Nail Soup

Eric Maddern illustrated by Paul Hess

Frances Lincoln Children's Books 2007

This is a traditional fairy tale - I knew it as 'Axe soup'. A traveller (wearing a beautiful vest ) stops at a house in a forest and softens the heart of the grumpy lady of the house by showing her how to make a soup from a nail. Of course the soup would be even better with: oats, some herbs, perhaps some milk, a little potato, barley and some salted beef. All these additions are prefaced with the traveller saying:

"But...what one has to do without

It's no use thinking more about"

Gradually the soup becomes the soup fit for a queen and king. The lady is tricked into offering much more hospitality than she wanted to at first, or is she. The drawings are magical, perspectives from strange angles and glorious colours. The timeframe is tricky: when the story starts it is autumn, then we see snow and by the time the traveller is ready to leave after one night it is spring.

Joy loves this book, so do I, as I am not immune from magic. 

sewing machine is fixed

The tunic has been cut out since April... my story is that the sewing machine has been broken...I used some lolly fabric for the bodice lining. Fancy lining is making me so very happy even though you hardly ever see it.

The little strip quilt is for a baby of a friend, also 6 weeks or so late-ish. she requested a red theme.

Show

We saw some prize winning cattle, very healthy rounded sheep and cows. Ahh cows... Serious judging commentary quite funny if one is not a  farmer. There was craft, and scones at the CWA cafe and compliments on grandma's latest knitting from ladies in the know.

Shame about all that plastic bags full of plastic  junk - not for us.

...your dressing gown is not for wiping squashed banana out of your eye...

...well, it's not is it....

The Potato People

Pamela Allen. 2002 Puffin books (Australia)

We have been planting  vegetables, watering and watching them (a lot of watching, three days into it there is little above ground progress...) Today we put away some potatoes to grow sprouts and remembered this much loved book. We made some potato people of our own.

The potato is a tuber close to my heart, well the stomach is close to the heart isn't it? We've been celebrating the year of the potato with potatoes fried, and gnocchi.

Tugun

sunshine, soft squeaky sand, warm waves, smooth pebbles in colours of tweed, recliner lounges with water views, pensioners resting on balconies watching the world and sunning themselves, surfers bobbing along the shoreline, rock pool crabs pretending to be stones, night views of city lights, walking tracks through dappled light