nov, 13th - urban beekeeping....

day 621:

last weekend we went to an urban bee-keeping talk at Petersham Nurseries {see day 603} (i did warn you that it's become our favourite place for Autumn). Although the Shoebox certainly doesn't have space for a couple of hives.....A. and i both come from farming-type backgrounds and i think that under our urban veneer, we long for vegetable patches and bees at the end of the garden. (Given that we've both killed every single pot-plant and window-box that we've ever tried to raise....we have a long road ahead).....

anyway,  it was great to be in a classroom environment again, especially when that classroom, is a beautiful, glass greenhouse.....our bee instructor, Brian McCallum, was brilliant. He's part of Urban Bees, has written various books and works on the Mayor of London's Capital Bee scheme. I certainly wish that I had known about these career choices when I was growing up.

we may not have the rambling garden and abundance of pollen creating plants yet.....but we are certainly both inspired to one day have these and some busy hives to look after......in the meantime, it's back to those window boxes with renewed enthusiasm.

apr, 1st - crayons....

day 419:

i often think that whatever you get exposed to as a child is largely dependent on what your family are interested in.....so, it's a bit luck-of-the-draw.......who knows, i could have been a talented fencer (the bee-keeping-mask and sword type)....but it wasn't a big sport in our small town in South Africa.....

anyway, if you love books or swimming or baking...then i think that your children will probably develop a similar love or at least an appreciation of the same things......so, i've been waiting for Limi to get old enough to start drawing......

sadly, our first sit-down-and draw together was more about me drawing and Limi....eating the crayons?.....no, in fact she didn't even try and eat the yellow...she spent the entire time packing and unpacking the crayons from their container......with intense focus.....

good thing i haven't invested in these yet.......she could lose whole days with her packing and unpacking obsession.

ps. we're off to visit the lovely gen and james in the countryside this weekend. 

hope that yours is also filled with fresh air and new blossoms. x

jan, 28th - two little girls.....

day 349:

mabel and limi at their music class.....entraced by alex, their teacher

(he performs on the west end stage...and hence is very entracing)

nov, 18th - first report card....

day 279:

Limi's very first report card from Little Gym. she's currently a Bug but about to progress to being a Bird. 
(report card sent home with us by Greg her French gym instructor):

"Limi is a veteran of her class!! It is so great to see her enjoying her lessons since day one. She has very good interaction with the other children and loves to crawl around to wrestle with them. Or, is it in fact a hug?

To see the smile on her face is such a pleasure. She is so easy going that you can spot her for anything. She is very comfortable with her body.

The Birds class will be a great challenge for her for the next term, where she will be among walkers and older. I'm sure that they will even be impressed by her!"

nov, 4th - what do we do with our days....

day 265:

playdates, swimming lessons, little gym and music classes......so much organised activity that i never knew existed. problem is......limi loves it all and i can't resist her huge grins and flapping arms when we enter the pool/gym/hall....

luckily we're not planning 5 kids...can you imagine doing music classes from start to finish 5 times! there's only so many times that i can sing: IT'S MONKEY MUSIC TIME!

oct, 8th - first comes love, then comes marriage....

day 238:

recently (day 211), i blogged about French philosopher, Elisabeth Badinter and her current book called Le Conflict, La Femme et La Mere (The Conflict, The Woman and The Mother). it's essentially about finding the balance between career and kids; over-parenting and parenting; retaining you identity but still accepting your new role as a parent. 

this lead a reader (okay, family member, let's be truthful about my readers here) to send me a link to an interesting article prompted by another book, called To Raise Happy Kids, Put Your Marriage First. The article, published in the Sydney Morning Herald, is about how we prioritise our relationship time. The book by American family therapist, David Code, says that the current shift of focusing all our attention on our children, can mean neglecting our relationship with our partners, which is actually detrimental to a child's development.

i like his views (maybe...because he says that we shouldn't feel guilty about date night and that instead it's actually a positive thing for Limi). As the article says: "....we are so terrified of being selfish adults that we have forgotten that simply setting a good example is what creates a rounded, successful, happy human being. It is not the child who plays tennis and speaks Italian who is set for a fabulous life if her mother can't be civil to her father."

