right now {small journey}

right now ::

it's Saturday. 1st October. Can you believe that it's already October! That happened simply too too quickly.

raining. hailing. sunshine. rainbows. all at once. outside in the sky. inside with the children.

[Mish + I are visiting with Leah, S, E + T].

I had these images on my desktop. The middle one is mine, a project I am s.l.o.w.l.y working on. Perhaps it won't be happen until next year, when I can dedicate enough computer time to it. The middle + top images came from here.

I've made up a reason why these images work together..... Do they? Of course, if I say so!

+ I am doing many projects, in my head. They all seem to be hurrying to a need-to-be-ready now date. I'll start the actual making quite very soon. When it gets to the last minute panic moment, I guess.

+ My life is made up with lots of small journeys at the moment. I'm really learning to enjoy the small journeys, and know that step-by-step and moment-by-moment they'll take me somewhere. somewhere. somewhere. slowly. 

+ I do sort of feel like that little ant trapped inside a bubble. It's quiet in my bubble. No blogland. No outside noise. The sound of my own breathing. Of course, I also have the sound of the breathing/living/being of my family. But they are part of my breathing. Like an ant I cannot live without them. We are one. I am alive inside this bubble. And thriving. But one day I do hope that I can pop through to experience that wonderful purple flower/leaf/world outside the bubble.

So; right now I am waiting for inspiration, in my own little bubble, walking a slow journey. Right now.

Enjoy your weekend my friends. xx

oh, hello!

"When the world wearies, and society ceases to satisfy, 

there is always the garden"

                                            Minnie Aumonier

I read this quote the other day. Wrote it down straight away. So I could keep remembering it. So so true for where I'm at right now.

Spring is here. And it's lovely lovely.



My blog stats are down. I don't blame you all. I'm not here much either. Thanks for keeping on coming. Just putting little toes every so often into blog land, or pinterest world, or any other sort of wonderful place in this big web is hard. You need to be here often, have endless moments to loose in it [which includes solid decent internet connection + electricity. I'm currently watching the little battery icon on my computer shrink while I scurry to do the few things I can.]

My dear dear friend who lives in NZ, [who I went to visit in January - and haven't spoken to since!] emailed me the other to say a person shouldn't be this hard to contact is this day and age.

I'm missing so much by being away from this online community. But I'm gaining so much by being where I am. Sitting in the garden. Watching the snowpeas get bigger, and the calendula flowers bud and start to bloom. And sitting with my family at the table searching through the bird book, and mimicing bird calls and talking to the birds. And setting up tents in the yard. And walking through the forest, drinking cool refreshing water straight from the creek. Watching the sun each day as it creeps across the sky in it's arc, each day in a different spot than yesterday, rising and setting at different times. Noting all this in my head, my memory.

*The 'hello' button sign is from a shop counter in Byron Bay, on a rare night out with my sister and niece to see an exhibition opening.
All photos taken with my phone - the real camera isn't seeing much action lately. Mainly due to the annoying aspect of then having to process all images through the computer.

Also, just in case you wanted to know. I'm working {slowly} on a new range of things. Lovely things to be ready in time for a market I'm organising at the local art gallery for Christmas time. I'm aiming to get some up on my new website [let me know your thoughts on it!!] in time for Christmas postage - if you're interested.....

to stop and look

I was reading an email from my sister Leah. Was talking about stopping and enjoying what you have, instead of always looking for the next biggest, better thing. Something that I'm really trying to work on and do and live. I feel / hope that I am slowly getting better about this.

While sitting at the kitchen table, responding to her email, my boy (home sick from school), at the other end of the table called out "mum, look at the beautiful butterfly". We both stopped and watched the glorious creature flit and flutter about the yard outside our kitchen window.

I love the look of wonder on his face. And the excitement in his voice. Kids are good at making us stop and look and enjoy. And be content with what we have. They are good at looking and observing in a way most adults aren't. I feel ever fortunate to have my children here to help me on my slow down journey.

patience {slow}

 {sweet pea shoots}

 {new strawberry plants - 

they now have straw on them, to keep them warm during these cold nights}

 {one garden bed at a time}

 {the blueberry leaves turning their glorious red hues}

 {our little home, viewed through the treeferns, blueberry plant, and tree waratah}

Some days around here we all wonder if we are actually living in the 21st Century. Of course, it's a silly thing, but currently we are having to learn to live within a slow time scale of life.

