Noticed little flowers springing up in the grass while I was out walking the other day. Even though it was a grey, overcast day these little beauties smiled cheerily at me…
…and these were peeking out from the fences.
Some days are greyer than others, but it brightens the heart to be greeted by colour and joy in unexpected places!
To add to that, I was also gifted with some Australian flowers from a friend’s farm – joy all round 😉
I was asked today whether I was enjoying having the boys home for the holidays… I was able to say that they’re home every day. I wouldn’t have it any other way. 🙂
This homeschooling journey has had its moments. One of my major fears when I first started was the loss of my “free” time, but having my beautiful boys around has been one of the highlights for me. I was reminded of that this morning… the boys come in most mornings to say Hi, and we have a bit of a chat. This morning, somehow, we got on to the old family stories – when they were babies, the funny things they did, some stories of when we were younger, even dipping into older tales… we had a lovely talk. It’s not just the chance to reminisce, but that they were so interested to hear family history. We had a laugh, and were able to reinforce the family dynamic, and how much we love them and are proud of them.
A great way to start the day!
We celebrated our 20th anniversary last week – that’s china, if you’re working to the old calendar…
…went away for the weekend, to start the next twenty with fun, memories, and each other.
The boys were being looked after elsewhere, so we were able to do whatever we wanted – in our case, that meant going away overnight. We stayed at a B and B in Spring Hill called Annies Shandon Inn on Friday night..
It’s been owned by the same family for a few generations, and has a cosy, homelike atmosphere. It’s easy to walk into town, so we went off to the markets at South Bank, then ate “dinner” at the beach there.
What more could you need if you have a plate of churros, with cream and chocolate sauce?
We slept well, then went to Tamborine Mountain the next morning… picked up some lovely cheeses and gorgeous fudge, then went to Nerang, to the Folk Festival that was happening that weekend.
We love live music, but rarely get the chance to listen to any. That afternoon/evening we were able to listen to band after band – all having fun, while playing great music.
The Round Mountain Girls were cheerful, mostly fast..
..with a few deep sentiments shared.
Quatro were a young string quartet, the last group we saw, and wonderful.
Coolgrass were a bluegrass/parody band, with an important message for the younger generation…
I haven’t heard instruments played so brilliantly (especially banjo’n’fiddle!) for a long time. It was the perfect end to a wonderful weekend. We drove back home after, and slept in, with breakfast in bed, the next day..
Next stop – Silver!
Ever had one of those days when you’re fed up with the world and everything in it? Today was one of those days (yesterday too, to some extent…) What to do? We had somewhere to be this morning, but this afternoon we left the boys to their own devices, then went back to bed with a stack of reading material, cups of tea, and a variety of chocolate biscuits.
This evening seems brighter…
We’ve watched The Voice – Kids the last couple of Sundays – I love to hear great voices, and get a bit teary at all the family hugs beforehand… where have all these kids with “old” voices come from, though? 9- or 11- or 13 – year-olds who sound at least 35…when did that happen? It’s worth checking it out just for the “wow” factor.
There’ve been other “old” singers online lately – everybody’s probably seen this one, but I’ll share it anyway. 🙂
Here’s a 7-year-old Norwegian girl (Angelina Jordan) singing Billie Holiday..
…and again, singing Nancy Sinatra (I gather Nancy’s version was a cover, as well – anyone know who sang the original?)
This is a clip from Britain’s Got Talent, and she’s an adult. She seems quite dotty, though – thought I’d finish with a cheery bit of talent!
Most weekends, our Saturdays are a either a time to catch up on reading and resting, or a time to catch up on various things undone during the week. Sometimes they are a varied mixture of both.
Today was the first day of the school holidays (yay!). There’s a Knot Fibre Festival going on in our town at the moment, so we went down to try our hand at the workshops (free!) today – there are more on next week, the details of which you can find here.
Today we made paper, weaved, knotted, and even tried a bit of knitting. That’s something I could never figure out in school, but I managed to get some basics today 🙂
Littlest bean and I did some papermaking while hubby tried his hand at macrame.
Littlest bean made white paper, with a starfish/sealife watermark. The paper was all made from cotton rag, blended with water. The watermark is made by attaching a wire design to the mesh of the mould and deckle, so the paper is thinner and shows the light.
I used a yellow pulp, with a flower design.
