Salty's place

See more over at Type Pad

2011-04-27T11:19:00.000+10:00

More Salty's place over at-
http://saltysplace.typepad.com/sa/

Hope and Race Cars

2010-11-29T14:34:00.000+11:00

It's an exciting time of year at the moment. There are shiny, twinkling things everywhere, it is making me a little high. It's not too bad, I have to be conscious to control it though, like a race car. It's ok to accelerate up the straights but I've got to rein it in 'round the corners or risk spinning out of control.
I allow myself to enjoy it to a limit, I was driving into town yesterday, "All I want is you" by U2 was playing on the radio, a sensation of pressure built in my chest, beautiful emotion. It was grey, heavily overcast but way off in the distance in front of me was a gap, revealing the palest blue of the sky. "Hope!" I thought. I've always had hope and usually it is the natural world that reminds me time and time again that Hope lives and I am secure. Unfortunately the medication that I take for my Bipolar, although it slows my mind enough to function, it can make me feel that my hope has been amputated. It is a very odd feeling, perhaps I've been confusing the extreme positivity of hypomania with hope all along.
I'm in the midst of breakthrough hypomania at the moment, it's slight compared to how I was before and I'm quite thankful that I have broken through because only weeks ago I had a period of depression that featured the before mentioned amputated hope. I've had depressions before but for the last 10 years or so, they have been so mild I've hardly noticed, and I never lost my hope for the future. Doc Wolf thinks my meds might not be quite right for me and we will probably change them after the holidays
In the meantime, I have been buying beautiful gifts and not overspending too much. I have a dinner to go to in a couple of days with my two best friends and I'm just so excited! So excited that I feel I need to take measures against letting that race car swing too far out on the corners. I need to drink less coffee, read quietly during the day and be mindful. Perhaps I should also hand out this card-

My Bipolar 101

2010-11-25T12:10:00.002+11:00

I decided a couple of months ago that I would share the fact that I have been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder here on my blog. It has taken me all this time to write about it, partly because it's been quite a process of getting treatment and coming to terms with my new 'label'. I guess I felt confused and uncomfortable. It's still such early stages for me, although I've lived with the symptoms for as long as I can remember, I've never dealt with management of the 'condition'. (I no longer refer to Bipolar as an illness. It makes me sound like an invalid, and I certainly don't feel like one. More on that at a later stage.)
I'm guessing I will slowly reveal the whole picture here as it evolves, it's difficult to sit and write a chronological history of how this all began. I'm on meds at the moment, it took months to achieve stability and it didn't last long, I've been riding the bipolar coaster for the last couple of months and as a result, it seems my life has had many automatic restarts. It affects me that way, I forget the depressions, I forget the stable times, I only remember hypomania because it is the state that makes me feel alive. So at the moment I feel well - I'm positive, I'm perky and my nearest and dearest are looking at me sideways.
When you have Bipolar Disorder, it is an extremely dirty word to say you want to be in a hypomanic state. There is good reason for this, mania is the state that can remain at a manageable level before spiralling out of control, landing someone in hospital, or it can crash into a crippling depression. I've never experienced any of those things. My experience so far, has been relatively mild. I'm naturally low energy. As my husband says, when I'm hypomanic, I have the energy of a normal person. When I first went on medication, it knocked the hypomania right out of me and I was left with a level of depression I hadn't experienced before. Even when I was stable, it was nice to have a bit of a holiday from the seesawing emotions, but who wants to be on holiday forever? This kind of thinking really upsets my Doc. I can't help picturing him as 'The Big Bad Wolf' in an immaculate suit in my mind now because he referred to himself as 'The Big Bad Doctor' when I was describing how I felt. I think he gets kinda grumpy because every Bipolar patient pleads to have the depressions taken away and to let the manias remain. I don't think of him like that, I appreciate having a doc who calls things how they are. He's my sounding board because he has great knowledge of Bipolar but only I have knowledge of myself.
Anyhoo, I'm trying to say in a very long winded fashion that finding out you have a mental disorder is not a simple process of diagnosis, treatment and wellness. My loved ones probably don't want to hear that sometimes I like my BP, I have intense spiritual, aesthetic, creative moments while hypomanic, I always have. It is part of who I am. I certainly don't advocate not treating Bipolar but we must never forget there is a person behind the label.

Bipolar moments

2010-11-10T14:48:00.005+11:00

The Rags

2010-11-03T14:10:00.002+11:00

Ho hum, that time of the month again.

Fear

2010-10-31T19:25:00.002+11:00

Chapel street 25/10/2010 approx 3.30pm

2010-10-29T13:29:00.002+11:00

Housemates I have known

2010-10-20T20:02:00.013+11:00

Leonard Cohen- Yay!

2010-10-15T22:20:00.003+11:00

Click to enlarge

I've ordered mine- How about you?

2010-08-11T17:27:00.005+10:00

(Above- page from my journal )

I'm talking about my set of 'The Beanys' - Michael Nobb's illustrated journals. He is selling the first 3 of the series together. You can also get no. 4 as an ebook. I admire Michael so much, he was an inspiration to me years ago when I began drawing again after a very long absence and he is still an inspiration now, after my recent diagnosis of Bipolar disorder. Michael was diagnosed with ME/CFS many years ago and has had to reorder his lifestyle accordingly. Although my illness is different, I have found Michael's posts about being creative despite limited energy an enormous help. His website is listed in my links- please take a look.

Back again!

2010-08-10T15:56:00.005+10:00

I've been really getting into drawing again. It's been terrific fun. This is a section of a journal page, they will eventually be made into etchings and larger drawings. Also, I'm happy to be blogging again after a loooong absence!

micro drawing

2009-04-22T13:11:00.004+10:00

Download "75 ways to draw more" from Michael Nobb's site. He has very generously given instructions to put together a little gift of a booklet with a final instruction to read it over a pot of tea. Very enjoyable it was too.

Such a procrastinator

2009-04-21T15:27:00.005+10:00

Time and time again, I've settled myself down with notebook and pen, ready to get down a line or two. I get out one of the few books of poetry I own, usually 'Ariel' by Sylvia Plath, less often- ' 101 poems by 101 women.' I read a few pages then connect to the net. There are pages bookmarked for William Carlos William's poems and a Google search- "How to begin writing poetry". The list includes- "10 tips to help you improve your poetry.", "How to write poetry: some exercises to start you off", "A comprehensive resource for writing poetry."
I pick at my clothing, meticulously lifting each pill off the fabric,then pull up my sleeve to study the watch that is there. Carefully, I replace the cap of my pen and snap the elastic around the covers of the Moleskine. The laptop is closed, 'click.' It's time to return to the vacuum, the sink. To return to being a listening ear, the holder of the ladder as the light bulb is changed. It's ok, it's all safely locked there inside me still. One day, something will break the pattern, shock me out of it, let me get on with it.

'Being an artist was only a childhood dream.'

2009-04-19T12:10:00.005+10:00

I've been working in my art journal in a new way lately. It's purely for me, I have to keep reminding myself that no one else will look at it, and even if they do, it doesn't matter. This doesn't sound much of a revelation, I know, but for some reason I've never done this. Not through years of a fine art degree, not for all the ensuing years after that. I suppose I'm of a very self conscious nature and deep down, would never put something on paper I wasn't comfortable with sharing. After many years of dissatisfaction with my art it all ground to a halt. I told myself things like "Art is not very useful anyway.' and ' Being an artist was only a childhood dream.' No wonder making things became so hard.
Not too long ago, I felt like I was having some kind of crisis. There began a gnawing unsettledness, a dissatisfaction that grew more and more everyday. It was very weird because I could feel it inside me but I had no clue why I had this physical sensation. One morning I woke up very early, my head was swirling with ideas about painting and colour and pen and ink. It suddenly all came to a head and the message was there- 'I feel like I'm not expressing myself, my real self.' and I realised then that my years of being a wife and a mum were contributing to this sense that I was holding myself back. I don't want to share my journals in their entirety online, but I'll quote this that I wrote in my diary that day- ".....my drawings lately have been fun and pretty, just like pen drawings I post to my own blog are 'fun and pretty' but strangely unsatisfying. I would like lots of people to read and comment on my blog, but this means making things that please people and....it is feeling empty to me.
I realise I don't write like I used to or make drawings like I used to (in my journal) because I'm self censoring. I expect the kids will read my diaries and look at my drawings one day, and I'm afraid they'll be shocked."
It was a shock to me that I had been living like that for the past 10 years or so, I guess the idea of being the perfect mother and wife had taken root inside me that long ago and over the years established itself to the complete detriment to my artistic ambitions or even worse- to the detriment to my own integrity. That day, I had an idea, I simply decided that the journals could all be all locked in a safety deposit box and my children could access it only after they had become adults themselves. I felt comfortable with the idea of them reading my intimate writing because I thought once they had their own adult experiences, I could at least discuss why I had written or drawn certain things- I could explain myself and appeal to their understanding.
Since that day, I have been writing and drawing completely uncensored and am so surprised at the lightness I have gained. It's like discovering the meaning of life, except perhaps I've discovered the meaning of being an artist.
I certainly don't believe I'll never show any work again, but I feel like I've finally found a way to inject the public work with my own essence, which I suppose is why some art is so authentic. I believe art is never wrong, whatever reason a person chooses to draw what they do, I believe, is the right reason. It is just such a surprise that for me, I seem to have been missing the most important part of my own reason for making things.

On a lighter note, I found this link on the 'Creativity web' site about recording ideas. It's very extensive. I particularly liked the suggestions to use-

perspex sheet and wax crayon, useful for the shower and swimming pool.

stick sheets of butcher's paper behind the toilet door and hang a pencil on string. Encourage visitors to your home to add graffiti.

Because you never know when a great idea will strike!
Thanks for listening.

What I know about creativity

2009-04-18T13:14:00.005+10:00

it may not always appear useful, but it is essential.
it's hard to maintain when it is done solely for the purpose of pleasing others.
it is impossible if you listen to everyone else's criticism.
it may appear ugly or offensive to some, but that doesn't mean you should stop doing it.
it can bring you joy, confidence, satisfaction, self knowledge, pleasure amongst other things.
we are human, we need to create.

