March 31st

 I am so, so grateful for technology today!

More specifically Skype.

This brilliant little piece of software engineering enabled me to have face-to-face conversations with three people in my family today!  I could not be more excited about this evolution in our communication.

I know it's been around for a while, but I've remained a little old fashioned about the whole thing.  Heavens knows why!  My younger sister actually initiated my involvement - basically by just saying "Get yourself a Skype account, I'm calling you this afternoon".  And that was that!

And Sunday night we'll use it again - this time so Lucy and her Grandpappy and Grandy in NZ can see each other again (without having to spend two thousand dollars to do it).  Wonderful, wonderful stuff!

March 30th

A relaxing day of togetherness today.

Ben had fun turning my skeins into balls while I was at yoga (yep midway through my second week without missing one planned class yet!)

Went shoe fitting for a pair of these babies!

Found this scrumptious book in the store next door *melt*

Got a parking ticket for $119.00 because we don't know how to read signs properly.  Loading zone?  What, now?  Really?  Oh shit!  Funny thing is though, we were in the shoe shop getting fitted for half an hour, but it wasn't until we made an unscheduled pedestrian stop in the store next door that we received the ticket!  Ben actually saw her stick it to the window as we exited the store.  Oh well.  Luckily we found our shoes on line for less than half the store price... that covers the parking ticket and then some! *laugh*

Then Ben had a very exciting meeting with some groovy cats, while I sat in the car and crocheted about seven or so granny circles.  I'm up to 12 now!

 

I was thinking I would make it five squares squared and see how big that gets it to.  It's a lap blanket, as opposed to a bed blanket.

Oh and we found this!

I love it.

 

A little ladder of rainbow sunshine in my kitchen.  It makes me smile every time I look at it *smile*.

How was your Wednesday?

March 29th

Today is our last day with Pat.
So work went by the wayside and we spent the afternoon chatting, drinking tea and craftin'.  My relationship with Pat is so easy, effortless.  I find this such a blessing.  We find ourselves constantly delving into interesting and thought-provoking conversation (Pat's had - and still maintains - a very fascinating life!) and often have the other laughing out loud.  I thoroughly enjoy this woman's company.

This is my current work station.  A fabulous mixture of craft, refreshment and my access tool to my inner sanctum and the outside world.  Just thought I'd share, cos it looks quite funny to me!

A good friend at my previous work used to affectionately needle me about my yarn activity obsession on a regular basis.  She would walk into the lunch room and see me perched on the couch, current project in my lap and needles or a hook in hand and stop dead in her tracks.  She would look at me with the full body dramatics that only a gorgeous, voluptuous Greek woman can and holler across the room at me "Hey Nanna!  What are you making now?"

I often told her I was crocheting her a string bikini, or a pair of nipple warmers - to which she would eye up my work and say "well, you've got a long way to go to cover these babies - keep stitching!"

I don't remember how it came about now, but a few days ago there was more mention of who out-nanas-who and I told her I would crochet her a blanket for work to keep her soon-to-be-arthritic knees warm (seeing as how she's a few years older than me *grin*) and she loved the idea.  So here we go.  My next crocheting attempt - the granny square!

A fabulous crafty friend forwarded me this link on a gorgeous blanket.

I loved the idea of choosing seven colours and mixing them around.  So these are my seven colours.  Yarn already in my stash - which I LOVE to find projects for.

Pat ran through a tutorial with me and I tried my hand at a couple of circles.

Please don't look too close!  Eep!

The one on the right was my very first attempt (it shows).

The one on the left was my second (a little better).

I was going to keep the first one as my indicator of how far I'd come and not actually use it in the blanket - but as it's a very first attempt, I'm thinking I'll include it for authenticity (if it doesn't end up being hugely different in size to the rest!).  We'll see how it all pans out towards the end.

 I received my much awaited package from Hong Kong today!

My yarn winder!  So now I get to turn a jumbled mess of gorgeous yarn from this...

into this!

Yay!!

Off into the city now, to pick up my beloved from work and treat ourselves to a lovely farewell dinner with Pat.  It's been so lovely having her stay and the last four weeks have flown by amazingly fast!

We're all looking forward to catching up again - perhaps with Ben and me doing the traveling next!

