joy

ladybeard., originally uploaded by clareowen.

Pip's Words & Pictures this week (or was it last?) is 'Joy'. So many options with such a great theme, but I decided to share with you (if you don't know it already) the lovely blog Kind Over Matter.
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Go and have a squiz, go on! You will find inspiring thoughts, beautiful pictures, kind etsy finds and feel good shops, lovely giveaways and all kinds of precious things. Also quote and affirmation cards to download and give away, and other ways to spread kindness. Plus links to lots of blogs full of kindness, like Operation Nice.
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It is full of beauty and simplicity and joy and always makes me smile serenely and think about lying in fields of flowers and blowing bubbles and such. Which is a nice thing to think about, don't you think?
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favourite green things

This week, Pip's word and pictures is 'green'. I've posted about my love of green before, so this time I thought I'd show you some of my favourite green things.

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Vege seeds for the garden yum, nice way to spend a sunday afternoon

'Anne of Green Gables' one of my favourite books growing up

Succulent plant, a farewell gift from a parent when I left OSHC

Porcelian turtle who lives under my computer monitor and keeps me company

Shawl-in-progress with super lovely soft wool that will-be-finished-one-day

Thread. because I like thread.

Pepper grinder, a present from my favourite twin sister and used every day

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I love that this theme happens to be my favourite colour. Love.it.

I hope your weekend is just lovely!

sweet rose

(image credit)

This is for Pip’s words and pictures, for her themes ‘Sweet’ and ‘Rose’. Is that cheating? I hope not. I do know that I would like this very very much. Any man that combines flowers and chocolates is ok in my book.

souvenirs

The sound of bells that carry across the rooftops and into my bowl of soup
When I press my eyes and see stars just like when you said
The dampness in the wind that makes the hairs at my neck curl against my skin
Crumbs in the carpet, treasures in the sky, blue socks under the bed
Cereal boxes lined up in all of the colours of my love
The sticky stones of apricots rolling across the sun beams on the floor
Peanut butter, mixed tape full of silent drums and im just a girl you knew
your name makes an empty space in my mouth
I don’t know why, souvenirs of you.

under the covers

A bit late, again, for Pip's Words and Pictures.(also please excuse the not-so-good photo)
This is my first (and only) quilt. It took me about a year to make it, sporadic sewer that I am. A few months cutting out all the squares, a while laying it out on the floor to get it just right and a few months gingerly stepping over it. A few weeks with pinned strips hanging over the back of a chair and then, one day, there it was. It's still not, ahem, actually quilted, except for a few places. But that's part of the, sigh, rustic. quality.

Despite being unfinished and now a bit faded, I love it to BITS. I remember where I got each fabric from (skirt that I loved but never fit right. Curtains. That fabric was also made into toy for my first neice..) and it I'm quite proud that it was all put together by little ol' me. I love seeing it spread over my bed, and I love sleeping under it every night. I love lolling under it on weekends and running my fingers over the fabrics and stitches.

I'm thinking of starting a new one. I thought it would be nice to have one for each season with different colour schemes, and swap over when the seasons changed (also the winter one would be much thicker than summer). Maybe one day. For now, this is the cover I love to be under.

careful!

For Pip's words and pictures, I seem to be running late lately but here we go! These guys lived in the fomerly-duck-bath-turned-into-garden-bed at my old house. To this day I have no idea how he lost his head (although I suspect the green one did it). More words and pictures here.

remember when

Remember when red frogs were 5 cents, and finding 2 dollars on the street meant an afternoon of sugary bliss? Remember seeing your mum and your sisters every single day and having trouble imagining otherwise?

Remember days spent running under the sprinkler, or spraying soap on a tarpaulin on a hill and sliding down, or washing the car with a big bucket and sponge and getting wetter than the car?

Remember rushing home because you were expecting a phone call, and practicing your typing on a typewriter?

Remember playing snake and pacman and thinking it was AMAZING? Remember thinking how cool robots would be? Remember drawing your dream house and it had slippery dips and unlimited icecream involved?

