Monday, September 26, 2022
Final Kimono
Saturday, September 24, 2022
Normality Restored: Planting Things
Now that the Nana Flat is done, and the turf was laid, it was time to start thinking about the garden beds. I especially wanted to get things into the ground before October rolled around and the weather turned hot and horrible. We had heaps of plants that we had kept from our garden beds prior to the renovation, as well as two of the four trees that we had saved.
Excitedly, we ordered some soil and mulch and got going. The garden bed that had been created by the retaining wall that ran around the right side of our property (near the Nana Flat), we filled up and planted small things in. Maria has put lots of ground cover type stuff in the part that runs near the Nana Flat, while out the front where it comes down closer to ground level, I took advantage of the sun profile and planted lots of herbs.
I wasn't going to plant anything in this garden bed, but this little section at the front actually has the most sun out of all of our garden beds now, and I didn't want to waste it. I also planted a jasmine vine to climb up over the fence. We had a jasmine vine given to us as a house warming present when we bought in 2010, and it had been thriving in that front corner of the yard before we had to dig it out for the renovations.
In the ground in both corners of the front yard we planted the two trees that had managed to survive (RIP Blueberry Ash and Luscious Number One), the Australian Frangipani and the Luscious. These trees are so happy to be back in the ground and I'm just delighted they made it after nearly eight months of living in the confines of a big black rubbish bin.
The day we planted, we emptied one and a half of our compost bins and I was practically swooning over the rich black soil. Most of the ground at the front we discovered was all clay, which isn't great for growing things. We had asked our builders to mix in some gypsum to help break it up when they levelled it off, which they did, so that's there, but it's not the kind of stuff that works overnight. As Steve dug each hole for the trees, I worked the gloriously alive, black compost into the clay before the trees went in.
The small garden bed at the top of the driveway also has the clay problem, but the additional difficulty of only getting about three hours of sunlight a day. In the morning, this garden bed is shaded by the house, and in the afternoon, it's shaded by the fence. We were really not sure anything was going to grow there at all, especially with the damp clay/ground situation.
But, it was worth a try. Eventually I'd like to plant a tree there (or at the top of the retaining wall) that will grow up and shade the house, but baby steps to start with. Let's see if we can get something small growing first. So I planted some little flowers, chives and a plant that Bunnings assured me was indoors-y and would do well with limited sun.
Everything loves it's life there, which again, probably has a lot to do with the compost factor. Let me gush some more over the gloriousness of the compost! I feel I could write love poems to that compost.
Anyway, thus far, the things planted in the front are thriving and it's really feeling like the renovations are over and we are settled in. We've also upgraded some of things that were living in the pots at the back of the house to larger pots, but most of them are still in limbo land as far as were we will eventually plant them.
I've got one native guava, which I'm guessing will do well in the sun, and a native something else I got at the school fete in 2021 which had Love in the name. I can't read the tag any more, and when I bought it, the guy at the plant stall told me it was a ground cover, but the way it's growing doesn't look very ground cover-y to me. Anyway, that's a problem for future Paula. Current Paula is happy keeping things alive and growing where they are.
Thursday, September 15, 2022
I Had a Moment
hanhaba obi |
Unfortunately, we had a car accident the day before, so I was not feeling up to the intense work out that would have been required for a full kimono and I just started with a yukata instead. Still, it was beautiful and comfy and I loved it. The August weather is so perfect for kimono and yukata in Brisbane, so when Monday rolled around, I wrote another one to school.
On Tuesday, I wore another. I don't think I had initially started with a plan to wear one a day, but once I was going, there was just no stopping. I wore them to school, to the doctors, to get groceries, to have lunch with my sister at a cafe, everywhere!
I tried out different obi styles, and combinations between obi and yukata. Most days I would start wearing a haori (a kimono jacket/coat) as well, and then layer off as the day warmed up.
haori - Japanese kimono jackets/coats |
It was beautiful. I did end up finishing by wearing a kimono, even though we had done some gardening the day before and my arms were like wet spaghetti noodles by the time I'd finished tying the obi.
I didn't even wear all of my yukata, or obi, or haori, in that week of blissful Japanese-ness. I could have easily kept going, but I don't know if I'm ready just yet to make a full switch to completely strange.
Friday, September 09, 2022
Book Week: Squirrel Girl
Sophie's turn for a Book Week post. In 2022, she went as Squirrel Girl.
For the uninitiated, Squirrel Girl is a superhero in the Marvel universe, who is exactly what her name says: a girl, who is also a squirrel. She has a tail and buck teeth, climbs trees, talks to squirrels. Sophie had been given a small squirrel toy by her godmother who she loved (I think she's been camping with us even!) I thought reading about Squirrel Girl was right up her alley, so for her birthday, back in January, I bought a Squirrel Girl novel.
I was not wrong. The book was loved instantly. Sophie's grey squirrel turned out to be just like Doreen Green's side kick, Tippy Toe, and Sophie loved reading all about their adventures together. They eat nuts and kick bad guys' evil butts. She even has a song about it. Squirrel Girl, that is.
I took the girls on a Library Crawl back in April, which is like a pub crawl, but where you visit lots of different libraries and borrow books and read in each one. Sophie came home with three of the Squirrel Girl comics which were quickly read, re-read and studied with great gusto.
When it came to Book Week Sophie was pretty excited at the prospect of being Squirrel Girl for the day. She even gave me an inspiration drawing, with Tippy Toe included.
First thing to tackle was the tail. So big and soft. We had some soft brown felt left over from Sophie's Eevee which was good, but it wasn't enough. So lucky to go to Spotlight for some brown fur when they were having a 40% off sale, since fur is usually a whopping $60/metre. I also talked Sophie out of needing the whole tail to be made of fur, and thus only needed a half metre of it.
I had to plan a fair bit of Sophie's costume, despite the fact that most of it was brown shirt and pants. I think it's because I only had limited fabric to work with (the leftover brown fleece and the precious half metre of brown fur), I needed to make things according to priority and then see what was leftover.
Tail first. I traced a general shape on paper and cut it out of the felt, and then made it three dimensional by adding a strip of the fur in the middle. I didn't want to use completely new stuffing, so I asked our phenomenal street and someone donated two old pillows that they were about to throw away. The girls stuffed the tail and it was really coming to life.
Squirrel Girl usually wears a jacket or hoodie with little ears, but lets be honest, this is Australia and even in August, I didn't want my nine year old dying of heat exhaustion. Even for a cause as great as Book Week. Instead, I made her a short vest out of the fur. I made a draft version to check the fit out of some brown fabric that I thought could be repurposed as lining, but I couldn't be bothered to line it in the end.
I'd noticed online that the trick to getting the tail to stay up, was to strategically sew it to the jacket, so I attached it to the vest with buttons and fishing line. Unfortunately, the reason that the jacket works is because the arms hold the jacket in place, a vest, being without sleeves, does not have the same capabilities. The weight of the tail just pulled the vest backwards. The tail was still up, but it was sagging and the vest looked very odd.
Solution (on the morning of Book Week day!) was a a ribbon looped under the tail and around Sophie's arms, much like a himo used to tie the sleeves back on a kimono or yukata. The tail was attached to the belt which was clipped on, so Sophie could take it off easily to visit the amenities without it.
I made fur cuffs with some left over fur and pouches for the belt for Sophie to pop Tippy Toe and her acorn in. Sophie wore some brown pants, a brown shirt we already had and her boots. Costume done. Here is Sophie as Squirrel Girl, kicking some bad guys' evil butt (even though Wylah is by no means a bad guy, Rachel was happy to get in on the action).