Nourish Me:: Week Nine - Keep Calm...

One must take ones Yuk's where one finds them.

Ok. So it hasn't strictly been a weekly post. I have been attacked caught up by the usual dramas of family life - 'She's got chicken pox. No, it's not chicken pox, it's just the exact symptoms of chicken pox in the exact order they usually occur in without it actually being chicken pox. Oh. Right. So we needn't have cancelled everything then...', cleaning, cooking, kinder, school tours, baby stuff, tantrums (mine and other people's), blah, blah, blah. It has been so busy and I have been completely exhausted by it all that, instead of posting, I've been sitting in bed watching True Blood again and knitting my little ass off. A friend told me about this little sign (above), based on the English wartime signs, and it made me laugh.  That's a good enough reason to include it here methinks.

SJK Handspun Blue Face Leicester Light-Bulky 

Apple of My Sky (109g-157yds) 

from SeeJayneKnitYarns on Etsy

Ah knitting. How I do love thee. It's been especially pleasurable because for the last two weeks I have had my good friend Docwitch, up here in the these thar hills. Oh what bliss. We have spent many days together touring Ye Olde Goode Op Shoppes (thrift shops), having lunch both in and out of my house, making fires, drinking wine, baking and yes, knit, knit, knitting. I have to say that Doc's knitting is of a different calibre than mine - i.e. it looks like it's supposed to and it fits it's recipients but it was just such a pleasure to sit and talk and knit and watch stupid YouTube clips together. It doesn't happen often unfortunately as we live in two different parts of Melbourne and though they are only 40 minutes to an hour away, it takes an awful lot of logistical planning to get us both in the same place at the same time. So I soaked up the opportunity to spend some quality time, with a wonderful witchypoo friend and her gorgeous daughter. Our little witchlings, though 4 years different in age, played wonderfully together, though I do recall Doc's daughter becoming a somewhat draconian schoolmarm and threatening to give Beanie 'the strap' if she talked out of turn in class! Ah twas fun indeed.
When they returned to their normal life in the 'cidee', I was then joined by the lovely Solyluna who will remain up here until early June. Oh but I shall be completely spoiled by then and shall be bereft when they leave me up here all by my lonesome. Until that fateful day arrives, I shall revel in all the time spent with such delicious company and top up my sorely depleted batteries. I don't think that either woman realises just how precious their friendship is to me nor how much they lift my spirits with just their presence and conversation. I am very blessed.

So knitting. I am, I fear, almost as big a yarn slut as I am a book slut - and that should tell you a lot about me. I have yarn envy, I covertly 'touch' other people's yarn, I fawn over their projects, I stroke the pretty skeins as they flaunt their colours and textures and invite me to buy. I start one project only to get unusually excited about something else and thus starts the slippery slide into the 'multiple projects on the needles' which justifies me buying a bit more of this lovely yarn, and oh, look at that one, it's so purdy.' abyss... I LOVE it though, knitting aside, I seriously think that I am developing some even more old ladyish qualities. I've started to make chicken stock regularly for goodness sake. And baking? Darning? Don't ask. Next thing you know I'll be drinking sherry and smelling of piss 'n' biscuits.

Lovely, lovely Noro

I am just about to complete a beautiful 'Rainbow Dress' for Beanie. It has knit up really well in gorgeous Noro silk wool and it has been my first big project on circular needles and I am hooked. Literally. Knitting in the round is so easy and it's so satisfying. No seams to sew up at the end (and I can't tell you how many projects I have lying around waiting for me to sew them up!) and no boring knit one round, purl the next - you just knit each round and miraculously, stocking stitch appears on the other side. It's magical. I am also knitting up something for my wee Bear and I hope to have that finished next week. It's so exciting. I spend most evenings just watching movies and knitting. I haven't yet mastered reading and knitting but one day...one day.

The glorious and amusing art of 'wool' or 'yarn' bombing whereby something ordinary gets a knitted makeover. 

Truly though, knitting and crafting, which it seems like I've been doing constantly in the last four months, is keeping me sane. When things get tough, and they have been, it is a balm to my shredded soul. There is something so meditative about knitting, something so soothing and calming. It brings me into the moment and gives me something to focus on beyond my cares and woes and day-to-day struggles. And the truly great thing about knitting is that its so easy to see progress and that is exceptionally satisfying. 


I've also been crafting up a storm for a number of swaps I'm engaged in. I will post more on those later, with piccies, but for now know that, in my blogging absence, I have been beavering away in earnest and enjoying myself (in this at least) more than is strictly proper for a woman in the autumn of my life.


I'd best be off. My knitting is singing to me like a siren. I'm so close to finishing the dress... But. Before I leave, I will once more share my latest sweet nourishy bites with you.

