Poppy Ford: YouTube Video Editor

Simon gave Poppy a cute toy from his trip to the Gold Coast – and NeeNe spent some time with Poppy this weekend too.

Since she was born, I’ve been considering the musical instrument I’d like Poppy to learn. As a woodwind player I will be able to teach her the sax, flute or bassoon etc – but I would really like her to try the bass guitar. It appeals to me as a great crossover instrument – one can learn bass and play in any genre of band and then switch to double bass orchestrally. Although it’s not really a solo instrument and you can’t play it around the campfire, I believe it will generate lots of performance opportunities.

After deciding this years ago, it was fortuitous that Yogi spotted a Daisy Rock bass guitar in the window of Cash & Trade here in Richmond. The price was right even though the instrument is a little too big for a three year old. Poppy is now the proud owner of a pink flower bass guitar! Perhaps not destined for a metal band, hmmm. Now we need to purchase a mini-amp and she can go busking!

It’s been a huge deal that our Big Wednesday lotto draw reaches a massive $35 million tonight and the prize HAS to be won!!  I will perhaps buy one or two lotto tickets a year so TODAY was the DAY.  We bought our ticket from the Richmond Night & Day – and had to wait in a queue as they’ve been lucky in the past. GOOD LUCK NZ!

I’m not big on buying commercial content for Poppy – although we did travel to Christchurch to see the Disney Princesses on Ice – and we’ve been to a Dora the Explorer party etc…. When Poppy was a baby I decorated her room with some Buzzy Bee items – but I call that Kiwi Spirit rather than commercialism!

There is one thing I did buy her recently – a Strawberry Shortcake magazine from the bookstore that included a little wooden rolling pin, a shortcake pan and a colourful plastic plate.  The marketing for this is fantastic – the first magazine issue is only $3.99 – then the second is $9.99 and all subsequent issues are $16.99.  Needless to say, I’m not encouraging Poppy to collect the whole set! Poppy has some Strawberry Shortcake computer games and has seen a couple of the movies so has a great love of all the treat-themed sweet characters.

The magazine we bought is full of stories, games & colouring-in as well as a recipe for Strawberry Cream Pie and we just had to have it. After dinner tonight we set to work with Poppy ‘reading’ the ingredient list and doing all the preparation for her special treat.  The pastry came out beautifully and was cooling while Poppy was stirring the custard cream – then it became too tempting to wait and went through a sampling process!  The finished product was all Poppy’s own work (except for the separated eggs) and she was very proud. “Delicious!” she said.