Aprons Aprons Aprons

It doesn’t matter if you are a great cook or a not so great cook.  It doesn’t matter if you are cooking the entire dinner or ordering in from Whole Foods or Stop n Shop and it certainly doesn’t matter if your contribution is dessert or the entire banquet…everyone should look great during the holiday season.

These aprons have been beautifully made by the very clever Australian artist, Karenne Crow.  Karenne resides in the beautiful Hunter Valley and created these and many more to sell so that she can cover her addiction to Costco Ribbons and Nashville Wrap cards.

Firetruck Fun

 

French Pastry

Firetruck Fun 2

  

Her use of antique laces and linens, together with lovely crisp and colorful fabrics, ensures each and every one of these aprons are unique.  Many of the antique laces are heirlooms from her Aunts and her own grandmother.

Blue Flowers

  

Pretty Yellow floral

Christmas Time

Vintage Kitchen

 

The aprons debuted at Art Is…You and were greeted with glee by many participants, some of who had pre-ordered with specific colors in mind.

Roses are Red

  

Newly Married

Each Apron is $35 including postage within continental USA.  On the side tool bar, state the apron that you wish to purchase, click to pay via paypal and we will package it up and send it to you in time for you to look smashing!

Frankie would have been 8 this week.

There is always a way. When things look like there is no way, there's a way - to do the impossible. To survive the un-survivable, there is always a way…and you, you and I have this in common, we are inspired. In the face of the impossible, we're inspired. Today, if you become frightened - instead become inspired.

Isaac (Character in Grey's Anatomoy)

Trick or Treat

We had the unique opportunity this year to celebrate Halloween through the eyes, ears, mouth of a three year old!  A week of celebrations at school, including picking his own pumpkin from the special pumpkin patch, closed with the climax of Trick or Treating – a term that Max has come to know and love!

Joined by his sister and her friend, Max dressed as a Yankee which was in keeping with Flossy’s current obsession and of course with the night, seeing as the Yankee’s whipped the Phillies while we were all gathering candy…

 

We headed out and up the street knocking on doors and ringing on bells.  Without missing a beat Max would cry out “Trick or Treat” and to his amazement the person at the front door would give him a treat.  At the first couple of stops, he actually wanted to go inside and visit but slowly he got the hang of the Trick or Treat cry and the subsequent delivery of candy!

 

Returning home, he shared his loot with his father – much to his father’s delight and then proceeded to spend the night answering our own door when the bell rang.  When seeing the children, he would also cry out “Trick or Treat” and to their astonishment, he would then check out the contents of each of their bags and transfer said delights to his own bag!  Fortunately, the children were most understanding and particularly willing once they realized I had plenty of candy to refill what was taken…   

He bounced off the walls until 8pm, then it was into our glow-in-the- dark skeleton pj’s and off to ghostly dreams and sleep.

My Halloween treat followed the next evening with dinner and the viewing of Blaze with my girlfriends and our daughters. 

Pumpkins glowed above us and around us.  There were dinosaurs and ants, bees and fairies.  There were graves and skeletons, ghosts and aliens.  Fish, crabs and boats – sunflowers, faces and celtic art and all were created with pumpkins.

 

There was a glorious orange glow of creativity reflected all around us and like children we oo’d and aah’d over the talent, the time, the planning and the execution of such a phenomenal display.

 

We had a fabulous time and as one of the last to leave, the girls forgot to be cool for a moment and gave in to one mother’s delight.

It would be nice if they could be still like scarecrows for a little longer.  Life is moving so fast and it is in these rare moments that we find joy in each other’s company and the company of our friends.

For Mrs. Pom

Dear Mrs. Pom;

As the leaves turn and the wind starts to whip, I realize that we never thanked you properly for leading us to the wonderful world of the Cape. We started our holiday by stopping in at the wonderful town of Newport, where we fell in love with LIVE Lobsters and we discovered that we couldn’t stay with them all day even if we did try to have a “sit in”.

Our first morning started early…

we watched the sun rise before setting out on our first of many walks, down to the water’s edge.

If we could have stayed here for the next 12 hours we would have. If Max could talk, he would have simply declared this “heaven on earth”.

But it was back to the room to rest and relax…

before heading out to discover the wonderful world of Putt Putt.

