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‘tiny happy’ was a journal of my handmade life from 2006-2025.

silver-eye

Friday 1

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K is home from school with the chicken pox. Not fun. But we have been finding some ways to distract from the itchiness. So far they've included staring out the window at the birds eating from our bird-feeder and trying to identify which birds they are from a NZ bird book. We think this little one might be a Tauhou (silver-eye.) Whatever it is, it's keen on our bird seed mixture and that makes us very pleased.

We also made a batch of crackers, using this recipe (from 3 years ago on the blog- crazy.) I crumbled a bit of sea salt onto the dough before the last rolling of one trayful, and rolled some caraway seeds into the other half of the dough. It's always good to start the weekend with a full biscuit tin, at least, that's my philosophy.

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28 responses to “silver-eye”

  1. Mary Avatar
    Mary

    Ohhh, the itch! I spent my chicken pox time in a tub full of water softened with baking soda – no itch unless I got out again ;^) But treats and pretty pictures are good too!

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  2. Denise | Chez Danisse Avatar
    Denise | Chez Danisse

    Poor thing… Bird watching is a good idea. Your crackers look good. I love caraway seeds.

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  3. tinyhappy Avatar
    tinyhappy

    hi mary, thank you for the tip. re. baking soda! we have some pinetarsol from the chemist but you can never have too many remedies when it comes to the itch. happy weekend,
    -melissa

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  4. Miss Smith Avatar
    Miss Smith

    Oh the dreaded pox…we haven’t had that yet. The chickadeepox might not be much fun but those crackers sure do look delicious.

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  5. Lil Avatar
    Lil

    Those little wax-eyes/silver-eyes/tauhou are everywhere this winter – they are loving our bird feeder too!

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  6. Stephanie Avatar
    Stephanie

    Oh, poor K. I have scars a-plenty from my own chickenpox encounter as a child. Not sure if these ideas might help but I had this thing called PUPP (insane itchiness) when I was pregnant with twins and oatmeal (? I hope I’m not just inventing ingredients here, there is something called oatmeal, right?) in a bath was meant to be good to relieve itching, too. I also used to place cool flannels (moistened and put in the freezer in a plastic bag) on my itchy tummy… although sometimes with flannels it’s just a little too tempting to rub them soothing over the itch!

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  7. Margaret Oomen Avatar
    Margaret Oomen

    So sorry about the chicken pox. I hope that they are not too severe and dry up quickly.
    When my little ones had them I let them make dot to dot pictures over their bodies with a paintbrush and calamine lotion.

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  8. gretchen mornin Avatar
    gretchen mornin

    oh good lord, I thought for a minute there that you were feeding the birds those beautiful crackers!! Vitamin C injected intravenously (if you have a homeopath who can do it) hastened the recovery ten fold. 500 000 mgms by memory.. I had it for a few days only..a few years ago

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  9. bridget Avatar
    bridget

    o sorry to hear keira has chick pox melissa, so many children at central have them also if that’s any consolation for keira!? not really…
    i love those wax eye birds, pretty as anything.

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  10. Francesca Avatar
    Francesca

    I’m so sorry. Hope everyone else in the family has already had it! I remember the year my boys got it, but nothing more, which must mean it was not a big deal and that fortunately they got it light.
    ON a different note, I’m a hand tool lover, and I adore that funky kitchen tool you have in your photo (with the red handle): what is it?

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  11. julie Avatar
    julie

    I totally adhere to your philosophy re the biscuit tin 🙂
    Poor Keira!

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  12. tinyhappy Avatar
    tinyhappy

    thanks, miss smith! i kind of hope you will be pox-free this week…

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  13. tinyhappy Avatar
    tinyhappy

    thanks for the tips! will definitely try the oatmeal…

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  14. tinyhappy Avatar
    tinyhappy

    that is such a good idea, margie. i’ll try that tomorrow.

