Alice is growing like a mushroom.

She has almost completely run out of clothes, and I am having to resort to making some new things for her, as it seems you can't buy warm things for babies in summer.

It's freezing here!



I did make her these for summer, but my sewing machine needed some first aid and has been in the shop for a month now...





I would love to get her these though... possibly the best kids clothes I've ever seen, and are all hand made by the amazing I Love Devon.

We've just come back from a short weekend away, with raspberry eating, rockpools and windy boating on a lake. It was great to break up the domestic and mother duties. As much as I would also love to show you photos of my gorgeous, tidy and impeccably decorated house - I'm afraid it's just chaotic and disorganised most of the time. So here are some of the family garden instead.



And some gratuitous cuteness.

I thought my friend Jackson might like this... found here .



My dream house.

Still no camera today, so instead here's a list of the inappropriate songs I have sung my baby in the last week:

Asleep - The Smiths
Bigmouth Strikes Again - The Smiths (who seem to feature quite often)
Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
Back to Black - Amy Winehouse
Mr Grieves - TV on the Radio (originally The Pixies)

??????

Almost seems I want a my child to be a chronic narcissist....

I love these drawing/sculptures by Kiki Smith - they remind me of these by New Zealand artist Francis Upritchard who will be showing at the Venice Biennale next year.

Today I am finally going to bring my dear little Oscar to our new home. He's been enjoying farm life up until now, but we have missed him dearly. He's about five times this size now but just as handsome!

I miss my old garden - it must be really hot there now. My dear friends Al and Sumeena are taking good are of it now though, and the ever gorgeous Brita has my house plants for company.

These two make me miss it less though...

Rapa Nui and Moai

I would love to visit here. I wasn't even sure where it was until recently, but I've been using images of these figures in my work for a few years now.

Please read the this tale by Richard Flanagan in The Monthly- he's my hero and I could never really do it justice anyway.

Collages

My last two collages that were at Blockprojects... it feels like a long time since the little one arrived and I made these. I really must work again.

Bubsa seems to have decided she is, in fact, a bird. I say this because as the sun starts to appear in the morning a huge chorus of birds starts singing outside our house, and the little one joins in. She chatters to herself for about an hour, which may sound cute, but at five am it's becoming a little annoying

Yesterday sixty five pilot whales stranded themselves on the the beach near us - and fifty of them have already died. Apparently it was a maternal pod, and D had to go there at first light to report on how the rescue is going. There is something about whale beachings that feels terribly ominous, as though something chaotic is happening in the cosmos

First Days on the Island

It's nearly three months since we arrived, but I only now have the time to post some photos. These were our first days at The Manor - an old, overgrown and creepy house that we arrived to. We lasted there a week, but the scenery was spectacular.