:: watching :: True Blood Series One & Two again. Oh that naughty, naughty Eric but then in series three there is that hunk of werewolf Alcide. Oh my. Be still my beating heart. Did I hear someone say 'doggy style'? Really. You ought to be ashamed. He's a person, not a hunk of extremely desirable man meat. Tsk. Tsk.

I like it Ruff!

:: loving :: I'll give you a clue...it involves yarn.


:: longing for:: some time alone. To sleep, to think, to write, to make stuff, to dream.

:: looking forward to :: comfort food, mulled wine and more knitting in front of the beautiful fire in our little coonara. The Winter Solstice - particularly the lantern parade that happens in our community every year. New crafting projects.

:: heading towards :: some scary soul searching and shadow dusting.

:: enjoying :: the heady array of flaming autumnal colours that surround me. I find myself holding my breath as I pass yet another tree on fire with colour - pinks and red and oranges and yellows abound but there is also scarlet and peach and honey and green and chestnut and russet and crunchy dark browns. Oh how they delight me daily. A work of fiction on audio cd in my car - The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton - it's terribly intriguing and lovely to read some fiction for a change.

::making:: wool roving swans, wool roving summer fairies, felt toadstools and yes, a rainbow dress for Beanie with my beautiful, colourful (almost all gone!) Noro wool. Ravelry pattern here. I'm still making lots of lovely soups - I made one today that was oven roasted vegetables and kale - mm mm mmmmm. I've also been making apple pies from hand picked organic apples from a friends farm. SO yummy. Recipe here. The only thing I did differently from the recipe was I stewed my apples for 10 mins in some dark muscovado sugar to soften them.

:: surprising myself :: by putting myself first for a change. I have made some small changes to our sleeping arrangements here at chez skarbek, changes to give me more sleep and it has had a positive knock on effect with the children. I am learning, slowly, that if mamma isn't happy, ain't nobody happy. It's only taken me 4.5 years to stop being so bloody guilty over every friggin' decision I make and to realise that no matter what my ideals, if it isn't working for our family then it's time to let it go.  

:: feeling :: challenged and, if I'm honest, a little bit afraid.

:: hoping for :: positive change, connection and acceptance.

:: grateful for :: good friends, good wine and the early dark.

And with a swirl of her (knitted red riding hood) cape...she was gone.


*excuse the awful spacing - my page seems to be having a 'moment'

Nourish Me:: Week Seven - Moment by Moment

Natural Beauty

Ah, here I am again. There hasn't been any one big thing nourishing this parched soul this week. It has again come in small yummy bites and I think it has been all the more delicious and absorbable (is that a word?) for that. 


I noticed that I kept thinking to myself that I should have something more, I dunno, weighty maybe, to write about and I kept searching for the big thunderclap of nourishment to appear. Yet there wasn't one. Maybe there won't always be. It's funny, putting myself under pressure to produce something interesting to read and trying to find something important to write about, is so not what this whole series of posts is about. I think this is what these bite sized pieces of goodness have been teaching me. That it's ok to find our pleasures in small things. A five minute knitting break, a ten minute sit down with a good cuppa, a few seconds of deep breathing and steadying. It all adds up to so much more.


And so, I will once more share my sweet nourishy bites with you.


:: watching :: The trees starting to change colour as Autumn takes delicate hold around me; hilarious new US TV series 'The Modern Family' - pure genius; fantastic new US TV series 'Boardwalk Empire' about prohibition - very engaging; and of course True Blood - Series Three - again - so good!


:: loving :: my daughters new school (and it's not even Waldorf!) - can't believe my little Beanie will be at school next February - how fast the time goes!; the decadent delights of Connoisseur caramel, honey and macadamia nut ice cream..uh oh.

Autumn Nature Table 

:: longing :: for a massage. Oh dear God let it be soon; enough hours in the day to read all the wonderful books piling up on my struggling bedside shelves - God bless our local library for it soeth rocketh; some quality sleep - you know, for more than an hour at a time; 

:: looking forward to :: I'll say it again - Winter days at the beach; mulled wine; hot chocolate; open fires. Especially since I finally got my new order of organic hot chocolate mix. Best hot chocolate EVER! Oh and so excited about our forthcoming family photo shoot with the talented and lovely Lausie of Warmth and Light Photography. Any time with Laura is wonderful and I get the added bonus of some wall worthy photographs of our whole family at one time! 

:: heading towards :: Easter and some quality time with my man; the installing of our brand new, thrifted, $20 toilet; a little painting; my new online writing course (starts tomorrow!). It's called 'Writing Our Way Home' and you can find out all about it here.

