Two Tough Customers and a Hottie

Padawan Learner is so tough he has TWO rows of teeth. Just like a shark. Only tougher.

See how the "big tooth" grows down before the "baby tooth" wiggles out? It's happened with all bar one of his teeth so far. Soon we'll be looking for the pliers...

Doesn't Cheetah look fetching in this ensemble? Cheetah is wearing this newly knitted beanie because he is a tough customer and this beanie is destined for another tough customer whose birthday is coming up very soon. I just need to find a skull and crossbones patch to complete the tough guy look.

And here is something I prepared earlier. Not so tough to look at but a little tough to make because the pattern kept stretching on the bias and I had to block it before I could sew it into this shape. This will house a "hottie" and keep a little girl's toes warm at Thredbo in August...

Kaftan Days Part II

Is it too much to ask for a little precipitation?

aaahhhh...here it comes.

Kaftan Days

School's back and it's Kaftan weather. Having spent two weeks in WA where the temperatures are searing but the heat is dry and the sea breeze comes in at night I am having trouble re-acclimatising to Sydney's humidity. I'm longing for a long breezy Kaftan, 1970s style.

Look at Marble, she's a Sydney-born cat and she's having trouble.

This afternoon I will collect the kids from school and hear what classes they've been assigned to, who their teachers are and whether they have any of their friends in their class. Then we will zoom off to the pool and pretend it's still the holidays.

Our Holiday in Collages

Part 1: The Beach

L-R, top to bottom: Castle Rock, sign at Yallingup, testing the waters at Yallingup, tumbled by a wave at Yallingup, The Jetty at Busselton, Busselton beach, in the wash at Yallingup, snorkeling at Castle Rock, kids and bodyboards at Castle Rock.

Part 2: The farms

L-R, top to bottom: my childhood home, snack for the horses, view from the house, Firegazer's home town, the road to Wave Rock, Wave Rock, riding horses, how to warm up by lying on the pool deck, Donnybrook apple thingys (still there after all these years).

Part 3: Perth

L-R, top to bottom: Our university college, Flame tree is flaming, swimming at "Cott", walkways through Kings Park, Cottesloe beach, Il Lido at Cott beach, sunset over the Indian Ocean, Subiaco, Cott at twilight.

Yum in WA

While on holidays in WA we had the usual amount of holiday quality food but also some awesome super fabulous stuff that I just have to share with you. Give these a go next time you're in the Wild West.

Chaos Olive Oil from Newdegate, WA

This is far superior to any other Olive Oil I've ever tasted. It's drinkable, it's that good. Newdegate is in WA's wheatbelt area and the oil's quality has something to do with the extremely dry conditions there - so dry that they haven't had an Olive harvest for 3 years.

I know this oil can be bought at the Newdegate grocery shop but Newdegate is a VERY small town, five hours drive from Perth so here is the email address if you want to find out where else to buy it: mission8@bigpond.com

Simmo's icecream.

Yum. Stopping at Simmo's Farm is a must on every trip to the South West. Sorry, only available in Dunsborough, Margaret River and Mandurah.

North Bannister Downs Milk

When my SIL pulled this out of the fridge last week I looked at her funny, wandering if she was going to put some sort of long-life milk in my tea. But no, this is yummy proper milk packaged in eco-friendly packaging (biodegradable ecolean product) and, according to my SIL, has awesome frothing capabilities for your latte/cappuccino/coffee of choice.

Sorry, only available in WA at the moment.

Lots of Happy Birthdays

October to February is peak Birthday time for the EasternMax family so we have been flat out trying to locate that special, perfect something for each friend and relative celebrating during this time. However, with the birthday count hitting 16 since October and five more to go before the end of Feb our imagination is definitely waning. Please accept our apologies if you are the recipient of a less than stellar gift and/or card. Anyone who chooses to move their birthday to the middle of the year will be much better off in this regard.

Anyway, so happy birthday this month to THREE of my Sisters-in-law and ONE of my brothers. Today the elder of my two brothers is

THIRTY-EIGHT

Happy Birthday old boy.

