star scrumper...

look girls....

apples

(some cows just can't resist the lure of the scrumpy apple)

 feeding apples to cows by hand can get a bit slobbery

(but it's fun!)

this is the flavour of my days

....

good every day...

Every day is a good day if you've got a good book 

(or two or three or four or....)

This Easter long weekend I'm trying to eke out a few extra moments

 to dip into my (newish) book pile...

(some are eye candy, some are brain food)

oooo I'm looking forward to really studying 

the fabulous 'Melliodora' - the large scale book of plans from 

David Holmgren and Su Dennet's permaculture garden at Hepburn.... 

YUM!

So much of my reading in the last few years has been research for my Higher Degree
(oh boy!) not that I don't love dipping into things like this week's reads -

The Bioregional Economy: Land, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

 (which is a very interesting rethink of how an economy can operate
on a local rather than global scale and why that's important)

Edible Park by Nils Norman

(permaculture as art as garden - oh yessssssssss!)

and I just finished re-reading Robert L. Thayer's excellent 

LifePlace: Bioregional Thought and Practice

ahhhh but I am longing for the time 

when I can just wander through the book pile with total abandon

(*one day* I'll get around to sharing some of my favourite bits from my favourite books....)

and talking of making time for favourites

if I'm a very good girl maybe I'll find a few minutes to revisit another favourite on DVD

The Good Life on Good Friday

oh goody!

*wishing you all a peaceful Easter

....

some bookiness...

three variations on a theme...

coptic binding...

 with leather covered boards

long stitch over exposed fabric 'tapes'...

with black bookcloth covers

and long stitch binding over exposed leather 'tapes'...

with decorative paper covers 

(looking rather reptilian don't you think?)

the contents are quite similar in each

with small variations...

(but I'm not disclosing too much of that right now

a girl has to keep a few secrets eh?)

...

 

in the post...

a parcel with a treasure inside...

 

 

 

yes it is an creature of wonder

a surprise swapped gift

from the prophet of bloom herself

india

it came complete with generous permission 

to remake, rework and dream of possibilities...

honey hound took instant possession 

proclaiming the creation highly kelpie-worthy 

 

  

its perfectly suited to her colouring 

making it wonderful for kelpie hide-and-seek...

other hounds can only dream of a cloak so fine...

it is a kelpie coat of many colours...

 (I hate to break it to her that I have 'other' as yet unformed plans...) 

....

TAG - 4...

one red book, seven seagulls

and the pines of Bermagui headland

...

more making...

 

I've been printing...

collating, sectioning, folding....

covering boards and preparing to do a bit of binding...

happy (autumn) days

....

away...

For the first time ever

all four Sams Creekians ventured off to the big smoke of Sydney for a couple of days...

 In fact this was a trip of firsts:

first train journey for the kidlets....

... their first ferry ride and first glimpses of Sydney icons...

 

and visiting big ships 

on a late summer's day Sydney is as pretty as a picture 

and Taronga Zoo is not only a good place to spy animals...

 

while in town I managed to introduce the kidlets to the Art Gallery of NSW...

where I had my first glimpse of a wonderful piece by Janet Laurence...

 

(me likey very much)

It's almost impossible for all four of us to get away together - 

it took something pretty special...

you see - our littlest gidget fishlet qualified as the youngest member 

of the South East Swimming Association 2013 team 

for the Speedo Sprints State Titles at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre

(I told you she is little but she is mighty... )

there she is waaaaaaay down below - her name up in lights

it was quite an experience for a small gal from the bush

(and I don't just mean EJ!)

....

TAG - 3

one parrot chewed apple, one almost perfect apple, 

one page-wrapped apple in the apple tree 

...

busy busy (end of summer)

a busy summer is drawing to a close

I've spent that last 2 months holed up writing, writing, writing that MFA exegesis

(still oodles to do - but I can see light at the end of the tunnel...)

which is more light than I see most mornings

we rise predawn every morning...

to milk the cows and get the kiddies off to swim training before school...

(freaky fish kidlets)

My poor garden has been more than just neglected in the summertime rush - 

its been positively abandoned

but I've been pickling the odd things that survived my neglect
like the Italian white and purple garlic...

 In other news - earlier in February 

Honey-hound had to spend time at the vets thanks to a nasty abscess 

(naughty Sarah-woof had a nibble on Honey-hound's rear end and an infection took hold)

 note the hound is wearing the 'cone of shame'

poor hound

But soon she was back to her wickedy best 

 

honey hound with pilfered tome and shaved bottom

(oooo the shame! the shame!)

In other exciting (and LOUD) news

Sass FINALLY got his fingers onto that sax 

He has been hankering to learn to play the sax for more than 2 years

oh boy! (he's LOVIN' the alto sax! its LOUD!!!!)

 EJ has started on flute - so cute

I love their strange sounds and smiley faces

In between honks and hoots and howls

is the hum of the dehydrator

what a revelation home dried fruit is!

I've been cranking out tonnes and tonnes of
dried apples and nectarines from the orchard

I've even dried a whole tray of over-ripe mangoes that we purchased CHEEEEEEP

yummmmmmmmmo!


sigh

summer is drawing to a close

.....