Tag Archives: photography

glimpses of indoors

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This gallery contains 54 photos.

Glimpses Of Indoors a gallery of moments from my month with my extended family in Western Australia a chapter of time many shared moments centered around the hearth and the heart centered around all the activities which have their place … Continue reading →

Windy day Toddler Bonnet

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The Windy Day Bonnet is born…

Well I did it! Yes I really did.. see evidence below…

I adapted this gorgeous bonnet for Cedar from another simple pattern to fit my boys noggin snuggly and embellished the designwork for my own interest, challenge and enjoyment.

You would not believe how hard it has been to find a pattern for this two year old in a bonnet style! who says children over one year don’t need cosy bonnets anymore… so now there are at least two bigger bonnet patterns out there! if you know of any more please share with me as I love this style, they stay on better at this busy age.

look at this lovely big boy… i mean lovely bonnet…

we rummaged for a long time through my mama’s button tin looking for just the right button. Important business for this fellow and me. While my heart swelled and stretched with the dual joy of having made something from these stumpy fingers of beauty and use, and the joy of quiet buttoning with my boy just as I did with the same buttons as a little one…

i am capturing all these glimpses of time here in my heart and storing them to replay in my mind as time zooms in front of me and my tears well up and I start packing my bags again to leave the nest of my beautiful family…

in the end he put aside the fabric covered vintage buttons, the carved bone, the plastic orange elephant, the sparkle encrusted jewel, the leather square, the big red retro and chose the plainest little white plastic button.

“now i’m ready to go out into this southwest wind and play mama…”

anyway, I now need a test knitter or two, game enough to knit up my pattern The Windy Day Toddler Bonnet and give me feedback before it goes up on Ravelry!

it’s easy, honest!

I used 4mm knitting sticks and about 70g of Misti Alpaca Tonos Worsted {aus 10ply} in Tealing Blue. You can use whatever you like of course…

the pattern used to look like this…

{I did go to art college for three years to be able to make it look so, well, artistic…}

please contact me if you are willing… {it is beautifully legible and sensical now!! and downloads as a neat pdf file…}

In celebration of my achievement I bid you good night!

and in celebration of yours, whatever they may be!

Good night *

ps thankyou littlelom for models cutest toadstool singlet and cord whale trousers…

Port Douglas Markets and more musing s…

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Port Douglas Markets and more musings…

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We have been away for three weeks now on the West Coast.

I’ve just been editing photographs from our last weeks in Far North Queensland.

those beautiful waterways! the warmth and fresh fruit! being outdoors…

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i mean really, look at me in swimmers and being painted by a little angel with river ochre!

less than a month ago!

In my bones until next time…

It’s hard to fathom Jesse will be playing his last set for the year at the Port Douglas markets today.

followed by a sunset dinner by the sea probably.

We are in such different realities at the moment, when usually we travel life together.

I’m only just starting to miss my companion and dear friend…

i’ve been wrapped up in the joy and busy-ness of family time and the enjoyment of space from the relating ship,

which is still happening, but I’ve passed half way of the trip and I think my soul is

preparing to travel East again and thoughts are coming in about my friends and family there.

It makes me aware just how difficult it is to simply be present!

Without anticipating the next chapter of life, or even the next moment of life.

How much of my day am i just trully being in the moment?

I know I relish it when I notice i have come in for a time, and feel the richness of the moment.

it’s not that often, when I really reflect on it! neither is it always comfortable moments mind!

I’m practicing though.

When I go through a phase of doing a daily practice of meditation or yoga or somesuch I notice

my awareness is more centred for the rest of the day.

I tend to put good excuses or futurisms on why I’m not in regular practice of some time of

stillness and centering.

Like, when I have a house I will set up a space or when I’m not so tired or when I wake up tomorrow or when I am enlightened or when I grow up….

{my sisters say I was such a procrastinator as a child}

How about right now?

How about you?

What do you tell yourself, which stops you from doing some helpful practice of meditation, stretching, exercise, centering, movement or so on?

or what do you tell yourself which gets you going with it again?

well that was not what I’d been planning to write about! but reading back I enjoy the surprise of it!

I had been wanting to belatedly post these photos of some of the beautiful produce and handmade crafts from the

Port Douglas Markets!

