Park It!

After Lala's soccer match we spent Saturday mooching in one of my favorite Brisbania parks- Newfarm Park. 

 We've been taking the wee-uns there since there were only two wee, wee-uns. It has become even groovier over the years with the wonderful Powerhouse complex and cafe and river.

They always have to climb those gloriously spooky and fantastical trees and hide in the roots where fairies live, I'm told.

Last time I was at this bar/ cafe it was with some girlfriends and a few  mojitos. This time it was for a shot of coffee and some chippies for the goils. Lala was allowed to view and not purchase what I regard as the emperor's new clothes of bakery- the much over hyped maccaroon. 

This little curly number was much more appealing. We'll be trying those next week end aas they are far and away more spectaculous than the "mac".

That good ol' Brisbane River is always salve for the soul I find. It may be brown and muddy but it is magnificent in its own steady way.

There were photos to be taken around the crusty walls of the Powerhouse.The girls were mimicking a wedding that was being photographed. Is it just me or are all the weddding photos from the naughties going to look like feature pages from Frankie magazine with the boys wearing wool berets and old man waistcoats and short trousers a la Jerry Louis. The deadpan scowling at the camera does not bode well for years of marital joy ahead.

Nevertheless we were impressed with the brickwork and the old graffiti....

and found ourselves moved to a philosophical mood.

There was a considered conversation about how we are all the same even though some people have plaits and some have pom poms. Four year old philosophers can really nail it some times.

Then we went home and got a dog!

Yes Michael. A dog...

Meet the Treebles.

Friday I had mother guilt.
I was dog tired. This cancer treatment thing is so very inconvenient.
The Short one came in and said nobody would play with her. The big boys were being pod people on their first day of holidays. Cyber zombies!
The game she wanted to play is fairly tedious to be honest.

Both players get a quandong seed and take turns to roll it. Then you pick a random number and count it out on a numberless board. Get it? After three rolls I get drowsy so we decided to make stuff instead.

1. Toilet rolls and googly eyes found deep in the cobwebby art cupboard.

2. Fabric scraps cut into rough rectangles.

3. Glue the frocks on the t.p. rolls.

4. Observe that baldness is not a bad look even on a toilet roll person. Shorty disagrees. So...

5. Make pom pom hair. Roll it round your hand, tie it in a bundle...

and let the kiddo cut hair legally that is not her own.

6. Test run. The Short one wants more face parts and frilly bits from the sewing box.

 Finally! There are only six here but after a long time in the Loo of Isolation (laundry loo), a teenager provided us with another blank t.p. body.

 Each one  represents a member of our family. Who will be Mother???

It seems these two are the parents of the toilet roll feebles. Treebles? One is a bit of a clown and the other has pink crossed eyes. That must be me.

It was their fifteen year anniversary the same night. The Big Fella got a roast dinner, his own bathroom cleaned from top to bottom and a 3D family portrait made by his own Shorty Mc Snorty. We were both asleep by nine o'clock!

His flowers uncannily match the Treeble's hair colours. A match made in Heaven?

Happy Anniversary Big Fella! x

Pom pom tutorial

 This is just for those of you who wanted to know how how to make the pom poms on Shortie's beanie.  (especially DMC)

 They are just the store bought felt balls from Spotlight. I slit them with a scalpel enough to conceal a knot.

 Then thread the needle and knotted wool through the slit in the pom  pom...

 and pull it out the other side...

 until the knot is caught in the slit making a little berry kind of indent.

Make a slip stitch in the wool as close to the pom pom as possible and crochet some chain stitch until you have the length you want.

 Pull the wool through the last chain stitch to finish it off. Do keep enough wool on the end to rethread the darning needle and sew the cord to the beanie on the inside. You can pull the loose threads through the crochet to finish it more neatly.

 So there you have it. A tutorial!!! Anna will be pleased!