With :: no electricity (which means no television, limited phone charging options, short computer time) :: an outside shower (it's Winter and windy here) :: candles & torches to cook dinner (on a gas camping stove), to eat dinner and to read :: a bucket for a toilet (that needs a big hole dug every few weeks or so to empty). We do have a radio, which seems to only tune into either the country channel or mostly Triple J (which has a bit too much drum beat and such for me, but on some occasions has some good songs to listen to and also regular news updates and most importantly no adverts).

Surprisingly both children have easily fitting into having no tv. They do on rare occasions play games on our phones (if we have enough power charged up).

We are mostly happy to sit and read (endless trips to the town library, and great reads from Ari's school library). There's been lots of chapter book reading around here with the whole family involved, sitting around our fireplace - currently Milly Molly Mandy. And a big favourite with us all (Sam included) was Where the Mountain meets the Moon - highly recommended by us all!

Watching kookaburras visit our now bare persimmon trees, listening to the little fairy wrens, finches and other small birds, waiting for the call of the black cockatoos overhead, or gazing at the native pigeons circling around. Being intrigued by the call of a fox in the forest, or excited by the sighting of a powerful owl in the yard.

Slowly I am tending patches of soil, and planting seeds and seedlings. Strawberry plants were put in last week - I am dreaming of eating luscious warm fruits plucked straight from the garden in Summer. Raspberries will go in soon, and the blueberry is doing it's thing well enough on it's own (as it has been for the past few years). The sweet peas are growing steadily - I can't wait for the flowers, though I know it will be some time off yet.

Being slow, and learning to have patience for things is a good thing. Learning to settle in to where we are and enjoy the day-to-day pleasures and joys. To be excited about the seedlings springing forth, and watch their growth slowly - to imagine them in the warmer months, to think about the 60 days until harvest of the cauliflowers or broccoli, but to also just stop and watch and patiently wait for the slow passing of time. To enjoy the slow passing of time.

I know I've been talking about SLOW a lot lately, but it's where I'm at.
:: Slow stitching - by hand with a needle and crochet hook at different times
:: Slow cooking
:: Slow nights - quiet and dark by the fireside
:: Slow days in town looking through op-shops
:: Slow breathing (at times... still working on that one)
:: Slow growing

....... slow being........

the sunshine and Mother's Day

This morning, after Ari went off to school, I went in search of some sunshine. Our little house sits under some big beautiful Hoop Pine trees, which cast a little bit too much morning shade. But as they are giant, and old and native and simply beautiful - the trees are staying exactly where they are. Which means that we need to move around to follow the sun.

We set up a little table, for our second morning coffee, and Mishi's teddy friends came to visit.





What a beautiful time sitting in the morning sun, soaking it into our body. Chatting and reading (Papier Mache magazine's first print issue. What lush images, styling and clothing, and sweet sweet children), and moving our chairs around as the sun moves around.

And on Mother's Day just gone, I did have a delightfully lovely day. I was sick with a head cold, and spent as much time in bed as was allowed. I kept getting jumped on by excited little creatures who wanted to tell me they loved me, and give me cuddles. And of course, I got up to sit in the sun and warm myself up. What a lizard I'm becoming.

While I was sick (still am), Sam looked after us all. He stocked up the fire and got it going again, and made breakfast and good warm drinks that sick people should drink (grated ginger and honey). And he made lunch, and dinner, and swept the floor, and did the washing up. Not sure if it was because I was sick, or due to it being Mother's Day, or simply because he loves me?






He also made a beautiful ikebana display for our table. It was my Mother's Day gift from him. Made with flowers, seedpods and leaves collected from the garden. Such a simple and beautiful work of art.

Little beautiful Ari boy presented me with a sweetly wrapped, and perfectly written card. Each year at school they have a special persons stall where the kids take along some money and buy a gift for their mother / father / grandparents / etc. They are so excited to choose something all by themselves (with some help, perhaps, by the teachers), and then give it their loved one. Ari could barely wait to give me his gift. It's a little ceramic mother birdy, that he chose so thoughtfully and with great care. Mostly it's not the gift they choose, but the excitement with which they present it; but it's so so lovely to see him growing into a person who can look at things and think through what I would like best. I do know a few mamas who received body care lotions and such.

Right now, as a Mama to two independent, inspiring, thinking, intelligent, artistic and active children, I am so happy where I am. I look around the table at our evening meal shared together, and feel joy and contentment swell within me. While there are many challenging and troublesome moments in our days, there are also so many moments of sheer happiness, giggling fun, or perfect raw contentment.





