Baboushka's Birthday pt.2

Uh-huh, there's more. The weekend after little Bushki's birthday we had a big party for her down at my mum's place in Kiama. I cooked like a mad woman, overcompensated as I tend to do (we're still trying to finish a giant wheel of Brie and one of those big Toblerones), and Baboushka had a blast. So, er.. more photos!





Here's my grandmother with her three great-grandchildren. How incredible must that be, to know that, essentially, you're responsible for 3 generations? Three. Entire. Generations. It boggles my mind. I'm looking forward to grandmotherhood :-)



Bushki and her Unkie Dave.



We'd been trying to teach her to blow out her candles - she whistles and plays Pat's old school recorder, but no dice with candles.

Oh, and I found my dress at Salvos - a sixties Hawaiian barkcloth number for $7! Score!



Aw, here she is with Nanny and Grandpa.

And having some walking practice with her papa. She's taking steps, but not proper walking yet, unless someone is holding her hand.

Phew! Last one. She was so so so tired at the end of the party, but in true Bushki fashion she remained stoic and awake to wave off every last guest.

PS: Promise my next post will contain something other than copious pictures of my wee lady ;-)

La Cigale

Sorry for the intermission! I blame yuletide and its accompanying craziness. We had about a hundred things on before December 25th and everything, coupled with faltering technology, not to mention thwarting the plans of possibly the cheekiest baby on the planet (lucky she's also one of the sweetest ;-)), has meant that, you know, I've been a big lame-O.

However, I did remember to take that photo. Here it is:


Baboushka and I went down to Jervis Bay that weekend for some q-time with my dad, who'd been away in Adelaide. We had a lovely weekend, despite both of us being under the weather. Poor little Babs had a nasty ear infection (which I didn't know about until I took her to the doctor the next week) and managed to soldier on regardless.

These were the runners-up for the Point + Shoot activity:




Peas in a pod, those two ;-)

Rest well

Sorry for the absence, folks.

The weekend before last, Pat's grandmother was in an accident and passed away. I won't go into it except to say that she was one of the loveliest people I've met, and she'll be very much missed. I'm so glad Baboushka was able to meet her. Here's my little tribute, in honour of her prolific patchwork quilting.



(Unfortunately I don't have any photos of her lovely quilts, so this one is pinched from here)

Snow hat

Up to Bowral we went on Sunday. To the charmingly ramshackle farmhouse of one of Pat's aunts to eat sponge cake and date scones. Baboushka had a lovely time with her cousins (well, second cousins, but really..), and we stayed toasty inside while gazing at the cold, dry fields outside. Actually, it wasn't that cold (hence flimsy blouse)...but my snotty nose made it seem that way..




Mohair beanie: vintage, thrifted
Top: from mum (think she wore it as a bridesmaid to one of her sisters' wedding?)
Skirt: secondhand Country Road, Smith Family
Riding boots: secondhand, eBay

Sibling times!

Even though I miss my brothers like mad when I or any of them are living far away, the rad times and crazy hijinks we enjoy when all four of us are together are worth it. I love them to bits and I'm lucky that three of us are currently in the same neighbourhood, and our fourth brother is only a cheap flight away in Brisbane.

He was down for the week and it was lovely, and the icing on that cupcake was that two of his housemates, fabulous Irish girls, came along as well! We all went out on Friday night, I had a few cheeky beers (not sure how that fits in with No-Buy July, but I reasoned that they were food) and we caught up for brunch in the park the next morning.


(Chatting to pram-riding, park-ready Baboushka)

Baboushka's uncles took her on the slippery dip and the Irish girls sang her songs while I enjoyed my coffee, buttery fruit toast and vanilla-malt milkshake. Hence my dress-over-jeans combo - I tend to over-indulge when I go to our local bakery and this was one of my favourite pregnancy dresses ;-)

long-sleeved tee: Country Road, thrifted
vintage cotton dress: eBay
jeans: sass&bide, secondhand from eBay
belt: thrifted

Airport hijinks

I do love me a jaunt to the airport (yesterday it was to pick up brother Monty), even if it makes me pine for world-wide travel (not to mention the indulgent feeling of padding about in socks on the plane!). So, how to avoid Envy's cold, green claws? Wear something sprightly and sweet!



tweed cap: Salvo's
silk scarf: Liberty, secondhand eBay
wooden bead necklace: thrifted
top: Kookai, gift from mum
skirt: American Apparel, also gift from mum (thanks, Ma!)
tights: who knows?
men's boots: secondhand eBay

Happy B-Day...

Dad! It's a bit late coming (his actual birthday was several weeks ago. Bad daughter!), but better late than never, I s'pose.

One of my earliest memories of my Dad is of him teaching me to swim, and later, to snorkel. I still love both (although I don't do enough snorkelling these days). We're always saying that we'll get our scuba-diving licenses together - maybe this summer we'll finally stop talking and actually do it?! Here's Dad at one of our favourite swimming spots (secret location is highly classified!):



He's been going down the coast to the same South Coast holiday spot since he was a baby, and so have my brothers and I. He is utterly in love with the place, and so are we.



Dad has a wicked sense of humour, very dry and often sarcastic. He's very much an environmentalist with a strong social conscience, and his fierce intellect and penchant for cryptic crosswords is intimidating! I wonder if I would have found the motivation to knuckle down and finish my degree (while 8 months' pregnant!) without his quiet encouragement.

