When a child follows you....

I love to stich - a little embroidery project can sooth the soul and calm nerves and restore peace in the world - Ruby decided she needed to stich a little project and this is her Protea -  I'm sure it took her to a happy place.

It's winter holidays and time to cosy up.  Salty the pug is my hot water bottle - he keeps me warm on cold winter nights and I let him lie on the bed and warm my feet up - he's such a cutie pie.

The Nature Table has had new things added to it almost daily - we love to collect little natural wonders - stones, skulls, feather and shell.

Generosity

Generosity: 1. readiness or liberality in giving. 2. freedom from meanness or smallness of mind or character.
I recently was the recipient of amazing generosity from an awesome person: Rachelle Toimata - I ve always said that Kiwi's are amazingly generous people -  and I felt it in abundance from this beautiful woman.  She has been a good friend and spiritual mentor - and now she has told me she is leaving the country and moving to Australia!  Of course this has made me sad, but I am also excited for her because I remember so clearly the way things felt for us when we had to leave our own homeland of South Africa.  It was such a big move, and so full of the bitter sweet of saying goodbyes and also trying to hold in check the excitement of a new place calling.  I know that wherever Rachelle goes she takes her God flavour with her and it will enrich those around her - but boy - she has sprinkled some pretty good stuff on me and I would say generous is the most apt word to describe her.

When you leave a country - you not only leave friends, family, your church your way of life, but you leave most of your carefully acquired possessions - your little treasures and meaningful things.  We brought what we could but we gave most away and it was not a big deal as I though I would replace it here.  However, with little means to do the replacing, the collection remained pretty frugal.  In one fell swoop, Rachelle opened her home and her heart and told me to take what I loved - and I love it all - we are like minded in so many ways - and I came home overloaded with glorious bits of pieces of her home and collection.  Thank you Rachelle for sharing and giving and replacing what we thought we had lost!

Easter

Easter morning mist....a slow gathering of art and photos on our stairway and a close up of the little embroidery project I started with the lovely Ahipara girl.

I love being on holiday (who doesn't?) - it means slow mornings, catch ups with friends and unfinished projects being a little closer to being finished. I always try to have at least one Duvet Day, where the kids and I spend the day in our PJ's and we read books, watch telly and graze. We had our Duvet Day yesterday and now I'm moving on with things - rejuvenated. Sitting on our deck and gazing at the valley also revives my soul. It's these little rituals in life that bring those golden moments I think.

We are in!

After almost two years of slowly building our hand made home we have moved in! The big push came in Febuary - Ruby had turned 12 and wanted a birthday party at our place - 8 girls were coming and we needed the space. Jem worked like a wild man - painting morning, noon and night and we did it!
We have been in for two weeks now and things are slowly taking shape, bathroom, kitchen and a special sign for the driveway.

in winter

In winter all slows down... including house building! However we are still taking lovely winter walks and enjoying our winter break from school and work.

Autumn fills me with a happy feeling

Autumn here is a lovely thing. The colours are rich and deep and the weather is the best all year - it has a warm glow with a bite in the air to encourage indoor snuggly time and getting out the knitting. I love Autumn and I wish I took the time to celebrate it more. A few photos of progress on the house. Sunsets and trying to choose a colour for the front door . On the deck...thirfty collections are mounting... a church pew, some cast iron ball and claw feet, a wood painted sign and a wooden trough.