One

I went away on the weekend and gee it was nice. 

So much of that sweet autumn sun and those beautiful autumn leaves. And because of all the rain, green grass to set it off so nicely. Does Autumn feel particularly lush this year? 

***time lapse***

I just went looking for J's last post about how great autumn is to reference here, and in the process I realised it's winter now. Oopsadaisy. But only just. It's that part of winter that actually feels like fully-fledged autumn, unlike the start, which really feels like leftover summer. Look, it's beautiful outside at the moment. Do we need to apply labels to it? 

Anyhoo, it's Tugboat's birthday in a few weeks.  He will be 1. I can't believe it's been a year (almost) since the day he was born. It was a great day. I bought some new ugg boots, then went to hospital to be induced.  There was a terrible storm, and after a while they said little Tugboat was not doing so well so how did I feel about a cesarean. I said super, thanks for asking.

Half an hour later I was lying in theatre, trembling like a leaf, so the anaesthetist put a hose under the sheet I was lying under, and it blew warm air all over me. I loved him for that. I don't remember much after the warm air, except a massive amount of pressure being applied to my belly as someone pushed Tugboat down from on top while my doctor pulled him out from below. I'm sure it was legit.  The next thing I remember was everyone in the room laughing because Tugs had grabbed onto a piece of cord  holding up the sheet, and he wouldn't let go for love nor money.

 I had many questions, like "Is my baby OK?" and "Seriously, is my baby OK?" but there was so much laughter I had to wait for a break before I could be heard. Eventually they prised his hand from the cord and put him on my chest and I'm sure you all know the rest. Cuddles and tears, on for young and old. I didn't know he was a boy so I found that out. The people in the room asked what his name would be and Appleheart said "tell em!!" so I said "Tugboat!" and everyone cheered. I guess it was pretty much the best day of my life, along with when KB was born and some other really choice days. 

It's weird that it was almost a year ago. And also weird that there was a time before Tugboat. 

WTF Wednesday

WTF? Where did this Wednesday go?!

WTF Wednesday

It's Wednesday already? WTF?!

First thing's first (AM)

Baby is at kinder Monday-Wednesday and I work Monday and Wednesday which means that the only day I'm at home with just Newbie is Tuesday, but for the last 4 months I've been volunteering at the office of an... ahem... politician. It's better than it sounds. Because I think that this office is full of people trying to do really great things like get people into public housing and help refugee families reunite and replace a coal fire station with some renewable power source and, of course, keep the politician in power.

The volunteer program I was part of was kind of an internship, which I felt reluctant to call it because it made me feel like an old person playing a young person's game, and even though everyone else in the program was younger that me I could mostly ignore that fact. Oh sure, there was than time in a workshop when the chief of staff asked us who had voted in the Kevin 07 election. I didn't get what he meant at first until I looked around at all the shaking heads of people who had still been in high school in 2007.

Other than making me feel old and also really busy, doing the volunteering has been pretty good and I feel like I've learned quite a lot and done some interesting things. The most noteworthy of which was writing a speech that was delivered in "Parliament" (so called, but must have been a room down the hall, away from where the action seems to happen) to as many as nine or maybe even 10 people. In that speech I managed to combine my two great loves, shopping and green politics, so I guess, if nothing else, I've learned that dreams can come true.

But it means that tomorrow is the first Tuesday in months that I kind of have to myself, you know and Newbie. I used to drop Baby at kinder on Tuesday mornings and go straight to do my grocery shopping but after all this time I feel like I need to do something a bit more pressing. At the risk of reliving my recent day off and overwhelming myself with things to do I've decided to commit to one thing and one thing only. And that most important thing, the first thing I'm going to do is restock my jeans supply. (Which, in case you are wondering is not the kind of thing that speech was about.)

I have lost my black jeans and it means that I have pretty much one pair of jeans on high rotation. And by high rotation I mean I basically wear them everyday. I buy all my jeans from Dejour and tomorrow I'm planning on stocking up for reals, I'm going to buy three, THREE pairs of jeans. If they have all the colours I want. The thing about Dejour is that their shades of blue are not consistent, of course that's great, you know, real! And all that, and I guess at worst it means that I might only two pairs of jeans. But when all your dreams are hanging on your first free Tuesday in months, well the colour of them jeans seems pretty important. Maybe I shouldn't even go jeans shopping tomorrow. Maybe I need to do it on another Tuesday, one that doesn't seem so precious. God, can I do nothing with a spare day that doesn't leaving me doubting myself!?!

There is absolutely nothing funny about this post (AM)

I had a super restless night's sleep last night thinking about what to talk about today.

I intended to talk about my Sunday afternoon in the kitchen, trying out a new cake recipe and some different decorating concepts in preparation for Crimpy's birthday next weekend. But after sampling a considerable amount of each concept last night after a meal of cassoulet that Appleheart cooked with all the spirit of a French farm housewife, I pretty much don't want to think or talk about cake for a little while (read: just today). 

I certainly don't want to talk about the election. Though they do make one quite reflective, and this one in particular has given me off the charts reflective impulses. I keep thinking about the Kevin 07 election and how exciting it was to wake up the next morning and get out bed knowing there was a new PM and things would be different. And how obviously absent that feeling was yesterday. I also kept thinking about the last election night, which I spent at Miguel and Legsley's place I think. Is that right? I think it's right. It must have been just after their wedding which means I would have just met Crimpy, the person for whom I spent so much of yesterday baking.  

J and K dancing at the Miglegsley wedding. Such a swell time.

At that time, Baby would have been a fairly newborn baby.  Iszzle, the Miglegley's son, wasn't even a twinkle in their eyes. But now baby is a proper little boy and Izzle is a proper little baby, just one of a slew of babies who've arrived in the last year and a bit. See what I mean about this reflective malarkey? It's ridiculous. 

So nah, I don't want to talk about any of that. I don't want to bore you guys with it. The mood I'm in, I could go on and on. Instead, I'm just going to head off to work and see what happens today. But before I go, I just want to draw your attention to the photo at the top of this post. See that little green pot up there? Well in 2011, when I got that little green pot (a gift from Crimpy, coincidentally), it had three tiny little plants in there, much like it does now. I took care of them and they thrived and now the are the plants living in the terrarium behind the little green pot, and new tiny plants have taken their place. 

Amazing, non?

 

The Passover questions (PM)

OK, passover questions. Here goes.

It's hard to know what to cook for a dinner party at the best of times, nevermind those that are held on holy days and come with dietary restrictions. 

And like I said when we were discussing this very issue over That Time of the Month dinner, the passover meal is all about symbolism, and I think there is scope to make a dish that is symbolic of the passover story. You know, something evocative of:

- wandering in deserts

- parting seas

- plagues

But who has the time to get all Heston's Feasts on the spread?

Sure, we've got the freedom (thanks to Moses) but no time.

Personally, I hope someone makes this thing called Brei. It's like an eggy matzo pancake/fritter type deal.  I think it could be the hot new dish this pesach. 

Haiku Thursday (AM)

A year. 

I wish I knew how

To make you go more slowly.

Not thunder past me. 

Once the blossoms end

The jacaranda will bloom

And then it's Christmas. 

And then? Then It will 

Be 2013. 

Unbelievable.