Monster Bubble

But, seriously …

A familiar face

It can be hard to look at certain objects and not see a face. Resting in the shadows of trees, or in the raised metal of drain covers on a footpath, faces are everywhere. Well, I think so, and I’m not alone. The want to anthropomorphise is deeply imbedded in the human brain. Thankfully, the faces I see are benevolent ones, like the one springing from this silicon rubber trivet in my kitchen. It took me by surprise one day, looking for all the world like the head of Charlie Brown, and he has never left the kitchen. Every time I look at the trivet, there he is. Good grief!

Mini Pop Up Tots

It’s not yet summertime in Australia, but it is time for some home spun frivolity.
Watching bemused looks on the girls’ faces when presented with miniature cardboard versions of themselves was great fun. I printed, then cut around and assembled the ‘miniatures’ with a stand like a photo frame.

Isadora was initially delighted and perplexed, stating, ‘What on Earth are those? … They look a bit groovy’.

It was entertaining to see them act the puppeteer with their own likenesses*, with both girls talking in exaggerated voices, and this made for very animated play.

Make your own … 1. Take a photograph top to toe, somewhere standing in even light (meaning, fewer shadows or bright sun across the person is good).
2. Print out the full-figure on A4 paper. 3. Glue the paper to a heavier cardboard first, one that is rigid enough to stand upright once cut out. If you want a colour outline like the example, just mount the figure on colour card after you have cut around the outline. 3. Carefully cut around the colour card, mirroring the existing outline, allow a 5-8mm border. 4. Too make a simple stand for the back cut a piece of cardboard approx. 180mm x 75mm wide and then fold at the 20mm point lengthways, in the example, this side was simply secured to the back with a long strip of tape. The remaining 50mm folds back and acts as a basic stand, you don’t see it from the front. And there you have it, your own mini whoever.

* Each of these ‘characters’ were made with three images combined. Heads were made a bit bigger for effect, and shoes were added from separate photo too, this allowed for more detail and brighter colour, but you can still use a single image to great effect.

Tulip Festival Mania

It’s early Spring, and today the girls joined all the other cats and rabbits for a hop and prowl through new tulip rows at Silvan. It must be said, the mood was more ‘skip and stomp’, then ‘tulip tiptoe’, with a large, slightly manic crowd descending on the gentle rows of bulbs at the Annual Photo Snapping-Flower Squashing Tulip Festival. A Golden Age? Nope. Anything like Amsterdam? Nup. Rotterdam? Not even damn close, but this was a fine way to get personal with some stunning fields of colour … and in disguise.
rs

The Tree Climber

Although I knew that the playful pastime of tree climbing was also a serious occupation, I had never watched a professional tree climber at work, until yesterday in our backyard. Sliding out on the thinnest of twigs at the greatest of heights, Barton, our climber, displayed the nimbleness of a sailor and the derring-do of a chainsaw juggler. Leaning horizontally, and swinging upside down Barton was giving our 60 year old Elm tree a very spectacular chop. I asked if he was a good climber as a child, ‘I used to climb, I’m not sure that I was any better then the other kids. It’s just practice’.

Like so many skills in life, ‘it’s just practice’. Though this did not lessen the spectacle of Barton’s intuitive climbing skills. He placed absolute trust in his ropes and swung between limbs, chainsaw humming from waist. Perching lightly, like a cat, he stretched to tend the fingernails of third-storey branches, pruning the magnificent tree carefully into shape. Good job. Some job. Don’t try it at home.
rs

Indoor Seashore

It’s cold and rainy, an insidey sort of day. The girls have been asking when we would be going to the beach again. They remember summer fondly, though it must feel long ago to them.

And there was a simple antidote to the winter blues. Fossicking around I found the booty from last summer. Shells, stones, seaweed and driftwood, ready again for play. An unused box and a bit of assembly was all that was now required. Not as much fun as our beach holiday discoveries at Merricks, but tip in a magnifying glass for good measure, and we had a rebooted box of beach to rediscover, up close and indoors.
rs

Fence Proof Tree

I was out with Camille in her pram, strolling the peaceful perimeter of Maranoa Gardens, when I noticed this sweet solution for a growing tree. Fences are supposed to keep things out, or in, but this one is a little more accommodating than most.
rs