sigh

i'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.

Elephant Parade (Part 1)

all through London at the moment is an Elephant Parade which I've been dying to see since I heard about it. Through London are 258 elephants, all decorated by various artists and celebs, to bring the plight of the Asian elephant in to the public eye.
I went out on a mission and dragged my husband and two friends with me. The men were fabulously patient for a while and then left to have a drink at a nearby pub. The other friend and I headed out across Green Park, braving the few minutes of drizzle, and I have now seen 26 ellies. I fully intend to see as many as I can (perhaps not the one in Brixton for instance).
I love it. I love the cleverness of the scheme. Everyone is talking about it - the word is out.
so here are the first few ellies. ....

on creativity

some people are just amazing.
someone I went to school with is now living in the Land of Oz, and has started her own clothing /design amazing company. it's personalised clothing for kids - with letters and pictures linked to the phonetic sounds of each letter. now she's branched into quilts, cushion covers.... i'm amazed. Not only does she hand make it all but she's even designed the fabrics herself.
and with all this busyness and travelling and sewing and printing .... she still manages to be an awesome mum with a happy, smily little boy.
How do you do it???

check it out.... Mm is for me

uh-oh

so after having a sweet chatty conversation with a friend of mine's 15 year old it came out that she really covets the blankie I made before. She pointed out that she's never actually had a blanket and all her special things had to be sorted through when they moved here (from Zim, as did I) and most had to be left behind. I became weary - but am also aware how much she and her sister are finding life hard here, how they are viewed as just too different to form easy friendships.
and then I found myself offering to make a blankie for each of them. The 15 year old was suitably quiet for a few secs and said "would you really?" followed closely by "it will be loved forever."
so there it is...another 2 blankets although i have already said that they will not be as big as the last one, and that they will not be with them any time soon. and they both squealed and thanked me.
one wants hers in black, white and pink with hearts but nothing too complicated.
the other asked for a mix-and-match of all my left over colours and just plain squares with maybe a heart in each corner.

some people are so easy to do things for. And these two girls have come from a place where they were popular, loved for their vitality and charisma. They grew up in sun, with space. Their parents worked good jobs and they had the stuff they needed and more. And they made the decision to move here to the UK so that the girls could go to university and could have all the opportunities they deserved. I agree with their decision and as much as I talk about heading back - I don't have children and so don't need to worry about their futures. And now the girls are viewed as different and, for the most part, shunned socially. The parts of them that made them interesting and fun at home, make them isolated here.
and despite being teenagers, with all the hormone imbalances that brings, they are both calm and sparkly and have beautiful souls. They're finding it hard but they will be perfect, inspirational, vivacious, talented adults.

but for now, i get to make them blankets to make them feel that little bit more special.


have I just talked myself into another huge project?

it all ends in tears....

today was one of those fabulous days where your sides hurt by the end of it. My husband was off work today as it's a bank holiday (no idea what the reason is) and I'm on half term anyway. the day started with me waking to the tinkling of a spoon in a mug.... ah tea. only he didn't come in with tea for me! he'd made it for himself and then went into the lounge to read his book! ha! the start of the dramas. I managed to put on a good sulk while making my own tea which had that brilliant effect of making sure that he did the next 3 fill-ups. It was the start of a seriously silly day.
We've had tickling fights, towel flicking fights, shoving ice in eachothers' jeans fights, called a truce and then tried cold hands on tummy fights. Then calmed down enough to watch a dvd but had to stop in the middle for more laughing and silliness.
and then, in preparation for the start of the terry pratchett movie (part2) we went to make tea and ended up trying to slip frozen bacon onto eachother's tummies. Only in the process I wacked the back of my hand on the metal grid of the hob. it went white and then red and hurt like all hell. Laughter between the tears. what a silly git I am. but he made me hot choc. mmm
so I'm settled down to watch Terry Pratchett, with ice balanced on my hand in a tea towel and a cup of hot choc nearby.
it's been a seriously fun day.

into the ether....

Today I noticed that I have those two little words at the bottom of the blog that say "older post".  I have that many posts already? cool.

and still one, albeit reluctant, reader.

complete

Finally - the  blanket is finished. it's been a huge task and i'm not sure how much I like it. but I'm still proud of myself. (and just in time too - the baby shower is on Saturday!)