There's a connection I feel with Brooke Fraser. It stems back to being an eleven year old, at what we call intermediate school. A horrid boy, who thankfully I don't remember the name of, said to me "are you related to Bernie Fraser?" who was an All Black(Representative NZ Rugby player) of the time. My innocent and dumbfounded reply was "No". His answer "well your thighs look like his". It has stuck with me and I have gone through periods of loathing my ample thighs. They have come in handy for climbing steep hills so I'm at peace with them now. Brooke is a gorgeous, talented and intelligent Kiwi girl and I'm sure she would be proud to have her dad's thighs, although I think she would be tall enough to carry them off regardless of anyones comments.

Miss R and Miss M and I were trawling Youtube this evening. They and I love this and "Betty" by Brooke. They also love Lady Gaga (although Miss R said she never wanted to watch the video of bad romance again as it was scary) who is the complete antithesis of Brooke, but both hugely talented. The chorus of something in the water reminds me of the Finn Brothers (Split Enz, Crowded House). Enjoy

xx

Miss M is in her third year at school and came home with the sad news that her book bag needed to be replaced. It started to fall apart after the first 6 months, so after a few patch ups 3 years isn't bad.  She was quite keen on a full plastic number like one of her classmates has, because "you can see right through it". Mum had a different idea.

It got off to a bit of a bumpy start. When I flicked the switch in my workroom to turn the sewing machine on, the switch made an ominous buzz and ants appeared from it. Turned it off quickly and relocated the sewing machine and myself to the dining room. I'll deal with the ants tomorrow. Here is what I spent the afternoon creating, in between blowing bubbles with Miss R and checking on the whereabouts of a certain escape artist canine. It's made of upholstery fabrics from a sample book that has been deleted, so should stand up well to being thrown in a school bag and everything else my poppet can do to it. It can be washed, and above all it will protect the books which is its main point of being. Above all, it's PINK; very important to both my girls.

But the back is green. You have to make do when you're dealing with sample books. Best of all Miss M loves it and hasn't mentioned the plastic one since seeing it on her arrival home this afternoon. That is better than a "thank you" but I did get an unsolicited one of those too, a hug and a "you're the best mum in the world". I'm not, but I'll keep working on it.

From the GGG granddaughter of Margaret from Mullingar, Beannachtai na feile Padraig! Have a Guinness for me, I much prefer a glass of Gewurztraminer.

xx