Friday, November 9, 2018

this and that

THIS is where I live in springtime. In this little room made of recycled windows and doors. I spend my`days sowing seeds, watching them germinate, talking to them, watering them, pricking them out and waiting patiently for the soil to warm up and the danger of frost to be over so I can plant them outside. It's been just over a year since we built this space onto the side of our house, it's hard to even imagine life and growing before.


THIS is a little glimpse into what it looks like inside the greenhouse at the moment. Trays and pots and planters of fruit and vegetables and flowers, putting down roots and growing up leaves, getting bigger and stronger every time I check in on them.

THIS is the greenhouse overflow. Last week or the week before I filled up every inch of space on the table, every shelf and window sill, and much of the floor space too. So I moved some of the big guys into the sun-room. Now you can hardly walk in there. The forecast is looking promising though, so get ready garden, here these guys come.

THIS is the badge Miss Indi made me to wear on my birthday last Sunday.

THIS is the pile of hair pins my farmer boy made me for my birthday. The light one in the middle is made from sycamore off my parents' old farm in Tasmania and the other three are from wood from around here. As anyone who wears wooden pins in their hair knows, these things are incredibly hard to come by and having four crafted by those hands that I love makes me feel like I've won the lottery. I'm rich!

We had the most wonderful few days away at the beach last weekend. We walked everywhere, we ate a late breakfast and an early dinner out every day, we read books, we watched the whole first season of Succession, we did face masks in the bath, we played games, we talked and talked and talked, we saw A Star Is Born at the movies, I knitted, I was sung to by all of my favourite people, I cried, I laughed and I felt incredibly lucky to have the luxury of so much time alone with my boy. It was the absolute best.

THIS is what my washing line looks like now that I'm a beginner spinner. That's fleece inside those laundry bags and the thought of pulling out the staples, flick carding them, drafting them out and spinning them, washing and then knitting them, kept me up last night. I've got that excited, addicted, can't think of anything else, need more time in my day, butterflies in my tummy feeling about a craft again. 

THIS is one of the little projects I'm busying my hands with while I wait to have enough handspun of my own to knit. It's the Mimi hat by my friend Sabine - Frisabi Knits - the details are here.

THIS is the new shelf in my studio.  The one above the window. It goes across the back and along the right wall to meet the door. I'm going to fill it with plants and books.

THIS is the strawberry bed that I look at from my studio window. It looks like it's going to be a bumper crop this year.

THIS is one of the self seeded patches of spring onions that feeds hundreds of bees every day. They love that stuff.

THIS is the book I am reading the moment, my sister Abby's copy of - The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire by Chloe Hooper. One of the stories of the Black Saturday bush fires of February 2009. I've only read about 50 pages so far but already it feels like a horror story. It is harrowing and devastating and heartbreaking, but it also feels insightful and moving and important. It's probably a good thing for me to read at the start of this fire season: I've already started making lists of things to prepare.

THIS, right now, feels like such a huge moment in the life of our family. Next Monday our Indi starts her final school year exams and by this time next week will be completing her last one and finishing with high school forever. Next Thursday Indi will celebrate her 18th birthday which means Bren and I will have parented a child all the way through from babyhood to childhood to adulthood. In just over a week our Jazzy will return from her six week overseas trip. The emails and photos have been sparse but from what we can gather it looks and sounds like she's been having the most unbelievably incredible adventure. This week our Pepper got to meet her little buddy. As part of the oldest class in her school next year, she gets paired up with one of the youngest. It's so funny to think of our youngest being the oldest. She's so ready though. And in the middle of all of that me and Bren are rushing around trying to balance the farming, parenting, crafting, building, cooking, playing, making, exercising and growing, all while trying to hold onto the magic we felt last weekend.

And that's that.

And THIS dear friends is my thank you to you. Thank you for your birthday kindness, for your wishes, for your sweetness and for your sunshine. I love ya's all!!

Before you go tell me what's going on at THIS time in your world? What's keeping you up at night? What have you got on your shelf? What are you making? What are you learning? What did you get for your birthday? How will your life be different this time next week?

Wishing you luck and love and adventures.

Kate xx






13 comments:

  1. I took a big breath and planted out from our glasshouse. We were supposed to get lots of rain but didn't (4mm). There was supposed to be frost but wasn't (yay).
    My stitching space is like your planting space, but with louvre windows. I have nearly be living there. My mantra for the last month has been to ignore the to-do list for once and do what my heart wants, total bliss.
    On the bee front, we have just sold our hives except for the house hive.
    This time next week i will be doing a solo babysitting gig interstate and hoping that the massive hole that i now have in my arm has become much smaller.
    I am really looking forward to watching your spinning journey ( my wheel is feeling neglected).
    Best wishes to Indi for her final week.
    Cheers
    Pam

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  2. Discovered your blog some months ago and it's amazing what your life looks like! Sometimes when I'm completely stressed out and the deadlines here are making me uncomfortable, I read one of your posts to relax a bit. It's really nice to look over your shoulder in your garden, life and yarn addiction ;-). I secretly hope you keep on blogging for a long time... So thanks for writing and telling and happy, happy birthday!

