Today dawned bright but mild. I got up at 9:30 am to get ready to go to the Save The Faeries festival at City Farm.
We got there around 10:30 am and met our friends inside the gate. First up was face painting for the two boys. B wanted a kitten painted on his face but was persuaded by his macho dad to have a lion painted instead. It looked good though. D has a fascination with spiders, he’s just learning to talk and that was one of the first words he said so he had a small spider painted on his cheek.
The Faerie who was doing the face painting was a fellow student at the belly dancing class I go to and I got her to paint a flower on my cheek. I think our friends were embarrassed about me getting my face painted with a flower but I just thought of it as honouring my inner child, at least Yasu thought it was cool.
Yasu and I had a look around at the market stalls and I picked up this beautiful sterling silver ring with an amethyst stone, and I put it on and it was a perfect fit! I was so amazed, it’s really pretty and winds around the finger. Yasu asked me if I wanted it for my anniversary present (7th april) and so I agreed. He bought it for me and I put it on straight away. (Will post a pic of it later).
Then we bought some organic lollies that are gluten and sugar free but taste so yum! They are butterscotch flavour and the lady who makes them does the whole operation herself which is impressive.
We went inside and saw AKWAABA doing their drumming thing, but our friends went back outside as one of their boys doesn’t like noise. We stayed in there for a while and then went out and had a drink. I bought Yasu a gypsy chai which has fennel in it, a verry licorice like flavour, very interesting and he liked it. I had an ice drink called a ‘bangelore bliss’ which had soy milk, and cardamom amonst other things. At first it was nice, but the cardamom built up and it was too strong so Yasu drank the rest of it. Nice to try though.
After that we watched Junkadelic, a local band that use instruments made out of recycle receptacles. Then Faerie Cara came on and told Faerie stories and Yasu and I did the chicken dance together which was fun. The kids were playing hula hoops up the back while other little girls and boys sat down up the front and listened to the story.
At 2pm a few ladies got up and performed belly dancing which was really cool and gave me an insight as to what I can do when I get really good at belly dancing. The costumes are absolutely fabulous. I think Yasu was impressed with it too, he said he enjoyed it. By that time our friends had gone home as their two young boys needed an afternoon sleep. We stayed on until about half 2, then we left as well. On the way home we started feeling sleepy and when we got home we laid down for a bit of a nanna nap.
I woke up at 7pm and came out to find Yasu on the phone to his mum. Another family tragedy – his Grandma (89 years old) had fallen over in her house and hurt herself, and has to be moved into a group home. Grandma has Parkinson’s disease and now she is so weak she doesn’t even have the energy to open her eyes. I sat down and balled after that news. Me and grandma have a special relationship that was forged the first time I ever went to Japan. I can’t bear the thought of losing her though I know the time is near.
Yasu’s dad is still not working, he’s undergoing rehab on his thumb which has been reattached. His sister still can’t find a job, she will at least, get unemployment benefits for 3 months while she looks. Ahhh life. Yasu commented that 2009 is not a good year for us so far. I’m generally a positive person but if I hear any more bad news from Japan I’m going to agree!
Apart from that we had a good day together, and I really enjoyed our weekend. I think we re-connected a bit more. Of course we’re really close but when your husband works 80-90 hours per week it’s hard to sit down together and spend some close time. Now that Yasu has no work, we may be poor but at least we’ve got time for each other. I don’t mind so much as money has never made my world go ’round.
I’m hoping to see my mum this week, and get busy sewing. I have lots of ideas for skirts whizzing around in my head after today!
