A deal is a deal

Mum and I have this unspoken deal. 

She won't buy herself any magazines or books because she says she can't afford them but she is happy to 'borrow' from my sister and me.

 So I buy the kinds of books Mum likes to read and thumb through them and then pass them on.

 I have taken to buying the Women's Weekly every month and  I give it a quick flick through and then just happen to mention to Mum that I have finished with it if she would like a look through and she happily takes it home.

 By the way did you see this lovely tea towel that came with the magazine a couple of months ago. 

I didn't hand this on to Mum, a deal only goes so far.

Lists

Awoke before dawn to crashing thunder and driving rain and wondered whether this would mean that I would have to miss the sweet dawn chorus that has been greeting me every morning for weeks. 

The raucous bunch have moved on and only the sweetest singers have decided to stay and be my early morning wake up call.

Last day of November and so much to do yet with dolls to be finished and posted off but I feel in a good place.

 Gone are the days when I could work from the very early morning to late at night getting more and more cranky and exhausted and guilty for putting my family through the stress of my lack of organisation.

Things take the time they take, it will get done, lists are my best friend, the master list and the daily list written each evening and re read each morning. 

The lists that guide my day and lead me from one step to the next and make certain there is always something for dinner each evening and that bills get paid and school parties are not forgotten
 ( most of the time).

Treasures

I have discovered a new Australian/New Zealand  poet, well new to me but obviously someone who had an illustrious career. Douglas Stewart.

I did do two different English courses in Grade 11 and 12 but though we studied Kenneth Slessor we didn't touch on any of his contemporaries.

This morning Kate asked me if we had a book of Banjo Paterson poems and I am sure we do, it is a book with his poetry and someone's art but I couldn't find it. 

But I did find 'The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Verse, chosen by Beatrice Davis',

 a book I bought at the op shop some time ago and have never actually taken the time to look through properly.

Anyway this morning the book fell open at this Douglas Stewart poem and I just love it.

Domestic Poem

My wife, my life, my almost obligatory love,

Heaven forbid that I should seem your slave,

But perhaps I should say I saw you once in the garden

Rounding your arms to hold a most delicate burden

Of violets and lemons, fruits of the winter earth,

Violets and lemons, and as you came up the path -

Dark hair, blue eyes, some dress that has got me beaten - 

Noting no doubt as a painter their colour and shape

And bowing your face to their fragrance, the sweet and the sharp,

You were lit with delight that I have never forgotten.

Douglas Stewart

There are always so many treasures to discover.

Blogging over here tonight

Madness

Well wouldn't you rather sleep on a pile of precarious but delicious books

 than a window seat covered in crocheted and vintage goodness.

I know Shackleton would.

Christmas

  

Have you started any of your Christmas preparations yet ?

 Have you started your pudding or your cake?

 Have you written your Christmas cards or finished organising gifts?

 Do you know where you are having Christmas dinner and who is cooking what?

Me neither,
 and if you are completely organised like someone very closely related to me,
 I don't want to hear about it.



Here's a little Dylan Thomas to get you in the mood

Oh and here is a very pretty winter Christmas blog

garden, late spring

First comes the jasmine then the wisteria and now we are being wowed by the honeysuckle that hangs off the fence and pergola at the bottom of the driveway.

So so delicious 

The roses are all beginning to bloom, not sure what this one is but it is an old French variety I think and is always in flower for my sister's birthday.

Very strong heady perfume.

And this little beauty that tumbles over itself and an old tree stump in the middle of the front garden.

Beautiful little pink tinged rosebuds open to a floppy white flower.

The youngberry  in the driveway is flowering madly too and beginning to set fruit. 

Oh yum in  6 to 8 weeks time.

cold

 

So I have a cold and the weather is cold. 

Summer has taken a break and we are pulling on winter woollies to keep the chills away.

 I have been looking longingly at the fire wondering whether it would be ridiculous to light it for a bit of comforting warmth.
 I guess it's good weather to have the sniffles so I can curl up under a blanket and knit and read through my lovely knitting book that arrived yesterday.