Remember afternoons playing cricket or building elaborate lego towns? Remember cubbies of wood, of chairs, of sheets and cushions?

Remember sleepovers and declarations of friendship forever and giggling for no reason into the night? Remember imagining that anything was actually possible and rather probable actually?

Remember when you imagined that grown-ups had it all figured out and ruled the world?

Remember when you found out that actually you never figure it out and this isn’t true?

Remember dreaming about what you would be when you grew up? Do you still dream about it now?

close your eyes and breathe deeply, can you smell them?

writing on the walls, originally uploaded by nardell.

for Pip's Words & Pictures theme, 'fragrance'.

I'm ready for you, rainy day

For Pip's Words and Pictures 'Rainy Day' theme.

I'd like one m-kay? Thnx. Would certainly make the bus trip home roomier. And never pick up wrong brolly from the bucket-of-many-brollies outside a cafe again.

catching up

Sometimes I feel like all my time
is catching up
on things left behind.
Projects piled up ceiling high
sometimes just make me
grin, and sigh.
I don’t mind the calls I have to make
or icing chocolate cakes
I baked,
running out of milk or bread,
leaving things I know
still unsaid
I like finishing a good read
and poking holes for planting seeds
but the catching up I like the most
Is you and me,
and tea and toast.

Thanks Pip, for another great Words and Pictures theme- see more here!

I'm tempted to put this one with the bad high school poetry I posted a while back. Although I just penned it quickly in my lunch break and not while filled with teenage angst, it's about the same calibre! Oh well.

collecting

words and pictures

I like collecting things.Like most crafty people I have stores of buttons and fabrics and felts and threads and ribbons and things that may.just.be.handy.one.day.

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Other things I accidentally collect are keys. Not sure why. I think it started when I moved house once and got left with a bunch of keys, so I put them in a drawer. Then we changed the locks at work, so I collected everyones old keys and added them too. Sometimes I find them. The ones I find are my favourite- where did they come from? what did they lock? how were they lost? Keys are new beginnings and old routines.

I'm not sure what to do with them though.. any ideas? Some hang in a strand from my ceiling and tinkle in the breeze. Most sit in the drawer.

I also have a bunch of boardgames. In the basket on the top there's also barrel'o'monkeys, uno, playing cards, dice and other-games-that-I-don't-remember.Love 'em. Want more. Must have people over more often for board game evenings like it was 1944 (before television was invented. I just wiki'ed it.)

When I was a kid I collected stamps. Seriously. I had two books, one for international and one for Australian stamps, and a little magnifying glass and everything. You can take the girl away from the stamps but you can't take the nerd outta the girl.

I'm lovin' Pip's words and pictures themes. I'm gonna go have a bit of a stroll and see what everyone else collects!

Cold Feet

This Week Pip's Words and Pictures theme is "Cold Feet', which is funny 'cause this is the first week I've been home and gone 'ooh, my feet are a bit chilly'.

Every year this is what autumn means to me, that crossover from thongs and checking out your toes, to that point where you find yourself rummaging through drawers for thick socks, and pulling out your ugg boots. Suddenly a midnight pee means running down the hallway and trying to keep your toes of the cold tiles. Suddenly you only see your toes in the shower, and are suspiciously close to having a boot tan.

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I love the cooler weather (although I may change my tune mid-winter, just wait). There is a certain crispness in the air, a clarity. Things have a different smell in winter, the air seems clearer, and winter memories to me always seem to have a distinctness to them that hot, lazy blurred summer memories don't.

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I like being rugged up in bed with a book (my last two nights running), I like leaping out of bed and rushing back to dive under the covers. I like heaters and steaming mugs and watching the cold world from the warm side of the window.

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If you had to choose, would you rather be slightly too hot or slightly too cold?