(Here we are with two of my brothers, Dave and T-Bone)

No tribute to Dad would be complete without mentioning what a marvellous grandad he is to Baboushka. If ever a grandfather has been besotted with his grand-daughter! And she has a special soft spot for Dad - together they read stories, explore the backyard, have big squeezy hugs, chew on all manner of toys that he brings over (well, Babs does most of the chewing), and playing in cardboard boxes!

Elephant Boy

St Pat and I have been taking a heck of a lot of photos of late, so I'll stick them up with appropriate commentary and that should get the mojo back..


Last week, us three bundled up and went up to Bowral to visit Pat's lovely mother. The Southern Highlands are just beautiful this time of year, but, mild-weathered coast-dweller that I am, I'm not used to the cold. However, this means that I have an excuse to wear my favourite coat of all time (a $20 op-shop splurge. I remember being hesitant due to the hefty price tag; thank the gods that good sense prevailed). To date, the only other place it has seen frequent wear is mid-winter France.


We (well, I - Pat and his mum have part-anti-freeze blood, and Baboushka was swaddled in so many layers she resembled a beach ball) braved the icy cold and walked into town to Elephant Boy, a marvellous cafe with book-lined walls and coffee served in bowls.


We also journeyed to The Cheese Store for some raclette (yay, winter!), and I did a bit of thrifting (sadly, not much was uncovered, just a few books).

Back at the homestead, we got cosy in front of the old stove and drank tea and knitted and chatted and ate sticky date cake from the Gumnut Bakery (apparently, their motto is "Life's short - eat dessert first". Ah, a bakery after my own heart!)




We'll be back there next week - I'm working at the Bowral Art School for the first time. Good God I hope they have powerful heating..

Coffee in a pretty teacup..

Yesterday, I did actually attempt something I'd said I would (photograph elements of my 'perfect' day). There's a first time for everything!

Crosswords (and please note casually strewn-out origami paper!):

Coffee in cups that I love but often forget to use:

A happy Baboushka!

And big smoochy kisses (my favourite):


Funny how such a day now consists of simple and easy activities conducted close to home. Once upon a time I would have dreamt up something a little more exotic (probably involving water-skiing, a hot foreign dude and gin martinis. Very James Bond of me).

But the day didn't stop there. We three (I love it when St Pat has a day of in the middle of the week) went out to our favourite place for cheap sushi and noodles, and then I got to pick out presents for Mother's Day, v. spoilt. Later in the evening Pat and I shared a milkshake, and I even found half a Caramello Koala while searching for brown sugar. Needless to say, I went to sleep one contented lady.

Pat's back!

Hurrah! My better half has returned from a week in New Zealand, what a lovely relief. Not least is the relief that he doesn't appear to have swine flu! I'm not one to buy into hype, but now that there's a wee baby in the house I'm discovering the world of maternal paranoia.

Anyway! To lessen my envy at his getting to go to lovely NZ without me (not that a week with only Babushka and I was not Awesome Girl Time), he got me a fabulous book - At Home: A Century of New Zealand Design, which I've been perusing oh so lightly while I wait until I have a cup of Earl Grey and good, quiet hour during which to devour it.
(the Mrkusich House)
(a Garth Chester chair)

Pat's stories of tiki torches in the workplace, rainy weather and a chain of vegetarian restaurants (how do we not have this in Australia?!) have only further ignited my curiosity and possible desire to move there. As has the recent discovery of a handful of great blogs from NZ:

Anemone
craftwerk
etsy-love
HOME New Zealand
hyena in petticoats
juniper
lily's make believe
ruby in the dust
So Tread Softly...
Swonderful
the design alphabet
world sweet world

So many crafty, talented New Zealanders! It's enough to make a girl want to up and emigrate, build a studio and spend the rest of my days painting and knitting and sewing and printing and embroidering... Although the creative juices aren't really flowing at the moment, these blogs are feeding that little part in the back of my brain that is storing ideas for when I finally have both time and brainpower to bust out and get my craft on. It'll be choice, bruh!

T-Bone

Today is my brother Tom's 21st birthday! Happy day, T-Bone.

Although there are two brothers and six years between us, we're eerily similar. Maybe he's actually my twin, albeit one who stayed in utero for a while after my exit.

* We're both tall and Children-of-the-Corn-esque

* We both ended up studying languages (he French and Japanese, me French and Spanish) after realising that our initial choices (he Civil Engineering, me Marine Biology) weren't our respective styles;

* After watching the video 'Meet Your Meat' together one afternoon (I was already a vego, he stopped by for a cup of tea), he decided to join me in my meat-free ways. And he's stuck with it, I'm very proud of him.

* We both think that tea is one of the greatest things in the world, and regularly imbibe. We also agree that tea + baked treat of some description is even better (see previous entry re: brownies);

* We share a mutual love of rockpools (which we must get from our Dad);

as well as of a certain 2 1/2-month old

(Tom's a great uncle - here he's helping Anouk with her walking skills)

Narooma

Last weekend, we three jumped in our rickety old Ford and headed south (again!) to Narooma. We stopped off at Jervis Bay on our way down, to break up the trip a little bit..

It was Pat's grandfather's 80th birthday. We had lunch at the Tilba Valley vineyards,

(Anouk wore her lovely dress and little pantaloons from Eternal Baby - it's always fun to have an occasion for her to wear something prettier than the baby chesties and nappy pilchers she gets about in when we're at home)




afternoon tea at Pat's grandparents' farm,



and went to Bar Beach the next day. I was extremely cranky at myself for forgetting to pack my swimmers :(