the beginning

Before children and then for a while with children (but only on a part-time basis), I worked at Sydney University, within the Faculty of Arts doing such things as timetabling, result processing, handbook editing, career advising, internship organising and website maintenance. It definitely appealed to my structured and organised side and there was a bit of space for my creative side but I also knew that when I finished up at Sydney University I would be ready for something new.

Moving to Bellingen has introduced an openness to explore what I might like to do. And although I don't really know exactly what it may be I am really excited that I have the luxury of time (and the luxury of having a partner who already knows what he wants to do and does it really well) to sort things out.

I think I want to head in the direction of craft, but am so aware of the exceedingly high level of talent out there, my lack of skills with regards to sewing. You know things like machine sewing in straight lines, finishing off garments at a certain level through to working out patterns and all that kind of stuff - I can make things for myself, Poe and Ilo and an intimate few but really.... I also know how hard it is to make money from things you make (factoring time, materials and the creation of the idea). I do have a couple of ideas that I hope will work regardless of these boundaries but I guess only time will tell.

So with that in mind, my exciting and scary news is that a few weeks ago as I was pottering around in Wabi Sabi (a little shop in Bellingen that sells some really great handcrafted items from local designers) I happened to be wearing one of my headpieces that I make out of felt offcuts and Bella (one of the lovely people who run Wabi Sabi) expressed her love for the headpiece that I was wearing, we then got talking and she offered to have them in the shop (eek and yay). So I made up the following pieces and they really loved them, on the first day I think they sold three (albeit to Bella, another person who runs the shop and Amelia who runs the coffee shop across the way, but hey) I'm not actually sure whether they have sold any more since then but it has only been a couple of weeks. They take less than 20% commission which means they sell them for $22 and I get $18, which is awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

I just wanted to say that the first headpiece I sold was to the lovely Jessica from Newtown Community Chiropractic who commissioned one after seeing me wearing one every time I would take Ilo in for a session (it was Jessica who actually gave me the confidence and the idea that they could be sold).

Once I put these pieces into Wabi Sabi, Annie commissioned me to make one for her friend Louisa, normally Annie would handcraft something amazing but what with moving and all she asked me to create some amazing headpiece with a vegetable theme. As is the way with Annie and I, I had already been thinking along the fruit and veg theme (thinking back on the time I made felt fruit brooches for Christmas). I am really super happy with the headpiece.

My amazing and beautiful friend Ruth has also commissioned five pieces for Christmas. So it is a beginning and I am not sure how it will go or where I am headed but it is really exciting.

*thanks Jen, for the use of your beautiful head.xxxxx

no 5 Church St

click for a closer look

Since we arrived we have been walking past this building, nestled amongst other cafes it was cloaked mysteriously with heavy curtains, offering no clue as to what was inside. Then a week before Global Carnival a sign appeared in the window, "Open for Global Carnival", oh my goodness, I was pretty excited.

Now based on my excitement,  I should have been counting down the days and waiting anxiously at the door but I wasn't, I had guests to entertain. So you can imagine my surprise after stocking up on a bag full of goodies from Hearthfire for a picnic by the river, I should come across No. 5 Church St open and beckoning me. Oh I was tempted, but alas I had goods to deliver, I did manage to quickly step inside, glanced around and at the menu and made a promise to myself to come back the following day.

And we did and it definitely didn't disappoint. The venue is pretty stunning with it's large windows, high ceilings and light. For the weekend of Global Carnival they had a pretty simple but totally delicious menu, partnered with beverages such as honey lemonade (with paper straws no less), chai and locally brewed beer. 

Unfortunately it has closed for a few weeks while the owners pack up their things in Sydney and head our way, but I am really excited about early dinners there accompanied by an ale or two (for some people), either before or after a swim in the river (safety wise i would say before, but hey i'm not making the rules).