Ciao for now folks.  Have a lovely evening.

xx

March 28th

Grateful for the KMart staff member who paused a 345 photo print job (received via phone call) to process my 21 shots.

Grateful for her offer of a refund when the machine then promptly crashed as a result of the print interruption.

Blissfully grateful when I returned three hours later to pick up the photos that were going to be printed nonetheless, when she gave them to me free of charge.

Grateful for the post office clerk who happily counted and changed my $25 worth of coins.

And grateful for the woman who gifted me the 10c I was then short for, for my parking ticket *laugh*.

It's not every day my days contain what I call 'universe in flow' moments, but when they do, I feel my energy begin vibrating at a such a high frequency as a result of the *squeeeeeee* factor.

It wonderfully reinforces my knowing that what goes around, comes around.  That the kindness you share with the world, returns to you in buckets *sigh*.

My overall gratuity honour today however, goes to my mama.
(Pictured above just before she got her first tattoo, one my two sisters, her and I share - her idea!)

It's her birthday *smile*.

Although our past has a liberal sprinkling of "my god this relationship is HARD WORK!", I cannot deny that this woman through good, and not so good, has helped shape the person that I am.

I sent off a parcel of Lucy goodness for her today.  Artwork, photos and a gift and card from me.  It's late, obviously, but I don't think she'll mind too much once the booty is revealed.
I'm off to give her a call now, before it gets too late in Shebangabang.

March 27th

My heart was overflowing with gratuity today.

Today, our community threw us a NOT Going Away party *grin*.

The theme of the afternoon was: Thank Fuck *laugh*.

I have been a nomad for most of my life - as a small child we moved a lot.  And then later from the age of about 17 when I was finally independent, I have been on the move.  I have found myself in and out of communities more times than I can count (without sitting down with pen and paper and an hour to spare to count that is).  And none have settled into my heart (and mine into theirs) as comfortably as our current one.

When we found the land up country, the decision to move was a difficult one.  Leaving our community was incredibly difficult to comprehend and I plunged my head quite deeply into the metaphorical sand whenever the thought of it came up.  I had my counter-arguments to myself all well rehearsed and pulled them out whenever the heart strings yanked at the thought of not having regular contact with this village.  And I wasn't the only one feeling sad about leaving - our village were very vocal with their thoughts.  Supportive and happy for us in fulfilling our dream, but saddened at the idea we would no longer be local.

So when news came of our staying put, our permission was requested for a celebration to be had in honour of the good news.  We were so touched *melt*.

It was a gorgeous afternoon, weather wise, energy wise, food wise!

A marvelous cake, with the sentiment that summed up the feeling in two words *laugh*.

And everyone whispered in my ear, as we were embracing on farewell, "we're so glad you're staying".

The love was palpable.

And the affection is very much reciprocal.

We truly feel very treasured to amongst this gorgeous village.

And we intend to stay put for as long as nomadically possible.

Thank you fabulous village.

Thank you xxx.

March 26th

I had enormous fun playing with my camera today.

And what incredible subject fodder I had available to me!

While I have moved my default setting from auto to P (program), I still use P like an auto setting *blush*.  I really do need to work out how to use this beast!

In the meantime, I practice with composition.  And I enjoy myself immensely!

 (Does this look like a pregnant mama to anyone else??)

  

And then I had some fun with the effects in iphoto.... *squeeeee*!

And a few of Lu and me together were captured (thanks my love) *smile*

I think we'll have to bring our cameras back here again - this time a little earlier to slip in some magic bean time!

March 25th

Today I'm grateful for children in my life.

To watch a tiny child discover the world through his hands and mouth.

To see, hear and feel the utter joy ripple through the bodies of three wee ones as a balloon is deflated, blown up, then deflated again and again, and again.

To silently admire the generosity of a small child sharing his most precious toy with his friends.

To feel at a heart level all over again the total despair when time spent with a coveted item is up and must be passed unwillingly to another's patiently waiting hands.

To acknowledge the quiet, silent child, sitting back, watching thoughtfully... allowing me to appreciate that even as children, human beings are so uniquely different.

I am blessed to be surrounded by many children in my weekly world - most under the age of five years old.  Their world is so authentic, so potent, so raw.  All emotions are experienced at the extreme ends of the spectrum - pure, unadulterated joy and heart-wrenching despair.  There is never any middle ground.

