Comforts and Creations.

In the last 3 weeks I have had a holiday from my schooljob, and made some new things.

I also did some things that were new for me; such as watching a whole game of rugby with a crowd of people at a party. Yes the All Blacks won! Although I missed the haka, which I always find thrilling.

I also got up early to watch the last football/soccer game of the World Cup. My brother had invited a whole bunch of Dutchies, 2nd generation Dutchies and hanger-ons to have breakfast at his place. We had much fun with many pancakes, croissants and cups of coffee to help us through the sad ending...

That evening we ate orange food, not just to cheer up, but because it is winter comfort food. Stamppot with carrots, parsnips, potatoes and onions mashed together, and a big rookworst to divide up. Luckily I can get a very authentic sausage in the local supermarket here.

These are my new vintage papers packs. I have far too many ancient books than is good for me, and so I will share all those wonderful old illustrations and texts with others. So the first one has gone up for sale in my elmtree shop.

Here are some of the illustrated pages. People can use them for collages and other art.

I am even putting in an old sewing pattern pack, music sheets, old atlas pages, foreign language and encyclopaedia pages, shorthand, medical and maths books, chess instructions etc. ranging from early 1900's to the 1980's. At least 40 different papers go into the packs.

And while we're on the theme; another lot of dutch bunting went up for sale again too.

And now life is back into gear, no more holiday-mode, everyone back to work and learning.

Holidays are never long enough, so weird...

Winter but warm and dry!

Dare I show our girls busy at work with chores? I think so, it is so nice to see them earnestly doing their household jobs. Our youngest is enjoying cooking so now and then, and our eldest needs extra money, being a poor broke student. And yes you can see my mess in the background; piles of ancient books destined for ripping apart for use in art, and the piles of vintage fabrics. This is not a showhome....

This is a real home, one that got a new roof!

We think this house was built in 1937 and that was the original roof. Most houses here have corrugated iron . With a bit of builders' paper underneath it. We insulated it when we moved in 13 years ago, and the amount of birds' nests that were taken out this time obviously helped a lot for the warmth....!

Lots of wooden planking needed replacing as well. The roofers managed to do it in the 2 days that it did not rain. We are having a very wet winter.
It was a pretty noisy 2 days, and lots of dust came down in the living room where we have the original wooden slatted ceiling. But we were far too excited to let that bother us!
Here you can see why some of the wood needed replacing!! Rotten and worm holes.

And we are an old-fashioned family that still has family meals around the table most nights. No we can't see the t.v. from there very easily. Often friends join us, usually much hilarity is had when we have a table full of teenagers. Basically at a dutch table everyone dishes up themselves, that's why there are pans at the table, in case you are wondering.

Yup, it is that time of the evening: tummies full and a roaring fire. Fox in his box, Dana pretending she hadn't noticed she is actually touching De-ja-vu, and and he is trying to hog as much space as he can.

All is well with the world!