A quick trip to NZ

We've just returned from a week in New Zealand's beautiful South Island. Hubby had a conference to attend in Christchurch, which always seems like an excellent excuse for me to have a holiday!  It was wonderful returning to Christchurch (I studied there many moons ago) and being able to do some of the things I couldn't afford as a student ... such as eating in a real restaurant and (highlight of my trip) having a punt on the Avon river on a glorious sunny afternoon. Chickie particularly enjoyed that experience though I had to hold on to her for dear life ... she refused to acknowledge that a swim in the River Avon at her age would actually be a bad thing! Off course the exchange rate was in our favour, so I managed to justify a spot of shopping too!

After a few days in Christchurch we went on to Lake Tekapo, Wanaka and then flew home from Queenstown. I forgot just how beautiful that part of the world is, and hubby was quite taken with it all (having never been to the South Island).  We managed to eat lots of delicious seafood (incl those delicious NZ mussels) and drink many fabulous Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs, my favourite tipple by far. Chickie traveled well though was extremely tired all week. I had bought her a Baby Bjorn Light travel cot prior to the trip ... it only weighs 5 kilos and is super easy to put up and pack away. Best thing I have bought ... Chickie adored it. I had concerns that it might be a little on the small side, but she loves to be in tight spaces, so insisted on snuggling up into the corners of the cot and was really content. It meant that despite staying in several different apartments over the week Chickie always had her same cot for the night. It was a bit of a drag having to keep packing and unpacking all our stuff though, and boy did we (Chickie) have a lot of stuff! We decided that next time we go on a 'road trip' we will rent a camper van (large) so we only have to unpack once!

Despite having a really wonderful holiday I was quite pleased to get home last night, and so was Chickie. Best of all, today she got to see Granny April Blackbird and boy was she excited. I think April Blackbird was very relieved to know that Chickie had remembered who she was!

Well my body is still on NZ time hence it thinks its now midnight and I'm struggling to stay awake! Time for bed.

I will try and get very clever and insert some photos later when they have been downloaded off the camera!

New Mum Chick

Anything but a card

Mad for Markers has another challenge on at the moment... to create anything but a card and use your copic markers.  Since I love using my copics on anything, I decided to join in.  I made some framed pics to make our little house look more like a home...

The frames are from Ikea and the embellishments are mainly crochet flowers I made when I was learning how to crochet and a couple of little craft hearts.  The tape is from Accessorize of all places!  The little house is a freebie digi from Pollycraft Designs and the little girl is Hope and Grace Rain Rain from The Greeting Farm.

Arabella Chickie in Lavrio, Greece

Halloween pumpkins

I'm posting this on behalf of our 'UK Chickie' who is far too busy running after her two chickadees to be able to spend time blogging at present.  We're all hoping that will change sometime soon and that she'll once again add her personal touch to this blog. 

Halloween wasn't quite the event it generally is in this household.  The eldest chickadee had just had her tonsils and adenoids removed and 'trick or treating' (amongst close friends only and with close parental supervision) was absolutely out of the question this year.  UK Chickie made a big effort to ensure the littlies didn't miss out totally and three pumpkins were duly purchased from Sainsbury's. 

I've never seen this done before and had visions of huge carving knives being used (dangerously) to etch out faces!  It wasn't the case at all.  Pumpkin carving kit to the rescue and even the littlest of hands were able to help with the task.  I looked on in admiration and stand in awe of the finished results (which I have permission to post).

The pumpkins stood outside the back door and we watched as the local squirrels wangled their way into the pumpkins... we managed to stop them eating too much of the bat, but a certain amount of re-modelling had to take place pronto.  Cheeky squirrels! They'd been eating the newly planted bulbs before that!

April Blackbird

Pottery painting memories...

It's almost exactly three years ago (give or take a month) that our UK chickie took Arabella and I with her on a pottery painting expedition.  Now I can picture that shop quite vividly (we spent the best part of the day there in the end) and I remember the fun we had drinking good coffee and scoffing yummy cookies while we painted our pottery, but I can't remember what the suburb was called... just remember it was somewhere in London.  Sigh.

Arabella painted the beautiful penguin below and I'm not sure she ever got to see the results of her work so I took some photos of said penguin while I was visiting my UK chickies last month.  The photos aren't as good as I would have liked, but I think you'll all agree this is one gorgeous little penguin chick.  Just look at those eyes!

