Autumn Days

Autumn came upon us in a literal deluge.  I cannot remember when Melbourne was last so wet and drizzly for days on end with no let up.  It's entirely wrong to complain, of course, so be clear that I am not complaining, merely noting the damp conditions.

The damp kept us indoors perhaps more than we would want, and the staying indoors meant we had to find ways to keep entertained using methods other than baiting and taunting.  To be fair, the kids seemed reasonably content with baiting and taunting but I felt my brain might explode.

I loved this sunflower next to the house Lily drew and suggested maybe she do a stitching.

She drew another sunflower which I carefully traced onto hessian for her (she found drawing on hessian difficult).  Lily's kinder has been looking at seeds in some detail so Lily was particular about includng the seeds.

Then she started stitching.  I don't know about other four year olds, but Lily needs very hands on help with this sort of thing.  Pretty much a stitch by stitch reminder of which side to go in - otherwise we end up with big loops of yarn around the embroidery hoop.

We did a bit, took a break, did a bit more, took a break.  She brings it out now, most days, and does a few stitches.  When she is upset or excluded or being annoying to the other girls, I suggest we do a few stitches.  She's done all the petals now, and the seeds. I'll post some photos of her progress when I get around to it.  It's a nice way to spend these autumn days, as we watch the season turn.

Miniature replica bedroom

How cool is this? During one of the many wet days last week Ruby and Nina decided to make their room in miniature. (Ignore the untidy real room, I took some quick photos just to give a compare and contrast and didn't stop to 'style')

The miniature version is unfinished but, you know, whether it ever will be finished and when are amongst the many unknowable things in life. Certainly any suggestion by me that they finish it will guarantee they never lookat it again.

They spent hours together looking for appropriate boxes, hunting through my scraps for just the right carpet and fabrics for their quilts. It's such a delight when they work together. The absence of bickering is a balm to my soul.

Can you see the tiny Plank chair with its tiny copy of 'Wildwood'.

Charlotte and Rosemary are there, along with a selection of books, including 'Wonder' and 'Liar & Spy' and even an old Charlie & Lola.  

Getting into a Groove

We have not quite got our body clocks in sync with our time zone or each other.  Craig wakes during the night and sleeps late, as do Ruby and Nina, leaving me and the little girls to enjoy the early morning. The girls played outside in our garden and I sat in this rocking chair in the sunshine and did a bit of knitting.  I also went to a knitting workshop at the local yarn and fabric store.  My knitting so far has mostly been figured out through making it up and occasionally youtubing it.  How useful to find out finally how to cast on properly.  Also very helpful to meet some locals with knowledge of good things to do around town.

(my apologies for the fuzzy iphone photos)

On Wednesday, after a bloody cold walk around Jamaica Pond, we headed to the local library. Grace had to find out various things about Massachusetts including how to spell it. She also discovered that the state insect is the ladybug. Who knew states had insects? Do we have a state insect of Victoria?  Imagine the fights over who got the ladybug - surely the pick of emblematic insects.

Ruby 'researched' the Revolutionary war; Nina the Boston Tea Party. Don't be under the misapprehension that they miraculously and voluntarily set themselves these tasks, though Nina in particular seemed to welcome the chance to do a bit of work. After reading about Samuel Adams' rousing speech in the Old South Church, she now has the chance not just to visit the church, but to comment every time she sees an advertisement for Samuel Adams Beer...

The library itself is gorgeous - old fashioned (built in 1931) and right round the corner, with wood everywhere and big tables, a homework club that meets Monday - Thursday and staffed by kindly and slightly harassed librarians.  Our membership entitles us to borrow up to 75(!) books at a time from any library in Boston, including the imposing Boston Public Library.

Nina folding the laundry

While Craig is all about improving their minds (though they haven't exactly relished the required weekly chess games so far) I decided that now was the time to properly establish some sort of chore regime in our family.  We've had various attempts at daily/weekly chores and theoretically the girls do rather a lot more than in reality.  I know this is because hounding them to do things takes time and energy and sometimes it is just easier to turn, if not a blind eye, an extremely myopic one, to the pathetic effort at making one's bed or putting away one's clothes.  But here I have 12 weeks (only ten and a half now, time is already ticking away) to teach them how to do a load of laundry, set the table, properly stack a dishwasher.  My aim is that at least Ruby and Nina will also have a repertoire of basic meals they can cook.  We have set up duty rosters - they work in pairs and the pairs change each day.  Whoever gets Lily has the misfortune of either trying to get her to assist, or doing her share of the work.  But I guess that is a learning opportunity right there, isn't it?  We'll see how this all goes.  My fantasy is that the requirement to perform chores somehow morphs into a deeper ingrained understanding of the work of running a house, so that everyone contributes, as in a socialist state, according to their ability.  But perhaps it is doomed to remain a fantasy.  We shall see.

Ruby did a nice job setting the table

Since our extremely cold Wednesday, the weather has warmed up considerably which is sort of a relief.  I know it will get much colder but to be that cold at the beginning of November was a shock to the system.

