Jo of the many recent earthquakes, (yes she was in Christchurch for that one and yes she was in Tokyo for the next one), stamp finder and mail sender extraordinaire! If you can't recognise these stamps then you need to go back to your Miffy books, as they are by none other than Dick Bruna!
Another great video of Fluevogs being made, serious shoe geekery! Love the huge bandsaw with images of religious icons, the weird inflatable heat setter, the efficiency of these guys is awesome!
Things have become a little overgrown in our patch, and our current project is to rediscover the front path.
Every morning when we get home from school drop off, Hazel and I spend half an hour or so out the front, me snipping the weeds with secateurs, while Hazel gets about exploring with a lot of chatting.
I have been working a lot lately, and struggling with the attempt to balance that with family biznezz. There have been many tantrums thrown by me, and many blocks of chocolate consumed. I know that 70% cocoa is good for you, but really 45% tastes so much better!
Small girl has been a shocking sleeper, so we have had to move Leo out of their shared room, and he's been in my bed. The other night I didn't really sleep much before 4am, she was up and down so much. I wouldn't have minded such a late night if I'd been out at a fabulous gig, but walking around the dark house in my PJs was much less fun.
To be honest I don't mind having Leo in my bed, when I sneak in he is like a little hot water bottle, and it's good for this Mama to spend some time just with him, especially now that he is so much more independent as a big school boy.
One bonus for us in recent weeks has been the riding to school. I used to be a bike messenger back in the day, and when I had kids I realised that I was in the car so much more than I wanted to be. Leo finally taught himself to ride a week before school started, and as his school is so local, every morning and afternoon we are in a convoy on the bikes. We love it!
Little reminders of my former life are creeping back in, I have a puncture repair kit in my bag again, Leo is getting used to locking his own bike, and Hazel no longer tries to rip the helmet off. I am much more ladylike now that when I used to ride everywhere, and I can report that I have successfully worn wedges whilst riding! Woot!
And while this all seems very middle class and suburban, I am always thinking of the Japanese people and their triple tragedy. I will never forget watching the NHK live helicopter footage of the sea taking over the land, seeing people desperately riding their bicycles away from the water, while realising that I was watching the last moments of someone's life.
I must say that I don't feel very useful in circumstances like these, I think that in another life I would be a Red Cross Emergency worker. I often wonder how shoe making and now media monitoring are very useful. I remember about 11 years ago I got in touch with Australian Volunteers, and when they asked what my skills were and I told them shoe making, they almost laughed and said 'We don't think that there's much of a need for shoe making in our posting locations'.
As a mother of small children I obviously can't go gallivanting around the world helping people in disaster zones, but I do want to do SOMETHING. Might have to put that on the list. Meanwhile I helped Ebony out with her fundraiser for the Japanese Red Cross.