The green blob is a shell mould – the same paper is used, but compressed into the mould. I didn’t place the first pieces of paper in as well as I should, so my shell has a crease across the top.
I was most pleased with my “scarf” – a piece of finger knitting which is long enough to be a scarf, but not very wide. We weren’t sure of the best way to do this – I was trying to explain a page I’d found here, and not doing very well with my explanation. We ended up googling the page and following the instructions – easy, and rather addictive… it only took me around half an hour (possibly less) to make the above length. Looking forward to getting rainbow colours for the rainbow scarf 🙂
If you’re looking for something to do this week, check out the Knot Fibre Festival Textile Tasters. I’m hoping to try a few more…
Taking time out at the end of the week to admire balance, control, and a sense of stillness…
It’s been cold lately, hasn’t it? We’ve had to break out the woollies to wear around the house.
Unfortunately, that sometimes means a bit of a sniffle developing, for one or other of us. I’d had the day planned out today – a bit of language learning, a bit of history, some maths… one sweet bean spent the morning in bed, the other soldiered on for a while, enveloped in a dressing gown with a box of tissues to hand.
By lunch time, we’d decided to change course. We watched some TV shows I’d recorded previously – taking it easy, while still learning. We watched one episode of “Megacities”, about large cities (in this case London), their infrastructure and what goes on behind the scenes. The next show was Tony Robinson wandering around Cornwall, talking about history (“Walking Through History”).
I love the flexibility of homeschooling – even when we were wilting in place, we could still make ourselves comfortable and do some learning!
Even so – here’s to a sniffle-free tomorrow 🙂
A few weeks back, I received some perfume oils that I’d ordered from Etsy. It was a bit of a frivolous purchase, but I still had money left over from Christmas, and thought I would treat myself.
The vials are tiny (0.5ml), but you only need a little to go a long way! I searched my fandoms and found them at Marie DeMars’ Curious Things shop. Click on the name < to link through to the shop, and wear your own fandom out! 😉
I got a three vial sampler for Doctor Who and another for Sherlock…
Guess which is which!
The scents –
Doctor Who
Petrichor – The scent of rain on dry earth – one of my favourite scents in nature. This one is not as strong as some of the others, but I’ve enjoyed it on a couple of occasions where the day is overcast and gloomy.
Amelia – “Dark space, warm earth and smoky apples”. I love this one – it really “fits” me, somehow.
Corsair – Amber, coffee, eastern spices and honey. I’ve only tried this once – very nice. I love spicy scents, and you can’t go wrong with added coffee!
Sherlock
Moriarty – Lavender, mint and Earl Grey tea. I love this one! It’s easily my favourite. The fragrance lingers, and makes me happy. I would use it every day, but then it would run out more quickly. I’ll have to get some more then 😉
Sherlock – Sweet tobacco, copal, amber, jasmine. Copal and amber are resins used in varnishes for violins. I was a bit disappointed with this, at first – I felt that the tobacco was too strong. I’ve worn it a few times since, though. The tobacco is a little strong at first application, but sweetens as I wear it. It probably won’t be a signature scent for me, but good for certain moods.
The Woman – A mixture of different things – “floral, earthy, spicy and seductive” – on me, lovely and sweet 🙂
I also received a complimentary (yay!!) Colony solid lotion bar (honeysuckle, blood orange, copaiba balsam). Not highly scented on me, but nice as a hand cream.
So, my frivolous little purchase, there. I’m glad I took a chance, though. I’ve been reminded this year of the place fragrance holds in my life – it might not be absolutely essential – but it’s important. It can uplift on a grey day, trigger sweet memories, help calm when needed. It’s worth experimenting with different types – floral, spicy, earthy… sometimes, I prefer the ones that are considered more “masculine”. I’m not necessarily the floral type 🙂 Give me a proper rose oil, though, and I’m happy!
I like all the perfumes I have here, but some more than others. That’s mostly because they react differently with my skin – a perfume that smells wonderful on you won’t necessarily be wonderful on me – we’re all different. I like that these are essential oils in a seed oil. Alcohol based and synthetic perfumes make me feel ill, so I don’t tend to walk down certain aisles in the supermarket now.
Check out the shop link above ^. Try a new perfume in your life!
a bit of creativity, a bit of eco consciousness, a bit of inspiration.... hopefully not a lot of pompousness and blathering :D
i'm not entirely sure what's going on here... let's travel along and see...