:: enjoying :: just looking at all the books on my shelves and dreaming about the wisdom they hold and some time to read them; the last of the summer strawberries and raspberries before the season finishes; evening walks with my hubble and the kidlets - one in a backpack and the other on a thrifted $2 scooter. I don't know what I love more, the scooter or the fact that is was only $2!; the few moments in bed I get before the small and smaller squirmy people invade; finally sending off some of my craft swaps (very satisfying);

Easter Bunnies & The Bluebirds of Happiness

::making:: cute little peg people for my two Easter swaps. The little guys above are going to a new home through the Four Seasons craft exchange. The bluebirds were inspired by the lovely lady at We Bloom Here. Check out her gorgeous crafty blog. Whereas these little guys

Little Flower Children still sleeping in their leafy winter beds.

are going to someone lovely from the Bits of Goodness Easter Swap. This group does regular swaps on different themes, the last one was gardens. If you're feeling crafty, I recommend this group because they swap often and they are so creative. These babies were inspired by the wonderful Twig and Toadstool. Another absolute gem of creativity.

Ready for her close up.

:: surprising myself with :: how much I don't seem to care about what I eat. Bad Kitty, smack paws!; how much I enjoy handwork and all things crafty - still not bored with it even though I'm still not that good at it!

:: feeling :: up and down. Had some seriously 'bad mommy' moments this past week, followed by some much better, much happier days. But that guilt is a killer.

:: hoping :: for my mums parcels to arrive from the UK; my new books to arrive; some time to rearrange the laundry and all of our craft stuff; that my course will help me to connect with myself more deeply.

Hoot and Little Red - for Beanie

:: grateful for :: moments of peace in my daily life; moments of grace in my emotional life; you guys.

Bugs & Dirty Little Fingers = Happiness

What you all been up to? Are you bounding into Spring or slowing into Autumn? What's been nourishing you this week?

The Good Witch of the Green Woods

Namaste

Nourish Me:: - Week Six - Bite Me

No, he hasn't killed and eaten someone with his impressive new teeth - it's the organic beetroot!

Right now, my nourishment is coming in sweet little bite size pieces:

:: watching :: a beautiful pregnant woman, in a stunning vintage dress, get married to a sweet guy; the biggest full moon rise over the dark hills; the glowing fire putting my overtired wee Bear to sleep; Beanie screaming with joy on a big ride.

Fearless

:: loving :: the little moments of crafty fun I am managing to squeeze into my days (and nights); my quirky, loud, boisterous, funny little Bear and Bean playing chasey; the smell of wood smoke and the increasing chill in the air; the best ever recipe for chocolate zuccini bread...OMG it is SO good; our autumn nature table.

:: longing :: for a little quiet time to read; a little quiet time to knit; a little quiet time to plan; oh and a little quiet time.

:: looking forward to :: getting rugged up and going for a walk. Since camping I seem to be more at home in the fresh air than I am indoors!; a trip to the theatre to see a friend in a play - I haven't been to the theatre in over four years (motherhood tends to get in the way of my artistic pursuits!); a good 10 days of 'man about the house' when hubble takes a looooong break over Easter; receiving my craft swap items from persons unknown; Winter days at the beach; mulled wine; hot chocolate; open fires. 

:: heading towards :: new creative horizons with my writing and my business. Watch this space.

:: enjoying :: my bed; a little champagne; a change of scenery - oh I do love a rolling hill or six; time with friends with kids; feeling inspired; life through the eyes of my girl; coffee; my op-shop obsession; culling, culling, culling - books, clothes, toys, baby clothes, baby equipment - it feels so refreshing!

"Look mamma - it's a fairy house for sure!"

:: talking about :: being present; the future; a third baby - will we/won't we?; weddings we have known and loved; simplifying.

:: surprising myself with :: how much attention I am paying to my own nourishment because I know that I have to write about it; moments of real patience in difficult situations.

Daddy's fruit face - yup, making them is a little addictive.

:: feeling :: blessed, hopeful, inspired and just a little bit cheeky.

:: hoping :: you guys will share a little of your self nourishing with me, even if it's only now and then.

:: grateful for :: every moment.

How about you lot?

Nourish Me:: Week Five - A World in Colour

Bing, Bong, Bing

I like black. I wear it a lot. Too much, probably but it suits me, it's slimming and, (after many years of being a Goth in my late teens/early twenties), it's a difficult habit to break. Plus, it goes with everything and that's important when one has limited wardrobe choices due to excess baggage of a wrinkly, skin coloured kind.

However, I love colour. I seem to need it  more and more. I have begun to surround myself with it in quite a lot of ways, without really being aware that it was happening. Red is my colour du jour right now. It just love how vibrant and exciting it is. Without wishing to be cliched, it is a passionate colour - hence it's association with all things love and sex related. But it is also bright and warm and welcoming. It's popular as feature walls in dining rooms - it stimulates appetites and conversation. So over the last few years I have been slowly accumulating things red.

