Castles made of rock (and books made of paper)

Ampersand Duck and I took our kids to play at the castle in Commonwealth Park today. She used to play there when she was a kid, back in the olden days when someone broke their arm on the sharp rocks every five minutes. It's all squelchy soft stuff on the ground now, but exciting moments of danger are still there to be had by the devil-may-care toddler.

We sat around and talked about good books, and our 'lations and blogging, and how we hadn't had a natter for a while.* It is such a pleasure to sit and have a proper chat with a friend you've been missing. We decided to leave when a group of other parents brought out a big bag of guns to distribute amongst their offspring.

Why would you? They're nasty and pointy. It's well into the future for Sage, but I would much prefer he picked up a stick and made cool shit up in his head than ponced around with a gun for kicks.


* We also talked about dogs, partners, having yum cha tomorrow and her latest obsession, making the most beautiful sketchbooks you have ever seen:




"I was listening to the Charlie's Angels soundtrack today with Bumblebee [her 8 year old son - Zoe] and remembered how much I liked the song 'Mr Tangerine Speedo', and for some reason thought about this sketchbook while I was listening. I've used all-new materials with this: fresh acid-free drawing paper and a gorgeous orange Indian khadi paper for the cover, with a grey-blue button for the tie.



Mr Tangerine Speedo features a celtic weave spine, which gives the book a bit more stability."

Isn't she clever? There are many more beautiful pictures at the links above.