Just when you need a bit of reassurance about the Shark thing

Cellobella commented on my last post about swimming at "Shark time" at Cottesloe. The thing about paradise is that there is always a little chink in the paradise armour. Cottesloe may have clear blue water, white sand and waves that roll, not crash, into the beach BUT it is also a place where one or two hapless swimmers have been taken by a shark.. But don't worry, it only happens at "shark time" (early morning or evening when the light is low and the water is murky). Otherwise it is definitely paradise, just check out the photo above.

However, I am a big Wuss* (note the capital "W") and on noticing that there were a group of people swimming laps up and down some way out from the beach commented to my mum:

M: At least if the sharks come they'll get those people first.
Mum: Oh no, the sharks will swim right under those people. They'll get the people swimming in the shallows.

That would be us.

It reminded me of the time I was flying in a 747 with Firegazer over Singapore and I commented, hopefully, that if we lost all engine power that at least this big plane would be able to glide us to safety. Oh no, says Firegazer, 747s have the glide ratio of a BRICK.

So encouraging, thanks.


*Wuss (n, colloquial): a wimp, coward (Rhymes with "Puss", as in cat)

Back from the Wild West

We're back from the Wild West and it's just lucky that airline passengers aren't weighed along with their bags as I may have had to pay a fine for excess luggage. Sun and sand combined with morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, evening drinkies and dinners with family and friends do not a bikini body make.

Above is a photo of The Bell at Cottesloe Beach, Perth. Every self-respecting teenager (and former teenager) who has visited this beach for the last few decades has swum out to The Bell and jumped, dived or "bombed" off this concrete structure.

But not anymore.

Last week Firegazer swam out, dived off and was promptly whistled in by the Lifesaver on duty. As you can imagine he was pleased with this (not) and I was thankful that the Lifesaver in question was some 100m away at the time.

Apparently, the The Bell is now deemed unsafe for such antics (or perhaps just for those on the wrong side of 40...)

More photos of our adventures coming soon.

Flying Carbon Neutral and feeling smug about it

We are flying carbon neutral to the Wild West.

Are you a neutral flier?

Can you see my smug smile?

Visiting

Over the next two weeks the EasternMax family will be visiting relatives and friends in the Wild West. I hope to record our adventures as we hop from destination to destination but access to the cyberworld may be erratic. Just in case I am unable to locate a computer here is a brief synopsis:

1. City
2. Beach
3. Farm
4. Farm
5. City
6. Home

That's it. See you when I see you.

Three sandcastles and a fort

Today we met up with some Melbourne friends who were visiting Sydney this week. Whenever we have visitors that haven't been to our house before we take them down to the tidal "beach" near our house to play amongst the rocks and build sandcastles. I say "beach" in inverted commas because it is far to grand a term for this place. More of a mudflat atmosphere than a beach but a great spot for kids to get dirty. While down there the boys made a "sand village" in the rocks and the girls had a sandcastle competition which was judged by the boys. Luckily for all of us the competition was a draw.

One of the best places to watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race each year is from the old fortifications at Middle Head, Mosman. We had never been there other than Boxing Day and my friend's son is really keen on old forts and their tunnels so after a quick lunch we drove off to investigate.

What a fabulous place for kids to explore. Loads of tunnels and "secret" doors, great views North and South Head and a real sense of history. The kids came home so excited with all the exploring they had done and it reminded my friend of Kirin Island from The Famous Five.

A Swim, Yum Cha and $21

Next time I take my camera with me I'll need to remember to charge it first. A small group of us went to Ultimo to try the newly opened Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre today and this is the only picture I could take before my camera spluttered and went to sleep.

Shortly after this centre opened there was some scuttlebutt about the tiles being too slippery. And they would be right. However, we all survived despite the children having no other speed than flat out. It's a lovely inner city centre, if a little lacking for excitement for the 7-12 yo kids we had with us (ie. no wave pool). *

After a swim we walked over to Chinatown for some Yum Cha. My kids hadn't been to Yum Cha since they were tiny so it was a bit of an exciting experience for them even if the food looked "a bit weird" for their liking. A lot of steamed rice was eaten.

