The unstoppable artist

Not a day goes by, it seems, without Biryani putting pen to paper in one form or another. You would think she would have tired of drawing, painting, or colouring by now. But no, it is her most favourite occupation, and her way of expressing herself. She often draws herself drawing something, so you see a picture of her hand with a pen in it. If something has upset her she will draw almost a story of the event and a picture of a face with downturned eyebrows and a mouth, showing her anger.

 Her favourite theme, of course, is ‘Princesses’ and her continued persistence in all things ‘girly’ never ceases to amaze me, what with the male-dominated atmosphere at our place.

It was blog or clean the kitchen floor, guess which won!

I had to document the amazing ability of a 12 year old boy to clean up the living room. The only thing missing is the 'before' picture. I recall the reward for this was some computer time.

And below are some of the various activities that go on, on our kitchen table, besides eating:







Some late pictures from Eid. I now realise that as long as it's pink, Biryani will be happy!





and now we have some hyacinths slowly growing, keeping the restless gardener calm(er). There's not much to do outside, what with the weather (snow being rather non-news I suppose in Sweden).



but these roses show the snow has come a bit earlier than usual

and here is a picture of one of the 'mobile nurseries' that they have in our city. I was on my way to order some new glasses. There is such a demand for childcare that they can't build enough premises and so bus the little ones around to different parks etc. It's quite a good idea, with on board tables/ facilities, but when I took this was maximum -7 C and they were all cosy inside the bus with the engine running. Not a soul in the playground nearby- I'm not surprised. As I was walking to the opticians I felt the rushing co-pedestrians thinking to themselves: 'Blimey, it's cold'. Waiting at the pedestrian crossing, I sneaked a quick 'dragon-smoke' breath, and then rapidly remembered I'm not 7 any more.

and now the shops have run out of sledges- well at least the reasonably priced ones- and we have only one intact, uh oh!
Anyway, now time to, er, ignore the kitchen floor a bit longer.......

Some random photos...

Just thought to post these before they are completely out of date. The first is of the fishermens' cottages in the centre of town near the museum area. It's a nice area to have a day out with the children. Hope we can get over the recent illnesses (H with croup and Hz with a cold) and maybe visit them again. Anything to get out of this place, the suburbs...
Hz is into his art and craft aswell, diligently scribbling and modelling plasticine. His speech is coming on in leaps and bounds, using little sentences, and he must say 'OK?/ OK' about 100 times a day. Do I really say it so much? he must have got it from somewhere!

End of the Summer

This Summer has been characterised by : Chicken Pox, Weeding, childminder-run, car problems, and not making it to the UK.
Or if you look at it another way: immunity, harvesting lots of salad, Hz starting to speak Swedish, and maybe a bit of Sabr..

The photos above are mostly of the activity day organised by the recycling (rubbish plant) centre at a nearby nature area that we went to on the last day of the holidays. They are cooking bread on sticks over a wood fire and enjoyed eating it. The children and their friends who came along made some entries to an art competition using recycled materials . They used an awful lot of spray paint (much enjoyed) and glue, and it is questionable as to how environmentally friendly this activity actually was!! They climbed some climbing walls, S shot some targets with a real gun and they got a horse and carriage ride. There was an opportunity to get a bus tour of the rubbish plant which actually I am quite curious as to what they really do with out rubbish. But that'll have to be next year as there wasn't really so much time, and the thunder and rain arrived and we decided to go home.
The buns are the only bread I've cooked for ages, I've really got out the habit which is a shame. Time seems to be at a premium nowadays, as the infrequency of my blog posts indicates. I've been under the weather and went to sleep around 9 pm last night with the litttle ones!

The school run is now really complicated with 3 places to drop them at. S has now got used to his new school I think. On the first day it brought back my memories of starting a new secondary school, with all the different classrooms to locate, and different subject teachers. 3 days a week he starts v early( around 8 am) and this is pretty tiring, alhamdulillah. Anyhow inshaAllah things'll get easier, especially if S agrees to take the bus by himself.
Eid coming up and as usual I'm completely disorganised, but as I may not get a chance to blog before then, wish you a happy Eid and that Allah rewards you for your fasts in Ramadhan.

Allotments and AK47s?!

How can it be raining when there are no clouds? In fact we have finally got a hose-pipe to water the plants with, much to M's delight.
DH is scared to purchase any lettuces from the supermarket now lest I am offended!

and the unidentified plants have now flowered, leaving me no clearer as to what they are. S thinks they should be taken down with the secateurs, but they are not unpleasant-looking, so I've let thenm be. Anyone know what they are??

Lettuce and more mint (tried to pick it before it flowered)

and now drying the mint out, and as it seems to be a constant 26C plus in the kitchen, this seems as good a place as any.



S's using youtube instructions to make a paper AK47 gun. Not exactly politically correct crafting, but a creative and non-computer games passing of time. Much patience was needed, as dozens of pieces of sticky tape were required.


and then some painting..
'No I don't need any help,
no not even in destroying it,'
ta-da!!

Some photos, inside and out.

The beech trees on the way to the main library, aptly named 'bok' in Swedish which also means 'book'.




This is why I don't make many phone calls (although I want to stay more in touch.) The new play material, Weetabix.



Biryani, always willing to give the plants a water. The tomato plants are not doing too well this year. They got, according to my research, sunburn, or maybe they found it too cold at night, or just were in shock at being transplanted. The Spring this year has been particularly cold, normally it's like Summer by now, but you still need a coat on if you're outside for a while.







and Biryani's self-created art exhibition...

My Mum's card webshop

My Mum has always enjoyed art and has now got some of her designs available as cards, including Eid and ones left blank for your own message. I have a promo code for the first 5 people who order!:

Get your first card for FREE by using this promo code during checkout: MARY150209

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/judyscardstore

Keep in mind that this offer expires on February 02, 2010 (in 15 days).

Here is her website too, and also her blog which has some useful art tips

You know how blogs tend to show..

those dreamy days of summer, plucking cherries from the trees in our park (after over 5 years here I realised how close our PYO really was)

Tree climbing and hugging...

and just getting the chance to go 'wow, mashaAllah' .

and do a bit of arty stuff...

Well, below the contrast of in and outside is shown as if waking from that dream into :

REALITY OF LIVING WITH A ONE YEAR OLD :

The blockades...

The only way to prevent acrobatics from kitchen tables...

aargh..

aaaaaargh!

AAAAAARGH!!

It's not always the end product!

There was a lot of enthusiam to build this caterpillar, but after the frantic painting of toilet rolls, the interest wained. I would like to encourage a 'starting what you finish' approach, but sometimes I just let them enjoy the process of it, sticky fingers, mixing colours, spilling water, it's all part of the fun!