Other things  - we went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.  Even better than I remembered, despite the missing paintings but difficult to fully appreciate with four kids in tow, all of whom claimed severe starvation about half way through our visit, and one of whom (I'll let you guess which) declared loudly and frequently that she DIDN'T WANT TO WALK ANYMORE and that she WASN'T GOING TO TOUCH THAT PAINTING/CABINET/PRICELESS ARTEFACT that her hands were mere millimetres from.  A solo return visit (or several) is in order.

Tonight Craig is at TD Garden watching the Celtics play the Trailblazers in a (nearly) courtside seat purchased for a song from StubHub.

And we had a fun day today with some American delicacies, but it's getting late so I'll write about it later.

Entrepeneurs

It might not appear so from this blog, but I'm a fairly harsh critic of my children. It's something I would like to change, I'd like to let go of my fear that if I don't constantly point out their shortcomings they'll somehow be ruined. I showcase their creations, which give me endless pleasure, here on this blog and I don't use this space to explore the darker side of their personalities, but darker sides exist, of course, and sometimes it can feel like I focus a lot on what they don't do, what they do badly, or the ways in which they could improve, rather than looking at the lovely people they mostly are. So it does give me special pleasure when I see them all work together, totally self-initiated and without any adult involvement at all. On this occasion they didn't even ask me if it was okay to set up a stall to sell the finger puppets they'd made, but they've done this sort of thing a few times so I guess they were on pretty safe ground. I especially like the packing tape they used and left on display on the pretty table cloth.

The Amazing Adventures of Spencer and Spike

If Ruby had been a boy she would have been called Spencer. If her best friend Indigo had been a boy she would have been called Spike. They have a lot in common, these two, not least a love of drawing. This is the beginning of their alternative universe. So far they've only drawn Indigo's older brother, Nick, reimagined as a teenage girl.....

Amaya the Gluestick

Ruby's world is changing. Its all about friends and collaborations. I like the 'About the Authors' page especially.

Monster Mash

Old jumpers, old tights, scraps of felt, odds and ends.  Kim made these with the girls last school holidays but Ruby's (top) disappeared for an extended visit with the dust balls under her bed and only re-emerged last weekend for photographs.

Treasure Boxes

An afternoon with our school craft group rendered this bushel of adorableness, based on the ones I made for Ruby and Nina. They come in their own hand-folded origami box (from old wrapping paper), accompanied by appropriate accoutrements - a basket, bottle of milk, peg, snowflake, apple, acorn, toadstool, cup and saucer. I probably didn't need so many photos but I couldn't chose between them. For the school fete.

Things to Do When You Are Bored in the Holidays (Pt 3)

(you can find earlier installments here and here)

Arrange a puppet show; rope your sisters into front-of-house duties; prepare programmes and tickets; perform for your mum before breakfast.

Serendipity

I needed half a metre of Kona Charcoal to complete a quilt I'm making as a gift. My local fabric store has a $10 minimum spend before you can use eftpos and I had no cash on me. The half metre of fabric cost $6 so I needed to spend another $4 to put in on my card. I searched around the bargain table and found this fabric which I thought would work for an apron for Lily. It seemed very kitcheny and a bit 50's to me, which I always think of as a high water mark of apron wearing (I'm thinking Marion Cunningham from 'Happy Days'), though I confess to being an apron wearer myself.

When I first started sewing my friend Paula gave me a lesson and we made two little aprons for Ruby and Nina who must then have been four and two (Do you remember that Paula?). We still have those funny little aprons, made out of improbable materials that I had to hand, like faux suede and calico, though they no longer fit. I made Grace a groovy orange apron with a striped pocket similar to the aprons in this post but somehow I'd never got around to making an apron for Lily.

Half a metre turned out to be more than enough. I could have made two if I'd used a different fabric for the ties.

Lily loved her apron and the other girls were pretty keen on it too and requests were made for new aprons all around. The next day I got an email from my fabric store alerting me to a 10% off sale they were having that very day. It all seemed serendipitous and so different colourways were chosen and purchased. I sewed up these aprons, varying the design a little from Lily's to make the gathered waist line wider than the top. These took a bit more fabric. Grace's used half a metre and the others three quarters of a metre with some remnants.

Grace's

Nina's

Ruby's

The new aprons then led, unprompted, to a desire to cook. My friend Meredith had given the girls 'The Silver Spoon for Children'a few years ago. This is a really excellent cook book for children as it is aimed at children cooking by themselves and it takes them through every step in order and with clear explanations so that they have their pot of water boiling away while they then go and chop veggies or whatever. The recipes are simple but not 'kids' recipes. They are actual dishes that I would want to eat. Ruby wanted to make risotto, a very simple one with cheese and saffron, and she wanted to do it all by herself. I'm rapt to see her chopping onions properly. (she wore goggles to keep from crying)



Nina decided to make pumpkin damper. I cut the skin off the pumpkin for her, but she did the rest. (the recipe was from the internet)



Grace and Lily 'made' jelly from a packet.





So, what started as a quick trip to the shop to finish a quilt, ended four aprons and one very tasty dinner later. I realise that the fun for the kids was definitely doing it by themselves without my interference and I am keen for both the interest and the independence to continue. I'm not great at not interfering so it is a big challenge for me, too.