judgement

Before Baby came into my life, I was that person who silently judged other mums.

When I have a baby he won't be screaming like that in public.
When I have a baby he will be so much better behaved.
When I have a baby he will not meltdown and have tantrums.

Ah, how little I knew then. I know now we're all the same, we're all mums doing our best to raise these little people who are so dependent on us. I know I have a strong and wilful baby on my hands who is on the cusp of becoming an even stronger and more wilful toddler. I know he is intensely spirited and all that is inside him is bursting to be let out. I don't know what the coming years hold, but I do know that judgement has no place in my life.


On an ultra tangential side note, I just read that saying 'do your best' creates anxiety in kids as it is not specific enough.... really???

beautiful beethoven

I initially started this blog so I could capture the wonderful experience of living in London and travelling around Europe. Obviously that didn't happen. But one of the many reasons I love living in London is that there is so much going on all the time, all over the place - you just have to keep your eyes open. Yesterday afternoon Baby and I were treated to a free concert at the small church just down the road. I always walk past this church and one day I noticed they were hosting a performance of Beethoven's violin concerto in D major the coming Friday. Thankfully, everything was running smoothly for Baby and me that morning so after lunch I packed him up and walked down hoping they would let us in. They did, and we were treated to some truly beautiful music that afternoon. I would have been happy with an amateur performance, but it was actually a chance for the violinist (Sebastian Mueller) to run through the concerto before performing it with an orchestra in Europe somewhere (I forget where...) later this year. It was just a piano (rather roughly) taking the place of the orchestra on Friday, but being able to sit and listen to Beethoven's violin concerto played so beautifully on a Friday afternoon with my baby boy, is something that is quite unique to living in London I think.

untitled

I saw Cloud Control at XOYO the other day. It wasn't the best gig I've been to, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting to. Cloud Control are a psychedelic indie folksy type band from Sydney (ok Blue Mountains) who have recently relocated to London. I'm a bit wary of folk as it's a bit of a trendy thing to be into (and I don't want to be into what everyone else is into, never mind the fact that I am a huge Mumford & Sons fan, and indie is also an 'in' thing, which is what I am undoubtedly into right now). So I was a little reluctant to admit to myself that I didn't mind their songs (but even more reluctant to admit that Georgia Fair are rather pleasant on the ear as well, who I was also listening to at the same time).

When I found out they were doing a London gig at a small venue for only £10 I thought it would be worth giving them a go. I usually try to listen to a band's music before I go to their gig - I find I enjoy it a lot more if I'm at least vaguely familiar with the songs being played. I listened to their stuff once or twice a few months before the gig, but didn't pick them up again as there didn't seem to be anything particularly striking about their music to me. And I am ashamed to admit that I found the backing vocals slightly monotonous and borderline annoying (but I also wish to say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Heidi Lenffer's voice - in fact it's amazing, I think it's more me having a slight aversion to female vocals more than anything else!)

So I went to the gig hoping for a good time, but not expecting too much. I came away wanting to hear the songs from their set all over again - the best sort of post-gig feeling. They are a great band to see live - they have so much energy on stage and their vocals are excellent. If you don't mind a bit of 60s style (psychedelic) indie folksy Aussieness, check out Bliss Release - it's a very good debut album.

This time on a completely unrelated topic, I've really wanted a cookie (preferably home-baked) every day for a few days now - does that mean I can try a new cookie recipe soon?
(Part of my recipe hunting last night included a search for hopefully soft and chewy cookies...)

sad and other things

Just looking through the history of this blog, I can't help but feel a little disappointed at how it has turned out. It could have been so much better, captured so much more, but due to lack of time (or another way of looking at it - other priorities), mediocre writing ability, and mostly laziness it is what it is. But I've read enough blogs to know that there are some truly amazing and well-written blogs around - some people (my sister being one of them) have a gift for writing. I know that even if I had invested more time in my own blog, I probably still would have been disappointed because this would have turned out to be, at best, a poor imitation of the insightful and entertaining reading that I know is out there.

On a related and happier note, the best (but rather unproductive) way to spend an evening? Getting lost in food blogs on the internet :) The only drawback is having to go to sleep instead of being able to try out delicious new recipes.