You always know where you stand with a four year old.  And I quite like that!  If you accidentally break their heart by emptying their 4 hour old glass of soda water without checking with them, you'll hear about it!  But they are so generous and instantaneous in their forgiveness - so long as you're fully present in hearing their lament and genuine in your apology (they'll see right through you if you're not and will continue to tell you about it until they feel heard!).

My current most favourite thing about having children in my life?

Watching them create.

March 24th

From sunshine to rain!

Oh the joys of living in Melbourne.

This was the view from my work station this afternoon.

How magnificent is that image!

My trusty phone captures some pretty awesome shots.

I was so captivated by the storm outside my window, it took me a while to focus on the reason for bringing the laptop down for a caffeine hit in the first place.

Four pages worth of info manifested and recorded in the space of three hours (the maximum time limit allowed at the cafe carpark!).  It was also fifteen minutes before closing - perfect timing.

This evening was spent finishing off the arms of the shrug and here it tis - reluctantly modeled by yours truly (I really do prefer being on the other side of the camera, but I knew the complaints I would receive if I took pics of Ben modeling - am I not right???!)

 

The scarf is also finished and now I'm tossing up between the beret and the spring shrug.  Hmmmm...  Judging by today's weather, it may be more fitting to go straight for the beret!

Grateful for luxuriously decadent yarns to create beautiful garments and blustery winds in which to show them off in!

March 23rd

Today I'm grateful for mobility.

I actually enjoyed my yoga class this morning (as opposed to counting the poses until I could be out of my burning inferno).

I found a sweet spot in the room.  One that wasn't directly under a vent blowing 40 degree hot air down at me.  So today, my practice was in an environment of ambient heat, rather than fan-forced heatwaves.  As a result, I was able to really focus on my stretches and strength - whereas the last two classes have been mostly about mental strength and stretches in order to stay in the room and not escape into the cool!

I am noticing deeper stretches already after only three days *smile*.

This practice is not easy, but it yields awesome results.  My ankle strength has improved since Monday.  I find the lack of strength in my ankles equals not being able to hold the balancing poses for very long.  Today - definite improvement *grin*.

Pat, Ben and I enjoyed the freedom of vehicular travel today.

Lunch and a wander around Warrandyte, followed by an hour drinking in the wonderful energy of the Theosophical Society bookshop *sigh*.  I literally could spend HOURS in this store.  It has shelf upon shelf of all my most favourite subjects.  From homeopathy and astrology to theosophy and Steiner.  Plus sooooooo much more.  I actually asked them for a part time job today.  She gave me a card and told me to email my resume.  In fact, I would actually work there for free, stocking shelves and marveling at all the new releases and re-releases of the ancient texts.  

I might just do that one day, once the passive income builds...

And my day finished with the therapeutic embrace of my craft circle.  The mobility in my wrists is not what it was prior to childbirth, but if I pace myself and stretch and rest when necessary, I find I can still immerse myself in my passion for all things yarn.

The crocheting for the shrug is all finished - with just the running stitch to create the arms to complete before it is absolutely done.  I inherited a huge bag of yarn tonight, on-gifted by one of our women.  There is a particular gorgeous pastel mint green (above) which I am considering using for a summer shrug.  I'll get right onto that after I have finished the Elicia scarf I began tonight.  It's the most crazy yarn I have ever seen!  And while fiddly, I'm enjoying this creation very much.

 A wonderful day off today celebrating Pat's birthday, luxuriating in a few of my most favourite pastimes.  And tomorrow - first up Bikram, then into creativity of a different kind!  My website is calling me, oh so loudly.  And I am celebrating the re-ignition of a dormant flame.

March 22nd

Tidy house.

Tidy space.

Tidy mind.

And today I achieved this!

What is it you ask?

It's a site plan for my new website.

Ten pages of foundation.

When it comes to content, this page count will blow out to nearer 50 with my current information... with more to be added into the future - but right now, it's just awesome.  A perfect launching pad.  I'm so stoked *grin*.

I'm grateful for a squillion things today - but mostly I'm humbly grateful for the time and space to work on a dream *bliss*.