Now even though there isn't a dearth of fine cafes in Bellingen, I am really excited that this cafe sources all of it's produce from "local organic and ethically responsible growers, with a focus on fresh quality harvest, prepared with simplicity, creativity and inspiration". I mean, how good does "Urunga fish curry w/leafy salsa, lemon chili yoghurt and bush fruit chutney" sound. And they will also be using the space to do community stuff as well like gatherings, film screenings, art exhibitions and more. Now coming from Sydney where there is definitely a plethora of cafes, I feel like there really aren't many doing this kind of thing. How great that it is happening here. Oh and hot chips sidling alongside chickpeas and eggs, again do I need to mention the locally brewed ales and wines. Excited I am.

Happy Birthday Poe

photo by Cass

On the 25th September our beautiful Poe Poe turned five. We had the house decorated with a variety of bunting and a special birthday table set out for him. After opening a couple of greatly treasured gifts, we sent him and Lily out to the cubby house in the guise of collecting tea cups for the party (really to happen upon the bike we got him for his birthday). We peered around the corner as he went in, he saw the bike and went "What", but then diligently collected the tea cups with Lily and came out, closing the door behind him. Oh my goodness, with such earnestness he said: 

"Mum, there were only two teacups there"

I replied "Anything else?"

"A bike"

"Whose bike do you think it is?"

"I didn't know if it was mine or not". Oh sweet thing. 

Poe has been dreaming of a fairy party for a long time now, he was also very certain as to what he would wear, choosing his own fabric and design, adamant that it had to have soft, floaty silk like fabric and then the tuille (hence the faux silk/satin top, oh my goodness, he knew it was perfect upon sighting it in spotlight). He was also adamant and concerned that everyone he invites, has to wear a fairy dress. In fact he was so concerned he nearly didn't invite one friend as he was concerned his friend wouldn't have any sparkly fairy clothes, I assured him that his parents would make him something or he could borrow one of our many fairy outfits.

Scott made a wonderful treasure hunt that had the kids running through the house, around the fairy ring, to the letterbox, along the verandah, in the cubbyhouse, and then finally searching for a special tree complete with a little fairy door. Beautifully the tree with the fairy door had a wonderful scattering of blossoms carpeting the surrounding grass.

The cake was a chocolate cake (yes the traditional berry banana cake has been replaced) from Jude's Wholefood for Children , yes it used a whole lot of organic Maple Syrup but oh my goodness, it was amazing. The icing was cream dyed pink with beetroot juice, super delicious. Note the following very intent and highly amusing cake eating. Oh, I just realised that there have already been a couple of highly glamourous pictures of the beautiful Scott but with no mention of his highly attractive attire. Well a few weeks before the party we were sitting outside and Poe was planning outfits, I was to wear a brown dress with a red head band with cut out white circles and be a mushroom (unfortunately said brown dress i was thinking of wearing is still packed away in a box somewhere, hence the floral number that I ended up wearing with Poe's approval, I was also wearing a rather fetching and highly cumbersome pair of
wings). Poe asked Scott if he had some red pants, Scott replied he
could easily make some, so Poe decided he could be a pixie but would need holes in his pants as Pixies always have holes in pants. The fluro vest and crown, well I think it was a bit of impromptu styling by Poe on the morning of the party. The lace gloves that adorned Scott's hands (look closely) as he read "Fairy Houses" in the teepee, well hmmm, I think Scott was responsible for that touch.

Oh if you haven't read Fairy Houses by Tracy Kane, you should check it out, Poe loves that there are rules for building houses; only use things found in nature, don't use anything still living, etc. It is also wonderfully gender neutral, you can't actually tell whether it is a boy or girl on this adventure, which is totally awesome for everyone.


                           

The day ended the same way most party days end, slowly, gently, a touch crazy but in this case we also had a very special rainbow.

Sweet darling Poe, I can't quite believe that you are five already. What a light you are in our lives, we love your mind, your imagination, the way you work things out, your utter kindness, love and compassion.

I love watching you with Ilo, the utter and pure love you have for him. The hugs and kisses that you shower him in are halted only by Ilo, if you had your way you would be quite happy sitting and hugging him and kissing him for hours on end. I love the way Ilo's face lights up every morning as you come into our room. You are such a wonderful big brother and although you do get a little bossy at times  you are so patient with Ilo, so understanding. This afternoon as you were taking turns being the mumma and the baby, made me just stop, listen, adore and delight. I see myself in you sometimes as you take on a mother hen approach to Ilo, getting a little nervous if he is too close to a pool, a road, an edge, any situation that is potentially dangerous for little people you step up and put yourself in front of Ilo or voice your concern to me, and even then you don't relax until we are in a safer place. You also understand what Ilo says more than anyone and when you interpret you say it so matter-of-factly.

