return of the artiste...

While Jack continues his prolific output of drawings and piantings he has also tried his hand at another art form. Photography. Here are some examples....

nuts & bolts

blue woody

blind

coupling

tah

d

no place like home (ruby slippers)

Watchout Annie, Bill and Max. Here comes Jack.

Ouch!

We are now down to 1 duck and 2 chooks. One of the chooks was just never quite right. She had a gimpy comb that never grew, an extra long beak, she never laid eggs and all of a sudden she started to limp and the she developed quite a noticeable list to starboard. I moved her away from the other birds in case her gimpiness was contagious and expected that she would expire almost immediately. It would seem though that living in a box in our laundry and being fed through a dropper was to her liking and so she malingered for quite a while until S could stand it no longer. When I asked him what he was going to tell Jack he replied that he would say, "Daddy had to euthanise the chicken. I guessed correctly that he only wanted to say this so that Jack would use the word euthanise at preschool.
The remaining poultry continue to do well. They lay eggs and in return receive extravagant praise and a variety of scraps provided not only by us but by workmates (thanks Sarah & Jen) and even the local school canteen. Recently I went to collect the eggs and found this enormous offering (pictured next to a normal egg). As Amy pointed out you can even see the line half way down where the chicken has paused to say, No, that's it I can't do it. Ouch.

More facepainting

It would seem that being a superhero would be enough for any three and a half year old, but not for Jack. We went to the farmers markets this morning (I was there for the french bread and the veggie man - Jack was there for the dancing pigs).

When we saw Kelly and Renee doing face painting Jack wanted it done again. This time he wanted to be a fish. Hmmm - he always seems to choose the tricky ones. He was pleased with the results and decided to celebrate with a milkshake at the Thomas cafe.

Once there we were joined by Spiderman, aka Jack's friend Flynn. He too was very pleased with his face. (that's a special scary face that he's making for the camera).

And as for the dancing pigs? We saw them when they arrived but somehow missed the dancing.

fairs, fetes and facepainting

Last Friday we went to a spring fair at a local school. Luckily I had taken out a loan before we got there. There was a ferris wheel, a jumping castle, a cake stall and pony rides and more. Like last time we just had to go on the ferris wheel and I mean we. Jack didn't want to go on it without me, though as I bumped my head and squished into the seat I was aware it was not really built for people over three feet high.

"It's quite high Mum"

After our ride Jack caught a duck and won a prize (not a real duck) then decided to get his face painted. When Kelly asked him what he wanted he said a chicken, much to her consternation. We managed to talk him into getting a superhero mask in purple (his colour du jour).

Who is that masked man?

I think it ended up looking a bit like a butterfly but he was pleased nonetheless. He also decorated a cupcake (which was a very serious business indeed).

The icing (purple of course)

Time for sprinkles

After that we decided to look at the ponies. Normally that is as close as we get ,for even though Jack tells me he wants to buy a horse, when it comes to hopping onto one he is hesitant (and who could blame him?). I think seeing his friend William (who is totally fearless) on a pony certainly helped to persuade him that he should give it a go. After some creative queueing he selected his pony and after a donning a helmet was placed onto the saddle.

Adjusting the stirrups

giddyup

The woman looking after Jack (and the pony) was great. Quietly spoken and patient, I could hear her talking to Jack as they walked around so that eventually he wasn't so scared and he started to relax and enjoy himself.

how could you resist these edible masterpieces?

After purchasing some cupcakes it was time to go (all our funds were depleted) much to Jack's dismay. I had to remind him that tears would make his mask run, which seemed to do the trick. Sort of.

Cup runneth over

One of the perks of working on Cup Day is looking at the Cup day fashions on the internet (during a break) and having a giggle. Not at the super chic race day clobber but the wacky stuff. There's always a CUB or two sporting something out of the ordinary. Like...

Is it just me or does 'our Jen' look like Minnie mouse?

Brynne and Jeffrey - yellow is soooo his colour

the full package - wonder if their reg grundy's match?

lessons learned from living in the country

A friend recently acquired a poddy lamb. Her son (who is three) made her look him in the eye and promise they would not be eating the lamb and that they would be giving it a name.

You should never name the animals you plan on eating. And in retrospect you shouldn't name a duck after a beloved children's book and then buy that book only to have that animal die on you.
Yes, sadly Ping died recently. As you may know I am firmly pro duck so I was actually devastated. We don't know why (though people have suggested some interesting theories but we decided against a PM) but he will be missed. Even S who has always liked the chickens better agreed that Ping had a whole lot of personality. He was probably glad that Ping would not be pooing on the verandah anymore.
I wasn't sure whether to whisk Ping away and tell Jack he'd 'gone on holidays' (which is very Chicken Run) or to tell him he had died. S and I decided to tell Jack. We dug a hole, said goodbye and placed Ping in the hole. Jack picked some flowers and put them in and we covered Ping up. I was worried that Jack would be upset (where upset means scarred for life) but he seems to have taken it in his stride. He tells people "Ping died" then proudly shows them where we buried him.
I guess the arrival of two goldfish on the day of Ping's demise probably helped. And yes, they do have names (we certainly aren't going to eat them). Dorothy and Nemo.

Cup Day!

and they're off!

Every year when the Melbourne Cup rolls around I am invariably working so I have never been trackside with a fascinator and a glass of bubbles. Except of course when I was on maternity leave after Jack was born but somehow I don't think that's a good look taking a baby to the races (after too many bubbles have been imbibed).

As Carol said, "A tiara is not a hat" and neither is a mask.
What a shame I think it's grrrreat

Carol

Years ago I visited Lincraft and purchased the makings of a raceday hat and it has been in service ever since. Dusted off and donned every first Tuesday of November. It's starting to moult. And of course yesterday I was working at the library and not only wore the hat but frocked up as well. I also convinced my fellow library people to don hats (some but not all). We had nibblies and sweet treats and gathered at three for 'the race that stops the nation' clutching our sweep tickets. The race was over in no time and we went back to shelving, collecting our winnings (woohoo $4 for me)and dealing with the general public.

Kelly with her sweep tickets

People react in funny ways to a gal in a hat. One man told me I looked like Gai Waterhouse (a compliment apparently*) and another customer saw my hat and said, "Oh it must be Melbourne Cup Day!" When I looked surprised and said, "is it?" to wind him up he was really phased. So much so that he had to comment about it to other staff. One of whom replied, "yes imagine the odds of not knowing it's Melbourne Cup day and wearing a hat". Indeed.

*Jack told me I looked "handsome" when I put my dress on and gave me a cuddle. Lovely really but why does the word handsome always remind me of Margaret Whitlam?