Lately, on Instagram

spring! - long walks through fitzroy and carlton - vege burgers - hail storms - jasmine blossoms - fathers' day - painted elephants - socks for trees - breakfast at tiffany's - the talking tram in bendigo - a baby that smells sooooo good

What's been happening in your neck of the woods?

ps. I also write for iVillage:

* How do you define 'home'? (+ making friends when working from home + revisiting the 'cafe test') * My love is not like a butterfly

and English Muse:

* Antipodean dispatch: Eucalyptus (is anyone else devastated that this film didn't happen?)

and Smarter Business Ideas:

* Big shoes to fill (can your family business survive your retirement?)

Made in Melbourne (Etsy!)

Melbourne is a city famous for high fashion, hidden restaurants down tiny laneways, pop-up markets, art, literature and live music. At times it seems like every other person in Melbourne has a creative project on the go, and I just love the energy here. In such a creative city, it stands to reason that we would be well represented on that online hub of all things creative, clever and quirky: Etsy. So I’ve hunted around and brought you 20 of the best Etsy items, made or found right here.

Oh, and never fear! There are no bad hats, boxy shirts or dodgy downloads on this list. This is the Etsy that does my city proud: 20 of the most stylish, most creative and most take-home-able items from Melbourne’s top craft and vintage makers and curators.

Enjoy!

Snail mail: dear friend

I have a backlog of letters that I want to write to my dear friends and pen pals all over the world, replies to letters sent to me as far back as April this year. First I was hindered by the carpal tunnel syndrome that dogged my pregnancy, and more recently by an extremely demanding albeit adorable little daughter who likes to spend her days in my arms (somewhat precluding letter-writing).

But on the weekend I had a few hours up my sleeve while Madeleine enjoyed cuddles from her Dad, so I began to make a dent in this pile, writing letters, postcards, and packaging up little gifts. Who have you been writing to lately?

On dads and daughters

My darlings all slept in this morning, and boy were they adorable. I came in from the kitchen to find Em, Madeleine and Mr B all snuggling together in our bed. It was a perfect early spring day for Fathers' Day. Warm, sunny, and fragrant with blossoms in the air. I made a batch of fresh lemonade and we packed together a picnic of olives, marinated artichokes, salami, blue cheese, crackers and stuffed baguettes, and headed to the park for the afternoon.

Madeleine loved it, positively basking in the warm sunlight. At one point I looked over and caught Mr B sharing a kiss with big daughter and small, and my heart swelled fit to burst. Man I love this family!

Later I rang my own father as we took a stroll up Brunswick Street on the way to play ping pong at Grub. Dad was having a not so happy day, feeling sick, so we'll have to make a big fuss of him when he and Mum make it down to Melbourne for a visit next weekend. They haven't seen Madeleine since the week she was born, so they are well overdue for some cuddles with my big chubby princess.

Is there ever a time when you stop feeling like a child around your parents? I mean that in a good way. To this day my natural instinct is still to turn to Dad (and Mum) for advice, for guidance, for wisdom. When you are a little girl, your parents are the source of everything you need to know. Then puberty hits and they know nothing, plus, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ME OR MY MUSIC. Finally the hormones settle down and you become friends again.

Now with little Madeleine in my world, I find myself turning to them even more: for support, for guidance, for love. I really have to remind myself from time to time that they might need my support, too. Most of all, I want little M to know her Nan and Pa, to give them the smiles and giggles she gives to others in her life. I wish they lived closer to us, I really do.

How did you spend Fathers' Day?

Little thoughts

Yesterday on a long walk we happened past this telegraph pole and, lo and behold, the people of North Fitzroy are making wishes. This makes me so happy! Just three days after I put up my little poster, people had taken home "hope," "a fresh start," and "a belly laugh" in their pockets. I wonder what they'll wish for next. I'll try to get back after a week or so and report back to you. We had such a lovely, gentle weekend: long walks through the city; making fajitas at home with friends; baking cupcakes; cuddling a baby who snores like a tractor; and I finally managed to write some long overdue letters to friends in Belgium and Germany and America, drawing pictures on the envelopes.

