Friday, August 26, 2011

The life and habits of green insects

This little fella was caught in our kitchen tonight. We sat him (or her?) on the table during dinner so we could watch it's funny antics. I won't tell you how much milk was spilled in the process... We decided this particular green insect is very vain, as it would take a few steps then stop to groom. Those antennae must need a lot of care!



The ornamental pear

Our ornamental pear tree is convinced that it's Spring, so who am I to disagree? The bees seem to be convinced too.



Saturday, August 20, 2011

Tiny bows and arrows

We have been busy making tiny bows and arrows here lately. We used the instructions from the Broody Hen blog (thank you!). Loads of fun!



I don't know if paddle pop sticks are different elsewhere in the world, but we ended up soaking ours for at least 24hrs, then bent them slowly over a glass jar to prevent them from snapping.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Here comes the sun

I love how a simple thing like swinging on the swings shows the children's different personalities.

My eldest girl, if I'm out there, will spend the entire time describing characters in the book she is reading. Without pause. I'm serious. And she's checking up on me too: "Are you listening, mum? What did I just say? Tell me what I just said." Otherwise she will be thinking of possibilities: what if we sit on the swings this way? What if we hold on to each other's swings? What if? Or organising the others: "you put your hand here on this swing, and you get the swings going this way.."


My boy will quietly ponder questions like: can I still leap off when I am swinging this high? How far will my shoe fly if I fling it off from this height? And generally just enjoying every moment of swinging.


My littlest one will quietly go about her own investigations. Will mum notice if I bring my soft toy outside? Will I flatten big dog if I sit on him while I swing?


And me? I'm trying to photograph small things in the grass. Go figure.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

And back to winter again...

The weather has turned chilly again, but it's raining which is wonderful. We have been doing a few indoor projects - one of which is this world map on canvas. I can't remember which blog I saw this on first, but it looked really good! In reality it's really difficult to stick the map on without any creases, and it's tricky to get it all sitting nicely when you've used cheap canvases like I have which are a little shy of square.... But it was good enough for our wall, I think. And will prevent that nasty curled corners look which all our other maps get eventually - probably from children constantly brushing past them.


The map also had an array of flags from around the world, so I decided to stick them up on some canvas too. See, I really am addicted to canvases at the moment!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Feels like Spring

It's so gorgeous and warm outside today. The windows have been flung open to let the fresh air in again. Books have been tossed aside in favour of swings and gardening. And I'm anticipating my lunch of left-over corned beef with my friend's most amazing home-made beetroot chutney, and some asparagus I just picked from the garden. Bliss...