Weekend Done List

One finished Reading Pillow for M8. (I have yet to tackle the piping as per Meg's pattern.)

One finished Reading Pillow for H (six on Friday!). It's being posted flat so her Mummy will stuff it for me.

I was supposed to do premmie knitting but I succumbed to the lure of the simple dishcloth instead. These are Grandmother's Favourites (check out all the patterns on my new favourite dishcloth site).

We watched March of the Penguins and loved it. We did housework. We got as far as putting seed mix into the propagators before the awful stormy weather killed the gardening mood. I've neglected both my overseas friends and my nappy sewing.

Today, while I sit watching the storm battering the plants outside, I mull over Mrs Pivec's Sing a Song of Now post. How do you snatch a little bit of time for the things you love, each day?

A Theme

Weekend To Do List

• Sew Reading Pillow for M8
• Sew Reading Pillow for cousin H for 6th birthday next week
• Finish pink premmie knitting for SANDS
• Start propagating Kings Seeds
• Organise family fun night to watch March of the Penguins (homemade chicken nuggets, wedges & purple cabbage coleslaw)
• Catch up on email correspondence with friends overseas (yes, you Claire!)
• Start cutting out nappies to sew for Y6months
• Housework (I'd rather put "expedition to Juniper Gallery & Knitworld" instead!)

Bread, again

The wholegrain loaf from yesterday was scrummy. I'll spare you a photo of the orange millet raisin loaves from today, in case you bloat up, but they got a big thumbs up from the kids too.

Today, I was the picture of kitchen domesticity: kneading my orange raisin bread then baking three loaves of it, homemade playdough for two of the offspring, lactation cookies that despite me not lactating I've developed a liking for, lamb shanks and beans into the slow cooker. This evening, after getting the homemade chicken stock out of the freezer for the fresh egg noodles for kid's dinner, I had to call a stop to all that Martha Stewart-ing as I fought off urges to make apple pie. I was starting to feel a little queasy at myself.

So I sent Houseboy out for c**p filled icecream and marshmellows for pudding. I will make a chocolate sauce to put the kids (including a sleeping-over friend) into complete sugar overload before bed. What am I thinking?

My excuse is I need the sugar rush to cope with the premmie baby knitting I'm doing in 4ply on 3mm needles in a more-complicated-than-expected-from-the-photo lace pattern!

Potatoes

We've had a lot of fun watching our Cliff's Kidneys spuds sprouting on our window sill the last few weeks. I've never grown spuds before and am feeling very mature and grown up about the whole thing. Our friends up the road are sprouting Jersey Benne spuds so we can swap crops.

I5 loves any excuse to get stuck in and help so she planted them into our patio potato bag.

I hope they're ready for Christmas, especially as I've told my mother I can't come to visit her as I need to look after my garden!

Bread

After a busy weekend rushing around with visiting family I felt the need to get into the kitchen and make some food from scratch to centre myself again. I'd been meaning to try Jim Lahey's No Knead Bread recipe that did the rounds of some craft blogs I follow.

I cannot tell you how easy and how delicious it was. There was much ooohing and ahhhing over the taste and crispy crust. I will definitely be making this again.

I also started fermenting some dough to make a wholegrain loaf from my Feeding the Whole Family book. We'll see how that turns out at lunch today. I've also started an orange millet raisin bread following the same principles, for tomorrow.

There is nothing like whole, slow food to replenish the soul and body!

Long Player

Do you ever have a spiritual experience while listening to music?

Rob Bell writes: "I remember the first time I was truly in awe of God. I was caught up for the first time in my life in something so massive and loving and transcendent and...true. Something I was sure could be trusted. I specifically remember thinking the universe was safe, in spite of all the horrible, tragic things in the world. I remember being overwhelmed with the word true. Underneath it all life is somehow...good...and I was sixteen and at a U2 concert. The Joshua Tree tour. When they started with the song "Where the Streets Have No Name", I thought I was going to spontaneously combust with joy. This was real. This mattered. Whatever it was, I wanted more."

Music Moments that have made me feel this way (I'm going to show my age!):
- The first time I heard Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
- Seeing U2, Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead in concert
- Listening to Mozart's Requiem in my grandparent's bath
- Playing Chopin on the piano (way back when I could)

I finally bought Hollie Smith's album Long Player yesterday and we've had it playing ever since. Wow. Wow. Wow. Go and buy it and support a fantastic New Zealand musician! The white girl with Pasifika styles tattoos can sing - a bit of Aretha, a bit of smoooooooth jazz and plenty of Kiwi soul. I'm hoping Man Who Earns the Money got the "hint" when I told him her upcoming concert date! She certainly manages to carry us to a different place with that voice.

(I did really want to start putting some of my Peak Point Ponderings down here but my mind has been tangled up in other stuff and it's been difficult to crank the old brain cells into action the last couple of days.)

Bellinis

Husband and I had a mini-date (accompanied by youngest red-head) at La Bella Italia yesterday while the daughters were Girl's Brigading it up.

Instead of my usual flat white, I decided the weather called for a bellini...prosecco with peach flavour (schnapps perhaps?). Will this be my drink of choice this summer? Or Pimms and lemonade? Or good old margueritas?

While I give this much serious consideration, I'll also plan how I can, one day, meet the ever-sparkly and jubbly Kate for Pernod aperitifs and chilled Beaujolais. She has awarded me with this:

I am all over the gorgeous pink floral label! Thanks babe! I really hope this is me...

"...for those bloggers who are nice people and good blog friends - those who bring good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world."

I'd love to award this to two different real life friends, who inspire me in different ways:

Claire: for stimulating me to think a little more deeply than I'm naturally inclined to atm.

Nikki: for providing gentle challenges to be intentional in my life.

Peak Points to Ponder

My resident Peak Oil Freak drew my attention to a paper by Richard Heinberg and one paragraph jumped out in particular. I'm going to ponder his points this coming week and get some thoughts together.

"Are there some good things that are not at or near their historic peaks? I can think of a few:

• Community
• Personal autonomy
• Satisfaction from honest work well done
• Intergenerational solidarity
• Cooperation
• Free time
• Happiness
• Ingenuity
• Artistry
• Beauty of the built environment"

He writes: "Our central survival task for the decades ahead, as individuals and as a species, must be to make a transition away from the use of fossil fuels - and to do this as peacefully, equitably, and intelligently as possible."

I'll be back with my ponderings.

A wee hiatus

You know how you can slide off the edge of the blogging universe? Well, I guess I did, eh? Sometimes I find it hard to kick that 'overwhelmed by other blogs' feeling and do my thang.

This week I turned into one of those crazed "sewing my child's costume with an urgent deadline" mamas. Miss 5 was Laura Ingalls for a Storybook event today. The costume is far too large for her but as I was doing the irritating hand sewing part I thought that Caroline probably made the girl's clothing a few sizes too big to get the most out of them...and by hand too.

I also turned into a "must give a home-made child's birthday present" mama. I was finishing the hand-sewing 5 minutes before M(nearly 8) left for the party.

I love the Reading Pillow pattern by Meg over at Montessori by Hand. I am determined to make all of us one too.