Mufti Day

Here in Australia our schools have what is called "Mufti Day".  It is a day on which children and staff wear casual clothing, usually to raise funds for a cause. Those choosing to wear mufti on a set day may do so as long as they donate a gold coin (in Australia a one or two dollar coin) for the cause.

My Grand Daughter, Little Miss Seven (almost 8) has mufti day at her school today to raise money for Jeans for Genes Day.  She wore pink jeans to school and, as it was our turn to drive her today, she spotted the knitting I'd been making for her and asked if she could wear them to school.

This is a very simple beanie pattern where the top is drawn in with thread after knitting a rectangle.

The accessory I made from felt cut from a Bigz flower die on my Big Shot and stitched on to a brooch back so it can be removed. 

I've fallen in love with the fingerless gloves.  They look so cute.

And to finish off - a scarf.

I purchased the wool yarn from the Faulconbridge Blue Gum Rotary Markets in July specifically to make the trio for our Grand Daughter after she spotted my own set which I made last month. 

This red wool was a gift from my walking buddy who is a wool spinning enthusiasts. It's got such a lovely soft feel to it which makes it all the more wearable.

I used the same pattern to knit my Grand Daughter's set and scaled it down to fit her.

We've had such a cold winter this year that there have been days during which I've worn coat, gloves, scarf and beanie indoors in an attempt to get warm.

Tuesday just gone was the coldest August day (in NSW) since 1974. 

How have you been faring this winter/summer?

Consciously

After my  Consciously Frugal  post I've been thinking about ways I can 'make a difference' for others in our world that have less than many.

I am more aware of the disparity in the world, as I scan the news this past week.  What makes it more keen for me these past few weeks, is how icy cold it's been.  I have a house. So many have not, and I've felt the cold more sharply this year.  So I've been thinking how can I make a difference and have been dreaming of taking food or blankets to the homeless in Sydney. 

I felt very heartened this morning when I read this article about how pre-loved leather jackets were donated to Sydney homeless.

Click on photo for photo source.

Wow!

I must admit though, I'm a bit of a chicken when it comes to doing stuff like this on my own. So I'm wracking my brain as to how I can become involved in something similar.

Last year a friend caught the train into Sydney and bought a heap of cheese burgers and handed them out to the homeless.  How brave of her.  Perhaps I can do something the same with all the blankets I have stock-piled in my linen cupboards.

In the meantime...I am doing my little bit (while sitting in the comfort of my warm home and still feeling guilty) by purchasing these...(and I swear, no sooner had I sat down to write this post that a cheery lady drove up my drive to deliver them!  Talk about synchronicity!)

Who Give A Crap (yes really) is an organisation that donates 50% of its profits to WaterAid to build toilets and improve sanitation in the developing world.

Read  more about WGAC* here.

The toilet rolls are individually wrapped in paper, not plastic and their facebook page encourages devotees to post ideas of how the wrapping is reused. 

I especially love the emergency rolls which come in red wrapping and instructions.

I'm certainly not one to need emergency rolls...I'm too anxious to allow my household to get to that point in toilet paper stocks so I love gifting these to people who have just moved into a new home and may be having trouble locating a roll of toilet paper.  Mostly, they have been appreciated - because they couldn't find their rolls of toilet paper.

In the meantime, I summing up enough courage to become more directly involved in helping those closer to home.

*No, I haven't received anything from WGAC, just doing my bit to assist a good cause by promoting them.

Antarctic Vortex

We have had media overload these past days as the south-east of Australia geared up for a cold snap. Well the hype, I think, was a bit over the top - although some parts of our state of New South Wales did wake to a whisper-white morning this morning.

Mr HP and I, our Daughter and Grand Daughter had already arranged to pick up Youngest Son at the end of a short hiking trip he was undertaking in the Jamison Valley so we took the opportunity to drive up a bit further up the range to Mount Victoria to see if we could catch some snow.

Well, we did see it snowing, but where we were, the snow did not settle.  

So I don't have snow photos to show you. 

Even so, I have to admit that the cold has been getting me down a bit this winter.  Today's temperature didn't get above 11 'C in Springwood and the previous week didn't perform much better.  

Katoomba (where snow is more likely), it is at present less than 1 'C with a windchill factor of -5.5 'C.

So instead of a snow photo here is a shot of tonight's desert...the cold made me do it...I just needed some comfort food and I can tell you...you can't go past this Baked Rice Pudding by Donna Hay.  You can find the recipe here:  Recipe.

And there's enough leftovers for tomorrow...after all, we might need it, because the media assures us the worse of the Arctic Vortex is yet to come!

Hoping the weather isn't too extreme in your part of the world. 

The Call Of The Desert

Going where to find yourself?

There is nothing like a trip to the desert.

Mr HP is busy with maps, itineraries, equipment, and making lists.

Much to my chagrin I've been laid low with the 'flu for the past two weeks.

But the truth is, I can't wait to be in the desert...

But before that...we have to tackle a windy and cold spell predicted over the next twenty four hours.  (A good reason to delay our trip by a day).

Jade

The local possum family have discovered my collection of succulent plants.

They now reside behind wire screens, (my plants, not the possums).

The above cutting was growing strongly, until the possums discovered it.

It now looks aged and dwarfed so I'm thinking of transplanting it into a bonsai pot.

Our winter has been extremely dry and reportedly the warmest on record.

Which explains why my collection is doing so well - or was - if it not for the teeth marks on the leaves left behind by some furry little critters...

Change

I haven't blogged for a while.

A lot in going on in my life at the moment.

