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.