Re: Daisies

Bandit Heeler
Brisbane
Queensland 
Australia

Dear Bandit,

I enjoyed reading your letter about taking the children to the creek. It got me thinking about the many ways kids can enjoy nature.

Littles and I have recently been making daisy chains. Incidentally, did you know that the word daisy comes from "Day's eye", because it opens in the sun? I think that's pretty cool. Chloe's dad told me that one.

Anyway, to make a daisy chain, pick a daisy, and pinch a little hole in the end of the stalk. This may be easier to do with fingernails than claws, but do your best. If you accidentally nip it all the way through, you can nip the end off and start again as long as you don't run out of daisy (so it pays to pick one with a long stalk to begin with!)


Push the stalk of the next daisy all the way through, and repeat. Then when you think it's long enough, make a big hole in the last stalk, and push the first head through to make the whole thing into a loop.


Littles insisted on hanging our daisy chain on a tree, and said, "Trees need them to keep warm, because they don't have any clothes on!" I think it will take an excessive amount of both time and daisies to solve that imaginary problem, Bandit!

A lesser-known, but equally awesome daisy craft is the daisy caterpillar. Start by picking a daisy with a long, thick stalk. Then (this is the fun part) behead other daisies! Nip the stalk off as close as you can to the head, and you should see a little hole. 



Thread the stalk of the long daisy through this, and shove it right down to the bottom.


Repeat, until you have your daisy caterpillar!




I'm hopeful that it will soon turn into a diasy butterfly. I'll let you know!

Give my love to Chille and the girls,

All the best,


Alastair.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Re: Christmas

Bandit Heeler Brisbane Queensland Australia Dear Bandit, Merry Christmas! I laughed and laughed at your letter about Verandah Santa. Poor Socks! It got me wondering how high Santa's standards actually are - my guess is not very! I remember as a kid being furious that, after Christmas, a boy whom I knew had been horrible came back to school boasting of the presents he'd got from Santa. How, I wondered, did he dupe the big man into coming to him? I wrote a poem about it a couple of years ago, which I'd like to share with you. It does have some naughty words - you might not want to show it to Bluey and Bingo just yet! (Though I expect your Ozzy sensibilities would find it fairly mild!)  I then found, to my delight, that it can be sung to the tune of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen". I call it "Santa's Rant". You’re told that if you don’t behave, You won’t get any stuff, By now I’m sure you’ve realised, that Is usually a bluff, But I’ve looked through your
Read more

Re: Adventures Involving Bunny Poo

Bandit Heeler Brisbane Queensland Australia Dear Bandit, I really enjoyed reading your letter about playing Pirates in the park. Even though having kids does give us the excuse we've been longing for to make an arse of ourselves in public, it can be hard. Well done for being an awesome blue whale. I found myself at the park with Littles on the way home from nursery. She was content to play with a boy who used to go to her nursery, but is now at school, so I got to sit on a bench and relax for a bit. Unfortunately she had something of a mini-fall-out that was a little bit my fault. The boy went to the toilet, and Littles came to me complaining that she had no one to play with, and I made the mistake of suggesting that she played with another friend I had spotted nearby. She fell into a state of deep contemplation, considering carefully whether it was worth the small spark of courage that would be needed. The first friend returned, and Littles informed him bluntly, "I actually w
Read more

Re: Bodies

Bandit Heeler Brisbane Queensland  Australia Dear Bandit, I loved reading your letter about exercise. We don't get enough of it with small crazy people running around us, that's for sure! Most of my exercise consists of carrying Littles here and there on my shoulders - the "Good seat", she calls it. And, Bandit, that used to be easier! She's getting taller and I'm getting shorter. You're very right that it is important to exercise to stay healthy, but I'm not sure it's healthy to be worrying about your weight. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's an unhealthy attitude, especially when we show it in front of our kids. My advice would be to throw those scales away! They're not helping anyone. So if you're exercising because you want to be fit and healthy, good on you. But if it's because society is telling you that you're not an attractive shape, then society can just bugger off! I'm actually a bit worried about raising a daugh
Read more