Lessons learned

It occurred to me this week, (perhaps it was related to the rainbow paintings the kids have been drawing) to show the children the film The Wizard of Oz, remembering the songs and some of the classic characters, got me quite excited (I need to buy the old books, the original pictures are wonderful, so too the other books in the series). 

Suffice to say the kids loved the songs, the Munchkins, the Tin Woodsman, the Lion and the Scarecrow but I had slightly forgotten the potency of that Wicked Witch of the West! Even with forwarding through the scary parts, the memory of the green faced witch had a very lasting impression!!  

My middle child, the chocolate loving curly topped girl, could not fall asleep, then woke throughout the entire night with nightmares. Oh the lacking skills! I tried everything, talking about happy thoughts, books, movies characters... but how to remove that witch image from her mind!!?? We are on day three and still she is waking in the night with nightmares. What have I done?! So lesson learned, wait till your children are perhaps over the age of six to show them this film. Although little D at age two seems to be fine, (could be a factor of a more sensitive nature and intense imagination of which the 'sweets' child is). 

Other books in the original series

* as I was writing this, little D came up and pointed at the picture of the witch saying OHHH that the scary one!!

Wednesday's Cornerview: Gardens

San Anton Garden, a garden which dates back to the time of the knights, it was built in the early 1600's. 

For us it always provides a calm little quiet shaded oasis. The main sounds are that of the birds, another highlight is watching the ducks (not a common sight here in Malta),  sometimes a swan or two, occasionally a peacock out strutting it's stuff and quite a few little turtles sunning themselves near one of the four ponds.  Oh, yes and it is home to more than a few very relaxed cats(clearly they feel they own the place). The San Anton Gardens are free and open to the public, behind them is the president's palace. 

*I don't know the name of the tree which dropped the sea of little orange petals but it certainly gave the place a particularly golden glow on this visit!

I was in two minds about which photo to use today and because I am a little sad not to be returning for a visit to the states this summer I decided to also include this picture, taken of little D last summer, enjoying the swing in my parents back garden.   

Of Dogs and Donkeys

What did this weekend's Saturday picnic bring us but a chance encounter with some Maltese donkeys, and what sweet curious ones they were! 

(You can see already that little D is making a worried run for mama), this came with a screetching DON'T EAT ME! plea to the donkeys. Funny because we calmed D down and explained donkeys don't eat people (which then embolded the older two kids to go nearer) just in time for the curious darker donkey too take a good nibble/lick of my husband's toes.  This did not help Stella's fear.  

Shortly before this meeting with the asses, three very fox like dogs came upon us, all very friendly and  curious, smiling in the noon day sun with slit eyes. They then followed us to where we met the grazing donkeys.

In the end we had three dogs and two donkeys following us, which was slightly terrfying to little D and kind of thrilling to the older two children, who soon adopted a we-want-a-pet-dog (or pony ) chant for the rest of the trip home. 

 The moment post bite and one of the said Dogs

Happy May Day!!!

Ahh flowers, don't they always brighten the spirit!
Here are some for you.

Back to England

Last weekend the little guy and  I went away, just for a few nights, just the two of us to England. We enjoyed cream tea with dear old friends, sightings of Dartmore's wild ponies slowly grazing in the misty dusk in Devon, picnics in Bath and last but certainly not least a sliver of time in the place I still refer to as 'home', Brighton.

For the most part I was busy catching up with old friends and enjoying the sight of little T getting on so well with his little buddies to take many photos. I only managed a handful. In no way does this do justice to the place or the the friends there (was not so sure you wanted your faces here). Was a very nice trip and yes, I think it reaffirmed my hope to one day return. 

Perhaps some of you have had this experience, of feeling settled in a place (may not even be your real country of origin) so much so that it feels very much like home. Finding a home away from home, am still trying to find that here but it takes time I suppose. Perhaps as well meeting my husband and starting a family in Brighton makes it all the more meaningful and familiar, 

so many fond memories. 

Wednesday's Cornerview: Animals

Back from a small but delicious little trip to England, just in time for the cornerview! 

Meet this handsome fella, he lives at a relative's  farm (the exact details of which Maltese relative would take some time to explain). Bit of a runner so the only snap I managed to get was him on the move...bit blurry, apologies.  

This is where he lives.

Not exactly an animal.. a stretch admittedly but how cool of a catfish statue is this?! Spotted a top a tall pole in Plymouth, England just outside the national Aquarium. Is it just me or are catfish particularly striking looking, with their long whiskers and spiky fins?
For more cornerviews look here (right hand side).