Doodling on Good Friday

2009-04-10T14:28:00.005+10:00

It's Good Friday, a beautiful Autumn day. I put a rug out under a scarlet and golden leafed tree and drew in my journal with Boxhead snoring softly beside me. My husband came out with a hot cross bun and a cup of coffee and I told him of my idea to put a tipi up on our property. I'm dreaming of sitting under a tall cone of canvas, listening to the wind rushing past, and the flapping of fabric.

Confession

2009-04-07T10:43:00.003+10:00

I'm such a bad vegetarian. I have a reputation amongst those who know me as a bit of a health freak. In the past, I've been a raging vegan, an organic food zealot and a staunch advocate for locally owned business. The thing is, it's all a projection of 'How I Would Really Like To be' rather than my less than ideal, nasty self. It's like I have an Evil Twin, always lurking behind the furniture, sidling along next to me, ready to leap out and stuff rags in my mouth and bind my hands with gaffa tape then push me into the cellar.
Last Sunday, I left the kids and husband at home and took the train into the city with the intention of secretly buying Easter eggs. It makes me despair to see those huge displays in the Department stores of Celebrity endorsed, hugely overpriced Easter egg packages. Oh! How it prostitutes the whole spirit of Easter! But there I go again, up on my high horse on one side and down grovelling for some slick product in the mud on the other.....sigh*
The moment I got off the train, with my head feeling light, dizzy with anticipation, I hoofed it down to Starbucks. The Evil Twin had a craving for second rate coffee from a big name American franchise and a hankering for Food Court anonymous meats. There was no thought of buying chocolate to brighten my darlings' faces on Easter morn, instead frantic from too much choice I heaped a plate with unidentifiable flesh cubes slicked in unnaturally bright coloured sauces at the All You Can Eat Chinese buffet. The spirit of my ideal self hovered above moaning and renting her hair in anguish.
Eventually I got around to purchasing the necessary props but I was panicked that I had not left enough time for a last ditch gorge at the Ramen bar. On the train, speeding over the flat, grey landscape, the memory of my weakness began to fade and was all but gone by the time I stepped into the cool, wet air of my little country town. As I walked along the silent roads, back to my organic garden, I heard a voice, whispering but forceful- you haven't heard the last about that Ramen Bar......Mwah! Ha! Ha!

Not much to ask for

2009-04-02T10:15:00.002+11:00

This would make a darn fine Mother's Day present, don't you think? A real tractor though......not just a drawing of one, ok?

1975

2009-03-31T15:12:00.002+11:00

A small but enduring memory.

In which Boxhead the cat takes a guinea pig

2009-03-28T13:03:00.007+11:00

The other day, it was a gorgeous Autumn day, mild and sunny. We went out and played on the front verandah, the guinea pigs cavorted in their hutch. I asked Hana to put some extra straw in the Guinea pig's compartment. I thought to myself "she knows how important it is to check that the hutch door is closed....", then I went up to the backyard to clean the chook pen. Only a moment later I saw Boxhead the cat out of the corner of my eye, he followed the wall and then around the corner, crouched low, moving fast. It didn't register at first, my confused brain slowly processed the fact that he had something in his mouth- something white and furry and small..... Close behind, came Kobe. One look at his distressed expression and it all became clear. Boxhead had taken Whitey.
In moments of urgency like this, I have been known to leap into action with amazing alacrity..... Well actually I freeze and shriek just like I do in my anxiety dreams where my body is flooded with adrenalin yet heavy and sluggish like half set concrete. I did this, but finally managed to force myself to move, after Boxhead I went, weaving after him bent in half, grasping at his fur. I launched and tackled him to the ground where finally he dropped Whitey who fell and lay twitching. The tears came, I thought Boxhead had broken the backbone for sure.
I cradled her little body in my hands and went to return her to her box. As I lowered her down, she limped out of my hand. I put her in a darkened room and went to find and comfort Hana who had gone down to the end of the yard. She sat there, head on her knees sobbing and crying. What I said to comfort her, I was sure were empty reassurances.
An hour or two later I looked in Whitey's box, she lay on her side, still as stone and my heart sank. But as I gazed down on her, her eyes widened suddenly and she leapt up and scrambled under the straw! Later on I took her gently and went over limbs and body, there was an indentation behind her neck where Boxhead's one remaining fang had pressed almost fatally but the skin remained intact. Today, I'm happy to say she is nervous but back to normal.

art journaling again

2009-03-27T14:59:00.004+11:00

It's been awhile since I played in an art journal. Can't sit at art during the Summer for some reason. For relaxation I've been cutting stencils, I had a look at Mary Anne Moss's blog- Dispatch From LA, and was pretty excited to find that she is running an online course she calls "Pure Experimentation Stencilry- the online course". I couldn't wait for it to begin though, so I've been sitting at the kitchen table with my new specs on, scalpel in hand crying out warnings to approaching children that "This is VERY sharp". Finally, a way to guarantee more personal space!

Additions to the zoo

2009-03-18T15:45:00.004+11:00

Boy! It's been a long time since I last blogged. I must admit, this year's fire season knocked me for 6. It's our first Summer in the countryside and what an introduction.... We weren't affected by the fires but our town Macedon was flattened by the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983 and everyone felt our number was due to come up again this year. Anyway, I've finally calmed down enough to write again.
The kids and I bought an A frame hutch kit last week which we whipped up in no time, it was so exciting we had to go out the next day and find something to put in it. We have two guineapigs called Wompy and Whitey now. They are absolutely adorable! Unfortunately, they don't live in the hutch we built. They've always lived indoors and the great outdoors freaked them out, to make matters worst we discovered the terrier from next door madly digging his way in. So the littlies are now living inside with us. Hana is pleased she gets to cuddle them lots. Well, truth be told, I get to cuddle them lots too!
Lovely old Boxhead, our 20 year old mog, is interested enough to spend the odd hour staring into their safe house, but his only real interest these days is chasing the sunny spots around the yard.
There has been a couple of really lovely Autumn days that I've spent out in the garden, wandering about with the chooks on their supervised visit. Our neighbour has appeared several times at the door with a chook under his arm trying to be understanding about finding the little culprit hoeing her way through his garden. So each day I amble about with them out in the yard.
I've built another garden bed under the Eucalypts. A neighbour said I would never be able to grow anything under them so I took it as a challenge. I've put down heaps of mulch and chook poo and the first bed looks so fertile with green healthy plants bursting out of it's borders. In contrast, the garden bed that the owner's of our rental property made, with trucked in topsoil and neat sleeper edges grows sickly, wilting veg that call to every pest in the district. Mind you, I planted some heritage tomatoes in there, they are tiny and not too numerous but the taste is explosive! When they're done, the chooks are going in with a few bales of mulch to do their damage. If only they knew my plans, they'd be apoplectic with excitement!

Zucchini and the end of the World as we know it.

2009-02-20T12:17:00.005+11:00

Ahh, zucchini! What an accommodating plant- it springs up quickly and before you know it, huge lush leaves, saffron yellow flowers and fruit that go from fingerlings to logs the size of a forearm overnight.

I thought I might list a few links in this post. Our lifestyle has changed immeasurably in the past year. One of the deciding factors to make a change has been the desire to create a Permaculture forest which is a reality now we have bought our 15 acres. Our block is a typical farming block, it was used as grazing land and as a result the ground is quite compacted and hard. Some grass still struggles through but effects of the drought are showing. Everytime I go there, I am filled with excitement because I can envision what it will look like eventually, in contrast to it's current state. In years to come I'm hoping it will be bursting with fruit trees and garden and bushland.
To really get an understanding of Permaculture principles, I am slowly but surely trying to do my Permaculture Design Certificate with the aim of producing a plan for our land. You can read about Permaculture at this site- Permaculture Visions which is the group I am doing the certificate with.

I am obsessed with water. It makes me despair when I see precious water go unharvested. At first, I focussed on water harvesting with rainwater tanks and as you know I've been investigating water recycling plants for our new house but as I find out more about Permaculture, the more I realise that it's not just about filling tanks and dams. The Australian landscape can't hold water at the moment, our presence on this land has slowly degraded the soil, and often the soil is unshaded by groundcovers and prone to baking and erosion. It's going to be the most important experiment of my life to see if I can turn our patch around to be able to hold moisture in the soil to safeguard against drought.

I've been watching some incredible stories on Youtube about this very topic, some excellent one's to watch are Geoff Lawton's story about creating an oasis in the desert of Jordan called "Greening the desert." And this rather emotional story of Peter Andrews who managed to create a property rich in water through his exceptional understanding of landscape.

Another issue that I am concerned about is that of food security , of course it is a terrible reality for many people in Third World countries. I am proud that there are people out there going to these places and helping others help themselves. This is a lovely article about an Australian by the name of Bill Mollison who actually came up with the whole concept of Permaculture. This article mentions the work that he is undertaking around the world to help these very people regenerate land and grow their own food.

I don't think we are immune to the problems we see in under developed countries. My turning point came after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, I couldn't help imagining that if a place like that could descend into chaos after a natural disaster, what would happen to Melbourne if say, terrorists struck, or it flooded. I think we got a tiny glimpse of what could occur after the last heat wave when public transport almost ground to a halt, and we had power outages. With the terrible bushfires in Victoria nearly a fortnight ago now, apart from the appalling loss of life, Melbourne's power was under threat when a fire threatened to take out a power plant. I hadn't really thought about that aspect before, but could you imagine food spoiling in freezers and refrigerators? Maybe electricity powered water treatment plants failing? Hospitals? I don't like this feeling of teetering on the brink.
As I was growing up I was so exasperated with my mother because of her compulsion to horde. Our toilet had 72 rolls of spare loo paper, we had 20 cans of condensed milk at a time. I think Mum would look at her piles and feel secure. I guess when I was young, I didn't really understand the world Mum had come from and how it affected her for the whole of her life. Mum is Japanese, and she grew up in wartime. She was pulled from school regularly to help farmers keep up a food supply, she saw the flash of the bomb and the deprivations that followed after war and surrender. Now I find myself circling my little garden patch several times of day and feeling a sense of security when I see edible things in there. It seems selfish, but not if everybody is growing or producing a little bit of food, we would be there to help each other.

