a different view

15th April, 2009

I've been taking some time out from this space. Some forced & some chosen.

A need to make time in my life for some other things. 

I feel like I need to gather supplies for the Winter & withdraw into my cozy abode.

I equally like the new space & miss this old space.

Again my challenge is all about learning the art of balance.

And also allowing myself to let go every now & again.

To check the view out from a different angle.

Needle Felted Dolls

Having a week of terrible brain fade.

Could anybody please remind me who the gorgeous Australian blogger is who makes those divine needle felted nature dolls. 

I recall an apple maiden, a spring faery... if you know please leave me a comment with her name. 

Thanks ever so much.

x Jules

all's apples

18th February, 2009

"LOOK MAMA LOOK!

da ap's a weady"

lots of fuzz

3rd March, 2009

I've cut Milo's hair pretty short since he was a wee bub... an old wives tale of 'thickening' up his locks. Not sure if it's true or not but he's pretty cute with a short fuzzy do.

Then I thought we'd try something different. I thought that with enough time, enough length, maybe he'd have a little curl. Like his mama.....

Umm.... nope! 

After almost a year there's lots of fuzz, lots of length, 

more comparisons between father & son, but no curl.

So, a little 'style'. 

Not as short as usual, but a happy medium between the two.

Super cute. 

Don't you think?

to be in the moment

12th March, 2009

Hi ho hi ho it's off to work we go....

Just like dada, he wore a belt & a tie & a watch & 

..... not so much like dada, a hat & no pants!

"bye bye mama, i'n goin to work"

cruisin'

24th February, 2009

All together now..... 

..... awwwww                        

  

 How sweet she was. Another 3rd child. Blissfull. 

They do get cruisier each time I'm told ~ is it them or us I wonder?                     

love love love, all you need is love

14th February, 2009

9 years & 11 months ago I fell in love. 

I fell with caution, with hesitation, with a little self loathing even & with absolutely no ability to slow it down or to smother the effect. 

I tried, so hard, to talk myself out of it. To 'rationalise'. 

We both did.

We talked about how the timing was poor, how the circumstances were difficult. How we were both enjoying other things in life, how a 'relationship' would get in the way.

How naive we were, to think we could influence the power of love.

And so almost 10 years later, I have such respect for that love that knew better than our youthful illusions. And I am eternally grateful for the music that brought us together in the beginning. 

And also that music still has such a powerful place in our home, in our lives & in our hearts.

The Thin Green Line 

Music Festival

2009

(taken by my 2.5 year old prodigy) 

Mia Dyson

(who we first saw as an awkward teenager at the 

Queenscliff Music Festival in 2002, we have been fans ever since)

Xavier Rudd

(The most amazing energy emanates from this man.

Never have I seen such stage presence commanded with such calmness)

If found please call 04__ ___ ___

Love Love Love, all you need is Love

My prodigy in action

(Thanks ever so much to the kind stranger who emailed me this pic)

His pic of his Mama

teenage photography melbourne

19th February, 2009

What I've ben doing this month (installment four).....

Learning that once you unlock the language barrier, teenagers aren't scary at all.

children's photography melbourne

12th February, 2009

What I've been doing this month (installment three).....

Chasing faeries through the garden

melbourne newborn photographer

8th February, 2009

What I've been doing this month (installment two).......

Remembering those newborn moments & marveling about how women manage it the third time around.

beach family photography

1st February, 2009

What I've been doing this month (installment one)......

Hanging out with the world's cruisiest family on record breaking Melbourne days.

here is me

6th January, 2009

Here is the sea, the wavy sea,

Here is the boat, 

and here is me.

All little fishes, way down below,

Wiggle their tails and away they go.

I love it when I see his play develop directly from the stories we tell or the songs we sing. It reminds me how sensitive our little ones are to what they see in the world. How a news flash on the tv can have such a huge impact on developing minds & emotions. How a story book written to 'dispel' night time fears can actually create them. How the way we talk about friends, family, the wider world is actually moulding his own perceptions of humanity.

