feeling it

Busy is a strange word, I am getting rather tired of bandying it around, it seems like such a throw away word, a word with little substance. So I have been exploring alternatives and feel that 'full' seems to work for me at the moment, so let's go with that. The fullness that I am feeling is rooted deep, it is connecting me, us, to this place more than ever before. It is strengthening our hearts and widening our smiles. In the past week we have been able to draw on those around us, simply by accepting offers. 

Amidst a week of frenzy as we try to finish the Rosewood filmclip; coordinating and filming over 20 people in the woods, dancing as the light fades, then attending an autumn festival and most importantly managing rehearsals, finalising costumes, decorations, jar cleaning, beard making and log painting for the upcoming O'Brother where Art Thou show, Scott manages to put his back out and is then forced into bed for three whole days. Yes, yes we acknowledged that this was the universe with a megaphone asking, nay, shouting at him to rest (he has been battling with insomnia for the past month or so, and yes, the relationship between that and his back has been noted), so he obeyed, grateful that it was last week, not this week and grateful that Mike Compton had not yet arrived. 

He rested, but he did not rest alone, he rested with an overwhelming amount of support. One day we had Cath with her massage table and magic hands, David with his acupuncture needles and Mary-Anne with her TENS machine, all appear at our door, wanting to help, wanting to alleviate the obvious pain Scott was in. Another day we had one person doing an errand for us in Coffs Harbour, one brilliant yoga teacher happening by and sharing some vitally important strengthening exercises, and countless calls of love, support and offers of assistance at every turn. We even had two, extraordinary humans get a bit crafty by making Scott a surprise present and a very special card filled with love and an interesting form of humour. 

The joy and delight that I saw in Scott's eyes as he accepted and embraced all these offers of love, was so touchingly beautiful, to see his 'cup' being filled by all these dear, dear friends, hmmm, I can't even think of the words to use that could come close to explaining how I felt. 

Wonderfully we were also lucky enough to have my mum here with us, caring for Poe and Ilo as I zipped off to do some filming here and there, trying to catch the perfect light, cooking meals when we had too many balls in the air and most awesomely, being so delightfully easy and nourishing to be around. We couldn't have achieved so much, so easily, without her here during this past week. 

And then, as we head towards the O'Brother show (which was last night, oh my goodness, so much to tell, but that is for another post, sorry), we were once again slathered in offers of help. And not just offers, because, really we all know how easy it is to 'offer' but we were showered in forceful, foot in the door assistance. This has been such a heart warming and amazing experience, this town, these friends, they have blown us away.

 A couple of stills from the upcoming Rosewood filmclip. Personally, I am more than a little excited, I can't wait for you all to see it.

Hope you all have a lovely little Easter break, I am looking forward to a curry night, a planning session with Leisa, time on the lounge with my lovely and a day at Bluesfest with five dear friends, whoot. 

bellopy markets

This is our newest little market in town, it appears every second Friday, has about 16 stalls, is run by an enthusiastic, passionate and awesome human, Sus and is everything you could want in a market. Yes, it is another growers market but the intentions behind it are as pure as pure can be, it is run with the Humane Choice ethos of farming in mind; giving the highest respect for animals and the land. Sus is very thorough with her choice of stalls, knowing the farmers, knowing their hearts and supporting their truly sustainable practices. All farmers come from around Bellingen, with the furthest being 3 hours from Bellingen.
I enjoy the vibrancy of the market, the ability to get nearly everything you need here from raw honey, Marrook Farm cheese and yoghurts, Dorrigo plums and apples, seasonal vegetables, local organic sourdough breads and delights, happy, organic, humanely raised meats, soon to come local sustainable fresh fish, happy eggs, locally picked spray free posies of flowers, herbs galore, roll-your-owns, steamed buns and fresh juices.
After visiting growers markets for years, both here and in Sydney, I have learnt that 'organic' labelling can sometimes be misleading as some farmers might be certified for growing an organic item but then sometimes sell other items under the banner of organic farming through to the sometimes wishy washy labelling.
The Bellopy markets are little but are, to me,  perfect, you can feel the love and enthusiasm of the organisers and the farmers, selling such beautiful produce with heart.

these parts

Intentions of regular blog updates seem to have slipped out the door as I find myself here again nearly a week since my last entry, surely it was only a day or two ago, no? Sorry for kind of neglecting, life is full and my mind, heart and hands have been busy elsewhere, but you are in my thoughts.

On Wednesday, Scott and I travelled 18kms into Kalang to Tim's cabin to have another go at the 'Pot Of Honey' filmclip. I don't think we could have paid a prop stylist enough to get the look that Tim has achieved after being in his cabin for 20 years, it is rich, intriguing and so wonderfully beautiful. Tim, was welcoming and open and shared his space effortlessly, it was easy to work in his space as he stepped back content to be zapping away at the swarms of midges, whilst sewing a King of the Pixies coat.
Here is the filmclip, we are really happy with it, hope you like it.


