Sleepy Magic Mushrooms

Dreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare.  ~H.F. Hedge

"Is she asleep yet?" one little mushroom whispered to another as they lay nestled in between the covers and the soft pillows on Ess' bed.  "I don't think so," replied the other, "let's rest and wait a minute longer."

The magic mushrooms were waiting for the house to be quiet and still.  They had a story to share, as they always do at bedtime.  However if you listen too hard and try to hear them speaking you might miss the story.  They always share their stories after you have fallen asleep.

"Aaahh, I hear the gentle soft sound of her snoring.  She has finally drifted off.  What story will we tell her?"  The mushrooms conferred and decided to tell The Story of Love.  Ess was quite certain this was the story she'd hear as she drifted into dreams holding her new little lavender scented mushroom last night.  This morning, first thing, she declared this was so.  Perhaps tonight will be a fairytale or ...

I made four, yet didn't realise the connection with our family until Ess had pointed it out and delivered a mushroom to each of us for each of our sweet, sleepy dreams last night.  I must say, they worked - we all slept well last night and indeed the children slept in!

I cannot take full credit for this idea however.  I was inspired upon seeing the Night-Night Mushrooms by RosiePose at the gorgeous little shop, little bird, in Port Elliot which vehemently called me in while on holidays recently.  The shop has matured a lot since these pictures were taken and is definitely worth visiting and indulging.

Sharing Music and my Heritage

A painter paints pictures on canvas.  But musicians paint their pictures on silence.  

~Leopold Stokowski

Whether it be that music does not have a photogenic canvas or that I have not yet explored how to upload mp3s to my blog, the result is that I don't tend to share something which is a very important part of my day to day routine here.  That is, singing!  After all, I am a Kindermusik educator!

Singing with a toddler and a young child in the house means there is a beautiful way of dispersing negative attitudes and behaviours and instantaneously converting them into something fun, entertaining and lightening.  Did you know singing releases endorphins? I spend much of my days singing "toys away, toys away" and Incy Wincy Spider, Little Miss Muffet and Baa Baa Black Sheep.  Yet I also sing my own songs to just about everything I am doing - saying (or rather singing) Good Morning to my blossoms and changing a little nappy, cooking meals and hanging out the washing.  I just love this appropriate rhyme:

We are clothes in the washing machine

we wiggle and we giggle until we are clean

then Mama shakes us out to dry

And hangs us on the clothes line high.

~anonymous

and this one:

I'm a little teapot short and stout,

Here is my handle, here is my spout,

When I get all steamed up hear me shout,

tip me over and pour me out.

followed by:

Here's a cup, and here's a cup

and here's a pot of tea

Now pour a cup, and pour a cup

and have a drink with me.

~anonymous

Of course bikkies, cakes and muffins follows this.  Do you know the Muffin Man?

It makes the routines so much more fun and also helps a whingey little toddler when Mum is busier than she'd like.

I come from a musical heritage.  I don't remember not being able to read music, I sang with my brothers and sisters from a very young age and regularly directed performances in the home when we were very young.  We were all in the same choirs in our youth and from here is where I want to share something special with you.

My brother recently posted about his (and my) heritage as "a choir boy" :) and has uploaded a couple of songs from albums we created.  So pop on over and have a listen.  It's a treat, the albums have won awards - ARIA awards for classical recordings.  My favourite of his pair is definitely Autumn Song, by Peter Sculthorpe, a contemporary Australian choral work.   Enjoy it before this delicious season is over.  While you're on his site search a little and you're likely to find a few gems my brother has created himself - like Awesomesauce.  Hmm, I think that all the time I am devoting to my children he is songwriting - just a wee bit jealous am I.  Still I would have it no other way.  My children are my gems.  Now back to creating things for them.

Dainty Delicious Delivery

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.  ~G.K. Chesterton

A small box arrived in the mail.

A little fairy had travelled to school, from me to Ess, to give her an inkling of something special in the air.  Our walk home was filled with anticipation, alongside whinges of aching legs ;).

Once home from school, the box was very promptly reduced to this - lots of spots on pretty pink paper and a pretty fragrant sachet.

With little Eee waiting patiently, Ess hurried to open the box, still keen to know its contents.

At last she saw the words 'Fröken Skicklig' on the dotty rose placemat and exclaimed "Froken Sickling:)".  At once, she knew, these were our gifts from our friend Juliane.

She moved away the pretty pink dotty placement to discover eight delicious petit fours and three stunning strawberries.

They were immediately placed in a "bundle" (as Ess called it) for us to see and to taste, to hold and to smell.  They smell so delicious; of anise, cinnamon, lavender and chocolate.  I could sit and smell one all night long.  Indeed I am certain the smell has lingered on me, or perhaps in my memory, from the play little Eee and I enjoyed with our delicious Petit Fours and the Princess and her Pea this very morning.

It was our pretty little chalk drawings which made our neighbours smile and the planting of a native bush in our neighbourhood which rewarded us with this gift, after participating in Fröken Skicklig's Garden Guerilla Challenge.  Juliane will have another challenge each month so be sure to take a peak at her blog.

Also included in this delightful package were a lavender sachet for each of my princesses, some sweet motifs and a Little Red Riding Hood handwritten card and note from Juliane.

Thankyou Juliane, you are so very thoughtful and we are so very grateful.

Enjoy your weekend.  We will be having royal tea parties here for our friends and family.

On My Needles

I like making a piece of string into something I can wear.  ~Author Unknown

On my needles at the moment I have a scarf being prepared for my daughter, Ess, to wear to school.  It is getting rather chilly in the morning and as she has been a little unwell with a barking cough over the weekend, I am very conscious of keeping warm.  I wish it was finished. Still, I knit to help me unwind at the end of the day so I will not let thoughts of completion remove the joy of the process of relaxation for me.  A little ironic, is it not, that winding a piece of string around some needles will serve to unwind me. :)

I am knitting in royal blue to complement her school uniform.  She chose the wool trying so hard to keep her hands away from pink.  It is Panda's colourful new range of Toto Kids yarn.  They have a lovely pattern book with many interesting projects yet, true to form, I am trying my own thing.

