Pampelmuse and Me

Seven months

2012-02-27T09:09:00.000+01:00

The milestones are tumbling at the moment. In two weeks I went from having a non-mobile, non-rolling kid to a sitting, rolling, bum-shuffling babe with two bottom teeth and a love of her own voice. Seriously, there is rarely a moment when she's quiet. She even hums her approval (or otherwise) while eating the food we dish up to her. Soft coo's for 'good' and high pitched whinging when we haven't quite got it right. Lately she's been waking up and practicing her 'da-da' and 'ba-ba-bas' at 2am in the morning. It's kinda cute until you realise it's two in the morning and actually you'd prefer to be sleeping than listening to your kid ticking off developmental milestones.

But even if she's kept me awake for what seems like all night and really, I'm pretty grumpy because this working-Mama thing needs sleep for it to function, one look at those cheeks and I'm done.

Emilia at: six months, five months, four months, three months, two months

Favourite places

2012-02-24T09:08:00.000+01:00

So, that favourite place we visited? This is it. McLaren Vale on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia. The summers are magic there. Four days of looking out at this sunset while drinking a glass of red and waiting for the BBQ to be cooked. Even better, watching the same sunset looking out over the sea. Yes, we did that too.

And then spent the days doing this.

And this.

Yep, that'd be - let's pretend to taste wine but really we're all staring at the baby who is hamming it up for the camera.

See, told you.

It was a pretty awesome long weekend which seems far too long ago now. Never mind, I'll be seeing this lot again soon (yippee) - in two weeks we're heading down to Melbourne again to celebrate my Mum's "big" birthday. They'll be more photos, more wine, more hands to cuddle and play with E. I'm counting the days already.

Ooff!

2012-02-14T09:43:00.000+01:00

Ooff! Our internet got sick. I lost my camera charger. I went back to work. We had a mini-holiday to one of my favourite places in the world. I did some knitting. Our internet stayed sick for much longer than it ought. Eventually I managed to find my camera charger (in the linen closet) and we got our internet functioning again. In a nutshell we've been busy and I haven't been blogging. But I've been thinking about it and now I that I have both a functioning computer with an internet connection and a working camera I might get back into the swing of things again.

Growing Pains

2012-01-23T23:58:00.000+01:00

Today I have a sick baby hanging out with me as I go about my day. Mr Hippo in hand, dummy firmly in mouth and head gently resting on her Mamma's back. Her nose is full of snot and she sounds ever so slightly like a Pug dog as she sniffs and snuffles her way through slumber. And while I am so happy to know that just being with me is enough to make her feel a bit better, this was not what I had planned for today. Nor this week, for that matter. Oh no! This week was about getting the car fixed, buying safety gear for our soon-to-be second vehicle (a putt-putt motorbike), storing up breastmilk in carefully labelled bottles and orientating Emilia into childcare. This week was supposed to be about getting everything ready for me to go back to work.

I do not feel great about going back to work. It is necessary and I know once I am there I will enjoy oiling the intellectual cogs in my brain and using skills that I had previously worked so hard to acquire. Mattthias will start looking after Emilia one day a week, which I think they will both love (no pesky Mamma poking her head in wondering if everything is okay) and eventually Emilia will love childcare. Over all her toys and the games that we play at home, her most favourite thing in the world is visiting people. No matter where we go if there's someone about she'll lean in towards them and give them a big gummy smile. She will love the opportunity of playing with other kids at childcare. And she will still hang out with Mamma or Papa four days a week. It will be okay. It might even be great. But right now it all seems too much. Right now she's nestled on my back sleeping and there's no where else I'd rather her be.

17.01

18.01

19.01

20.01

21.01

22.01

23.01

Little Dresses

2012-01-20T11:55:00.000+01:00

It all started with this dress. Spotted and bought from here. And while we ooh'ed and ahh'ed over it at Christmas, my Mum remembered that she thought she might have kept a few of our old baby dresses somewhere for safe keeping. You know, just in case. A little while later I was presented with a not so small handful of beautiful cotton dresses and a few velvety ones for when it gets cold. I'm still not entriely convinced that dresses are the most practical thing for little girls to wear. But they really are so very cute and the vintage ones have some wonderful detailing that you just can't get anymore. And really, while Emilia is still mostly immobile they aren't that impractical to wear.

And then to add to my good fortune I found this dress at the local op-shop. It was the polka dots that drew me in initially but when I got up close I noticed all the beautiful little details and I was sold. When I got home I discovered that it was, in fact, a Mama-made dress. Someone's Mama or other loving someone (someone's someone, that is) had stitched all those details by hand. Goodness knows who had the heart to send it the op-shop but I am so very glad that I found it and only a little sheepish that I paid only $1.50 for it. Less than a coffee! Happy days my friends. Little op-shop, I'll be back.

6 months

2012-01-16T01:16:00.000+01:00

And just like that my little babe is becoming a girl. Sometimes, just for a moment, I catch a glimpse of the girl that she is becoming. For an instant her baby cheeks and gummy smile give way to a studious and inquisitive gaze and I see the girl she will be at 10. And then 'poof' it's gone and she's a babe in my arms again.

A babe who (touch wood) is sleeping again! I'm writing this with slight trepidation for there's a real risk that I might jinx things by blurting it out here, but, just quietly, we seem to have repaired her sleep. Thank you to everyone who sent words of encouragment and helpful advice. I'm not sure that we're completely out of the woods yet but we're making progress, and that's more than enough for now.

Emilia at: five months four months, three months, two months

Contemplation

2012-01-12T07:03:00.000+01:00

I'd forgotten about these photos. Fragments of an afternoon spent exploring the Canberra Botanic Gardens.

I've been in a bit of a creative funk of late, I pick up the camera and think "now what?" It all seems too hard. Perhaps I'm over thinking it. Anyway, I feel like I need a bit of a creative kick up the backside, something to get me moving beyond the funk and back towards making and creating. And while I've never actually managed to complete a 365, when I look back at some of the photos I took during my failed 365 challenges, I like the photos I took. Not all of them, no definietly not, but some of them I like. And some of the best ones (in my opinion) were taken at the 11th hour when I had nothing to give (or so I thought) and I just picked up the camera and snapped. "Hey presto. Photo done. Onto the next task of the day." So I'm contemplating doing a 365 again.

Maybe I'll start on Monday.

Beginnings

2012-01-10T10:09:00.000+01:00

It's no secret that our house has been having a few sleeping problems. E has never been the greatest sleeper, even at the best of times she has always struggled just to let her little body relax into dreamland. Although in hindsight we did have a pretty good thing going when while we were living in Germany. Once she actually got to sleep, she generally slept well, waking only occasionally for the odd top-up. No problem. It all went to pieces when we moved to Australia. I was jetlagged, she was jetlagged and in addition to that completely overwhelmed by the move. For a while we clung to each other like it was nobodies business, an overtired Mama nursing her little girl everytime she made a peep (and she made plenty). It took a few weeks but we eventually got over the jetlag and Emilia settled into her new home. Only problem was that the lasting legacy of the whole thing was a fairly fractured sleep routine. Everytime Emilia woke up she needed me to nurse her back to dreamland. Sometimes it was twice a night but more often it was 4 or 5. Last weekend we hit crisis point. There were tears and a sudden realisation that I just physically couldn't keep doing it anymore. What was broken needed fixing.

And so last weekend I stood in a section of the bookshop I never thought I'd be in and spent a good half an hour reading all the baby-sleep bibles. Turns out there's a lot. With a little bit of reluctance I bought one that sat somewhere between "let your child cry it out" and one that promised a "no-cry" solution. Nice as a no-cry solution sounds, it just doesn't seem realistic. We started lastnight. Safe to say I didn't sleep much lastnight. Crossed fingers we round a corner tonight and by the end of this week we'll be one the road to recovery and mending our broken sleep. And then... and then I'm hoping that I'll be able to emerge out of the foggy shadow of tiredness that is lurking over me and enjoy the summer.

The picture above is my first selfie for a photo project that I'm doing as part of Urban Muser's "In the Picture" challenge - a selfie a week for 2012. Hopefully I'm up for the challenge.

Between Christmas and New Year

2012-01-06T00:58:00.001+01:00

A beach tent bought in the sales, left-overs from a wonderful Christmas feast, three hats, a bottle of sunscreen and some glorious summer weather (at last!) - these were the makings of two wonderful days spent at the beach between Christmas and New Year. I always find that time between Christmas and New Year quite magical. Everything goes quiet. It's almost as if the world, just for a second, holds it's breath and takes stock before the busy-ness of the new year begins. There are more dreams and fewer regrets. I am quite convinced that magic happens in those five days, what with everyone making new years resolutions and all. Everything seems just that little bit sweeter. Oh, but I digress!

I was initially sceptical about the beach tent, it seemed like an indulgent luxury and the traditionalist in me thought that the only things required for a good day at the beach were bathers and a towel. Five minutes of shielding Emilia from the sun and I was a convert. We even managed a nap under said tent! In the end, the water was still too cold for little toes, but watching the waves and feeling and tasting the sand was more than enough excitment to begin with. We came home with sand everywhere and that wonderful beach smell of salt and sea mixed with sunscreen and sweat. They'll be more of these days, I'm sure, but for now the memory will have to do as we head back to work and the daily hum of our new life in Canberra. The busy-ness has begun again.

A Year in Review

2012-01-04T03:18:00.000+01:00

January - Deep winter snow in Vienna, Austria

February - Slow sunrise in Frankfurt, Germany

March - Celebrating Carnivale in Cologne, Germany

April - Late snowfall on the Austrian Alps

May - Early Spring sunshine in Berlin, Germany

June - Catching some morning rays on our balcony in Berlin, Germany

July - welcome Emilia!

August - Father of the bride, Vienna Austria

September - Wandering the streets with babe in arms, Berlin Germany

October - Another reunion; this time with kids in tow

November - Goodbye Berlin, Hello Canberra!

December - the beginning of a long summer, Bateman's Bay, Australia

I think at some stage this year I decided that my 2011 word was going to be rhythm. On reflection I couldn't have chosen a word that would less reflect my year in any way shape or form. Pregnancy, finishing work, having a baby and then making the momentus decision to move back to Australia was not exactly condusive to finding an easy rhythm in which to wander through life. There were moments when it seemed as if I'd just tackled one hurdle only to see another, even larger challenge, looming up ahead. Rhythm seemed an elusive concept present only in other people's lives. And yet.

