Obaitori

looking after the small things

Hello my friends. How is everyone doing? We are scattered around the house doing different things. I'm in front of the fire with the laptop. Dazla has been in the garden & he is preserving most of the autumn produce. Bodhi is on his computer talking, playing & giggling with his friends. I can usually tell who is playing with depending on how much he is laughing. My teenage night owl 'wakes' at around 9pm chatting incessantly, talking, guffawing & laughing with her friends til after midnight. We had a good day yesterday visiting people, for the first time in 6 or 7 or is it 8 weeks? I can't remember how long we have been isolating. Anyway, it's been a long time & we were out all day & today I am exhausted! The weather is lovely & cold with blue skies & gold autumn leaves rolling down the middle of the street. Some of the camellias are out in bloom & the tibouchina is dropping flowers, leaving confetti over the drive. My heart is feeling for the world & the suffering & sickness of so many people. My prayers & chanting have been for them & the magnificent workers who tirelessly leave their homes every day to help others, the builders, the bakers, the nurses, the cleaners... And how are you? I'd like to know how you are doing.

We all deal with things differently. I've been staying with my routine, it's mixed up a little with the timing but I

know that doing the things on my list helps me a great deal. I make sure I drink water, move my body, chant &

take my supplements. If I do just these things, then psychologically, I'm winning! I've been doing a few projects

too. Embroidery helps me to keep my mind focused on gentle work. I usually watch something in the

background or listen to a podcast. I've listened & watched hours of Lucy Worsely's history documentaries on

the BBC - because I love them, I do these to death. This series is one of my all time favs. My favourite podcasts

at the moment are, "Things I Wish I'd Known" "Happy Place" & "Conversations with Richard Fidler." I'm always

on the lookout for others. Do you have any favourites?

 

If you needed some help to get back on track or start some daily habits, here is a Habit Tracker.

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” ~ Lao Tzu

hot days

We started out in the garden early, 6am. It was set to be a scorcher. Temperatures around 38 degrees celcius and 43 degrees out west. We watered and moved precious, little plants under cover and went inside to set up the house to be as cool as possible. Blinds down, windows closed, fans on and before it became too oven like I put the air-con on at 24 degrees. It worked quite nicely. To cool down we ate pomegranate and coconut iceblocks, 6 divine mangoes and took cold rose petalled baths throughout the day and living up to my November manifesto I clocked up a satisfying number of hours watching Modern Family.

I drew a calendar for December this morning, exciting! So many lovely things planned, Indira's school sleepover, Bodhi's graduation, Dazla's company's Christmas party... the list goes on. It's literally party after party. If Jesus could see it, I think he would be impressed! Sharing the love...

We did a trial run of a new muesli/granola recipe for gifts. It's delicious! I want to eat the whole lot! It was so simple and quite satisfying to make. We used this recipe. I'm also asking the children to make the little hearts with sewn on buttons, they will be given to the Grandma's to cherish. The wrapping paper activity fell in a heap yesterday. The children didn't want to print, they didn't want to do anything we asked. One of those days! We all pulled it together for the last part of the day; toothbrushing, story telling and bed. Praise be to God for sleep.

I'm looking forward to a week of sewing, maybe, maybe making these donuts inspired by Alicia Paulson, yoga, swimming and also perhaps some wardrobe rearranging.

Bodhi likes to watch youtube tutorials of Lego making and after sitting through one too many of these I suggested he make his own. I gave him my camera so he could have a practice at stills. The following pictures are his. He is in the process of creating a short clip about camping and campervans with Lego. Warning; if you get vertigo, please don't look at the last picture.

 

Both following subjects clearly wary of the photographer.

 Have a wonderful week dear friends!

catch the sun

incubation

Sun-catcher

A quick post as we are still out with the Chicken Pox. Bodhi's turn this time. It's been tough on him, not physically but the whole withdrawal from school, his friends and his all time favourite; going to restaurants. He has interesting tastes in food and clothes. He is particular about both. He eats vindaloo, wears skinny jeans and chose leopard skin print for a shirt. It would match his leopard print fur jacket. I make him olive pesto crackers with rocket while he lays his clothes out for the day - this may take some time. Did I mention he was 5? He decided he wanted to wear glasses. He searched high and low and finally decided on a little pair he found at the craft store, they make him look older. So, no pictures of Bodhi today. He has a Chicken Pock on his third-eye and was shy of the camera today, unusual for a Leo. Gosh I love him. He's ever so quirky.

 

'misbehaving

It went all grey here on the weekend. My pictures look like a McCubbin. It was dark and cold, a sense of looming rain that really didn't set in until late afternoon. I removed about 5000 leaves - no joke - from our back yard and around the water tanks. Bush land surrounds us, it is enchanting, oxygenating, dangerous - in terms of fire - and a lot of work to keep 'under-control.' I do my best and also pray to the ancestors of this land to keep us safe, educated about it's mysteries, protected and happy. In return I hope to caretake the land to their liking. It's so beautiful here. After a while I want to give the trees names, not human names like the story that Harry the tree man told me about last week. His secretary has a tree named Sally. I suppressed a giggle and refrained from asking the obvious.

