News & Updates from Helen Howell Designs · Page 9

My my 21month old grandaughters mum asked if I would take her to Artful Splodgers, I quickly accepted. Well, what a fun and messy morning it was. There were all sorts of activities for the very young, green spaghetti pond, which Alyssa was only interested in eating.

Feed the shark, a big cardboard shark face with its mouth wide open for posting paper fish through, which she enjoyed, particularly as she likes to file things away!

But what she loved the best was the trough of squidgy water balls, you know, the sort you put into a vase of flowers and they expand with the water.

She loved to put her hands in and grab hold of the rubbery balls and squish them, I have to admit I liked doing it too!

Many other activities for them to touch and play with, Im not sure who had the most fun, her or me!

Here in Oz at Christmas Time the weather is usually very warm, so the traditional Christmas Dinner can sometimes be swapped for a BBQ or a seafood feast, and over the years there seems to have developed another tradition - Christmas in July, which is our winter season.

I shared a Christmas feast this last week with my family and my little grandaughter, and delicious it was too!

We had Chicken roasted and Turkey Legs roasted along with all the trimmings. Champagne to start and a nice glass of red to go with the meal, baby had water but still managed to clink her water bottle to our glasses - so sweet.

We finished off with a mixed berry trifle. Little fun gifts were exchanged in the spirit of the day.

Fred has now been living with us for the past 9 days. Who is Fred you may ask? Fred is my Sons Birman Cat and we are looking after him in our own home will his real family is on holiday.

He is a beautiful cat to look at, and for anyone who doesnt know what a Birman looks like, they have long silky coats of white fur with accents of chocolate colour on the ears, tail and face.

When Fred arrived he spent the first day hiding under the bed in the spare room and no amount of coaxing could get him out.

Everything was far too strange for him.

By the second day he came out and had his tea and settled down on the bed - an improvement. 9 days later however, he now spends every evening on my lap and complains if I am not ready to sit down when he is.

I take him out every day on his harness for a walk around the garden, but its not his territory and so he is always eager to get back inside.

Fred will be returning to his own home this Saturday and in a way I shall miss him for our evening cuddle.

A couple of weeks ago it was my Birthday and so my family decided to take me out to a Chinese Restaurant.

My 16 month old granddaughter had never been to one before, and so we wondered how she would get on.

She was all dressed up in her pretty pink dress and She and I had our photo taken before leaving.

Well, we need not have worried about what she would eat, she had a bit of everything. Loved the prawn crackers, ate the chilli calamari without blinking, sweet and sour pork and teriyaki chicken disappeared just as fast.

She finished off her meal with some of her mums and my own fruit salad and of course Nanny had to give her a taste of her ice cream.

I think my birthday tea was a success with baby!

For the first time ever we have had 3 Dingy Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars in our miniature mandarin tree. This is really exciting, so exciting that I have left them their to nibble my citrus leaves in the hope of them turning into what is a lovely butterfly.

The Dingy Swallowtail is native I believe to Australia and this was the first year I have ever seen one flying around my backyard.

They are quite large and of course have that Swallowtail shape. They are predominantly blank with interesting white markings over the body of the wings but at the tail end of the wings are these beautiful red and blue spots.

The caterpillar is charming and large, brown with cream markings and egg shell blue spots. Im looking forward to seeing the transformation take place.