And yet you could perhaps argue that there is rhythm in even the most staccato'd work, that even the most modern of melodies has a rhythm if you allow the music to flow over and around you and let it seep into your pores. And so if I stop thinking for a few moments and forget about the to-ing and fro-ing, if I just close my eyes and feel the year (as strange as that may seem) I find I did find a rhythm after all. Not a day-to-day rhythm nor the rhythm that comes from the steady beat of a drum or the tredging of feet down a well worn path. No my rhythm was all topsy-turvy, unexpected and slightly out of kilter with what you would predict. A fast-paced rhythm with only the occasional silence that might allow you to catch your breath. And if I'm being perfectly honest I expect that this rhythm will be around for time, because, I discovered, it is the rhythm of Matthias, the rhythm of Emilia and the rhythm of me. It is the rhythm of us.

2012-01-02T00:59:00.000+01:00

How were your holidays? Ours went something like this.

As my Dad pointed out it had been six years since all four girls were together in Melbourne for Christmas. And with six years came the addition of five new people to the table. There was more food than any of us could possibly contemplate eating, naps for everyone in the middle of the day, good wine, bonbons, bad jokes and even a Christmas carol or two thrown in at the end of a long but wonderful evening. And at the end of it all we attempted a photo of Nanou and Dapa with the grandkids. I'm hoping that someone else might have got a good one of them all, although the silly one will perhaps always be my favourite.

Noma

2011-12-21T01:44:00.000+01:00

Way back in October, just before we left Berlin, we took a trip to Copenhagen to visit some friends and attend a rather extravagant, but very, very wonderful meal. The plan to eat at Noma had been hatched way back in January when we all attended the Arztkammer Ball in Vienna. At the time it seemed like a dream with little certainty of becoming a reality. The steps involved in even getting a reservation seem daunting enough (a phone call placed between 10am-12pm on a prescribed day, three months ahead of your desired booking). Then there were the practicalities of getting to Denmark, the question of what to do with one (and then two) new babies and for some of us at least there was the question of whether it was really that good anyway. But we did manage to get a booking and since we all (yes, all four!) were on parental leave we could easily accommodate the midweek lunch booking we were offered.

And so we went and ate at the best restaurant in the world. Was it the best meal of my life? Probably not. But it was wonderful. A true performance. It was like watching a first-class ballet or opera the way the waiters and chefs danced around the room from table to table explaining their creations and encouraging the guests (us!) to enjoy good food prepared with love and an attention to detail found in few other kitchens.

If I had one criticism it would be that some of the dishes were just a little bit gimicky. The live (chilled) baby shrimp I could have done without and while it was great fun to cook one of the dishes ourselves (egg fried in hay infused oil cooked on hot plates at the table), it did, in the end taste a lot like a home-cooked fried egg. Fun, but not exactly haut cuisine. But everything else was fantastic - they didn't blink when we arrived with a newborn (who slept the whole time - bless her), the service was spot-on without being stuffy, we giggled with the waiters, enjoyed wonderful company and we left full and all glad that we'd all made the effort. And really that's what good meals are all about, aren't they?

5 months

2011-12-18T23:39:00.001+01:00

Another month seems to have whooshed by without me feeling like I've had a chance to draw breath. Five months, can it really be? Somewhere in the haze of this month we seem to have got ourselves back into a rhythm of sorts. Slowly, but surely, eight calls for 'room service' overnight became six and then four and then two. I had grand plans of Emilia sleeping through the night when she cracked that magic 6kg mark, but after having got to the other side of what felt like a marathon of hourly (!) wake-up calls I'm happy with my two calls a night. Two I can handle. Two is sanity.

And with more sleep comes more time to play. More giggles, more tummy time and some very determined (but not yet successful) attempts to roll. Any day now she's going to muster up the courage to move her legs just that little bit further and let herself roll. Any day now she'll be starting to move.

Emilia at: four months, three months, two months, one month

Christmas Treats

2011-12-16T08:53:00.000+01:00

I have been itching to make things for Christmas for weeks now. If my sewing machine and box of crafty treasures was with me and not in some container somewhere on the Pacific Ocean I'd have perhaps made something like this for our fireplace or a few of these for our Christmas tree. I might even have made a stocking for E and some little boxes for storing her toys. But such lofty goals will have to wait for next year. This year it's all about simple.

**A note to my family: If you think you might be getting a stocking present from me this year and still want it to be a surprise on Christmas Day, don't read any more!**

Some Christmas paper, bought on the mandatory "new home" trip to Ikea.

Cut and pasted onto old jam jars filled with a Christmas inspired granola, based on this recipe here

And because you're never too young to start enjoying the making and creating that comes with Christmas, some labels, made by E (with a lot of help from her Mama) inspired by this post here.

All culminating in some very delicious, but oh so simple, homemade Christmas-y goodness ready to be sprinkled onto yogurts, fruit and other breakfast-y kind of things on Christmas Day.

Rolly-polly

2011-12-14T00:09:00.000+01:00

There was a time when we worried that she wasn't gaining enough weight. It seemed that everything she drank (and sometimes more) ended up being thrown right back up. Everyone had an opinion. Too much milk. Too little milk. Wrong feeding position. I should drink more of x and less of y. Eat this but definitely not that. Mostly we just ignored all the advice and got on with being us. Eating, sleeping, playing and in amongst it all plenty of posseting with frequent clothes changes for us all. And you know what? She's doing alright. Right now she's our rolly-polly dick-sie Maedchen. There's a small part of me that would like to send these photos to all the well-meaning do-gooders who suggested I/she/we were doing something wrong.

Perhaps I just have.

weekend-ing

2011-12-11T09:00:00.001+01:00

After a week of cold weather the sun finally came out to play this weekend. We ventured out to Gunaroo, a small town a short drive from Canberra. Apparently it's where all the cool-kids from Canberra go to play on the weekend. E slept there, charmed the socks of everyone while we ate our pizza and then slept on the way home. We declared the afternoon a success.

Round Here

2011-12-08T01:36:00.000+01:00

The move, from Berlin to my parents in Melbourne and then up to Canberra has been gruelling. Turns out that babies don't "do" change very well and my sweet, sweet girl has been giving us the round around. I've had a few people ask me where I am. I'm here but at the moment all my physical and emotional energy is going into E. In amongst the nursing, rocking, feeding, shh-ing and playing (yes, there's a bit of that too) I've been etching out some time to work on a jumper that I'm knitting for my Dad. A line here, a line there it's slow going but with worsted weight wool it knits up relatively quickly making me feel like at least I'm achieving something.

We're still without furniture but I have plans for a few simple Christmas decorations that I might share here if I get the time. Oh, and I also recently won a knitting book, Bambeanies from Wooly Wormhead, which even contains a hat named Emilia. Yep, I plan to share that one with you here too. When I get the time.

Then and Now

2011-11-26T09:22:00.001+01:00

One of the great things about living back at Mum and Dad's while we've been waiting to move into our new home has been discovering lots of old bits and pieces that Mum has saved from when my sisters and I were growing up. Turns out that babies needs haven't changed that much in the intervening years and little E has been having a great time playing with all our old stuff. Check out the then and now picture of me and Emilia at about the same age playing with the rolly-polly Clown. I'd like to say that we look 'just the same' but really, Emilia is still Papa's girl in the looks department.

Life is still pretty topsy-turvy around here. If the rain ever stops pouring, tomorrow we'll be packing up the trailer and driving up the Hume Highway. The keys to our new place will be ready for picking up Monday morning. It'll be nice to be our of our suitcases finally and into our new place. I already have grand plans for putting our stamp on our new pad, including (I hope) the planting of a vegie garden and maybe, perhaps, even some chooks!

Back in Oz

2011-11-16T23:48:00.000+01:00

So, yes. We've moved back to Australia. It's something that I've been dreaming about for such a long time but I was never quite sure it was going to be possible. There seemed to be so many obstacles; jobs needed to be found and visas applied for, not to mention the uneviable task of finding a new house and the logistical challenges of moving across the world with a 4 month old baby. It all just seemed too hard. And then it happened. Just. Like. That.

Well that's how it seemed anyway. In truth it was many months in the making. Matthias and I actually applied for our jobs way back when I was still pregnant. But these things always take longer than you think and we sat around wondering whether it was going to become a reality until the end of October. And then we were offered jobs and a few days later Matthias' visa came through and we looked at our diaries and said, "Well, really, the most logical thing is to be in Australia in three weeks". Yes, we really did say that. And truthfully even if it was not the most logical choice there is something to be said for doing these things fast. Moving is never fun and perhaps if we'd had more time we would have procastinated more and had boxes and endless 'to do' lists floating around for ages. When you move in two weeks there's no time to 'umm and ahh' about whether you keep your sister's ex-boyfriend's crappy birthday gift (it got ditched) or your 'Boston winter coat' (kept). You make decisions fast. You pack up and you leave.

And now we're here. Temporarily calling my parent's spare bedroom home.

In case you're wondering, Emilia coped splendedly with the flight right up until about the 18 hour mark. Like almost everyone she'd had enough. She screamed pretty much solidly for the next six hours with intermittent bouts of sleeping on my shoulder, whimpering as she slept. One week on she's still jetlagged. If anyone has any tips on curing baby jetlag I'd love to hear them.

Four months

2011-11-13T08:52:00.000+01:00

A lot can happen in a month...

You can find your hands.
You can take a big breath and turn something you've been dreaming about into a reality.
You can learn to stick fingers in mouths and laugh when you make yourself choke.
You can pack up a house.
You can buy flights and hope that your little girl will be a good traveller.
You can find your voice and delight your parents with your 'talking'.
You can say goodbye to two years of memories, two years of friends and a European winter.
You can meet two aunties for the first time.
You can spend 30 hours in airports and airplanes and fall, jetlagged, into the arms of a waiting family.
You can say Hello Australia!.. Home for the next little while.

Yep, it's been a big month. Too big for blogging. Too many decisions and plans and then boxes and suitcases and goodbyes and hellos and in amongst it all our little girl has been growing into a big baby with a voice and hands and a strong personality bursting to get out.

I've missed this space. I'll be back. Soon.