Over the weekend the kitchen saw much activity. Together we made Heidi Swanson's Quinoa Patties. I added garlic to the recipe, Dazla added black sesame seeds and we came up with a lovely but slight variation. The next time we will make them as a burger pattie with beetroot, sliced tomato, Japanese mayonnaise. Tonight it is still dark and rainy - a welcome variation on the bushfire weather from last week - so I'm making a barley and black lentil soup and roasted garlic potatoes - the best kind, from the garden, dug out by little hands. We celebrated an 8 year anniversary too.

I also had a date out alone. Oh, pure joy! I was walking down the street supressing my elation thinking that people might think, "Who is that mad woman, smiling to herself, punching her fists in the air?" I went to dinner and after I saw Stories We Tell. It's fabulous! The film finished and I went to a friends home, for a small intimate gathering, a bottle of prosseco, papaya and cheesecake.

 

Joining up with Amanda. Pop over and relish in her greatness. Love Katie x

mr wonka

Goodness, it's  hot here. I noticed the cucumber plants lying down in the garden. Eck! They have now been showered in water and I'm hoping they mature a little more to withstand the predicted heat coming our way. The lovely news is that the gardenia has started to flower - I think I'm going to get a lot more of these gifts from God - their scent makes me giddy. I don't often pick flowers in their full bloom - what's that saying, 'cut down in their prime?' - but I did with these ones, they were weighing down the sweet plant and there is probably 25 more big green buds on the plant.

The chicken pox are healing. I'm making this salad for dinner and I hope to get in a little knitting this evening. I'm making a 'snood' for Rasta, our cavalier. He had a midnight emergency visit to the vet on Wednesday evening. I thought he had a paralysis tick. Daz was away, so I piled everyone, asleep, into the car. The nurse and the vet couldn't find anything - thank you God - but did suggest they shave him. I reluctantly agreed - Cavs aren't usually shaved or cut - I was standing on the footpath at 1am trying to make a decision. I was on the street because the vet was pregnant and didn't want face to face contact with the looming chicken pox virus, {subsequently I wasn't charged the $200 consultation fee either} so I went ahead with the 'haircut.' He looks very cute too. Indira said he looks like Willy Wonka {Johnny Depp} and it's true! He has this lovely straight, black bob!

Before shot -

preparation

The shed and cubby house are slowly coming out of the ground, slowly but surely. Rasta was 'somehow' propped up there much to the delight of all, well except him I think. If only he could talk...

Oh, if only. With the flea and tick season upon us and his long furry ears, they need alot of attention. I've been vigilant with checking and cleaning his ears, . He has become quite accustomed to it now, Dazla holding him, me poking around in there, Indira holding the flashlight so I can see, Bodhi singing softly to calm him. I'm yet to have to go it alone. I found the most beautiful man on youtube grooming a lucky cavalier from head to tail including a blow dry. This man is about 85 in the shade and so pleasantly old fashioned. If he saw Rasta I'm sure he would make quiet disapproving sounds but I'm aspiring to this man and his standards on cavalier grooming. We tied his ears up to get a little air and sunshine in there. Another awkward moment in the life of our dear, dear little dog. Oh, how I love him!

Along with the ticks and the fleas comes bushfire season. I woke up the other morning to the smell of bushfire smoke. As I looked out the window it was hazy and the day dawned orange. High winds, grey sky, orange sun = scary. I had put my Bush Fire Plan into action the week before and had called the council to come and do a clean up around our house. We back onto glorious Australian bush, paperbarks, grevillias and lots of eucalypts of many varieties. As I sat down with a full pot of tea they, the council pulled up, not one van but two. Ooh, exciting. And not just a couple of men but ten. Ooohh, joy!!! Manpower. Yes, this is just what I wanted. They worked hard too for three hours. They were kind, they offered suggestions and they took away 2 massive box trailers of branches, sticks, twigs and leaves. What a relief. My Bushfire Plan was exelarated in a matter of three short hours. I went back into the house after racking 3m square of leaves feeling hot, sweaty and very satisfied. I showered, made a fresh pot of tea and sat down to sew a few more gifts. With the sky now blue and most fires within Australia 'contained' I breathed a sigh of relief. Many homes were lost last week in the fires, native animals died and - if you live in Australia I think you might agree? - there was a general feeling of dread, gloom and uncertainty about. So for now it is good. I've still got more work to do on my plan - Daz if you are reading this could you please collect two buckets of sand from the beach for spot fires - I've got more leaves to collect, they keep falling and I have to give some money to the fire brigade. Their letter arrived in the mail box today!

I hope that you are safe and happy and well. If you need help with a Bush Fire Survival Plan you can find one here. They are so helpful. I now know how and where to turn off the gas to our house - thanks Dazla. Take care everyone. May all be happy.

goodbye full moon

I was up early this morning watching the oyster light of dawn I could feel the shift of that intense Virgo moon pass. All of a sudden the pink in the sky escaped like a blush. I captured a little on the camera, not as much as I would have liked to, I still don't know how to use the thing.