The Red Tent from The Divine Feminine

This reaching out for colour started with a beautiful red chinese teapot and 6 little handleless cups decorated with cherry blossom. Then slowly it radiated outwards and collected red and white striped mugs, damask mugs, gorgeous little red cups and saucers with white polka dots, (my 'happy' cups). Then suddenly a red clock appeared on our white timber walls, then a red kettle for the hob, (we have an unseemly number of blackouts up here in the hills), so that the Brit doesn't die without tea when there is no power. Then a new dinner service arrived - not strictly red but white with a big red poppy on it and finally, last year, a red Ektorp sofa arrived for our family room. Then yesterday, on impulse we bought a massive rug for our family room to stop Finn from head-butting the slate floors more than is strictly necessary. Guess what colour it is?

Red.

That's right.

It's a lovely red persian style thing which beanie insists that everyone enjoy by removing their socks and really 'feeling' the carpet. "It's so soft mummy. Now I can play down on the floor!" Yes, we have evidently being abusing our daughters knees by not having a covering on the hard slate.

But that's not the only colour that is creeping into our house. Oh no. There is the heather coloured feature wall in our room. The heather and clover coloured walls of Beanie's room. There are the new cups that have appeared over the last year or two. A beautiful sunshine yellow and gold china cup and saucer for herbal tea, the little turquoise coffee set (6 mini mugs and saucers), I got for $3. In total. (I know!). And then there is the latest addition. My Chinese teapot and big cups had babies - three of them - three little handleless cups, decorated with cherry blossom in the colours of red (you guessed it), orange (aha! shock new colour!), green (wait! where is she going with this - it's multicolour madness!), and blue (it matches the turquoise. Kinda.). For these I paid the princely sum of $4. What can I say - I'm made of luck.

Mamma's special teacup. 

Suddenly I am surrounded by colour. I am drinking out of it, looking at it, wearing it, putting it on my nails, surrounding light-bulbs with it, hanging it on walls and on beds and surreptitiously squinking it into little nooks and crannies. There is a veritable flood of it and it's quite wonderful. I am being drawn to images that are colourful and bright and inspirational. That make me want to make stuff and create. There is not much inspirational about looking at too much black. Even the darkness has stars to decorate it.

And so this week I have found myself focusing on colour intentionally. How I use it, how it uses me, what colours I am drawn to (I think we've established I like red) and what they might symbolise, how different colours make me feel, what I instinctively am drawn to and why I think that is. It's been an exploration of the vividness and diversity of colour in my life and it's been delightful. I never fully realised how our choice of colours reflects not just our personality but also our mood. It is entirely possible to change how you feel by simply adding a colour that makes you feel up, or calm, or relaxed, or sexy, to yourself or your environment. I find that blue makes me feel calmer and more mindful, red gears me up and makes me want to connect, yellow makes me smile - it's such a sunny colour and its so damn bright. Green makes me feel earthed and held while black makes me feel mysterious, powerful and yes, hidden. Sometimes I need that. And then there are stripes (of which I am a HUGE fan), polka dots (second only to stripes) and patterned things. I even do subtle colours now though I will never really be a pastel girl - too flacid and pasty for me.

Oh my! Red AND Stripes.

The whole exercise has been so liberating. I have been influenced by my girl's colour sense, her crazy combinations, her multi-coloured wardrobe. I have stopped wanting to hide in black and have started to really surf the colour wave that has engulfed me. Colour makes me happy. It reminds me that life is not monotone - it is a rainbow peacock strutting it's wonderful stuff. It is a field of poppy's and the emerald green of the grass after rain. It is the toothpaste commercial colours of the sea - minty green and turquoise with foamy white. It is everywhere and it is available all of the time. So why limit ourselves with our habitual colour palette. Go buy something out of your colour comfort zone. Buy two things that blatantly don't match. Try something different and see how you feel.

And so, I drink my coffee out of my happy cups. I eat my cereal out of my poppy bowls, I put my compost in a little red tin bin and I bring flowers into my house whenever I can. It gives me a little lift and it makes me smile. What's not to love? Most of all though, it feeds me in some subtle way. It gives me energy to get through the day. It gives me just a little bit of courage to try something else new. It reminds me to enjoy life in all of it's hues - even the darker ones.

The Aurora Borealis

Coolest Style EVER! (can't remember where I found this, sorry!)

So, what have you been doing this week to nourish yourself?

As always remember to leave a comment with a link to your nourishment post and to link it back to me. I hope you will join in - it's a much needed gift to ourselves.

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.