Et tu, Brute?

It's Night of the Notables soon. That's a special research project year 7s get to do at the kids' school. They pick a notable person (doesn't have to be a hero, could be a villain, just someone interesting), research them, and do a presentation evening all together.

We have William Shakespeare... Yorick here is a money box, a "second" from Smiggle being sold at the market. It was black but very scratched, but now it's pearly white. Jonathan has asked if he may use it as his own money box afterwards.

Yorick was going to be played by a very sad dolly I bought from the op shop - with a bit of surgery, her head would make a nice skull. But she's safe now ... so, another creepy toy for the collection instead.









And Julius Caesar... He's going to make an "olive" wreath tomorrow I hope.

And yes, this is as far as my sewing skills/patience extend. Slap a belt around the lot, it'll look fine.

In the damp garden

It's time for my annual "wow, it's spring" post, where I get excited about the fact that spring has unexpectedly sprung yet again. No, really, it is amazing every single time!

I carefully tended last year's tulip bulbs, and replanted them this year. Look what's happened - actual tulips! Ya know what that means - these ones were free!












Then there's the starflowers growing en masse. They are super impressive, because I don't have to do anything, they just pop up!
















Too stingy to get new herb plants, I just encouraged what was still growing from last time (or had popped back up from seeds). We'll have plenty of parsley and oregano, but the snails seem to have eaten the sage. The rosemary cuttings I took a few years ago are well on the way to being bushes, so we are totally self-sustaining in the rosemary department. Which is handy, because potato and rosemary pizza is on the menu most weeks.





And we're trying tomatoes again! One in a big pot, and two hanging upside down. This photo was taken on the day it was planted - already it has turned its leaves up to face the sun!

You win some, you lose some...

It's fete season again! The local retirement village had their annual fete on, so I went and bought jelly cakes (yum), a grapefruit knife, some grapefruits, some lemons, and this awesome penguin fabric! I think it used to be two cafe curtains.









So what can I do with it (I can't really sew)?















On the down side, my bike got stolen! It was a good one too, I ride it to work. Here's a photo of the same model, in case you see it around. Mine has a packrack on the back, and lights added too.

So it's double important that you cheer me up with penguin fabric ideas!

Fathers Day

We just had a lovely Fathers Day. A bit unusual, the kids were all busy for part of the day at school. And it was different parts for all of them - so we didn't do the fairly-traditional movie outing I was looking forward to.

Instead, we had a super breakfast (bacon, eggs, savoury pancakes) made by me. We showered Dad with hand made cards, and a book. Jeff and I went out for a drinking coffee/shopping outing, and had fun browsing at our favourite things (the Apple store, new Lego, books and DVDs today). Topped that off with a dozen donuts!

Here's some of the cards : an apple themed card by me, using my new markers (I only have red, pink and green so far, so that rather limited my colour scheme).











Then we have a private gag by Jonathan : it's an emu, see?


















Then there's Thomas' message, which you will fully appreciate if you are a Discworld reader. Maybe.