Your special friend Sophie has travelled with us overseas, accompanied and participated with your swimming lessons, been a long time daily and nightly companion. However just before we made the move to Bellingen, Sophie tragically went missing, we searched everywhere, made countless phone calls and then finally came to the conclusion that she must have stayed behind at a park somewhere. We were all very sad and definitely felt her absence. However when we came back to Sydney for a visit, our dear friend Edie found Sophie having an extended game of hide and seek with some of her special friends. We are so lucky to have Sophie back in our lives. I love that so much of our craft, our op shopping, our days involve Sophie. Even Ilo when told something is too small for him suggests Sophie as the next recipient of said garment.

You are a wonderfully sensitive little person, you delight in nature, the wonder of the real and the fantastic. You have and use intuition, you are aware of your feelings and it is amazing and so great to see you naming and being in touch with your feelings and others at this early stage of your life.

performing Slumber Lake with Olive

always so much fun with Edie

Your dear, dear friends; Edie, Olive, Jenna, Saul, Harriet, Lily and Lulu. How I have enjoyed seeing your relationships grow; seeing you, Olive, Edie walking along, holding hands and chatting is a thing of pure beauty. The ease of these relationships inspire and delight you. And although we are all so much further away, we will do all we can to enable you all also grow up together. 

You also have two very special adult friends, Peeba (my mum, your grandma) and Dom. They both adore you and always have so much time and energy for you. To see them look at you with pure delight and love is so wonderful. You and Peeba spend lots of time reading and creating/crafting. You and Dom often spend the time in stitches, your humour is so similar. I know you adore both of them so and feel so nourished after spending time with them. 

You have a marvellous sense of humour and when you laugh and laugh and laugh, rolling around on the floor it is purely infectious. I love your imagined scenarios; when this happens, this will happen and then the people will say "What". Humour in the obscure.

Darling Poe Poe, I love that you know who you are. I love that you are indignant and confused by prejudices in society, particularly with regards to gender stereotypes, environmental vandalism, littering, healthy eating, organic food vs food sprayed with pesticides and gentle parenting.

Happy Birthday wonderful Poe, we love you so.

(what a massive post, very tired now and have not bothered to proof read, very sorry, but not sorry enough to read through)

more beautiful friends

Okay time for a quick exhale...........

Tonight we are "friendless" for the first time in two and a half weeks. It has been oh so lovely but it is also so great to be sitting here just with Scott. Today was a slow day, ahem, well Scott did work all day, but Poe, Ilo and I eased into the day, headed to the library and then spent a while in Vintage Espresso, reading, drinking and watching the world. We then spent the rest of the day crafting, I made two skirts for myself, whilst Ilo created with play dough and Poe experimented with water colours.

But now to catching up on the last couple of weeks. When Jen, Rod, Lily and Saul arrived they were greeted with a bit of a whirlwind greeting and haphazard but totally delicious pizza night as we were in a rush to head up to the Lodge, Scott was playing an early set and we finally had a chance to see him without having to rush off to put the little ones to bed.

It was so lovely, not only was Scott great but the kids were so delighted to be out at night, for most of the set they sat mesmerised until the last song (one which was very upbeat) which inspired them to dance around in front of our table with huge grins on their faces. After some tasty treats, we scuttled back home with a sleeping Ilo on my shoulder, excited to settle in with dear friends in our new home.

Luckily our fortnightly markets were on and the kids had a ball running about with various friends of Poe's from kindy, enjoying the spring celebrations and the crazily delicious creamy mushrooms on sourdough, actually Ilo managed to eat the largest proportion of these, he is mushroom mad.

Our pre-birthday sweatshop, creating a fairy dress, pixie pants, floating fairies and heart rocks in preparation for Poe's fifth birthday celebrations.