Gotta remember the good things in life.

2009-02-17T14:33:00.006+11:00

Victoria has been through hell with the bushfires. I feel the weight. But then I spy chooks and kids alike having fun in the sand, it's gotta make you smile. Life continues it's momentum.

Out at the property, we met the Biolytix rep last week to get a quote for a waste water treatment plant. I'm excited to think that our precious tank water will be used once in the house and then reused once it's treated with filters, microbes, bugs and worms in the garden. We will have greenery! This Summer has made me a little nervous about water. We'll be self sufficient in water when the house is built, this means that our water will be fresh from the sky, no more chlorinated cack coming out our pipes but we will be at nature's mercy as to whether there will be enough for us.
Years ago I was horrified that Queenslanders were going to drink their treated poo water, now I wouldn't think twice about it if we were to do it here in Vic. Black water that has been extensively treated is purer than some of the potable water in various countries around the World, and who knows what poos or dies in our catchment reservoirs.
We went out to the property on Sunday night. Phil has been wielding the brushcutter against the gorse again, he's conceded it's too much for one man. Perhaps one man and a couple of goats will do the trick. I absolutely can't wait to have some livestock! I love the chooks but Ruminants are my thing!
Sunset at Ashbourne rd.

She cracks

2009-02-06T14:20:00.006+11:00

It's funny how one can go along thinking things are going wonderful and then all of a sudden whilst doing the dishes- a mini breakdown happens on one. There I was scrubbing the pans when all of a sudden I felt totally overwhelmed. As the tears rolled down my cheeks, a lightness came upon me, I realised the problem was that I was donning too many hats. Here I am in my new identity as a gardener, a student, a landscaper, an inhabitant of a bushfire prone area, a home educator, a carer for frail parents- but I haven't shed my old City self. Something has to give.
This week I have a special 50th birthday celebration of an old friend to attend and a medical appointment for my father but after that, I put my foot down! Two weeks are crossed off for-

new seeds to plant
a new garden bed to be defined
the compost heap needs attention
fruit trees to be purchased
the wastewater treatment options for the new house need to be addressed
an alpaca farm needs to be visited
Permaculture Design Course homework
tomatoes need to be canned
working on photography with my son
swimming with my daughter
sitting on the verandah with my Significant Other
organising protective clothing in case of bushfire
absent mindedly wandering around the garden

So there you have it, I have confessed- "I'M NOT COPING!"

Greywater

2009-01-28T14:18:00.005+11:00

Look, I know we've heard it a million times today but......Man, it's HOT! Got out early this morning to wet down the garden. See above- this is my very technical Greywater recycling system. It takes about 50 litres of water to do the garden, and our tanks off the shed ran out weeks ago. When the kids have a bath, the garden rejoices- there's 50 litres right there! Now before you tell me not to put greywater on the food garden- I only use the warm up water from the shower ie. that precious clean, drinkable water that dissappears down the drain while I wait for the shower to get hot- on the food crops. Greywater comes in different qualities too, warm up water of course is as pure as our water treatment plants make it, bath and shower water have only small quantities of soap compared to water volume so this is not too bad, water quality wise. Laundry water comes next providing you have used a low sodium and phosporous detergent. No-no water is anything from the toilet or kitchen sink. We don't use toilet water for obvious reasons, (although in many old cultures Humanure was routinely used....but us modern people seem to be a bit icky about it.) Kitchen water has grease and fats and detergents and just isn't good for soil.

Syphoning water from buckets to the watering can and then carrying this all over the garden is pretty labour and time intensive but I'm getting pretty strong! Also, some of that time is spent sitting at the outdoor table waiting for the watering can to fill while I listen to the birds and feel the cooler morning air on my skin while watching the chooks peck about my feet. It's pretty satisfying using my water twice too.
Another activity done at the table is potting up the seedlings. These babies still have a long way to go, but it's exciting to think that in months to come we will have silverbeet, radishes, basil, beetroot, celery, beans and other scrumptious goodies popping up in the garden.

Chooks- mark2

2009-01-17T16:29:00.007+11:00

Meet Jennifer2 and.....
Clarissa2. Larger more robust chookys than my previous poor unfortunates.
This is Chooky Pentridge though they seem happy enough to be in there. Not quite my dream of free ranging happy hens but better than the alternative. They've popped out 3 eggs so far and are unbelievably friendly. The kids and I regularly sit inside the compound with them and while they were pecking at my toes today I noticed they have quite long pointy tongues.
We've made more seedballs, this is an experimental batch made with birdseed so if they work, the chooks will enjoy the produce. I have already thrown some vegie seedballs in the garden but they're still sitting there quietly, hasn't been enough rain to make them burst into life. I did read they can lie dormant for quite some time, which is the whole point of the exercise I suppose. Seedballs are supposed to be a good way to sow seed in drought conditions because they will just sit until the conditions are right. I hope they work, I've ordered some covercrop seed, enough to sow over a quarter acre. We'll throw those on the site of the old dam at the block.
We made a classic error when we bought our land, we purchased it in Spring when it looked lush and fertile, over the past couple of months despite a good fall of rain, the ground has hardened into a claypan, the dam is down and the grass has turned golden and dry. I am still filled with hope, we're in a cool climate- once the Summer is over I think we'll be better off rainwise than other parts of our state.

R.I.P

2009-01-11T14:13:00.002+11:00

There's a danger when well meaning city folk such as myself move to the country. A danger that we will inadvertently kill poor innocent creatures through our ignorance. I kept the two fat ladies in their coop for a week like I was told, before letting them out yesterday during the day. They gleefully chased bugs and made nests under the tomato plants, at least they had one day to experience the pure essence of Chookiness..... I let them out this morning, I came out to water the garden a little later only to find two small, still bodies outside the door to their coop. I suspect a dog. They were too little to free range. I am mortified and absolutely filled with remorse.......

New arrivals at the zoo.

2009-01-05T12:17:00.005+11:00

Happy New Year! My New Year's resolution is the same this year as every other year- Do not eat so much chocolate, cakes and bickies. I also resolve to finish my Permaculture Design Course before the house is built, which means loads of time but my track record for finishing any kind of course is dismal at best.
We have some new arrivals at Bruce st. Mr Krabbs came from our dam, he enjoys interior decorating and stays up most nights re-arranging his lodgings, he has impressive nippers and his favourite food is carrot.
Phil did a magnificent job making me a chook tractor and here it is with it's new inhabitants- Clarissa and Jennifer. They aren't quite the Two Fat Ladies just yet, they're only 8 weeks old- I have high hopes for them however. I had imagined they would be great little workers, converting food scraps to fertilizer and popping out glorious free range eggs, (not till Easter though, they're just babies at the moment.) But they've turned their beaks up at kitchen scraps and just hang around the wire waiting for me to deposit slaters. I can see there is a danger they shall become cosseted divas and I will work for them instead of the other way round. One thing is for sure, they'll never have to worry about ending up in the oven, they'll enjoy retirement one day. By the way, they will free range eventually, they're locked up at the moment until they settle in and I can gauge how Boxhead will take to them.
I enrolled in a Permaculture Design Course online last week. The usual course in a 72 hour live in type arrangement which would have been impossible for me to do at this stage. I'm hoping by the end of it, I will have a scaled plan on paper for planting and landscaping for our property on Ashbourne rd. Here's a link to the wikipedia entry for Permaculture. My vision is for groves of fruit trees along the front of the land and about an acre of food producing garden surrounding the house, a native tree and wildflower garden over the effluent disposal area. At the back of the property will be the alpaca paddock.
Because there are no services to our block we will live off rainwater (Ha! whatever that is.....haven't seen much of it before) we also have to treat effluent onsite, ie- sewerage. We're planning on a worm composting toilet, they look just like normal loos except everything goes to an enormous writhing tank of worms that process the waste and the resultant converted water goes to a dedicated irrigation area. My poor mother will never be able to go to the loo at our place imagining all that going on beneath her! Phil is not happy that we have to put aside 420 square metres for this purpose, you can't drive on it or run stock there, but I think there could be an absolutely superb display of native vegetation.
Phil is also not pleased about the tender green gorse bushes popping up almost everywhere. We have an informal agreement that I have 5 years to grow cover crops to choke out the weeds and improve the soil before he moves in with the chemical treatments. This farming business is bringing out our differences alright! He's the modern man, science is his weapon, I'm the airy fairy permaculture, natural farming, conservation minded one. I give him credit for indulging me though, it's just weeds seem to bring out his killer instinct!
Through my permaculture research, I came across the theories of a man called Masanobu Fukuoka. He believed that conventional farming takes from the soil causing it to become lifeless and compacted which then requires more intervention and fertilization. I think even the most contemporary farmer these days knows this now. Lots of Australian farmers are taking up practices such as no or low- tillage and using cover crops to improve the soil. The benefits are the soil retains much more moisture when cover crops are slashed and left as mulch cover, not tilling the soil keeps the organisms and worms in place, and both practices keep the land from eroding.
Fukuoka San also sowed crops with seedballs that he made with clay, compost and lots of seed, they were rolled into balls and cast on top of the ground. Because the seeds were encased in clay, they were protected from birds and insects, the clay when wet from rain retained water and the seeds were able to sprout without being sown in the ground. There have been many projects around the world where schools and individual groups have made these balls with native seeds and revegetated urban and rural areas. You have to be careful when using these balls, it's best to use native plants, the seedballs can erupt with vigorous growth, there is a danger that if a plant that is unsuitable for an area were sown, it could take over the surrounding bush.
My idea is to slash the grass and weeds that are growing at our place and then re seed with cover crops ( I'll use pasture seed as this has been grown on our property before.) Hopefully there will be more pasture and less weed by next Spring. I made a few test seedballs the other day, Hana and Kobe are keen to get their hands in some gluggy clay to help me make the hundreds of seedballs we will need. I'll keep you posted!

Merry Christmas and here's to a new Year!

