It never occurred to me when I posted about my little Easter that some of my readers might have never heard of an Easter bilby! Well, this is an Easter bilby.
And this is a bilby!
Adorable, no?
Bilbies are kind of like the rabbits of Australia, they’re cute and they hop around. But they’re not related to rabbits at all, they’re marsupials, like much of our wildlife. They’re endangered now, because pesky English people decided to bring rabbits to Australia, and the rabbits ate all their food. They also bought foxes, who think bilbies to be rather tasty.
The idea of the Easter bilby became common when I was a kid. I can remember it distinctly, because being a nature lover, I was ridiculously excited! At first the proceeds from the chocolate bilbies went to conservation programs, which is pretty great. I’m not sure if that’s the case any more. Anyway, my first bilby was one I had to share with the family. Easter was never very extravagant in my single income family with 5 children. The chocolate bilby had a little baby bilby in its pouch (to this day I’m overly attached to animals that don’t exist; like in computer games or made of chocolate), and I declared to everyone that the head of the baby was mine! I wanted to save it until last. I think I was about 7, and it was very important to me. Well, my Dad ate it! I was so upset! Completely traumatised that he had so thoughtlessly eaten the head of the baby bilby I so adored. I know it sounds overly dramatic, but that’s because it was! The feelings of a 7 year old are very delicate, so look before you eat!
In the comments from my Easter post Vixie thought an Easter hedgehog would be appropriate for the UK, and Caren thought perhaps the Easter beaver should frequent Canada… or maybe not.
What alternative Easter creature would you like to see?!
Do you know the feeling of when you’ve lost contact with a good friend? The longer you don’t reconnect with them, the harder it gets. The more time that passes the more you think that you have to reconnect with something significant, and an appropriate excuse must be found for your absence. As the days flip by the feeling becomes a mere niggle in the back of your head, until you realise that you have not thought about your friend for days. A week even. The guilt in your stomach is easily ignored, and eventually your good, supportive, wonderful friend, is gone.
My blog is my good friend.
So here I am, casually slipping back into conversation with my blog, because I can’t bear to lose her.
How was your Easter? Mine was a little lonely, what with my man-friend working in the desert. But luckily for me, I kind of relish my loneliness. I enjoy my own company.
Matt, being the thoughtful darling he is, hid eggs around the house for me before he left for the desert. I accidentally found one a week ago, so this past week has been fraught with moments of desperately wanting to search for my goodies, but also wanting to save the excitement for today. I’m glad I waited, because this morning I got to feel like a child; searching, and seeking, and peering, into every nook and cranny, until my crocheted basket was filled with eggs, a bunny and a pretty bilby I can’t bear to nibble into just yet.
I ate way too many, as well as freshly baked hot cross buns. It was perfection. A nap was also indulged in, diving in to bed with the creature below could not be resisted! Doesn’t she look simply delicious!
I hope your day was wonderful too. Let’s try to be close friends again, shall we, dear blog?
Home again, home again,
Jiggity jig.
I’ve been home from Victoria for a week, but for some reason blogging seems infinitely hard right now. I’m tired, physically and emotionally.
I’m missing my home state with nearly all of my heart. Matt and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary yesterday, which was a timely reminder of why I’m here. That, and my kittens.
I don’t have much to say just yet, but I have many photos to process. I just wanted to let you know that I’m here. I’m alive. And I’ll probably feel like blogging again sometime soon.
I hope you’re happy and well. xox
This post is bought to you by Penny Lane, who has a couple of lovely blogs! A creative blog called My Creative Silence, a motherhood blog called Being A Mom IS A Job. If you have a moment, please pop by and say hello!
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Let the Sparks Fly
Creativity is (as defined by me) being extraordinary in an otherwise ordinary world. Expressing what I feel through creative acts.
Inspiration finds me wherever I go. I randomly pick up treasures from nature to use in one of my many projects. I am currently working on plans for my wedding and as I was strolling my little boy around the farm the other day, inspiration struck in a heap of hanging vines.
Sometimes inspiration strikes in the form of clothes in the $1 pile at a consignment shop. Fabric speaks to me like we’re best friends. Sounds a little fruity maybe to the ordinary mind, but to creative minds, you know what I’m talking about.
I just finished a little project I like to call Meet Juliet. She is my dress form I will be using to make my wedding dress. I have a list of dresses a mile long that I want to make and now I have help from Juliet.
My theory about Creativity:
Be who you are,
do what you do,
even if you only
do it for you…
- Alisha Fincher (a.k.a Penny Lane)
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Thanks Alisha! Isn’t the little verse at the end so sweet, and so true!
