Our Easter in Autumn Story

Posted on April 17, 2013 by rosalindentree

on Easter eve we are visiting friends on the journey north from Sydney. The children go out in the sunset pink to cut grass to line the easter basket and to feed the Easter hare
while they cut I retell an Easter story about the journey of the Easter hare and the purpose of the eggs as i have adopted it from this great book. Easter in Autumn. i deeply enjoy storytelling without a book in front of me as i took the time to learn the story and make it my own. They are both captivated and i feel peaceful with this serene wash of calm coming over me as i bask in the moment and the beauty of the simple now-ness and connection we are sharing. i am inspired to learn more stories to tell.
this basket was woven in Arnhem land, jesse gifted it to Lily on return of his trip there last year. {i got a lady version for my birthday}the light is soft and pastelly and embracing and look below, it hints to the sky of the dawn…Lily and I have made a date to silently watch the sunrise on Easter morn.

we are camped by a river and the light bounces from the water in a myriad of pastel delicacies..Pelicans join us and we are gifted this close observation of a much loved bird Lily points out the Pelican has made a heart with it’s own reflection i resolve to make more dates with Lily, the peace of simply being together touches us both deeply. It is grounding and loving and sets us up for a rich connection through the day.
finally a golden peep through the clouds melts the dew from waxy leaves

a new day

a new beginning as we walk back we pick golden sunny flowers to decorate the bus and the easter baskets, glistening with dew

Cedar and Jesse are awake and after the children exclaim over the gifts from the Easter hare in their baskets, they go outside with a poem of clues to find the Easter treasures
oh whats under here??

skip to a quick ant bite interlude….

then the treasure hunt is back on….
looking looking looking, Lily can see the silver paper on the tyre and is encouraging Cedar to find it and giggling about his looking but not seeing… i remember Lily at this age needing very obvious eye level treasures to find… I found it!!
and up here Cedar!

i am wondrous to see Lily turn the seeking into a game for Cedar in which she is showing and helping him in a thoughtful way, instead of rushing around claiming all the treasure. it reveals the change out of early childhood i am seeing into a less selfconcerned world view. beautiful.the treasure is in and unwrapped and eaten.

after struggling in the night with my staunch anti chocolate stance, i realise the experience of my uptight stress is less beautiful than the joy the children will have when unwrapping 2 squares of organic chocolate before breakfast!

and it was fine, and they were so happy, and they did not have sugar meltdowns!

it’s good to let go a little now and then. but yes i am pretty strict about sweets in our own home and prefer to savour these type of treats for specials.

later in the day we prepare eggs to decorate and enjoy an omelette for lunch

you may know how already but here

the simple steps to blow eggs ready for decoration and hanging
use a large pin to pierce one end of an egg, i use a series of punctures in close proximity to open a 2mm hole, repeat on the opposite end and remember to have a bowl ready to catch your egg insides {make an omelette or cake…}apply your lips and lungs to the task of blowing a stream of egg insides to the outside. rinse by submersing in water and blowing out once more. towel dry and there they are, light and ready to decorate. we often use water colour pencils or paints, or dye with onion skin…in the weeks coming up to Easter i scout around town for white shelled eggs.. {In Bellingen they are sold at the Providore from a local farmer….} this year we had little choice as we travelled…the easter bounty which the children are happy happy happy withduring our afternoon drive i watch Lily singing out the window like a puppy with her face in the wind…

i imagine her reflecting on the day and she is singing her happiness to the world…

some sweet sweet moments in our day

blessings and happy new beginning to us all…

Double decker palm basket

Posted on September 5, 2012 by rosalindentree

Last year I made a great basket to hang inside our door to pop all our shoes into. It’s a little worse for wear as we cram it too full or we have too many shoes…
so on my last day in Queensland I wove up this replacement, a little bigger, a little better technique.

After the markets on Sunday in port Douglas we escaped to four mile beach. It was so windy, maybe 20-25 kn blowing from the south east , hence masses of kite surfers, wind surfers and my friends who sailed out on a little nacra catamaran.
I watched friends play with their kids and a little training kite, I watched the joy of children running, I sheltered behind some trees, I wove and cherished my last moments with the palms.
I could hear the crackly rustling of palm leaves blowing and the song of the frond in my hands.