We discovered that only balls fit down the holes, and that you don’t need a club to actually play the game.

and we really wished that we could hop in and swim with the fish.

We enjoyed the obligatory ice cream across the road from putt putt

and headed back to make friends with our new weekend neighbors (both in their 90’s and have been staying here for over 20 years…apparently we were in their “usual” room but it was ok because next door had a new lounge!). Note: I sent Max outside to “play” and this is where I found him.

Every day started like the day before

7am

The last time I made sandcastles was with sleeping beauty. The only difference was she would decorate them as opposed to trashing them!

We flew kites … an interesting exercise watching the Engineer mathematically work out how long the string should be and which way you should stand and where

…it became clear when it was time to let someone else have a turn.

Max proceeded to just let the string unwind from the holder and watch the kite go higher and higher and higher. At one point he looked over at his father and you could tell he was thinking… “Now this is how you fly a kite”.

(yes…this is the second shot of Max flying his kite)

We played piggy back…

and attempted family portraits…

We even did a little reading and a little creating…

We preferred the big bed to our crib

and “we” were excited to see condensation. No holiday is complete without the Engineer photographing glass performing under different temperatures…

Importantly it was a weekend of connection with each other, reminding ourselves that spending time together is so very important.

Thank you Mrs Pom for our memorable 2009 Summer Holiday – discovering another beautiful part of the wonderful USA and remembering that a diet of sandcastles, seagulls and shells – is good for the soul.

A Whirlwind Visit

As I sit in Starbucks with my Venti coffee on this cold (32f), rainy Friday, I marvel how quickly time flies.  As I write, Mum sleeps and is getting ready to have a night on the town with our beautiful Fairy (my niece).  They have tickets for Andre Rieu and are so very excited.

The freezer is full to the brim with meals for the next month - she ran out of time to do the usual 3 month supply.  Even Max grunts and groans when reaching for the ice cream as he battles the ziplock bags of beef stew.

Rose’s room is back in some order …obviously it depends on your definition of order… and in a weird way we both agreed her room seemed empty without Granny lying there under the Jonas brothers doona, with the blankets and hot water bottles.

Max has been looking for Granny (photo taken by max)

and when I put my shoes on this morning he said “granny’s shoes”…ah yes…Mum loved my shoes so much we had to make a special trip to payless to get her a pair.

Neil of course is reveling in the luxury of new undies and ironed shirts and continues to eat the brie that Mum commandeered from the cocktail table at the event (picture a large baked brie the size of a big pizza and only half was eaten…Karenne made sure it didn’t go to waste and has ensured it will go directly to waist!

“Mum” as she was affectionately called throughout the weekend of Art Is…You, was welcomed with open arms by those who met her last year and those who didn’t know her at all. 

She ran around for me, for Ellen and for anyone else who asked.  She flogged aprons – even to the in house Engineer who took one home  to his wife.  

She made sure everyone was looked after. (With the talented CT born, Sydney residing Keith LoBue) She made sure everyone was registered and everyone bought a raffle ticket …

…now I know why Ross and Mary get her down to Nowra each year…she can  sell anything!

She looked after me and my friend Ellen - this is one of 54 photos she took of us in the space of 3 minutes…she finally settled for just the face because (apparently) our bums and stomachs were too big.

What I loved the most is that she created and her creativity was celebrated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karenne’s Quilt – Pamela Huntington’s Class

Karenne’s Wonderland Hat – Taryn Reece’s Class

Karenne’s journals – Kecia Deveney’s Class

I guess my two favorite memories of my mum spending time with me both occurred whilst at Art Is…You and of course I can only share with you the written version because no photos could do justice.

1. Picture the main luncheon area set for 100 people.  A large data projector is set to screen on a 12 x 12.  Speakers are connected to the hotel sound system…and lap top connected to all of this…It is 3pm our time…6am Aussie time – SO GUESS WHO DECIDES TO SKYPE? Yes it was Papa in all his glory.  Of course, he always skypes before he puts his hearing aids in, so all I got to see was the top of his head because he was leaning toward the speakers to hear my voice.  Shall I just say that we all got a little tickled by this episode and I learnt a valuable lesson – turn off all apps when the laptop is in the public arena.