{For me, I think - I aim to be contented in life, more than happiness. While happiness really is a most delicious emotion to feel, it is fleeting, and we always seem to be searching for it. Contentment often slips up, quietly unannounced, and stays warmly in my heart for a long time. A soft ebb that flows earnestly throughout my days. It warms me more to realise I am at ease with where I am, I am content and satisfied, rather than always yearning and aching for the next high of happiness}.

This was written yesterday, Tuesday, but due to photos being on camera and me being lazy, it's only posting today.

{collecting} fuyu

this beautiful tree sits quietly in our garden. 

going through it's seasonal changes moment by moment.

providing cooling shade during the hot summer months.

loosing it's leaves to allow sunlight for winter.

it's autumn now.

the leaves are turning.

the colours changing.

the fruit.

oh the fruit. 

we sit at our kitchen table 

and spot bright orange balls of colour 

amongst the leaves.

some too high to reach. 

left to the birds.

 {Sam's going to hate me putting this photo up, but I do think it's fuzzy enough to be ok? Plus, I just wanted you to know the fruit picking help I have around here!! The fuzzy in the centre of the photo is my camera being cold in the humid/cool/wetish mornings around here; she takes a while to warm herself up. Some of the fuzzy photos are turning out with a beautiful moodiness.}

We got out our ladder and climbed up to pluck the firm round fruits from the branch. Persimmons. This is the variety known as fuyu. Can be eaten firm, or soften more. None of us here in this house actually like persimmons; but I must admit that I have been thinking of the other variety (known as hachiya), which is squidgy and stringy, and not at all what I like to put in my mouth. So - perhaps I really do need to retry this fruit. Not now, though. These few we collected we taken this weekend past to Grandma's house (Sam's mum), as she does really like them a whole lot. I hope she gobbled them up with a smile on her face!

If you happen to have a glut of persimmons, you could make them into a jam, I believe. But we had only a few fruits on the whole tree, and even less that we could reach with our ladder. 

This tree will turn from green to yellow to orange over the next few days and weeks. Even now as I look, I can see more yellow leaves on the bigger tree, and the little tree has less leaves than last week. For some strange reason, the little/younger tree has shown it's colour earlier; Sam told me he saw the other day a big gust of wind come along and shake a big handful of leaves from the little tree. Isn't that a lovely little image to this about. {Have you read this book? We love it, a good one to add to your Autumn reading list.}

more storage - display ideas

The top one is my favourite - very doable; if you have access to those sort of boxes. Which are very very hard to find in my city....

Found {meetmeatmikes}, which linked to {rugged storage options(morning's light)}, which linked back to {Hindsvik}, which has original sources. Oh - the joys of blog hopping.......

*all images used with thanks from all these, and the original, sources!

{moment}

Happiness does not depend on outward things, 

but on the way we see them.
Leo Tolstoy

Just a few photos I took on my dad's land yesterday. This place means home to me, in ways that I cannot even properly voice. The place where I grew up - the tiny bunk beds dad built up, the place we had our cubby house and jumped on our trampoline. The creeks we spent many many countless hours/days/years playing in.

*quote found on Sandrine's blog, perfect for me this.exact.moment.

Things for a home

It seems like a lifetime that I have been collecting images and ideas, for when I build my own home. All those endless piles of magazines, and collected clippings, and half-vaguely remembered things I wanted. 

Scattered throughout my current home {in suitcases, and folders and files} and in my mind {lost} and also in my computer.

We are going to look at the land again this weekend. This time without the kids. A proper look. Where we will talk and walk and plan and measure and dream a possible dream. Who knows..... we may have our own piece of wildness in the very near future. {And then the wildness starts when build our own home, and live in a shed for the next five years - showering out of a bucket. Reality!}.

In the meantime, I'm going to start compiling bits and pieces that I really really like. You'll probably start to get the idea that I like wooden homes; timber floors, hardwood doors and windows, big wooden benchtops, tongue-and-groove wall and floorboards, raw exposed timber ceiling..... That's what I grew up in, and really have never wanted anything different. My dad is my dream architect and builder (pity he feels too old, or something, to want to promise to build our home..).

 I love the little holes in the wall for displaying pieces. Though of course, I imagine that it's a pain to clean....

Interesting wall feature. I love semi-floating staircases, with lots of light shining through. Though takes up a lot of space - when you could use the underneath of stairs as storage. {I've once seen a staircase where each step pulled out as a little draw. The higher up you walked the smaller the draws.}

I love love love these shelves. I think would be easy to make and hang. So very me. Okay - I'm getting Sam onto something like that soon as we have a loungeroom to put them in. Must have a roof and floor before we make the furniture. No?

