Introducing our Nunzio

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Cassie

Our Nunzio, Cassie

The past few days have been full of puppy: fetching, feeding, herding, stressing about and playing with our new puppy. It’s been a busy time – and both T and I have had very fractured sleep. Despite this, finally bringing MissMolly’s Nunzio home was a delight. It’s the culmination of months of debate, weeks of dithering, and days of shopping for puppy-related gear and ‘baby proofing’ the pool fence, house and garden.

We headed out to the airport on Thursday evening to pick her up. She’d spent all day in  a crate, having left the breeder in Quamby Brook (Tasmania) for Launceston mid-morning for a flight to Perth, via Melbourne – where there was an hour and half stop over. A long day of being cooped up for a not-quite nine-week-old puppy. Fortunately one of her siblings (Holly) was flying over to Perth as well, so she had company in the crate – but they were both very happy to be freed.

Holly and Cassie arrive in Perth

Adding a puppy to a family unit – especially when there’s already another dog – is in some ways more stressful than adding a second child. You can’t simply pop a puppy in a pram/cot  and put out of harms way in the nursery. Puppies can get around on their own by the time they come home with you. So, unless you stash your new addition in a crate (or other secure area) for part of the time, keeping an eye on ‘sibling interaction’ is a lot trickier and more time consuming than it is with children.

I remember the day I brought Boychilde home. We’d spent his first week together at the maternity hospital and I had missed DaughterDearest enormously. I couldn’t wait to see her and to introduce her baby brother. But bringing home a new baby turned  out to be less exciting for her than bringing home a new puppy might have been. DD just waved hello from the kitchen and told me she was making jelly with Gran. For his part, the baby also showed no interest and stayed fast asleep in his carrycot.

Introductions

MissMolly, however, was all over the puppy. She was super excited that we’d come home, very curious about the new addition and keen to share my lap with her. She was also perfectly happy to get fed a second dinner when we fed the very hungry and slightly dehydrated pup. From day one, Molly’s actually been remarkably tolerant of having her tail chewed, her mouth licked and our attention shared. To our surprise (and amusement) she’s taken to bringing Cassie toys to entice her to play – and was even prepared to share her bone.

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That’s the upside. The downside is that puppies don’t wear nappies – and they do wake up and need to go outside for ablutions at oh-my-goodness-o’clock (several times). After a few nights of this, T and I are both operating on spoon deficit and could do with a solid snooze to catch up on our sleep debt.

My solution this afternoon was to trot out my time honoured technique of child sleep management: curl up on the bed with both ‘kids’ for a cuddle – and see if this lulls us all into nodding off.

Success! (only for an hour or so, but such a good hour!)

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Country living

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My ears woke up before the rest of me yesterday, filled with the sounds of rain splatting on the tin roof. Big juicy drops bouncing and rolling, rushing down into the overflowing gutters, gushing out to form gullies in the dry sand. It was still to dark to see, but I heard it all. It was the best sound in the world to wake up to at the end of a hot, dry summer.

Cocooned inside my sleeping bag I wriggled back down, smiling in the silvery predawn. I’m spending the Easter break at Gallifrey, house-cat-fowl-and-plant sitting for Daughter Dearest. Although I knew I might have to trudge down to feed the chickens and guinea fowl in the drizzle later on, it’d only be a minor inconvenience. I couldn’t help feeling a bit like it was my birthday – with the rain an unexpected and glorious gift. The plants were being watered without any help from me and, even more importantly, at least some of the water I’ve used while I’ve been resident has been replaced.

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Over the past few years I’ve come to realise how easy it is to take water for granted in our first-world city life. The simplest daily actions, such as washing one’s hands or rinsing a cup or flushing the toilet, are all done on the assumption that there’s a plentiful supply of water. But not just any water. We naively assume that it will be clean and bug free, i.e. potable water,  and that it will be piped into our homes without fail. And it’s these assumptions that lead us to be blasé about our water use and to waste litres upon litres of this diminishing and most precious resource.

T and I try to be water-smart at home, using low flow shower heads, limiting the sprinkler time, keeping showers brief and checking for leaky taps regularly. So I was surprised to find Australians at the top of the list of per capita water consumers in the world, with a quarter of our daily water use (26%) literally  going down the toilet.

Although modern water efficient toilets are required to use no more than 5.5 litres of water per flush, a standard flush toilet uses 12 litres (!) – every time it’s flushed. With an average of four flushes per person per day, that’s about 10,000 litres of water each of us is flushing away every year. That’s a whole lot of water, particularly (but not exclusively) if you rely on rainwater for all your water needs.

