water falls

water, water everywhere.....

these holidays have been either hot hot hot and dry; or in the last few days wet wet wet....

Luckily for us, we don't flood here, but my thoughts are with all those in SE QLD who flooded just two years ago; and are, heartbreakingly, going through the same trauma again.

On the coast here, we've been immersed in water daily. There's a secret and most beautiful spot away from the tourist strip that reminds me of Greece.... cool, calm blue water and endless stretches of sand.....

 In the pool...

And after the rain...

afghans

My friend Nessie, a Kiwi and pastry chef, makes these biscuits. I hadn't tried making them, because hers are just so good and available locally at a few of my favourite coffee haunts. But in the holidays, with kids around and with the terrible weather, it was just too hard to get out.

So we made them at home

And they were delicious. Maybe not quite as good as Nessie's, but good enough..

The original biscuit recipe says to top the melted chocolate with flaked almonds, but we also left a few plain, and did a few with coconut. They were all good..

and just like that, they were gone.

4/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

Stella: she's enjoying a swim in the wheelbarrow after three 

days of torrential rain and wind..

Ruby: the joy of immersion in warm shallow water....

breathing space

I should be doing all kinds of boring things around the house, as I spent the weekend away with the girls, and then returned to 2 full days of work, but instead I'm reflecting on the week that was, and the week that lies ahead...

Last week I had a lovely surprise when my foster kitten showed up at my place of work. She had been adopted by a lovely lady I came to know quite well through her previous cat. I was thrilled to bits my kitten got such a wonderful new home

The girls and I went to GOMA with some very dear friends. We always end up doing all the kid stuff and not very much of the adult stuff, but my friend and I did manage to make a mask. I just love this photo of us...

We finally made it onto this and although initially we all got jelly legs, we finally relaxed and had a great time enjoying the views

We finished the week with a trip here. I love the local drama club and the special shows they put on for the kids in the holidays. The girls were entranced. All the characters were great but my favourite was the wicked witch, so I jostled the kids sideways so I could get my photo taken with her...!

With my parents finally arriving on the Coast tomorrow and a lot of things to get done before school goes back, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. So tonight is all about chilling out before the mayhem of the next few days. I'm enjoying the quiet of the late night after the girls are finally tucked up and in the land of happy dreams.

3/52

Last week we squeezed a trip to GOMA into our already full weekend. I like to try to get the girls there every holidays. There's always fun things to do. This time we meandered through blue and yellow rooms, amongst other things. My girls weren't keen to cut and stick, but they do like to stick their heads into all kinds of places

Stella...sweet happiness

Ruby...magic

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

2/52

Last week we had friends to stay. Heavenly disorganised chaos. But we found plenty of time to keep cool in the water.

Stella.. constantly in motion and not so keen to pose for a shot..

Ruby...it's hard to get a photo that's not a pose...

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

1/52

This is a bit late. Being a newcomer to the blogging world and always a little bit behind generally, I only just found out about this project last night. So my pictures technically are week 2. But when I look at the photos I've taken so far in 2013, they all seem to be of food, or of my garden. 

So these are from this morning. But I think they reflect well on how my children have been spending the first week of the new year.

Stella: water-child; mermaid, fish..Bubbles of happiness concealing some swirly layers underneath. ..

Ruby: wild child, sweet lover, random exuberance. Some craziness within...

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

all things home

I kicked off the New year with a coffee from my all time favourite op shop find.. and a batch of raspberry and white chocolate muffins made with my help from my smallest. She does so love the raw batter!

 This year I plan on spending more time in the garden. Although my veggie beds have been supplementing our meals for some years, it's been mainly herbs the have done well. I need to take more advice from my friend at Tarina St Farm and start conditioning my soil better. There's no reason I can't grow all kinds of things for us to eat and give away. 

 It's been so hot and dry here lately that even with daily watering, the poor old plants have been slowly deteriorating. So I finally harvested all of my basil and made some delicious pesto. Organic Australian garlic from here, olive oil, macadamia nuts and parmesan. It made enough to give some away... always a nice feeling...

My next project is 2 smaller beds for the girls to each have their own. The edges are recycled hardwood from an old table made years ago by a friend. The table recently rotted underneath after years of weather, but the sturdy top planks are in reasonable condition. It will be interesting to see what the girls want to grow. So far my eldest wants a strawberry patch, and the smallest wants to grow carrots. Having never had much success with carrots I feel slightly doomed from the start. I will have to hit the SGA website for some handy tips...

 And summer wouldn't be summer without a delux-o ice cream every now and again. Massimo's is unreal. Not cheap, but so delicious. My nieces reckon you can't go past the raspberry sorbet and Rocher chocolate combo.  Personally, I prefer the passionfruit sorbet. Thumbs down from the girls, but at least there were no extra spoons dipping into mine!