Errands

Yesterday little D and I went exploring in search of some fabric, I decided to take a back route to the main street in Fgura which led us past some nice little fields, we spotted some wild poppies, a horse, a mulberry tree, some dogs and lots of dog droppings among other things. Turned out to be a pleasant little jaunt, there is something so nice about that golden time of day, something particular about the light.

Later in the evening just after dinner I slipped out for a walk, down small streets and fortressed harbors, (sights which have become every day but I thought I would take the time to stop and appreciate it a bit), here are a few views from along my walk (am usually accompanied by the lovely A. or S.). We tend to talk so much we rather flow through these spaces amid laughs and political ponderings.  Nothing as restorative as an evening walk and a nice chat.

Happy Friday

Wednesday's Cornerview: Earth Day

Simple golden grain

It's seeds now sent off into the wind

For more cornerviews go here.

little additions

Deedee and Roo

Roo is the elder sister, and is always looking out for the ever curious Deedee.
They are 18 inches head to tip of ear, both dresses can be removed with little snaps on the back.
I am thinking of selling a few similar bunny dolls in my etsy shop (which is still to come) 

so any feedback very welcome!   These two were requested by my daughters and are the 'testers', am not so sure about Deedee's head shape. 

Birthdays, bottoms, flags and fenek

Birthdays
Our little Mr. T (the airplane enthusiast) turned a whopping six this weekend, to celebrate we spent the day at the  beach with family and friends. First swim of the year!


Bottoms
Where to begin.... on Friday we went out to our favourite little Sicilian restaurant, a nice family treat at the end of the week. I think as the world cup nears though even the small family run restaurants are getting decked out in flat screen tvs (I so hate the presence of televisions in restaurants). Especially when they are placed in such a way so that you can not avoid catching glimpses. On this occasion, as we waited for the pizza to come,we noticed all the children where paused (from their drawing on small pads of paper) in mid action .....eyes glued to the tv).

Ok aside from one or two Maltese channels and one or two British channels there are a plethora of Italian tv channels that you get here  and their idea of prime time family entertainment is well.... shocking... I am not sure how to explain it.. to give you a tiny glimpse, I looked up to see a wall of ten ladies asses (in tiny thongs) poking out of a pretend brick wall..as two (older and fully clad) men walked along laughing and talking, the camera gave you close up shots of each and every one of those bums..the men walked along.. apparently it was some sort of quiz show section, guess which ass belongs to which supermodel. This was followed by two dancing barely clad women in black, then a lady topless covered in coloured paint on a table to which the camera zoomed in for what felt like a very long time on this woman's breasts, .. as they touched her to see her jiggle... my jaw was hanging open at this point..then the lady in flowers (shown below).

 I tried my hardest to distract the kids with questions about their day etc. and I spy to get them looking at the paintings of Mt. Etna hanging all over the restraunt...but it didn't really work.
Oh my the show just got worse and worse... if you watched this on a regular basis you would think every woman in Italy is around 19 and like barbie. No one else in the restaurant seemed that bothered but I just started laughing it was absolutely outrageous!! Soft porn is what it was.

I tried to put a spin on it and say the ladies were getting ready to go swimming and then my 4 year old daughter said no mama I think those ladies want to be famous and rich....this is after less then 10 minutes of exposure... I can't imagine what seeing this kind of thing day in day out does to young girls and boys??!!  I really found it disturbing. The show was called Ciao Darwin.

Flags
The Pope was here in Malta this weekend and the country was at a standstill with excitement and anticipation. I noticed as we drove to the beach that there was a sea of big yellow and white flags above the housetops, ..what flag is that?
"Thats the Pope's flag" my husband said casually.
"What, like he has his own flag? "
"Yep"
"And people just have it at their homes normally just in case he comes to visit?"
"yep"
Two notes here, these are not small flags but in many cases maybe a good 15 feet by 8 feet and there were hundreds all over the island.
Secondly the same thing happened on Easter but the flags were red and white... apparently in Malta most people have between 4 and 6 large flags (and obviously flag poles on their roofs). The Maltese Flag, The Virgin Mary flag, the local village flag, the village saint flag and now I have learned that they have the Pope's flag too.