I love the palm as weaving material as it is beautifully patterned, firm, broad, colorful, pliant fibre. The geometry of the styles is satisfying also for someone who has done more wild style weaving.
This basket is modeled on a classic style often used as a bag or carrier, it was the first style i learnt to weave and is sonetimes referred to as a billum bag/ basket. It is woven from sections of two fronds of matching size.
Eight pairs of leaves are interwoven to create this squareish practical, strong sided basket. I have modified the traditional design by weaving one above another on a single set of great ribs. ( the central wooded part of a palm branch )

I am regretting not photographing the entire process now! I was totally being in the moment and not thinking about this future post, or the fact that it’s hard to find palm weaving tutorials or teachers here in Australia.
Next time…
I am hoping Jesse will bring me some fresh coconut palm on his drive down to meet us in Bellingen next month…
Blessings
( yes it is 3 am, I’m awake after soothing jet lagged Cedar who’s been up crying, but lovingly supported by dear aunty in the freezing midnight hours so all good…)
Hot tip on jet lag, try travelease from the living essences! Amazing at helping me to feel more present, patient and perky today after a dreaded flight.

I also received an excellent mini body talk balancing from other dear aunty. Ah it’s beautiful to be with my sisters and our gaggle of children!

A little weaving

Posted on August 5, 2012 by rosalindentree

During camping this week I found a little time for weaving. I had a beautiful frond of coconut palm and adapted a traditional wall pouch design to my own imagination. Namely making the pouches more square cornered and wide based. So happy with the result!
I love how quickly coconut weaves up and how beautiful the green with yellow stripe is.
I also made this little basket from dried lamandra. A fresh water reedy plant which a lot of us grow in our gardens also. It’s made in a more indigenous style of twining. Slow and fiddely work but very strong and pleasing in the end.

Last week I got brave and had a spot in mossman market weaving and selling (2) baskets! It’s a challenge for me to go public, I am pretty private about my craft usually but the interest was great. and boosted my confidence to face my fear.

I loved the focused time just to sit and weave. At one point I was so engrossed , when I looked up there was a crowd standing around me watching and I got a shock. I had wandered off into crafting peace!
What are you making?
What brave thing have you accomplished?

Davies creek week

Posted on July 25, 2012 by rosalindentree

Last week
Mondayitis hit us bad
A terrible day ending with a sparking argument
Arriving late in the darkness to our camp for the week
Anticipated place of peace
How remarkable these explosions are!
How normally articulate beings can be reduced to one syllable expletives!
Pent up frustrations, the intensity of living all the time with each other in a tiny space. Little privacy or time in solitude. Literally bumping into one another. Every emotional change in the weather can influence us all. Moving frequently ( imagine moving house every week), being in public alot, Trying to move as a unit constantly. Simply tired and driving late after an unfulfilling day.
Morning came again and i felt some release and forgiveness creep in
Remarkable how we can repair and reconnect and re open to one another again and again over the years.

We had found mould in the bus since our wet daintree week so a cleaning out task was set.
out came everything!

Umm what exactly is all that stuff?

all essential i’m sure!

Mould in our relationship also needed a clean out!
It was therapeutic to have the physical task of washing and repacking the bus and also sharing, listening, exploring,challenging and bantering.
I love these moments of vulnerable communication even as it scares the pants off me, it brings a needed authenticity to our time together.

Our Setting was Dinden national park which Is quite open dry woodland range.
Winter gold of wattle flowers have subtle perfume for dawn walkers. Rustling dry grass and balga trees present the spiky blanket of hills.
Spacious blue glimpsed through eaucalypt lace.

Camping beside the chilly ever flowing Davies creek is a joy of refreshment and constant humming flow of sound.
We collect our cooking and washing water from this pure waterway and dunk ourselves every day.

our week witnessed so much…
Watching lily start to disappear into chapter books in quiet moments
Cedar happily trucking, shoveling, swinging and digging
Watching little birds visit camp and large flicks squawk overhead
Stars and stars and stars
Toasting haloumi instead of marshmallows on sticks in the coals
Cinnamon damper on the coals
Dozing off by the fire
We drank a lot of coconuts
We became perfumed with woodsmoke
We slowly unwound
Watched birds
Lily made a fairy village in tree roots and harvested blood wood sap
Cedar trucked sand and delivered sticks for the fire
We stayed in one place
We didn’t drive anywhere for four nights
We mapped a lot of the bus( found permanent homes for things and repacked)

We where joined for a night by the lovely Paul and Merivale and 4 boys
The shorter kids Slippery dipped down watery rocks and the bigger ones flipped off the high rocks

There was a little music
A little weaving
A little silk dyeing
A little solitude
A whole lot of fun

Whats happening at your place this week?
Are you inside or outside more?

what helps you and your partner reconnect?

Peace
Roselinde

a glimpse of our week…

Lily loves to wander the bush finding bush food and medicines which she bundles up in these paperbark pouches for her dilly bag, each one with special knots to identify the contents at a glance

You all know I’m a basket case don’t you!!

This beauty from our dear friend Mike at wind willow basketry in NZ found a valid purpose!
How did they all sneak in? i was sure I limited myself to three this trip!
And here I go weaving more from coconut fronds…