Pincushions by Mother Nature

In late 2004 I planted five hakeas at the back of our place. They were all about 3 inches tall with only two leaves on each plant.

Yes, its been about four and half years in the making, but it finally happened a week or so ago. My hakeas flowered!! I know this isn't going to make front page headlines, but as I said, its taken four and a half years! To see a single flower!!!

Very slowly every day, the flowers are coming into bloom. There is the first burst of colour, followed by the emergence of lots of tiny tentacles, or pins.

Mother Nature's pincushions.

Now they stand about four feet tall, they are getting more and more bushy, and they've got beautiful flowers - woo hoo!!

"Pincushion hakeas", I am so proud!

Jen x

I like batting!

Its nice to know clever people. Sometimes you learn things at the most unexpected of moments - like sitting at my desk yakking to Princess Cherry Pie about eyelashes.

I thought that I probably knew a reasonable amount about eyelashes. Well, as reasonable as you could expect from somebody who is essentially lazy when it comes to makeup/facials/pampering etc. Check out my eyebrows in the following photos - more than 'a few strays' there I'm afraid.

A major part of the problem here is that when I look in the mirror, I try not to really look. If I study too closely I see things I'd rather not see, and there's a chance I might never leave the house again...

But that risk has been eliminated for an estimated 4 weeks or so, thanks to Princess Cherry Pie. In fact, at the moment I LOVE looking in the mirror.

Who knew that you could get eyelash extensions??!

Not me. Apparently its what the celebrities do to make sure they have lovely long lashes to bat on the red carpet. And all this time I thought these stars had simply been blessed as babies by the eyelash God in a way that I was not.

So, last Friday I skipped off to see Vanessa at Princess Cherry Pie to get me some lashes. Here is a picture of me in the car just outside her place. (Mobile phone camera - not great but all I had.)

Yep, you can see that I had fairly normal looking eyelashes at that point. There I was, makeup free and smiling because I knew I was about to be transformed into a ravishing beauty with eyelashes that I could bat. And bat...

And bat.

What followed was a relaxing 1 hour 20-ish, where I laid down with my bottom eyelashes taped down and out of the way (yep, that part felt a little unusual), while Ness one by one extended my eyelashes by about double I think. One at a time she slid a new longer lash over my existing lash and stuck it there - about 20 on each eye I believe.

After a tense moment when I thought my eyes may have forgotten how to open, they did in fact open. And when I looked in the mirror I saw this:

Loooooooooooooooooong lashes!! Woo hoo!!!

They feel fantastic - I forget they are even there until Hilly next door stares at me strangely for 5 minutes solid. She is so jealous of my eyelashes, he he. And there is so much batting fun to be had. Phew, I am worn out by all the batting I have undertaken over the past six days!

And I've loved every minute of it.

Community Health Warning: Eyelash extensions may be addictive - I don't know that I could go on without them....

Thank you Vanessa for boosting the self esteem of my rather average eyelashes. They think you are wonderful, as do I.

"Princess Cherry Pie, people! You know you want to!"

Jen x

Oooh! By the way, Vanessa is a Bride-to-be (yay!) and has a fantastic pre-wedding blog. Take a peak, its so cute!

Still Jenny From the Kitchen #3

Ah, its the weekend - that is good.

But wait! What is that I smell? (Work with me here people, I know its hard to smell via a blog post.)

Mmmmm, its the smell of pikelets.

Pikelets, like bonfires, are a current signature of our weekends at home, hanging out as a family. I usually cook them at around 11am for morning tea, but by the time I've finished cooking and we have eaten lots, they have become lunch. Of course I have a couple of helpers:

So now its only right that I share my recipe for making these little round discs of loveliness. You might find they induce happy dances all around at your place like they do at mine:

Happy-Dance Inducing Pikelets

Ingredients:

1 cup self raising flour

pinch salt

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 cup sour milk (sour with 1 tsp vinegar or lemon juice)

2 tblsp sugar

1 egg

1 desertspoon melted butter (1oz?)

• Sift dry ingredients, add sugar.
• Mix to a smooth batter with beaten egg and milk, add melted butter.
  (Note: batter should be about cake-mix thickness)
• Heat and grease pan, drop batter by desertspoonfuls on to pan, cook until bubbly on top and golden underneath.

• Flip and cook other side.

Then join in the happy dance going on around your kneecaps and before moving swiftly on to cooking the next round. Once the pikelet frenzy has commenced there is no stopping!

Oooh, and don't forget to save a couple for yourself!!

Enjoy.

Jen x

And then there's these...

Around the time I was in year 9 or 10 I loved buying second hand clothes from the op shop. I remember having a beautiful leather belt that was a rich reddish-brown, with a big brass buckle. I bought it at the Diamond Creek op shop on the school holidays. I loved it because you could tell it had been worn a lot - the leather was soft and the holes were a bit worn. I had no idea where that belt had been before I found it, but I knew that if it could talk it would have a story or two to tell.

The following item, however, looks like it has not so much a story as a complete novel to tell. And I think that novel would begin with a chapter on the merits of walking on two feet. Take a look and see what you think:

Yep, I don't think these guys are going to make it to our local op shop. They've had the stuffing knocked out of them, literally.

You see, neither of The Hatchlings were in much of a hurry to walk as babies. Both were around 18 months before they took to getting around on two feet. And these rather pathetic looking slippers were a feat of engineering wrapped in beige corduroy and sheepskin. THEY NEVER FELL OFF THE HATCHLINGS LITTLE FEET - EVER! For this reason alone, these little guys were employed to warm Hatchling No.1's feet, and then Hatchling No.2's feet when his turn came. I could never find another pair the same, and although slightly shabby, nothing compared to these little slippers.

And now...

Now the Hatchlings have moved on, leaving the most loyal of slippers behind without so much as a second glance. Yet for some reason I am torn. I just cant bring myself to throw the little guys out.

Maybe now that I have captured their beauty in these photos and shared a little of their story it might become a bit easier to slam dunk them into the wheely bin.

Only time will tell.

Jen x

Made For Walking

Okay, so I went to buy my lunch the other day - but instead of spending a little bit of money on a sandwich I spent a bigger bit of money on THESE:

Arent they a sight to behold?

They came from the lovely people at Wittner Shoes in Victoria Gardens.

I have only ever owned one other pair of cowboy boots, and that was when I was 7 years old. I loved those boots too. At age 7 I especially loved the clip cloppy sound that my cowboy boots made as I walked along. The trouble is, I was a shy wee thing, and I worried that somebody might notice the grin on my face that the clip cloppy noise gave me - and then I'd be embarrassed. So I never wore that pair of cowboy boots as much I would have liked to...

I don't worry about that stuff now. And I still love the clip cloppy noise that cowboy boots make!

And I still get the grin...

I am wearing my new boots right now. Even if you read this post next week I will still be wearing them right now - I can't help myself, I currently have them on my feet at every opportunity!

See the stars and the moons? Hmmm, I haven't yet stooped to wearing them while I sleep... Yet.

I just really wish I could think of a name for these beauties, but so far I've drawn a blank. Any ideas?? Send me some comments with inspiration for names please!

Jen x