Sleep

2011-10-19T09:59:00.000+02:00

I'm a good sleeper. Really good. So good in fact that I'm probably a little too good. On a bad night it takes me five minutes to get to sleep. On a good night, I'm asleep almost before my head hits the pillow. I've even been known to fall asleep mid-conversation, at the dinner table and once, just once, while standing up listening to a midnight mass. I was the girl at uni who always fell asleep in class. When the sleep-bug hits I'm a goner. It's safe to say I have very little understanding of the difficulties some people have in getting to sleep.

But I am learning, and quickly. Emilia is sleep resistant. Catch her at the right time and it takes half an hour for her to calmly and quietly drift off to sleep. And this is after she's been fed, changed, swaddled, given her sleep toy, has her dummy and has her Mama or Papa sitting quietly by her side.

I kind of feel sorry for the kid. Kind of. A little bit. Although there are times when I'm reminded of that book by Adam Mansbach. You can listen to Samuel L. Jackson narrating it here. It'll make you laugh, particularly if you're just a little bit sleep deprived.

Sud Kunstpark

2011-10-17T19:19:00.000+02:00

Sometimes in the most unexpected places you find curious things. Like this Artpark, tucked away in a remote and very small village in the Austrian countryside. The name is as much of an enigma as the works within - there is no north, east or west Artpark to speak of. If you were geographically minded you might argue that the park sits at the southern tip of the village, but geography has never been my strong suite so I really couldn't say. Anyway, there it is, nestled between the forest and the vineyards, a curious collection of bright, whimsical sculptural pieces by a Canadian artist. You might also wonder what a Canadian artist is doing in southern Burgenland but that, again, would be something I couldn't answer.

So with very little explanation other than the little I have said above, I give you the artwork. I loved almost every piece. Some made me smile, a few made me giggle. The man in the second photo only began to relieve himself when you stood within a few metres of him. Fun to see a group of adults regressing into 5 year olds when the question of wee comes up. Poo and wee jokes never really get old, do they?

But I think this little girl was my favourite of the lot. I've forgotten the title now, but it was something along the lines of "dirt in eye". There was a small amount of moss growing on her gumboots from her constant crying which somehow added to the whole piece. And I just love her posture and the position of her feet. The artist got it just right.

3 months

2011-10-14T09:00:00.000+02:00

Yesterday Emilia celebrated her three month anniversary with a trip to the doctor for her regular check-up and second lot of vaccinations. Apart from screaming loudly enough that even the doctor commented on her "healthy lungs" she coped with the whole ordeal suprisingly well and at this stage of the developmental game she's tall and lean.

She's also turning out to be a bit of a people person, flirting with everyone who passes by, listening to coversations, cooing and ahhing and giggling at anyone who cares to listen. Doesn't care much about anything else though. Toys? Boring really. Hands? Why bother when you can manipulate your dummy (pacifier) with the flick of your tongue. Milk? Overrated when you can listen to a conversation instead.

Emilia through the months:

- See here for her one week , 4 week and 2 months photos.

Off the Needles

2011-10-12T23:30:00.000+02:00

Off the needles... well, mostly anyway.

This little hat, the Organic Beanie by Mel Clark was initially destined to be a 'welcome baby' gift. It travelled down to Burgenland with me and was quickly finished and ready to be wrapped up and given away but fate had other plans. It somehow never made it to the present wrapping stage, morphing instead into Emilia's go-to hat to keep the chilly winds at bay. The pattern is a great little, quick knit. Simple and the options are endless once you start playing around with the accent colours, as it's Ravelry page shows.

I also managed to finish this Garter stitch Kimono on the train back to Berlin from Burgenland. I was a little worried that the self-striping sock yarn wouldn't look very good on the v-neck and I'm still not sure that it was really that great a choice of yarns. It's old sock yarn from my stash that I was keen to use up and, really, at this end of the year it's warmth that counts. Right? The buttons also came from my Op-shop button stash so all-in-all a very cheap baby gift for little Baby G.

And finally, mittens for me. The first one has been finished for a few weeks now, but it took a chilly evening playing backgammon outside at our favourite Arabic Cafe before I realised that the time for gloves will be quickly upon us and really, it'd be a shame not to give the left mitten a mate. Plus the pattern is quite addictive. The rounds are quick and the patter materialises before your eyes. Yup, happy knitting days are upon us now that the days are shorter and just a little bit chillier.

Burgenland

2011-10-10T11:00:00.008+02:00

This is where we were for the last two weeks. Matthias' parents house in Burgenland, southern Austria. Seriously we couldn't have asked for better weather. Sunny every single day; beautiful, gentle Autumn sun, perfect for soft baby skin and not-as-soft, but just as white, Mama-Bear skin too! While the farmers around us were busy from dawn until well into the night harvesting, we got busy with the art of relaxing - lots of eating, drinking and resting after a busy few months.

Don't believe everything you see - that angelic babe was a bit of a rotter when it came to sleeping in her new (Oma rescued) antique crib and decided, mostly, that it was much more fun to hang out with the adults in her baby-carrier. But amongst the rocking of one little girl to sleep we did find time to enjoy the seasons harvest, eating sun-warmed grapes straight from the vines, searching for the first of the blackberries and picking apples off the side of the road for delicious Apple Strudel and other yummy things.

Yep, it was a pretty good couple of weeks.

Whoops...

2011-10-06T19:24:00.000+02:00

I didn't mean to disappear like that and I'm really only just poking my head into this blog now. Our internet is playing funny-buggers at the moment which is driving me insane. Numerous phone calls to "Alice" and we now have a new modem being sent in the mail. Hopefully this will fix the problem for good and we'll be back in action.

While I've been away I snuck down to beautiful southern Austria, chasing the tail-end of summer amongst the rolling hills of Burgenland. Oh, the weather didn't disappoint! Glorious sunny days and chilly Autumn nights. Perfect weather for morning walks and afternoon naps; plenty of card playing and a little bit of knitting thrown in too. But more later - I need to post this before the internet shuts up shop again.

Happy weekend!

White Noise

2011-09-17T09:39:00.000+02:00

You know how babies are supposed to all go crazy at around 5pm and grizzle and feed and sulk for a few hours before popping off to bed? Well, Emilia does it in the morning. From 7am to midday she snacks constantly, cat-naps, grizzles and occassionally sleeps. Not infrequently I find myself at midday half dressed and emotionally drained from all the nursing, swaddling, cooing, shh-ing, rocking and loving that I have to do to get her to calm down. In the afternoon she's an angel - all smiles and cute baby stuff - but she's a Gremlin in the morning.

But I'm on to her, or at least my sister is (thank god for big sisterly advice). She recommended I try some 'white noise' so I found this website and then I discovered an App for my very dodgy phone that not only has white noise but thunderstorms, oscillating fans and heavy rain. They're miracle baby soothers! Keeps her asleep for at least an hour so that I can shower and get ready for the day (or blog, as the case may be).

*the picture is completely irrelevant to the post, but late summer blooms are always nice don't you think?

2 months

2011-09-14T08:00:00.004+02:00

Two months!

Hard to believe that our little girl has been with us two months. It seems like an eternity and yet no time at all. We love her to bits - the smiles and the funny laughs and the endearing way that she snuggles into your neck like a little mouse burrowing into her nest.

Oh, but she is hard work! This little girl is a reflux, throw-up, colicky kid and we are never short or a cloth towel to mop up the sick. We've tried everything; smaller feeds, bottle feeds, burping 1/2 way through, fennel tea (for me), carum carvi (for her), Sab-simplex (also for her) and the latest a dairy-free diet (for me), which seems to have slightly eased the pain and volume of the sick, but not been the miracle cure I was hoping for. Oh how I miss my yogurt in the mornings! But just as I'm at my wits end and we're in our third set of clothes for the day and I'm walking around our apartment with a grizzling girl in my ear, there's a burp and that smile again and it makes it all okay. More than okay, it makes it fantastic.

Matthias thought that this photo was much more appropriate for her 2 month shot; much more indicative of her normal facial expression - somewhere between a smile and a frown with a little bit of bewilderment thrown in.

- See here for her one week, two week, three week and 4 week photos.

weekend-ing

2011-09-12T19:28:00.001+02:00

We took a day trip to Potsdam on Saturday and wandered through San Soussi park. Just before I took the photo above I had a little "I'm a grown-up now" moment. Standing in front of me were friends that I've know since we were fresh out of school and really only pretending to know who we were and what we wanted, with kids of their own. "When did that happen?" When did I start doing day-trips on the weekend, leaving in the morning (before a proper sleep-in) with two prams, a back-pack full of snacks, a spare change of clothes and it all seeming perfectly normal? To be perfectly honest it still doesn't feel that long ago when the person in the pram was me.

But it was a lovely day! And perhaps made all the more fun with the addition of two little people. Everything started earlier and took a little longer than before but the laughs and giggles more than made up for it. San Soucci is really beautiful in the summer - all the flowers were in bloom and walking through the park and spying the Orangerie and the Chinese Tea House through the trees was really quite magical.

And I still got to take my Art-sy photos, which made this Mama very happy indeed!

2011-09-09T09:10:00.000+02:00

I've been hanging out with this little kiddo and his parents this week. He's just learnt to walk and is so proud of himself. Oh, the simple joy of learning a new skill!

Pay It Forward

2011-09-07T14:32:00.000+02:00

A long time ago now, far longer than I like to remember, Allana from High Maintenance Hippy did a 'Pay it Forward' thingy. I happily accepted her lovely offer and in doing so agreed to Pay it Forward myself within 365 days. Well, it's been more than 365 days and I never Paid it Forward. Life happened - a pregnancy, a baby and a few things in between. But even though the 365 days may have gone by I never forgot my commitment to this lovely community project. I thought long and hard about what I could give; a photograph, a knitted hat, something else? And then during my crazy sewing and nesting frenzy in the weeks leading up to Emilia's birth an idea came to me. I would make something for baby, which was also quintessentially Berlin; a Berlin TV Tower rattle.

