Bites

I haven't felt able to commit to a blog post about any one thing but I thought I would record some of the stuff happening round here.

1. I made jam for the first time ever, and it has turned out well. The lady across the road gave us a big bag each of peaches and yellow plums, under the mistaken impression that a household with 2 young children in it would have no trouble knocking off a grand supply of stone fruit. Ha! Welcome to Chez Fixit where fruit is viewed with suspicion by the younger generation. However, I did my best. I offered it to the household at large and told them how delicious it was whilst eating as much as I could... but, in the end, I had to do something quickly before the absolutely fantastic produce rotted. Cue some research for lazy ways to make jam.

The jam-making was very simple, I didn't even de-stone the fruit or peel it first. I just tossed it all in with sugar and some lemon juice and pips (I've been told not to use the pips next time as allegedly they give jam an almond flavour) and when it all broke down I just skimmed the stones and the skins out as I stirred. Then I cooked it till it set. The ease of the operation made me question why it has taken me so long to have a crack at jam-making, particularly given that my mother is an accomplished jam maker. I think maybe a dominant memory of her quince-jelly-making-procedure, involving inverted kitchen chairs and a big muslin strainer, had my sub-conscious bamboozled into assuming jam making was complicated. My four jars of peach and plum jam were outrageously simple to concoct and the result was good enough that I felt able to give one jar to my fruity benefactor over the road.

2. Our school had a dress-up day to raise funds for the bushfire appeal. They raised over $3,200. Here's my two in costumes. The suggested theme was uniforms (sporting, professional etc) but as soon as dressing up was mentioned Cherub set his heart on his Transformer costume and therefore here he is, my little Optimus Pwime.. err Prime.


3. A long-time tap student and friend asked me last week if I'd been to see Billy Elliott (the stage show) yet, and when I replied flippantly but truthfully that I couldn't afford musical theatre, she got straight on the phone to a contact in the biz and procured me a free ticket. So on Friday night I had the pleasure of A Night At The Theatre. It was very good and I'm so happy I got to see it. Highlights for me were seeing the little boy wobble -oh so discreetly- from dizziness as he came down from a prolonged aerial spin on a wire, and the way the little girls danced so dreadfully when actually they were all very competent little movers. The fun they were having with their terrible ballet delighted me.

If I'm ruthlessly honest I would say that the tap choreography didn't thrill me, and the big angry tap routine was not a patch on the magnificent one done by Jamie Bell in the film. Genevieve Lemon as Mrs Wilkinson was fantastic, even if I didn't believe for a minute that she could dance. And let's face it, I'm probably looking at that stuff from a different perspective than most of the audience.

4. Cherub has really settled in now, and the glimpses I've caught of him in the school grounds have shown me a completely happy little boy who is enjoying himself. He and I are still missing each other, but we're getting used to it. He had his first Assembly this morning. He'd been slightly concerned about this because he didn't think he'd be able to sing the Australia Song due to his not knowing the words, and was relieved to hear that the Preps were not expected to join in for that bit yet.