topped off by this

To complete our little holiday I handed over the little people to my parents and headed to a cooking class held by one of my most favourite bloggers, Amber from Mindfully Green.
Amber is one passionate human, passionate about eating well, being gentle to the planet, raising and loving awesome children and passionate about her love for her beautiful partner Fritz. She is also on a mission, a mission to gently educate and inform the masses, one workshop at a time, her workshops include everything from skin care, cheese making, the joys of fermentation to eating with the seasons.  It is always a delight to connect with people, but to find a spark in blogland and then witness as it quickly ignites to moments of mutual admiration and declarations of commonality and then affection, is not only pretty surreal but also totally wonderful.
So you can imagine my delight when I realised that one of Amber's Wholefood cooking classes coincided with my trip to the Coast, we would get to actually meet and eat together, whoa.
In the class we discussed warming winter meals and ingredients, marvelled at the wonders of turmeric (so amazing it even helps to heal cuts), shared wholefood journeys, waxed lyrical about the wonders of kombucha and looked at what steps can be taken to change the way in which the majority of people eat and view food, the environment and health. All this, whilst sipping tea and devouring a delicious red lentil soup, complete with grated beetroot, black sesame seeds and yoghurt and then savouring the warming delight of millet porridge.

But just quietly, my most favourite moment of the day was when I walked in the room and spied Amber talking to someone, she looked up, our eyes met, our grins widened and we quickly embraced, emerging from Blogworld into real world and realising that the connection that had been created in was real, tangible and more than a little special.

Oh and speaking about specialness in the form of blog friends coming to 'real' life, in a week or so we will be heading up north to Mullumbimby to catch up with the lovely Nikki again, oh I can't wait, there has been talk of a bonfire, multitudes of children, deliciousness and the mandatory overload of embraces. 

To connect and hold connection are both wonderful and at times very difficult things, but my heart does swell when I feel that bit of magic with special folk, folk to me, that hold intimacy dear and cherish the journeys that come along with the openness of the self. I admit to struggling and at times holding back in fear of hurt or judgement but then I can't resist, it is the beauty of life and in turn makes so much possible. 

Oh and for those couple of lovelies interested, I just added one extra photo to my last post, i couldn't resist, it is of the beautiful and oh so grown up Jenna, having a read and a snuggle with Poe and Ilo. 

away

With Scott busy on this, the kids and I decided to steal away to the Coast and Sydney for two weeks of quality catching up. Time spent with my parents was, as per usual, full of delight, sleep ins, snuggles, deliciousness and plenty of successful op shopping expeditions.
With our cups full of parent/grandparent love, we headed down the highway to Sydney for a week that was to be full of the perfect dose of quality time with our dear ones and a large number of delightful catch ups with nearly everyone on a very long list.
I particularly treasured the extended stay at Jen, Rod, Lily and Saul's, our family since Poe was 8 months old, the children have grown together and have beautifully maintained such a love filled and delightful connection. For Poe, Lily and Saul are his dearest pals, they know him and adore him and he feels totally safe to be the beautiful soul that he is with them. They spent six days playing and performing, games that were full of kindness, cuddles, cubbies, squeals of laughter, overflowing imagination and lots of singing. Needless to say (but I will anyway), it was wonderful and very, very special.
The sadness that Poe carried with him for the days after we left them was heartbreaking, but knowing the connection that they hold is just beautiful.

Other highlights, besides more op shopping success, included crazy games with Dom, tree climbing adventures with Lulu, Iris and Lenny, scrubbing a kitchen for my brother, a pre dinner catch up with a beautiful, old friend followed by a divine and intimate dinner with Jen here (thanks Omi), a delicious and entertaining dinner and 'show' with Sarah, Gary, Mira and Stella, a new house showing and play with Zoe, Arkie and Priya, fun and wonder at the Powerhouse and a sneaky playground play with Lisa and Otis. Phew.
The rest of our time in Sydney was spent next door to where we used to live, with our dear old neighbours and wonderful and dear friends, Vince, Remy, Jenna and Tracey. Everytime I think of them, I feel their embraces, their warmth and the ease in which we slot into their lives. They love us wholeheartedly and as we do them. Oh these friends who have become as close as really great family (not the average family, or the type of family you never talk to), our chosen family. Ah the love.

