Market Wednesday

In lieu of living our (my) Agrarian dreams my little girls and I regularly visit this place - a hub of community activity, organic fruit and vegies from the Wednesday and Saturday market, permaculture, chooks, sandpits, lunch and unfortunately pretty crap hot drinks. Regardless, CERES in Brunswick East rocks it for us and today, being carless, I packed up the girls and overcame my public transport hesitancy, and bussed it on over. Not that hard really, considering the bus stop is close to home, has some kind of fancy wheelchair and pram low-riding facility, and dropped us off at the doorstep of our destination. Said hesitancy has something to do with my control issues but that's another story. PT is important to reduce avoidable car trips and the bus ride was fun with excited 3 year old and (temporarily) mellow baby.

The 'fwod' pond.

For urban children, and parents for that matter, this place is a gem in our twinkling city.

It's past midnight and I can't think of a title.

I've had trouble getting a post out this week as a smoky haze in the air and in my lungs constantly reminds me of the bushfires that have been raging through the Victorian landscape this week. I'm feeling somewhat traumatised by the stories of suffering experienced by people and animals, as are so many bloggers.

I'm also a little spooked by the changed fire behaviour seen and the so-called 'mega fires' that we are starting to experience. This excerpt from an article in The Guardian doesn't help that feeling.

"Despite the political rhetoric, the scientific warnings, the media headlines and the corporate promises, he would say, carbon emissions were soaring way out of control - far above even the bleak scenarios considered by last year's report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Stern review. The battle against dangerous climate change had been lost, and the world needed to prepare for things to get very, very bad."


I won't post fire pictures or links to appeals, as just about everyone I'm reading has it covered so I'm sure you're onto it. Instead, I'll give you a butterfly.


The lovely Amber has tagged me for the 'tree of happiness' meme which is all about gratitude and contentment. While I'm so grateful and happy that I didn't lose any loved ones or my home in the fires, i'll work on a list that includes some other things that help my tree of happiness grow.
xx

Mmm

A hot day drink as suggested by Victoria. Icy, fruity, nutritious yumminess.

Could've had a bit longer in the whizzer though.

I wonder if my kids will grow up and think I was a bit weird the way I would often stop them from consuming their meal or drink for a minute so I could take a few snaps first. Hmm.

Neglected

Hi there! Just a quicky post to break my unexpected blogging hiatus and say to any other Melburnians (and Adelaidians for that matter) Phewy! Aren't you glad the worst of it's over?!

I chose to abandon my house and garden during the onslaught of plus 40 degree heat and flee to the hills where my parents live in a much cooler house. This is pretty much where we've sat for the last few days.




Every now and then moving over a metre or two over to do this. (We have a very clever, resourceful and thoughtful nanna at hand).




Or this.



While I'm pleased that my babes have not baked, I was pretty saddened to come home to my crispy fried garden this afternoon, with a dessicated vegie patch and several scorched or deady bone trees. What's even sadder is the thought of distressed wildlife that couldn't find water and people who lost their electricity and had limited options to keep themselves cool and hydrated.

The scary thing is, this is probably just a taste of what's to come every summer so I am starting to think of ways to be a little less vulnerable and a little more self sufficient if we are to live in such a dry, hot place.

My sister found a novel way to deal with the heatwave. I think she's onto something and I would like to join her.

I'm planning to post a little more regularly if I can get it together so i'll be back soon.

In the meantime R.I.P Domino.

All About the Christmas

It's all about the Christmas at our house. Thankfully my folks Kris Kringle so there's not so much buying to do (would I do it anyway?) and we can focus on the other aspects of the silly season, like the advent table for instance. In my efforts to introduce a little ritual and tradition into our household, I set up a little table to nurture a sense of anticipation and gratitude. I've taken my cues from our Steiner playgroup although ours is only very loosely based on the Christian traditions and is more about gratitude to the elements of nature and the things they provide. The photos are a bit shit but you get the idea.

As well as the gorgeous felt Advent calendar that was a gift to my girls from Mum, we've got items on the table that represent mineral, vegetable, animal kingdoms and some little people representing mankind. The idea is that each Sunday of the lead up to Christmas a candle is lit and new objects are placed on the table, finalized by the appearance of the Christ child on Christmas morning. As my oldest girl is just three we've kind of altered things a little according to what she could take in and how long the little ritual of candle lighting, some words and object placing could hold her attention. I think we'll skip the baby Jesus. The candles precipitated a round of 'happy birthday' and at the end just as I was thinking the table looked so pretty, she announced it was 'packing up time' (we have a song that goes with that) and proceeded to deconstruct my little vignette and put everything away! I guess we'll just do it again and I can't complain about willingness to pack up. Maybe the concepts will sink in a little more next year.



Another really nice thing we did the other day was go to a 'crybaby' performance of Christmas Carols at a church in Richmond and sung by the Women of Notes Choir. My big girl decided it was too loud until she started recognizing the songs and enjoying a bit of Rudolph and Santa. I think the 'too loud' was just really good acoustics in the abbey and the high pitch of the women's voices. Apparently these crybaby sessions are run throughout the year, funded by local council and sponsored by 3mbs radio although funding has been cut for that area. Bugger! Just when I finally got around to going.

And now some mangoes.



And a peony, because they're fun to use the macro function on my camera with.






P.S Did I make it sound serene and organised at our house? Ha! I have two snotty, grumpy kids who can't bear for me to be more than 10cm away, a bazillion things to get done before Christmas day, a house of clutter and chaos and a massive headache layered over a sleep-deprived sandy brain. No wonder I walk around taking photos of flowers with my one free hand!

Puddle Jumping

Did you see the sunset last night (in Melbourne)? It was the most delicious, glowing pink, orange and blue splattered right across the western sky and of course my photo hardly does it justice. I was thinking that such a sky was a sign of clear weather to come but it seems was instead a harbinger of juicy, soaking rain, which in turn sparked pleas of "Mummy, let's jump in puddles, pleeeeeze".

So we did.



And someone else had the same idea.


The Munchkin Puddle Patrol

On another note, we have had to say goodbye to Mum's dear dog Latte.



A dear doggie, window licker that he was. Wowow will be sadly missed Mum, especially by a little person who I haven't had the heart to tell yet.

O Christmas Tree (with help from a bit of Bing on Youtube)

O Christmas tree,



O Christmas tree,



O Christmas tree,



Iiii love Lou...
(She can't yet pronounce 'y').

And a little Christmas fairy in her best party dress.