Sam and Joseph painted goal posts on the fence this afternoon and our chook was intrigued by the backyard expedition! And the internet went down again at home and now it has just come back, - weird! Speaking of coming and going I am wondering if the pesky rats are back, there have been rustlings . .. I drew a line in the dirt for those naughty rats last week and it appears they have crossed it big time if they are the cause of the phone line going dead! I am now making diabolical plans which I hope will make them wave a white flag of surrender. . .

In other happier news the lovely Jodi Wiley kindly interviewed me on her Art by Wiley blog, which will be up tomorrow. The only furry creatures there are the friendly picture book variety! The photograph of me was taken by Olga Bennett, have a look at her beautiful work here.

Last night I had a lovely evening at Books Illustrated, meeting Davide Cali, chatting with other picture book enthusiasts and poring over a beautiful collection of books from the Bologna Book Fair collected by Ann James and Ann Haddon. In my excitement of taking photos of some of the images I forgot to take photos of all the covers, so I am sorry to say I have not been able to credit all the wonderful illustrators. Most of them were in different languages, which was a bit tricky for me to be able to read too! The books were amazing, the brave illustrations, layout, the thick gorgeous paper they were printed on, the ink, the textures of the covers. Heaven!

This book above was enormous and luxurious!

These little monsters were printed on transclucent paper, so as you turned the pages you could see hints of scenes to come. Clever and entertaining.

We were fortunate to share in admiring this treasure trove!

Recently there was some exciting news via a lovely friend Emma Quay. 'Rudie Nudie' her gorgeous cheeky bed time book won Book of the Year for Younger Children judged by 2012 Australian Book Industry Awards! Emma's work is full of spirited delightful linework and has an energy about the illustrations that makes you want to jump about and have fun too! View the book trailer here.

The weekend is almost over and before a new week begins I am enjoying the last bits of today. The kids pottered about and played Monopoly. Our chook spent a happy day in the garden, ignoring our dog 'Sunshine' who really was keen to have a chat! The rabbit hutch has fresh hay, the budgie has fresh water and seed, and I made soup, and cleaned the pantry. Life is good and settling back to normal after the recent chaos of moving and book deadlines. I am beginning the journey of a new book soon which is exciting. I have given myself a few days of dawdling and catching up on things before I embark on the book and other projects waiting patiently.

During my dawdle time I have been playing on Pinterest. I thought I would use it for collecting reference for images in books but in actual fact I have been having a lovely time collecting children's books I read when I was little. I have a few special collections of books and other bits and pieces at the studio- among them is this beautiful swan which reminds me of 'The Ugly Duckling' story. I hope you had time to potter on the weekend too.

I am so proud of the things my children have been making lately that I couldn't help sharing them. Joseph made this and gave it to me on Mother's Day, a dear cat who has a bed, a pillow and a green teddy of course!

The little chicken belongs to Sam, he has been inspired by 'Peggy' which he spells Peegy! That is me painting Peggy apparantly. Not sure about Peggy's bottom!