Am I reading too much into it?

Images courtesy of the ever-inspiring Maybe Next Week

School holidays are finally over so last week we spent some time ticking a few things off our 'oh, we should do that on the holidays' list. On Saturday we braved the heat and made for the cool confines of the truly amazing State Library of Victoria. It's hard to remember a time when I didn't know and love the Library. When I was small the building was shared by the Museum of Victoria and the Planetarium two of the most wonderful places on earth to a small child fascinated by history and the natural world. When I was a uni student I spent countless hours in the Library's magnificent Reading Room devouring books on everything from Etruscan archaeology to World War II in Melbourne.

I've been waiting until my own children were old enough to experience the 'wow' factor provided by the Library and the Look! The Art of Australian Picture Books Today exhibition gave me just the pretext I needed (here are just some of the 100 or so lovely images in the show). Once the kids had finished admiring the illustrations from their favourite books we strolled across the foyer for a quick browse in the Readings bookshop before indulging in a delicious brunch at Mr Tulk, the Library's very cool cafe.

Now the Reading Room was beckoning... As so often happens in life the Room was not at all as I had remembered it. It was a bright, hot day so the Room was flooded with natural light bouncing off the pristine white walls. It was spectacular in its own way, of course, but for some reason it seemed so much more clinical than I'd remembered it. When I got back home I 'googled' the Library and was reminded that before the recent renovations the dome was actually covered with copper sheets. That explained it all! The Room used to be quite dark with the green reading lights glowing softly throughout the Room. It was always crowded and you always felt a sense of history sitting at those amazing 1850s desks.

Sadly, on that bright, sunny day there were only three people there while in the Information Centre below (with no natural light and lots of computers) the place was jumping. Maybe things are different during the week and, of course, all the uni students are still on holiday but I had that strange melancholy feeling you get when you feel you may well be witnessing the end of an era...

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...

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas...

Thanks Francesca for reminding me about this lovely Christmas treat!

What a lovely surprise I had when I logged on this morning and saw this post over at Cooking Up A Storm in A Teacup. I think you can tell from Deb's words just how much we value the friendship we've forged this year. When I first started this blog 12 months ago I really had no idea that I would meet so many wonderful, warm, talented and generous people. People like Deb, Lucy, Francesca, Tracey, Sandra, Estelle, Fourth Daughter and katiecrackernuts who have inspired me, made me laugh, made me feel welcome and most important of all taken the time to regularly comment on my posts. In fact, a big thank you to everyone who has read, commented or glanced at these pages over the year.

As the days and hours whiz by I'm thinking this may be my last post for the year. There's a pavlova to make today; roast chicken, stuffing and vegetables to prepare for Christmas Eve; presents that still need wrapping and children whose excitement is so contagious I can think of nothing more wonderful than just sharing this precious time with them.

I'm pretty sure we all want the same thing for Christmas - a day filled with love, laughter, good food, an afternoon nap and no family faux pas so that is what I wish for you. Have a happy and safe holiday season and I'll see you all again very soon.

A little bit of Italy for Christmas...

A bit fuzzy but you get the idea!

Like many people I decided to make sweet treats as Christmas gifts for friends this year. It's been was touch-and-go as to whether or not I'd be able to find the time so I wanted to make something quick and easy (preferably made from ingredients I already had in the cupboard) but exotic enough to stand out from all the gingerbread and shortbread. For some reason I seem to have an enormous variety (and quantity) of nuts in the house at the moment and I always have cocoa and spices at hand so panforte seemed the way to go. Then I read Lucy's funny post about her panpepato experiment gone wrong and remembered how good (if ugly) panpepato can be.

I didn't have time to shop for specific ingredients so I adapted Antonio Carluccio's Panpepato recipe from 'Carluccio's Complete Italian Food'. I didn't have any hazelnuts so I upped the amount of almonds I used and as I'd bought some glace apricots last week for some unspecified Christmas cooking I used them instead of mixed candied peel.

Panpepato (Peppered Bread)

170g blanched almonds, toasted & chopped

85g walnut halves

55g pine nuts

55g raisins (soaked in a little Muscat then drained)

60g cocoa

100g glace apricots, chopped

1/2 tsp each cinnamon, ground coriander & nutmeg

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

125g honey

enough plain flour to bind

Method

Preheat the oven to 160C/325F. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl adding enough flour to form a stiff mixture. Using wet hands form mixture into a round loaf and place on a tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 30 minutes (you'll know when it's cooked because your kitchen will be filled with the a wonderful spicy aroma) and leave to cool, dust with cocoa and serve in thin slices with coffee or dessert wine.

How easy is that? If you need a last minute gift to take to someone's house over the holiday season this could be just the thing.

Four Simple Goals Update III

Image via

Time for another update on the Four Simple Goals Project. Way back in September my first goal was to 'bring music back into my life'. I'd envisaged doing that by finally getting the iPod I got LAST Christmas up and running but that still hasn't really happened. Instead I've found inspiration in some unlikely places.

The first place was my car. For the first time in my life I have a car with a CD player (sure it has iPod-compatability too but I digress...) so I've been able to drag out all my old, unloved CDs and play them end-to-end to see if there is anything worth saving. Turns out there is and I've been mentally compiling flamenco, big band, 60s and indie pop playlists ever since.

The second place was watching Glee and listening to the Glee CDs with the kids. The great thing about kids is they have no pre-conceived ideas about what's cool and what isn't (Henry took a 'Chicken Dance' CD to daycare last week and a Debussy CD this week). Through Glee they've become very excited about KISS, Madonna, U2, Lady Gaga, The Beatles and Ella Fitzgerald which I think is great.

The third, and perhaps most unlikely place, was the Rock Chicks concert where I saw Nat Allison wielding the most beautiful guitar in the world - the Gretsch White Falcon. I simply could not take my eyes off that guitar (which is almost as big as Nat!) and went home and dragged out my own acoustic number for a bit of a strum. Like many things (the tennis racket, sewing machine, flamenco shoes...) my guitar has spent way too much time in the cupboard over the years. I used to love playing guitar alone in my room and it seems my newfound enthusiasm has rubbed off on the kids because they've both asked Santa for guitars! Who knows perhaps we'll start our own retro band...

You Know Christmas Is On Its Way When...

...the kitchen is filled with the heady aroma of ginger and cinnamon, cardamon and cloves...