Fenek

Last but not least- Fenek which means Rabbit in Maltese

I must admit that of late life here does feel for the most part 'normal', I have adjusted to the daily routines and the sounds of church bells, and the fresh bread and fish trucks honking as they pass through  but then there come little things that strike me and I realise that yes I am living in a very different world to the one I grew up in. This happened on Saturday.
A lady came to the door, I was hanging laundry on the roof,  and the next thing my husband is coming up to me tell me he has bought a rabbit and he was jumping in the shower so when she comes to give her the money  ".. excuse me?"  I asked... (thinking oooh perfect a nice little pet rabbit for the children), he said "yeah and she asked if I wanted it with the skin on or not... "
eeeek went the ex-vegetarian in me... ok ok.. yes a poorer nearby farmer woman offering rabbits.. of course we should buy one... a few minutes later she rang the bell and handed me a bag, she said it was still warm so not to put in the fridge just yet.. she had some blood splattered on her shirt.. I smiled but my stomach completely turned.... in that 10 min she had gone and killed this little rabbit... for us...
and knowing my husband was looking forward to cooking it in a new way, with fresh fennel, white wine and garlic .....made getting away from the reality hard to avoid... gulp...   yes.. a different world.


I suppose it is better this way... you are not protected from the reality of what you are doing but still ... I had trouble eating the meat ...I felt so guilty. It did turn out well... and with some roasted baby potatoes, carrots and shallots it was  true Sunday roast sort of meal.. I should have taken a picture.... but I still felt sad about it.
It didn't help that I had just finished making the girls two little toy rabbit dolls.
Sorry this post really did get long!!!!

Flea Market

As promised some of last week's 'treasures' from the nearby Birgu Sunday market

Things I brought home.....

 A nice bubbly green bottle, perfect for lemoncello don't you think? 

 Some dainty little glasses, and some random tiny animals... perhaps to use on top of cupcakes or just to play with. 

Some retro paints in their original wrappings 

(I love the sturdiness of their little metal boxes) in fact I ended up buying two,and we have already put them into use!

and last but not least is a book, unassuming and outdated looking on the front...

But here is a sneak peak at some of the many stories contained within its pages.....

It had Doctor Dolittle and the Pushmi pullyu... how could I not buy it!!??
There were some spools of thread, buttons and ribbons that also made it back in my bag but perhaps I have already stuck on enough photos for this post!

ah and a photo from the market itself

Spotted- some jumbled old toys under a random table at the market

(sorry at the actual market I was too busy looking to snap many photos)  next time...

Happy Friday to you all, may be it be bright and cheery.

Wednesday's Cornerview: highlight of the past year

In celebration of the corner view turning a year we have been asked to pick out our favourite post, am a little shy to do this as I am a new member and have only been a part of it for a few months. 

I did like the wisdom from an elder idea though so here is my link to that post.

For other cornerview highlights go here.

Now to keep it a little interesting, here is a post I always meant to do that fits with this theme, if you have a few minutes please do give it a listen initially here, to hear some more original voices go here, some of these early suffragettes were so determined and tough! But in such a polite sort of way! 

Thinking about fabric

The urge to sew is back at last (this time with time on its side) 

fabric gazing distracting me presently join me here if you like. . 

(Maltese Flea Markets soon to come)

Sea swells

Nothing like stumbling upon a path and heading for a little picnic, kids, kites, fresh bread and sparkling wine in tow... 

off for a little adventure

some cheery spring flowers 

Salty sea breezes and surreal blue waters

Past a caper flower 

and finally finding peace and calm in a meadow

Little D gets down to business with some drawing

some views along the way

Turned out to be a very nice Saturday outing, and the kites from Grandma had a grand time tossing and turning in the wind. Oh and we saw a soaring hawk (or maybe it was a falcon) sorry the picture just shows a dot so I didn't include it, but for me it was one of the highlights of the walk.

Sunday held some treasures found at the Sunday flea market but I won't overdo it on the photos!

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend, I love that spring can bring surprises. 

Should you fancy.....

a visit to Malta, 

staying at this house in Valletta is not such a bad choice. 

It is far more grand than our wee little house on Miracle lane. 

(Must admit I am a fan of this quirky little kitchen) 

Click here for more information Valletta G-House. 

maps

A new pastime of my son's is drawing little maps. 

This one he made just before lunch yesterday detailing the morning's adventures. It was the last day of my parent's visit, they left before dawn today, school begins tomorrow and a return to the 'normal' routine resumes. Always a bit strange when loved visitors set sail back for their own homes. 

The house is a bit quieter. more still.  

Happy memories still waver in the air though. 

Apologies for being so silent these last few weeks, have been rediscovering the wonders of the islands with my parents.
**Apologies no corner view this week, I just didn't manage it. Will be sure to jump in for next week though. For this weeks Wednesday's corner view  'Vending Machines' go here.