Ah chummies, I am SO over the sensible shoes... and therein lies a textilosophy tale. When you have been diagnosed with a big osteoporosis reading, the doctor likes to put the fear of God into you about taking a fall, and gives you all sorts of literature about avoiding rugs,and tripping over coffee tables and cats or little dogs in the dark passageway ...and , the big one,wearing sensible shoes. Especially to work. Having silly back problems, I've been doomed to this sort of footwear for years anyway.Glamorous -not. So on Friday, I rebelled. I decided to wear some pretty shoes to work for a change- flats, to keep on the safe side,but pretty, glamorous, made a girl feel good. It was a good day. Cooking with the students, using brown rice, onion, and spring onions as ingredients. It even inspired a little textile piece! Doesn't that spring onion look good on that textile piece...

...but not on the floor. Ah yes, gentle reader, there laying in wait on the tile in the wet area of the classroom was an escaped fresh spring onion scrap...causing this teacher to skid on it with those pretty shoes, fly up in the air, and luckily, not land in a crash on her back, but rather a bizzare contortion of movements with a balletic rearrangement of the splayed left leg...

and in sheer shock, (and tai-chi fitness,)bounce right up again, thank God. Ha ha Spring Onion - no walking frame yet! Foiled!We even managed to laugh ourselves silly, all of us, after I had established that, no really, I was fine!!So, I am now working on this little textile piece, making it more...um..onionish... And the philosophy? Pride goes before a fall.... What do you do when you have to wear yuck footwear? Head north to the top of your head. Make yourself feel good with a brand new haircut.
...and hope nothing falls on your head.

The subject for Theme Thursday this week is "Castle'. http://www.themethursday.blogspot.com/ The theme for Illustration Friday for the week is 'Skinny'. So I've combined them. Please forgive my lack of textile offerings or paintings lately. I just haven't had the time. So keeping in mind the lack of art or fabric, please enjoy the Skinny and/or Castle offerings. The castle below is Carcassone in Southern France.(with skinny turrets) that husband and I visited in 1982.

It is located on a strategic site overlooking the main road between the city of Toulouse and the Mediterranean Sea.
The old city of Carcassone was built by the Romans, occupied by Visigoths and conquered by northern French forces.

These two intrepid Aussie backpackers conquered the climb up to Carcassone with newly-purchased packs on their backs, as part of their round the world adventures for that year. Just about everything is hefty in this photo except me and the fence railing. Those days I was skinny.Had buffed up a bit after carrying that pack around for a year, believe me. As we young twenty-somethings set off from Sydney for the big wide world, my husband's aunt telephoned husband's Mum in Adelaide and said I looked like I was about to topple backwards.
My how times change.

I think Carassone remains the same. Maybe a few more stones are crumbling. I know the feeling. Actually the Vitamin D and Calcium combined are doing the world of good, but am way past putting on one of those packs again. How did I do that!...but boy did we have fun!

Our daughter slept here last night, a rare occasion in her busy life. Although she is now approaching 26 years old, I still feel the absolute sense of delight that this little dog experiences, to see that sleeping form in the morning. More important than any material things.Money cannot buy that feeling ,A beautiful painting , 'Time to Wake Up' by the English artist Charles Burton Barber (1845-1894).

If I had a tail, I would have wagged it like crazy this morning making the breakfast tray...and having served my time as a parent of an adolescent girl, I no longer have to "bark" orders to get up, get moving. To see her here makes me chase my tail with happiness. It's been fun, and a little oasis from the family stuff where Dad is very frail in so very many ways. Their move is complete. More later. Such beautiful comments you left recently. Thank you so much.