A girl and her cat

We've had a couple of nights at my parents, the girls and I, although Leila still isn't well so we didn't manage as much recreation (read coffee drinking and lunch eating), as we'd expected.

When Ella was around 3 she went through a phase of not liking being away from home. She would miss her bedroom, her stuff - so going away meant taking even more baggage in trying to bring home with us. Leila is 2 1/2 and although I warrant she wasn't feeling well, these two days away introduced another element to our lives, "I miss Eddie, want to go home to Eddie". Well, Eddie ain't going to be coming on holidays with us, not even for a weekend away, so let's hope this phase doesn't last long.

She's still not well, but it's amazing what cuddles from a somewhat reluctant boy cat can do to raise a young girl's spirits.

Chest Clutching

I'm slow to catch on to things I know that . Amy Winehouse isn't exactly news today but my god, what a voice this woman has. I was at the hairdressers yesterday and heard the song "Tears dry on their own" and pictured in my head a generous black singer from the 50's. You see this small, frail, damaged woman and the amazing voice that she has. I've watched a few of her clips today of this song here and here and WOW, this song has really got to me. It's not just the song, it's knowing that she has had a god awful time of things, knowing that someone so gifted, really gifted, can be so self destructive, so terribly sad. Thanks for the music though Amy, bring on so so much more.

Beehive

Finished Ella's although had to do quite a bit of adjusting. Twoandsix has altered the adult pattern down to child size, but as Ella's 5 1/2, I felt it would be too small. I knitted the adult pattern, but I think tweed knits a bit looser so I had to adjust half way though. As a result I have a more rounded top than the cute little peak on the others. She likes it though and that's what counts.

Hard to get a photo with teeth at the moment, but I must, as her top centre ones are hanging on by only a thread, so her look will change a lot, very soon.

A special car ride

Leila was very unwell this week. A fever overnight turned into a quiet Thursday, little activity, lots of dvds. That turned into violent vomitting, more temperatures, sore back and neck, then a meningal like rash on her face and neck. This resulted in a mad dash to the GP, a shot of pencillin there, leaving with a referral in hand for the emergency room with us having instructions about blood tests and "better to be safe than sorry". That led to a rather scarey experience at our local public emergency room. The waiting room was like something out of ER - an old man on a gurney just lying in the waiting room, another old lady with a flu mask sitting in a corner in a wheelchair, a guy with a bloodied leg and a lot of dissatisfaction in the air. We both looked at each other and decided "uh uh" and left. We came home and called an ambulance. Our GP once said that if in doubt and really concerned, call an ambulance and you'll get care straight away.

We've only had one other experience with Ella when she was only 1 - much scarier in a lot of respects. We woke to Ella straining to breathe, crying with the strain of it. The paramedics and the paedeatric unit arrived within minutes, lights blaring. She had an acute case of croup, so off we went, as we did on Thursday night, to the Childrens. In both cases amazing ambos and great care at the Childrens. Benny bear, the subject photo of this post, was a distraction from Ben, our paramedic.

Leila's fine, they observed her for a few hours, then sent us home. Friday she was fine, you wouldn't know she'd been so unwell. Monkeys these babes, but a healthy monkey is far better than any other kind.

Supplies

I have almost finished Ella's hat and am about 2/3 through Leila's so went for more wool supplies today. I'm going to give socks a go, not decided if I'll do four needles or magic loop for my first try, but I have the wool, isn't it beautiful. It's a Jitterbug wool from Wales.

What have I been watching?

We celebrated Pa's birthday (my dad) at our place today. We usually have my parents to lunch for their birthdays.

On the menu today were starters/nibbles of bruschetta with herbed feta topped with pepperonata then beef ragu on homemade papardelle and then for dessert .... croquembouche and a few chocolate eclairs for the not so fond of custard guests. Of course I didn't remember to take a photo until after the spun sugar had started to dissolve and it had been partially consumed. I halved this recipe and still only had enough custard to fill half of my individual balls. Only one burn and really very yum - worth a try for the WOW effect.

Tulips

My favourite cut flowers, in all colours, probably the darker pinks and reds the most. I love them when they're fresh, standing tall and ever so straight. I also love them when they're almost at the end and taking up more space on the table with their droopy, twisty stretches.