{This Moment}

 A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemamma. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. 

A simple, special, extraordinary moment. 

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

I Think My Cat Is Trying To Kill Me

Belladonna - The Evil Mastermind of My Imminent Demise

It's all true.

Late last night I took a trip downstairs. Literally.

In the dim light from the bathroom door, teapot and empty ice cream container in hand, (ahem), I opened up the stair gate (safety first don't you know), stepped upon a strangely hairy, squashy and suddenly rapidly moving step and... fell down the rest of them onto the slate floor. 

Miraculously neither I nor the teapot were broken

What I said is unrepeatable. You would go to hell just for listening to it.

The cat escaped unharmed.

For now.

So, if you don't hear from me for a while. Call 000, claim foul play and blame the cat.

It was most definitely not suicide.

*Photo by Bayat on Flickr

Life Up Close

Mamma's New Coffee Set. Yeah Baby!

Nourish Me:: Week Four - Random Acts of Kindness

This week I have been pulling from the deep well of nourishment that is giving to others. As much as I need to nourish and take care of myself, I have found, quite unexpectedly, that giving to those in need brings a smile to my heart.

Quirky and whimsical wee bunnies.

As I mentioned in my previous post on Craft Hope, my girlfriends and I have been busily making up our birthing kits for the midwives in Haiti. We had a few hiccups to overcome, not the least of which was two of us have babies to lug around with us (and older kids in school/kinder) and the other one being a very busy working lass with a new business to cherish and grow! Still, apart from the joy of crafting (and it is a joy), it was a wonderful excuse to spend some time with two lovely women and catch up, have a giggle and still manage to do something for those in need.

Beautiful totes created by our gal Tracey

Some of the other little question marks with our kits were:

Are we allowed to send ORANGE drop sheets (yup, couldn't get the clear ones anywhere local!) and would they mind if they were a bit bigger than the suggested size? We figured that it might be helpful if they were. We certainly hope so.

Will they let us post the hand sanitizer as it apparently has ethanol in it. This might cause a kerfuffle with customs apparently. We sent it anyway as it is so important. Let's hope the Gods decide to let our box through without inspection!

Will they mind the big bars of soap as we couldn't find the little ones?

Would my cashmere bunnies be too fluffy for the newbies? They are so cute and soft and lemony but they are a bit fluffy. I'm hoping they will be alright for the little ones to cuddle and love. Laura did such a good job embroidering the faces - so cute!

Receiving blankets  - all finished and so soft!

I have to say though, that the nicest part of this whole experience was how it left me feeling. I felt good about doing something that didn't benefit me in any way but that was so important to someone else. These kits will save lives - newborn's and their mother's - that's an awesome feeling to take away from this. I CAN make a difference and hopefully, despite the quirks with our kits, we WILL!

The kit all bagged and tagged and ready to go! Cute bear made by Tracey.

The girls got a bit of a shock when they came to post our offerings. It cost a whopping $160 to post our boxes to America to be sent on to Haiti. Yikes! That was really the only downside of this particular project. Australia is so far away from America that postage really stings. But then, this just happened to be a particularly hefty project. Lots of their other stuff isn't, so don't let our experience of postage put you off. We shared the cost between the three of us and, like I said, it feels good to be helping. Anyway, isn't life priceless? It is to me.

The all important contents of the kits.

Unbelievably, just these few items save lives: Rubber gloves, hand sanitizer, a drop sheet, 3 pieces of string (for tying off the umbilical chord), alcohol wipes, a bar of soap(!) and the little extras that make it truly special - a soft toy and a beautiful snuggly receiving blanket.

So - I've been walking about with a big smile on my face because of a few hours spent gossiping, giggling and eating delicious food (thanks Laura!) for a good cause. If any of you are the least bit crafty, get on over to Craft Hope and take part. I promise you it will be the best thing you do this year.

And on that simple note, I leave you with two more things to make your heart smile.

Check this out because it made me go, 'awww'.

AND

Check this out for ways to put a smile on someone's face.


Don't forget to let me know what you guys are up to with the whole nourishment thang by leaving a comment and providing a link to your post. And don't forget to link back.


Hope you have a fantabulous week.


*All photographs taken by Laura of Warmth and Light. Good Job lady!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemamma. 