2008-12-26T16:09:00.005+11:00

Hello everyone, it's been a long break from blogging. I've been whirling around in my usual disorganized way, busy with the move and then looking for property and buying one!... and the big build up to Christmas. This is my Christmas present, 15 acres of our own property just ripe for a brand new house, the biggest garden ever and a few farm animal friends. I feel completely blissed out. The kids now think dams are the most exciting places ever, all that mud and big plonky stones to throw in it. I love it all except for the barbed wire that surrounds the place, completely unsuitable for goats which we need to keep the gorse down. It looks like the first big outlay will be to improve the fencing. I've made the complete transformation from city Deb to Farmer Deb. Already I'm getting pitying/confused looks from my city mates.
I'm gearing up for a productive year next year. This year has been one for painful experiences and emotional growth but I feel a change in the air, I'm tentatively hopeful. My New Year resolutions are to spend some time each week blogging, to find some great books for my son the New Reader and to bake some fabulous goodies with my wide eyed girl.

Ps. Last week, going on the 3rd week of Summer, Hana and I were out driving when she looked out the window and said 'I wonder what it would be like to touch a cloud?' We drove to the top of Mount Macedon to find out.

The wonders of nature

2008-11-14T12:23:00.006+11:00

The other day, after being awoken by our cat who has developed a very precise inner clock, Hana and I got up and opened the door to be greeted by a misty morn. We stepped onto the verandah and there before us, stretched a spider's web from one tree to the other spanning a distance of about 6 metres. It was bejeweled with dew and at one end was this work of art (below) We wandered about on the lawn feeling the moist mildness of the Spring ground and as we looked up the mist evaporated in an instant, revealing a piercing blue sky. Where there was once a cobweb fairy land, it vanished before our eyes.

A few weeks ago, our mornings were very routine, there was no distinguishing one day from another, but here, every morning brings newness and surprise. It makes me feel so invigorated to see the trees and birds every morning. The magpie we found out the back made my heart sink though, until I walked up to it and it stared at me with one beady eye before jumping to it's feet, ruffling it's feathers with annoyance and stalking away. Phil tells me it's just what magpies do, he's seen it many times on the golf course. It seems to be a magpies' version of a spa and every warm day we've had since, I've seen up to 3 birds all lying face down in the dirt, still as stone.

Yesterday I had to go to the city (Nice to see you Kate!) I took the train and didn't get back home until evening. There was a storm brewing on the horizon, it had been a hot, hot day and as the sun dipped, the clouds were luminescent with a strange platinum glow. Since moving here, my mind is completely occupied with the weather, my garden, the air and the soil, I can't think what concerned me before, what kept my mind preoccupied when we lived in the city.
Over night, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled....and the rain came. It kept me awake but it was so delicious to lie there thinking of all that water soaking into the soil and leaf debris. The storm was welcome but fire restrictions start here on Monday, a sober reminder of the bush fire danger around here. I lay there hoping the ground was saturated, that lightning wouldn't set some remote tree in the forest alight. The bushfire risk is very real and serious here, especially during the drought. But the beauty of the mountain and bushland coupled with an ominous sense of danger makes me feel completely respectful and totally alive.

Trick or treat

2008-11-04T14:55:00.010+11:00

Hi! How was your Halloween? This is Big Punkin and Little Friend. It was a Halloween of firsts for us this year, our first Jack o'lantern and our first trick or treaters! That evening a ghost and an idol from the lost continent came to visit and much to Kobe's disgust, I had to give away the remains of his packet of Party Mix or risk a trick.

And talk about Tricksters, take a look at these three- Larry, Curly and Mo, the World's quietest cockatoos. It's only taken the wildlife a couple of days to recognise me as 'The One Who Brings The Food'. The moment I open the shed up the back, these guys appear silently in the plum tree waiting to spend a pleasant few hours cracking sunflower seeds on the grass. They really are absolutely chocka block full of personality.

This pet, on the other hand....sadly lacks personality of any kind. All the same, Hana christened him Sparkle the Snail and she updated me frequently on his goings on. Unfortunately he began to... 'ahem'.... do his number 2's pretty much continuously which I took as a rather ominous sign.
I had to put him back outside where it was cooler, I only hope I wasn't too late.

Hana is very much interested in everything that goes on outdoors. Kobe's outdoor recreation consists of running laps around the Hills Hoist for some reason, but his first loves are still the pc and his Lego. He saw something on TV about Egypt not long ago and this Lego Sphinx appeared on the lounge room floor. You can hardly walk from one wall to the other at our house, it's rather like living in a permanently changing Lego exhibition. I wonder if Kobe can help me build a multi coloured brick rabbit hutch?
Well, I'm off to collect some kindling from under the gum trees. It might be Spring but the nights sure are chilly! Ciao!

Ch,ch,ch,ch,changes!

2008-10-28T12:01:00.011+11:00

Hello and welcome back! I'm so glad I've kept this blog, there's been big changes at Saltys place that I need to share with you!

We've relocated to Macedon! This is our temporary house, we're staying here while we look about for some acreage. So far, it's been a great decision, I hadn't realised how much I missed this, I'm so glad we've exchanged the noise and bustle of the city for trees and birds and crisp fresh air. So crisp in fact that we had a frost on our first night here which killed some of my house plants that I had left outside, unsuspecting of the climate.

In between unpacking our seemingly thousands of boxes, we've been out in our yard planting a garden and generally communing with nature.

We've even had a visitor or two!

I hope you will check back here often to see what we've been up to, or drop in for a cuppa soon, I'm sure to try my hand at scones eventually!

The things I'm enjoying doing instead of the things I should be doing.

2007-12-03T16:01:00.000+11:00

It's time to make the Christmas Pudding, and get presents, and clean up the house, and see friends, and visit the family......instead I'm sitting permanently at my desk with origami paper, pens, stanley knives and gluesticks unable to move away to do the jobs that are pressing.

Sparrow village

2007-12-01T17:44:00.000+11:00

Yesterday evening I went for a walk down Brunswick st. and stopped in at the Brunswick st. Bookstore for a browse before getting pizza and beer for dinner. When I got home Phil asked if I had seen any good books and I told him about the 'Book of birds of Melbourne' and how I wished I had bought it. "Birds of Melbourne?!" he scoffed, "What? You want a book about pigeons and sea gulls and those bloody yellow legged Minah things?" and I added meekly, "and sparrows....."

Chicken Mansion

2007-11-30T14:24:00.000+11:00

Big Chicks in the Shadowless Village

2007-11-29T14:09:00.001+11:00

A large title for a very small drawing.

The embalmed bonsai

2007-11-25T13:37:00.001+11:00

When I was a kid, my mum wore elastic topped 'slacks' and tunic style tops. She played golf with her friends who also wore elastic slacks and tunics. In the Summer Mum's left hand was always white where she wore her leather golfing glove while her arms up to the sleeve mark were a deep honey brown. Golf was her passion, she spent a lot of time at the golf course and consequently I was at the baby sitters a lot.
One of my baby sitters was wonderful, her name was Mrs Duffy she was short and wrinkled and had a face like what I imagined a plum pudding might look like, or a sugar plum fairy- I wasn't sure which, they were Christmas images I'd read about but never seen in Australia. I don't think Mrs Duffy had a husband, she lived in a little dark stone cottage and kept Eskimo Pie ice creams in an enormous freezer that took up all of her hallway except for a little gap to squeeze past. My other babysitter was called Mrs Skinner, she was tall and thin and had a rather severe angular face. She lived in a house with wooden floors and no toys. I screamed when I was left with Mrs Skinner, the time it took to play a round of golf felt interminably long at Mrs Skinner's house.
Mum spent so much time at golf that she didn't have time for gardening. In every room in our house, there was a vase filled with plastic flowers. There were roses on top of the book case in an array of pastel coloured blooms, that were waxy and death like, whenever I looked at them it chilled me. My mother's nemesis who was also Japanese, brought her a bonsai from the old country once. She gave my mother many gifts and I think Mum accepted them all just so she could recall her vivid hatred whenever she set eyes on them. The bonsai was placed on the top shelf in the kitchen where it languished, never watered or clipped. The bonsai was a precious symbol of the beauty of Mum's home land but at the same time a bitter reminder of Minnie, the hated bestower of gifts.
After many years the miniature tree was completely dessicated but seemed to have extra growth where the dust had accumulated and formed into clumps of grey felty material. One day the bonsai was taken away. I was not living at home anymore at this stage and the next time I came to visit, the bonsai was back but it had been sprayed an artificial dark lime colour, clumps of dust and all. It is still there, slightly larger again with another crop of dust. Mum no longer talks to Minnie.

Elastic time

2007-11-11T12:05:00.001+11:00

While sitting at my desk this morning, I looked at the scanner and realised why I haven't been posting so often these days. It takes an enormous mental effort to move stuff off the scanner in order to lift the lid and actually scan something. After several minutes of psyching up, I managed to complete the task, once again marveling at the power of procrastination.
This week has dragged out like a stretched bit of blue tac. Phil has been in Croatia for a week and because of this I have been doing Mum stuff and Dad stuff, half of my time has been spent in the kitchen and the other half at the other end of the house in the computer room. While I was folding clothes yesterday during a brief respite in which. I escaped to the bedroom, Kobe came in to perform his duty of regular requests to play Star Wars Lego on the pc. I said I could play for a while and then would have to make dinner and explained as I do on a daily basis, that there was a lot of jobs to be done in the evening before bed. Kobe, to my surprise flung himself face down on the bed and wailed "why do the days go so fast?!!!" I was taken aback, I was under the impression that days only went fast once you reached 30, I could not remember ever having said those words at 6 years of age. If I recall rightly, Summer always took years to roll around and waiting in the doctor's office for vaccinations took even longer.
I looked down at my maudlin boy prostrate on the bed and thought to myself, his 6 years of life so far, seem compressed into an instant, I didn't want time to go so fast either. But time is elastic. Humans invented clocks and made equal measures of time, perhaps believing that we could somehow harness and control our lifetimes whooshing past and evaporating into the mists. Time is liquid though, sometimes it pools and seems static, moments later it cascades past at an alarming rate. When Kobe looked up at me I said "But your birthday and Christmas are coming! What if time went slow all the way until then?" He leapt up, eyes shining and yelled "yeah!" and ran off, I guess to speed things along a little faster.