Steiner talks about developing in children a sense of reverence. This is one area I hope to honour more eloquently this year.

this is what cute looks like

18th February, 2009

"I love mama" 

                   was what I told him to say as I pointed the lens in his direction...

... and love mama was exactly what he did.

ps ~ I am still here, 

               lost somewhere under piles of work & play & surprises & adventure 

          hoping to find my way back real soon, with loads of good tales to tell

thingy things

6th February, 2009

Thanks for letting me mope about the heat last Friday. I tell the truth when I say after writing that post I did feel so much better. Like you had all heard me & nodded in agreement. It was such a nice feeling.

So there is a 'thing' getting around on FB. I have been 'tagged' numerous times to write '25 random things' about myself. I'm not so keen on the whole FB thingy but this one sucked me in. So finally I did it & here it is....

1 * My spirit guide is a mermaid ~ of course. What else would you expect? 

Her name is Anabelle & when we first met she told me "I know you won't like my name but that is what it is" and I knew then that she had a lot to teach me.

2 * I hold a Steiner playgroup in my home each week.

3 * My favourite flowers are daisies... and lisianthus... and sunflowers... and crazy horse roses

4  * My first child was posterior. I danced the labour dance with him all night long in my home as my man held us strong. In the morning as the sun rose & the magpies sang I birthed him into a warm pool of water. He had not turned. It is an evening I shall never forget & always cherish.

5 * I have an absurd physical fear of tupperware.

6 * I have a serious dislike for technology. If I could 'unplug' & still create, communicate & connect, I would. Permanently. 

7 * I keep an online journal. Yes a blog. It's called mermaid dreaming. {der}

8 * My life is a serious of contradictions.

9 * I plan to live overseas this lifetime. I will learn a second language.

10 * I don't iron. Ever

11 * I am the eldest of four sisters.

12 * I dance with faeries. Especially when the wind is strong.

13 * My heart aches for a boy who turns seven this month whom I will likely never hold again.

14 * I love to bake but not cook.

15 * I am in love. Madly, truly, deeply.

16 * I bite my nails when I'm nervous.

17 * I only clean with water, bicarb soda, vinegar & eucalyptus oil.

18 * When I entered a Sacred Women's Circle, my life changed forever.

19 * I hate talking on the telephone.

20 * I've not eaten meat for 19 years & 1 month.

21 * I respect Mother Earth and all of her children. I walk lightly on her back & her belly & her bosom & I walk with love.

22 * At almost 27 years of age I finally had the courage and belief to follow my passion into the world of paid art. I've never looked back.

23 * My heart is lighter, warmer, brighter each time I lay eyes on my child.

24 * I settled in, not down & I'm so glad.

25 * I see daily the power of mind over matter.

belly ties

6th March, 2007

Almost 9 months old! 

In 10 days little M will have spent more time out of my belly than in it.

This feels like such a huge milestone. I feel a tug, a space, a loss? This wee one keeps on growing, taking those tiny steps away from me further into the world. He is so very confident & inquisitive & fearless. 

He crawls away at great speed to explore & to play. Especially when other children are about. At home he wants to be right by my side, needing me in his sight & in his reach but when we're out. And when I'm relaxed & having fun... well, I have to keep him in my sight then.

I remember especially sunny afternoons on the lawn at Kathy's home for the monthly AP get together. Other children M's age or older even staying close by their Mama's. They wander away to a distance of about 2 metres but then 'bounce' right back. Little M's bungy cord was at least 8 metres or more. I was always watching so that he didn't topple over the drop down in the garden.

I love to watch him play in the garden, 

we look at the flowers & find bugs together. 

It's gladdens my heart no end to see his love for nature blossom.

thumper

19th December, 2007

Look Mama ~ New Boots :)

(in phone camera)

gelati promise

30th January, 2009

It's hot. . . .    .  .  and I'm sticky.

Over 40 degrees for four days in a row. No relief in sight.