I like to think of it as all being good, even though that's not the way it feels a lot of the time.

My crafts keep me busy.  Sometimes I think I have too many projects going on at the one time.  This has got me thinking that I need to cull some activities. 

Personal change is a big thing in my life and mostly I find it to be a huge challenge. 

When I don't handle change well I respond with illness.

So over the past couple of weeks I've been plagued with hip and back problems which I have resolved with meditation and yoga, only to now end up with a chest cold.

I know it's my bodies way of speaking to me.  I just have to learn to listen to it.  

So, even though I'm working hard at various areas in my life, I've come to realise, over the past couple of days, that this is the season when our bodies and minds need to rest and recharge themselves as the winter draws in.  I am especially feeling the cold this winter.  I'm not sure if this is because the weather is actually colder than last year's or because I'm feeling it more.  But many people have commented to me that it seems colder this year.

The most exciting thing about the changes in my life at the moment is that I am now making meditation a daily part of my life.  My back has been problematic for over thirty years so yoga will also become a daily event for me.  My third change is to include daily affirmations into my routine.

Here is an affirmation for you:

  Love is everywhere. 

 I am loving and lovable. 

 (Louise L Hay).

I know; sounds very psychedelic but there is a saying that goes something like:  how can you love others if you don't love yourself first.

So my body is forcing me to take note of the season, to recognise the winter solstice that is upon us, to withdraw, to be calm, to rest and to renew.

I hope to be able to be more active in blogger world soon.

Day 175/366

What I love about roses is that they bloom in the middle of June.

These are miniature roses and they have been helping to cheer up our house during the gloomy weather of the past two days.

Day 173/366

I didn't manage to take any photos today.

The weather was dreary, work is crazy, and I'm feeling down.

So here a photo of last night's sunset to cheer everybody up.

I took this out of our upstairs loft studio window as our little house sits on the side of a hill.  The sunsets have moved a bit to the north-west and there's no good vantage point from our verandah. 

This is an unedited photograph taken on a point and shoot camera.

Day 171/366

Another beautiful day

Day 156/366

Winter Full Moon

Thank You.

Thank you to all you beautiful people out there in Blogging Land who have dropped by in the last couple of days leaving get well wishes.  Your comments do help to cheer me up!

Today is my tenth day of un-wellness and while most of my 'flu symptoms have gone, I've been left with a debilitating fatigue which is worrisome, given the fact that I have struggled with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in the past.  I'm hoping that this bout of 'flu has not been a trigger for another round of the dreaded CFS.

My experience with the illness has been one of total mis-understanding and bewilderment when presenting to the medical profession.  Mostly my medical practitioners have been at a loss to know what to do about CFS. 

In the end the persistence of an alternative health care provider paid off, only to be then diagnosed with SJÖGREN’S SYNDROME about seven years ago.

Once more I was told that not much could be done unless I was prepared to be medicated with cortisone which even the specialist did not recommend.

Alternative medicine offered some relief but after three more years of suffering from the weird and not so wonderful symptoms of the disease I decided to take early retirement.  My work was deadline centred, also, reaching my place of employment meant three hours of commuting each day.  While I loved the work I did my place of employment was stressful and lacking in support systems for its employees.  I still miss the stimulation I received from the work I carried out and the opportunities it offered to be self reliant. Even so, it was something like two years after retiring before I could truly say I was well on the mend and no longer required endless supplements for my health.  About two months before I retired my brother (my second youngest sibling) died from a heart attack.  He was forty three and died two weeks after my fifty fifth birthday.  My birthday was also the last day I saw him alive.  He was supposed to come on a family outing with us the very day he died but opted to go swimming with his immediate family and some friends instead.  He and his son were caught in a rip and in his attempt to rescue my nephew, my brother was swept out to sea.  Of course, immediate attention was centred around my nephew's rescue who was only nine at the time and by the time my brother was rescued he had suffered a heart attack and could not be revived.

I had submitted my resignation to my employer only weeks before and I was having doubts as to whether I'd done the right thing or not.  Losing my brother made it easier for me to accept my decision to take retirement at the time.

I missed going to work dreadfully for a full two years.  I still dream that one day I'll get a telephone call asking me to return.  But I know that while I relish the mental stimulation the work would bring, physically I probably would not cope.

Going on a five-month-long camping holiday around Australia last year has helped me ease into a different cycle in life.  My darling husband, Honey Pie, and I went on the first real holiday in both our life times. 

When the opportunity came up for voluntary redundancies at Honey Pie's work he put in a proposal for acceptance and was successful.

Honey Pie started his career as a tradesman when he was fourteen and a half years old with the N.S.W. State Government.  That was in 1966.

Since then he has never been on unemployment benefits and supported the two of us last year on what he now affectionately calls his 'gap year'.

Our trip around Australia was an experience of a life time.  I would do it again any time.  My only problem with it was that after two months I missed my family terribly.

These days, I have my many crafts to concentrate on, as well as my garden and of course my family which now includes a beautiful three year old Grand Daughter who is a delight to be with.

And especially as winter draws in on us and the Winter Solstice means shorter days, I think long and often about our time, last June, in Broome. I know I could not survive the humidity of a tropical summer but wouldn't it be lovely if we could somehow devise a system whereby six months of the year is spent in the Blue Mountains and the other six in Broome!!!

And you guessed it ... Broome was a favourite if not the most favourite place we visited on our journey!!

Sooo...if any of you need cheering up here are some sunny photographs for you. All were taken at Cable Beach Broome.

Life Is A Pea - 2011

Life Is A Pea - 2011

Life Is A Pea - 2011