A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Craft Hope - Birthing Kits for Konbit Sante

Just a quick post to highlight something that I think is really important. I've taken some of the information from their website, so that you understand the importance of these kits and maybe be inspired to get involved. If not in this project, then in the next one. As someone who has only recently had a baby, it is especially close to my heart. It feels good to be doing something for other people and to know that something so simple can help drop the infant and mother mortality rate in such a challenging environment, makes my little heart smile. Please get involved and do what you can. 

Craft Hope is an organisation that crafts for charity. This is not as light and fluffy as it sounds. 

This year they are going back to Haiti. Project 11 (running until end of Feb) will benefit Konbit Sante, a wonderful organization that has, for nearly ten years, worked to provide the education and resources necessary to improve capacity within the public health system of Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second largest city.  Even before the earthquake, Haiti’s health statistics were dismal, and now the need is even greater.  Shockingly, one in eight Haitian children dies before the age of five, and their maternal mortality rate is 1,400 deaths for every 100,000 –a  reflection of the fact that the majority of the population lives in poverty/on less than a dollar a day. Only one in every 10,000 Haitians has access to a physician.

For the past three years, Konbit Sante has been spearheading a family planning and maternal health project in the most needy neighborhoods of Cap-Haitien that includes working more closely to support trained birth attendants (TBAs) who attend the vast majority of births in the community. They began supplying them with safe birthing kits to use in their deliveries. TBAs attend the vast majority of births in Haiti and have no formal medical training to speak of.  The kits represent a “value added” component to their services, offer a measure of status, and are well received. There is ample evidence internationally that the kits can reduce infant and maternal mortality.

Delivery kits are one important step to improving clean delivery practices within integrated maternal and neonatal health programs. Delivery kits have several key objectives. When introduced as part of clean delivery programs, they contribute to the:

• promotion of clean delivery practices;
• reduction of maternal sepsis;
• reduction of neonatal tetanus, sepsis, and cord infection;
• reinforcement of maternal and newborn health programs; and
• provision of a convenient source of clean supplies.

In the home, supplies needed to conduct a clean delivery often are not available. Even where reusable delivery kits are used by trained TBAs, the instruments are seldom cleaned between deliveries, and necessary supplies such as clean cord ties may not be restocked. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that “The use of simple, disposable delivery kits will help achieve as clean a delivery as possible.”

Go HERE to sign up for this (or other projects) and to get a list of what to include in the kits. Or you can click on the CRAFT HOPE button on my sidebar.

Please spread the word about our current project by tweeting about it, blogging about it, putting their button on your page (the embed code is on their website), and by joining their facebook group.

Three of my bestest girlfriends are getting together tomorrow to make some kits with me. We are really excited to be doing something so worthwhile and I will be adding pictures to my flickr page and to the Craft Hope flickr page.

Go on. Get stuck in.

Nourish Me:: Week Three - The Poets Muse

nour·ish·ment 

1.

a. The act of nourishing.

b. The state of being nourished.

2. Something that nourishes; food.

Well hello thar! Welcome to Week Three of Nourish Me. Glad you could come. Sit down, grab yourself a cuppa and share the nourishy love.

This week so many things are nourishing my parched soul I feel full to overflowing. Let me share.

First of all this photo posted by Laura of Warmth and Light Photography (as part of her first nourishment post, no less), made my little heart sing. 

What I love most about this picture is it is all taken in and around MY HOME! She has reminded me so beautifully, through her sensual and inspirational photography, that my home is a source of nourishment. Through her creative eye, I see my home, my world in a new and magical way. A way that deepens my connection to this place as a place of spiritual renewal and peace. That is truly a gift.

Ok. This is a fun little creative tool that I've rediscovered recently. I used to do this a lot - when my creativity was really flowing. When you are surrounded by words in this way - sensual words, passionate words, descriptive words, funny words - then you find that your mind naturally wants to collaborate with them. To play. To bring them to life. To enjoy them. And so this week I bring you... 

Fridge Poetry 

Oh yes, I did!

From the sublime 

 To the ridiculous

So. Much. Fun.

You can buy fridge poetry magnets from any bookstore. They even come in the language of Shakespeare! I kid you not. 

Go and buy some. 

Right now. I'll wait.

Then get to work people and send me a link to your favourites! I loves it, I tells ya.

Finally. I have been on a course that has required me to take a self-portrait every day for the last seven days. I honestly thought it would be a bit of a chore. Especially as I have just a dinky little digital and not a big impressive camera with, you know, attachments and shit. But, I found it strangely satisfying. I really enjoy photography and one day hope to own a grown up camera with an adult lens of some sort. But until that gratifying day arrives, I shall piddle about thusly.