*Images from Hotze Eisma (found on a link from The Red Thread).

little house

I've just recently finished reading this quite excellent book. 

In fact, very excellent. You should go and borrow it from your local library, and read it. If you're inclined that way. 

It's Little House on a Small Planet. And, it's about exactly what it sounds like it's about. About the small house movement, co-housing, community living.....

In reality, people have been living in small houses since house began. In caves and under ferns or bamboo or leaves to keep off the weather and protect from the animals. And on this small planet of ours, many many people still do live in little houses. People share one room with extended families - living, cooking, sleeping altogether.

I imagine that these people are happier and more content than anyone who lives in a big house can ever be. Can a mansion bring you happiness?

There are endless reasons why small houses are ideal living. Let's start at one that makes a difference to your daily routines - less rooms means less cleaning; who wants to clean 3+ bathrooms, 5 bedrooms, a formal living / dining room, and a family room every week. Think about all the extra time you'd have if there was only one bathroom, 2-3 smallish bedrooms, and one beautiful living / dining space. IN my experience, with kids, it doesn't matter how much space they have - they keep on making it messy; they'll fill one room, then move to the next. And, they also will not stay in their own rooms, but will hover around you, under your feet, on top of you. 

Yes, okay - my kids are still young, and you may be right in thinking that as they get older they'll want the space of their own. But I didn't; as teenagers my siblings and I did our homework in the lounge room {we didn't have a dining table to sit at - being floor livers}, around the family. Part of family life.

Other reasons, which are more thoughtfully environment and financial are the heating and cooling costs associated with a larger or smaller home. To air condition a big house costs a lot - a lot to your pocket, but more importantly, a lot to the environment. Mostly you're cooling rooms that you don't actually spend much time in. {But the workings of A/C mean that you need to keep it on to regulate the temperature, in case you want to walk into the room for a few minutes}.

Heating costs are the same. It's so easy to turn on your gas or electric heater and crank it up to warm the whole house, isn't it. And the electricity/gas bill comes and you get a bit of a shock - but pay it anyway, and forget come next Winter. {Again, I think I barely need to mention the environmental costs, and I don't figures to quote to you anyway. Common sense tells me that it's too much}.

Then there's the cost of actually building your home - regardless of if you build it yourself, pay someone to build it, or buy an old home already built a long time ago {you'll want to renovate that one, won't you}. The materials that go into building large houses can be expensive and costly to the environment, not to mention your mortgage. {Do you know what mortgage means - it's from old French & English, and means 'death pledge'. Lovely, hey!}. And then there's the extra furnishings you need to make all those rooms look like a proper home. 

Also, bigger houses means you have less land around you. Less earth and soil under your toes. Less space to plant trees or veges, or sit in the sun, or run around exploring with your children. 

Little House on a Small Planet is a book that shares stories with people who live in some of the smallest homes (in the USA). It's not a design book, or an architecture book, rather a viewpoint into how you can live, how you can change your life (your current home or your future home) to learn to live and love a small home.
{The one disappointing thing about the book is that all the zoning and planning rules are for USA, and don't apply to Australia - so other research material is necessary; my dad, I'm suspecting!!}.

It's not all touchy feely; it also has many interesting and eye-opening facts and figures and information. But it's the families and the stories that I loved the most. The ideas and ideals; but the ease with which it is a natural way of living - no heroics, just life.

Yesterday we looked at some land {and I left my camera in the car, so no photos or the beautiful trees and moss and fairy homes}. Perhaps it's our land. We are still talking and thinking and deciding and planning. So, of course, I am back to the drawing and planning of our home. Thinking of the spaces we need - what we really need, not what we might want. How do we use our space, can we use the same space for different things. 

We are lucky to live in a part of this Earth where the Winters are fairly mild, and outdoor living happens for most of the year. So vast open verandahs, and easy constant access to outside is essential, practical, expected. A fireplace for those few cold Winter months, where everyone settles in one room to keep warm, and huddles under the blankets and jumpers instead of "turning up the heat".

I'd love to hear your thoughts and feelings on the small house. How big is your home, how do you use your space, does your home have any exciting design features, how do you feel your family would go living in a small house (less than 100metres square, I think).

Just a few other small house reading ::
Small Home Style
Cohousing, Small Home Movement
Tiny House Blog
House of Fallen Timbers

*images are, from top - bottom: realestate.com.au; little house on a small planet (middle two b/w images); revelations architect EDGE house (bottom two).