Writing is a form of drawing!

2007-11-09T15:45:00.000+11:00

I suppose these lapses of concentration are common. I'm finding it very hard to get 'into' drawing at the moment, my focus has temporarily shifted towards writing, I recently ordered a copy of "Living Color, a writer paints her world" , by one of my favourite writers- Natalie Goldberg. I was not disappointed, but having rediscovered her I then went on to re read "Writing down the bones." I originally bought the full size edition of this book and found that I was reading it everytime I went out of the house so I was over joyed to find the pocket version which I keep in my bag. It is the perfect companion to a quiet few hours writing in coffee shops. After all, I do live at the edge of Fitzroy here in Melbourne, there is a tradition for me to uphold. However I do not always wear black these days This book is a delicious blend of buddhism and writing, she amazes me that she was able to blend two of my fascinations, it gave me hope much in the way Dan Price did with his books on journalling and simple living. So I'm writing away, perhaps nothing that I would be willing to post but Goldberg's whole premise is writing as 'practice' as in zen practice. I'm going deep inside myself.

What a funny old fellow was Isaac......

2007-10-24T20:16:00.000+10:00

I'm back from a long blogging silence. Just thought I'd mention what a strange guy Isaac Newton was. Brilliant, yes, but also odd....very odd. We are probably lucky that he lived long enough to bring us such amazing concepts as the Calculus, and his masterwork the Philolphiae Naturalis Pricipia mathematica. As well as such brilliance, Newton also indulged in some bizarre experiments such as inserting a bodkin (a very large needle) into his eye socket and rotated it about "betwixt my eye and the bone as near to the backside of my eye as I could..." Why did he do this? To find out what would happen. I suppose the down side to an enquiring mind is that sometimes you have to go to extremes to find an answer. The answer in Isaac's case was luckily, 'nothing lasting.'

more journal pages

2007-09-30T17:12:00.000+10:00

All my colored work has this color scheme, I do have other colors but they sit in the box unused. I found a really good journal for ink and wash yesterday, it's a $7.00 sketch pad with 200gsm paper, specifically for ink and wash, they come in smooth or textured. It's one of those pads that you can tear the finished page off easily, I don't like that sort. I bought it because it's so hard to find sketchbooks with good paper for wet media and I was sure I could make it more durable, I found some resources on the net about Japanese book binding and ended up using these instructions . However I didn't take the book apart at all, just sewed it close to the original binding tape and stuck a piece of watercolor paper on the front which I will embellish at some stage. Perhaps I'll post a pic of the finished cover at a later date. All in all I was very pleased with the result so far.

Pages from the journal

2007-09-26T12:05:00.001+10:00

Abundant

2007-09-21T18:13:00.000+10:00

Took the kids to the beach today. It was overcast but mild, Kobe and Hana ran in and out of the waves, the clouds hung darkly over the pier, I collected different colored glass worn smooth by a million waves. We came away rejuvenated, licking fine salt spray from our lips.

Cascade

2007-09-20T20:50:00.000+10:00

Alignment

2007-09-17T19:29:00.000+10:00

The forces of the Universe must be in alignment, both the kids were busy at the same time and not hungry for a change, the husband is working late. I sat on the sofa with Ry Cooder on the sound system , a glass of wine and the sketchbook and pen. Satisfaction settled on me like Spring sunshine and really....what more can I ask for. I feel very lucky.

A quote- "The specialness of artists is the degree to which these precarious balances are crucial backups for their real endeavor. Their essential effort is to catapult themselves wholly, without holding back one bit, into a course of action without having any idea where they will end up. They are like riders who gallop into the night, eagerly leaning on their horse's neck, peering into a blinding rain. and they have to do it over and over again. When they find that they have ridden and ridden- maybe for years, full tilt- in what is for them a mistaken direction, they must unearth within themselves some readiness to turn direction and to gallop off again."
Anne Truitt- Daybook, The Journal of an Artist.
A link- Pamela Dale an Australian Artist who makes some lovely assemblages in the shape of clothing and the very sensuous "blue paintings".

Not very much

2007-09-16T15:02:00.000+10:00

"The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it."
Dee Hock

At least that's the reason I'm giving for sitting about doing not very much.

Some lovely installation work by artist Maria Hinze

A little change from dashes

2007-09-14T17:13:00.001+10:00

Birth induced vision abnormality

2007-09-11T18:11:00.000+10:00

I know I'm getting a bit obsessive with these dashes, my eyes are so red from staring at the page! They fascinate me because this is what I saw on light blank surfaces after the births of my kids. I remember staring at the wall in our bedroom in wonder at the sworls and dots and at the same time being a bit concerned that my vision was going. They went away eventually, in hindsight I guess it was caused by sleep deprivation.

Creative explosion

2007-09-10T13:49:00.001+10:00

I mentioned in my last post how I stopped making art after art school, I couldn't cope with all I thought had to be done in order to be a successful artist. Just the thought of having to come up with brilliant, original works and networking with those that might further my career and building up a good cv and exhibiting as often as possible pretty much blocked me completely. I don't want to talk anymore about my 'creative trauma' but instead to mention what seems to be a creative renaissance. The people whose work I read about and look at are people who create for the pure enjoyment of it, selling or not selling just isn't the focus. The Net too, has joined people together, art isn't just in the galleries thank goodness! You can get on the net and look at work by all sorts of people from all over the world whose common thread is simply their joy in making stuff. It makes me feel for the first time that there are no rules and how liberating that is!
These people who may or may not call themselves artists often are more prolific than your traditional artist, I think this is because of a lack of inhibition, making art is about enjoying the process rather than trying to make a living or trying to become famous. (though there's nothing wrong if that happens too!) I was reading about Lisa Congdon this week, she calls herself an Outsider Artist because she has no art training, what I like about her is that she is incredibly prolific but the drive comes from an absolute need and love for creating, you can read an interview with her in Juxtapoz magazine here( sorry, this link isn't working for some reason, you can access it from the About page on her site.) Also she has a great blog here .
While I was thinking about all this, I had a look at this German site that documents Street Art, it brightens my day to spot little masterpieces while I'm out and about. What's your opinion on Street Art? Is it done by criminals or do you see it as unbridled creativity?

A moment to feel thankful

2007-09-07T18:53:00.000+10:00

Tonight I was thinking of how I got back into art. It wasn't that long ago really, I made some toys for friends last Christmas in an effort to break the mass hysterical consumer orgy that Christmases past have been for me. After that little taste of creativity, something inside me was released, I never wanted to be without it again. When we went to Germany I was looking online for an English speaking life drawing class in the town where we were living. I didn't find one, but I did find Every Day Matters. From Danny Gregory's site I then discovered "The Wish Jar" by keri smith, she has been such a comfort when I've been feeling kinda lost. Her wild abandon and playfulness in creativity has inspired me to create where long ago as an art student I became overwhelmed and paralyzed with fear.
My journal has, as you have probably noticed, taken another swing in style, once upon a time this would have mortified me because I was constantly criticized at art school for not developing a signature style. These days, I welcome the new ideas.
I was browsing keri's site again tonight and out of interest read her article " How to start as an illustrator." She mentioned Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto what he had to say seemed so wise to me at this stage in my life. I really think that what people like Danny Gregory, keri smith and Bruce Mau have done for us ordinary mortals has been absolutely liberating and it has been such a joyous journey to do and also to see the amazing work by people from all walks of life.

Introspection

2007-09-06T17:13:00.001+10:00

"You need not leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. You need not even listen, simply wait. You need not even wait, just learn to become quiet, and still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It has no choice; it will roll in ecstasy at your feet."
-Franz Kafka

Branches

2007-09-04T14:40:00.000+10:00

Time for a change.....again.

2007-09-03T16:49:00.001+10:00

Wow, that was a strange experience. Last week I was happily drawing away when 'Pouf! ( everything sounds classier in French.) Inspiration dried up like the run-away Baked Bean under the couch. At least this time, I only felt mild consternation rather than a full-on panic attack. Maybe I could even grow to love and embrace these times. This week I've been thinking REINVENT. I reinvent all the time, this year I decided I wouldn't take on anymore new activities because I could feel myself wearing thin, last year I did Belly Dancing, pottery, fun runs, yoga, a writing course and I can't remember the rest but of course nothing was completed. I came to my senses this year and realised that staying at home with the kids, being a mum,wife, sister, daughter and trying to be creative really was enough for my limited energy stores. My compulsion to reinvent is something that I've really been ashamed of in the past. Deep down I believed reinvention really meant "unable to finish things" and "unfocused" but this is my year of being kind to myself and embracing the imperfection of life and perhaps even acknowledging that spontaneity, surprises, and gifts from your intuition are all good things that come from reinvention.

Father's Day

2007-08-29T11:34:00.001+10:00

This is my Dad. While I was drawing him from a photo, my neighbor came in, after watching a while, she said 'is he.......alright?' What makes lots of volume which is fun to draw, comes from his years of cortisone use for chronic asthma which bloats the face. He isn't alright. There is a myriad of diseases he lives with on a daily basis. But he keeps going long after we feared for him and he loves his grandchildren and always finds a reason for getting up in the morning. I love you Dad, Happy Father's Day for Sunday!

Pulled one out of the archives

2007-08-28T18:11:00.000+10:00

Got out my pen and book this week for some drawing. There is something wrong with my pen, I'm sure. It turned every drawing into a grotesque version of what I intended, very odd, perhaps I can sell it on Ebay as an Original Ugly Stick. Oh well, the urge to post has to be fulfilled however, so here is a drawing that I hope isn't already in the archives. I'm pretty sure it was originally posted on my blog at Typepad where I had a brief flirtation before coldly dumping it, I was a cad.

