little things

This pleased me. 

That windowsill has been waiting a long time to reappear above the sink. We did the kitchen up in 2006 and it's been absent ever since but we've been busy, okay!

This amused me.

I think the family might get a good laugh if I walked out with this on the forehead at breakfast. Maybe I could wear it po-faced into radiotherapy.

This motivated me.

If you think of something profoundly appropriate and stylish that I could screen print on my similar little table, it may well be done. I also like the black leggies. It is from the Cloth company.

This inspired me.

I must show these to B1 who is smitten with skateboards and modding everything that moves at the moment. They are hanging on my sister, Kath's wall as part of a larger collection. 

This makes me happy.

Here's another bit of loveliness on her wall. It's quite a large mixed media canvas she made with her children based on a children's book they all liked. Isn't it joyous?!

This tickled me.

We love our kookaburras (bad buggers) although they get a bit pushed around buy the cockatoos here. This fellow saw a window of opportunity while there were no kids and no cockies. He preened on the fence and dived in at least five times for a swim and a freshen up. They make such a commotion in the water.

Almost as much as they make in the trees.

* I have been a little artistica prolifica this week because I took up the challenge to join Blogtoberfest. (Thanks Mel and Cam!) This October is a big month for me with a birthday overshadowed by the end of this treatment junket. So I thought I'd give myself a little challenge- no cycling up Mt Cootha just yet. Just baby steps like climbing the stairs at the hospital carpark instead of getting the elevator and writing posts daily about nothing. I still can't figure out how to put the Blogtober button on my posts but you get it anyway!

ChookMan

Henceforth the above header shall be known as 'ChookMan'. I'm not sure what it is. Fishy drew it and painted it in 2007. He is 10 now. I always made them sign and date stuff- a throwback to art teaching days. It was a throwaway drawing on a piece of Huggie's box and reminded me a bit of some of Reg Mombasa's Mambo stuff. If there was a keeper I'd often put it away and bring it out later for them to colour or paint for a couple of days. It's been up in our room since then and I am rather fond of it. It does fly North in its frame now that you mention it.

The painting formerly known as Header (above) was painted by the Year 4 class in 2008. We remember that as the Year of Horrors. There were a series of hospital visits, diagnoses, surgery, working full time again and a car ding topped off by that awful Gap storm. I also found out I was expecting another last child, lovely news eventually, but quite the shock at first. In the midst of that lot I had offered to help with a little school art show and auction.

We tried to tie the artworks in a bit with each year's classwork and it just happened that the Year Fours were doing synonyms. They decided to do 'home' as the base word and each student chose their own word from the dictionary.

It was my favourite of the paintings. I bid on it and won. It lives in our kitchen and is a sunny bit of joy from that difficult year that reminds me how sometimes wonderful things can come out of difficult times.