Knowing this is not the same as living it. I’ve found that as a (temporary) resident at Gallifrey I’ve become hyper-conscious about water use. I’m suddenly personally aware of the fact that there’s no scheme water on the property, that the house and garden are dependant on the water in the tanks and, when that runs low and rain doesn’t come, the remaining option is to purchase water and have it trucked in to fill them. An expensive undertaking.

Every time I turn a tap on, I think about the water tank levels. Every time I use the composting toilet, I’m conscious of the water that’s being saved. For a two-person household, this system is saving about 20,000 litres a year. That’s water that can then be used in the house and for the animals and orchard instead. A real, practical step to water management.

As water becomes scarcer, this system is becoming more mainstream. Instead of being seen as another ‘hippy-eco fringe’ idea, it’s gaining traction with the broader public. According to a recent ABC report, more people are looking at it as an option for new homes – and I know I certainly would.

Listening to the rain as I fell asleep last night, surrounded by the smells of rain and soaked earth, I was content.

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Stories by Candlelight

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Last week I was privileged to attend an event entitled Recovery Stories by Candlelight, as part of the WAAMH Conference, held in Kings Park over two days.

The story event was the culmination of many weeks of preparation, during which 20 individuals took part in a series of professional storytelling workshops. Nine people were selected at the end to be part of the live performance evening, telling their stories of the lived experience of recovery from mental illness.

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The evening started with (delicious!) gourmet paella, made in ginormous pans, followed by a selection of decadent desserts. The Spirit of the Steets Choir then took the stage and performed four songs.  A few of the choir members shared their own stories of recovery through music, each of which was touching and heartfelt.

Then we got the featured stories – nine brave and amazing people who shared their hurt, struggle and determination to live life as fully as possible. The challenges that each individual had faced – that many still face – and the way they were articulated, left me speechless. These included coping with PTSD, postnatal psychosis, chronic anxiety, depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, self-harm, schizoaffective disorders and eating disorders. The evening was an emotional roller coaster, many of the stories moving me to tears.

Stories unify us, providing us with insights – not only into the lives and experiences of others, but into our own complicated (and often unaddressed) issues. It’s often the spoken word, the heard and remembered stories that have the greatest impact.

Things I thought, en route home afterwards:

  • Humans are fragile
  • Wounded storytellers sharing their journey of healing wield power to shape the world around them
  • People need to be kind to themselves. Life can be a struggle and your inner you might make the difference to your survival.
  • We need to accept that whilst aspiring to more in life is fine, stepping back and being grateful for what is has value too
  • Take stock and be grateful – that you (I) have enough, whether it’s enough to eat, enough love, enough energy or enough strength

Thank you, WAAMH, for hosting this powerful event. Thank you, brave and beautiful Karen, for inviting me to share it with you.

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Piñata planning

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Over the years I’ve made a total of four of piñatas, all for special events of one sort or another. They were darned hard work, particularly the bigger and/or more complex ones, and involved a LOT of sticky mess and patience.

niks pinatas

The very first one was planned it as a surprise for a 21st birthday party. A rather ambitious project, that dragon was the biggest piñata I’ve made. It required a wire armature to create the basic shape, over which I carefully added many (many!) layers of paper and glue – allowing each layer to dry before adding the next so that it would keep its shape. I had to make the wings and feet separately and attach those – with more paper and glue – before leaving the completed shape to dry and harden. It was a fairly cold and damp time of year, so we had to have the gas heater on to help with the drying process.

I finally got around to painting it and applying the tissue paper scales the night before the 21st birthday party. I then had to wait for that lot to dry before filling the belly with lollies and taping it closed – and finally completed it all about about an hour before the event was due to start. The birthday boy was very happy – and very surprised – and he and his mates set to work on Mr Dragon with a hockey stick… Destruction was swift and decisive. Poor thing.

A few years later, I came up with the idea of creating a themed piñata for GenghisCon – and so Cthulu-piñata was born, with many tricky-to-make dangling tentacles. He bit the dust just as quickly as Mr Dragon. This was followed a year later by a dragon head – also a Genghis-piñata – and my final effort to date, a large fish to commemorate my eldest brother’s 60th birthday. After each one was completed – and then demolished in record time – I promised myself (and Himself, who helped out with all of them) that I wouldn’t make another, no matter what…

However, as is the way of these things – and once a goodly amount of time had passed, plans for an all-new piñata have tended to hatch. At present all I need is to decide on the shape. Perhaps something garden themed? I’m thinking a chicken-of-destruction might be fun to make. With that in mind, I’ve resurrected the notes I put together when making Mr Dragon and they’re actually pretty sensible. I hope you find them useful too.

dragon pinata collage

How to Piñata: You’ll need a couple of balloons, vaseline, papier maché glue  (made  with 1 cup all purpose flour to 5 cups cold water), lots of newspaper, some butchers paper, acrylic paints, paintbrush, crepe paper, lollies/treats & confetti (to fill the piñata).