I think I’ll put them at the top of the page now…

Enjoy your spring/autumn equinox

are you celebrating it in any way?

it happens to also be Uncle D’s birthday so we had

decadent gluten free chocolate cake with cream after breakfast…

Peace

it’s the wildflowe…

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it’s the wildflowers

in full festival

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it’s the flowers

in every glance a hint of colour to be investigated

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it’s the flowers

tiny, subtle, gracious, intricate

it’s the flowers

beckoning me across the road and into the woods

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it’s the flowers

delaying me and making little ones impatient with mama as they spring on to new finds

(and me impatient with them for pulling me away, yes must go alone sometimes…)

it’s the flowers

invisibe to a casual eye

revealed with attention

unveiled with presence and patience

delighting all of us with their own groupings and gatherings

what do flowers communicate?

and here and here another another

it’s the flowers

which distract Cedar from falling asleep on walks of that intent

it’s the flowers

the bold red/orange/burgundy pea his favorite and each bush gestured and acknowledged

it’s the flowers

immaculate petalled orchids the queens

puffy pompom wattles

spreading cheerful red leschenaultia and running postman

tall sunshine billy buttons

minute pink fairies

countless silky blues orchids

spider orchids

purple pansy orchids

red beaks

dampiera

dryandras

tiny delicate fringed lily twiner

bright abundant cowslips

tall breezy jug orchids in mint candy striped shirts

at least five variations on the donkey orchid

black eyed pinks

and a myriad more I cannot name but love no less

it’s the flowers

the carpet of which trails our eyes through the open woodland

it’s the flowers

which bring me here in spring

it’s the flowers

whose essence and healing I soak up

it’s the flowers

the discovery of rarities a thrill each one thrillier that the last

it’s the flowers

in rain or wind or warm

beckoning a beautiful bouquet

in amongst the silver brown hued timber

it’s the flowers

enlivening and uplifting me

it’s the flowers

stretching my smile eyes and mind

it’s the flowers.

it is.

A Denmark Day

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Mama and I and the little ones spent a happy day browsing and completing errands in the Coastal Forest town of Denmark

After visiting the two op shops and finding some great embroidered linens and pastel Johnson Bro bread plates we had a tasty lunch at

while Nanna went for acupuncture Cedar Lily and I where playful in the riverside park. A pretty cool playground, some stately old Marri and Karri trees…

I had one of those moments again. one of those precious ones where my heart pauses and I am then flooded with sentiment as I watch my little ones in their innocence and fun and kindness and I give an enormous breath of gratitude to the gift they are in my life, and the beauty and clarity of sunlight and the cool scent in the air almost overwhelms me with the richness of nature and my place in it.

try and imagine how old this Marri tree is… All it has witnessed… the slow pulsating rhythm of being a tree… go and find one and sit or lay under it or climb into her arms and soak up some arboreal wisdom…

Yes Cedar is out and about in his pyjama jumper… he loves it as much as I do… It’s from Engel via Cambridge baby

oh how i love the scent of rivers,

growing up an inland girl the novelty of bounteous water is yet to fade…

the myriad of light refractions on waters surface amuse me endlessly, the green shade and becooled air which stirs about draping leaves becalms me

and refreshes me and i am enchanted in my thoughts as i move us up to the colourful delight of wool heaven!

I was getting distracted from choosing yarn for a bold project I am about to undertake of making Lily a short sleeved cardigan for the coming seasons from an Elizabeth Zimmerman patern resized to vaguely fit an eight! phew. I think I’m abit out of depth but looking forward to the challenge.

I chose an heirloom silk touch Merino, Alpaca, Silk blend and Lily chose a sweet sky blue tint.

Lily had been quietly amusing herself, when I appeared to check with what she was amused I saw…

You know those beautiful enticing rows of neat embroidery threads in every good crafting shop? well…

Mothers panic try to be calm…

“honey what are you up to?”

thinking…oh god We are going to be kicked out, no worse I will have to painfully sort these all out into colour batches and rehang them. oh crikey

“Hi mama, these where all in a jumbly mess, some kids been playing with them probably so I took them all off and I’m sorting them out!”