For more portraits and other stuff, check out my Flickr site.

Ok. That's enough nourishment for one week! Please do join us and link back to this site with your nourishing forays. It's so good to share. I will get a button sorted out and I will get a list of people who are joining in with the nourishment weekly if you leave me a comment with your name and URL.

Have a fantabulous week.

Mwah!

Life Up close

Heart Shaped pureed pumpkin cubes. What can I say. I love my wee Bear.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemamma. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Photo by Beanie

Life Up Close

Photo & Henna by Laura of Warmth and Light Photography

Nourish Me:: Week Two - The Happy Little Camper

I love the smell of Ducks in the morning. It smells like Camping.

Well, I would have done this post last week but I was away nourishing myself, wasn't I! Deep in the depths of darkest Lorne on the Great Ocean Road. 

So here I am now to tell you all a little story. It's a story about a woman who (very nervously) went camping for the first time in 20 - yes, you read it correctly - that's 20 years. And how she cooked outside, wee'd outside, showered in a communal block, swam (well, more like undulated like a dugong) in the surf, turned the colour of a small girls tutu (which I have renamed the colour 'Ow!'), roasted marshmallows over an open fire (and smoke really DOES get in your eyes), gazed in awe and admiration at the star flooded sky, built river rock sculptures (in the company of eels) and smiled with delight as her confident little four year old invaded neighbouring tents with her new little friends and roamed about like the wild wee beastie she is meant to be. The woman also got bitten TWICE by bull ants (OW! Fucking OW!) on two separate days and on the third was attacked by a vicious March Fly. It was...well quite wonderful actually. Turns out I AM an outdoor Kat after all. Who knew? 

Gravity has no power here...

Inspired by this magnificent creature (amongst others), we too spent an inordinate amount of time trying to defy the laws of gravity with heavy objects. Until small boys with no sense of awe decided that it would be fun to lob big rocks at them until they all disappeared back into the watery depths from whence they came. As Flight of the Conchords said so beautifully.."There are too many Mother Uckers, Uckin with my Shi"

 Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you...The View... (from our tent).

See if you can spot the Spirit faces.

I did need more than just a casual relationship with coffee mind you and next time I go camping, I will be taking my cafetiere with me. I had to keep insisting we go into Lorne itself to get a caffeine fix! Apart from that though and some seriously high winds, we had a BALL. 

I spent more time outdoors than I have in too long a while. Beanie absolutely blossomed - she's as brown as a nut and just loved all the swimming, exploring, building fairy houses, meeting new kids to play with - the whole shebang. It really is a magical experience for a child. One night we let her stay up with us to roast marshmallows over the open fire and see the stars. We all lay on the ground and tried to spot shooting stars. Then, tired and full of gooey loveliness, we trotted back under canvas and snuggled under the covers listening to the sounds of Koala's growling across the water. 

Oh! And we saw one. In the wild. Sleeping up a tree just at the back of our tent. Michael has lived his whole life in Australia and never seen a real live Koala in a tree in nature. It was spectacular.

I got a feeling for what it is like to live in community with other families. I met some wonderful women and their kids. I connected with others of my 'Clan' and I felt like I belonged there. I was reminded of what I don't see so much any more - women sitting around sharing food, drinks and wisdom while their kids do what kids should be doing - ride their bikes, scream, play tag, paddle in the river, play hide and seek, invade tents, dig holes and bury themselves in them, explore rock pools, go for stupidly long walks, swim in waterfalls and bring home small dead crabs. Not a DS or a computer or a mobile phone (no reception as luck would have it) in sight. It was so natural and I didn't know I missed it until it was there again.

I returned home from the trip feeling refreshed (though supremely glad to be in my own bed again - ah lovely bed, how I missed you!). The green, the sound of running water, the fresh air, the great outdoors - it was all a balm to my scratchy, battered, weary soul. It soothed and inspired me and I came back better for the experience. 

I never thought I would be a happy camper, but I am and we are now busily planning our next trip.

I leave you with more visual nourishment of the mirthful kind.

Naughty Toes, Good Toes...

Sand Mamma - I eat? Yes?

I laugh in the face of physics...mwahahahaa


So what's nourishing you this week? Write about it, share it, inspire others and remember to link it back to here.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemamma. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.