Confessions of a germaphobe

2007-08-22T12:11:00.000+10:00

A few weeks ago on my birthday, I chose as a treat to go on a date with myself to the library. It was very enjoyable, I read a book on germs. I didn't check this book out because I'm the sort of person who would seize up if I knew too much about the greeblies that live in our home. Most people know now, that the toilet is relatively clean compared to, say the kitchen sink which is really a swamp of the Black Death. I didn't know though that anti-bacterial cleaners are completely ineffective and according to recent studies the best way to sanitize something is to scrub it. ( and then manically wash your hands afterwards.) Of course I've been scrubbing away ever since, it is actually a very satisfying activity, I've just been watching months of fungal growth disappear down the plug hole in the shower.
Today's drawing is of the German artist Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945) She was married to a doctor and was very busy helping him in his practice, looking after her two boys and the household as well as prolifically working at her art. She was a multi-tasker, she drew the women of the working class who waited in her home to see the doctor. Lots of women who did a hell of a lot more scrubbing than I do.

Quick! Someone skim the pond!

2007-08-20T10:43:00.001+10:00

Sometimes my head is so full of ideas and then someone goes and pours acid down the drain and there are my poor ideas floating on the top of the pond, completely lifeless. I wonder why, when I have no ideas in my head my mouth still opens and lets a deluge of rubbish pour out of it. Appropriate silence is so difficult.
Having just demonstrated this difficulty- here is Henry Miller, the master of pared down expression who captured Paris, that city both sublime and filthy.

CHADD

2007-08-16T13:06:00.001+10:00

I seem to have a problem. A severe case of CHADD I suspect. Cross Hatching Attention Deficit Disorder.

Portrait of a man completely unknown to me

2007-08-14T13:53:00.001+10:00

Actually I know exactly who this is. It is someone who really detests having drawings made of them and published in blogs. Unfortunately due to our family connections he has no choice but to suffer the indignity in silence.

6 on the Richter scale

2007-08-13T08:48:00.000+10:00

I couldn't post last night, for some reason Blogger wouldn't let me. I kept clicking the Publish Post button and nothing........I was hyperventilating, I was having conniptions. That is one of my all time favorite words- Conniption. It's like a 6 on the Richter scale on the inside and a ripple on a pond on the outside. See what Blogger has done to me? Now I'm making no sense. whatsoever.

Another guy from the paper.

2007-08-11T19:46:00.000+10:00

I've been finding it hard to settle down and draw since we got back. I've been drawing heads from the paper because I just want to practice and those inconsiderate people who frequent coffee shops won't damn well stand still. Mind you, I drew my niece today and she did stand still, very disconcerting- I couldn't draw because she was sitting there perfectly still but with a thick air of expectancy. I did complete the sketch and she was suitably underwhelmed by it.

Waiting for the train

2007-08-10T14:37:00.002+10:00

I was waiting at the train station for my nieces to arrive, to pass the time I drew this from a book.

Pointless post completely unrelated to picture

2007-08-09T13:28:00.001+10:00

The house sitter has left her goldfish here. I've never had fish before I didn't realize how interactive they are. Whenever I go to make coffee they both swim to the spot where they can see me, at first I thought the espresso machine was traumatizing them and they were trying to communicate with me using fish telepathy but I think they just know I'm the Dude with the Food so they swim around hopefully, much like the cat , except the cat doesn't swim, I guess you already suspected that. So when I fed them I noticed they would swim to the surface to eat and bubbles would come out of their mouths then they would swim down and more bubbles would come out from........well, somewhere. Every time I fed them I would peer at them from under the bowl to see just exactly where these bubbles come from and I'm rather disappointed to report that fish don't appear to fart like I suspected. The bubbles come from their gills so I guess they're just burping, but I'll keep studying them, after all they may be trying to communicate with me by burp talking.

Dollies

2007-08-07T20:16:00.000+10:00

Today for my birthday I got a scanner and I went to the library to read magazines. Some kind of time warp happened while I was in there, 5 hours passed without my knowing. I was thankful it was only a few hours, was afraid that when I returned home the doorway would be draped in cobwebs and the family all gone to pursue their adult lives after the weird disappearance of their mother.

Letjagged

2007-07-30T12:11:00.000+10:00

I promised you twang- G'day! Howzithangin? I don't think I have ever strung those words together in my life, in fact I don't know anyone at all that says 'G'day'. Hmmmm, interesting.....or is it? I digress. We've been home for 5 days, I've been jetlagged and ill probably from breathing that fetid air that gets perpetually recirculated through the aircraft cabin. My eye and nose have been streaming so much so, that I have taped a sanitary pad over my eye and plugged the nostril with a Med. I'm really getting into these blogs where the author describes their illnesses in vivid detail, they are surprisingly common, I guess that's why we have blogs in the first place, I can go on about any old shite and there's not a damn thing you can do about it, well apart from not reading this of course, but you are! Ha!

Ok, this is all getting a bit nonsensical even for me, I'm hoping my head will clear some time in the next few days then perhaps my reason will return.

Guy from the paper

2007-07-29T18:11:00.000+10:00

Think I'll take a tram ride tomorrow to get some discarded newspapers.

See you in Melbourne!

2007-07-11T18:14:00.000+10:00

Ok, we're about done here. Just one major hauling of approximately a small city of suitcases to Frankfurt and then a little jaunt around Switzerland, then back to the Land of Oz. Next time I post it will be in a strong Aussie twang. Though I'm quite taken with this Twitter thing, (see my side bar at left.) I'll be letting you know at regular intervals such fascinating things about what I'm doing like picking my nose or vacantly staring into space.

I am perhaps obtaining much more great!

2007-07-11T01:44:00.000+10:00

I've just been reading this blog- http://crackskullbob.squarespace.com/journal/ Not really sure what his name is, he seems a little multiple-personality, but hey! The blog is a scream! One of his posts was an experiment with something like Google Translate, I love Google Translate (http://translate.google.com/translate_t?langpair=esen ) , if you're ever feeling a bit low and are in need of a good laugh have a play with it. Crackskullbob translated English to Portuguese and back again, the following post was done in the same manner except to Spanish.

I am trying to lose some kilos, my gut is spilling on my waistband but really I am tired to wake up as much with the indigestión and of the change more slowly. I am living on the soup of miso and fruit, is not so bad in fact that my stomach seriously of the rumbling is entertaining absolutely. The time of baking has been reduced greatly that is a premium. My husband will eat tonight toasted and tea, and will drain a bag in a cup and will add the hot water, there! Uses the supper! I complained to my husband the other day which just they did not make wrap the way that used to, all my t-shirts I look like to have contracted to reveal a charming roller of the fat, is not perhaps the washing machine, I am perhaps obtaining much more great.

I'm thinking I should write all my posts in this manner, it really improves the quality!

The Art of The Nap

2007-07-10T20:23:00.000+10:00

Phil has an enviable skill of being able to construct a makeshift bed wherever he is. I drew this in the garden behind the Elisenbrunnen, where Phil managed a little nap while the kids ran over the top of him and despite the sulfurous odour that comes from the natural spring nearby.

Parallel universes and earplugs

2007-07-07T04:43:00.000+10:00

The other day, I bought a new pack of earplugs, an essential for wives of snoring men. These ones were a hot pink and Hana was absolutely intrigued with them. She asks all the time if I can get the pack out for her, she loves the colour, I think when she looks at it she can feel the colour, it is most certainly a pleasurable thing for her.

As I was lying awake the other night (not having the earplugs handy because I had put them in a cupboard to hide them from Hana) I got to thinking how intensely I loved things as a kid. Smells, colours, certain pictures, rocks, pieces of worn glass. It was certainly a sensual experience to look and touch certain things, I can't remember when I ceased experiencing those things so deeply. It made me realise that we inhabit a different world to the one of childhood. No wonder we clash with kids so much, we're living in parallel universes, and unfortunately the impulse to impose our realities on our kids is very hard to resist. I guess it's not wholly intentional. Of course we have their best interests at heart, we want to prepare them for the adult world. I guess the danger is that we unintentionally steal childhood time away if we are not open to their reality.

I began drawing again this year after a long absence because some accidental discoveries on the net lead me to a whole new way of thinking about creativity. I forgot the goal oriented, mentality which had previously frozen my desire for making art and began drawing my little life purely for the pleasure of it. This has resulted in a complete turn around in the way I think about just about everything! This kind of drawing is a kind of meditation, a kind of worship if you will. Time is arrested while the line takes on a life of it's own, it is refreshing, it is rejuvenating. At these moments I just barely capture that feeling I had as a child while tenderly stroking the inside fur of my cat's paw, drinking in the sensation and processing it with my whole being. I watch my kids and see them experience these moments constantly, I'm watching and trying to learn their lessons

Leaving preparations

2007-07-03T17:24:00.000+10:00

We go next week. I've been wandering about sketching things I may never see again, and living in amongst chaos while we turn out cupboards and filter through the amazing amount of crap that we have accumulated over the last 6 months. Now you see why I am trying to cease with the shopping! It's frightening to think that soon we will be home and a van is going to bring loads of stuff out of storage to pour into our overly large house and I will be totally overcome with having to deal with it all. I'm still fantasizing about moving into a cosy little shed like my brother's. When we get back, I'm going to contact these people- http://www.freecycle.org.au/

see if I can get rid of a whole lotta stuff!

K.I.S.S

2007-06-26T22:43:00.000+10:00

Now that the adventure of Germany is drawing to a close, we find ourselves discussing the next adventure. Phil and I have talked about downsizing for years now, and the time here has brought us one step closer. It's always been a good feeling to live out of a suitcase (well, 3 actually.) While we've been here I've weaned off shopping, which I did quite a bit of when I first got here. It got really tiresome and I realised that it was a pattern that I followed in Melbourne as well- 'Entertainment shopping'. I cut down our shopping trips to essentials only, would only grocery shop when the fridge was entirely empty. As a result, my bank balance has been healthier than it has in years and I feel a great weight has fallen from me because my days aren't planned around the daily shopping. I want to continue this when we get home. I've been severely curtailing the children's tv watching as well in an attempt to reduce their exposure to advertising which I've finally realised has as it's sole purpose- to encourage us to buy stuff we didn't need before. The days without mindless consuming and tv have been the most satisfying.

So Phil and I have brought up the topic once more- Will we sell our house? I'm dreaming of acres of bushland, no lawn, no flowers just a small house some vegies and the wildlife. I read aboutsome tiny houses at this link-
http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/home.htm

They are so small you don't even need a building permit, in fact they can drive the finished house to your land on the back of a truck! I was enchanted, but Phil is well aware of my tendency to excess when I'm enthusiastic and has suggested that small is good but he does want a certain standard of living which entails being able to swing cats and access to the grid. It's true, I am wildly enthusiastic especially since my brother and sister-in-law have bought land are about to move into their rather luxurious shed while they build their home.