As you may have noticed, on Friday I launched my new blog, to absolutely no fanfare. I've made the move from Weebly across to Wordpress, which was a torturous process because I had to cut and paste every one of my blog posts! Yeesh. This means I lost all the wonderful comments that were on the old site, something that gives me not a little sadness because the comments are what this blog is all about: community. You! I miss you! The silver lining is that Wordpress allows for a much better management of comments, so I'll actually be better able to interact with you in the future. The blog you see today is a kind of Stage 1, my content in a basic template. Shortly I'll start working with a very talented friend who will help me customise things to make it look and interact a lot better. Maybe then I'll permit myself a little fanfare (perhaps even a competition or two).

Also, I want to introduce you to an amazing cafe I discovered last week, the Grub Food Van. We headed up there with friends, including Madeleine's little boyfriend, who oddly enough showed a lot more love for his green balloon and his slice of hazelnut gateau than for my princess. Hmm. Thankfully she slept right through the insult. At Grub, there's an indoor cafe area as well as a kitchen inside a silver caravan to serve food to diners in the sunny courtyard. But my favourite space is something nestled in between: a kind of giant greenhouse with cafe tables and a vegetable garden and a ping pong table and a partial kitchen hidden behind a wall of sweet pea. I planned to go back and take some proper photographs for you, but our walk took us in the opposite direction on the weekend, so these iPhone snaps will have to do.

Speaking of greenhouses, did you ever see the movie Greencard? I've had this movie on the mind lately. Partly because I often sing the song from the closing credits to Madeleine when she cries, and partly because this movie is a kind of Utopian vision of inner city life. A glorious, crumbling rooftop greenhouse smack bang in the middle of Manhattan, crying out to be restored. A volunteer army of 'Green Guerillas' creating verdant spaces for play and food in the poorest of districts and the most barren of cityscapes. And a giant of a Frenchman (who a friend once described as "he looks like God held out a lump of clay and then just chucked it onto his face") who is so... elemental... that he is all kinds of attractive. I first saw this movie in my early twenties and oh boy I wanted everything in it!

But back to that closing credit song. I looked everywhere to see where it came from, and turns out it was composed just for this movie. The chorus is perfect to sing to a crying baby:

Keep your eyes On the prize Don't be dismayed Don't be dismayed Deep in your heart You must believe Everything is gonna be alright Everything is gonna be alright Everything is gonna be alright Some day.

Happy Monday.

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How to grant a wish

Wish-granting was my little project for today, inspired by this. What wishes would you grant, if you could? (UPDATE: All the wishes have been redeemed. Take a look here)

Elsewhere

Have you seen the latest collection from Fleur and Dot? If you have a little girl (or know one), you should check it out. I'm all over this on English Muse this week.

And also, PARENTAL GUIDANCE HAS TAKEN OVER MY LIFE. I'm not kidding. It's so frustrating, but kind of sweet. That's on iVillage. Has this ever happened to you too?

Lately, winter days

Last week Madeleine and I took a walk with friends to visit the Taco Truck, since it was parked nearby. I confess I fell rather heavily for the fish tacos. Omigod I could have eaten five of those babies. Then on the weekend we embarked on a little family road trip - Madeleine's first proper outing - so that she could spend time with her Nanna, aunts and cousins. They all predictably adored one another, and Madeleine turned on her not-inconsiderable charm for the cousins, smiling and laughing and snuggling like a pro. Livvy, who is five, started crying. "I love Madeleine the most of all my cousins," she wailed. "I want her to be my sister!"

Meanwhile, did anyone visit the Melbourne Art Fair last week? We made plans to go on Sunday, but they didn't quite pan out.

First, the walk there was glorious and sun-shiney. Madeline was all rugged up against the winter wind in the most adorable knitted Red Riding Hood cape  (does dressing your baby in cute outfits ever get old?). We wandered along streets and laneways that had barely changed in more than a hundred years, through a park with trees so wide four people would have to hold hands to hug them, and over to the Exhibition Buildings in Carlton.