The little one has endured an endless cycle of bad children's television, burning car seat buckles, flouresent lights & zombie crowds as we too seek refuge in the shopping centres we try so hard to avoid all year. Scratchy sand, sticky skin, crunchy sand coated snacks, exhaustion & then despair at the end of the day. 

Thankfully he sleeps well at night.

We are both tired, we are both over it. 

I have not picked up my camera 'to play' in a week. I miss it but it feels so heavy & cumbersome. I wish to be light, like a feather. I wish for the breeze to be through me. I wish to float on an endless ocean. I feel so heavy.

A morning swim with the horses today lifted our spirits for a while. Then the sun rose higher, the wind picked up & you guessed it ~ hot buckles, abc kids & later today more zombi crowds.

Our Sweet P will soon be home for the weekend and has promised to take us for gelati this afternoon. It feels good knowing.    

he sings to the sea

12th December, 2008

He sings to the sea, and she playfully kisses his toes. 

He giggles and throws a stick to her, she caresses it, slowly, taking in it's beauty then returns it softly to his feet.

He sings to her, and she playfully kisses his toes....

He is mesmerised. As I have been for so many years before. 

He stands, he sways ever so slightly, moving with her rhythm, feeling the pull, the beckon, her call. I wonder how he will respond, what will her song call from him. When?

I feel blessed, again. There is something of me in this child. Or perhaps there is simply something of the ocean in us both.

It delights me beyond description, and teases me with the fear of letting him go, into the waves, into her embrace, into her power. 

And I have to trust & be glad for another season of paddling in the shallows.

 

all shook up... wohoho

15th January, 2009

You know how life just   happens    .

How the sun rises & then sets again & the moon waxes & wanes & how the earth turns and you don't really even notice. You think about the shopping list or how you should exercise more or how your child doesn't fit any of his clothes all of a sudden. And life just    happens   around you.

Do you know?

And then something wakes you up, shakes you, reminds you. 

That life is in the now. 

That it's not somewhere we get to when we have the right car or education or life experience. 

It's now. Today, me typing these words. Me smiling at him or grumbling about sweeping up. This is it. 

Well I can't really say what it was that shook me this time.

Maybe boho girls description that led me to this album.

Maybe it was my boys close shave with a heavy sheet of glass & some cold hard tiles that lead us to the ocean for a swim in the 'big waves' & 'big wind' on a ridiculously cold afternoon.

Maybe it was Amber who led me to contemplate how quickly things can change.

Maybe it was the giant bunch of sunflowers my boys bought home 'just because'.

Maybe it's a lot of things.

I can't really say what, but I'm so grateful for the new perspective.

ticking boxes

9th January, 2009

I've been a coffee drinker for a  v e r y   l o n g  time.

I was that student who couldn't put pen to paper without her 'hit' - morning, mid morning, late morning, lunch, you get the picture. 

Well that habit was left on campus, but I do still love my daily ritual with a steaming hot cup just slightly burning my fingers.... yes, mmm, yes I do.

It makes me warm & fuzzy when I think about that ritual. I don't cope without it.

So. My point? 

Teeth.

The yellowed teeth of coffee drinkers. I don't want to use nasty chemical whiteners & no matter how hard I wanted to believe bi-carb soda would remove the stains ! it really didn't.

So I just kind of got over it & learnt to accept that part of myself along with the other bits you learn to love or ignore.

Which is why I am so pleased that I found this toothpaste. 

After about a month of using this I thought my teeth looked a little whiter. After another month & I'm certain of it. I don't know why. It's all natural & organic. The minty taste is not the best but it's not yucky. Miles likes it. Even Sweet P said it wasn't bad.

So, just a little oral hygiene tip from me to you! Cause I love a good product & it ticks all of my boxes.

x

immersed

8th January, 2009

Christmas lovin' that keeps on givin'.

So much love & gratitude to all for your generosity, your kindness & your friendship.

x J,P & M         

(m ~ otherwise known as 'water faerie' and often found draped in a blue playsilk swimming in the 'river')