Another Week – Another Update!

Posted on May 1, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

Good heavens! It’s the 1st of May already – the year is racing away on me again!

I’ve got a post half written telling you all about the next part of the trip – but life and playing in my art room is getting in the way of my completing it ……..

Thank you for all your supportive words and shared stories around my hearing loss. It’s not 100% cured yet but is showing definite signs of improvement – an old, old friend from long, long ago read the last post and got on his white horse and galloped to my rescue. He is a homeopath in Germany these day [if you are there and need one just let me know, I can recommend him thoroughly] His suggested remedy appears to be working, I’m maybe only a foot or so under water now. On the chiropractic side my body has never felt more well oiled and smooth working – I’m very fond of my chiropractor too, even though he does inflict severe pain whilst aligning the bits!

Thanks Alexander, thanks Tat!! ❤

I’m painting – I did this one as my response to a Life-Book lesson published two weeks back with a most talented lady named Jenny Lee Wentworth. Her approach quite delighted me and I want to do more work with her in the future. I watched her lesson and a few days later sat down and started work without referring back. I still have to go back and see how far off the mark I was. Pretty far I think – but I liked the freedom it offered, even if I did come back into my own way of doing things really strongly….. This was a lesson in coming to form through layers of colour – no outlining or sketching involved. I am wanting to get to a closer resemblance of real people rather than this semi whimsical style – maybe I’m half way in that process………….

This painting is about half finished

Half completed ‘Ms Snail’

As you can see, it’s sitting firmly in its ‘ugly stage’ in this photo. You may be relieved to know she is already looking better, but has a ways to go still. It’s destined for the UK if I like where it gets to by the end – if not it will just get painted over and I’ll start again.

In really exciting news, I got suddenly and most surprisingly presented with a new phone by my YD a couple of days ago. It’s a Samsung Android, the one-before-the-very-latest version. Now I’m a modern woman ………. No more getting into scrapes whilst travelling and having no ability to contact my friends without it being a very long convoluted process involving texts being sent half way round the globe and back again – you know the story…….. I can do it myself now.

If I ever go anywhere ever again…….

It is not the latest super dooper-cooks your breakfast kind of smart phone, but it is an extremely clever and on-to-it kind of smart phone and is probably capable of doing way more than I shall ever require it to do – and it takes really nice photos.

Here’s Siddy peering into it – probably ascertaining if it is edible ….

Siddy King 30 4 15

Look at those eye lashes! And another one

this is his really serious ‘Whatyadoin’ Mumma?’ face.

Now I might actually get around to taking photos for the blog instead of getting where I’m going and saying “Blast, I forgot the camera again!”

If you are up with the play – and why shouldn’t you be? – you may remember I’m knitting a lovely pinkish lacyish shawl with a KAL [Knit-A-Long] group. I mucked it up a bit when I had to frog a row – then two – and oh dear, three …… I’d decided to gussy it up a bit by adding in a deeper pink for contrast along the edging and was undoing a row. Sigh! Now I am waiting for that other colour to arrive. In the meantime I got all carried away with myself and decided to use the Indian Silk on this pattern too….. This is where that is up to. It’s like knitting with a strand of cotton and will take, I am told reliably by Claire who knows about these things, double the amount of 8 row repeats to get a decent sized wrap out of…… but it will be so pretty and light and airy and just a little bit blingy too ….. I just might be spending the entire winter knitting it!

Here’s a tiny shot of the detail – just casually snapped with my new phone you understand…………

And that’s kind of where we are at this week folks – it’s cold and dreary and already winter here in the far south of New Zealand. Orlando is sporting a magnificent thick white undercoat which I take to mean it’s going to be a cold one! When he comes down to ground level I’ll try and capture a shot of him showing his new winter coat ……

And here’s a little bit more of a Siddy-fix for those who love him

Until then – thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

Friday Thoughts

Posted on April 24, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

I have been having trouble with my hearing. I think six times up and down in planes in a ten day period was a bit much for my delicate Eustachian tubes and they have become resolutely and immovably blocked. I have done steams, nasal sprays, ear sprays, all the exercises and then some, hung myself upside down and hummed loudly – you name it, we’ve attempted it!

As I hit the ten day mark and if anything the hearing loss is worsening, I am resorting to chiropractic care to try and get everything moving again. This is a man I have an enormous respect for and his ability with understanding the body and what happens when it is even slightly out of whack is quite amazing. My body is apparently quite a lot out of whack! Time will tell if he has success.

