Mummy, why do I have to wear sunscreen?

Do you remember,

as a child,

...running under the sprinkler,

playing for hours in the heat of summer,

without regard for water shortage or cost?...

(from mdpropertyinc.com)

...eating whatever food came your way

without worrying about trans fats, artificial colourings, additives or use of growth promotants?...

(image from images.businessweek.com)

...running to catch the plane with your pocket knife in your pocket

and no security checks to slow you down,

not fearing catching any contagious disease from your fellow passengers?...

(from challengefactor.files.wordpress.com)

...flaunting your body in the sun without any fear beyond some painful sunburn?...

(image from cosmosmagazine.com)

...watching music videos on telly where the most offensive thing

to a 10 year old were the flares, tassles and sequins?...

(from esarsea.files.wordpress.com)

...living in a time when the words "global warming" and "carbon footprint"

weren't part of everyday language?...

(from home-air-purifier-expert.com)

...when your folks pushed you out the door in the morning

and you wandered back in sometime late in the day when you'd finished playing with your mates

around the neighbourhood, and were hungry, dirty, tired, and happy?...

(from alignlife.com)

I do.

I remember those times as I answer the question of my 7 year old who wants to know why there is so much security at airports.

I think about them as I explain to my kids why they need to wear hats and sunscreen if

they want to play out in the sun.

I appreciate my childhood as I tell my children what makes some foods good for them

and others, really bad.

I cherish those few times that we can pull out the water slide in the backyard

and let the kids use it for a little while

without concern for wasted water or breaking the law.

I am in wonder that teaching our kids about

recycling, wastage and the conservation of our planet

is a part of their learning process from the word go;

that it is a fact of life.

I am a little melancholy when I remember my holiday days

wandering off with friends to catch tadpoles,

or wander through the neighbourhood fields

as I try to explain the idea of "stranger danger" without scaring my children.

Don't get me wrong.

My kids are having a pretty good childhood.

There are so many opportunities and options today,

improved health and medical care,

increased acceptance of minority groups,

more freedom to live your life as you see fit without being judged

and amazing access to resources and the world.

But I am a little sad that the world has changed forever

and that it is a fact of life that our responsibilites have changed and increased.

Our kids are growing up with

an awareness of what we need to do to look after our planet and each other.

Something that we adults have really only had to learn in the past 10 years or so.

I'd go and treat my melancholy with an iced donut...

if I didn't know about those bloody trans fats.

A hospital holiday (yes, holiday)

I recently had a five day stay in hospital.

Don't panic, folks. Elective and nothing too serious.

But seriously,  I was so looking forward to it.

Packed the iPod,

piled craft magazines into my suitcase,

along with many books,

knitting projects,

 food treats

and some decent tea and coffee bags.

(A bit of a bugger that there was no room left for clothes and toiletries

but they are over rated anyhow)

To have a stretch of time post surgery where I had no demands on my time

from children, husband or normal domestic life,

to be able to knit, read, sit up late watching movies without hubby's disapproval,

it felt like a holiday.

OK So there were a few physical constraints

(post-op recovery and all that)

and mental restraints

(why are nurses so perky and chatty at 1am and 5am

when they wake you up to check and records all those bits and pieces?

Seriously, you wake me up

and expect a coherent conversation when you ask

"Wow. That looks good. What are you knitting?" at 5am?)

But no nasty jabs in the butt or anything

(something from the dark recesses of my childhood memories

when I had my tonsils out as a youngster)
And I do find that, after 3 pregnancies and child birth experiences,
 there isn't much that makes me squirm these days
when it comes to having my body poked and prodded.

(the first photo shows truer colour)

Pattern: Garnstudio and DropsDesign Lin tunic with shirred pattern

Yarn: Panda 8 ply wool crepe (in grape purple)

And to top it all off.

my folks got our last one almost toilet trained while I was away.

There may well be a bonus in their babysitting pay packet this visit.



A Tasmanian holiday



So my parents didn't retire to the warmest place that there is,
(there was snow on the mountains when we stepped off the plane)
and even when you visit in summer,
you need to pack for all seasons,
but as hubby said,
it really is a place where you just point your camera and shoot.

Last holiday we went for a beach walk and were escorted by an inquisitive ray.
This time we got checked out by a little shark,
watched a pod of dolphins cruise up the estuary from my folks' balcony
and stopped to say hi to an echidna on the way to the beach.

Life is good.

Stunning in its simplicity.

Tikki's rainbow dress

(Georgie Hallam)

Yarn- Cleckheaton Country Naturals 8 ply

in a colour chosen by the little goddess

(hence pink and not the gorgeous green and purple yarn that I was waving in front of her face)

(truer colour)

Simple with a gorgeous result.

I love the line of the dress body
and the clever way that the neckline is formed.

I think I am quite smitten with knitting for the time being...



Knit picking

Technically I am a knitter.

If someone asked me "can you knit?",

the answer is "oh, yes, but I haven't for a very long time"

As in about 30 years.

And as to what I ever knitted, I don't think much at all.

I could cast on, knit, purl and cast off.

But I have never ever knitted anything beyond a scarf

(and a very plain one at that)

The knitting bug hit me a few weeks ago.

And this is where the "impatient git" label in my personal profile can be noted.

Instead of making a few scarves or dishclothes or the like,

I started buying dress and jacket patterns for me and my offspring.

So making the following was a bit of a learning curve.

It wasn't really difficult

but as a beginner knitter, I did learn a lot.

Pattern: Garnstudio and DropsDesign wrap-around jacket in 2 strands

Yarn: Cleckheaton Country Natural 8 ply

It is knitted as a double yarn

and in spite of the pattern stating 700 grams (14 balls).

I used 30 balls of wool.

So it is heavy, very warm and very expensive.

First lesson learnt- check the wool you are buying to that the pattern is made for.

I didn't make the collar as wide as in the pattern.

I wouldn't have had enough wool but I also didn't want it to be too droopy.

Overall I am only unhappy with the final cost,

not helped by the fact that I bought most of the wool at spotlight the day before their 60% off yarn sale started.

I can't begin to tell you how heavy it is and it is chunkier than I was thinking

but as a "snuggle up and keep warm" jummper for winter,

it is perfect.

Shame that it is 25 degrees here today...