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  3. And this is such a great post, Kate, thank you.
    Here, this is the time usually full of late autumn grey, cold, rainy days, but it's been unexpectedly warm and sunny (although today the world hides in white fog).
    And this is the time I've discovered that despite having my right arm in a cast (these past 3 weeks and 3 weeks more to go) I can still draw and paint a little - with my non-dominant left (no sewing or knitting though). My day job is not creative at all, and cheesy as it may sound, creating something makes me happy.

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  4. A heart warming collection of bits and pieces.
    We are both doing the year 12 exam parenting stuff, only it's my last baby. I'm so ready to be done with school, but so not ready to be done with the active parenting. It's a great feeling to get them to adulthood, like a big sigh and a sense of we made it!
    My life will be different in the next 2 weeks, 2 of mine will be home from uni for summer break, yay, then hubby and eldest daughter are heading off for a 2 week trip up the east coast on the motorbike to Canberra, to visit hubby's sister who is having a tough time with health issues.
    Your weekly blog post is such a highlight of my week and makes me feel connected to other real women. Thanks.
    Good luck to your girl for her exams, and to you for her birthday.
    Looking forward to hearing about jazzys trip, I really hope you will be able to share some of it with us. Or perhaps she might pop up as a guest writer?

    Cheers Kate.

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  5. Love your weekly blog post. It always reminds me of life when we were young living semi rural in the Adelaide Hills.. In those days we took it all for granted being surrounded by nature yet the love of gardens with all its spin offs has followed my sister and I into Grandparenthood.
    Garden therapy is food for the Soul and a Balm.
    May you long continue to write for us to be satiated by the beauty and simplicity of your words and deeply touching photos.
    Yesterday our eldest Grandson finished his HSC exams so School is finished for him...Apprenticeship on the horizon.
    Next Friday our eldest and only Granddaughter has her last Uni Exam finishing her three year course...work on the Horizon.
    Next year our youngest Grandson starts school...
    The many and varied stages of life in a family as with yours.
    Enjoy and embrace the moment Kate
    Spring, new planting season , daughters moving onto the next step, another Birthday.

    Wishing you and yours much happiness and peace x

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  6. always find your blog so beautiful, inspiring and a lovely read...
    'Before you go tell me what's going on at THIS time in your world?'...My 12 yr old daughter stepped out the front door with that smile of innocent love written in her smile meeting up with her farmer boy boyfriend, She's so so happy at her new school and that makes my world happier too knowing she's enjoying herself. ' What's keeping you up at night?' my poor fathers health, he's undergoing intense cancer treatments, he's awfully tired and weak at the moment...i'm praying for his strength to return. 'What have you got on your shelf?'...what havent i got on the shelfling?? ummm, everything and anything! hehe...A little vintage lantern from the farmer and vintage market, embroidery of friendship, I cup of buttons ready for my doll making...' What are you making?'...I have a sketch book with half finished drawings of fairies...new illustrations in the making & some doll heads hand painted...' What are you learning?'...I seem to learn something new everyday with my daughter at secondary school. Im terrible at maths and she's helping me more than she knows~ She's gifted with maths~ I wished Id paid more attention at school!... 'What did you get for your birthday?'...Well my birthday is 3 days before Christmas so its just around the corner for me. I'm looking forward to travel tickets so I can spend Christmas with my father its a very expensive trip but I dont want him to be alone during the festivities and as a family we cannot afford for all of us to travel so it will be a solo trip for me and i'm dreading the part through london and finding my way with a tube map....' How will your life be different this time next week?'...We might be moving so we could be somewhere new and on a new adventure... Hope you had a wonderful birthday with your loved ones x

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    Replies
    1. (not moving 'next week' i mean in a years time I'd read that wrong hehe)

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  7. Your studio is a place for dreaming. I'm in love!

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  8. I do love seeing your garden coming alive again. Mine is, but only because it's getting cooler here in Southern California. Strange to see tomatoes and strawberries fruiting again and artichokes coming back from dead stumps. We went out to the shops earlier and could see the smoke layers from the fires north of Los Angeles. On my mind, is how to reassure my family back in Europe that we're ok, not in any danger as they see horror stories on the news. Like you though, I need to do the preparation in case of needing to leave quickly. The dogs, cats and tortoises travelling cages and boxes are all near the truck. We've got that organised. I think my husband and I would be living in PJ's and a shared pair of socks though. Not smart.

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  9. LOVED THIS. Happy belated birthday x
    In my world I am still struggling everyday with mental health problems and really feeling the heaviness of the winter on me. I am thinking constantly about cross stitching and my next project and photography. I'm reading all about the Ancient Greek Gods and Myths and can't wait to move on to Dante's Inferno (finally). Plus I can't stop looking at my eternity ring (ostentatious, I know) that my husband surprised me with on Thursday, for no reason. xx

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  10. I loved to read your post... I think that you really won the lottery, the hair pins that the farmer boy made for you are stunning, and WOW!!! he made them with his hands...
    Have a lovely week
    Stefania

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  11. How do you wear a hair pin!? Can you take a photo please! :)

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Thanks so much for stopping by...

I do read every single comment you leave and appreciate it very much, but I should let you know that I can be a wee bit on the useless side when replying to comments, that's just me, everyday life sometimes gets in the way....so I'll apologise now, just in case.

Kate XX

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