I don't know if I should caption this "History Alive" or "Don't try this at home". We (the kids and I, poor hubby is off being businesslike) went to a history festival held at Fort Lytton yesterday. I went in the hope of seeing some traditional arts and crafts, spinning, knitting, soap and candle making. No such luck, I'm sad to say, but we did have a lot of fun. There were explosions aplenty, to keep the boys happy; dueling, gladiators and plenty of chainmail. Samara enjoyed the ladies' costumes, some of which were incredibly elaborate.

The Napoleonic battle was fun, especially with the Bennett sisters sobbing and waving hankies as the handsome soldiers marched off to war.

Plenty of cannon fire. I am a fan of loud explosions too, so we enjoyed this immensely.

The Roman gladiators gave me a teachable moment regarding weapon safety. Lucky the ambulance people were on hand!

Late afternoon over the Brisbane River. It was a chilly day, very windy out near the coast.

We stayed to see the 64 pound guns (or whatever they are called) fired at the end of the day. Sadly only one went off, the other decided to be tempermental, and I can only assume that some men would be up half the night figuring out what went wrong.

It was a lot of fun, some of the displays were marvellously elaborate. We all found plenty to enjoy. I am going to send the organisers an email suggesting a few more arts and crafts, but we'll go back again next year, regardless!

I am still around, really! I don't know where some weeks disappear to. So very busy, with so little to show for it. I have been working on Wisp. I am about half way. It's an easy pattern, though I still managed to incorporate a couple of errors. That's what gives my knitting its charm,right? I am about half way, and I could probably finish it, if only I could get a couple of quiet days to myself.

This is Christopher meeting his favourite author, Emily Rodda. He has devoured her Deltora Quest series and was thrilled to meet her in person at Riverbend. He also discovered that sushi is actually pretty good. What a great night!

Now we are about to head out and geek it up at a history festival. Expect photos!

I am still here, still coughing, still sniffly, but still here. I have been trying to enjoy the school holidays, though the odds have not been in my favour lately. The night before last, our little dog, Abbey, had a grand mal seizure. It was all a bit scary for both us and her, and I rushed her to the vet at midnight. Blood tests revealed no obvious cause and so we came home at 2am with doggy valium and the hope that it might not happen again. She could be epileptic, but we have to wait and see if the seizures continue. She's been fine and dandy since then, but I have been stressed and in serious sleep debt.



I have cast on Wisp as a gift for my grandmother's 90th birthday. She lives in a nursing home, and so I wanted to avoid cluttery gifts. Hopefully she'll like it, but if she doesn't, I'd be delighted to keep it for myself. The wool colours are a delight, and remind me of our summer skies, one moment brilliant blue and the next a thundery grey.



This is an unfinished table runner, partially quilted. I am not entirely thrilled with the colours, I think pink for the centre blocks would have been much better, but I was avoiding pinks to please non girly husband. I think next time I will not worry about what he thinks ;) After all, he's not the one looking at the table all day! Poor dear's been working so hard lately that he's probably forgotten what the table looks like.

I've been all sniffly and whiny, thanks to some kid's germs, but these cheer me up every time I watch them.