Brother, I know you've got your hands full at the moment but could you spare a hand to build our dream shed? Please?

Trees

2007-06-26T01:09:00.000+10:00

This weekend I went walking on my own for a bit of soul time. I climbed a lot of stairs up to the top of Lousberg. On the way I came across some old Roman Columns. Aachen was part of the Roman Empire centuries ago and I'm always blown away to find evidence in amongst modern life here. Further up the hill I was in the thick of the forest, I took Phil and the kids up the next day and when we got to this part Hana said we were in the forest from 'Shrek'. I love the forests here they're dark and damp and the smell is so fresh. I was trying to capture the darkness of the forest floor with the chinks of brightness showing through at the top of the hill. Have been practicing drawing trees because trying to capture their leafiness seems to elude me.

We'll be off then.

2007-06-23T01:00:00.000+10:00

We've finally made a decision about when we're actually going to leave Germany. Due to some tax issues we're leaving a couple of weeks earlier than planned. Three more weeks until Phil finishes work then off to Switzerland and Italy for 10 days and then home. I'm excited, I can't wait to see everyone at home! Despite all my whining, I will miss Germany, it has been hard but what I've reaped from this experience I will always be grateful for. Today I walked around the town and thought I may never see it again, I've felt so alien here but this place has absorbed me into it, it has been my home if only for half a year. I know from past travels how the places you visit just get better in memory once you've left, I think Aachen will be a place that the family and I will talk about always, a shared experience that is ours, a memory that we will share long after the kids have grown.

German street art

2007-06-22T19:31:00.000+10:00

Vague? or Profound?

(No sex with Nazis)

Are you sure you're not? Really? Better go check.

It's a start

2007-06-19T20:17:00.000+10:00

I'm very new to Voluntary Simplicity and part of the deal I've made with myself is to not give myself a hard time. I decided that to do this I would have to do it very slowly and I would start on myself. So far so good, I definately don't need any more new clothes, my wardrobe has never been extensive though I have coveted beautiful clothes. I am what you might call 'Fashion Impaired' before it left me feeling a little less than other people but now I can forget about shopping and lamenting that there is NOTHING TO WEAR! because I probably have way more clothes than what you might call essential. When the time comes to replace an item of clothing I don't have a problem with buying recycled clothing.

The other change I've made is to eat a little more simply, no more waste. This is another example of wanting to conform to some standard without ever questioning it. I guess I've had an idea that cultured people cook gourmet meals at least once a day. For me this has meant buying ingredients that I might use a part of and then having to throw the rest out because it spoiled. ( I couldn't make 2 meals in a row the same.) Also there was the time expenditure needed to make these meals. Not fun when you have young kids who want your attention at the end of the day. Time is definately one thing I want to gain from simplifying my life and I don't want to gain it so I can be more PRODUCTIVE , I want more time to really watch my children and savour this time, I want more time to relax and enjoy talking leisurely with my husband, I want more time to sit quietly with my thoughts, I want more time to recharge and energize instead of physically running around or thinking at top speed. So for dinner lately we've been having simple things with a hearty staple like the great grainy bread they have here, I find we're eating less and feeling more healthy, and lets face it in our advanced societies food is one of those things that has succumbed to overkill. We could probably all do with a little less in this area.

The next thing is a bit harder, have to tell the family back at home there will be no expensive presents from our overseas travels this time, however, if they want to see some photos and have a good natter, I have plenty of time for them!

It feels good to have made just a few small changes I'm going to sit with them for awhile before I tackle this a bit more.

Unsociable So and So's

2007-06-14T22:00:00.000+10:00

I've made a few small changes to life lately and the rewards have been so worth it! Been thinking a lot about why I struggle with EVERYTHING, sometimes I feel I'm just an uncomfortable person, it's a permanent state for me. I've been away for 5 months now, it's given me so much time to think. Significant Other and I often talk about sociability, we get asked about it a lot because we homeschool the kids. We also talk about our own shortcomings, we're both pretty shy and really like our own company. Before, we were always badgered by those who were horrified that our kids didn't mix with at least 30 others of the same age every day, when we came to Germany, people began nagging me about 'getting out there' and being part of the community. It got me thinking about Socialization. I was brought up in the traditional way, I went to school just like all the other kids, I was really shy and endured people constantly trying to force me to speak. I had this fantasy that I became dumb and was prescribed a typing machine and screen, this was the only way I could communicate.
When I was a lot older and way out of school I decided the shyness was too much and practiced talking to people until I was more at ease. I still don't want to be with people all the time, I still love my own company. I've had times where I have made myself miserable with anxiety about whether the kids got enough social contact when I remembered all the kids I had to endure when I was young and how it turned me off talking completely. So I decided to give the kids a break while we were here and while I was at it, give myself a break. It's been great! Once I let go of the anxiety, it became so peaceful. At some stage, I stopped thinking 'unsociable' and 'reclusive' and began thinking Self Reliant. I really value this trait and think it's great for the kids, it's true they are very self contained but I think that's more temperament than anything we've done. They both still have lots of childhood fears but I see a strong sense of self beginning to bloom in them. And I stopped worrying about them needing other kids, we found heaps of them at the playground.

One of those perfect moments.

2007-05-08T01:21:00.000+10:00

So, I was having a shower the other day and I decided to multi-task on this occasion by brushing my teeth at the same time. When I finished there was no where to put my toothbrush so I opened the shower doors and threw the toothbrush into the sink about a metre and a half away. It hit the nearest side, slid down and up the opposite wall, then gracefully arced and balanced perfectly on the edge of the washing machine. I need say no more.....

Down with House Work!

2007-05-03T21:46:00.000+10:00

Sometimes I stress about the housework like the state of the world depends on it. It makes me crazy, driven, a real bitch. I really don't like that state of mind, I'm sure my kids hate it when I'm more focused on drips on the floor rather than on them. I think it's just easy to concentrate all my anxiety on something essentially unimportant, the ultimate in time wasting. The thing about house cleaning is that it is a universal language, we can complain about it to each other across the language barrier. I'm not very good at housework, we're in a serviced apartment at the moment, which you would think would suit someone such as myself who is house-proud impaired. But I can't help but be paranoid about the decaying remnants in the fridge which I'm sure the cleaning staff peer into solely to think badly of me. I clean like a demon the day before they come and boy does that make me crabby. ( click on above image to enlarge.)

Time to revise

2007-05-02T23:06:00.000+10:00

Where is my journal going? I began drawing again after many years just before we came to Germany. I made toys for Christmas presents last year and was able to experience that wonderful glow that you get from creativity once more. I began sketching a few ideas for more toys in an old journal and when we came to Germany, drawing helped me with the isolation that comes with living in a foreign country. Then came EDM and a reconnection with creative people which prompted me to reconsider my ideas of being an artist.

Lately I've been reading the websites and blogs by people such as Danny Gregory, Dan Price and Keri Smith . I've been revisiting some old favourite authors such as Natalie Goldberg and Anne Lamott and I think the penny has dropped. My artistic and life aspirations are finally in alignment- Live in the moment, Simplify, be Flexible, be less materialistic. Coming to Germany has been hard for me, the couple of months before we came were incredibly stressful and adjusting to life here has been a real challenge. I've never lived in a different country before, there has been long stretches of boredom interspersed with frustration as well as a few golden moments. I've been disappointed in myself for feeling self pity, for not appreciating this gift of living abroad. The pressure I've been feeling is subsiding now that I've remembered one of the basics of Buddhism- suffering comes from attachment. I forget this all the time, this statement for me means when I have expectations I'm going to be frustrated by them. The solutions- be flexible, don't do retail therapy, slow down and enjoy the small things. And I guess that's where my journal is going, it's to help me remember that life is just fine, it's just getting a little too crowded.

Everything in our apartment is from IKEA.

2007-04-26T01:31:00.000+10:00

Broken Collar Bone

2007-04-24T00:09:00.000+10:00

It just takes a moment to change the course of things. Got a call on Thursday night, it was Phil's workmate telling me Phil had broken his collar bone and was in the ambulance on his way to hospital. I was at home with the kids, we waited a couple of hours wondering where in Aachen he might be. He finally turned up at home half dressed, arm clutched to his chest like an injured stray cat. He's not in pain and has already gone back to work but the need for surgery may send us home early after all.

Australia is calling!

2007-04-19T19:57:00.000+10:00

Funny how the suggestion to stay away from home for longer than you planned can bring on a chronic case of homesickness! Dear Husband is doing a sterling job here in Germany, they don't want us to go home. Now I'm beset with nostalgic memories of Life In Australia. Is it fear or is it just time to go home?

pages from the Paris sketchbook

2007-04-19T19:37:00.000+10:00

sketch of one of Manet's works. Will find out title later.

The First Goths of Spring

2007-04-17T20:30:00.000+10:00

One thing I love about travelling around Europe is marvelling at the old, old buildings here. In Australia, architecture of us White invaders only dates about 200 years old. I love seeing places that are hundreds of years old and still standing.
Also, coming from Melbourne and the Smith st./ Brunswick st. area in particular, I thought I knew about Goths.
When we first arrived here, I looked at all the Gothic architecture and thought to myself 'but, where are all the Goths?' I don't know- perhaps they are migratory, but it's Spring now and at first one or two appeared but now they're out in force.
I'm glad, I love big boots and black velvet!

Ugly EDM Challenge

2007-04-16T17:25:00.000+10:00

Wow, can't believe I haven't posted in so long. We went on a holiday at Easter and then I needed a holiday after the holiday. Here is my latest EDM challenge- draw something ugly that you keep for sentimental reasons. I'm feeling particulary premenstrual at the moment, I'm hardly sentimental about it. Oh well, next week sweet and sunny Deb will be back. My family are waiting with baited breath.