Would you like one? I know it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea but even if you don't have a baby yourself, perhaps you have a babe somewhere in your life who might appreciate this toy. The only catch is that you agree to Pay it Forward too, three times over. It can be anything you like - craft, op-shoppie finds, photos - really the choice is up to you. The first three people to comment will be the happy winners and find one of these TV Tower Rattles winging its way to you. Just remember to leave your email address in the comment so that I can contact you to get your address.

weekend-ing

2011-09-05T12:51:00.000+02:00

This weekend marked the end of my first week as a solo-parent. I'd like to say I survived with grace and charm but I think in reality it was more like fumbling in the dark and hoping that both me and Emilia survived the experience. The week has definitely left me with a new found appreciation for single-parents and parents who's partners travel a lot. By Sunday afternoon when Matthias got home I was ready for a little Emilia break and some adult conversation. So while Emilia slept quietly by our side we indulged in some Sushi at my favourite Japanese Restaurant in Berlin, Sasaya. We were almost finished before my little colicky girl came back to life and we needed to make a quick dash for the exit... have to say that I'm looking forward to that magical 3 months when colic is supposed to disappear!

Hello September

2011-09-01T09:23:00.000+02:00

And just like that August has past us by. I've enjoyed my little August break. Posting a picture a day, no words, has been the welcome change that I've needed while we've been quietly trying to work out how we all fit together now that we are a family of three. Add to the mix a trip to Vienna, a wedding, two birthdays and a business trip away (for Matthias) and you have one very busy month!

Taking a step back from the blog also let me focus a bit on just taking pictures again. I have a new toy - a big, new fancy camera body - which I'm absolutely loving. I still haven't quite got a handle on all it's features, but every time me and "Bertie" go out on the streets, I learn a few more of her tricks and I fall even more in love with her. So I've spent a lot of August adjusting to motherhood and taking thousands of pictures of Emilia with my new friend, Bertie. But between times I've also been quietly reading blog posts here and there keeping track of what everyone has been up to. Having said that, I'm really looking forward to properly catching up on what everyone has been up to over the next week or so. Thank you to everyone who has commented over the month, all your comments were read and appreciated, even if it's been a little quiet around here.

And with August behind us the weather round these parts has definitely turned towards Autumn. There's a crispness in the air in the mornings and a chill at night. This really is one of my favourite times of the year. I find myself happily thinking about scarves and woolie tights and cosy jumpers while still savouring the last of Summers offerings. Warm afternoons spent on the balcony reading or walking in the park. Bare feet. Ice-cream. And with the weather change I've picked up my knitting needles again, but this time I'm knitting something for me.

My Thinker

2011-08-30T13:03:00.002+02:00

6 weeks - August break

2011-08-29T08:00:00.000+02:00

Bonfire - August break

2011-08-25T14:59:00.000+02:00

A Quiet Moment - August break

2011-08-24T08:00:00.000+02:00

Father of the Bride - August break

2011-08-23T10:39:00.002+02:00

Summer Harvest

2011-08-19T14:31:00.001+02:00

Untitled - August break

2011-08-18T09:00:00.000+02:00

the train to Vienna - August break

2011-08-17T08:00:00.001+02:00

I heart Berlin

2011-08-16T20:58:00.002+02:00

week 4 - August break

2011-08-15T09:00:00.001+02:00

2011-08-12T10:59:00.000+02:00

A small break from the August break - not my photograph... and a few words.

Just before I had Emilia I met Beth at a "Bump's Lunch" and arranged for her to take a few photographs of our family while all four grandparents were in Berlin. Matthias and I have very few photographs of "us" together and given that we live far from both our families the chances of us all being together again in the same place was probably going to be few and far between. Add to the mix Emilia's birth and me coincidentally meeting an Australian photographer a week before Emilia was born and, well, it seemed only right.

So five days after Emilia was born (a little crazy perhaps in hindsight!) we organised a celebratory brunch at our house and then a short walk through one of my favourite parks in Berlin. Beth joined us for the morning and took some photos - the result were some very special pictures that will forever remind me of the day and of 'my' Berlin. The picture above is one of my favourites from the day - the whole collection (including some stunning photographs of our apartment) can be seen on Beth's blog here.

A 60th Birthday on the Spree - August break

2011-08-11T11:18:00.000+02:00

The only way to get anything done - August break

2011-08-10T09:36:00.002+02:00

It's not summer without Sunflowers - August break

2011-08-08T12:08:00.001+02:00

Oberbaumbruecke - August break

2011-08-05T14:41:00.000+02:00

Untitled - August break

2011-08-04T10:48:00.000+02:00

Business from the Biergarten - August break

2011-08-03T16:56:00.002+02:00

3 Weeks - August break

2011-08-02T11:52:00.002+02:00

Umbrellas, Gumboots and Raincoats - August Break

2011-08-01T10:51:00.000+02:00

Home and busy

2011-07-29T18:16:00.001+02:00

A couple of weeks before I delivered I had a dream. Actually to be perfectly truthful it was more like a photograph that became etched in my mind. It was of me sitting on our couch, squashed between Emilia's two set of grandparents with us all staring at my still very present bump. You see, both my parents and Matthias' parents were due to arrive in Berlin more-or-less on my due date and despite feeling like I was going to deliver a few days early, I kept telling myself it was more likely going to be a few days late. Matthias' parents could only stay for a few days and if the timing was even just a little bit off there was a good chance that Matthias' parents would fly home to Vienna having seen nothing more than me and my bump. As the date approached I began to worry that Emilia would be late and there we'd all be, sitting on our couch, drinking tea, talking about the weather and trying to ignore the elephant in the room which was my overly pregnant self and no newborn to hold.

Thankfully, so far Emilia seems to be taking after me in the timing department. She arrived just a little bit early, 24 hours before the first set of grandparents arrived, giving her and her parents a lovely little window of time to get to know each other and recover. And the birth itself? Perhaps it was the Heubleumen sitzbad, copious amounts of Raspberry Leaf tea or the benefit of good genes (and I rather think it was the latter) but it was quick. Five hours from woe to go. Two days after she was born and Matthias, Emilia and I walked out of the hospital, through the park and back to our apartment.

Six days later we were back again. At eight days of age Emilia decided to test both her parents by inhaling some milk up her nose. Babies breath through their noses. Curdled milk up the nose means no airway and no airway means not a lot of breathing. Thankfully she screamed and tried very hard to clear it herself. Thankfully her Papa was calm enough to make an educated phone call to the ambulance while her Mama tried patting her back and suck the milk out of her nose. Thankfully babies can be a little bit purple for a lot longer than adults. And we live close to the hospital (remember that walk home?). Thankfully with a little bit of medical magic in the ambulance and then some more in the Paediatric ward the milk was removed and Emilia turned pink again. Most importantly, thankfully after two days of observation it was deemed to be "just one of those things" and we are now all back home again.

Home and busy with the bits and pieces that come with getting to know a new little one. My parents are still here and helping out enormously. As I get more active and Emilia and I find our rhythm I'm hoping to spend a bit more time out and about with them exploring Berlin. In mid-August we will all spend a week in Vienna meeting the rest of Matthias' friends and family and celebrating one very-important birthday and the wedding of a good friend. With all that's going on around here I feel the need to step back abit from this space, but not completely. And so I've decided to join in Susannah Conway's August break - a picture a day, no words - starting on Monday.

Speak to you all in September.

Never too early to start

2011-07-28T10:00:00.003+02:00

At two weeks, Emilia is just beginning to wake up to the world. It's a fascinating process. At the moment she's completely besotted by black and white, shadows and light. I know it's a little early to be reading, but this book, Dwell Studio's Look Book, keeps her entertained for a good couple of minutes - the contrasting colours perfect for a little girl just beginning to see. My little scholar! And a couple of minutes of angelic baby-time is just enough for this Mama to see that one-day, some-day this little bundle of joy who is currently consuming all my energy will also give back energy and joy and bundles of love in her own special way.

week 1 and 2

2011-07-26T18:39:00.000+02:00

Week One

Wow! Two weeks goes quickly when you have little sleep and a new addition to the family! Thank you to everyone who has congratulated, emailed, commented and generally been happy with us on the safe arrival of Emilia. Our little Berlin-babe is doing well, with a slight hiccough at Day 8 requiring an emergency trip back to the hospital and a two-night stay in the Paediatric ward. Perhaps more on that another day, but now we are back at home and slowly finding a new rhythm to our lives.

Hopefully soon, one day, I'll find enough time to blog AND read some blog posts too!

Week Two

Three

2011-07-14T18:35:00.000+02:00

Emilia Rosa

12th July 3:49am

3700gms (8 lbs 2 oz)

Little Sister Dress

2011-07-13T10:00:00.003+02:00

Tora Froseth's Little Sister Dress. I started this back in June, put it down and then picked it up again last week. The mindless, but oh so meditative, stockingette stitch was perfect for the nights, and lets be honest, days spent with my feet up on the couch listening to Podcasts and watching my fill of True Blood.

I think it'll fit for Christmas... If, that is, the Bean is a girl, and we're in Europe, and, and, and... There's a lot of 'ands' and possibilities in the mix before this knit can be safely worn on Christmas Eve. But sometimes it's best not to think about these things and just to knit.

More details can be found on my ravelry page.

weekend-ing

2011-07-11T11:06:00.000+02:00

Long slow walks through our neighbourhood; Raspberry and Chilli Tea to keep the temperature down; an evening spent at the Friedrichshain Open-Air Cinema watching Almanya (highly recommended); hot chilli pasta; another trip to Neuensee and quiet contemplative waiting.

A completely satisfying weekend for mind, body and soul. How was yours?

Tea Drinking

2011-07-06T12:34:00.000+02:00

So you might have noticed that I haven't been blogging as much lately. I've been thinking a bit about why this is so and I don't have a particularly good reason. It just is so at the moment and in the end I've decided not to worry too much about it.

Anyway, I'm still pregnant. Incredibly slow, a little over the bump and embracing Germany's obsession with tea and all things herbal. Of all the strange cultural differences between Australia and Germany the thing that I've found most amusing during my pregnancy is how obsessed Germans are with tea. There is a tea for everything. In first trimester it was ginger tea for nausea. Then there's the general Pregnancy Tea - good for all round pregnancy goodness and filled, I think, with a mix of fennel, raspberry leaf, dandelion and other herbal leaves.

When Germany had it's first burst of hot weather my body decided that retaining all the fluid that I was consuming was a good idea. This resulted in a crazy amount of leg oedema that prevented shoe wearing, precipitated leg cramps and was the general source of a lot of grumpiness in our house. The solution? Yep, tea. Nettle Tea to be precise, and a stronger version Pregnancy Tea against Oedema combined with lymphatic massage and a slow and steady adjustment to the hotter weather.

