Creating Identity

Fashion Passion Emerges

Lil't is discovering a passion for fashion, creating an identity to convey to herself and others. Communication via fashion is a very strong medium. We can instantly make assumptions or take cues from a persons way of dressing.

Tallulah has been experimenting with colour and layering, mixing things up, textures, and using hand made pretties to create some awesome outfits. There is no peer group involved in her process, no MTV no advertising. Just whatever is in her cupboard. As a result her outfits are comfortable, practical and often really bright and interesting.

Incorporating an obsession with lip balms into her get up, she is not particularly interested in makeup but when it comes to lip balms, the collection grows!

Clashes creating a colourful co-ordination!

Hand made felt brooch designed and made by Lil't.

No sense of self consciousness. Just a relaxed happy tweenie!

Amazing feet! Boots from Target. They are a ladies size 6. The kid is gonna be way tall!

The War Memorial

Quite the profound experience for both of us. The war memorial in Canberra may be one of the best and most comprehensive exhibitions I have ever been to. Tallulah was captivated and was deeply moved on many levels. The scale was massive, the toll tangible. I left my SLR camera in Melbourne so all these pix were taken on my el-cheapo Samsung galaxy mobile phone mostly using Polaroid filtres.

A beautiful day, the parka is new so even though it was warm she had to be a character from the Mighty Boosh.

While not the biggest building it is very imposing and beautifully designed. People of all ages were there.

A small section of the thousands of names of lives lost in battle.

Everything is so big here.

Wall detail.

On the very far horizon you can see the flag waving atop parliament house.

These mosaics were mind boggling. Stunning works of art. Almost religious in their depiction of the type of hero's our country produced.

Such a serious and solemn room, but how much does this chap look like Gene Kelly?

Training cockpit.

There were so many aircraft.

The service at the end of the day was beautiful. Tallulah was enthralled. Some men my age were told off by a senior gentleman for not removing their hats during the last post. Ignorance in the modern age and a real lack of awareness of how much our grandparents and great grandparents sacrificed and went through to protect and improve our lives. I am no advocate of war, but I completely support the defenders of our lives and home and country. I keep my grandfathers uniform at the back of my wardrobe. A reminder every day.

Everything about this place was imposing, including the piper. You can just make him out in the previous photo.

A pensive mood prevailed as we filed out and they closed the iron gates behind us. We took our final shots and parted, feeling  very lucky and very sad. A strong sense of being terribly spoiled and also a bit of fear for what can happen any time. How would we cope if there was a world war now? Food for thought indeed.

Fast food.

So,  I was starving after a hard morning shopping at Savers and I just wanted some fast food.
I grabbed a tin of lentils which I drained a bit of the liquid from. Chucked it in a fry pan with a stick of chopped celery a heaped teaspoon of veg stock powder and a few semi dried tomatoes. The toms didn't really suit.
Simmered the lot till nearly all the liquid was gone. Served in a bowl with some Danish fetta.
5 mins tops! Enough for lunch for one or a snack for two. Serve with toffuti and lemon juice for vegany goodness.

Self Guided Learning

Today lil't taught herself to knit. She watched two youtube how to videos and now she is merrily at it. There is a lot to be said for self guided learning. Something I have been mastering since around the same age.

Since taking the photo and uploading it is already 3x as long!

Drumming and Humming

A blog post by Tallulah.

Hi folk's
Yay, I'm blogging [finally] and I'm blogging about my drummmmming lessons.
You see I really do hum while I do the drum so thats why this post is called drumming and humming [and because it rhymes] this is me drumming.
and moving on.......................................................................... :]''
So at the moment I have learned a bit of drumming.

Some of the things I have learned about are crotchets and quavers and quaver rests, which are single beats, half beats and single beat rests and I have also learned some more simple stuff. We have been doing the drums with the metronome and I've been practicing quite a bit but not as much as I would like  because me and mum have been quite busy over the last week or two or the last month.

Moving on to the last bit of the post. Well I think doing drums is really fun and I really recommend it. And I'm just kidding the post is not over yet. I'm also doing base drum, you have to stamp your foot on a special pedal, and the beater that is attached to the pedal hits the drum. I can use both hands and there are accents which make the notes louder and stronger.     

Me drumming. The marks on my face are a temporary tattoo! A good quality one too.

Nat Grant is my teacher. And I think she is quite cool, and she is cool like all my teachers because I have a cool life.

The End

Sunshine Days....Magnetic Island Pix.

Waiting for the ferry from Townsville to the Island. There was a TV.  Lil't is very tv deprived.

Townsville.

Magnetic Island.

Spunky kid in the sunshine on the ferry.

Where the ferry docks. A few buildings, a car park and then forest.

T-shirt, shorts, sand.

The power of two. Tourists take turns holding up this rock on s shift basis. Community service.

This was awesome. This little guy ended up about 2 metres away from Lil't.

It wasn't a rock. It was a rock wallaby.

It wasn't a rock. Oh wait. Yes it was. Stunning huge rocks.

Lil t was absolutely in love with climbing the rocks.

I was in love with photographing them.

The way to the old pier.

For real. Taken on ipod.

Wandering up the mountain.

This was a gunner lookout during the war. Fortunately it never saw action. We walked quite a few km's through the state forest to get there. Fantastic engineering.

Hanging with Grandpa. Top of the world.

The communication tower. The tired kid.

Colour Riot. Every morning and afternoon these fellas would be fed at the hotel we stayed at. It was nuts. The noise was extreme. The two guys beak to beak are having a fight.

Magnetic Island. Here we come!

Hola!

 This time tomorrow we will be landing in sunny Townsville, in far north Queensland. Then we will be jumping the ferry to Magnetic Island. Magnetic Island is a tiny place off the North East coast of Australia, with pristine beaches and forests. We will have some awesome posts loaded with information about this special little Island over the next week. A bit of history, a bit of ecology, and a bit of holiday bragging.

Melbourne, while actually having it's warmest winter in 4 years, has been freezing at night time, cold winds, and had a nasty all pervasive chill in the air and has also been chucking down rain like it used to do before the 10 year drought. As a result we have had very little outdoor time which of course results in lowered vit D levels and lowered 'fun outdoors adventuring and gardening' levels.

So we intend to get as much sun as possible and to warm our bones by the side of the pool and on forest walks in the tropics of this beautiful country.

I am heading up to meet with my Dad. Big John (Grandpa). He instilled my brother and I with a true sense of wonder and love for the Australian countryside, cityside, coasts and inland areas. In my life I have never traveled outside of Aus/NZ. But I have traveled extensively across, around and up Australia. There is still so much to explore! After Townsville, we will have to crack Cairns, Darwin and Central Australia. I am attempting to also allow lil't to experience the amazing treats this country has to offer. Last Christmas/New Year we drove up to Qld from Melbourne over 3 days to visit Vonnie and Jez and Niamh. It was such a fantastic road trip and a wonderful liberating adventure.

So stay tuned. Facts and Photos are on their way!

http://www.islandstay.com.au/resorts-on-magnetic-island.php the page I found this photo, as I can't find photocredit.