Sadly we didn't get to catch up with our dear Ruth, Cam, Edie and Oscar due to sickness, damn that sickness, getting in the way of some special lovin from these guys, oh well, next time.

A favourite moment occurred as we entered the craziness that is Sydney Park on school holidays, it was quite overwhelming. Poe, Ilo and Saul, tentatively slid down some slides, swung on a swing and spent a lot of time fixed to the ground staring at the teeming mass of little and big bodies raging all about. Looking at their faces, I suggested a little walk, as we distanced ourselves from the masses, their legs began to skip about, their smiles returned and their eyes darted about, allowing themselves the freedom to stretch their field of vision. Their eyes fixed firstly on a tree with plans to come back for a climb and then as we reached the top of a hill, I lost them, lost them to a tiny bit of bush, they disappeared beneath the foliage with squeals mentioning 'fairy houses' and 'kindling', I stopped and watched as they created and brainstormed, the perfect playground adventure.

As we drove through the city to Surry Hills to help my brother clean a house, Poe and Ilo stared out the windows, staring at taxis (there is but one lonely taxi in Bellingen), trams, police cars (not many of them either) and buses. Poe had a couple of interesting observations;  "Why are there so many cars with just one person in them?","Why don't all these people in cars go on buses?"and "Why are there so many overweight people in the city?", there were more, but my memory has buried them in a currently unretrievable hole. 

Sorry about the amazingly photo and name heavy post but I couldn't bear to leave any or anyone out. 

365 hankies

Bernadette and I first officially met and connected one day at my market stall, she told me about a project she had been working on, a project that was inspired by someone far far away and was started as a way of distracting her from the depression that had engulfed her as she headed towards 50 whilst suffering from debilitating arthritis. Bernadette had started on a 365 project, everyday for a year she committed to embroidering a hanky, obviously I heard the words 'embroidery' and 'hanky' and saw the electricity radiating from Bernadette and I was captivated. Bernadette, when I met her was so far from her days of agonising pain and depression, she just radiated passion and joy. Every kerchief was embroidered with intention, for a loved one, a moment, a memory, a thought. She started a blog and she facebooked and people grew around her, sharing the memorial of her father's death, the joy of the birth of a child, the humour of comic characters, the beauty of a simple tree.

Bernadette, photographed every hanky and then driven by such wonderful feedback decided to exhibit,  she hung hundred of hankies at Vintage Nest and on the first and following days watched as people smiled, pointed, delighted and engaged with pieces that she created. As I chat with Bernadette I realise the biggest thing she has gotten from this is connection, connection not only with the purpose and intention of each piece and the thoughts connected to them but connection with the hundreds of people who have been so moved by her work. Bernadette now dreams of celebrating her new zest for life by having a holiday in Italy, funded partly by handkerchiefs.

playing

Recently I was lucky enough to upgrade to a new camera (don't worry, my old one will continue to be used and well loved), it is such a delight, I love it, however I have been going through a bit of a process as I teach myself how to use it. Yes, I have taken some of what I know from my last camera,  but this is feels like a whole new game and it is daunting and frustrating but ultimately fun (once I get over my anxiety at not learning quickly enough, enough for what, I do not know). I have doubted my skills, felt extremely insecure and unworthy but now slowly I am feeling more comfortable with the camera, so much so, that when I used my old camera recently, I felt shocked by how strange it felt in my hands.
It has been really wonderful pushing myself a bit and having the opportunity to photograph so many people of late, playing with light, angles, moments.
I am looking forward to having a spin with the video function, it will be a wild but exciting ride. The quality is amazing, hopefully before too long there will be a spanking new filmclip to cast your eyes over.

These photos are of my yoga teacher and friend, Eva. We have visions of more shoots and more incredible positions in some of the ridiculously beautiful scapes we have at our immediate disposal.