My hairdresser (the keeper of all good German related information) informed me the other day that I should switch from Peppermint Tea to Fennugreek Tea, as peppermint is bad for breastfeeding whereas Fennugreek Tea is well known to help bring in the milk. Unsolicited pregnancy advice tends to come in the form of Tea recommendations here which I find culturally incredibly fascinating. Better than unsolicited "bump touching" anyway.

Perhaps the most amusing Tea/Herbal remedy that is wildly talked about here is the Heublumen sitzbad (Hay Sitting Bath). This is not a tea, but a steam bath to soften muscles and relax your cervix in readiness for labour. You essentially boil up some Hay in water and then sit your bottom half over the steam. I can't find any information in english about this particular labour preparation technique. But I've decided to embrace it despite it reminding me a little of steaming open an envelope. A Berlin baby deserves the full Berlin experience - Heublumen sitzbad and all!

Too Hard to Keep

2011-06-29T09:49:00.000+02:00

Do you have any photos that are just too hard to keep? Jason Lazarus has started a blog and respository for all those photos that are just too hard to hold onto. Any theme, any memory. The photos will be stored away in Chicago so that they may exist without being destroyed. And you never have to look at them again. The blog is an interesting peak into the unknown world of other people's "too hard to keep" box. And it got me thinking about my own little collection... what would be in yours?

weekend-ing

2011-06-27T09:29:00.000+02:00

Thank you to everyone who complimented my fine "making skills" on Friday. I'm pleased to say that the making continued through the weekend, but, with a little encouragement, I did also manage to venture out and see the world.

On Saturday night we ventured down to Wannsee for what should have been a balmy mid-summer nights Summer Party. Unfortunately the weather man didn't agree. It was very chilly and with rain threatening no one stayed very long. We stayed just long enough for me to become mesmorised by the clouds before scampering back to central Berlin and watching Biutiful. Well, Matthias watched it and I fell asleep on the couch, but there's nothing new in that.

Other than that expedition there was a trip to Schloss Charlottenburg and the consumption of about 3 kilos of stone fruit - cherries, peaches, mangoes, apricots. I'm eating fruit with everything and anything - breakfast, lunch and dinner and quite often multiple times in between too. Everything is in peak season and I can't get enough!

I make things

2011-06-24T10:40:00.000+02:00

I've been told that some women start cleaning towards the end of their pregnancy. Do strange things like get down on their hands and knees and scrub floors, clean the windows or reorganise the basement storage. Not me, although I have thought about how nice it'd be to have clean windows and a polished floor. It's just that I don't want to do it. I'm too preoccupied. I'm making things. It started with a few bibs and some burp clothes and quickly extended to blankets, change mats, hats, pants and of course, little knitting cardigans.

My patience and reserve for the act of making seems limitless. No time for all the other things I was going to do with my maternity leave like, ahem, taking photos of summer in Berlin, visit all the museums that have been on my "list" since we moved here two years ago or sorting out my archive of photos and creating a photo album of the last two years. No, no, no, as soon as I think I might be "done" with my making for a little while, another idea pops into my head. Of course the Bean needs a hat to go with the cardigan or another little blanket or something red or...

I'm 37 weeks today. The Bean is officially ripe and it's anyone's guess when s/he might decided to join us. So if it's a little light-on around these parts it's either because I'm consumed with making things or the Bean has got impatient and decided to come a little early.

Either way, wishing you all a lovely weekend.

weekend-ing

2011-06-20T17:28:00.000+02:00

I'm a little late in posting today. The day seems to have got away from me. I all of a sudden realised that it's almost 'thinking about dinner time' really before I've had a chance to think I've started the day at all!

We spent a lovely weekend in Vienna attending a quite traditional Austrian wedding. The reception was at the Kunsthistorisches Museum and we were lucky enough to be able to take a guided tour through the new Duerer, Cranach and Holbein exhibition. I don't usually like 1500s paintings but a lot of the portraits in the exhibition were of couples, painted to celebrate their nuptials and I got quite caught up in the moment imagining these new pairs embarking on their lives together. Matthias and I also got a chance to practice some of our new dancing skills. The consensus is that we're much better than we were in January, but still need a lot of practice. Especially in managing to avoid banging into other people. Ahem.

Sunday morning we were back on the train again and 10 hours later, back in Berlin. Lots of time spent reading, snoozing, knitting and enjoying drinks in the dining car.

Strawberries

2011-06-17T09:00:00.000+02:00

It's strawberry season here. Lots of little strawberry stands like these here are lining the streets and the Brandenburg strawberries bought from these stalls are unbelievably good. They smell so, so sweet and the taste is incredible. I bought a kilo to make jam and ended up eating half of them before they'd even been washed and hulled. Oops! Back to the stall, another 500g, a few lemons and half an hour later I had... strawberry syrup. The jam didn't set. Bother. Anyone have any tips? Nevermind, it's delicious syrup and will be perfect with my yogurt in the morning, but I really was looking forward to thick, strawberry jam on my toast.

So domestic diva-like people who are good at preserves and jams. What are your tips for jam making? It needs to be a recipe that uses natural pectin as I can't find the packet stuff in the shops.

Let Summer In

2011-06-15T08:44:00.000+02:00

Summer's are short in Berlin. Air-conditioning seems a bit of an over-kill when there's only a few weeks of the year when it'll be truly useful. Instead as the temperatures rise, windows and doors open and life is lived on the street. It's something that I've come to really enjoy about this time of the year. With my balcony door open I can hear our Kiez waking up. Someone is practising their Piano scales, down on the street a child is crying - probably having fallen off his bike and a man's laughter wafts in from somewhere else. Big belly laughs that make me want to know the joke.

I took this photo the other day while waiting for a artist to talk at the Based in Berlin exhibition. The talk was, unfortunately, incredibly disappointing. The same could be said for much of the exhibition. Oh well, at least I got a photo that represents summer in Berlin!

weekend-ing

2011-06-13T15:02:00.001+02:00

This is what I've just snuck away from to write this post - a glorious summer morning and my lovely European man sunning himself in his dressing-gown. On any given day, you can see half a dozen men sitting on their balcony doing the same. Matthias doesn't quite understand why I find it so curious and, well, funny. But it does make me smile. Everytime.

So the weekend is continuing here on into Monday. A lazy sunny day full of reading and snoozing and generally enjoying life's pleasures. To which I must shortly return. But not before a few pictures from last night's evening spent on the banks of the Spree.

Neuensee

2011-06-10T09:32:00.000+02:00

I discovered this little spot on one of my walks this week. It's Cafe am Neuensee in Tiergarten. It's a little fairytale oasis in the middle of Tiergarten where you can rent boats and drink beer (what else!). It's actually quite a popular summer drinking spot and hardly unknown, but it was a first for me. Won't be the last time though. Think there are another few afternoons left where I can read and drink Apfelschorle and Alcohol-free Beer beside this lake before July comes around. Yes, I'm quite getting used to this 'growing baby' business!

This weekend is another long weekend around here but think it'll be a quiet one for us. Matthias is still working hard trying to rid the world of dangerous food-borne pests, which for him means another weekend spent at work. Don't envy him really. Meanwhile I'm planning on taking a break from ticking things off my "to-do" list and getting back to the important business of relaxing pre-baby.

How about you? I know Australia is celebrating a royal Birthday and a few other catholic countries must be celebrating WhitSunday. Does anyone have any exciting plans?

Fleamarket Finds

2011-06-08T13:06:00.000+02:00

It's been a while since I visited a Flohmarkt in Berlin, but last weekend the weather was perfect and with a Sunday afternoon to myself I took the opportunity to do a little scavenging. Oh, I could have spent hours and hours sifting through all the boxes and rummaging to my hearts delight. The only problem was that I kept finding things that I needed. You know, really needed, as in "my life depends on it, why haven't I had this before?" kind of thing. After only half an hour of pottering I ended up removing my itchy fingers and greedy eyes from all the goodies and went and had an ice-cream. But not without having first bought a Birthday presents or two (got to take the opportunity when it presents!) and this wonderful sewing box.

I had to do some serious haggling with the stall owner to get this to a price that I was willing to pay. He kept telling me about all the lovely things inside, and even though I did take a quick glance inside at the stall, I wasn't really convinced until I got home and conducted a proper inspection. Not only were there buttons and threads and lovely old boxes filled with thimbles and pins, but hidden at the bottom was this Faber Castel tin full of beautiful, tiny (!) crochet and tapestry hooks.

Just to give you some idea about size - that "huge" piece of thread dwarfing the hook is embroidery floss. Even with my macro lens these hooks look teenie-tiny. I'm not likely to ever have the skill to use them but I love them all the same. Some of the hooks are a little old and rusty now, but they truly are beautiful little pieces of handiwork. The wooden handles are smooth with wear and the detailing is beautiful. They really do put the functional, modern variety to shame.

Leonardo's Elephant

2011-06-06T09:00:00.000+02:00

This is possibly the cutest thing that I've made in a little while. It's Susan B. Anderson's Elefant. A link to the pattern is here, ravelry page here. Yes, it was a little fiddlie at times, but so worth it once it's all sewn up and sitting on a little pile of books... or your bump, as the case may be.

As the name of the post says, this little one is destined for a Leonardo in Turino, Italy where it's a little too hot in the summer to be dressing babies in anything other than nappies and a singlet. Some other handmade goodie was in order and this little softie seemed to fit the bill perfectly. The only problem is that now that he's all sewn up and looking so dandy I'm a little reluctant to give him away. It's quite possible they'll be another one of these made in the not so distant future - one which will be only too happy to stay at play with my bump in Berlin.

Oh, and I know these pictures are perhaps a little riskque. Lacy underwear! Bare bump! Dear me!?! But honestly, an elephant climbing a bump is also pretty cute and I couldn't resist. More info and pictures (of the elephant, not the bump) can be found on my ravelry page.

Relaxation

2011-06-03T11:19:00.000+02:00

Well, I'm only a few days late with this and it somehow seems appropriate to be kicking off my maternity leave by posting about Relaxation. Do you remember how I issued that challenge at the beginning of May? Did anyone else feel up to joining in?

I actually found this a lot harder than I first thought. Five photos around one theme in one month. Surely not too challenging... You'd think. I umm'd and ahh'd and procratinated and thought and pondered and did very little picture taking. But here it is - my response to Relaxation. Quite early in the month I decided to focus on how people in Germany tend to gravitate to outside spaces when the weather is sunny, which led to reading in parks, which led to reading the news. I somehow found this an interesting juxtaposition - we read the news to stay informed and yet apparently it's a wonderful way to relax as well!