In the meantime I am gaining a whole new respect for and understanding of, what being ‘hearing impaired’ is like. I used to think a slight loss of hearing maybe wasn’t such a very bad thing, given the inordinate amount of noise in our daily lives – which just goes to show that I equated deafness with silence.

This world is not silent! It is accompanied by an on-going high pitched hum that only I can hear. It is like listening to people talk while six feet under water. There is a ring of exhaustion around my head from having to listen carefully and work through the constant high pitched hum. I am aware of the space between my ears in a new and quite unpleasant way. There is a weight in my ears I never knew was there. I can hear my bones creak and crack, every swallow made in my throat. the sound of myself chewing food. I hear the throb of blood moving through my head that keeps pace with the beat of my heart. I am forced into a noisy, internal world that is quite solitary.

I noticed today that I was relieved I met no-one on my morning walk with Siddy. The intensity required to conduct a simple exchange of pleasantries is getting too much for me. I understand now why some people just give up on the polite, phatic exchange and opt for avoidance of others.

How many ways can you say ‘I’m sorry, can you repeat that?’ in any conversation without driving the other person bonkers. Lip reading is an art I am quickly learning and guessing what is said also forms part of it.

It’s not a pleasant world to be trapped in! And as there is always a silver lining to every experience we have, mine is that I shall have much more understanding and empathy for the deaf and hearing impaired from this point on.

My enforced solitude means I am making good progress on my Lace Leaf KAL which is over on Mollie and Claire and I am up to date I think – these photos were taken a few days ago.

I am knitting with a bamboo yarn that is deliciously soft and silky. The Indian Silk yarn didn’t suit this pattern so I am saving it for something else.

I love the pretty leaves and now I know where I am by sight in the eight row repeat pattern things are moving along quite smoothly. Though I have just spotted there is a mistake in the centre leaf on the left side………… I am not frogging again. I have frogged at least three times back to the beginning and any imperfections can now stay in place!

I want to show you my beautiful sea dragon, Arthur. He arrived soon after I returned home from my American Interlude. He comes from Wales and was made especially for me by the divine Dr. Snail of Happiness fame. These are her photos and you may admire her pristine work and delicate finishing touches all you wish and if you want to see more, go here.

The photos on the dark background are true to colour, the last two shots give you some idea of the detail that has gone into this magnificent beast. Just look at those cute webbed feet – I am a little in love!

And for those of you who love him – here is the first photo taken of a happy and exhausted puppy the day his mumma came home to him

I must remember to take my camera on our walk tomorrow – the weather is beautiful and autumn is at her best. I love having the images of spring still in my head and knowing that we live in harmony – autumn really does reflect on the youthful vibrancy of spring, only in an older, wiser more muted version of what once was. It is quite lovely!

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

American Interlude: The Journey

Posted on April 20, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

I live in a country whose main claims to fame include periodical world domination in the game of rugby, being the first country to give women the vote [in 1893], steadfastly and obstinately remaining nuclear free since the Act of 1987 and a population of sheep almost four times that of the human count. We are a people of humble outlooks, given greatly to ‘doing it ourselves’, surrounded by spectacular natural beauty and generally pretty well travelled. Apparently we are considered ‘up there’ in owning the latest technologies and are fairly consistent in contributing great personages into any given field on the worlds stage.

This post is not about any of those things or persons. It is a simple story of a simple country girl who goes to a land far, far away and the adventures that befall her on the way.

Thursday 2nd April:

Wake at 4.30 am, farewell sleepy kitty, bundle happy puppy into the car, drive to YD’s place and bundle her into the car. Hurry to airport to catch the red-eye to Auckland, transfer to International Departures and wait patiently for flight to LAX. Flight to LAX is almost an hour late departing due to some missing information in ‘the paper work’. Eventually the missing information must be found, for we set off with a cheery pilot who is pretty confident he can get us there not too far behind schedule. It is now just after 4 pm. We fly east over the Pacific Ocean, soon descending into darkness. There is just an almost full, brightly glowing moon to keep me company. It becomes light some ten hours later and in another two the vast city of Los Angeles is beneath us.

We fly over LA for what seems hours as the gigantic quilt of roofs and straight lined arteries unfurls itself beneath us. The unchanging, greyish vista seemingly goes on and on forever – but of course, eventually we land.

