on collecting and tv

one of my favourite shows on tv is Collectors I love to see the wide variety of things people collect, and the reasons why. even though it always reminds me that Niccole Warren (persenter) did the same degree as I did (a different university) and is now living the life.... sigh.
in 2006 D and I visited my godmother, who now lives in Castlemaine, Victoria. she is also a Collectors fan, and has a lot of collections herself. one of them is hat pins. she and her husband travel around Australia a lot and so each pick one thing to collect that you can pick up at antique stores cheaply. their rule is that they can't spend more than $20. so she collects hat pins. she says the fun is in the hunt for the object. but of course, with all those hat pins, where can she store them? salt and pepper shakers! so she needed to add another collection. they are displayed (above) on her kitchen window sill.
we don't have many tv shows we watch, but our biggest addiction is West Wing. it has taken us two years to get to season 5, which we started last week. there are only seven seasons so I don't know what we'll do when we finish! start again?? at the moment, because D is busy with work and university, we unwind after the kids are settled and dishes are done with an episode. or if we are really tired and need light relief, an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. when I started maternity leave last year I watched two seasons of Gilmore Girls in a week! my sister-in-law lent them to me. I knew I had been watching them a lot when the music started and N ran out of his room laughing and then said "what's Lorelei doing?"

fun and indulgences

how cute is this? the pattern for the tea party dress arrived in the mail yesterday and it came with this paper doll and outfits of the patterns you can buy. this was after making these paper dolls with N on Wednesday. we had heaps of fun, even if I was a control freak when it came to colouring in! in the end I decided it was all about N anyway, so what did it matter if Charlie and Lola had red faces??
another of my indulgences below - magazines! while I don't buy all these every month, I love having a variety to pick up. most are home decorating themed with a couple of craft and fashion thrown in. and I keep them forever so our coffee table is really heavy!

mums

another photograph from the "old" album. I'm sure I broke every conservation rule I learnt when scanning the photographs in the album! I like this one of the mother and child. I wonder how many times the child was told to sit still? I wonder what they were doing on the way to the photographers studio, or immediately after? did the child get something special for being well behaved? maybe they came into town especially for the photograph and rode by train. I know I would want to make a special day of it - with cake to top it off!
today I was out with my mum, N and A. N got a happy meal and a Percy engine... he didn't even realise I had bought the engine until we were home and he had his nap. then he kept saying "thank you for my Percy". A got two pairs of tights. :o)
more importantly though, I am reading a book at night before I go to sleep: 'A Mum After God's Own Heart'. last night the page I read asked why we teach our children God's word, talk to them about God, take them to church, teach them to pray, and talk to God about them. "because it's our God-given responsability, our role, our duty, and our mandate from God."
the last picture in my banner is of mum and I at the botanic gardens when I was about 2 or 3.

good books

"Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him. " ~ Maya Angelou

last night before bed I asked N to read to me for a change. his books of choice? 'Where Is The Green Sheep' and 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear'.

look what arrived today

I am so excited! one of my favourite blogs is Heather Bailey's. I love her style and her individuality. I finally bit the bullet and bought some of her fabric (above) for the nappy bag pattern I have had since I was pregnant. I guess I can be excited as it is my ever generous sister who is doing all the work making the bag.
I also have some bundles of HB fabric to make headbands for A. There are so many gorgeous things to sew for girls - I'll have to learn. mum is in the process of setting up a sewing room, and I have this tea party sundress pattern so that can be my incentive.
here is N checking the mail today. I think he was more excited about using the umbrella as he didn't even bring my parcel back!!

another picture

this time I know who these girls are. the one on the right is my maternal great-grandmother, Bertha, and on the left is her sister, Charlotte. their mothers name was Charlotte and my grandmothers middle name was Charlotte. A's middle name is Charlotte as I wanted to have a name that connected with some part of my family, and I think it is pretty. the picture was taken on 26 January 1921.

some favourites

I have added the links to a few of my favourite blogs. most are crafty blogs, others I just like their philosophy on life's little things. one called 'little birds handmade' was the first blog I read. my definate daily blogs are Ali Edwards and Heather Bailey's.
and I also read the blogs of friends and family. :o)

on reading

talking about books, this is the pile of books currently beside my bed. the one year bible I read as my devotional - preferably in the morning before children wake. I always have a couple of novels I am eager to read, but am comfortable with the fact it takes a bit longer to get to them these days!
I still don't know where I am headed with this blog. :o) that's why it is currently snippets of miscellaneous stuff in my life!

love vintage

I have always loved anything old. since I was in primary school I wanted to be an historian. a bit odd? I went on to complete a Bachelor of Applied Science in Cultural Heritage Management.

at times regretfully, I moved on to employment in another area, just as interesting, but more on that another time.

I still love history, art, family history and collecting old photographs and postcards. the picture on the left of my banner is of family members on my fathers side. the boy in the back row, fourth from the left is my great-grandfather.

D was gracious enough in 2003 when we went to Italy and France to rummage through boxes of old postcards with me. I regret that I only bought a handful and not the whole box. Likewise, when we went to the Barossa Valley in 2006 one antique store had a box of old photographs. I should have bought that too. I like that loved ones cater to my indulgences - a beautiful brooch from my mum or a vintage perfume bottle from my sister.

Rebecca Sower collects old photographs (maybe I'm not so strange) and on her blog she is making up stories about who the people were. I do that too! D's mother has an old, old family album which is amazing. By the dress, some photographs are as old as the 1870's. Unfortunately, aside from the original album owner (his maternal great-great-aunt) we don't know who the people are. there are no names. one of my favourites is of a young woman. I have had the photograph copied and it is framed on our piano. she sits at a desk with a book. I love reading, so I like to imagine she did too.

you can expect the odd photograph here, with the occassional story.

my life right now

I read this a few weeks back and really think this is what my outlook on life needs to be at the moment. with a nearly 3 year old and an almost 3 month old, nothing is going to be done in a hurry, and certainly a lot of things are only half done! but just because life isn't all high flying for the moment, it doesn't mean I don't get pleasure from what is going on in my life right now, which is currently reading N lots of Peter Rabbit and Mr McGregor!
"The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life." R L Stevenson

a whole new world

ok. this is something very new for me. blogging that is. mum and dad have taken Nicholas for a night at their house. David is at work and Audrey is sleeping, so I indulge in a guilty pleasure - reading blogs. then I hesitantly move the cursor to the 'create blog' button. for now, it is an experiment and i don't know how long I'll keep it up, or which direction it will take.
oh, and happenstance? initially i looked at synonyms for moss but although life sometimes seems that way, "lowland", "quagmire", or "mire" didn't seem terribly catchy. but synonyms for happenstance seemed just like life itself.