So... not my five best photos of all time. But five photos on the theme with ample wiggle room to improve.

If you also played around with the theme relaxation this month, leave a comment and a link to your blog/flickr/instagram site. I'm really excited and curious to see what other people came up with. If you want to join me for the month of June I've decided that I'm going to be exploring "Hands".

June: Hands

I'm still here

2011-05-31T11:43:00.000+02:00

I'm still here. The Bean is still kicking around inside me. I'm smiling, Matthias is smiling and the Bean (I believe) is also smiling. Everything is just moving a little slower than it used to and the absence of posts of late is that something had to give. Between work, baby beaurocracy**, doctor's appointments, birthdays, prenatal classes and an unforgiving need to enjoy Berlin's blissful weather I haven't had time to post. The good news is that I have two days left of work before I start maternity leave which means more time for me and hopefully more time for this space.

** At some stage I might consider writing a post on the legal degree that is required to navigate the paperwork involved in having a baby in Germany when you are Australian and your partner is Austrian. There was a moment when we considered getting a lawyer to help us. Many, many hours later I think I understand what we need to do to ensure that the Bean is not left citizenship-less nor becomes an illegal immigrant at the tender age of 6 months. And no I'm not exagerating, the Bean will have a passport and a visa entitling him/her to live in Germany.

Alice takes a Sunday Snooze

2011-05-25T10:15:00.000+02:00

I had quite a few people comment on the last photo that I posted on Monday so today I thought I'd show a few more of the photos that I took of the her dozing in the park. She was quite captivating and posed for me (unintentionally and unawares) quite beautifully over the space of about 5 minutes. I'm naming her Alice, because she somehow reminded me a little of Alice from Alice in Wonderland. And the weather on Sunday was very Alice in Wonderland like with a cool-ish breeze and warming sun.

The last is my absolute favourite of all four photos. There's something about the light, the green of the grass and the way her limbs drape over each other. What do you think?

And I'm linking up to Lisa's Creative Exchange again this week, two weeks in a row. It's almost a record!

weekend-ing

2011-05-23T12:21:00.001+02:00

We had plans to visit one of Berlin's lakes this weekend but once all was said and done we instead decided on a rather smaller expedition to our local park. The lack of water didn't distract from the experience at all. We ate. We slept, read, knit and slept some more. I'm not sure what it is, but there's something about picnics which always makes the food taste so much better. The tomatoes were the best of the season so far. The cherries were the juiciest. Even the baguette, which had somehow got wet, didn't distract from the deliciousness of our little feast. I'm tempted to say that it was almost the perfect way to spend an early-summer Sunday in Berlin. Except that I'm not going to - because that might jinx the weather - and I'm hoping for lots more days like this to come.

Chairs

2011-05-20T10:00:00.003+02:00

I'm a little consumed by creating collections of photographs at the moment. You might remember that a couple of weeks ago I talked about how this month I'm experimenting with 'relaxation'. While that little collection is slowly forming I thought I'd go back through my archives and see what else I could rustle up. These photos are all from last summer - taken on a walk past some of the cafes in Prenzlauerberg. I love the different personality of all the different chairs; the cool regularity of the Berlin cafe chair, the fun infused into the American Diner and what I think is the quiet elegance of the Parisian wicker chair in the photo above. But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. They are just chairs. Or maybe not.

What I do know is that this last photo refused to be changed into a duller, slightly more sophisticated, black and white version of itself. No sir-ee, it was staying bright and cheerful no matter my coaxing and pleading. And I kinda like it that way too. Hope your weekend is as happy and full of relaxation as this swinging chair with it's friendly bucket of flowers.

little stitches

2011-05-18T12:03:00.001+02:00

Teeny, tiny stitches is where I am at the moment. The weather hasn't been that inspirational, photo-taking wise, and if I'm being perfectly honest, even when the sun is shining after a day at work I'm more than happy to sit on the couch with my magical meditation sticks (knitting needles to some) and knit a few more rows of this or that. Clickity-clack go my needles and thumb, thumb goes the bump. Both make me smile and with legs the size of elephants and a head full of hayfever this is pretty much as good as it gets.

The end result of all of this sitting, meditating and cosmic nourishing has been a lovely little 'take home' outfit. I've knit the jacket pattern a few times before - it's Twinkle, Vintage Cardigan if anyone is interested in that kind of thing. And the little hat is the Lotus Hat. It's a pain to start but the teeny tiny stitches blossom (no pun intended) beautifully after blocking, so much so that I'm thinking of knitting up another one in white.

Edit: And in a spot of internet organisation that has been missing around these parts of late, I'm linking up to Lisa's Creative Exchange today. Yippee!

weekend-ing

2011-05-16T10:04:00.000+02:00

It's been a bit quiet around these parts the last few days. Plenty of slow and steady pottering about. Lots of time spent on the couch with my feet up and my eyes closed. Relaxing evenings cooking this risotto and this delicious rhubarb recipe. I have this on the needles, destined for someone's little one, although if these websites are correct then it won't be mine as all signs are pointing to a wee little fella coming this July. What did you get up to this weekend, anything exciting?

Fairytale Wedding

2011-05-11T10:00:00.000+02:00

I think I am perhaps the most dreadful wedding photographer around. I carry my camera around in my hand but forget almost completely to take any pictures. I get caught up in the moment, want to throw rose petals and cheer and hug and tell everyone how beautiful the bride is and how it's just like a fairytale English wedding. You know, like the ones you read about or see in the movies? Because it was; even down to the country village church, "Bride's friends on the left, Groom's on the right, family in the middle" and complete with a reception in a 19th century castle. But you'll have to take my word for it because I forgot to take many photos.

Well, except for photos of the kids. I fell in love with my friends' kids.

Mobiles

2011-05-09T10:00:00.001+02:00

It's been a little while since I posted any crafty things around here. It's not for lack of action. I've been prolific at beginnings. Knitting cardigans, continuing this blanket, sewing baby pants and the latest... an Origami mobile. The problem is that I haven't been very good at finishing anything. Anyway, because I'm still really at a wedding Leeds, I thought I'd post about my current obsession with Origami and Kusudama.

I started this last weekend with Matthias. He quickly declared that Oragami was not his thing and left me to make my Cheery Blossom Kusudama. I like it, but it's a little big for the tiny little space I've carved out in our apartment as the Baby's space. So before trying again I've stalked the pages of Etsy and come up with a delicious selection of Origami mobiles to base my "in the making" mobile on. I'm thinking about some kind of combination of #2 and #3, although I'm still in love with the idea of a Kusudama featuring somewhere. Like I said, it's a work in progress. And if all else fails, I can always just buy one that's already been made by one of these crafty ladies.

1. Rachel Schell 2. Spare Bedroom Studio 3. MamaX2 4. Gin and Rummy

Kick, Push

2011-05-06T10:00:00.025+02:00

30 weeks and this baby of mine (for it really now seems too big to be calling a Bean) has reached my ribs. I'm at once thrilled and a little upset about the development as it seems to have coincided with a doubling in leg strength.

I also appear to have misplaced my brain. Sentence construction has become a problem. I said this the other morning and unfortunately this is not an exageration; "I'm going this way. Although I could have gone that way before. I mean I'm not going with you, I need to go here". A-ha?!? Thankfully Matthias is an understanding chap with an amazing ability to filter and interpret what I actually mean and usually only with a small smirk on his face.

And he painted my toenails for me last night. Yep. He even reminded me that I had asked him to do it a few days ago but we hadn't had time yet! You see, I'm off to a wedding this weekend and open toed shoes are the order of the day. The only problem is that I can't really comfortably touch my toes anymore. And so Matthias painted them for me. Sweet, sweet man.

On the pregnancy and motherhood front (for it is nearly Mothers Day afterall), I stumbled across this poetry from Hollie McNish and was immediately struck by it. It is a wonderful portrayal of pregnancy and early motherhood and is refreshingly honest. If you're a new-ish Mum, pregnant or just like interesting prose, have a listen. It somehow seems a fitting way to go into my very last Mothers Day as a non-mother.

&lt;p&gt;;a href="http://holliemcnish.bandcamp.com/album/push-kick-a-journey-through-the-beauty-brilliance-and-bollocks-of-having-a-baby-2"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;PUSH KICK: a journey through the beauty, brilliance and bollocks of having a baby. by Hollie McNish&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Something New

2011-05-04T10:00:00.003+02:00

You may or may not remember that my word for this year is 'Rhythm'. Well, rhythm has been a little lacking lately, there have been a lot of comings and goings and rhythm doesn't really seem to be something that gels particularly well with pregnancy and I assume, even less with the weeks and months that come after a baby arrives. In hindsight perhaps it wasn't such a great word to choose. Or maybe it was. Who knows, regardless, I'm still committed to trying to incorporate aspects of rhythm into my life here in Berlin.

That, my friends, was a rather long-winded way to announce that I'm starting something new at Pampelmuse and Me. Every month I'm going to select a word at random and create a photography series around that word. This month the word is Relaxation. The photo above is one of a few I've taken so far around the theme. At the end of the month I'll be posting my series of five photos here on the blog.

I'm not really sure where I'm going yet with my series - at the moment I'm playing with the idea of exploring how people use parks and outside spaces to relax, but it may change. I think that's the beauty of having a month. I'm sure this idea will grow and develop and morph as I continue to add to my pool of photographs.

I'd love for other people to join me in this little challenge of mine. I'm not fussy about the camera or the photographic style - iphone, film, your trusty point and shoot or a whizz-bang SLR - it's all the same to me. What I'm most interested in is how different people interpret the theme and the process of creating a series of photographs. If you think this is something you'd like to do too, then get your thinking caps on and start exploring the idea of relaxation. We can all join back up together at the end of the month and see what we've all come up with.

2011-05-02T10:04:00.000+02:00

Pampelmuse and Me has had a facelift!

Over the weekend I put the final touches on my new blog page. The old one had been with me for a little while and I was feeling in need of a bit of sprucing. If you read my blog in your reader, pop over and check out the new design.

