Obaitori

A Honeymoon Trip to another beach ...

We had lots of plans for our three day get-away from the children plot.

Our plans of partying, meeting new friends & harbour strolling were foiled with sleep, being unable to get up & random naps.

Instead we basked in the silence of a beachside apartment (thanks Lucas), listened to lp's, ate nutritious local udon noodle & people watched.

And the inside of the infamous Bondi Hotel where a fair amount of cricket was watched & beer was consumed.

Paperchains

Indira was chuffed to find the 'big' scissors on the table. That she was encouraged to use them pleased her no end.

The sweet, warm smell of clove orange.

The White Muscovy Ducks

Once upon a time two white muscovy ducks came to our house. It was thrilling & exciting. Being very auspicious for birds to turn up at your home & pregnant I was thrilled. I organised some food & water for them & left them to their own devises. With much hoo-ha & clambering at midnight they flew up & settled onto the roof.

A few days later I double took. Not two but three ducks. No - again - oh goodness, a drake. I had to hold back my laughter - I know animals have feelings & experience -  I went inside to laugh, exclaim & get very excited. I started thinking of this lovely & amusing animal. If I was Beatrix Potter I would have drawn him wearing baggy blue trousers, a rustic waistcoat & a brown satchel. The music playing would be bassoon. My gosh - what a character this beautiful drake turned out to be.

He soon got to work.

From under the bracken fern we could hear rustling & tiny cheeps.

And then we saw them. Mother Duck & nineteen lovely little yellow ducklings. So little, so delicate, each one exquisite.

We started to identify the individuals & the days passed with caring for these lovely birds that came into our front yard. Our neighbours would stop to inquire; where did they come from? we don't know, how many do you have? well, with the 2 originals, the drake & nineteen ducklings, that makes, um, 22. Soon we had a lot of poo to deal with!

We all had to make adjustments. Now, Yogi kindly shared his part of the yard with the brush turkeys - commonly found in areas of Australia - we were privy to 5, the ducks & the magpie.

Yes, a magpie! By now I was thinking I was carrying some high incarnation. A baby magpie turned up at our home. Dazla found him, adopted him, loved him, fed him & made him one of the happy family; how many do you have? -  no idea anymore, because ...

Soon we had more! Drake got really busy & the other Mother Duck had some ducklings. And the first ducklings grew so quickly & started having ducklings! We would answer to the neighbours;

Lots, we have lots of ducks, we don't know where they came from, would you like to buy some?

One day the three originals flew around to the back part of the house on the roof, settled there & waited. They had never been on that part of the roof before & I knew something was going on. It was the day I went into labour. Every mother wants to imagine they are birthing a saint - & of course she is - Indira Evangeline was born.

Let the games begin

Sweet little hands awaiting the first instructions on how to play Snakes & Ladders. I remember thinking of a different way to play this game; non-competitive & practising equanimity whenever you landed upon a snake or a ladder, kind of takes the fun out of it a bit though. I also want to change when you land on a snake to go up instead of down - kundalini rising.

Indira happened upon this game in the garage whilst searching for more spray to paint the cicada shells. I had quite forgotten about the set containing chess, chequers & snakes. The tiny pictures are so sweet.

 

A few days before Christmas signals letting go of things, mainly time. With Dazla off work for a whole month, (yah!) my attention is turning to more play, more fun, more creation for everyone, slowness & the beautiful gift of the season; giving, serving & loving.

Dreaming of a Red Christmas

A native to Australia, Archontophoniex Cunninghamiana, the seed pods burst open to display strings of beautiful red pearls.

The birds really can't resist this very pleasant meal. They come from far & wide to feast, terrorise the cat & be terrorised.

Amma!

Our beautiful Amma doll sits patiently just like the real one, the human one & the etheral one. Amma is so forgiving, always there & patient like the Earth. 

My New Camera

Very happily (& excitedly) reading my new camera's instruction manual. I wanted to get a firm grip on this camera & all of it's features before the holy days begin. Lucky I started early too I have 42 pages of tinee tiny script to decipher. With the help of some good friends, fujifilm.com, Matty Mason - photographer extrodinair & the extremely kind woman at the camera house who, having taking pity on me, gave me a free $60 digital training lesson, I should have it together by, mmm, next February.

Yogi's Chubby Paws

Experiencing the theory of opposites in life. Yogi's sweet little feet; sometimes used for good, sometimes used for slicing the children open.

Christmas in Australia

Christmas in Australia for me is a really hot summer day, mangoes & sparklers. Today was one of those hot days. I found our beautiful Christmas tree today at our local grocers & popped it on the back of the ute.

Yah, my new camera! A beautiful flowering eucalyptus tree.