it's worth a read, if only to remind ourselves that growing up in a family full of warmth, love and affection is a lot more fun than diary discussions, rushing from one appointment to the next and never being in the same room long enough to have a conversation.

link: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/the-parent-trap-20100329-r7nt.html

oct, 5th - 500 coloured pencils....

day 235:

i was a big sharer when i was young (with two elder siblings, it wasn't really a choice thing)...except when it came to my crayons and pencils.....i hated it when someone smashed my crayons into the paper.

so there'd be no hope of me sharing these! 500 Coloured Pencils is a subscription service where you receive a pack of 25 (perfect, no smashing) coloured pencils each month, for 20 months. Genius.

not only would i be able to hoard 500 pencils but i could also satisfy any obsessive compulsive tendencies by arranging the colours and keeping each pencil equally sharp (now there's an exciting hobby.)

the Genius doesn't stop there. you can also buy various installation display options to turn your pencils into a work of art! 

and with brilliant names for each colour to memorise...you never have to leave the house again. perfect for Winter!

and sadly, more perfect for Limi than for me....hopefully, she didn't inherit my non-crayon-sharing gene....

Via Elle Decoration

Pics by Felissimo

sep, 29th - bubbles....

day 229:

with dampness and cold approaching.....it's time to think of some indoor activities....

we've been doing the old school (and still the best) version of bubbles...actually blowing them ourselves rather than letting a machine do the work....

and lissom's starting to get the hang of popping them with her fingers and even with her toes (i'm amazed at how she'll track even the smallest bubble through the air)....

although these pics look fairly serene...it was actually mayhem. i was blowing bubbles then throwing down the wand, grabbing my camera and trying to catch the action.....soap everywhere and a very perplexed limi....definitely the trickiest action shots to date....

hmmm, maybe that flick-a-switch-bubble-machine doesn't seem like such a bad idea after all.

sep, 9th - T3L: the whitechapel gallery....

day 209:

T3London - Whitechapel Gallery (East London)

(*for a description of what T3London means, click on day 160)

East London draws the hip crowd, if you're in search of the creative heart of London then you will find it here. After all, this is where Banksy came to make his mark when he moved from Bristol to London. 

Solidly set in its' midst is The Whitechapel Art Gallery. Founded in 1901, it went through an expansion in the 1980s and then more recently, was combined with the library next door to create an impressive and modern exhibition space, while still retaining its' heart and historic facade.

[Unfortunately, photography is not permitted inside the gallery...so these pics are mainly of Aldgate East tube station which is the closest station (right next door to the gallery) and one of my favourites for it's medicinal-meets-butcher-shop vibe.]

The Gallery focuses its' energy mainly on contemporary and 20th century artists. Recent exhibitions have included: Elizabeth Peyton, Alice Neel, Sophie Calle. Richard Wentworth filled it with string, Fiona Banner performed a description of a nude who had posed for a painting, Leon Michener and Aleks Kolkwski redrew Iannis Xenakis aural graphics....it's an interesting place Whitechapel Gallery.

we went to see portraitist, Alice Neel's works today. her honest portrayal of her subjects is not always flattering but she seems to capture the emotional vulnerability in each of them. some favourites were a portrait of a semi-naked Andy Warhol, stripped of his celebrity status bravado and a painting of a family, father, mother and daughter showing their closeness but also their individual awkwardness. if you get a chance, her work is definitely worth a closer look.

