Missing/enjoying: drying clothes

Yep. I miss drying our clothes, towels, sheets, and nappies in the sun (or in the garage, when it was raining). There's a smell, a feel... oh there's just something about sundried clothes! And I miss it. We couldn't exactly turn the spare room into a drying room and fill it with clothes drying racks... it's just not the same... and yet...

And yet, I do enjoy using the dryer. It's fast, everything that can go in it is dry the same day they are washed, the towels are fluffy, the nappies are fluffy, and if I get the things out as soon as the dryer is finished, everything is lovely and warm...

I'm looking forward to having an outside clothes line again, but I'll enjoy the dryer while we're here.

And here's a quick history lesson on the clothes line, plus 2 (or 3) reasons to ditch the dryer.

Coffee, coffee, coffee!

Coffee, coffee, coffee! Yes, we found a place that does really good great coffee! To say that it's a relief just doesn't quite cut it...

We'd basically resigned ourselves to either never going out for coffee or putting up with mediocre coffee (at best), but then I thought "hey, there's that coffee shop near uni that we walk past all the time but haven't gone to, we really should check it out".

This coffee shop can't be seen from the road. The only thing that indicate that there is a coffee shop there at all is a little sign pointing in its direction. There's no overwhelming aroma of coffee wafting on the air or anything like that. Just a little sign, on a busy road, with a bank, pizza shop and a petrol (gas) station.

So, to avoid major disappointment I did a little snooping around on the internet. Urbanspoon rated it pretty highly, in fact it rated better than our *sigh* usual coffee shop. I should have done my homework sooner... Ah well, snooping done, it was time to go.

Oh we were not disappointed!! Walking up to it, we could see that there was a hipster vibe to the place (tick!), plenty of bicycles were parked out front (ok, not necessarily related, but still a good sign), and then we opened the door... Oh! It smelled like Melbourne or Brisbane!

Jimmy was pretty pleased with the blueberry muffin (so were we: it made the coffee even fruitier).

I could go on and on, but I wont. Visit or visit their facebook page. Arrow Coffee Co. They just celebrated their first year. Coffee, coffee, coffee!

33/52

"a portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2014"

Jimmy: No longer sick, but still a snotty, drool monster with plenty of kisses for Mum.

Kisses! All of the kisses! All of the snotty, drooly kisses have been coming my way this week, because Jimmy and I have been under the weather, Jimmy more so than me. His runny nose has kept us away from playgroup and seen us walk to uni a fair few times, just for some sun and something to do. We've also read all of the books at least 3 times everyday, listened to the Wiggles so often that I know most of the words to most of the songs. We've also eaten a lot of chicken (asparagus, corn, noodle) soup and garlic. Two bulbs of garlic... Yep, I'm sure people could smell it coming from our pores. The funny thing is, that despite being sick, despite only having Jimmy for company during the day (unless we went out and found Michael, who had a bit of a virus too), I've had a lovely week. It's been slow, but it's been full of rest, lots of cuddles, lots of laughs (mostly when I went to wipe the snot from Jimmy's face and tried to get him to blow his nose), lots of learning (Jimmy is getting pretty good at this walking business), and lots of kisses! P.S. we're all well again.

Oh and I've been knuckling down and working out the return leg of our upcoming road trip to Canada. We're going with my parents who will be here in a week, then we'll go visit my Mum's brother and his family. I'm excited but I'm also a little nervous about so much car travel with Jimmy, who has a love-hate relationship with car travel.

I need to thank Michael for taking this lovely photo, and framing it so that the snotted on part of my top was out of the photo. And as Michael pointed out, the last lot of photos went up without any descriptions. That is now fixed. Michael does take lovely photos.

Lately...

Night time photography: tripod, long exposure plus a just-off-the-boob Jimmy and resting Mum.

Lately I've been feeling a little meh... Can't explain why, but I've lacked the energy to write... Which is funny because last weekend was lovely, the week that followed was full and the weekend just gone has also been really good, plus I should be getting excited about all the visitors we're expecting, starting in one week - egads!

Jimmy staying still for a long exposure that includes lights from Michael's phone.

I think some of it has been exhaustion from the heat, which is being countered by an hour of cool in the early mornings. Oh, did I mention I have a bit of a cold? And Jimmy has a cold, but he's handling it with all the cheekiness he can muster. All the more reason to get on with my knitting (ok, so I might have been a little distracted last week too).

Swimmy-Jimmy and his Swimmy-Mummy pose for Photography-Dadee.

It's just down to the change in season. Yes, it's still hot, but as I mentioned on Sunday, the north wind is blowing a reminder that it was never really gone. Fingers crossed there are still a few more pool visits to come.

All photos taken by Michael.

Edited Aug 17 to include captions.

32/52

"a portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2014"

Jimmy: after only 5 minutes in the water, he decides it's time to get out and sit on the hot concrete. Done!

The early mornings are becoming cool, and while the days are still hot there's a northerly wind starting up. It's a cruel reminder of how fleeting the summer is here. We're going to make use of the pool until it's too cold or it closes for the year, even if we're only in the water for 5 minutes each visit. Photo taken by Michael.

31/52

"a portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2014"

Jimmy: with his favourite toy, at the Parents as Teachers Riley County Playgroup.

Every time we're there and he sees it, that's it, it's his, for the next hour or so. He discovered it at the end of our first time there, and it broke his heart when we were there next and another child was playing with it, meaning Jimmy was going to have to wait until it was free. He'll sit there and roll it and roll it. It doesn't matter what the other children are doing, he'll just sit there, because he was occupying that space first. Sometimes he even pretends to vacuum the playhouse.

Every now and then, he'll be distracted by something else, but the vacuum cleaner is the clear favourite. I'm hoping he likes vacuuming with a real vacuum cleaner, because I'm not too fond of it especially as I either have to wear Jimmy, watch to see that he doesn't get near the power cord or ask Michael to do it. If Jimmy does the vacuum cleaning, that's one less things I have to do, right?