Today we will start filming Rosewood, which should hopefully be able to be done quite quickly. Hmm. That's the plan anyway.
Now, even though I have been incredibly slack around these parts, I have had you in my mind as I have planned couple of posts to come, one on a new local organic market in town, which I am quite smitten by and the other, the opening of the new best shop in town, Kaleidoscope Vintage, by those beautiful folk Ben and Leisa. Now I don't mean to build you up and then disappoint but photos of the opening will have been severely censored, by the time they appear here, I won't say much more than that other than, yes, the tables may or may not have been danced upon, let's just say the shop has been well and truly warmed.

snaps and clips

1-9. Shots of the film clip Peter is filming for Vic Manuel, a local, and extremely talented musician, whom Scott has been recording. This song in particular 'Love is a Terrible Thing' has this wonderful and rich Leonard Cohen vibe, it is brilliant. I really enjoyed the process of hearing/seeing Scott's vision for the clip and seeing it come to fruition, it looked spectacular, especially with those rich red velvet curtains, Vic's make up and beautiful lighting. A fun day, made all the more special with a few locals making guest appearances. 

10. Poe with the blackboard that he made and the chalk that he bought,  he is so delighted to have these things so he can further delve into the world of playing schools. 

11-12. Ilo is an old hand on stage but this was Poe's debut. He has been busy practicing the few chords he has been taught  (the few chords that pretty much cover 90% of Bluegrass songs mind you) and felt that he was finally ready to get up on stage and play.  He was such a delight to watch, he hung back, he smiled little smiles and later he expressed how nervous he was but how much he enjoyed playing. 

13-16. Stills from a day taking shots and filming for The Mid North's song, Pot of Honey (yes, we did just happen upon that beehive, pretty great, yes). Again a fun day but unfortunately when we looked back at the footage we found that basically it was kind of crap. The idea, just a bit too earnest. Hmm, plan B hopefully commences on Wednesday. 

17. A hand, a dress, a wall. A couple of new items have managed, somehow, to find their way onto my Blue Caravan shop, prompted only by a few flutterings of sales, thanks lovely ones, thanks for forcing me to update the shop. Granted there are a few new shots there but it was slightly rushed, hmm note to self, but put a but more effort into this venture. All in good time. 

Yesterday afternoon Poe, Scott and Ilo were playing eye-spy. It was Poe's go and he spied something beginning with 'L' that was everywhere in our home but you couldn't see it. Everyone guessed for a long time but nobody got it. 

Finally Poe gave the answer 'It's Love'.

a vintage delight

As a seriously long time lover of op shops and all things vintage and preloved, something I hold high on my list of 'wonderful things to do' is digging/trawling through piles and piles of vintage clothing. It delights me, pure and simple, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy and all smiley. So you can imagine my joy when we were casually offered, by our new dear friends Ben and Leisa, to help sort out some of their pallet of European and American vintage clothing that they just received for their new shop. Uh, wooohooo, 'yeah okay'.  Ben and Leisa, well namely Leisa, once owned a little vintage clothing shop on the Central Coast called Pumpanickle Vintage and now, lucky us, they have not only moved across the road but they are opening up the, soon to be second, vintage clothing shop in town, Kaleidoscope. Let me just say, there are a lot of excited people about town at the moment. And soon, as a town we will be sporting quite an array of totally awesome vintage gear from onesies, caftans, mexican tops and Tirol dresses (busty yodelling dresses) to cowboy boots and awesome retro shirts. Oh yeah, tourists may just get the impression that they have somehow been weirdly transported back in time (note to self, must organise some kind of main street vintage flash mob dance sequence, to really freak them out).

The shop, as of yesterday was starting to look like a real and very beautiful shop, as we started to sort and hang clothes, admire little details and have our eyes glaze over at the beauty of it all. Ben and Leisa have both put in such an amazing effort with so much lightness and joy. These two folk are very impressive humans and Bellingen is very lucky to have them. I have been honoured to watch as they affectionately and easily joke and delight in each others company and watch as potentially stressful situations simply fail to arrive. And guess what, as if all that isn't enough but they are parents to two equally awesome humans and when I say 'parents' these people exude so much love and respect for their children, as parents they dazzle. Yeah, they do make you feel vaguely inferior at times but then you get too caught up in laughing with them that you soon forget about those green tinged feelings.
Here is a little sneak peek but there will be more snaps to come. And for those who don't live in Bellingen and might be feeling a little left out, have no fear they will be selling online as well.

Here are a couple of shots from the second shoot we did at Vintage Nest for The Mid North, unfortunately we only had less than an hour to shoot Scott, Scott and Cath and then the whole band, whilst trying to unsuccessfully manage a three year old who was snotty and not feeling great and wanting lots of attention before the band scooted off for sound check. Yes, need to think more about doing things in the spur of the moment.  Needless to say, despite positive feedback from the publicist, I wasn't as happy with this shoot. Hmmm. Third time lucky?