And they're racing.... in the Piglet Olympics

The local agricultural college opened its annual field days today and one of the items on the program was the Piglet Olympics.

 How cute are these little porkers, ranging age from 6 weeks to 3 months of age they race along a predetermined course in coloured silks of the different countries.

and the winning post is actually a food trough - of course, they are piggies after all.  Aren't they cute?

As we were leaving, this beautiful scene was spread before us - how lucky were we to catch this beautiful picture.  Thank you Mother Nature.

Catching up

It's been a while since I blogged so thought I would do a bit of a catchup.   Not long after my last post we went to New Zealand.  Saw these growing along the roadsides everywhere, may be called yarrow but not sure about that.

Driving along another road we got up close with some of the things that are associated with New Zealand - sheep and rain!!  I think the sheep had just been shorn, they looked a little embarassed about being caught out without their coats on.

I have also been busy gardening, the cosmos were over 8' high and have been a mass of flowers, such bright and cheery flowers.   I just love them.

I have also been making sure there are some snacks for the afternoon drop ins, isn't the colour beautiful.

Some more things from the garden, tomatoes and basil!!  Perfect companions both in the garden and in the pot.  They will make a great sauce for some pasta for tonight's dinner with the addition of some onion, garlic and white wine.

I have also been going along to a craft group to learn some beading techniques, loved doing this little heart shape, actually looks prettier in real life and it will probably be used as part of another project in the near future.  I have also repaired some pieces that I have loved in the past and had just become heaps of beads in the drawer so have been very happy with my progress.

Life just goes along, the days roll into each other.  They have been just beautiful days here though lately - perfect autumn days and after the long, grey and wet summer just passed, the sunny days are very welcome.  I have loved being able to get outside for hours to enjoy working in the garden without being burnt to a crisp by the hot summer sun.  Speaking of sunny days, there is still some sun outside so I am off to enjoy what is left of today.

Some productive socializing

I am not a regular blogger these days, I started off with the best of intentions but...

 A few weeks ago a friend and I attended a workshop at a scrapbook shop, Pages2Scrap,  located on the Central Coast of New South Wales (Australia) where the bubbly Sarah showed us four cards that included doodling.  The colours were not what I would normally work with but I liked the result.

We had a lovely morning cutting and stamping and doodling then met another couple of friends and had a lovely lunch.  After the hurley-burley of preparation for Christmas it was lovely to get out and do something so  relaxing.  I enjoyed the process of doodling on the scrapbook paper, I have played around with pens on some cards that I have made, I have even touched up some stamped images that didn't come out quite as well as they should have but I was very happy with the effect of accenting the patterned paper. 

Sitting in my craft room with the laptop and the radio while I read blogs is good but I also enjoy the inspiration gained from mixing with people who have similar interests.  I have recently found a group in the local area that meet fortnightly to craft and chat and today I was introduced to beading. I have played around with using beads on fibres and ribbons but today my beading experience has been expanded to making loops and wrapped loops, headpins, etc etc. There was a range of crafting happening - card making, scrapbooking as well as a couple of us learning beading.  I am feeling like I just want to keep going but the kitchen calls - well actually the aroma of sweet potato roasting for the pizza that I am about to make. 



Two recent visitors to start off 2012

I didn't realise how long since I have posted, even though I did get an e-prompt (Thanks E,).  Life kind of got busy, as it does at that time of the year.  The busy-ness was all good, preparations for Christmas celebrations and then an extended period of celebrations and it was lovely.  So often there is the huge flurry of activity for a few hours and then nothing but this year the happy days just kept happening - Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing day and then another day in January when we got together with some family members that couldn't make it in December.  It was a very happy season.  The spare room got a workout with some visitors even staying over.  The photo is one of a couple of visitors - the furry ones didn't use the spare room though, they prefer to camp out.

2011 finished quietly, looking back on it, it wasn't such a bad year.  Some beginnings and some endings.  My word for the year just gone, as a kind of resolution, was Gratitude and I managed to keep that word and meaning fairly well.  A couple of occasions tested my resolve severely and one I am still working on but perhaps I will keep Gratitude as my word for 2012 as well and just add another one.   I am decided on 2012's word but will keep that for later.

It would be nice to finish up with something profound about the new year but the words of that John Lennon song keeps running through my brain at the moment so perhaps I will finish up here with one of the lines that refers to the passing of Christmas and the new year just begun and ask that we  make it a good one.

This is for Shirley

Last week, in a conversation with a friend (Shirley) she said that she noted that whenever I post a photograph of something that I have created she notices all the 'stuff' that is just everywhere, covering my worktable and, if the photo area was larger, a large percentage of the floor space as well.   The comment wasn't a criticism on my housekeeping standards, it was a comment on the way that different  people work.

Anyway on the way home I was thinking about this. Outside of this room the house is generally clean and tidy - not completely minimalist but verging on it and I am quite keen on it remaining like that and wage a semi permanent war on the gathering of newspaper on any available surface and in piles on the floor.  In my craft room it is not at all like that.

I have been having trouble sitting down and actually being creative and productive lately, I have had occasional spurts but generally I have been unable to get down and actually make a start.  So, I was thinking about this and what could be blocking me and something from a yoga teacher that I had a long time ago came to mind.  He was actually talking about personal yoga practice and he was of the opinion that if you didn't take care of your physical space and equipment that it would be hard to focus your mind on your practice.  In summary, if your physical surrounds were messy then probably your head was in the same state.
 Hmmm - maybe there is something in that.  So I embarked on a clean up and tidy campaign in the craft room.  Picked up and put away stuff that didn't need to be on the worktable, paid the bills waiting on the side of the computer and filed them away, tidied up the shelves and made sure that everything was where it was supposed to be.  I put the things that I use regularly into small, plastic trays/baskets so that they were accessible and not just hanging around under stray bits of paper, I also put up photos of family and loved ones on shelves that previously had been languishing in shopping bags and underneath books -  and then stepped back and took a good look at my surroundings.  It did look more inviting and I had more space than I thought and yes, I had an idea for a blog post, actually two ideas.  Should I have saved one for another day - no, I am on a roll now.  Thank you Shirley, see you soon

A Conversation with Martine

At the end of last summer I had a conversation with Martine, and it went something like this:  I know that you have been dug out of your lovely, rich bed and plonked in this hard one and the sun is much hotter here than your original home - but you are here with someone who loves you very much and has always loved you.  I have waited and waited to be able to have you here, where I can look after you and admire you and the perfume that surrounds you. 

Well, I think Martine must have had a think about this conversation and decided that here she is now, for better or worse, and perhaps she could appreciate the love and care that has been lavished on her.  I am so happy that she decided to try and enjoy her new home and to reward those that have been awaiting her decision as to whether she would stay there with the most lovely display of her bounty.  It has been worth the wait.

Martine Guillot is a rose that I have loved for such a long time, last summer she was a definite under achiever and I wondered if it was going to be worth while keeping her but this summer she has excelled.  This is just approx one and a half stems and each bloom was so beautiful - they looked like something that should have been in a bridal bouquet.  I am so happy that she has decided to stay, and I have told her so every morning during my usual 'morning inspection' of the rose garden.  I am looking forward to having a long and happy friendship with Martine

Eyelets

Sarah at the Inkurable Stampers is having another challenge.  The challenge this month is to use eyelets in a project.  I have been making a few cards in the last few weeks, trying to build up a little bit of a collection, and thought I would enter one of them.  It is a simple card and I used the eyelets to thread the ribbon through, also used a small one on the tag and threaded through some shiney thread to tie the tag on.