliffe gallery to see an exhibition by an old friend of mine from waaaay back- before kids, before Big Fella, before Uni. We were both working in jobs we had no personal interest in but discovered a common interest in art. She was dabbling in clay figures and lizards and doing funny things like putting glad wrapped wet sculptures in the fridge to stop them drying out. You've come a long way, baby!This touching installation was all about the edge where the sea and land meet. She had set up interactive activities where viewers could participate. We could leave notes in bottles and create our own sand gardens in her sand tray cornucopia.
Everybody from 2 to twelve and beyond was mesmerised into blissful silence for a good thirty minutes.

If you've ever fossicked, you know how this works.

Playing in the sand in an art gallery...
with some beautiful sensory and eclectic found objects...
delicious. These marching, crablike mangrove things also tickled me....
but this bit of loveliness won my heart. It referred to a local aboriginal midden, the arrival of foreign boats to these shores and their profound effect on the 700 aboriginal nations in Australia.
Thus there were 700 pippi shells in the sand which I eventually realised were individually hand made clay pieces, exquisite to touch and hold.
Speaking of shellfish- we headed down to the famous Morgan's fish markets for some lunch.
I do love the noise and smell of a good fish market. These green tiger prawns were as big as croissants I tell you!
The girls were all "eeeyew!", B1 was fascinated by the cleaver carnage out the back and I needed to sit down. We got a bag of these tiger prawns for $11 a kg!
I do love the sea in grizzly weather. It's almost like the Scottish fishing village where the Big Fella originated.
Then a tree swallowed my children but that, my friends, is a whole post on its own!