So wonderful having these special friends here to celebrate with Poe.

Despite our intentions to keep games at dinnertime to a minimum, Scott had everyone at the table in stitches on a regular basis. As you can see Saul is absolutely enthralled, so enthralled he can't quite believe what he is seeing.  Scott was implementing that age old ploy, you know the one where the adult pretends to get ready to eat the spoonful of food but then the clever and cunning child manages to eat the spoonful whist the adult is distracted and then the adult is absolutely distraught when they discover their food has disappeared.
It is so wonderful seeing the way Scott has changed since our move, having more available time makes everything easier, more relaxed, not that Scott hasn't always been relaxed and easy, but now it's like never before. I guess finally we are living our dream, everything has slowed down and it's working. Pretty sweet.

we have quite the collection of wheels

It was a seemingly pleasant day, we had spent the day doing a variety of things and decided to set off to the Lodge for a chai. There we were enjoying the relaxed environment until out of nowhere came a huge black cloud and a downpour of rain. Before we could make it up the street the wind came a howling, branches were falling, leaves scattered everywhere, it all felt very exciting. Ilo and I quickly made a run for Kombu as the others headed for home but as we were heading towards the door, we were turned away, "sorry blackout we can't serve you". By this time we had been warned by a toothless person running by that a storm was coming, they'd seen it coming in from Coffs. We quickly ran home, catching up with the others who had stopped to check out a sizeable branch that had fallen. Getting home however (we are 200 metres from Kombu, this journey was not a lengthy one) the sky had suddenly cleared and it was blue and even sunny.

Nevertheless we were blacked out, we searched for candles, prepared the fire and realised we didn't have much to eat, oh but what a treat to just make do. We toasted bread on the fire, heated tempeh bolognaise in a saucepan on the fire and ate lots of crackers and cheese. As dark fell we had the blinds up in the loungeroom so we could fully appreciate the darkness in town.

Could you imagine how excited the kids were. To highlight the awesomeness of this experience, the kids had also spent the week reading "Little House in the Big Woods", and not just reading they had been playing this for the past few days but this took it to the next level. The power was out til about 10.30, plenty of time to eat chocolate, drink wine and listen to Scott play guitar by candlelight. Blackouts remind me very much of my childhood, growing up in a semi-rural area guaranteed most storms to be accompanied by a blackout; trees bringing down wires a common culprit.

Yes, more river shots,  no visit to Bellingen is complete without a visit. It was especially great for us to see a bit of floating action happening, see inflatable inner tubes, pretty cool (will need to check any health risks of said inner tube before rushing out and purchasing one for everyone member of the family).

Ah the love, Ily, Ily

Scott had the awesome idea of setting up some mikes and recording the kids, to put it mildly they were totally awestruck and took it all very, very seriously. There was a load of instrumental tracks which included mandolin, glockenspiel, piano, guitars, ukelele and drums. They also did a couple of vocal tracks and had ended up with their very own cds.

There has been a lot of music this past week, Lily has been enjoying experimenting with the piano, Saul was enthralled as he held a violin for the first time and had a little play, Scott created lots of tunes of his own and rarely did an afternoon go past without some impromptu percussion session. Ilo has been extending his love for a variety of instruments creating double basses out of any guitar or a ukelele to a fiddle, banjo or mandolin.

Experimenting with space at the skate park.

On their final day we headed down to the river and watched these six women from Vanuatu create the most amazing percussion with the water. The sounds that they created were fascinating, deep whooping noises partnered with slaps and claps. What made it even more impressing (and it was totally impressing) was the fact that not only was it freezing in the water, not only did their outfits not slip despite the vigorous movements but it is also really hard to walk in the water on account of the stones in the river and they managed magnificently with barely a grimace.
Just to clarify, this doesn't happen every week, this was part of the Global Music Carnival which was held in Bellingen that weekend. Yes this doesn't happen every week, but something does happen every week here, in the next few weeks there will be the Dorrigo Bluegrass Festival, where Scott is playing, the Bellingen River Festival, Kalang Festival and a Local Food Film Festival. But have no fear, we do have some downtime before then and really it is all pretty relaxed anyway.