an ocean and a rock away...

"What you at my gentle spoken friend
I lack a frame to put you in
when you're an ocean and a rock away.

I feel you in the pocket of my overcoat
my fingers wrap around your words
they take the shape of the games we play.

I feel your words through my buttonholes
pin them to my fingerless gloves,
green and prone to fraying.

I keep you in the pockets of my dresses
and the bristles of my brushes
spin you into my curls today.

I spoon you into my coffee cup,
spin you through a delicate wash.
I wear you all day.

Thoughts of you warm my bones
I'm on the way, I'm on the phone.
Let's get lost, me and you,
an ocean and a rock is nothing to me..."

Lisa Hannigan

Visiting 'the black smoke'...

'Cold Corners' Eva Rothschild. Tate Britain

'Horizontal Stripe Painting' Patrick Heron. Tate Britain

We've had a wonderful holiday lolling around at the grandparent's house, the service was better than a five star hotel and the 24 hour childcare is now sorely missed. During our stay we took Olivia to London for a few days and had a magical long weekend with her. She went on a train for the first time, saw her first dinosaur bones at the Natural History Museum, we visited Hope and Greenwood sweet shop, rode the Underground, saw teenagers with green hair and best of all visited Tate Britain. She got tooled up at the art trolley and proceeded to spend six hours skipping from gallery to gallery drawing from paintings and sculptures having the happiest day. It was so cool to share our passion with her and have her enjoy it as much as we do.

The Tiger Who Came To Tea

"Sophie opened the door and there was a big, furry, stripy tiger.
The tiger said, "Excuse me, but I'm very hungry. Do you think I could have tea with you?"

If I was forced to choose my favourite children's book, it would have to be "The Tiger Who Came To Tea" by Judith Kerr. The wonderful idea of a tiger popping round for tea still captures my imagination and makes me smile. (I also love the seventies tea service in the illustrations!)

For our friend's third birthday treat we went to see The Tiger Who Came To Tea at the Opera House. If this show comes to a theatre near you make sure you see it, it's fab! I just HAD to buy the girls tigers on sticks to wave, how cool are they? They have inspired Olivia and I to spend the weekend making Tiger Who Came To Tea puppets so that we can put on our own version of this wonderful story.

View the Tiger Who Came To Tea Live trailer here...

titivating

My boy spent all of last weekend painting the dining room sunshine yellow and after all the hard work was over I spent a happy week between the baby's naps titivating.

The previous week I had watched 'House Doctor' hoping that it would be like 'Life Laundry' do you remember that great show? Alas no, the House Doctor (a dreadful woman) visits some wonderfully bonkers homes and paints them all beige and sticks a vase of curly bamboo on top of the tv.

However, something started to rub off on me as I was putting the books back on the shelves and I didn't cram them all in. Then I got cross, after all we'd just painted over the magnolia, so as a nod to all the eccentrics that the house doctor has beiged I stuck a few vintage doll's heads in there instead.

Alfie Jim

Eleven days late, but worth waiting for... Alfie Jim arrived on 19 March at quarter past nine, weighing in at 8lbs. He is utterly gorgeous and as you can see even his big sister has fallen for his charms.

Here's hoping for a good sleep tonight x

waiting...

Our bags are packed, our friends are on standby, the cot is ready, the house is sparklingly clean, every time I call someone I get an excited "Yeeees?", every morning at school I'm greeted with "still here then?".

But I know that as soon as he/she does arrive I'll probably be wishing them back inside again for a bit of peace and quiet and easy transportation!

x

magic glasses

We had a for real Charlie and Lola moment this morning before breakfast when my girl was jumping in the kitchen doorway with her finger and thumbs circling her eyes saying "mummy I must make some magic glasses now". What could we do but be a little late for school - I'm sure you'll agree they're worth it!
Joanna x

on carry calm keep... Olivia H.

Olivia has a new passion for letters, she traces them in the air and then just has to have a pen and paper and copy them down. She works Chinese style from bottom to top, hence the rewording of this old classic. It's back to school tomorrow and she can't wait to tell her teachers that she has mastered the most tricky letter of all... "e"

Joanna x

"we break up, we break down..."

I am going to write myself a reminder for next December, to not expect to achieve anything... I always forget that this month is spent in a furious hurry and then feel disappointed that I haven't managed to do all the things that I would have liked. It was a relief to break up from school today and have no commitments at all.

Today was a beautiful, sunny winter day, we spent the morning cycling along the beach front singing "We break up, we break down, we don't care if the school falls down. No more English, no more French, no more sitting on the old school bench" at the tops of our voices. A lady walked past and smiled, then turned back to tell us she had been enjoying watching our slow sedate pace, she'd been in town this morning rushing about in a Christmas frenzy and we had reminded her to slow down. I shared my mother-in-law's favourite saying "We're built for comfort, not speed".

PS. Sorry Mrs du Val for teaching Olivia the above song... as much as we will enjoy the holidays I would care very much if school fell down in our absence

un hypnotiseur

"Un Hypnotiseur" from "L'Imagiers Des Gens" by Blexbolex

Last night we went to a refresher Hypnobirthing class in preparation for March. I'm so pleased that we did, there was so much that we have forgotten in the four years since Olivia's arrival. So our heads are full of sleep breathing, balloon breathing and J breathing and most of all, full of hope and excitement as we get closer to meeting our "Bambi". Meanwhile I'm off to bed with my iPod and Marie Mongon's relaxation hypnosis, tomorrow my dear friend is taking me for a pedicure and then a long browse around Waterstones - what a weekend!

Joanna x