Ten!

Very soon our little man who lives away will be coming to visit us, and he will be big bad DOUBLE DIGITS - ten!

Since he's turning ten while he's at his mum's, but will be with us shortly after, we've decided to throw him a belated birthday bash. We have never had him with us for a birthday or Christmas and decided even if it were belated, we will have a party, I say!!

Since he lives with his mum and only visits us in holidays he doesn't have any friends his own age here, but we will have all the family and extended step-family in attendance to make the day.

We're brainstorming at the moment - cakes, parks or beach, games etc... What do you remember as being awesome from your tenth birthday? Or any birthday for that matter!

sunrise

I've got a couple of books on the go at the moment, one of which is Eric Harrison's 'Do You Want to Meditate?'.

I came across a section I particularly liked and wanted to share it with you.

Disclaimer: Eric refers to 'God' in this segment but he himself is Buddhist, so doesn't necessarily refer to the Bible-esque God. I also have a different type of belief system, so I implore you to view the 'God' reference as whatever your deity or entity works in your belief system - be it Christianity, Buddhism, Mother Nature or a mix-breed variety like mine! The focus is the quality of a clear mind.

Sunrise - ANZAC Day 2010

Spiritual Awakening - Meister Erkhardt said we must become a space for God to enter into... Awakening is like gardening: you clear the ground, plant the seed and wait.

The seed won't rise in a rank weed-infested mind. Evil is not huge and grand: it is the endless parade of banal, trivial, petty thoughts and fantasies that clutter the mind. Meditation weeds them out as they arise, moment-to-moment. "When you master the small moments, the great moment is at hand."

I found this to be a very thought provoking and enlightening. I hope you find some insight in the excerpt too :)

Ravel.me

My goodness!

I must be the slowest Raveller there is - I have just discovered the fantastic 'share' feature!



So if you click here or here you will hopefully be zoomed off through cyber-space to see my current projects as per their Ravely pages! How RAD is THAT?!

Those links I've done with an accesss link only - so I wonder, can you actually access them from the link I've used here? This one I've done with totally open privacy, so you it's even easier I hope!

New Yarn Exultation!

New yarn!!

Exult in this wonderous new yarn, dear reader!!

-We interrupt this post to bring you a Request of the Reader-

No really, you must, please extoll the many virtues of the yarn - because it seems my poor Shweetie has been all yarned out! When I returned home today and presented my wonderous skeins with glee - to be praised and admired for their colour, twist and goodness.... He wasn't interested. Sir Shweetie said he has seen too much now and has been "yarned out" and now they all look the same!! Oh noes!! So until he has 'un-yarned' enough to appreciate my yarns again I must ask you, gentle reader, to declare your thoughts of these wonderful yarns after you've read the post! Do please, I implore you! I am in LUFF with these wee skeins, but it is so much more fun to share the delight!!

-Now resuming regular blog post-

What a glorious day!! Today my lovely Mum and I ventured out for a morning (and some of the afternoon actually..) of yarn fumes, fabric and fibrey delights!

We visited two yarn stores in our town - one an old favourite, the other a brand newie neither of us had been to before - and had a rejuvenating cuppa in between. Of course we spent all of this time, including the drive there and back, talking in depth since we live so far apart a lot of the time and relish every opportunity for Mother-Daughter times!

After my last visit to the sumptuous Calico & Ivy I've been hankering for some Colinette Jitterbug action. At the time I was a very well behaved stash-diver and didn't succumb to any of this delectable jewel toned sock yarn, but this time I went there with the MISSION to take some home with me!!

(I have a specific plan for this yarn - but more on that in a later post)

My lovely Mama is the most generous person I know - which is a big call given the amazing generosity of those around me! - and she was determined to give me (another!) Birthday gift, this one a little belated, yarny and SO WONDERFUL!!

I had significant trouble deciding which three skeins would do the trick...

~or~

...but ended up with the three I had originally plucked from the shelf (isn't it always best to listen to instinct?!); Vincent's Apron, Vatican Pie and Velvet Bilberry.

Don't you love those names? They even make a story - you borrow Vincent's Apron to make Vatican Pie from the delicious Velvet Bilberry harvest.

When we continued on to the next yarn store Mum found the perfect yarn to make her next jumper!

It's such a luscious tweed from Jo Sharp and the wonderful mixed purples are just the ticket for Mum's cardi! We were both so excited at the prospect of the new project - the first cardigan Mum has knit for a while, so it's very thrilling to begin! Mum has such wonderful tension and an amazing eye for art so I know her cardi will come up a treat! :D We both gushed to each other on how delighted we both are to have a mother/daughter who can share the joys of creating!