Snap!

(from Peter Endebrock's collection, via Agence Eureka)

Luck sometimes goes wobbly

(... but things tend to work out in the end).

My friends Dave and Leslie found themselves in a pickle a couple of weeks ago when Dave's back went out just three days before their second son was born. I don't think I mentioned that while poor Dave made it to the hospital in time for the birth he subsequently collapsed in the corridor with a prolapsed disc and ended up hospitalised himself. So Dave and Les and new baby Hamish were all in hospital for nearly a week while friends looked after Zach. I picked up Dave on Friday and the bad luck gremlins were still around, as we got a flat tyre on the way home! Things have to get better for that family from now on...

Back on the home front with me, things have been up and down. Poor G is worried that he might have damaged his internal sutures last night and might need more surgery. Poor thing. He's in pain and frustrated by the fact that he can't do what he wants to do.

On the upside, I was lucky today to receive some wonderful help from our lovely friends Jamie and Mel. A while ago we had arranged to get our house painted (inside) this week - I hadn't quite realised the amount of furniture-moving and prep-work involved, especially while organising the animals, the car and general household stuff, and G is still confined to bed. We had a huge day today. Jamie came to help and was the perfect project manager; I had also hired a student to help with the heavier stuff but couldn't have done it without Jamie. Thank goodness for such wonderful friends!

That's where I got lucky.

Never too cold for a bit of web surfing ...

I've found some great stuff in my web travels today ...

Geninne's Art Blog is an absolute treasure trove of inspirational, creative delights. You might like to check out her lovely etsy shop* too.

Revamp Vintage brought a smile to my face as I wistfully browsed their sassy retro swimwear collection for the umpteenth time (click on the Enter Here link then on the Bathing Suit Collection link in the side menu within their site).

I found some fun examples of kitschig East German design here, had a peep at some vintage books posted by Kevin over at The Balloonist, was intrigued by the collection of colour photographs of pre-revolution Russia at the Library of Congress:



... and finally I noodled around this humble selection of "Mom's Recipes" on Flickr - I'm sure there are many wonderful stories behind the recipes!

* found via BigCat's blog

This is .... my most favourite outfit that expresses my individual style

Another difficult choice this week, and as I haven't been doing my hair properly or dressing up lately, I don't have any appropriate pics of me to show (might let some fabulous models do their thing on my behalf ....)

For years I have worn a flower in my hair every day: frangipani, phelanopsis orchid, camellia or hibiscus - all retro flowers that I love, and they still attract a lot of comments (even from complete strangers). If I don't wear a flower, I wear a gingham bow hairclip. When I'm not being totally lazy, I wear my hair rolled at the front in forties style (modelled beautifully here by Phoebe and Gwen):



At other times I just go for the good old pony tail or sprouts of touselled hair at the back with a sleek fringe. At the moment I have dark hair - a vague approximation of these, although not yet quite as long:



If I had a smaller, bombshell figure I would be tempted to shop exclusively at fabulous sites such as Daddyo's, Red Dress Shoppe, My Vintage Hut, and My Baby Jo. When faced with reality I'm happiest in wide 40s-style pants or dark turned-up jeans (here's a way-too-skinny version):


... also gingham shirts with puffed sleeves, arm warmers in winter and quite a lot of black. This outfit from Revamp Vintage appeals to me for casual wear too:



If I could fit into their beautiful dresses, I would by dozens from Stop Staring. Daddyo's has a fine collection of their lovely dresses - here are just a few:








That's enough from me .... so much for 'one favourite outfit'! More fab outfits can be found through the 'This is ...' blogroll at Three Buttons. Thank you Miss Kitty's Kaboodle for our theme this week!

Cosy stay-at-home day

Yay! G is able to walk a little bit now, and the lovely Reenie-Su is paying him a visit. They're playing a highly-competitive game of backgammon (with more than a little bit of cheating I suspect) .... great to see some smiles although G isn't really able to laugh properly yet!


These pics are a little dark but if you look closely you can see Gus resting his head on Serena's knee in the picture above - he's a nerd but also a sweet little cuddler.


The knives are coming out when scores are disputed!


Serena came for a walk while Gus ran around in the branches of the peppercorn tree; I climbed part-way up to say 'hi'.


Now I'm baking mini raspberry upside-down cakes. Yum!

Out of the blue

My nieces are visiting Melbourne from country Victoria - they were desperate to visit the Aquarium yesterday, so off we went ...







... I think I'd much rather dive with these beautiful creatures in the wild, or at least watch them from a safe distance in the sea!

Weedy sea dragon pic from Doug Deep 'cause my pics didn't come out.
I adore weedies and leafies! Here are some more...

Agence Eureka

I am so totally enamoured with Agence Eureka's collection of images, I think her site is one of my favourite places in cyberspace!

Breathe! Breathe!

Wow .... I've just arrived home from the hospital, as my friend Leslie's new bub decided to start making a move at 3 o'clock this morning (a bit of background here). Bad timing in some ways because her husband is stuck at home with severe back pain, but it just so happened that I couldn't sleep and was sitting up with a cup of hot milk when the call came at 3am.


Quick quick - bundle her into the car and off to the hospital! The midwives were really sweet and Les was very brave ... how do women stay so calm when they're in so much pain?


I realised that this is the third hospital I've spent time in this week .... anyone would think I had some weird type of medical fetish!

(actually, that uniform is rather cute!)

Mud magnet

Remind me again why I bother to vacuum the carpet and mop the floors ..... ?!

Mediawatch

A rather large picture of Gus, Emerson and me is gracing page 17 of today's Age (the Melbourne newspaper), accompanying an article on women who've chosen not to have kids. I think it's funny that while so many of my fellow-bloggers have articles written about their fabulous creations, I get a mention because of what I haven't created...

I don't yet have a copy of the featured picture, but near the bottom of p.22 is another small pic, in which Gus is pulling a funny face:

What a geek!

Whirlwind

Well, life would be incredibly boring if things were always predictable and easy.... today was a busy one.

I stayed with G for several hours; he's hanging in there and being very stoic. It'll be a while before he's properly mobile but I'm looking forward to having him home soon.


This afternoon my friend Leslie called to ask for some advice and help for her husband Dave, who's put his back out badly and can barely move. A complicating factor - they have an 18-month-old toddler and Leslie's due to have her second child right about now! If her new bub decides to make an entrance in the next couple of days it'll be tricky to juggle Les' transport to the hospital as well as her toddler and invalid husband .... I'm officially on call from tonight as chauffeur (chauffeuse?) and household organiser :-)

While G was sleeping today I spent a bit of time at uni - luckily the campus is just across the road from the hospital. I love the clear winter light and the Orla Kiely-style leaf shadows:





Tonight I took Gus for a much-needed walk to get some of his energy out, but I haven't made any progress on my final essay..... too tired! Time for a bath and then bed I think ....

I feel nervous in hospitals

G is in hospital tonight - I think this is the fifth time he's had surgery since we got married (less than four years ago). He'd really like to have an uneventful year with no medical problems some time soon please!

.... waiting ....



.... recovering ....



I like the irregular pattern of holes in this remote control/nurse call buzzer/speaker:


I must say, we truly value the fact that we can look forward to things getting better. The man in the bed next to G is quite young but in palliative care and making final arrangements with his family, not expecting to recover from his illness. So very sad.

We are the fortunate ones.