The re-design also gave me the opportunity to have a bit of a play around with 'css code'. One of my long-term goals is to become internet and computer literate, which includes knowing some basics about html and css code. Many youtube and blog tutorials later and I'm a few steps closer to my goal. I want to thank one person particularly, and that's Katrina at Pugley Pixel and Powered by Pastries. Katrina is a bit of a computer-whizz and has some awesome internet tutorials on her blog as well as lots of freebie fonts, graphics and little pieces of internet wisdom. She also has two free blogger designs available for everyone to use - I ended up combining the two, deleting a few things and adding a few more to come up with my final design. Thanks Katrina!

There are still a few things that need working on - the blogroll and archives pages are still works in progress and I'll slowly be adding to them over the next few weeks but right now I'm feeling prety proud of my internet wizardry.

The Last of Hamburg

2011-04-29T10:00:00.012+02:00

I did admit that at the start of the week that I took a lot of photos of Hamburg. Here are just a few more to take you into the weekend. I've since been told that Hamburg isn't really know for it's magical weather, but the three days we were there is was beautiful; sunny, blue skies, warm afternoons and cooler evenings. I came very close to falling in love with the place and have put it high on the list of places to "revisit"... someday.

Have a lovely weekend. I'm hoping to catch up on all the royal craziness tonight before heading out to enjoy (crossed-fingers) some more sunny weather on Saturday. What about you? Have you got caught up in the wedding-frenzy or are you refusing to join in? For as long as I can remember my Nana's kitchen always had a "Royals Calendar" lying about somewhere and I remember her crying in the carseat next to me when the newsman announced that Lady Diana had been killed in a car accident. I wonder what she'd think about Miss-Commoner-Cate marrying her Prince?

Hamburg Port

2011-04-27T10:04:00.000+02:00

When I was little my parents were all about gender-neutral toys. As well as having a Dolls House we had a Fisher Price Garage (complete with petrol station) and a Seaport. The Seaport came with a big container ship, a dock where the Ship could harbour and a couple of Cranes for moving things on and off the Ship. I had completely forgotton about this bit of my childhood until I visited Hamburg Port last weekend. Looking over the enormous Hamburg Hafen, the toy set and all the games I used to play with it came flooding back. Happy memories! I'd love to know if Mum has kept that toy amongst all our childhood treasures; would be nice to get it out again and see if it's as I remember it. Anyway, even over the Easter weekend the port was alive with the comings and goings of container ships. Hamburg's port really is still the heart of the city and we found ourselves coming back to the port repeatedly, thankfully always with five minutes to spare to watch the ships and take just a few more photos of the busy-ness that was all about.

Back behind the port is the old Speicherstadt area. The warehouses were built in the late 1800s to store goods from the free port. It's a pretty quiet part of town now - there are a few apartment conversions in the pipeline and curious tourists walking through the old lanes, but mostly the old buildings have been left to themselves leaving you to imagine how the place must have looked 200 years ago when bargeships and men and pulleys and horses would have filled the place with the sounds that now echo from the modern-day port.

Weekending

2011-04-26T11:40:00.000+02:00

This weekend we took another mini-break and hopped on the train and travelled up to Hamburg. We walked alot, ate yummy food and drank lots of schorle. I took lots of photos while Matthias fell asleep on park benches. It was pretty much a perfect weekend.

Donna Hay Hot Cross Buns

2011-04-20T11:06:00.000+02:00

True to my word, I went home last night and made my Hot Cross Buns. I ate one this morning for breakfast, slightly toasted under the grill with a generous layer of butter, and for a first attempt I think I did an okay job. This batch is probably still a little dense for my liking. I have a feeling I used the wrong yeast - there are about a dozen different yeast products in Germany and I still haven't quite worked out what the difference is between them all. Next time I might use live yeast, which is really my favourite bread-levening product anyway.

On Adele's suggestion I also added some salt to the dough and having not tasted the sans-salt version I'm declaring it a successful addition. I think I might jiggle the spice quantities in the next batch too - this lot had a little too much all spice and not enough cinnamon, although I think that probably had more to do with the respective age of the spices sitting in my cupboard than the recipe. But all in all, a definite success! They'll be more of these made before I declare the Easter holidays over anyway.

Recipe: Donna Hay Hot Cross Buns

Hot Cross Buns

2011-04-19T09:22:00.000+02:00

Hot cross buns!
Hot cross buns!
One ha' penny, two ha' penny,
Hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons
One ha' penny,
Two ha' penny,
Hot Cross Buns!

One of the things that I love about Easter is Hot Cross Buns. Germany has the best bread culture and last year I was sure that this would mean some fairly extraordinary Hot Cross Buns at easter time. You can imagine my disappointment when I discovered that Hot Cross Buns are not part of the Easter tradition here. Of course it never dawned on me that I might be able to make my own. And then yesterday I read this post on making your own Hot Cross Buns over at Delly and Bells blog. I'm a sucker for a Donna Hay recipe at the best of times and a quick overview of the ingredients had me thinking I could make them without even visiting the supermarket for supplies. I was all ready to go and already imagining the smell and taste of Hot Cross Buns straight from the oven when the whole plan came unstuck. No milk! No matter, things have just been delayed by a day. There will be milk this afternoon. - and hopefully some Hot Cross Buns too!

Picture Credit: Donna Hay

Do you have any favourite traditions for this time of the year? I love hearing about what other people do to celebrate something that for me, is as much about celebrating the change in seasons and the cycle of life as anything else. In Austria it's all about eating Spring Lamb and something called "egg-knocking", a game where you knock two egg tips together until one egg breaks. The Easter Bonnet parade was always something that I looked forward to at school and when I visited Japan a few years ago the Cherry Blossom festival was just beginning and I was surprised to see how much of this festival carried many similar themes as Easter in Christian cultures.

What are you doing to celebrate this time of the year? Keeping it traditional, attending religious services, spending time with family or just relaxing at home?

Weekend-ing

2011-04-18T10:16:00.000+02:00

The sun did come out and play this weekend! Warm enough to enjoy our first lunch out on the balcony and plenty more time to watch the neighbours carefully preparing their window boxes for the flowering season. I also indulged in my first ice-cream for the season (oh guilty pregnant pleasure!) followed by a walk through Alexanderplatz and Mitte to the Pergamon to see The Tell Halaf Adventure, a fairly incredible exhibition of Aramean sculptures. Most of the sculptures were destroyed in WWII bombings only to be meticulously pieced back together over the last 15 years by a team of archeologists who, by this stage, must all have PhDs in puzzle-wizzardry.

Walking back home from the museum was really a pretty amazing sensory experience. Not sure if it was my over-active fertility hormones but it felt like the whole city was alive with Spring-fever. The air was thick with the smell of blossoms in full bloom, birds were happily chirping as the sun set and thousands of tulips were dancing on nature strips in the faint breeze. Yep, I definitely think Spring is my favourite season!

2011-04-15T10:00:00.004+02:00

These clouds have been hanging over Berlin for most of the week. Dark, menacing clouds that have occasionally opened up and released some fairly heavy rains. Oh, I know Spring rain is good for the plants and quite possibly good for the soul as well, but when you have things to do and were so happy so finally be wearing cute ballet flats again, after months of boot wearing, it does put you a little out of sorts.

To encourage the sun to come back again I've been playing around with a few photos I took over the weekend when the sun was out and everything felt very early-summer dreamy. The photo below reminds me a little of what you might see if you'd just opened your eyes after having a quick little cat-nap on your picnic rug. Everything is just a little bit blurry, the sun is warm and your not quite sure whether you should close your eyes again or keep reading your book.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend which is hopefully full of sleepy picnic rugs and not too many clouds!

On my way to work

2011-04-14T14:10:00.000+02:00

We're in the midst of Blossom season here and it's making me so happy. Not sure if there is anything more lovely than seeing flowers appearing on the trees after a long winter hiatus. I've been walking past my favourite "blossom spots" from last year, stalking the trees and quietly waiting for them to flower. I always used to say I was an Autumn person - I love 'swishing' through piles of leaves which have fallen - but now I'm not so sure. Perhaps I'm a Spring person after all. What about you?

Seven things and Six Coasters

2011-04-13T08:41:00.000+02:00

The lovely SJ from Cracks in the Pavement tagged me the other day with a list of 7 things. In a spot of lovely coincidence, when I got home from work I discovered a package from SJ in my mailbox ! It was almost as if the Postie knew I was going to be tagged by her in cyberspace! Such a happy coincidence. Anyway, SJ's lovely little package was six very cool, handmade coasters. The backstory is that I had a bit of green-eyed envy when I spied the coasters that she made for herself using a Frankie tutorial back in January and in a spot of blogger-love she offered to make me some. They are perfect for our Berlin apartment and are now dotted around the place ready to protect wooden surfaces from hot mugs and wine glasses. Even Matthias thinks they're "okay", which is high praise for someone who previously had an irrational hatred of anything coaster-like. Thank you so much SJ!

And now onto seven things about me:

My due date is 15th July 2011. Twenty-seven weeks and counting. I'm both extremely excited and a little bit scared that we are still a long way off being ready. Nursery? Pram? Peadiatrician? Citizenship?!? In some kind of illogical logic I've started knitting the Bean lots of little cardigans, hats and blankets. If nothing else, this baby will be kitted out in cute knits.

I have a love affair with maps. I will study a map for hours if given the chance. Ironically I have the worst sense of direction, don't know my left from my right and probably won't be able to tell you where we are on the map. But I love studying them. Especially the old ones.

Currently I work as a Pharmacoepidemiologist. Try telling someone that at a dinner party - even amongst a group of medical-researchy type people it's a little like saying your a Tax Accountant.

I collect old bananas in the freezer. Sometimes I delude myself into thinking that I'm going to make them into Banana Bread or Muffins but really I know that they'll get thrown out the next time I defrost the freezer.

I got my first grey-hair when I was 21. I have no idea how grey my hair is now but I guess it's pretty grey. My hairdresser (who I love) is refusing to dye my hair while I'm pregnant. In protest I'm not getting it cut either. This is back-firing badly as I've ended up with a grown out hairstyle and badly home-dyed hair. Incidentally the association between maternal hair-dye and childhood diseases is weak with only one study showing a small increased relative risk of chidlhood neuroblastoma in a subset of women who used hair-dye in the two months surrounding conception. This "evidence" is not sufficient for me and I think the results are more likely to have occurred by chance than anything else. (That bit about being a Pharmacoepidemiologist? Sometimes it comes in handy... one of my secret skills is the ability to read and interpret medical studies. Yippee!)

