There’s a Bear in There…and Much More!

My Nanna turns 88 today! Happy Birthday Nan! She, Eloise and I are the redheads of the family — a special little bond that ties us together!

I’m just back from a ten day break in my old stomping ground, the Blue Mountains. Eloise and I flew up and spent some time with my folks and dropped in on Nan. We had a wonderful holiday lounging around, antiquing, folk-festivaling, park playing, coffee drinking, duck feeding and shopping. Eloise discovered Mum’s pianola and serenaded us with bizarre medleys at every moment she could. Now she is asking for her own ‘pinano’. Hmmm.

We attended the Blue Mountains folk:blues:roots festival (musical highlights being Luka Bloom on the Saturday night and one of my Dad’s all time favourites, Ralph McTell on Sunday arvo). Unfortunately the weather was terrible so it did take the shine off festival activities a bit. However this did mean more time was spent trying to keep dry by wandering up and down Katoomba Street sipping coffee, eating cake and checking out antique and junk shops (oh the tragedy!). I didn’t end up buying too much — some beautifully painted pet rocks for Eloise (a wombat and a cat) and a couple of awesome vintage children’s books (1912 & 1924) with wonderful illustrations (see below) and dozens of stunning silhouettes.

The week before we left was frantic. My priorities sure have changed since having Eloise…..never would I have imagined I’d be stalking ticketek online for the latest Wiggles tickets (man, how fast do those babies sell!??)…and indulging in a morning of ‘Playschool’ at the local theatre. Playschool ‘live’ was brilliant by the way. I swear when Benita Collings burst through the ‘door’ I am embarrassed to admit I felt a wee bit emotional! Benita first appeared on Playschool in 1969 and filmed 401 episodes! I feel very lucky that we got to see her at work! Now if her co presenter had been John Hamblin I’d have been a tad fanatical — no offense to the excellent George (he was more my sister’s era) but John is John. (Oh and Eloise enjoyed the show too. Ha ha!)

In other news I moved back into my studio/office/study over the weekend after spending 12months in a playpen in the corner of the living room so that I could ‘watch’ Eloise while I worked at the computer (yes you read that right…it was ME in the playpen). I am so incredibly happy to be back in my own space and I think it’s just the change of scenery I need. My sewing machine also has it’s own table. Yippeeee!!

It’s nice to be back.