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  15. tinyhappy Avatar
    tinyhappy

    hmm, that sounds good- thanks gretchen!

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  16. tinyhappy Avatar
    tinyhappy

    thanks francesca, that tool you see is a vintage ‘pastry cutter’ (i think.) it’s my favourite kitchen tool even though it is so old-fashioned. i use it when recipes need butter to be ‘rubbed in’ for example, when making scones or pastry. i just found a spare in my drawer- let me know if you’d like one and i’ll send it to you!

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  17. domesticali Avatar
    domesticali

    Hope the pox passes fast. Old blog recipes are the best – we made sun egg biscuits the other day and thought of you!

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  18. Tracy Avatar
    Tracy

    Chickweed ointment would work really well also 🙂

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  19. jenny Avatar
    jenny

    oh poor keira. the itching! i guess at least it’s not in the heat of summer. i love that idea about join the dot painting with lotion!
    we have waxeyes eveywhere here too, they are sweet wee things. they love the pinecone that we smother with stuff. blogged about them the other day.
    http://today-jenny.blogspot.com/2010/07/b-is-for-birds.html
    have a lovely weekend with that full biscuit tin!

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  20. Amanda Avatar
    Amanda

    I am sooo glad I read this post! I was going to put a search out to readers of my blog to find a good cracker recipe, as all the ones I have tried thus far haven’t been very nice. I’ll try this recipe out tonight! Thanks for sharing and I hope the chicken pox clears up quick for your wee one.

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  21. louana Avatar
    louana

    Poor Keira, hope she gets better soon. I’m dreading my kids bringing the chicken pox home, I haven’t had it yet!
    Those crackers look yum, happy weekend to you.

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  22. Mary Nanna Avatar
    Mary Nanna

    oh yes indeed – it sure looks like a silver eye to me (or wax eye as we called them as kids.) A full biscuit tin is an excellent way to start the weekend and an empty one is the perfect way to finish it. Your poor daughter I hope she gets well soon.
    I was gobsmacked that you read my blog. I look at all the good taste and beautiful photography on yours and think HOW ? WHY? Maybe opposites attract or it is the delightful smith family humour, it could be my sister has been softening you up.

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  23. Nancy Cook Avatar
    Nancy Cook

    the chicken pox. i remember so well. i was in middle school and i knew i had it because my mom and brother came down with it on a long train ride. i went to the school nurse and told her and she said it wasn’t chicken pox. i was about 11. can you believe the school nurse couldn’t recognize the chicken pox????
    hope she feels better soon and what a beautiful little bird visitor you have there

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  24. Creature of Habit Avatar
    Creature of Habit

    Oh my…. what a sweet little bird that is!

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  25. Emma Avatar
    Emma

    Hi Melissa – my 2 little people had chicken pox at Easter and we used Pinesol, it worked a treat but the smell was so strong I think it may have scared the Pox off! Thank you for putting me on to the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes, I have suddenly turned into an amazing kitchen goddess with bread smells wafting through the house, a nice treat during the torrential rains up here! Definitely with you on the full biscuit tin theory – it stands hand in hand with my Friday “fill the fridge up with wine” theory! Love Emma x
    Ps would you like my cheese straw recipe – wonderful for sick kids when they don’t want to eat much, they can nibble away x

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  26. Emma Avatar
    Emma

    whooops! I mean Pinetarsol don’t I! x

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  27. tinyhappy Avatar
    tinyhappy

    thank you emma- and im glad youre enjoying the bread. yep pinetarsol has been good for us too. i have a cheese straw recipe- thanks for the reminder- i just might make some today!

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  28. HoustonCrafter Avatar
    HoustonCrafter

    I remember I got it right before my 3rd birthday and had to cancel my slumber party! The oatmeal bath worked wonders. Now we have a state mandate the kids have to have chicken pox shots to go to school. It seems to make it worse if it get them after you’ve had the shot.
    Hope they feel better soon.

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