This article I started writing a wee while ago was intended for World Sweet World but due to a miscommunication it seems I missed the deadline so you lucky readers get to read it first and free!

Speaking about Craftivism / Guerilla Art, I picked up a couple of book orders yesterday - oh Joy! Keri Smith rocks!!

banksy TV stencil, originally uploaded by Loso.

I love street art from Bansky and the like but here’s a new one for me:

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Back at the beginning of May I went to hear Michael Palmer read, he was lovely to listen to and had interesting things to say. For those interested in finding out more there is a great piece on Nat Rad with Lynn Freeman interviewing Michael Palmer.

I took a few scratchy notes during his public talk at the City Gallery in Wellington. Also thanks to the IIML for passing on these notes taken by Catherina van Bohemen from his Masterclass for the MA students at the IIML in Wellington.

We had a busy weekend, Saturday was MrC’s 7th birthday and of course Sunday was Mother’s Day here. I always flash back to the kids’ first birthdays.

I was a stunned mullet the day MrC was born, goodness, I look a lot younger too. I had gentle contractions through the night by the fire while Mr SYW slept (I did tell him not to worry). Mr SYW was going to leave for work in the morning but I convinced him that it would probably be a good idea to stay home and fill the birthing pool. He doodled around so much that the pool never warmed up enough so I hopped into the bathtub. The sun was coming in through the window and I was excited. I told Mr SYW to ask Linley my midwife to come so Mr SYW rang her and said there was no hurry (in denial!) so she put a batch of scones in her oven. Ten minutes later I made him call her back and she could hear me yelling my way through a contraction, Linley grabbed the scones and jumped in the car. Ten minutes after she arrived and 5 minutes after my MIL arrived Mr C was born (in the tub), my Dad arrived and we all had scones. Well actually I spent 20 minutes delivering the placenta but don’t we forget those things so quickly? I remember at one moment thinking “I’m never going to do this again” and then as soon as he was born thinking “Wahoo! No worries!”. Adrenalin is an incredible thing.

I didn’t know what the heck I was doing but somehow, with the help of my fantastic midwife, I made it through the first 6 weeks and then the weeks and months and years all just slipped away with trials and tribulations (and a sister) along the way. It’s funny how the days seem so painfully long when you have small babies but the years seem to go so fast.

Motherhood is something I just made up as I went along (still do!). I slowly learnt to trust my own judgement and filter all the well meaning advice. I learnt how to slow my life down and remember what is really important. I remembered my own childhood and grieved again for my mother whom my children would never know. I started to understand my own mother’s actions. There’s an old adage that I’m stealing from Bricolagelife which goes:

“you can never love your mother as much as she loved you. and you never know how much your mother loved you until you have a child of your own.”

Mind you, my daughter loves to tell me “I love you more than you love me”. Lucky me :).

Since the Hand Mirror started up in March (hat tip Art & My Life) I’ve been slowly (and happily) pulled into online politics. It’s not that I wasn’t political before, on the contrary, I have a Women’s Studies degree (among other qualifications) it’s just that I seem to have missed emerging political sites online. Deborah’s post at In a Strange Land lead me to read a very long thread starting from this post at Public Address, which in turn had me thinking – why don’t I hang out here and comment? Actually a couple of pages into the thread I knew already but I woke up about 5.30 this morning and thought about it some more.

Read the rest here.

So if I tidy up all my writing papers and poems and put them in folders and open a fresh exercise book and look at my thesis idea then come and blog it… does that count as writing? Maybe I could major in procrastination next year?

As you can see  by the lighting in this picture this morning is dark and grey but I still forced poor MrC to model one of his new pairs of pants. I sewed up 5 pairs of pants for Mr almost 7 for his birthday. These ones are thrifted wool lined with calico. The patchpockets have details with Japanese cotton. I adapted a PJ pattern (also thrifted). I also made 2 pairs in a soft green cauderoy, 1 pair in denim and up-cycled a pair of my pants to fit him (poor boy!). Why so many? Because he puts holes in the knees so quickly I’m hoping many pairs will delay the holes, hmmm, we’ll see…

I’ve been meaning to blog this for a while - Liz aka Betty Jo fixed up a brooch she made for me and it’s even better than the first one, I’m so thrilled!
It’s made from vintage lino and buttons

this-a-way, originally uploaded by jek in the box.

I’ve bin tagged by a couple of new buddies, isn’t the internet great for meeting new friends?

Bricolage Life tagged me to reveal 6 random oddities about myself and Drewzel tagged me to:

1. Write your own six-word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog (and include a visual illustration if you’d like).
3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post.
4. Tag 5 more blogs with links.

So here I go! My six word memoir:

“Keep going no matter what happens”

I guess this sums up most of my teens and twenties. My mother died when I was 20 after being sick for several years and I had a series of bad relationships around the same time. I’ve suffered from depression but I’m pretty stuborn I guess and I just put my head down and bulldoze on. The phrase also applies to my writing, most writers are compelled to keep writing despite rejection slips to get through to the acceptance slips. Lucky for me life is pretty sweet right now.

My 6 oddities:

1. I whistle crooked, no matter how hard I try I can only whistle out the side of my mouth.
2. The number 6 is one of my favourite numbers ( also 2 and 12) and I’m slightly obessive about it.
3. I had to go cold turkey to quit eating so much sugar ( I can eat a whole tub of ice cream or a box chocs or packet of biscuits in one sitting).
4. I used to run cross country and track but I damaged my knee (I also used to throw discus).
5. I used to play the trumpet but quit in my teens when it wasn’t cool, which I regret now.
6. I get obsessed by new projects so they take over my life until I master/mistress them and then I’m on to the next thing (fickle aye?)

So I tag Green Kitchen, Tiny Happy, So Tread Softly, Stripy Sock Studio, and Kimberlee , feel free to play along or not - as you like :).

Thanks to Jek for the pic!

Finally I return to blogland, a little worse for wear post school hols but in one piece. I feel like I should write a “wot oi did in me skool holidays” post, we packed a lot in. One of the most satisfying things I did last week was to whip up some of this Autumn jelly, yum! It’s made with home grown crabapples, quinces and feijoas. It was really good to just focus on the kids and home life last week but I was also forced off-line by a bung ‘puter if the truth be told ;).

When the kids were smaller (preschool) I used to dread the holidays but every term it gets easier and the kids fight a little less and I go less insane. We even managed to do some paper craft together with Shelly and her kids for hours one day.

I’m stoking up the fire, I hope it keeps going while I’m in town. I’m off to hear Michael Palmer speak.

The legendary San Francisco poet Michael Palmer will be giving one public presentation on a brief visit to Wellington.

Michael Palmer is associated with a generation of poets which includes Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, and Clark Coolidge – “poets working in the dark, and at the margins” – and with the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets. Even more, he is celebrated for his own expressive lyrics. His poems are among the most beautiful written in the last 50 years – both resisting meaning and finding new ways to bring it into being.

I’m feeling pretty good about my writing. I haven’t got much new but I’ve had a sort through last year’s stuff and I’ve got an idea for a thesis of sorts to tie it all together and kick start some new work. The best thing so far about having both kids at school is that I have found time to really read again.

ETA - Shall I post the recipe?