These Friends Of Mine.

Well, this week has seen us struck down with an 'aul dose' as we say, four of us are at various stages of a stinker of a cold, and my ears pricked this morning as The Smallest headed out to school with a suspicious sniffling. It seems he will be the next to fall.
But next week is mid-term, thankfully, so I anticipate lots of lazy pyjama days, slow breakfasts, and maybe a walk or two, once we are all well. Though there has been a flurry of snow, and more to come, they say, so we shall see.

babaá - no.7 - Flame

Regular readers here know I love the seasons, I love weather of all kinds, and although, unusually for me, I am finding this winter particularly long, let me just ignore that and talk about something I love about winter, which is Winter Woolies! One of my great loves in life; all things knitted. It's the first thing I look for when browsing in shops.
With four children, we have gone through a lot of clothes, throughout their growing years especially, and I have found that it is often the hand knitted goodness that I fold away affectionately, into the box of Keepsakes, like tender memories I am afraid will disappear. And there they wait for the next child who will wear it, who will add their memories to it, as though knitted into the very fabric of it.
How many of you are lucky enough to have had items from your childhood to put on your own children, when the time came?
I love this weave of threads through our lives, the continuity, if we allow it.

babaá - shop

And so, this brings me to Something Lovely. Something new and lovely, and I hope, regular, here on Milkmoon. As I said in my last post, I am bringing back an old Milkmoon model of regular, themed posts, that somehow fell by the wayside over the last couple of years, but with a new spin on it.
To start, I have a lot of very talented family members, and friends, and I just can't help myself, I want to share their goodness and creativity with you. So, introducing a new tag, to sit side by side with my Something Lovely tag: These Friends Of Mine.

babaá - shop

Given the wintery weather we are having, I would like to begin with someone who, while is not officially my sister, is like a sister to me, whom I first met when she was the same age my daughter is now. She was 14, and I was 22, and unusually, in spite of the age difference, we became instant friends. And have remained so to this day.

Ciara and Marta
Dublin - 1993

Marta is now living back in her native Madrid, and has recently launched her children's knitwear label; babaá, and yes, you can immediately see one reason why we get on so well! These are definitely Keepsakes. Timeless, but quirky, with just the perfect balance of functionality. (Is there anything more wonderful than someone you love creating something, and it turns out that you genuinely love it?) You can read here what babaá is all about, and you will see exactly why this gorgeous knitwear is destined to become family heirlooms. And while you are there, take a peek in her shop, (there is a sale on) especially if you have any small people in your life who are growing up before your eyes, and you long to hold onto a little longer, and items like these are perfect memory making additions to your Keepsake Box.
And all these babaá photographs are by the exceptionally talented Clíona O'Flaherty, my lovely sister-in-law, who will also be featured here over the next while.

babaá - jumper no.4 - Coral

I am making my order for one for my Smallest, as we speak, because almost all his keepsakes already have a history to them, and I want to have one that begins with him.

The Lonely Beast.

First of all, thank you all so much for your sweet, thoughtful words after my last sad post. My Only Girl is feeling a good bit better now and reading everyones lovely comments and in particular those that shared similar, sympathetic stories helped her a lot.
So today  I thought I would share some happier news with you all. My brother Chris, who I have featured here regularly, has recently shared the exciting and wonderful news that his gorgeous children's book is to be published!

You can read about how this came about over on his blog here: Chris Judge Illustration. And while it won't be out until early next year, you can pre-order it on Amazon here, and WH Smith here.

We are so proud of you, Chris!

Can't wait!

First Day At The Beach.

This morning as we made our way to the car,

stepped into the sunny garden,

the sound of the sea rushing and booming on the beach,

the smell of salt and negative ions swirling around us,

assaulting us, tempting us.

And as I drove out I had such an urge to turn left instead of right,

to head for the beach,

ignore the classroom.

So after school we did just that.

Our first day 'at the beach' this year. 

And though there was a brisk and biting wind,

and no one got in to swim,

We had a picnic and friends and sun. 

Summer has begun.