Belly Dancing Butt

2007-04-03T21:27:00.001+10:00

My bellydancing butt

2007-04-03T20:35:00.000+10:00

You know, the funny thing about starting a blog is that I've presented myself out of the ether. Most of you know nothing about me other than what has been posted here. It has been revealed that I love coffee and drawing, I really dig my family, I'm in Germany. Now to reveal one more aspect of Salty-

For some time I have been completely obsessed with Belly Dancing. I have spent a gazillion dollars on lessons, costumes from Ebay (there's another not entirely positive obsession!) I have gathered quite a weird collection of Belly Dance music.

Now, to the point of this post. Early on in my lessons, we learnt how to shimmy. Shimmying is the most natural thing in the world, until you think about it, then it all goes backside up. We were instructed to feel the moves. If we could feel the backs of the legs and the buttocks wobbling merrily we knew we were on the right track. One of the reasons I love Belly Dance is because it celebrates the flesh, you can't dance right if you've got nothing to shake. The other great thing about it is that you need to be able relax bits and tense other bits. After a few weeks of lessons I was feelin fine! All the tension just melted away.

During my time in Germany I have not danced or done any real exercise apart from the damn stairs, and I feel pretty crap really. After suffering from pinched nerves and chronically tight neck muscles I decided to go over some BD moves whilst in the shower. How would us mothers ever get any time to ourselves if it wasn't for the shower? This isn't always a guarantee, you really need to train the offspring from an early age that THE SHOWER is sacred. So there I was, proper BD posture, body nice and loose, work those knees and voila! If you look at the rather foolish photo above, that's me. I'm tall and up until I had children I was reasonably thin. I have my father's physique, we're both pretty straight up and down until you get to the middle part, that's were we store our winter reserves, we both look constantly pregnant, we also have stick legs. Neither of us has much of a butt either, that also has kind of swung around to the front.

So before when I shimmied, I didn't really have that sensation of wobbling at the back. However, for the first time I felt it all going. It's an achievement, I tell you! And what do I have to thank for this body compositional change? That wonderful, abundant, ridiculously cheap beer and Bratwurst. By the time I get home I'm going to be the Shimmy Queen!

EDM challenge (something fresh)

2007-03-30T18:03:00.000+10:00

When I saw this challenge on Every Day Matters it took me most of the week to think of something to draw. Then one day while brewing one of many cups for the day, I thought that this must be one of my most favourite smells ever. I am one of those people who would sell their own mother for a strong coffee first thing in the morning. I really enjoyed drawing this, but then I thought I really have not done justice to such a wondrous thing as good coffee. Now I'm filled with inspiration to research and draw a homage to this heavenly stuff. Which is fortunate, because next week we have a few days in Paris. I've been once before a couple of years ago, we dragged the kids into cafes every couple of hours to have a fix of Espresso and when we got back to Melbourne, I remember it took 2 months to get over the disappointment of not being able to find coffee of French quality.
Now I'm pretty excited because when my husband's contract is up in June we're going travelling and I'm strongly pushing for a trip to Italy, first for the Espresso then for the art. I'm currently reading 'A year in the world' by Frances Mayes. She describes the disappointment on her husband's face each time he experiences a coffee that is below par. I know that feeling of being short changed so well. If anyone knows of great cafes in Paris or Napoli let me know!
BTW I am sorry about the slightly blurry quality of these photos, I have no access to a tripod while I'm on the road. First thing when we get home, I'm buying a scanner!

Unschooling moments

2007-03-26T05:40:00.000+10:00

As parents who homeschool, we focus on the tools for learning rather than what is learned. We try to instill a love for learning, reasoning that once they have this they can learn anything they need. In our house we try to treat the "Why?" stage very seriously. You know that stage- when your kid starts asking questions more or less constantly from waking until passing out? It takes a lot of energy to keep thinking of answers to questions like- 'what's a lie?' ,'what's truth?' 'what's his name?' what's his name again?'
and then 30 minutes later going through the whole script again. The reason why we do this, is to keep curiosity alive, to let our kids know that curiosity is a most valuable thing and will take them everywhere they want to go in their adult lives. But.....there is a down side to it.
The other day we were walking around the Elisenbrunnen here in Aachen, it's a lovely building built above hot springs, it has fountains and stairs and all sorts of things that children find entertaining. The kids decided to run around the grassed area and I ambled slowly behind. I noticed them both standing still studying something they had found on the ground.
"Mum! What is this?"
"Aaah, a chance to enlighten their lovely little minds!" I thought. I came to where they were and squatted down to see better.
"erggh! it's dog poo!" (most astounded they hadn't figured this out for themselves.)
My daughter nodded solemnly and as we all watched, promptly put her foot in it and gave it a good ol squish! This is what you get for encouraging a child's curiosity, I'm afraid.

Bowl 2

2007-03-24T02:16:00.000+11:00

The serious bowl has been done, now for the not so serious one! The idea came to me at a place where I'm sure lots of people find inspiration. Also reminded me of one of my all-time favourite poems -

'With Sincerest Regrets' by Russel Edson

Like a white snail the toilet slides into the living room, demanding to be loved.

It is impossible, and we tender our sincerest regrets.

In the book of the heart there is no mention made of plumbing.

And though we have spent our intimacy many times with you, you belong to an unfortunate reference, which we would rather not embrace.......

The toilet slides out of the living room like a white snail, flushing with grief.......

EDM challenge (the bowl)

2007-03-22T00:49:00.000+11:00

Now that I've posted this, I can see a few bits I would like to build up more. This colour business feels awful strange too! Ok, I'm off to check out all your bowls.

The language window

2007-03-21T02:47:00.000+11:00

The German language is damn hard to learn! Don't let people tell you otherwise! I studied Japanese for one year and could carry on a decent conversation and I could write both Japanese scripts as well as some Kanji (the Chinese characters used in Japanese writing.) Admittedly I haven't been studying German for long but I am living in the country and having to use it everyday. When I learnt Japanese, I did it without ever visiting the country.
I've just been eavesdropping on the kids playing-
DS "Look DD, here's my shop, what are you going to buy?"
DD " A widdle kidden, an a widdle dog, an a wamm, an a poddy.
(Translation: A little kitten, a little dog, a little lamb and a potty.)
DD "Wait! I habben buy-deded dem yet!
I suspect this is how I sound when I attempt to speak German, however DD is probably more grammatically correct. I just don't understand how my lovely little girl can mispronounce every English word that comes out of her mouth, yet I heard her whispering 'Sponge Bob Schwamm Kopf', 'Nein', 'Schuhe' and 'tschuss' in perfect German!

EDM challenge (the flame one)

2007-03-21T02:42:00.000+11:00

I keep forgetting which number we're up to. Well, actually I'm not keeping up, but that's neither here or there. Not terrifically happy with this, I don't know why- I just have a sense of.......blahhh. I'm steeling myself to actually venture into colour. Think I need to change methods to shake myself up a bit. Thanks to DH for once more doing a handsome job of my hand model. Remember that Seinfeld episode when George was discovered as a Hand Model? BTW this is a lighter for the stove!

An example of Unschooling

2007-03-20T00:01:00.000+11:00

People are often confused about what kind of homeschooling we do. I don't think I ever answer this one to the Questioner's satisfaction because it's all so nebulous and instinctive. Here's an example- We took the kids to the Reliquary here in Aachen, there were all sorts of beautiful objects made about the 10th Century. At a place like this there are so many opportunities to hopefully inspire some learning. After browsing about, well DH and myself browsed, (DS and DD amused themselves by trying out various chairs about the museum.) DH came upon a huge, well lit display case. It was empty. After a few moments in front of this he turned away resignedly and said-
"I thought there might be a trick to it."
"What were you waiting for? A hologram?" I replied with uncharacteristic sarcasm.
Just then DS came up and asked us what a hologram was.
"Well, it's, ummm, you know, like a picture made with light......"
He looked at me blankly.
"It's ummm, well...... I know! You know that bit out of Star Wars episode 4, where R2D2 projects that message! It's a hologram of Princess Leia!"
His face lit up with recognition, and I felt all smug with my expertise with making relevant cross references.
That's unschooling, you go about your day trying to set up meaningful learning environments and end up with Star Wars as your main learning resource.

EDM challenge (the clock one)

2007-03-13T03:04:00.000+11:00

Because we are staying in Germany at the moment, we are living in an apartment supplied by the company. There is only one clock in the whole place, it's a digital one in the bedroom that I might look at maybe twice during the night. I do however, have a mobile time service, chiefly my DH who thought this choice of subject was very apt. He now refers to himself as my Talking Clock. Oh, and a big thanks to Karen and Sydney who gave me some pointers on taking clearer photos. I'm without a tripod, and if I were to go outside, I would have to go stand on the pavement 6 flights of stairs below, but with your tips I did manage a clearer image by stabilising the camera and standing next to the window, Ta!

self portrait

2007-03-13T02:41:00.000+11:00

I've posted this only because in order to change my profile image without an url to the photo, I had to publish my image of choice. So I think it can stay awhile after all that.

Boy's Head

2007-03-08T21:26:00.000+11:00

This was meant to be my son, but it looks nothing like him. Well, I'll just get around that by giving this little sketch a generic type title. I really need to work on my picture taking methods, they are all a bit blurry.

Things I like

2007-03-07T07:26:00.000+11:00

Things I love about Germany-

Toilet cleaner gets rid of Kalk and Schmutz
the"Kick Artz" bakery
silent dogs
professional supermarket cashiers
supermarket trolleys that always drive straight
Bratwurst street vendors
extremely polite people

The photos above were taken in Maastricht, a Dutch town about an hour away from Aachen. It was very crowded on Sunday, I can't remember the Dutch phrase for it now, but there is a special one for 'first Sunday of the month, Shopping Day." It is definitely popular, as you can see by the bikes, though that really is a particularly Dutch thing. The bike paths are as well or better maintained than the roads. I love that.

I also like the fact that the next day after rain, little umbrella cemeteries pop up around the towns. Is it a special privilege to be the first one to a potential site? I think that person should get some sort of credit for establishing it.

Sunday- a whole day dedicated to purchasing- we came home with yet another baby doll and extra Lego. But we ate a lot of Frites with Mayo, I hereby swear off excessive shopping.