Mad Hatters Tea Party of sorts

I am not a good sleeper. I never was really (as my parents lamented), I probably never will be, but I would like at least some.

Friday morning, 2am, a tad earlier than normal 2.32am wake up call. I have this internal alarm clock that can't be turned off, or hidden under the pillow, the next room or even in the bin. I cant even send it flying across the room where it will shatter on impact with the innocent wall of the bedroom. Nope, no can escape this voodoo. 

Its OK, for I have company. 

Beautiful, sweet smiling #1 daughter working with urgency on her latest project. Again, just like a literal Deja Vu, we have gone through this before, every garment has to be ready before 8am, Saturday morning. This time its a production of eclectic fashion come costume with a splash of colourful whimsy.

If she had became the scriptwriter that we as her parents had intended her to be, I might have actually been asleep. I still hope and pray that one day she will show the world the magic of her words. Just maybe.

In role reversal, I work for her. My fee is naturally exorbitant, payment includes hugs, sleepless nights, and a newly self trained ability to overlook a 'neatless' house. 

I also have the honour of being the perpetual sounding board on constant tap; I'm available even if I'm asleep in my bed, lights off and at all. 

"Mum, mum", she shook me awake, "Before you get into a deep sleep I need your opinion on this angle". By the soft light illuminating from her Iphone, I listened to her  dilema on using a particular angle or  another, she wasn't entirely sure which way to go. 

Both Maurie and Little Miss Mischief, who had wedged her way in between us some time earlier in the night slept through the whispered discussions.

"Oh, now that you're awake, would you like a cup of tea?" she whispers, which I know really means, "I am in dire need of your help and since you're awake now, could you make me a cup of tea too?"

The tea making part I'll go with in a flash. 

Its not that I am predantic and must have my tea a certain precise way, my daughter, as biased as I am about all things Zip, her tea making skills are legendary, actually they precede her where ever she goes. Even natives deep in the Peruvian jungle, not yet discovered by mankind, know she makes the worst tea in the world. 

Its all worth it in the end. Throughout the week models have come and gone for their fitting, discussions with the photographer, the make up artist etc. Yet again, as we do every project, we congregate around the island bench in the kitchen or outside to eat and gaggle over dinner, the very large dining table is covered with fabric, design drawings, patterns, pins, boning and other strange looking implements.

The OH&S of this house is, shoes worn at all times, there's a sewer in residence, pins are rampant and abundant everywhere as some of us are painfully aware.

Saturday 6am, she's been awake for more than 36 hours already, there's a 21st party to attend later that evening, plus an almost full day on location; 2 outfits are yet to be finished'  Of course one of these outfits had to be most complex of all; The Cage

7am, time is ticking away and we are in full swing of a frustrated and heated debate on the best way to construct The Cage. I say this way, she says nay. The baby next door is now awake.

Finally she gets it, and we start the way I suggest. 

I always say to her "what starts well will always end well, its just the roller coaster in the middle that you have to ride through".

Saturday, 8.15am its all finished, and the crew hasn't even arrived yet. Zip flies into the shower while I hop up on the kitchen bench, cross my legs and lean back on the pylon to have a micro sleep or few.

I have to get ready for my Saturday art class.

Throughout the rest of the morning she sends me picture messages of the some parts of the shoot.

Most of the class know what is going on, so the phone gets handed around as the photo's drop into my message inbox. The picture quality of the new phones are amazing.

I love this age of technology, don't understand most of it, but I like it. Even if I am having more than a fair share of frustration trying to place photo's on this blog.......argh. Hey, I was around before ATM cards were invented.

One of the other students recognises Ashley from Home & Away. To us, Ashley is Ashley herself,  we often forget she is an actress.

Gregory, who is very young for his age, exclaims "It looks just like a Mad Hatter's Tea party of sorts".

I tell him its the theme of the shoot, he wants to know which one is Alice. 

Um.

I know I can't explain anything to Gregory, he doesn't understand metaphors or analogies, so I just say "I'm not sure". With his easel parked next to mine, he spends the rest of the class time,  explaining to me that the girl with the rainbow corset is likely to be Alice, it confuses him because she isn't wearing an apron, but it must be Alice as she is the only girl there with long wavy blonde hair.

Gregory might be a simple man older than me, but I do wish I had his remarkable talent. 

My girl 'Zip'

Like I said, "What starts well, ends well......"

Ah, that's were my chairs went to!.