April Blackbird

Etsy finds on a Sunday

Check out these beautiful prints by illustrator Kathy Hare...

These prints can be found here at Etsy.  They are definitely on my wishlist.

And then there are these beautifully ugly creations by Jennifer Carson...

Aren't they adorable?!  They can be found here on Etsy.

Happy Sunday!

Arabella Chickie in Palma de Mallorca

Have sewing machine - must sew

Now that Bookie Bird and I have invested in a basic sewing machine, I have been itching to sew something... 

My first project turned out to be round cushions that appear to have no actual use, but you would not believe how much calculation went in to calculating the exact pattern size of each segment to make a perfect ball - which I then ruined anyway by adding buttons at each end!   Of course, I could have just free-handed a segment to use as a pattern, but the Squary in me (see below) would just not let me.  I now know the various names for parts of a circle such as the chord, the arc, the segment etc... and have relearned how to calculate circumference, diameter and area of a circle.  An unbelievable amount of mental work for something so trivial!!!

Bird rather likes them though...

In spite of the fact that I consider myself to be a Squary rather than a Roundy (from Roger Hargreaves "I'm a Roundy. You're a Squary"), I still have a fascination  for all things round.  The new and useless cushion balls are very tactile and actually make rather good head pillows when you are lying on the couch watching TV.  The smaller one also makes a pretty good throwing ball!

And no, for the thousandth time no dear husband they are not pumpkins!!!  I just happened to have orange Ikea fabric.

Arabella Chickie in Lavrio, Greece

Cot Bumper Version #1

I have just realized the pain of a 19th century seamstress, sans thimble of any note,  following my ambitious attempt to sew a cot bumper together (made of Ikea fleeces and acrylic wool so it's washable and not shrinkable).  A very satisfied little camper, but a very sore finger and thumb!!  In very urgent need of a designer thimble before attempting such a task again.   I do feel that my creative needs have been fulfilled for this week, however, and know it wouldn't have been the same labour of love to whip it up quickly and efficiently on the new toy Arabella and I have purchased!

I have been known to make costumes for parties using duct tape and staples, so in light of those efforts (some of which stayed together for the night, some for a little longer) the cot bumper is an unadulterated success and likely to last until at least Christmas!

My little chick is a happy camper with his replacement, and the bamboo blanket and chip clips can be retired back to their respective homes.   A super safe noggin.

BB

A lover of print books gets an Amazon Kindle.

This chap, Roger C Parker has summed it up beautifully.  The conflicting feelings I experienced when I first saw my birthday present in its sleek leather case... just waiting to seduce me.

I'll let you hear it through the words of a bestselling author, as he's covered it beautifully for anyone who might be tempted to purchase one of these in future :)

Bookie Bird. 

Initial impressions: A lover of print books gets an Amazon Kindle

Posted September 19th @ 6:51 pm by Roger C. Parker |  Email | Print

I’ve been reading and (too often) buying printed books all my life. I try to thin my collection, but it never works. I can always find a reason to keep one of my books dating back to high school and college on the off-chance I may return to my original dream of becoming a history professor.

Accordingly, I consider myself a confirmed print book lover. I love the pleasure of holding a well-produced, well-written book that’s “engineered” to fit well in the hand, like books by Harry Beckwith, Bob Burg, or Malcolm Gladwell…books that will remain in my shelves long after their 3, 4, or 5th reading.

Then, in anticipation of an upcoming birthday…

….my family presented me with an Amazon Kindle.

At first, I had mixed feelings about it. I felt sort of guilty about “switching” sides in the print versus e-book debate. Accordingly, I was polite, yet reserved.

But, that was yesterday

On the way home, I started to play with the Kindle, (Luckily, Betsy, my wife, was driving.) And, needless to say, I didn’t stop to read the instructions, and just played it by ear.

Wow! I quickly became hooked…but, hooked in a different way than I expected. I ended up spending quite a bit of time with it yesterday afternoon and this evening.

Here, for the record, are my initial impressions. I plan to return in future posts to see if my initial impressions remain as important as they at Hour 37 of my Kindle ownership.

