with a little help

 On the weekend I had the Bellingen Monthly markets, they are great markets, really big, very relaxed full of delicious food, so many beautiful handmade bits, lots of stalls, a little not so babbling but very fun brook (especially for seed pod boat races) and a glorious amount of big trees that embrace the market. I love doing these markets, but I felt quite anxious about these upcoming markets, namely because my beautiful wingman was going to be away, yep Scott as The Mid North was playing and having a huge amount of fun at the Karuah Bluegrass Festival.
Which meant it was up to me to juggle two little ones, an early morning stall set up and obviously having a stall by myself all day, did I mention with two little ones. Given they do love playing in the little creek behind my stall but really, all day, hmmmmm. So I took a deep breath and I asked for help, first port of call was my awesome neighbour and beautiful friend Woo, 'yeah, no problem, of course' she offered to have them from the morning and feed them with a big pot of porridge of the stove , phew. Now I was covered til 10 (Ziggy was singing with the school choir at the Bellingen Show), so once again I reached out and asked Nicole if she could help, another very excited and positive response, phew (again). Nicole, Poe and Ilo had lots of fun at a park, a garage sale and at Jo's (our new rental, more about that later) a few books later they were back for a play with me and then back to Woo's again. Perfect, except for one thing, I had to keep leaving my stall to deposit my children in various places, this time the solution came to me in the form of Bell, ah the beautiful Bell, whom had already mentioned that she was going to do a stall, so we joined forces and before I knew it, I was surrounded and completely supported by these wonderful friends.
The day was a delight, the market was really good, Poe and Ilo had a ball, so did all my helpers. Once I made the leap and asked for help and then saw how happy and at ease Poe and Ilo were just made me feel so warm and relaxed.

Bell, doing some hooping in one of my dresses. So great and totally hot (we did a dress swap, so will post Bell's dress very soon, unfortunately I didn't get to hoop in it). Bell sells these hoops through her website, along with her beautiful pieces of clothing using recycled fabrics. Another amazing sewer who is not caught up with perfection but rather inspiration, individuality, form, beauty, passion and the environment, so inspiring. 

You may also recognise Bell as one of the owners of Wabi Sabi but unfortunately as of this Friday Wabi Sabi is no more. It was really lovely for Danielle and Bell to include us in the discussions about closing the shop, there was an idea that Cat (one of the other designers), myself and Bell could take it over but instead we decided to focus on the markets, our online stores and I also thought we could do a monthly pop up Wabi Sabi shop at the Workshop space, we are all really excited about these new and challenging ventures. 

After the markets, the Poe and Ilo hopped into the bike trailer and we headed over to the showgrounds to catch a bit of the Bellingen Show. Sadly most of the animals had retired for the day (we didn't get there til 4.30), the wood chopping had finished and the mongrel dog show was long gone but we did get to check out the petting zoo, the snake man (but only briefly, Poe isn't really that keen on checking out snakes or crocodiles for that matter) the 'crazy' of the rides, a few carni folk, and the fruit, vegetable and cake displays. We then hopped back on the bike and headed up to 5 Church St for cosy and delicious dinner (they have recently installed a combustion fireplace, so great, it's like it's been there forever). 

As we snuggled together on the lounge reading and eating, we enjoyed the beautiful voice of Liesel from the band Nick and Liesel, hailing from the Central Coast. I was introduced to this lovely duo a few years ago by my dear friend Robin and I was so excited to hear that they were coming to town, sadly we weren't able to stay for the full show due to our early morning start but we did enjoy the soundcheck. Ilo looking up from his food stopped and said 'Mumma, listen to that lovely sound', it was Liesel's voice. From what I hear, the night was a huge success, they sold out and were well loved.

On Sunday we headed up to Dorrigo for Thomas's party, I particularly enjoyed the impromptu bushwalk and then the sudden turn around as the little folk decided that it was too scary; the 'path' had ended and the waterfall that was rushing was getting closer.
So a full but lovely weekend, we all really missed Scott (I had forgotten what it's like to do some solo parenting, we share everything nowadays) and were so happy when he returned Sunday night. Unfortunately he returned to Poe on the lounge snuggling next to me with a swollen and blackened toe, he had dropped a whole brick on his toe when he was making a circus outside. Subsequently he has been crawling everywhere and only now hobbling about, it still looks totally painful and I can't wait for the toenail to come off to release some of the pressure. I have opted not to include any photos, too much information I feel.
What is it with us and feet? This past year we have seen a sewing needle, ukelele, bee sting and now brick foot injury. What does this mean? Is it as simple as, we need to wear shoes? I don't know.