I am exploring texture by knitting a band of waffle stitch (k1, p1, k1 etc...) followed by a band of stocking stitch (knit 1 row, purl 1 row etc.).  The waffle stitch sits nicely and retains its flat shape but is much less soft than the stocking stitch (which rolls in at the sides).  We'll see how it goes.  I hope it is soft enough for Ess.

Meanwhile...back to my needles. 

Swap Thanks

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.  Have you used one to say "thank you?"  ~William A. Ward

Today I am the very lucky recipient of a package to my front door.  I am expecting a couple of packages, both from across the seas, this one for me and another which will delight my two little princesses.  So little Eee and I are keenly waiting to hear the knock of the postman on our door as they are delivered.  We were not disappointed.  This package arrived today during lunch and, so as not to dirty the goods with grubby mitts, we downed our lunch in super record time while patting the outside of the package eagerly awaiting the time to clean up and open up.

Inside we were delighted and surprised to find these two sweet little knitted bunnies along with the contents I expected - a kitchen towel and a potholder.  All were beautifully knitted and crocheted (I think that's how she made the potholder) by my down to earth swap partner, Susan.  I love the warm golden yellow she has used... combined with our favourite - pink.  It is all beautiful.  Let me take a second to say a heartfelt "thankyou Susan".

Here is a little peak at what I made for Susan as well.

Enjoy the moments or hours you spend in your kitchen today cleaning and feeding, nurturing and chatting as well as singing, dancing and playing.  If you have a moment, take a little time to read what Rhonda of down-to-earth has written here and here about how these tasks nurture and make us.

Mother's Day Treats

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs... since the payment is pure love.  ~Mildred B. Vermont

Mother's Day truly delighted me this year.  

An early bunch of native flowers from the markets came home with us on Thursday.  A present from little Eee and my Generous Gentleman.  How I adore our native blossoms.  Just look at that beautiful protea.  It feels as soft and fluffy as it looks too.

This is the first year that my darling Ess really took it upon herself to make mother's day special.  She continued asking what we do on Mother's Day and what I wanted to do.  She had also hidden some school-prepared gifts in her room for days.  I was required to go on a gift hunt - luckily after I had consumed my self-prepared breakfast (me and grumbly tummies are a not a good combination).

After much discussion we finally decided to head out for a drive through the Barossa Valley as I have long wanted to do that during Autumn.  I am grateful my husband is here this year to drive me around - it was quite lonely last year:(  It was beautiful there with the dry brown hills starting to turn green and the grape vines bearing golden leaves, some almost a deep red - beautiful.

Not the greatest pic, but the only one to put an image to my words.

As we were preparing to leave, I raced from sorting out the car's contents to respond to my daughter's loud outburst of consternation.  

"Oh Mummy... it's a field of mushrooms!"  (I was right by her side by the time she expressed the word "mushrooms", so loud was her initial cry.)

She had seen a sight so beautiful and exquisite, so befitting of the tales we share.  You see the fairies have been visiting again.  This time they have built their houses, plain to see, right outside our backdoor.

Houses of white with a tinge of brown.  A delight to tiny eyes!

Of course we had to tip one over to see if there were fairies living inside.  Such excitement ensued as, you see, the yellow surrounding the eaves of the "mushroom house" are indication that a fairy has been resident there.

It seems the fairies did some baking as well as the day concluded with some beautiful fairy cakes which were transformed into pretty butterfly cakes.  Delightful!

Oh what a joy to bake with my girls and hear the silence of indulgent consumption.

But the greatest joy, the one that really touched my heart was hearing over and over..."I love you so so much Mummy!"

My Princesses and their Pea

"Good morning my dear, how are you today?"

"Oh I am black and blue all over, I hardly slept a wink.  

There was something very hard in my bed.  Whatever could it have been?"

~ Cee and Ess in play

 

Hmm...I wonder! :)

I made this sweet little Princess and the Pea set about a month ago after being inspired by Juliane's Giveaway set.  The tiny little pillows and mattresses suited Princess Kate (our Kate Finn doll treasure) beautifully.  The set needed something more however as it was not being played with as much as I would have liked (sigh).  I think this was due to the fact that there are so many components to it - all the mattresses, the pillows, the doona and the princess.  They were all rarely moved from the dolly's bed where the set stayed with all the other dollies.  So when I saw a couple more sets with lovely tote bags I knew just how to rectify this.

Just to make play and tidyup even more fun, I've added a special mini pouch hiding inside, and attached to, the tote bag to store that little pea which is so easily lost amidst all those mattresses and then falling to the floor to assume a mysterious abode noone is likely ever to know.

There are just so many ways to play with this little set.  This morning I delighted seeing little Eee make numerous beds all over the floor with all the pillows and mattresses and then move around the room lying on each in turn...yes making them each her very own bed.  Sometimes all that would be lying was her head so she assumed that adorable toddler "head down, bottom up" position.  I don't think she has quite cottoned onto the concept of the pea yet.  No doubt that will come soon.  Especially after we add this adorable book to our collection.

Our little princess Kate has woken up to search for her pea, then ventured outside to climb on the rocks, she has watched Charlotte's Webb (the original, animated, musical version) and had a tea party or two, she has rested again on her numerous mattresses (without the pea this time!) and then swapped roles.  Now I am the princess and Ess is the Queen.

Such fun!  These are the days... the best days of my life.

My next challenge must surely be to create our very own princess.