Disembark, get through passport check, customs check and change terminals again – be a bit anxious due to the late arrival, but make it through okay. Wait for flight to DC, enjoy a spot of people watching and give a silent cheer when the flight leaves on time.

Snuggling in my window seat and flying in cloudless daylight for the first time I enjoy the aerial views offered of a vast vista of undulating red ground, grey mountainous terrain and widespread patches of snow. I have no idea where I am as my individual TV doesn’t work and the days of in-flight magazines appears to be over. I guess maybe the Rockies, or Colorado – I realise my intuitive knowledge of American geography is not as sharp as I maybe thought – and then I simply become content with admiring the scenery.

Thick cloud gathers as we approach Washington DC and I lose my view, but we have arrived early due to an over zealous tail wind. And now, 36 hours later, here I am finally, standing inside the airport, wondering which way to go now – and it is still the evening of the 2nd of April.

And I am tired, thirsty and need a bathroom NOW!

I spy the sign and make my way in. I’m the only person there. I use the facilities, throw cold water on my face, look at myself in the mirror, shrug and walk out. There’s nothing to be done with that degree of exhaustion!

There is nobody on the walk way. It’s empty. There’s only me, wondering where to go to find my bags and my friends. It dawns on me we never actually said where we would meet. I had assumed that like home, it would be when I wandered off the plane onto the walk way of the airport. Apparently I was wrong. Everyone else knew where to go and has gone there. Undaunted I set off at an almost brisk pace. I follow a tiny yellow sign that says ‘baggage’ and points to an escalator. I go down and find myself on a train platform. I don’t want to catch a train so I go back up. I walk the walk way looking for signs. There appears to be no more that say ‘baggage’ so I way lay the first person who has appeared wearing a high-vis jacket and ask. He looks at me oddly and points to a small yellow word hanging high above my head. ‘Baggage’ it says and has an arrow pointing straight up beside it. He speaks to me, but his accent is thick and I cannot understand – clearly he has also not understood me as my accent is equally thick – and he took a lucky guess. I smile and say ‘Thank you.’ He frowns at me and hurries off.

I walk less than briskly back the way I have come. I feel I walk a long way, I am very tired but I keep my eyes up, watching for those little signs and finally find one. ‘Baggage!’ it says firmly and has an arrow pointing to my left. It is pointing straight at the escalator I have been down before. I know there is a platform down there and a train and nothing else. Once again the hall is empty of helpful looking folk. I do not fancy asking the two kids who are roaring with laughter over something on a cell phone and who look like they might be nine or ten. So I sigh and descend the escalator once more. Simply because I don’t know what else to do.

Photo credit: Stacey P. Fischer Dulles Airport Train

There is a man standing on the platform. I say to him querulously ‘Do I have to catch a train to get to baggage?’ Like it’s his fault. He nods and scampers away.

The train comes and I get on. I realise I have no idea when to get off but I figure if the worst comes to the worst I will just stay on and catch a nap. The train stops right beside a sign that says ‘Baggage’. I get off.

I know which carousel to go to, for that was announced on the plane. I wish they had thought to say ‘Catch the train to the Baggage stop’ as well……. My flower painted suitcase is sitting on the floor beside the empty carousel. My fellow travellers have all been and gone and I have obviously missed my welcoming friends.

Now what?

Any body else in this situation would have already whipped out their smart phone and called their friends, quickly arranging a meeting place. I do not have a smart phone. I only have a moderately average phone which I thought I would not need to use here as I would always be with people. I forgot about this bit. My phone is not loaded with any useful information, maps or numbers for a dilemma such as this one.

I look about for a help desk, a person who looks in any way ‘official’. There appears to be nothing and no-one. I know I am too tired to be thinking straight – and I wander up and down looking for somewhere to sit and collect myself. There are few seats and all are occupied.

I go outside to the pick up and drop off point and lean on various of the giant concrete lumps that litter the pavement. I talk to a woman with a thick Spanish accent who assures me everyone waits here. She is soon whisked away happily in a small car. Other folk lean also and eventually a car swoops in and whisks each one of them away. I watch the quiet or joyful reunions and meetings and cheer myself up, sure there will be one for me soon enough. I study the cars looking for faces I know – but they aren’t there. Finally, all my fellow loiterers are gone, over an hour has passed since we landed and I just know I have been forgotten.