You might already think I’ve gone on holiday, since I haven’t posted in over a week, but no, I’ve just been busy making crochet creatures to give as gifts for when I go on my holiday tomorrow! Phew, long sentence.
I’m staying at my parent’s house in the country for 3 weeks, and Matt will be joining me for nearly a week. We’re celebrating Christmas on Saturday! Exciting! Our family aren’t religious, so we celebrate Christmas when we’re all home. For us, Christmas has always been about enjoying time together, and with 5 grown children it’s not very often that we’re all home at the same time.
I’m excited about seeing my cat and my dog, and my brothers and sister, and looking at the countryside and day-dreaming about my future home in the bush.
I’m anxious about leaving the cats, and flying and getting public transport. I’m not scared of flying at all, I actually enjoy it, it’s the other people in the plane who scare me. Same with trains and buses.
The internet at my parent’s house is slow and painful, so I might not be blogging much. I was planning on organising a slew of guest posts, but I left it too late and didn’t nag you guys, so I only have two. Please be nice to my guests when they pop up on your feed!
So on actual Valentine’s Day I celebrated me, by being lazy and doing what I like, because I was here all on my lonesome. It was nice enough, but a day with my man-friend was better. Matt got home from work on Friday, so we celebrated our love on Saturday. We’re not a lovey-dovey romantic couple, I don’t expect roses, chocolates or a blue box from Tiffany’s, all I want is a day with my boy all to myself, and a tasty dinner to eat at the table, rather than in front of the TV.
In the morning we went to a farmers market and bought a pile of fruit and vegies for our fridge. We went early, so it wasn’t too busy, and I felt relaxed and happy, despite being surrounded by people.
Our tradition on special occasions is for Matt to make dinner, and for me to make dessert. Matt made an Indian feast, with three different dishes, plus flat bread on the side.
I picked a bouquet from the garden, mostly leaves because our garden is quite lacking is the flower department, but it still looked lovely, especially with the water dyed red. I even dug out some candles and put on a dress and jewellery.
Zelda was very perplexed by our odd behaviour, particularly the eating at the table. I really want to try to eat one meal a week at the table, it’s nice to look at Matt while we eat, rather than us both staring at the TV.
I spent all day making dessert, it had so many steps and layers and waiting for things to cool, but it was worth it! I made another pie from Vegan Pie In The Sky, the Boston cream pie. It was so delicious! I cannot gush enough about how much I love this cookbook!
After dinner we wanted to watch a romantic movie which wasn’t too serious. We picked Coming To America, it was the first time in a while I’d watched it and it was a funny and romantic as I remembered, the perfect ending to a lovely Valentine’s!
How was your weekend? I hope it was full of love and tasty food.
My favourite colour on a cat is grey, I think that’s fairly obvious, given the colouring of my kitty offspring. But I do have a clear second favourite, and that is the calico. I know that the terminology differs from country to country, so you might call them a tortoiseshell-and-white. I do think that tortoiseshells are also gorgeous, but something about the white with patches of ginger and black gets me every time.
We’ve had one calico foster kitten, named Dorothy. We had several calls as soon as she was listed for adoption, so I know I’m not alone in this love of the calico kitty!
Isn’t she stunning? I would have loved to have kept her! I’m fairly sure that our next cat will be a calico, not any time soon though, 3 is enough!
The special thing about both calico and tortoiseshells is that they are almost always girls! Coat colour in cats is determined by the X chromosome, and which colour is expressed is completely random! The only way a male can be a calico is if he has XXY chromosomes, which is not normal, and he would probably be sterile.
Dorothy’s sister, Pippi, was also a special girl. She is what would generally be called a tortoiseshell. And just quietly, I would have really loved to keep her too! That’s the danger of fostering kittens!
They were two of the sweetest cats I’ve ever known, and there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that being friendly and a little bit odd is a common trait of calico and tortoiseshell cats.
In the end they both found wonderful homes with an older cat to play with, and lovely people who adored them from the moment they met them. Lucky girls!
Is there a calico cat in your life? Do you find them to be exceptionally delightful?
Do you see him? Sneaky.
And a bonus sunbeam.
I hope you had/are having a lovely Thursday!
Five years ago I hopped on plane and moved to the other side of the country to live with a boy I didn’t know, because I felt like there was nothing else I could do. I ran away, and I couldn’t be more happy that I did.
Yes, that boy was Matt. I moved here as his housemate, I actually had my eye on one of his friends when I first arrived!
Happy Anniversary Perth! I love you, and am so happy that I found you.