 Ordered so long ago and  produced with so much care and pride it is a treasure.

A Stitch In Time from Scott Willis on Vimeo.

Ruby Jane

Ruby Jane is in the doll shop too if you want to pop over and meet her.

dolls for sale

These four dolls didn't find homes at the market.

I have put them in my dolly blog shop if you are interested.

You can read all the details over there

I chose to sell them this way so those who are not so quick on the computer or not in the right place at the right time can have a chance at buying a doll. maybe that is you, I know it's always me.

mixed lollies

For me 2011 has been a year of upheavals, of questioning old ways and finding new paths.

 I haven't always been able to put into words how I feel and the process isn't over yet.

Rudolf Steiner and many other philosophers  divide our lives into 7 year blocks and the years 42 to 49 are described as the journey through the dark woods where nothing in life seems to fit properly any more, things that made your heart sing don't always hold the same enchantment , everything feels a little out of kilter. 

Some people retreat into their youth and try to be that young person again, others struggle on searching for a higher meaning to find the new person they will become, trying to come to terms with the new life that lies ahead and hopefully more in contact with their intellectual and spiritual self at the end of the seven years. 

  As I turned 50 my dad was descending into the final part of his journey.

 Letting go of the present , slipping into a slightly befuddled state that then progressed, slowly at first and then rapidly into a state where very little of his earthly presence was left.

 At 84, at the end of his 12th  seven year cycle he slipped away.

 I am 52 and my journey now is to learn to live in a new way with a body that is still vital but no longer young, to accept who I am and what I have done with my life and build on that, to really be in touch with the essence of me.

 I have taken to saying 'I am what I am, this is me' when someone suggests I should change this or that about myself.

 This isn't said as a self imposed mantra to make me feel better about myself, it just popped out of my mouth one day without thought and ever since it has been popping into my head and mouth. 

 It isn't said to remind me, but just as a fact, sometimes said with triumph and sometimes tinged with disappointment. 

 This is the essence of me that I struggled to find during my 40s when I really couldn't figure who I was, I didn't feel comfortable with the who I thought I was and I didn't know who else I could be.

This is a hard won version of me.

 Now I feel I don't need to try to be anyone else, mostly I like who I am, warts and all, and there is a power to that.

 A quite power but strong  all the same.

  I am sure the journey to acceptance and wisdom is far from over, with more tests and trials along the way, hopefully I will emerge as a person who can share my life's experience in a positive way, I want to be a wise old woman one day.

you can read one person's interpretation of the seven year cycles based on Rudolf Steiner's writings  here

where are you?

If you are wondering where I have been

 or where I am today

 I have been busy making dolls for the Niche market

 which began yesterday and finishes today at 3pm ( an hour earlier than advertised)

Normal service resumes next week, I hope.

Yesterday while Kate and I cruised the Deloraine craft fair

Stephen and Andy walked over deep chasms on wobbly log bridges.

Highlight of the craft fair, I have to say it was the second hand shops, galleries and Little Esther Grey in mainstreet Deloraine, the lovely river and woolly yarn bombed bridge and a good coffee at the deli that made our day.

out the back

Hanging out in the back garden today, doing some dolly stuffing and stitching and knitting.

I went down the bottom of the garden earlier this morning and was shouted at very loudly by a pair of birds that I couldn't see who obviously think this is their private garden to raise their little one in.

 Flapping from tree to tree, screeching and being very cross.

 I left them to it. 

Parsley going to seed

carrots going to seed

Elder tree in flower

baby nectarines

pretty bunting

I ordered some bunting for my stall for the Niche market. 

I could have made some myself by quite frankly I just don't have the time. 

I ordered this bunting from someone who obviously loves making bunting and playing with different fabrics, someone who bought one of my dolls last Christmas for her beautiful daughter.

 I like that,

 I have something made with love by Luisa

 and she has something made with love by me.

I love this handmade world.