I hunt for Julia’s address and can’t find it in my trusty organiser. I groan at myself – I can’t believe it, I’ve forgotten to enter it! I pull out my less-than-smart phone which I thought I would not need to use here, turn it on and send a text to my daughter in New Zealand. Now, after years of being told I will one day regret not ‘up-grading’ like the rest of the country, I regret!

But, as always, good fortune is with me. My daughter, working night shift, receives my text immediately and she sends a text to Alys. Alys receives that text immediately too. She calls Boomdee. ‘Something awful has happened’ she says to Boomdee, ‘Pauline is alone at the airport….’ In this same instant the airport PA system roars into life and a disembodied voice urges me to take myself to the baggage carousel where my friends are waiting for me.

My friends have been waiting for over an hour. They have found the only official person in the entire airport and have been trying to talk him into putting out the call for at least a half hour. He keeps telling them to wait, I will be here soon. They keep waiting inside and I keep waiting outside.

Boomdee is on the phone with Alys as I stagger around the corner and, recognising her immediately, lift one hand in weary greeting. ‘She’s here!’ I hear her say to the phone and Julia comes rushing towards me, arms out, scooping me into a warm hug, words tumbling, so relieved the wayward traveller has at last revealed herself!

There is a joy that surges forth in a happy dance when you find your friends after a long wait. I feel it there and it wants to bounce about joyfully, but extreme exhaustion has set in and it flutters aimlessly inside me before settling down quietly for a wee rest and a cup of tea.

I have arrived! Julia and Boomdee are here and even more delightful and beautiful than I have ever imagined and our Bloggers Funfest will begin – just as soon as I have a wee sleep ……………..

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

Friends of the Heart

Posted on March 31, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

If you read this soon after publication, I am on my journey somewhere between the far South of New Zealand and the East Coast of the USA to spend ten days with four other WordPress Bloggers. During this time there will be opportunities to meet up with other bloggers who will travel shorter distances to spend some time with us.

It’s very exciting, more than a little amazing and somewhat magical!

Before I go I just wanted to say thank you and to share a few thoughts – which for some reason, I feel are important to say at this time.

Thank you to all of you who have left messages and shared in the fun and enormity of this short, unexpected and totally spectacular adventure I am about to undertake. None of us have said much about it – but this is a trip that has been gifted to me by the incredible generosity of a group of fellow bloggers.

The word ‘lucky’ is often offered up to me these days. It is not a word I choose to use very often. I prefer the word ‘fortunate’. I have come to see that I live a most fortunate life!

Here is what is in my heart to say:

I live my life very simply and quietly these days. I’ve been there, done that, in terms of making my mark on the world, from needing to prove I am worthy of the air I breathe to more latterly, wanting to make a difference just because I can. Those of you who read the first installment of my memoir back in September 2013 know I’ve travelled a route from hardship, anger, frustration and blame to one of acceptance, responsibility, forgiveness and love. I work hard at it! I struggle, I fall down, I get it wrong again and again – then I get back up and stumble on…. I have been gifted a life that allows me to understand that life is what I make of it and that there is more depth and magic to all our lives than the modern western world would have us believe.

My life has taught me many things – these are some of them: I believe that as we sow, so we reap. I believe life is a circle and that life is also a classroom. I believe all life is connected from the particles of the big bang, to the silent creative energy that preceded it that we collectively know as God or the Void or Nothingness or the Inversion – or whatever other shape, description or scientific term [or sci-fi term] you prefer; to the commonality of our basic needs and feelings and talents. I believe we are here to learn the dynamics of being a soul living a physical existence and it is not easy. A sense of humour is necessary! I believe we need each other to know who we truly are and who we can truly become.

I also believe it is imperative that we not try to make any body else think, feel or see the way we think, feel and see. We all walk a different path. We come from different cultures who raise us with different values, different spiritual beliefs, different religions. We have different life influences gifted genetically, environmentally and socially. It makes the world a wonderfully vibrant and exciting place. None of it is wrong – it is just different. We should cease judging people based on age, gender, preference, religion, culture, appearance, education and perceived ability. We should walk a mile in another’s shoes – or bare feet! We should travel and meet these other people in other cultures and experience their life styles. We should stop thinking we are best, better or superior to any body else – or any animal for that matter. It simply isn’t true. We are just different.

[And I should stop saying ‘should’!]