But when we got there we discovered the tickets were $30 each. Don't you think that's a bit steep, for an exhibition that's also a sale? Anyway, we were cheapskates and blanched at the idea of spending $60 just to look around for such a short time (given Madeleine's tolerance levels), so we strolled across to the museum instead.

I'd been to this museum a few times but only for special shows, this was my first time visiting the general galleries. They are wonderful! There's something to be said for purpose-built space, it's all so interactive and engaging. Plus, Mr B revealed a talent for identifying many strange animals in a weird, tiered taxidermy room that was at once creepy and educational. Madeleine looked super cute in her red knitted poncho. On the other hand, as you can probably tell she most definitely did NOT like being photographed with the hood on.

Sweater weather

Oh how I'm loving the early mornings right now. I wake up in the pre-dawn to feed little Madeleine and, most days, the sky starts to turn grey and then pink while while we cuddle together. It is a gentle start to the day, me and M cocooned in our warmth and love, with only the gentle sound of her breathing and swallowing to break an otherwise-silent bubble. Outside, the air carries ice and the wind twists trees bare of leaves into kinetic sculptures, sending pink camellia petals eddying across the road. Right now, the wind is positively howling, ghost story fashion, up and down the disused chimneys of my home, while rain slaps and rattles at the windows. But we are soft and safe and warm together inside. I just made tea and marmalade toast.

This is my favourite time of year, and it is most definitely sweater weather. If I had one sheepish girl's talent with needle and thread, I would carry a sweet embroidered sweater in my journal with me everywhere.

(Images of this adorable embroidered sweater used with the kind permission of One Sheepish Girl. I highly recommend her beautiful blog.)

And here I am elsewhere:

* On iVillage: Six triple-purpose tote-bags

* On iVoices: How do you wear your baby?

* On English Muse: Sydney street art

Dear Madeleine

Dear Madeleine, When I kiss the top of your head you smell like milk duds, white chocolate, only infinitely sweeter and better.

Every morning when I wake up, I stretch out with my arms and hands above my head and my toes pointing to the ceiling. Then I pick you up and put you on your change mat and before you even open your eyes, you stretch out with your arms and hands above your head and your toes pointing to the ceiling.

Lately you have been crying quite a bit, and all you seem to want through the day is to cuddle in my arms, which makes it difficult to get anything done. But it is oh so special. This is a precious, precious time for you and me. So I sit and we snuggle and all my jobs go undone and my deadlines go unmet and my love swells and swells.

For some strange reason, your new favourite time is when I change your nappies. You always smile and laugh at me then.

Speaking of your smile, it is like a sunburst. A gummy sunburst of joy. I have tears in my eyes as I type this, even thinking of your smile.

And your laugh: oh boy! You don’t giggle or even chuckle, you Ho Ho just like Santa (I’ll tell you about Santa later). When you laugh, you say “a-HOO” and throw back your chin for comedic emphasis. Oh lord, it’d break your heart if you could see your adorable self.

We read together every day. Sometimes we read your books, board books with bright pictures and just one or two words in them. When you’re feeling attentive, you like to look at the pictures. Other times I read out loud to you from whatever I’m reading. Right now that’s Eucalyptus by Murray Bail. You seem to like this a lot and it’s often a good one to read you to sleep. Perhaps because the rhythm of the words is kind of musical and water-like.

You love having a bath, which is your Daddy’s job. You have been known to splash him with gusto, something you both seem to enjoy.

You think Oliver the dog is very funny, and give him an “a-HOO” whenever he walks into your line of vision.

When you were born your eyes were darkest slate blue. Like a storm. Now they are a deep, deep, romantic blue, fringed with eyelashes so long they sweep your eyebrows.

You are losing some of the hair you had when you were born, but you carry off a receding hairline exceedingly well. Indeed you are divinely beautiful.

Oh and Madeleine, your chubby knees and elbows! I die!

Seven weeks and two days, Madeleine. That’s how long you have been in my world. But I think you were in my heart at the beginning of time.

Love, Mama