Glimmer Lantern Glimmer.

There is something about this time of year, the dying year, the fading, that compels us to hold onto, to celebrate, light.

Last week in school the children celebrated the Hindu festival of light, Diwali. ( Another year they celebrated the Swedish festival of St. Lucia in December). The whole school spent the week doing lots of lovely little projects on the subject and then on Friday there was a gathering in the hall where they got to try Indian food and they all received red bindi paste on their forehead. My Only Girl, and some of her friends brought in saris and were shown how to wear them.

And then, on Tuesday we celebrated the festival of St. Martin or Martinmas with some friends.

St. Martin is the patron saint of beggars, drunkards and outcasts! The tale told is that he gave half his cloak to a beggar and then had a dream where he saw Christ wearing his cloak. And so he devoted himself to all mankind no matter what their station in life.

The 11th of November has become a festival of light particularly in France, though I first came across it through the Steiner/Waldorf tradition.

These flash photos do no justice to our lantern-lit walk in the woods! The children each had a candle-lit lantern and we crept through the dark, dark woods, making our way tentatively, stealthily, through the overhang, over tree-roots, avoiding a tumble into the merrily splashing river that ran alongside us!

A delicious shared dinner with friends followed. Warmth and light. Warmth and light.

Warmth and light. 

A blessing of warmth and light for the coming months on you all!

Something Lovely.

I just couldn't wait until Wednesday or Thursday to share this with you. My latest discovery is this wonderful website called Reprodepo.com. They specialise in fabrics including Marimekko. I just love this one which dates from 1950. My kitchen needs it..!



They have a gorgeous range of Japanese imports, like this children's range which I agonised over and will just have to buy some of. The question is which ones!





There's Amy Butler patterns, and these sweet aprons, and wonderful books.

I could go on... sigh...

It's an extensive and beautiful range and is gone straight onto my favourites list.

Something Lovely.

Well, although the sun peeked out briefly this afternoon, the rain has returned with determination. I love the rain. I love perfect clear-blue days of sunshine too. But I love the fact that the weather in Ireland can jump seasons overnight. I appreciate both. And it often feels as though we have more summers and more autumns because of this. I've learned to not complain about the weather. I've learned to love it. Just so long as there is variety!

So, the rain nudging it's way into our summer days has brought on itchy fingers that I usually associate with autumn. I find the summer months are slow in terms of making, simply because we are out and about so much. So the autumn brings a burst of creativity. But the last couple of days have found us all picking up some little bits and pieces that were laid aside for cooler weather. Middle Son was inspired by these baby stitches that The Eldest did when he was not much older. So we have embarked on a little project together which I hope to show you soon.



So, as I sit listening to the rain pour down, even though it's warm enough to need the window open, I do find myself drawn to cosy things. And I wanted to share these wonderful cushions I found today over at Nonchalant Mom.




Aren't they great? I can just picture where they would sit perfectly in our house.

Do take a look at their website for more beautiful things, as well as parenting tips.

All The Fun Of The Fair

Today, in Bray, at the fair.






It's finally starting to feel a bit like summer...

Creepy Clown.

What is it that makes clown toys just that little bit creepy? I don't mind real clowns, but clown toys always seem a little bit sinister.

This little roly-poly clown has a little bit of history. About nine years ago, at a tea break during a singing workshop, my new friend Natalie came up to me and handed me this clown, with a lovely smile. 'This was Jay's when he was a baby, and I thought he might like it back', she said. I was gobsmacked. It turned out that she knew Jay's Mum back in the day. When Natalie's last daughter Aimee was born, Jay's Mum gave her some toys, and this was one of them.



It's been up on the shelf since then. None of them were that interested in it. Too creepy.

Until today.

He shouted at it. And bashed it around. And it just kept coming back up.

He loved it...

My Favourite Nordic Kids.

Some delicious gear arrived promptly in the post on Friday, from our absolute favourite online shop Nordic Kids.



I would happily buy one of everything they have, which is a lot. I'm very sad that they only go up to six years and The Little One is in the biggest size now. Oh well...