Obaitori

a full cup

We've had a rather full weekend which at one stage required me to have a cup of tea, two nurofen and a good lie down. I was soon refreshed.

I made this toothpaste from Clean Lusa Organics, it was easy and it is very tasty.

Harvested a beautiful salad from our community garden. Daz blended the kale on Saturday morning with oranges, carrots and apples. It was zingy.

We had so much fun in the campervan that we hired for our holiday in north tropical Queensland we decided to buy one. We bought it home this weekend. The children are beside themselves and spent most of the weekend in it.

We picknicked at the beach with some dear friends. All four children were in the back of that van having such a great time that us adults looked rather boring in comparison, mmm?

The van is empty inside as Dazla will 'fit' it out himself. A bed for us and a bunk bed for the children. We threw a futon mattress in their with the idea that we would stay overnight. It was SO bloody uncomfortable! At midnight with everyone asleep in the back I drove back from the beach to sleep in my own bed.

We enjoyed a fire, marshmallows, salad chapatis, oysters, pizza and pasta bake.

Somehow I read 200 pages of Agatha Christies autobiography. I enjoyed every moment.

I drank nettle tea.

I prayed and gave thanks for our little family, our healthy cat and all I have in this world, breath and faith.

I'm joining Amanda over at Habit of Being for Weekending.

I hope you had a great weekend.

fabulous women

I'm joining Ginny today and lots of other lovely knitters and readers over at the Yarn Along. Pop over, become inspired, join us!

I'm so gratefully inspired by women around me. For this week's venture I thank two of you directly, Angela at Peach Coglo for the bookmark I'm knitting for my fabulous sister Sally and vivacious Julie for introducing me to the Honorable Miss Phryne Fisher.

The bookmark is so delicate, bloody practical and a pleasure to knit.

The book. I hardly ever lay my eyes on fiction and when I do it is rare for me to branch out to a detective story not written by Miss Agatha Christie, Crime writer of the century - this one and the last. Did you know that Agatha Christie was often called in by Scotland Yard to solve their unsolvable mysteries or that she faked her own disappearance for 3 weeks and no-one had any leads? She worked in a dispensary whilst working for the war effort so found out all about poisons - a subject often used in her stories, she has sold over 2 billion books... I love Poirot and Marple and Christie's study of human behaviour. She had a fascinating private life, married twice, houses all over the world including one in Baghdad.  Agatha, for me, is up there, right up there. Why bother reading anything second to her? Well, I never, ever did until the sexy, sassy, clever, vivacious private detective Phryne Fisher was invented by Kerry Greenwood.These novels are such a breath of fresh air for the detective scene and I'm sure Miss Christie would agree. Phyrne even reads Christie! She is dangerous, fearless, generous and fair. She flys a tiger moth airplane and drives a racing car. She is my kind of girl.

I think I have gone on enough.

For an extract of Greenwood's latest book, my favourite to date, Dead Man's Chest click here.

 

'Greenwood's prose has a dagger in its garter; her hero is raunchy and promiscuous in the best sense.'

The Weekend Australia.

 

Recently announced;

Phryne is headed for the small screen!

 Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries is due to go into production in July 2011, with screening scheduled for ABC1 in 2012. Produced by Fiona Eagger & Deb Cox, the 13 one-hour episodes are based on the novels of Australian author Kerry Greenwood. Our lady sleuth sashays through the back lanes and jazz clubs of late 1920’s Melbourne, fighting injustice with her pearl handled pistol and her dagger sharp wit. Leaving a trail of admirers in her wake, our thoroughly modern heroine makes sure she enjoys every moment of her lucky life!

 

serve, love, give, purify

Today I am joining Ginny at Small Things for Yarn Along. This means I get to  write,  and read about knitting and reading. Oh, blessed joy!

In Ginny's words;

I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a single photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us!

I'm knitting silk bamboo blanket squares for Sivananda Math in Bihar - one of the poorest tribal regions in India. I will alternate my wool or yarn, as it is called in some countries, to accomodate for the harsh Indian climate and washing conditions. This blanket will go along with the others but its destiny is to be wrapped around a newborn Indian baby. I know that as a mother, I would want the same for my baby. Something eco-friendly, soft and pure. The silk bamboo is a light skein and is sublime to knit with. It is from Patons.

I'm currently reading, Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogananda, for the third time. This remarkable book takes you on a journey of the life of Yogananda. This book sets a precedent. Enlightened masters generally do not describe their spiritual experiences, activities, practices and most certainly not, their enlightenment. Here, Paramahansa Yogananda does, in detail. He writes about saints and yogis he meets along the way, about science, miracles, death and resurrection. Yogananda loved Jesus. Reading this at the time of Lent opens my heart up to the opportunities of experiencing positive thought - a virtue I am always persuing but particularly at Lent - faith and deep love. Quoting from the back cover, it reads;

With soul-satisfying wisdom and endearing wit, he illuminates the deepest secrets of life and the universe - opening our hearts and minds to the joy, beauty and unlimited spiritual potentials that exist in the lives of every human being.

Picture Books In Winter

A little something for our friends in the northern hemispere.

 

SUMMER fading, winter comes—          

Frosty mornings, tingling thumbs            

Window robins, winter rooks,  

And the picture story-books.    

 

 Water now is turned to stone           

Nurse and I can walk upon;       

Still we find the flowing brooks

In the picture story-books.        

 

All the pretty things put by,       

Wait upon the children’s eye,    

Sheep and shepherds, trees and crooks,            

In the picture story-books.        

 

We may see how all things are,

Seas and cities, near and far,    

And the flying fairies’ looks,        

In the picture story-books.        

 

How am I to sing your praise,    

Happy chimney-corner days,    

Sitting safe in nursery nooks,    

Reading picture story-books?

 

Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850–1894).  A Child’s Garden of Verses and Underwoods.