I'm a fantastic sleeper. Any time, any where, any place. I've fallen asleep standing up in a crowd and on several occasions mid-sentence. This skill isn't always desirable.

I've visited all the continents except Antarctica and South America. I'm not so keen to go to Antarctica, but I'd love to pack up a suitcase and travel through South and Central America for six months.I have a feeling that my footloose and fancy-free travel time is almost up, but a girl can still dream.

And now, over to you, I tag these three lovely European ladies:

Kristina from Le Fabuleux destin de... tales of travel and photography

Li + Belle from Li + Belle

Siobhan from Hello, Flower!

Lackenalm

2011-04-11T09:43:00.000+02:00

A few more photos from my week away in the Austrian Alps. On one of the days I managed to convince Matthias not to ski and he joined me and his mum on a walk through the high Alpine plaines. This was my first time in the "proper" mountains (Australian high country not with-standing) and it was really incredibly beautiful. I kept having those 'oh this is just like in the movies' moments.

An alm is apparently a small lake which provides water to cattle grazing on the high pasture during the summer. Too early for the cows, but we had a lovely walk listening to the birds busily preparing their spring nests and the water melting into rushing streams. At the end of the valley was this cute little Jausenstation serving small refreshments. Jausenstations traditionally only serve cold meat and cheese, but this little one had homemade Tirol dumpling (Tirolerknoedel) and Sauerkraut - perfect, hearty alpine food to warm us up before the walk back to the Valley.

BYO Couch

2011-04-06T21:44:00.002+02:00

I'm posting about my weekend at the wrong end of hte week, but it's taken me a little while to get back into the swing of things post-holidays. Thursday already. Ooops, the week seems to have escaped me.

Mauerpark on the first 'hot' day of the year; twenty degrees and it seemed every man, dog, BBQ and couch (!) was out enjoying the sunshine. We wandered down to enjoy the Karaoke which has become a bit of a Berlin Sunday institution. A couple of years ago a man decided to set-up a small amplifier and a Karaoke kit and invite people to join him in singing a couple of well known tunes. He came back every Sunday and slowly the handful for cuious onlookers became a couple of thousand. People now arrive hours before the "official" start time just to reserve a spot. It functions like almost any other Karaoke I've been to with an official 'list' where people who want to sing write their name and their song of choice. If you're good enough the crowd will get behind you and sing along too. Somewhat surprisingly the police or city council or nay-sayers that usually get involved in things like this are yet to materialise and the whole thing functions happily without permits, tickets, licences or governmental control. It's things like this that really make me love this city of mine.

Four Seasons and a Belly

2011-04-06T06:00:00.000+02:00

The last taste of winter

Early Spring on the high plains

Summer in the Valley

Evening Autumn light... and one pregnant Belly!

Just a little taste, more to come tomorrow.

Blog Break #3

2011-04-01T10:00:00.000+02:00

"Autumn Picnic" by Andi Watkins

Etsy Shop: AndiWatkins4Sale

"Wine Maker's Bicycle" by photoamato

Etsy Shop: Photoamato

"A Picnic of Peaches" by ADK Mama

Etsy Shop: adkmama

This is what I'm looking forward to come July. Hot weather and a lovely big glass of red wine - something big and bold which lingers on the palate and smells like blueberries and chocolate. And if it takes my fancy, I might have a second glass just to make sure it's okay for everyone else to sample too. I'm not greedy, I'm more than happy to share, but only after I've checked that the bottle isn't corked. Perhaps we can pack a picnic or ride our bikes down to the park. We'll watch the sunset, eat roast beef sandwiches and generally have a grand old time. Sounds like you kind of thing? I'll meet you there. My shout.

Blog Break #2

2011-03-30T10:00:00.000+02:00

I'm nesting at the moment. Cleaning and writing lists and spending insane amounts of time surfing around the internet looking for "things". Half the time I'm not even sure what I'm looking for, but it's an interesting process trying to work out what one 'needs' and what one 'wants' when welcoming a little person into your world for the first time.

One of my biggest wants was been an wall mural for the Bean's room. We're planning on turning our currently (small) guest room into Bean's room, but are keeping the guest bed in there so that we can still have people stay for the weekend. While the Bean is still small I figure s/he won't mind where s/he sleeps and giving up the room up for an aunty, grandparent or dear friend for a night or two won't be too much of a bother. Whether said guest will want to stay in a small apartment with a newborn is another question entirely. But I digress. The wall mural. You'd think finding a gender neutral, not too kitch and bilingual friendly wall mural wouldn't be too hard. Ha! Guessed wrong. This task has kept me busy for far longer than I'll choose to admit and even had me thinking about designing my own English-German friendly alphabet mural myself. That was until I stumbled across Rebecca Peragine's shop on Etsy and her website Children Inspire Design.

Rebecca creates all of her artwork from recycled magazines and prints her Number Wall Cards and Alphabet Poster in eleven languages - most of the European languages plus Chinese and Hebrew. I almost did a happy dance when I stumbled on her sight.

Her pictures are simple and cute but not too twee, I like the neutral colours and love the nature theme. Now I just need to decide whether I should get the Alphabet in English and the Numbers in German, visa versa, the numbers in both languages... oh the possibilities are endless and will keep me nesting unproductively for a little while yet.

If numbers, language and the alphabet aren't really your thing - Children Inspire Design also create some very cute nature and doll prints too!

Nest Doll Prints

Blog Break #1

2011-03-28T10:00:00.001+02:00

While I'm on holidays I thought I'd do a few posts show-casing some of the wonderful Etsy photography and mixed-media/print sellers that are around the place. First off, Anne Duflos from the Etsy shop AnneSolfud.

I'm a little bit smitten with Anne Duflos's work at the moment - she sells under the name of AnneSolfud on etsy and I love the way she plays with the line between painting and photography.

Beautiful dreamy work to feed your Spring-time dreams this Monday!

All pictures are copyright of Anne Duflos.

Smitten

2011-03-25T10:21:00.000+01:00

At this time of the year the sun is positioned just-so that it streams through our balcony windows in the morning casting the prettiest glow and shadows on our blinds. I'm smitten. It makes me what to linger over my cup of tea and drink in the light. SJ left a comment the other day talking about how much she loved the optimism of Northern Europe in the Spring. I think I agree. And I'm happy to report it's infectious.

Wishing you all a wonderful Friday. As of today I'm officially on holidays - yippee! We're off to the ski fields near Salzburg where I'm planning on reading, sun-baking, walking and generally pampering myself while the more active and less-pregnant members of Matthias' family whoosh down the slopes. See you all next week.

Emmit Gowin

2011-03-24T09:49:00.000+01:00

Emmit Gowin was born in 1941 in Virginia, USA. He established himself as a prominent American photographer in the 1970s with his strong, intimate portraits of his wife, Edith, and their family. You can view some of those images here if you are interested.

Of all of his images I've seen over the past few days, the ones that really caught my eye were these full image circle photos taken using a 4x5 lens with an 8x10 (large format) camera. There's something very appealing about the heavy vignetteing which draws your eye in. They remind me a bit of the current crop of TTV photos you see around the web.

These pictures were found on the Pace/MacGill Gallery website where you can also view some of Gowin's other work.

Pansies

2011-03-23T10:00:00.001+01:00

I'm not much of a green thumb. Our attempts at a little vegie garden on our balcony last year wasn't that successful. Part of the problem was a very short summer; August was cold and rainy which meant that the tomatoes didn't really ever stand a chance and I had always thought that Olives and Figs were a big ask for a northern european balcony!

I'm keen to try again this year though - hopefully with a little more success. One of the biggest issues that I'm facing though is understanding the "planting seasons" - all those old-wives tales that I learnt growing up don't really hold here. How, for example, do you translate Plant tomatoes after Cup Day to Berlin? Instead of doing anything clever like reading a book or consulting the internet I'm going to use the florists as a barometer. Right now pansies and rosemary are out on display so I reckon these might be a good place to start. Now I just have to decide on the colour...

Spring Sun

2011-03-22T13:19:00.000+01:00

Berlin has definitely decided that it's Spring. The bikes are out, the outdoor chairs and tables are on the footpaths and everyone who is anyone has their heads firmly facing the sun absorbing the rays.

The Australian in me still feels that to be sitting outside when it's 10 degrees it a little silly, but there is a small part of me which is feeling quite European - "what a lovely day!" I hear myself thinking. "Not too cold, perhaps we could even sit outside?" Really it's still a little bit too chilly and after 30 minutes it was time to warm-up again inside with another (!) hot chocolate*. But it was bliss while it lasted. Spring and some warmer weather is definitely close!

*hot chocolate makes me smile and the Bean gets very excited too - which I've decided is a reason to indulge at least once a day.

Pampelmuse and Me

Seven months

Favourite places

Ooff!

Growing Pains

Little Dresses

6 months

Contemplation

Beginnings

Between Christmas and New Year

A Year in Review

Noma

5 months

Christmas Treats

Rolly-polly

weekend-ing

Round Here

Then and Now

Back in Oz

Four months

Sleep

Sud Kunstpark

3 months

Off the Needles

Burgenland

Whoops...

White Noise

2 months

weekend-ing

Pay It Forward

weekend-ing

Hello September

My Thinker

6 weeks - August break

Bonfire - August break

A Quiet Moment - August break

Father of the Bride - August break

Summer Harvest

Untitled - August break

the train to Vienna - August break

I *heart* Berlin

week 4 - August break

A 60th Birthday on the Spree - August break

The only way to get anything done - August break

It's not summer without Sunflowers - August break

Oberbaumbruecke - August break

Untitled - August break

Business from the Biergarten - August break

3 Weeks - August break

Umbrellas, Gumboots and Raincoats - August Break

Home and busy

Never too early to start

week 1 and 2

Three

Little Sister Dress

weekend-ing

Tea Drinking

Too Hard to Keep

weekend-ing

I make things

weekend-ing

Strawberries

Let Summer In

weekend-ing

Neuensee

Fleamarket Finds

Leonardo's Elephant

Relaxation

I'm still here

Alice takes a Sunday Snooze

weekend-ing

Chairs

little stitches

weekend-ing

Fairytale Wedding

Mobiles

Kick, Push

Something New

The Last of Hamburg

Hamburg Port

I heart Berlin