The Long Drive

This weeks 'words and pictures' theme is 'The Long Drive'. Firstly, apologies for linking to Pip's blog and then not coming through with the goods! Not very good blog etiquette at all.. I was so excited, I had a photo in mind, taken from the passenger seat of an old valiant with the highway stretching ahead, and my lovers hands on the steering wheel; but despite booting up of old computers and searched through countless folders I couldn't find it!

So, I have a poem instead.

The Shipfitter's Wife

I loved him most
when he came home from work,
his fingers still curled from fitting pipe,
his denim shirt ringed with sweat
and smelling of salt, the drying weeds
of the ocean. I would go to him where he sat
on the edge of the bed, his forehead
anointed with grease, his cracked hands
jammed between his thighs, and unlace
the steel-toed boots, stroke his ankles,
his calves, the pads and bones of his feet.
Then I'd open his clothes and take
the whole day inside me-the ship's
gray sides, the miles of copper pipe,
the voice of the first man clanging
off the hull's silver ribs, spark of lead
kissing metal, the clamp, the winch,
the white fire of the torch, the whistle
and the long drive home.

-Dorianne Laux

This poem stayed with me for days. It's beautiful. Every time I read it I feel like I'm right there, watching the wife softly caress away her husband's worries away. I was especially touched by the line that reads, "Then I'd open his clothes and take the whole day inside me." Every time I read that sentence it makes me- that idea of sharing your life and days so completely with another person, and carrying each other through. Call me a soppy romanitc, but- ok, well, yeah. I AM a soppy romantic.

little things

IF: Little things by Amy.Ng

Pip’s ‘Words and Pictures’ is continuing with this week’s theme ‘Little Things’. It made me think of all the little things that can add up to make your day. The unexpected pleasures. I love the little things.

Train luck; when you run down the stairs and straight onto a train before the doors slide closed. Also refer to ‘taxi luck’ and ‘bus luck’.

Rain luck; when you have forgotten your umbrella and the clouds are grey and dark, but somehow you get indoors before it buckets down. Also refers to when you are caught in the rain on a summer weekend and dance.

Song luck; when you’re in your own world and a great song plays that breaks you out of your bubble and makes you smile and start shakin’ your booty. Also when you’re woken up by your favourite song on your alarm radio. Awesome.

Warm Glow: waves across the street, compliments from strangers, kisses goodbye. Also see ‘running into friends luck’

Entertainment Luck; when you have forgotten that your favourite show is on but accidentally end up with it on anyway (me, last night + scrubs = yay) see also ‘book luck’ and ‘movie luck’

‘Sweet as’ Luck; when things come together; the lighting for your photo, you find the perfect fabric for your project, any sequence of small fortunate events.

They all turned out to be luck, but I guess the little things are. If I caught the train because of my own punctuality and the impeccable City Trains service, well that would just take the magic out of it, wouldn’t it (as well as being incredibly unlikely!)

Also Laughter; when you stumble across an email, blog, or hear a joke etc. that leaves you doubled up with tears streaming down your face.

Note: try not to say the word ‘luck’ too many times in a row. I just have, it sounds weird and kinda creepy.

cosy

apple tart, originally uploaded by C.Mariani ( vacation ).

Pip has started a words and pictures blog-along, and this week (or was it last?) the theme is 'cosy'. Anything it means to you.
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At first I was like, yep, cups of tea, rain on the windows, sleeping cats, ugg boots, quilts, lamplight, snuggles. (All the great winter stuff that's coming around again! yay!)
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But then my mind snagged on pie. Pie is very cosy. And for dinner tonight I had tortellini. I love food wrapped in other food. It's comforting and cosy indeed!
cheese and spinach triangles
spring rolls
pasties and sausage rolls
ravioli
tortellini
dumplings
apple pie and cherry pie and all the other kinds of pie
strudel (that one's fun to say too)

can you think of any others?
When the weather is cold I foresee friends and flour in a cosy kitchen for a bakeoff or two.. or three. yum.

p.s. I found a recipe for peanut butter pie last week. Oh yeah.