Category Archives: Art,Craft,photos,design,fashion,books + film

To be a mother

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my mum 1986

my eldest son and I in the pool

My youngest son and I
http://www.theheartshapedradish.com

the fabulous life of BeMoreFoxy

manchestergalleries.org

‘To be a mother is an honour.  To experience a love like no other,  to nurse, educate, comfort, discipline, taxi, feed, council, protect, a boy and to give him a brother,  To be a domestic goddess and lover, to sacrifice time spent with each other,  is precious, beautiful, rewarding,  frustrating, and very, very hard work!’ – my own words

To all the mothers in my life especially my mother who is busy renovating a house in overalls, with paint all over her face and my sister who for the second year in a row,  is in hospital nursing a very sick baby. You are brilliant human beings.

To the new mothers who have just realised how much it is possible to love a person, Congratulations.

To the seasoned Mothers, Grandmothers and Great Grandmothers I would love to hear your precious stories.

HAPPY AUSTRALIAN MOTHERS DAY!

Cooking up an Autumn storm in the kitchen

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Love this work by Karen Lorena Parker

So…I have had no internet for what feels like a decade!  I have been a busy bee in the kitchen finding ways to use all the lovely fresh ingredients on offer at the moment, plus some stored in the freezer.

For me cooking according to what is in season is not just about the fresh ingredients available ( and the ones you store in the freezer)
It’s about the weather and the mood.  Autumn has been pretty variable in terms of weather for us, one day icy cold winds and clear skies, the next stuffy and hot.
So its been all about soups and salads lately. Lovely belly and heart warming soups, and tasty fresh salads depending on the day. My two-year old has enjoyed all of them which has been great, he is such a culinary adventurer, happy to give anything a go! so i havent had to make any ‘kids meals’
All of these recipes are, low-cost Low GI, Low fat with nothing fake whatsoever.

I don’t supply recipes, I write to inspire people like me, who love to experiment and love to create. One day I will have a lovely cook book with all my most successful experiments in it x

An Autumn inspired day- pumpkins, mushrooms, and a little birds nest.

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Autumn salad

A perfect Easter weekend day today, Autumn graced us with all its beauty and more. It was a bit too warm for this time of year and the hot winds made it feel very summery. But there were still bright red leaves, mushrooms popping up everywhere, chocolate treats and a family walk in the bush.

Roast beef and pumpkin roasting in the oven ( along side a little polymer clay birds nest) chicken in the slow cooker. Daddy outside making beautiful curly wurly wood shavings that my son calls “my hair” and they do look like his gorgeous copper curls.

I knew that roast meat, mushrooms, chocolate and pumpkin would be on the menu but I didn’t make any plans for how I was going to use them. It was far too hot for my favorite pumpkin, coconut, chilli and lime soup so we had a lovely fresh salad instead.

Our salad ingredients;

Cos lettuce, cucumber, capsicum, sugar snaps, mushrooms, carrot and pan-fried pumpkin seeds (in rice bran oil and sea salt) with a honey, black pepper and balsamic dressing. The roast beef was still cooking so it missed out on being perfect with this salad. I will make something delicous with it for dinner instead.

I created the little birds nest to give to my sister as a gift in return for the lovely chocolate and coconut nests she sent down to us. We ate them on our bush walk, I needed a bit of real sugar to cope with my two-year old who was being a ‘un co-operative’ to put it nicely.

Hope you all have a lovely relaxing weekend.

all photographs are my own.

A beautiful gift from a beautiful friend

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Old school camera necklace with diamonte and leather detail-my own photo

Have you ever had that feeling where you just have to call someone because they popped up in your head and you instantly felt concerned about their wellbeing? its like a calling. I think that when we are in a good space and we have a lot of time and love to give, the universe gravitates us towards someone who’s tank is a bit empty. It happened yesterday and I responded. Turns out the person that popped up in my head was in a very negative space and needed some one to fill up her tank a bit. when I was younger my friends and I would fill up our tanks with alcohol and dance the black clouds away. Yesterday we drank tea, we had lunch, we talked about are ideas, we went to a lovely little boutique  and we watched Twighlight Breaking Dawn… I loved it…sorry. She was smiling by the end of the day.

This necklace was a gift from her and it will always remind me to answer those callings because they come for a reason. And you just might turn a persons day around.

You know who you are and thank you for the times you have done the same for me.

The sisterhood of crafters and makers

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photo is the property of Elgans Emporium

I came across something which warmed my heart today.

I have been watching two local mothers and makers introduce their new business to the world. ‘Elgans Emporium’ an eclectic array of whimsical and wonderful things such as vintage inspired parties in a bag for little people. First there was a facebook page, then a ‘made it”shop, markets and now a lovely website and blog. Like myself, they like to over indulge themselves in all that is beautifully old, luxurious, fancy and fun.

Today they have announced that they will be showcasing other local women who create. Especially mothers and grandmothers who work from home.

A business with integrity, heart and a true sense of sisterhood.

Go and have a nose around www.elgansemporium.com