Preparation: To make the papier-mâché glue, mix the flour and cold water in a bowl until it’s runny. For best results, simmer it for 5 minutes – this is rather like making a white sauce. Allow the glue to cool. While you wait, tear the newspaper into lots of strips, about 2.5cm wide and as long as you like. (Note: don’t cut the strips; tearing ends up with a better, smoother finish to your final piece.) Put down lots of paper or plastic to work on – this is messy! You might want to wear gloves for the next part – same reason.

Assembly: It’s a good idea to know what sort of shape you’re trying for, as this will dictate the sizes of the balloons you use, and how many. Assuming you’ve chosen a shape that requires more than one balloon, inflate a large one for the body and a smaller one for the head. Tie them together and, using a bit of making tape, secure the head to the body. Balance the balloons on an empty ice-cream container while you’re working as this makes things easier. To create a beak/tail/wings – or whatever – cut out cardboard to make the shapes and stick them to the balloons with tape. Drag a strip of newspaper through the papier-mâché paste, making sure it’s well covered, but not soggy; wipe off any excess with your fingers, and place the strip at an angle on the balloon. Place the second strip so that it overlaps the first one slightly. Continue until the balloons have been covered with one layer of paper strips. Allow this layer to dry completely – preferably overnight. Then repeat, applying layers of papier-mache (and letting them dry) until you think your piñata is strong enough. Knock on it with your knuckles – if it’s firm and sounds hollow it should be fine. This generally takes 3-6 layers. Important: make a couple of small holes in the papier-mache so the piñata can be hung up when it’s complete. Make sure the papier-mache is extra thick around the string holes for reinforcement. Note: it’s a good idea to make at least the last layer  of strips from butcher’s paper so that the newsprint doesn’t bleed through your paint.

Before painting: set your piñata aside to dry for a couple of days. When it’s dry, pencil in some rough shapes as a painting guide – then get stuck in and make it pretty.

Painting & completing: use whatever you like, but a pro-tip is that spray paint is a lot quicker to apply than poster paint, makes the structure a little tougher and provides a nice glossy finish. When the paint’s dry, cut a 6cm flap in the top using a craft knife. This will burst the balloon and leave a cavity for you to fill with lollies, etc. Remember to tape the flap closed, then do the final decoration with tissue/crepe paper, draw eyes on, etc.

It’s not hard to make one of these. It’s just time consuming and fiddly… and very, very messy: perfect for your inner-child 🙂

Smartest card ever

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libraryI was chatting to our local branch librarian at our monthly knitting group the other day. Colleen reminds me very strongly of librarians of my childhood. They actively encouraged my reading exploits, turning a blind eye when I took out extra books on my Mum’s library card and never questioning the speed with which I returned books and claimed new ones.

In many ways the library was my second home when I was growing up, a source of endless entertainment. It never occurred to me that there might have been a time when libraries didn’t exist or – oh horror! – when people might think that they’re no  longer of value.

Librarians fight an uphill battle to ensure that libraries continue to be perceived as relevant. It’s no longer just about books. In order to keep up with the times, libraries need to lobby for extra funds and show statistics as to why they need to update their infrastructure. They introduce on-site coffee shops, provide play areas for littlies, computer terminals, Ebooks, video, internet access, talks and activities, as well as training courses. It’s all about providing what the customers need – or they simply won’t come through the doors.

Colleen isn’t at our library much at present as she’s been temporarily reassigned to one of the other branch libraries to get it up to speed. She’s started that process by clearing out a lot of unnecessary clutter, opening the space up and making it more attractive to users. This included getting rid of a truly dire decorative installation that had been in place for years, rehoming the old vhs recordings that nobody borrows anymore (old technology!) and updating the window displays to be interesting and inviting. The staff’s been given a bit of a shake up by all the changes, but seem to be coping pretty well.

I find the my loyalties are now well and truly split as to which library to use… particularly since Colleen has decided to introduce a once-a-moth daytime knitting session at library #2, starting on the first Thursday in April…

Luckily, the smartest card in my wallet works at both libraries – and going to both knitting groups just might result in my current project being completed by the end of winter 🙂