Basic Info:

Whitechapel Gallery

77-82 Whitechapel High Street

London

E1 7QX

Recorded Information: +44 (0)20 75227878

Closest Tube: Aldgate East

General admission to the gallery spaces is free 

but featured exhibitions require tickets and cost approx. GBP8.50

Highs:

- beautiful space and funky part of town

- interesting exhibitions focused mainly on contemporary and 20th century art

- not crazy-busy like some other galleries in town so you have the chance to really take in the works with space around you

- good cafe with freshly made salads and delicious coffee

- small treasures in the cabinets

- London bus signs

Lows:

- no photography inside...anywhere (understandable...but makes this post tricky)

- exhibitions split over different levels

- lots of doors (only a low if you're pushing a pram)

Tot Tips:

- closest tube is Aldgate East which has loads of stairs and no lift (but very helpful strangers today)

- take a sling if you can as there are also stairs up to the exhibition spaces inside the gallery and the cafe is on the mezzanine level

- there is a goods lift that you can use with a buggy but you need assistance from the staff

- a high chair is available in the cafe but bring your own baby food

- changing facilities are available in the bathroom on the ground floor

See you there!

sep, 7th - todo list....

day 207:

i love making lists.....but is it the making of lists that i love or the incredible down-in-the-belly-satisfaction i get when i cross something off that list.....yes, i have been known to write something on a list, just to cross it off again....it makes the whole list look so much more successful.

but my ToDo list at the moment is exhausting.....before i've managed to cross something off, i'm writing another thing onto it......it's becoming less of a ToDo page and more of a ToDo fax-roll (where on earth do you even buy a fax-roll these days). 

[how i feel about my list at the moment. limi, 7 days old]

first of all...i hate my own paperwork...and now i have Limi's paperwork to deal with....and babies come with some complicated forms....plus the Shoe-box has decided to reveal all renovation flaws this week....we've had water pouring down the-most-expensive-windows-i've-ever bought...on the inside; lights suddenly not working (yes...we have changed the bulbs); a heated towel rail trying to escape the wall and a fridge that would prefer to be a swimming pool....and that's after my long list of things to do before i go back to work.

my ToDo list is now growing claws and chasing me in my dreams.........i will have to attack it with a pen  and hope that i win this battle. please have the plasters ready for those paper-cuts.

sep, 5th - is that a real lion.....

day 205:

missing home and the smell of the African bush....

.....so, in the absence of African soil beneath our toes, we took Limi to see the stone lions at Chiswick House.

aug, 28th - sad day for the locals....

day 197: our wonderful neighbourhood deli/coffee shop/restaurant closed its' doors yesterday. when i have recovered from the shock of wondering how i will spend my mornings.....especially a saturday, like today,.....i will write about all our memories that are intertwined with this gem of a place....

aug, 27th - graduating...

[still not able to take pics at the pool, so another pic from the bath]

day 196:

today, limi graduated from her first term of swimming (yes, it is that serious...even at 6 months). next week, we have a mid-term break and then we're back for term 2.

so, from day 161 she has learnt the following:

• to catch a duck....i learnt to say: reach, reach, reach....hold, hold, hold
• to close her eyes when anyone says Go!.....which may not be useful one day when she's doing the 100 metre sprint....but for swimming it helps because Ready! suggests that she's about to get splashed in the face or plunged under the water....and Go! means the splash or plunge is now happening
• to float on her back (while only being cupped by her cheeks) and listening to a gurgling, underwater version of twinkle, twinkle little star
• to play water polo...okay, slight exaggeration....to pad away the ball when it comes towards her
• to Splash....and Splash some more
• to swoop under the water from the teacher towards me (amazing to watch, especially below the surface)
• to be plucked from the side of the pool and plunged under the water for 2 seconds....and not cry
• to kick....again, this may be a slight exaggeration as it's quite freeform.....you could say that she currently has an interpretative swimming style
• to hold onto the side of the pool.....which usually has an attention span of until she sees the duck/frog/ship float past

i definitely think that swimming is the highlight of her week....she fizzes with excitement as soon as we walk in the door.......bring on the next term and triple twists from a diving board.

jul, 30th - boing, boing, boing....

day 168:

If You Don't Have One of These. Go And Buy One Now.

well only if you have a baby. and a doorway.

they are the best things. ever! A. and i both had door bouncers as tots and this week limi's arrived (man, was i jealous!) popped her in. popped on some music and voila her aussie-kangaroo-blood emerged. 

boing, boing, boing, swing, step, boing, step, twist. step, boing, boing.

she LOVES it!

 and although the idea is that i can get some things done while she bounces i can't drag myself away.