In My Backyard...

I have a tiny backyard that scarcely accomodates a fold-out clothesline. Despite its size (or lack thereof) I've been growing a few hardy edibles there over the past couple of years - tomatoes, rhubarb, rosemary, parsley, mint, oregano and marjoram. I can't tell you the joy this little strip of garden gives me. I give it very little attention and yet it rewards me not only with delicious food but with amazing natural phenomena like truly bizarre rhubarb flowers which grow as high as the fence and wonderful St Andrews Cross Spiders that spin web that would make Charlotte proud. What's lurking in your backyard?

Shake Your Gluteous Maximus...

Today is Australia Day that happy/sad day when we celebrate all that is great about Australia while simultaneously feeling guilty about the fact that we displaced an entire race of people to get where we are today. As a defence against excessive patriotism Australians love to laugh at themselves (before someone else does!). Queenslanders call us Mexicans (living south of the border) and we refer to their capital as BrisVegas because of their propensity for wearing gold strappy sandals but it's all in good fun as Evil Eddie will show you. Queenslanders may be having a bit of a rough trot at the moment but they sure know how to party...

Dreams Come True...

Disney Studio Artist, Sleeping Beauty, 1959 'Briar Rose Dancing with the Animals' (reproduction).
Dreams Come True: The Art of Disney's Classic Fairy Tales, Australian Centre of the Moving Image, Melbourne


This week we've been in Disney-overload. It's school holidays so going to the movies is mandatory in our household. Yesterday we saw the new Disney offering, Tangled and, wow, that step-mother is a quite a piece of work - manipulative, emotionally abusive, vain and just down right nasty. Tom and I cried several time during the movie while the kids gave us embrassed, slightly worried sideways glances. We've always been suckers for a great animated kid flick and used to go to them even before we had kids -there's just something about a universal story and the knowledge that good will always triumph over evil that I find incredibly comforting.

Earlier in the week I took the kids to see, Dreams Come True: The Art of Disney's Classic Fairy Tales, at ACMI and what a wonderful experience that was. This beautifully curated exhibition explores the development of seven of Disney's groundbreaking fairy tales including Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937), the first feature-length cel-animated film; Sleeping Beauty (1959) made in Technirama 70mm format; The Little Mermaid (1989), the last Disney film made using hand-painted cels and Tangled (2010) with its digital animation of 27 metres of hair!

While there's been lots of huff and puff about Disney's depiction of women, the exhibition actually focuses on the artistry and technology behind each film. Over 600 sketches, paintings, storyboards, maquettes, and original fim cels from the Walt Disney Animation Research Library are used to glorious effect to explore the journey of each film from concept to finished design. While it would be tempting to go overboard in the use of film excerpts in such an exhibition the footage has been carefully curated and placed at the end of each section after you have seen all the preliminary design work and read about the many design influences and challenges that led to the final product.

What I found most interesting was reading about the enormous range of influences the designers drew on - from the broad sweep of early European storybook illustrations, Persian, Arabic, Medieval, Baroque, Roccoco, 19th century French and Japanese art to individual designers such Erte (one of my favourite deco designers).

To round off our Disney journey we watched Snow White in all its digitally enhanced glory on DVD this morning. The comparison between the ultra-flat Snow White and super-3D Blythe doll-like Rapunzel from Tangled was stark but you know what? The kids still loved it and so did I...

PS: If you'd like to see some of the concept development behind Tangled you can go here or if you'd like to read something more serious about the world of fairy tales and their tellers Marina Warner's fascinating, From the Beast to the Blonde is a great if hefty read.

Holiday Snaps...

Well, we're finally back from our seaside holiday. Thank you so much to everyone who left a message and sent good wishes for Henry's speedy recovery - it was a very scary couple of days. I think the sea air must have done him some good though as he was given a clean bill-of-health by the doctor when we got back a couple of days ago.

School holidays feel very long this year (this is only our second year so only 14 years to go!) but it has given us a chance to have two beach getaways so far - to Phillip Island over Christmas (where we saw the pelicans above) and then after the hospital stay to Barwon Heads where we spent a week with my two younger sisters and their families.

The time spent with my sisters was wonderful beyond words. We haven't had a beach holiday together since we were kids and of course life has taken us in very different directions since then. Rachel has made a permanent seachange while Angela has been living in San Francisco for many years now. For the past few years we've only seen Angela in the context of funerals and bedside vigils so it was lovely to be able to spend some stress-free time with her and her young family. In fact seeing all the little ones together was one of the best things about the holiday...

Best laid plans...

Henry getting very excited about the 'World's Largest Chocolate Waterfall' the day before he ended up in hospital.

I don't want to sound paranoid but this is the third Christmas in a row that I've spent part of the Christmas season unexpectedly sitting beside a loved one in hospital. Last year I spent much of Christmas Day night sitting in the emergency department of our local hospital with Henry after he had a massive asthma attack bought on by suspected pneumonia.

This year we managed to get through Christmas and the weekend but by Tuesday night I found myself in a familar situation when Henry woke up gasping for air at about 3.30am. Off we rushed to the hospital again where he was put on oxygen when his oxgen saturation levels were found to be very low. Many doses of Ventolin, a chest x-ray, saline masks and vomiting later he was admitted to the short stay unit where we spent another two nights (with me on a very narrow fold out couch). He was released on New Year's Eve and we saw in the New Year (at the child friendly time of 10pm) with sparklers, party poppers and bubbles and it was lovely to see him smiling again free from oxygen tubes and with the colour returning to his cheeks.

As you can imagine it has been a very stressful time for all of us and I still find myself watching Henry breathing for signs that he is relapsing. All routine in the house has been thrown out the window. We seem to be sleeping and eating at weird times and counting the days until we can finally go on the holiday we were supposed to leave for three days ago. The fridge has been bare for days as we've been taking things 'one day at a time' and the kids have been packing on and off for days so it will be a relief to finally leave tomorrow for some sun and sand and the company of my gorgeous sisters and their families.

I hope your Christmas and New Year was a little more predictable than mine (in a good way) and I'm looking forward to hearing all about the exciting plans you have afoot for the coming year. I think plans and I are going to keep their distance for a while...