The six kids we had with us asked the waiter if they could have "prawn crackers please". It really wasn't the sort of place that puts prawn crackers in the middle of the table and we are quite certain we saw a perplexed waiter rush to the Chinese grocer next door to grab some. The kids then spent the next 15 minutes licking them and sticking them to their noses. The Maitre D' looked very relieved when we asked for the bill shortly thereafter.

After lunch we wended our way back to the parking tower, paid our $21 parking fee (@!&**!) and took some very tired, carbo-loaded kids home.

*Mary, you must've been next door at the Powerhouse seeing the Diana exhibition while we were swimming. Did you happen to notice three frazzled mums and six exuberant kids?

I'm fine Fairlie. Really. And I've found another Supplier.

KelpieBlossom's hot water bottle cover now has a cord. These are quite fun to make and because they are a two-person job it's even a social activity (unless of course the second person is an unwilling participant who would rather watch the Cricket). It think these sorts of small social activities are really important and this one rates right up there with having a second person help you fold the sheets... :-)

Oh, and I've found a new supplier. A haberdashery supplier. Nothing fancy you understand. No Noro or Colinette yarns, more your Patons/Cleckheaton type of place. But they have the basics and they are only 15 minutes away.

Name of new supplier? Lovell's Drapery. Genuine 1965 decor with the wool stacked next to the basic bonds underwear and the brunch coats; the cotton waffle blankets are piled behind the counter and ribbon, in sensible school colours, can be bought by the metre. Aaaah.

I thought I'd better stock up before they are forced out of business with skyrocketing rents (isn't that what always happens?) so the kids and I went in today (my second visit in a week). Padawan Learner chose a ball of yarn in bright red while Kelpie Blossom chose a dark rose pink. The rest is for me.

Last of the Species?

About this time each year we hear that the soft-serve icecream van is almost a thing of the past.

Not at Clifton Gardens in Sydney. Our kids had their fair share of melt-on-your-hands icecream in between jumping off the pier and games of cricket on the grass during our five-hour stay here today. A proper Aussie picnic.

Hello my name is Marble. I is Tired Cat

Cant...move...a...muscle.

So nice of KelpieBlossom to leave her drawers open for me. So soft.

Just...might...stay...here...all...day. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ready for Winter...in Summer

A couple of days after Christmas I went into the CBD to to buy some yarn to knit Padawan Learner a hot water bottle cover. I had just completed this cover for KelpieBlossom in one of her favourite colours and I wanted Padawan Learner to choose his own colour.

He picked his perennial favourite colour - bright yellow. Once picked he hugged his chosen yarn close to his chest and didn't let go until I paid for it. In fact he may have announced a couple of times (loudly, so that all other shoppers could hear) that he was going to use the yarn to knit himself a blanket.

Once home he decided I could use one or two balls of yarn to knit him a hot water bottle cover. And finally, here is the result. A little more adventurous than last time - a mock cable and a hand-made cord tie. The mock cable takes sooo much longer than the previous pattern but it is much cosier to hold.

I like the cord so much that I might make one for KelpieBlossom's cover as well.

Happy New Year!

Approximately 30 adults and 20 children hung out at the EasternMax residence on NYE. The trampoline Santa delivered for Christmas was a popular distraction for the kids.

After an early dinner most of the guests wandered down to the foreshore to watch the 9pm fireworks, while a few of us were content to watch from the upstairs windows.

Later that night I wandered down to the foreshore to catch the midnight fireworks. Amazing. The highlights this year were the cube shaped fireworks, the heart-shaped fireworks, the giant "S"-shaped fireworks and the bridge display.

The above photo isn't mine, it's from the SMH. I've long given up on trying to take photos of fireworks.

A lot of fun was had by a million revellers around the harbour. And a lot of rubbish was left behind. People left blankets, clothes, cushions and, weirdly, telephone books.

I wonder why people can't take a large rubbish bag with them because this is the sight we were greeted with on our walk this morning. And the smell. Whew!

Happy New Year!

May you keep all your resolutions.