“ah OK good one that’s really thoughtful of you”

luckily shop lady overheard and pipes up gratefully that it’s OK and thanks to Lily

phew… phew… phew…

Cedar had been happily driving his new tractor and trailor around which we had just found beautifully made at the Denmark arts centre…

after this we perused the Butter Factory Studios and Alpaca Centre

I am in love with Alpace fibre once again and tried to convince my mum to buy an exhorbitantly priced Alpaca coat to no avail… yet…

I found Cedar a sweet duffel coat by Oobi instead and some fantastic local ceramics.

The end

everyone tired and hungry and wants to go home now

goodbye Denmark til next time

a little felting

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a mysterious ball of fluffaround a hollowed giant passionfruit of all things!rubbed with dish detergent and water and patient handsmakes a sweet little nest for a little friend
I love being able to help my children live out their creative inspirations and see what is yielded…

welcome home, come inside…

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hello, here we are!

it’s taken me a long time for two reasons

I don’t have a wide angle lens for interior photography

and

umm

my ego.

I have to face it.

I am house proud, and to be so public as to put it on the internet! phew thats been a process!

So I am humbling myself and facing the fear,

and I tidied up and cleared out the boxes of market produce and instruments (see the pile by the door!)

and our warm hearted friend has lent me his fabulous wide angle lens so I can show you the interior of our little home on wheels…

See I couldn’t get out of it…

she is a 1990 Toyota coaster bus, purchased as an ex school bus in 2005, with lots of help we have refitted the entire bus except engine

she came with a reconned 2H, 6 cylinder land cruiser engine, mayte…

we have raised the roof 40cm with an aluminium clad frame and extra windows as we are both tall.

It totally changes the space into a room rather than a den with alot more airflow and light.

we have a 3m awning which extends from the side there, still hanging on with the improvised attatchments Keith helped Jesse put up years ago!

a friend once entered and said something about how bohemian it was in here! I loved that!

we have used as much timber (recycled pine and jarrah) and ply to create a cosy atmosphere

coupled with beautiful woven fabrics and all the colourful acoutrements of our life

here we have home.

sometimes crowded sometimes jumbled sometimes irritating sometimes comforting sometimes tedious sometimes overwhelming sometimes adventurous

we have a luxurious king size eco latex bed with a wool top for total comfort. well really, you need to feel comfy if you happen to be sleeping in a car park!

Cedars’s cot is up on the bed in this pic above and it comes down at night to rest on the wooden chests at night.

The big square of timber at the bed end is a fold up table and also allows access to storage under the bed.

a proper kitchen sink donated by our friends in Fremantle

thats our grey shrouded Waeco 40L fridge on the right, it runs off a massive truck battery which is housed in the ply box underneath.

Here is Miss Lily’s bed, this doubles as our travelling seats with lap belts during travel

I am very proud of her quilt which is my first “proper” quilt I made last year from vintage embroidered linens and japanese floral prints

I entered it in the Bellingen agricultural show and picked up a prize! unashamed brag moment!

Cedar’s car seat is tucked behind the driver…

our newest edition on this trip is the high light coloured shelving along the right hand side and at the front in this shot.

This practical storage has been so appreciated, it’s main purpose was to house all the bulk organic food items I have in big jars in the kitchen.

its pretty full, there’s alot going on in here!

some bits are in eternal chaos and others are neat. Like us I suppose…

most things have a permanent home…

we cook up on the kitchen bench or outside with a small gas cooker. It’s blue, can you see it in this shot below?

the two big bolts in the floor hold up our 100L stainless steel water tank

and here we have

the bus dwellers…

some titles on my bookshelf

The River Cottage family cookbook

The Childrens Year

The fragrant Pharmacy

A guide to child Health

Eco Colour

The Secret Garden

Two Centuries of Australian Poetry

The  Handbook of natural plant dyes

Tantric sex for men

NVC parenting workbook from The Heart Of Parenting

My family and other animals

what are you reading?

thanks for stopping by! it’s a beautiful day

how is your home feeling at the moment?

do you want to invite me over?
ten minutes later….just kidding…

this is the before photos! see, ego slaying…

that’s the thing about such a small home, it’s easily moved into chaos and fullness and lived-in-ness,

and it only takes 20 minutes to bring to show home status!!