Icing Granny's Lamingtons

We did ice these lamingtons just a day or so after we baked the butter cake for them.

I just have not got to blogging about it.  I'm probably spending my time eating them ;)

Creaming the butter

Sifting icing sugar with cocoa

Adding the secret and unique ingredient ;)

Production line in swing with Ess and Eee.  My hand seems to need to be in every bowl :)

This box of prepared lamingtons reminds me very much of the box my Granny would carry out to our picnics.  Beautiful pale, hand-formed lamingtons, coated in chocolate icing, covered with coconut.

The finished cake is a sweet, rich and moist delectable delight which few can resist the lure of.  Very moorish as well unfortunately.

I have to say that these lamingtons were definitely given the thumbs up.  The girls have been telling me lately that my food should be "sold in a shop".  I think I'd prefer to cook less and eat more than anyone running a shop, and stay home with my family.  Ess is letting me know as I write that "they are certainly fit to be restaurant desserts".  I'll take that as a very high compliment.  Really I am just glad to be creating fond memories for them which they'll cherish for their lifetime.

Shapes in the Peas in our Garden

How often do you take time to sit back and watch, simply admiring the beauty of a growing plant and observing and taking particular note of tiny details in one variety?

I needed some space today and fortunately the sun was shining so I ducked outside to observe what was happening in the garden as we grow nearer to Spring. The peas needed staking so I spent time with my girls achieving that goal while we also discovered the numerous shapes to be found in the peas.

:: star-shaped caps hooding each pod ::

:: round shapes connecting the cap to the pod ::

:: swirls and spirals, these being almost symmetrical ::

:: crescent shapes in the new growth ::

:: long straighter lines in the tendrils...

...and along the length of the pod ::

:: imagined spherical peas growing inside each pod ::

:: almost oval leaf shapes ::

:: swirls and spirals galore ::

It was tremendous fun playing with the shadows as they were cast on our fingertips and on the wall behind the peas. Such intricate little shapes and lines.

I am sure there are probably many more we did not notice. Oh the delight in Ess' eyes as she discovered all the shapes one by one, as she took time to look closer and take notice. Children do that so well don't they, when they stop...finally! Things just seem to pop out at them and speak their own language. One which often passes us by as adults.

Butterfly Life Cycle II

Our transformation of pasta into a butterfly

A model of the life cycle of a butterfly by our little Eee

(with a bit of help from Mum ;) esp. with the hot glue gun)

Don't you love her simple water colour painting and felt pen colouring!

A little pasta egg lay on a leaf,

a caterpillar hatched in the form of five Lumache Rigate threaded onto wool,

a beautiful, rainbow shell pasta chrysalis hung awaiting its transformation,

Farfalle make the most beautiful butterflies,

particularly when Ess puts her hand to them.

Ess turns everything she touches into a rainbow at the moment.

Look at the colours she used to paint her egg carton base,

each dutifully considered to be appropriate for the part of the life cycle it would contain.

Thankyou to Alecat at Serenades and Solace for your inspiration.

We love the way you turned pasta into butterflies.

Now we are considering purchasing a butterfly chrysalis kit to watch the process of metamorphosis and release some butterflies into our area.

Butterfly Life Cycle I

We have spent quite some time over the past week or so exploring and discovering the life cycle of the butterfly. Initially I was very drawn to the beautiful water colour of these balancing butterflies by childhood magic.

Out came our rarely used watercolours and a new dimension of being artistic was discovered. I really do prefer water colours for painting inside. I like that we have lots of dry paint to be mixed with the wet brush (which I can wet for dear little Eee keeping the jar of water out of her reach). It means there is so much less mess than having blobs of acrylic paints around the place. You can see Ess' work above with my own butterfly in the background.

We moved our bodies to music as I shared a little story of the hatching of a fuzzy wuzzy caterpillar creeping, creeping, who spun himself a blanket to sleep in, before he emerged transformed into a beautiful butterfly. The girls enjoyed dressing up in their homemade butterfly wings, a gift from my sister years ago, to flutter around the room in to a favourite song:

Flutter by, butterfly,

Flutter by up in the sky.

We then discovered the proboscis of a butterfly is used for drinking. A straw makes a great proboscis inserted through a water coloured flower atop a pretty flower paper cup filled with water. This is a great idea for encouraging children to drink water, my pair didn't stop drinking for ages through their butterfly proboscises.

Our resources included the diagrams of the lifecycle of a butterfly found at The Children's Butterfly Site along with the ever-loved classic book:

The rainbow colours of Eric Carle's butterfly are very inspiring. All of Ess' work is coloured rainbow style. It is definitely her favourite technique at the moment.

We also created a model demonstrating the life cycle of a butterfly using something quite unexpected. We'll reveal that tomorrow.

Dolls of Japan

Reach for Heaven

We enjoyed viewing over 70 traditional handcrafted Japanese Dolls which were on exhibition to encourage arts and cultural exchange between Australia and Japan. It is a national touring exhibition so you may be able to see it wherever you are if you keep your eye out for it. It closes here on 22 July and I am not sure where it is then headed. More details here.

These are just a few of our favourites. The titles of those we remember are in italics.

Little Girl

Little Girl

There is no doubt in my mind that these wonderful dolls are works of art. They are certainly revered much more highly in Japanese culture than in our own. We marvelled at the beauty of, and the story behind, each piece and found it intriguing to imagine the artisans carving, sculpting and creating each of these beautiful works.

This Kokeshi Doll is just so so pretty, the carved flowers adorable.

We'll call her Blossom - not sure of her real name.

:: such elegance ::

Koto

Passing Time

:: reminding me of myself and my Ess ::

We are exploring the tale of Momotarosan in Kindermusik studies at the moment so it was fabulous to see him depicted in this way.

Peach Boy

I think this might be him - the little peach baby.

Tag

Children playing chasey or tag. The child who is it is trying to tag the last one in the line.

Japanese Cultural Day

If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.

~Japanese Proverb

We were fortunate to participate in a Japanese Cultural Day held in a nice peaceful environment. There were not crowds of people around which resulted in us being able to enjoy each activity without having to wait in queues and struggling to see.

Enjoy here a glimpse of some of what the day had to offer us.

:: trying on kimono ::

:: participating in a tea ceremony ::

:: listening to the Koto with a flute ::

:: listening to the Shakuhachi flute ::

:: having our names written in Japanese characters ::

This morning we have a commenced little unit study based around the lovely book below, A Pair of Red Clogs, by Masako Matsuno which is set in Japan.

Already we have had so much fun learning more about Japan, their flag, the country's location, a weather-telling game for children, differences in culture around the dining table, elaborate hairstyles, dressing up in dressing gown kimono with our hair in plaits, pretending our crocs are clogs and playing the weather-telling game.

The girls also surprised me with some of their own origami, their own design. We enjoyed making some simple pieces yesterday with an older Japanese instructor and her Australian teacher offsider so it was lovely to see them being creative with paper today. They made hats, fish, wormies and another special creation of my little Eee's.

Tomorrow I might give you a peak at some of our favourite dolls from the Dolls of Japan Exhibition. Would you like that?

If anyone knows of any lovely Japanese literature I should be exposing my 6 and nearly 3 year old to, please do share. Another we have enjoyed is One Leaf Rides the Wind, a counting book by Celeste Davidson Mannis. Great for little Eee.

**As you can see, Ess is now quite recovered and enjoying life as a little girl should. Thankyou for your care and concern.**