Initial Kindle impressions

Here are a few of my positive initial impressions of the Amazon Kindle:

1. Readability. I had worried that I wouldn’t enjoy reading on the Kindle, if the Kindle would be “transparent” after I started reading, i.e., would I be “aware” that I was reading off a 6-inch screen, and would I quickly tire of reading. By the time I got home, having downloaded several sample chapters of my favorite books–Robert Parker’s Early Autumn, in particular  (no relation)–I completely forgot I was reading off a screen in a moving car. The Kindle’s default combination of type size, type design, and line length provided a sharp and easy-to-view reading environment.
2. Ergonomics. As someone who has had a love-hate, often violent, relationship with every cell phone I’ve ever owned, I wondered how comfortable the Kindle would feel in my hand, and whether or not I’d have trouble using it. Would there be an endless series of menus and control keys? Would I accidentally turn the pages forward or backwards while reading? Would I have to ask for help or, gasp!, read the instructions? No, No, and No. Best of all, was was light and easy to read in bed.
3. Sample chapters. One of my most important favorable impressions was the joy of being able to instantly download and begin reading sample chapters from books that I might be interested in. The lack of commitment, i.e., no need to visit the author’s website and share my e-mail signature in order to obtain a sample chapter, encouraged me to download books I wouldn’t otherwise have considered purchasing. And, accordingly, my Wish List has grown. Obviously, as an author, the Kindle’s free sample downloads won’t help me build my mailing list. But, on balance, I’m comfortable with the trade off of a slight drop in website traffic in exchange for exposure to additional new prospects.
4. Blogs. The big surprise was how quickly I was able to use the Kindle to subscribe to many of the blogs published by my favorite authors, and the number of new blogs that I discovered in the Blog area of the Kindle Bookstore. I’m not an RSS-type, so I sometimes fail to check the latest posts from many of my favorite authors and marketing voices. Within a few hours, I had signed-up for the free trials of a couple of dozen blogs, and I’ve enjoyed getting caught up using the Kindle in between projects or while reading in bed. (After 14-day free trials, Amazon.com charges 99 cents or $1.99 a month for subscriptions to most blogs.)

My only initial concern was a slight disappointment with the search capability of the Kindle Bookstore. Having come to depend on the robustness of the Amazon.com online search, with its endless inventory and in-depth suggestions and revelations about  titles, I didn’t experience the same serendipity with the Kindle’s search feature. But, in the context of what it can do, this is more a quibble than a complaint.

What about you?

Are you also a print book lover newly-exposed to the Amazon Kindle? What do you like most about it? Are you using the Kindle to complement print books that you continue to purchase, or are you purchasing Kindle books in place of print books? Even better, have you found yourself buying the print version of a book you especially like after you’ve purchased the Kindle version? Are you as pleased with the ability to receive and read your favorite blogs on the Kindle as I am? Am I overlooking any Kindle features I should be paying attention to? Share your experiences and impressions as comments, below!

Courtesy of Roger C Parker - bestselling author.   http://blog.publishedandprofitable.com/2010/09/19/initial-impressions-a-lover-of-print-books-gets-an-amazon-kindle/

Meet Bird...

This is Bird from concept to completion.... I rather like him.

Arabella Chickie in Lavrio, Greece

Slacking off...

Wow, if anybody had told me the days would wizz by so I wouldn't have believed them.  Which is my excuse for slacking off on the business of posting.

It seems one or the other of us has been ill ever since I arrived.  Just when we thought we were out of the woods our littlest boy picked up some tummy bug that had him depositing his dinner all over his cot and his parents bed three times last night.  We've been changing nappies far too often too and he's obviously had a headache 'cos he keeps squeezing his little eyes shut and resting his head against the softest surface available.  He's sleeping at the moment and I'm hoping he'll feel a whole lot better when he wakes up.

Our 'tonsil' princess is recovering well. It's been a week since her op and despite very wakeful nights, things seem to be progressing well.  She has got even thinner and that voice has gone up a few octaves.

I do have some lovely 'places I have been' stories, but they're going to have to wait until I return to Sydney on the 3rd November.  Yes, my return has been delayed.  Another story for another day.

Must go and keep my dad company now, he's been keeping himself busy with a magazine, but I know he'd love a cuppa.  Oh yes, I have some lovely photos of him with his littlest great grandson.  Too, too cute.

April Blackbird