bump: birthday belly

25 weeks pregnant and 27 years old. My Mum and Dad hosted a little birthday party for me complete with balloons and a hearty meal of roast beef and Yorkshire puddings (in celebration of my birth in Ascot, England). Che helped me blow out the candles on my homemade raspberry and peach sponge cake. It was the perfect end to a beautiful day - full of special treats and my favourite people. I love birthdays.

shack

Have you seen the book Shack - In Praise Of An Australian Icon? Photographer Simon Griffiths has scoured the country, trailed the coast and delved into the green, leafy pockets to find artist's abodes, fisherman's sheds and gardener's cottages. Each photograph is printed on thick luscious paper and the font is organic in its line and colour. There are a few pages that make my heart sing: a weary, bearded man sitting in a torn leather armchair, a bowl of hearty vegetable soup, crusty bread, red wine on an old, old table. Nothing is new in these pages. Everything has history, fingerprints, the patina of many hands and many conversations. Some shacks abound in clutter whereas others contain only the necessities; a gas stove, a kettle and a hammock. For the owners of these glorified sheds, simplicity is the essence of their homes. They don't buy new. They reuse, recycle, redo. A good lesson, if ever I read/heard one.

texture and shapes in nature

a wing caught, the swirl of old man's beard and the roar of golden fire light.

An afternoon into evening in the garden where I grew up - noticing the details that I've walked past so many times before. It's a ritual to have a BBQ every Sunday evening - to snuggle around the fire and look for the squawking cockatoos overhead. Now Che gets to be in on the ritual too.

Daniel has been teaching me how to use the manual focus feature on my little camera. My camera is literally a point-and-shoot but it does have the ability to use the manual features and so it has been a fabulous learning tool. I think it proves that you don't need to spend thousands to take a good (enough) photo - although the plan is to start saving for a super-duper canon soon.

I'm solo-parenting this week as Daniel is in Melbourne (his hometown) to do a little bit of work and to marvel at his sexy new bike that will be delivered on a transport truck which will no doubt make Che's whole year. A new motorbike and a big truck. "Oh that's cool man," he said.

A big huge thank you for all your parenting support and book recommendations. I took it all on board. And isn't it interesting the comfort you feel when you know you're not alone - when others affirm that they too are being challenged by a little boy just like yours. x

from the garden

spring treasures
eggs
roses
carrots
sweet peas
cos lettuce

bumblebee

my parents still live in the house i grew up in. the garden is brimming with vegies. it's a little higgledy-piggeldy, a bit country-cottage, it's very recycled...in the best kind-of-way. My dad is pretty lucky when it comes to finding things. side-of-the-road jewels you could say. their dream is to build and live in a mudbrick house. i have no doubt that they'll do it. ché, if he could, would spend every moment of every day in this garden. it's his paradise. happy as a bee and just as sweet as honey. what could be better than chasing chickens, collecting eggs, picking herbs and digging dirt. and then sealing the day with a roaring fire and bbq'ed chorizo. i suppose i've discovered a new-found love of this place. it's the perfect example of cycles - the chicken and the egg, the seeds and the vegetables, me and my baby. Because, as I'm reminded every time I stand back to watch, I was once the little one running 'round and 'round the garden...like a teddy bear. and now it's ché's turn.