1000 Fields of Roses

Coming To A Standstill

The school year is pretty much over – we’re just making sure the work is finished this week. We decided on the spur of the moment yesterday to go and see “Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them”. I thought it was beautiful – from a well-lit and imagined 20’s New York to various fantastic beasts. The story was sweet as well (apart from the destructive parts…) I’m glad we decided to go as a family.
A little while back we went to the Japanese Gardens near us for some quiet stillness, and I filmed a short clip on the iPod. It’s not spectacular – just a fairly ordinary bit of running water, maybe a dragonfly or two… but isn’t that the way we mostly relax? With traffic noise, in a backyard type setting, dreaming because we can…
It’s apparently going to be hot this week. Have a listen to some water, insects and crows – some of the sounds of summer.
Dream on! 🙂

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on November 30, 2016 at 1:54 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Japanese Gardens

A Refreshing Interlude

Both today and yesterday! 🙂
The year’s coming to an end, so it felt like a good time for something different. We went down to the Japanese Gardens in Queen’s Park to spend some time, individually, being still and quiet. It was lovely – running water, birds, lots of dragonflies… Not sure Littlest Bean understood the idea – he spent the time darting around, counting all the animals and insects he encountered. Even turtles!

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I sat outside the teahouse, listening and watching.

There was a lone lotus flower on the other side of the lake.

We went to the library afterwards. It was a refreshing break in our morning…
In other news, our thistle has probably reached the stage where it should be chopped down.

It’s getting a bit wild.
The flowers are still beautiful, though.

I chopped some branches off the mugwort today, and found a little ladybird.

I put it in the grass so it could fly away when it was ready. 🙂

So – what was my refreshment today? I didn’t know which to choose – a good old mystery, or a bit of nostalgic sci-fi. I decided to go for both – Blakes 7 – Mission To Destiny… Agatha Christie in Space!

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on November 19, 2016 at 4:14 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Blakes 7, Japanese Gardens, Ladybird, thistles

Faint Not

Today I’ve veered between a sense of disbelief and a renewed appreciation of what is good and beautiful in the world.Here’s what I know 🙂
Yes, there’s terrible things going on in the world. We should never become jaded and complacent, and we should stand against these things and stand with those who suffer them…give – pray – act – whatever we find in our hands to do.
There’s also beauty. We can all bring light to our own spheres of influence. That may be by giving money or time. Where that’s beyond our means, we can still share a smile or a kind word… light always overcomes darkness.
The majority of people are still kind, and generous, and interesting, and often quite surprising!
I believe there is a God Who holds us securely, even if He still gives us enough room to mess things up…
I believe in Jesus, Who came to reconcile us to God, and the Holy Spirit, our comforter and guide. We are never alone, and never abandoned.

There is a thread of love and redemption that winds its way through the universe. It was there at the beginning, and will be there till the end.

Take a breath…
Grab hold…
and hang on!

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on November 10, 2016 at 6:54 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Faint Not - Jenny & Tyler

Take A Break (…And Dance!)

Just spent the morning watching a lesson on geology with the boys – informative, interesting, but veeery long! We had a break in the middle by watching this –

I’ve blogged about this bloke before – it’s a bit chaotic in this world at the moment, isn’t it? It’s nice to be reminded that we can still just take time, and dance together. 🙂

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on November 8, 2016 at 12:46 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Matt Harding

A Very Aussie Morning Tea

Went out to Urban Pantry with Hubby ❤ for morning tea…
Coffee/tea, with a lamington (filled with hazelnut cream) and an iced vovo slice (gluten free!)

The thistles received a visitor today 🙂

Why stick to one flower?

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Simple life...

on November 4, 2016 at 5:59 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Butterfly

In The Purple

The first thistle flower has opened properly! 🙂

Here’s another view…

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Thinking....

on November 2, 2016 at 5:32 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: thistle

Drawn To Art

I haven’t drawn anything for a long time – too busy, too picky… too scared? I don’t know – just haven’t got around to it. I think about it, and have various books/pencils etc dotted about.
We went into town today to participate in an event at the community gallery that was part of The Big Draw, which originated in the U.K. We joined in this year. The space was set up with various stations – still lifes to choose from, easels with paper and pastels, pencils or pens. I decided to dive in – I’m normally finicky, pencils or pen and ink, but thought I’d just let loose with a bit of colour…
Here’s the station I chose.

You can tell I’m rusty 🙂

Little Bean and Hubby played Exquisite Corpse, where different people do a section of a drawing without seeing the other sections, then hand it on to someone else to continue. They had lots of fun! There was also good food (chocolate and peanut butter brownies! 🙂 ) and coffee. All in all, a fun morning.
I did a pencil drawing, as well…

Perhaps today will inspire me to get the pencils a bit further than the case…

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Thinking....

on October 29, 2016 at 7:24 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: the big draw

The Language Of Coffee And Marshmallows

The end of another school week…
This is what Littlest Bean was doing yesterday –

He’s started going to a Homeschool gathering with four classes in the day – this was survival skills. Apparently marshmallows are necessary for survival 😉 They learned to build a fire yesterday…
He’s making new friends… and getting to try new things, such as drama. I get to enjoy seeing him enjoy himself!
I sit outside studying, and the coffee van comes in the morning. Got a hot chocolate yesterday – the cup was encouraging me. 🙂

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Homeschool

on October 28, 2016 at 7:56 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: marshmallows, survival skills

Thistle Work!

Ever had something just… creep up on you?

Here’s a proper thistle!
It’s been growing for a little while… I’ve been waiting for the flowers to open up into purple. It’s taking a while.
We probably should have uprooted it a long time ago, but it seems a shame to destroy such a fine specimen. We thought it might work as a deterrent for anyone wanting to sneak into our back yard…

It was only about waist high last time I looked at it. The recent rain seems to have given it a bit of a boost…
It’ll be interesting to see how high it grows. 🙂

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Thinking....

on October 25, 2016 at 6:49 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: thistle

An Evening Out

Here’s where we were this evening – the Twilight Markets at the Railway Workshops. It was lovely just having a hot chocolate, listening to live music (even though there wasn’t much live music…)