2. Picture Karenne – it is 6pm.  She has been walking around selling raffles for the last few hours.  In one hand raffle tickets, in another hand a tumbler with wine. She worked out that by putting it in the tumbler, the hotel would think it was apple juice and not scold her for walking around public areas with alcohol.  Over her arm she had her pink shopping bag.  Up to the registration table she wandered where my beautiful friends Gwen and Doris were.  When asked what was in the bag….she produced the bladder of the wine box!  Poor Doris and Gwen…the looks on their faces!  They truly thought she must have a catheter somewhere and this was her wee bag!  It was almost too much for them when she topped up her glass, popped the bladder back into the bag and skipped off to sell more tickets…

And so she is gone for another year but not before she told me that she would be back to take Kecia’s class and not before we created 100 Nanny Magnets for her birthday and not before she stole my favorite hand painted suitcase because it was slightly larger than the one she brought and not before she had packed 3 giant bottles of maple syrup and not before she had purchased Dad’s annual pair of shoes and not before she had got Lillian’s cards, treats for Sue, Mary, Clare and the rest of her apron girls, folk art girls, kelman girls, oh and family…yes you scored a little but you will have to wait till Christmas!

Oh…and the 54 photos of Ellen and Me? Taken on the same night as the wine bladder discovery…

Granny Week 1

 

Well we hit the ground running…

Costco for ribbons

Michaels for paint brushes for girlfriends

Borders for calendars

Stews for food

Kitchen for cooking cooking cooking

Finally we got to Friday and we took off for NYC.  Picking up my friend Joyce we headed into the city.  While looking for the FDR Drive we discovered the construction site under the Whitestone Bridge, then we worked out that the FDR drive ends at Staten Island Ferry Terminal so we back tracked up to Canal Street, made friends with the car parking man and with backpacks on we headed out.

First stop was 2 doors down

FABULOUS place for yarn, tassels (ready for Annie’s class) and seam binding. We ooo’d and rrr’d at the wonderful Chinese bakery, promising ourselves to return at the end of the day for take home treats.

The outdoor markets of fruits were wonderful.  Check out these grapefruits and the wonderful Dragonfruits

We discovered this really cool shop with lots and lots of Jewels…(Mum was in heaven)...

We bargained over pashminas, Beanies (that Mum kept calling Tea cosies), and tasted the chocolates.

But the find of the day would have to be where we ate lunch.  I have always complained that you have to go “off Broadway” to find somewhere to eat.  As I said this yesterday, I looked up and saw…

The French Culinary Institute…apparently they have been in this place for 45 years…but on extra quizzing we found out that the awnings were new!  So well done Awning Man!

What an exquisite place to have lunch. 

Appetizers

Tuna tartare

 

Calamari stuffed with Italian sausage

Pate

Beetroot Terrine

Mains….

Venison and Baked pear

Salmon consommé

Desserts were to die for…

and all for $28 per person!!! BARGAIN

But of course we had to leave our thrones and head back out into the real world … crossing the road to my favorite store of all NYC

 

Pearl River Mart where there is something for everybody.  I just love the color and the texture.  The atmosphere is lively and happy.  You can buy virtually anything in this store and of course we all walked away with our treasures.

It was at that time that we received a phone call from Flossy…it seems her mother had forgotten that she needed to be picked up from film club…oops!

So we gathered our treasures and headed back…a couple more “tea cosies” for mum to take home…a few more jewels and we were once again back in the car only to discover we had forgotten to go back to the bakery.

We agreed that Neil would survive and vowed to return another day, bringing the girls for another NYC treat.

I had forgotten the joy of being a tourist but once again the flame was ignited and this time I am promising myself to breathe, to live in the moment and to remember that a girl can never have too many pashminas.

T.U.B has Landed

The Ultimate Boss has landed (she is still taxi-ing on the runway but is texting!!)

We are ready!

Note the wine glass, as well as the tea pot! Plus her favorite cookies – graham crackers! Plus delectable's from Martines Bake Shoppe…

The bed is made.  The towels are clean.

Rose’s gift is ready and waiting.

     

Costco croissants are ready to go in the oven and the wine is chilling.

We are all excited…even papa…who has already skyped twice all by himself!