the old, the new

Over here we are in full laze about mode and it is wonderful. Yes, like the rest of the country we have been bound by the heat and have wonderfully been spending our days lazing under fans with books in our hands, fruit in bowls, an occasional sneaky movie and lots of ice and icy drinks. I love this enforced laziness. Poe and Ilo's swimming intensives for one hour each day, has been the only thing we have 'had' to do and it is brilliant, their confidence is growing and they/we are having so much fun. Peppered around the intensives have been eyerollingly delicious meals with friends (did somebody say curry night extravaganza), a smattering of op shopping and a very intimate Mid North gig at The Lodge and that's about it, ah happy days. I feel like I am in a really lovely holding pattern, waiting for the year to begin, but I would love to carry this through to the year. Looking ahead we already have a very busy year with Scott being pretty much booked out for the year as he works on three exciting new programs, so it will hold us in good stead to remember this calm and to take advantage of any downtime.

Here are the remaining photos from our Sydney trip, which includes a short but fun stopover with Gary, Sarah, Stella and Mira and then a few precious days with Jen, Rod, Lily and Saul, where we welcomed the New Year and farewelled the old year in a space full of love, understanding, delightful laughter and an amazing Thai inspired feast, thanks to Rod. It was perfect and yes a little emotional, but cleansing, affirming and safe.

 And to be extra sneaky, I am hurling you back to the deep, deep past, sorry to do this, you know especially as we have been sending our good riddance to 2012, but I had to include them, they were some pretty wonderful moments. So please forgive me and just think back. 
You may remember me mentioning that  Nadine and Sammy from the Foghorn Stringband were staying with us for a couple of nights and here they are, they were amazing, their voices, their skill as musicians, they were amazingly entertaining and a bit awe inspiring and to top it off they were really lovely. They are from Portland, Oregon (and yes for those readers out there that may be interested they do know The Decemberists, and as you would guess, they said they are really lovely) they spend most of their year touring around the world but we are hoping they come back for the Dorrigo Bluegrass Festival and so are they. Nadine's voice in particular is fantastic, she is from Quebec and has this raw, strong and passionate voice, she often sings in french and she just sounds so full on but so brilliant.
We have been really lucky to have had quite a few traveling musicians stay with us in 2012, we are definitely looking forward to more of the same in 2013.

The day after Nadine and Sammy I had my last market for 2012, which was great, I stayed with the white theme, which worked well but my highlight for the day was having the huge pleasure of sharing my stall with the very beautiful and extremely talented Nick Warfield. You can see each bird a bit closer here or you could even buy one, his pieces sell so quickly but I am sure he is open for commissions, he is so amazingly talented he makes me stare in wonder.



Thanks for sticking with me for this one, I promise from now on it's all about looking to the future or being in the now, or at least 2013.