I'm watching all the news reports of the snow in the Northern hemisphere and feeling a little jealous .. though very glad I was not on the Eurostar .. or trying to drive to work ... or stuck in our old house on a steep road that was completely treacherous to walk down when it iced over ...
Instead, here we are in the southern part of the Southern hemisphere enjoying summer finally and with Christmas around the corner.
School has finished for the year until February.
I feel exhausted just typing that sentence.
Especially after the other day when Daughter-One said she really needed to go to the chiropractor. I booked her in, only for her to turn round and groan when I said a couple of hours later that it was time to go. Across town we all went. Of course, this counted as a treat for Daughter-Two who likes nothing better than a visit to the chiropractor and feels most hard done by if you go without her. Thank goodness he treats her for free, and only gets paid in smiles. The look of glee on her face as she anticipates a juicy crack from her neck or back is priceless.
Then we turned around and all came home, with Daughter-One going on and on about some internet joke about "babbies" (after someone who famously mispelt "babies"). Daughter-Two then picked this up and started singing over and over again "dance to your Daddy, my little babby, you shall have a fishy on a little dishy" etc etc). Which all good North-of-England children must sing, but not on repeat mode for half an hour unless their intention really is to send their primary caregiver insane.
So there I was, walking up our road with a teenager on one side going "tell me about babbies" chortle chortle, and the little one on the other side hanging onto my hand and jumping up and down singing "you shall have a fishy on a little dishy, you shall have a fishy when the boot (ie boat) comes in" chortle chortle. And I looked down at my feet and I saw that I was wearing my running shoes and a little thought popped into my head and the next thing you know I was off and running up the street.
Oh the screeching and the squealing and the cries of "Mummy, Mummy, what are you doing?".
I only got 10 feet away. One grabbed my arm and the other caught hold of the back of my cardigan and I was dragged back into the vortex of giggles.
It was worth it though.
Still, this school holiday thing is not all bad. On Friday Daughter-Two and I went into the city to meet The Husband for lunch. He said "come any time between 12 and 1". We were side-tracked into walking all the way along K-Rd and stopping in all the funky art shops and op shops, and then we had to visit the Telecom Christmas Tree in Western Park. So it was 12.40 by the time we reached Ponsonby, so I rang The Husband to tell him we were late but on our way. Turns out he had forgotten and was downtown at a meeting, but was about to cycle up College Hill to his office. So shortly after that he whizzed past us, then pulled up and took us into his new office. Then we got some hot chips and walked down the street to have a picnic.
An inner-city picnic New Zealand style:
This weekend The Husband was supposed to be taking both daughters to Cambridge so I could have a break. But for various reasons it ended up with just a day away, and a day which didn't start till 11am at that. But I made good use of the time, and finally got some sewing done for Daughter-Two.
I like this smock pattern, so today in between working I made a dress from the same pattern. I finally used some fabric I bought in France 10 years ago, that has been sitting in the cupboard mocking me for ages.
It's hard to tell in this photo, but it has cute cuffed sleeves and two vintage buttons on a tabbed bodice.
While we are definitely NOT shivering here, I did enjoy making this new kit for the store at Designer
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