Later we made Alicia Paulson's Strawberry Shortcakes. We drove to school eating them in the car out of bowls. Bodhi said he would prefer Blueberry Shortcakes. Indira started to talk about the Strawberry Fairies and Blueberry Fairies and what they would preference. I started thinking that you know your child goes to a Steiner school when they talk like this and then they are eating an apple and attempt to make a 'cave' from it and when one gum boot slides over to another gumboot from the force of the car turning a corner and they say, 'O, my gumboot just slid over to kiss the other gumboot.' Yes, darling. I love your imagination.

I'm off to wash the dye from my hair and clean the floor for some yoga students who are coming for class. Hope your day is fabulous and if not you just watch it go past.

"Regret not what about what you had been. Try to make yourself worthy now."

~ Swami Sivananda Saraswati ~

heavenly guests

We've been pottering around in the garden, actually Dazla wasn't pottering as you don't potter with a circular saw pruning trees. I pottered. These lovely big yellow flowers popped up along the fence line. I took down a huge ugly blue latice screen that was covered in old wisteria and this was so satisfying. We have a lovely window that looked out on the great ugly latice and I used to keep the blind over this window because quite frankly looking at it used to make me feel slightly nauseas. Does anyone else dislike latice with so much passion? So it's gone! I've covered the window to create a slight screen on the neighbouring house which is white, to hide the glare. It really has opened up the house with so much glorious white light. The willow tree is just starting to curl it's leaves up. A few are dropping but it still graces our bedroom window with it's delicate garlands. If I listen carefully at night I hear the garlands brush against the outside wall. It makes me smile.



The cubby house has a new interior. The interior designers were very busy in there over the weekend. From the playroom/school house they dragged out the wooden kitchen, cooking utensils, baby cot, pram, velvet seats and a telephone and placed them all very thoughtfully in their house. The prayer flags are from my dear friend Star at Faerymother. I haven't told you about her visit to our home. It was magestic. We were so pleased to have Star and her divine family grace our home. We had been reading each others blogs for some time and we had an opportunity to meet before she started her fabulous overseas adventures. She is so beautiful, even more beautiful in person and I fell in love at first sight. I did, I honestly did. Her children are delightfully earthy and natural, very relaxed and her husband Urgyen is noble and cheeky. There are some lovely photos of them here celebrating Tibetan new year. Star stayed over, we ate, chatted and wanted to spend much more time together. But alas the memories are much longer than the short sweet stay with Star.





Here are some little bits and pieces around our home. The picture of the girl reading sits on the children's bookshelf. I'm thinking/fantasizing at the moment of tearing out the front window in the play/school room - note to self, you need a name for this room - and replacing it with a bay window just like this one Alicia put in from Posy Gets Cozy. Dazla?










And then to dinner. Inspired by River Cottage. I don't know where I've been but I'm now catching up on the magesty of this cooking program and devouring it's philosophy. I spied some dandelions on our walk this morning and my mind turned to the River Cottage's Dandelion Marmalade and sour dough, of course. And now it's raining again, hoorah! Cup of tea time. I'll settled for strawberry jam on rye.

Have a beautiful day everyone.

From Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita ~

"The person who is full of faith obtains wisdom" 4:39.

"How can the aspirant strengthen his faith? How can he cleanse his mind and purify his heart? Only through tests and tribulations. Just as gold is purified by passing it through a crucible several times, so also the heart must become pure and the faith unflinching by passing through the crucible of trials again and again." ~ Swami Satyananda Saraswati ~ Yogamag.

More on faith tomorrow...

roses, yogasanas, fabric ~ favourite things ~

I've been practicing lots of yogasanas that counterpose my 'favoured' position - typing assignments. I'm nearly at the end of bridging my Yoga Diploma with Satyananda Yoga - the most comprehensive yoga diploma in the world - it's almost here.... I'll be finished and I'm reminded of the quote;

We must not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive

where we began and to know the place for the first time.

 ~ T.S. Eliot ~

Today I've been out on the back deck dressed in a singlet watching and absorbing the nutritious rays of divine Brother sun - I've been diagnosed with a moderate vitamin D defiency.

It feels really good to get out in this wintry sunshine. I'm also taking a supplement to my three 20 minute sessions a week of glorius sun. I need to take a few lessons from my sun worshiper, Yogi.

I'm reading the very inspiring and transporting blog, Saffron Marigold, this post on the Spice Route Tablecloth with modern and traditional Indian fabrics. To the detriment of the size of my linen press I'm falling in love with their Spice Route Collection.

Today I'm drawing some plans for our additional front garden. As well as having two no-dig vegetable gardens, I'm creating a garden dedicated to Mother Mary. I've ordered a Saint Mary MacKillop rose from our near local nursery, Swanes. Other roses I could buy if I was very adept at growing roses are, Saint Therese de Lisieux rose, Saint Patrick's rose and a very fine fragrant rose of Pope John Paul II. Here is an example of a Mary garden for the northern hemisphere. A rose garden is called a rosary.