Hoot Family

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

......

Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way

But now it's just another show
You leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away

I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say "I love you" right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way

Oh but now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they tell me that I've changed
Well something's lost but something's gained
In living every day

I've looked at life from both sides now
From WIN and LOSE and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

I've looked at life from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all


Not my words, they belong to the great Joni Mitchell, but today, they speak to me.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Friday, October 8, 2010

Alex's new friend

Alex was digging in the sand pit (read sand box filled with sand and weeds) and found a new friend this afternoon.

IMG_0417

We have no idea what sort of frog he is, but his name is Sandy ;)

Monday, October 4, 2010

Sunday, October 3, 2010

An anniversary, of sorts.

The long weekend in October 2007 was really nothing special. We didn't have anything planned really, just the usual groceries and washing and lawn mowing that occurs most weekends around here. But it was not an ordinary weekend. There was an additional day off tacked onto the end of it.

It is a wonderful thing, that paid day off. It feels almost as though it is our one chance to claim something back for all of the time we give our employers. You wake up on the Monday morning already to get up to pack lunches and fight to get kids dressed, and then a small thought niggles at the back of your head, and you are reminded that you don't have to get up, you can catch an extra 5 if you want to, the day is yours, to do with what you want.

Previously, I had had to work most public holidays. It was one of the downfalls of working in retail and hospitality. I really didn't mind working them, the extra money was always welcome, and it was not like we could really afford to go anywhere anyway back then. But our circumstances had changed. We were both working full time jobs, they didn't pay alot, hell, they still don't, but we could finally afford for me not to have to work more than one job. The long weekend in October was going to be my first long weekend over which I did not have to rush off to work. And I had decided that I was going to do something for myself to celebrate.

I really didn't know what I wanted to do. I wanted to do something I WANTED TO DO. I figured I had earned it lol. So I made a decision, I would learn something that someone had tried to teach me ages ago, but I was too young and impatient to learn. I used the power of Google to work out what I would actually need (though I probably could have worked it out with out Google) and I found a few instruction videos that looked ok and easy to follow. I may have been wrong.

It really shouldn't have been as hard as it was. Either I wasn't doing it right or the videos where wrong. I decided that the videos where wrong. So I searched for some more, and I found a few. This woman at least didn't talk to me like I was an idiot. It hadn't occurred to me until I found the right video, that I may have been trying to learn to do it the wrong way around for me. That would certainly explain why it felt so incredibly unnatural to hold it. So I locked myself in my bedroom with my laptop and my instruments of destruction and gave it another go, I would be buggerred if it was going to beat me.

My first results where not pretty. In fact, I am not sure it could really truely pass as craft. The 'string' was really only there to hold the holes together. But it was mine and I was proud. I had managed to knit myself a pot holder, out of baby melting acrylic, but I wasn't to know better then.

So, this weekend my friends, is somewhat of an anniversay. Without this weekend in 2007, I would never have meet you all. Without my day off in October, I may never have learned to knit. It has opened up so much to me, a craft that I love, extra crafts that go with it, and friends I would never have found.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Unexpected beauty

Sometimes you find the most unexpected things in an unexpected place.

IMG_0239

As most of you know, I drive a lot for work. And I mean A LOT. On one of my regular trips, I travel to Moree, about 3.5 hours from home, and I more often than not drive home again at the end of the day.
I try and break my trips up a bit, trying to stop every couple of hours, just to take a walk around the car to stretch my legs. There is a beautiful lookout on the road to Moree, about 5 kms the other side of Warialda. I stop there fairly regularly, as it is about then that I feel the need to stretch a little.
The view is amazing. On a clear day, you can see for miles. The landscape is beautiful, especially at this time of year, with paddocks full of blooming crops, the lush greens of wheat and chickpeas, and the gorgeous golden yellow of canola, it looks just like grandma's handmade patchwork quilt.
You get used to seeing yellow on the side of the road out there at this time of the year. Over seeding of canola crops and the wild canola that grows by the side of the are fairly common. So to see yellow flowers you would be fairly safe to assume that they are the little yellow pea shaped canola.
But every so often, you should take time to actually look at the flowers, they might just be something you where not expecting.