As the French say say so eloquently “Vive la difference!” [Please put on your best French accent for that quote to atone for my lack of written accentuation.]

I learn slowly. I learn by examining my feelings, reactions and behaviour at the end of every day. I take responsibility for the good and the bad events of my daily life. I sigh and forgive myself for the million blunders I made, the judgments that were too quickly and harshly made and the words that were unkind. I know I will have better days practising these skills. I know hard times will pass and I know easy times will also pass. I look for the joy and try to be grateful for every day and if not everything in it, at least something! I know life is not about pursuing or finding ‘happiness’. I know happiness is already here if I remember where to look for it. It is all about CHOICE ~ about choosing to be happy, right here right now, no matter what. I know that the voices in my head, those things we refer to as ‘our thoughts’, often lie to me. They have the power to make me unhappy, sad, angry, fearful or depressed if I do not challenge the message they put out. I know that when I turned down the volume and challenged the messages sent by the ceaseless blither in my head I found peace and a quiet joy. And the more peace and joy I felt, the more of it life has sent me.

It’s all about changing the firing patterns of your brain – nurturing those neurons – which ones are you building more of, the angry ones the fearful ones or the happy ones? ‘Use it or lose it’ applies here!

This is the big secret that folk are seeking. It’s not about garnering wealth, power and material goods. You truly won’t be any happier at a deep, fundamental level when you have that new car, new husband, new job. Studies have shown that within a short amount of time happiness levels return to where they were before the material event that granted your wish occurred.

Basically we have two feelings coursing through our systems – fear and love. Anger, hatred, bigotry, control, nervousness, just to name a few, are all fear based. Serenity, peace, forgiveness, acceptance, tolerance, empathy, to name a few more, are all love based. We have the choice where to base our attention, which to feel.

It’s really about choosing to be happy with what is and who we are, right here, right now. In any given moment our lives are just fine, if we do not feel okay, it is only our thoughts that make it less than perfect. Being regretful or angry about the past or fearful of the future stops us experiencing how great Now is, or how great we are, coping with a less than delightful Now. And then we miss the opportunities to know ourselves better, learning and growing through our experiences in life, walking our paths to become the best possible version of ourselves.

Sometimes we suffer really awful things – the loss of loved ones, attacks on our bodies or souls, things that make us question the purpose of life. It is hard to see any joy in that right? For myself I know that though it can take many years, and be a long and pain filled process, I will eventually find myself again, richer for having survived, endured and grown through the experience. My empathy factor is deepened and I can, at the very least, be there for someone else. And I am often grateful for that!

This is why I say that our experiences – the good and the bad – are opportunities for growth. Sometimes bad stuff happens to release something for us so we can move to the next level – ‘there is always a silver lining’. Sometimes it takes a while to find it.

When we understand that we move into trust. And living in trust that everything will work out the way it is meant to work out just makes everything so darn easy!

Here is a recent example from my life: I get in a blither when having to travel alone. It doesn’t matter how short the journey, I am uncomfortable and the level of my discomfort rises according to the length of the journey. I know where the fear comes from, but that doesn’t seem to help. It seeps upwards slowly but surely and begins to tinge the adventure with a sour hue. The fear is often voiceless, but when I dig a bit and uncover it, it is all about ‘what if’ and ‘back when’, ‘look out’ and ‘don’t trust’. When I hear that last one ‘Don’t trust’ there is an enormous shift in me. Fear evaporates and a sort of peace descends once more. Because ‘don’t trust’ is anathema to me. That is the path to insanity. I acknowledge the past and it’s many hard adventures in trust and know I have moved on. No need to go back. Whatever happens will happen whether I go fearfully or confidently. I have the power to call in the experience I will have and the manner in which I will deal with it. I’d rather follow the advice Nanette gave me in the comments of the previous post and look up and out, prepare myself, ask for help as required and trust that this part of my journey will be just as wonderful as the parts where there are friends travelling with me.

I’ll let you know how I do on that!

But really, where I am going with all this is that I have been surprised by the extent to which blogging has corroborated my life choices and beliefs.

The world is full of wonderful people and many of them blog! I have met so many amazing folk. In many ways when we share bits of our lives, our thoughts, our feelings and experiences it is like sitting down with a good friend over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and doing what women are really good at – sharing! It doesn’t matter all that much that it is done virtually. Back in the ‘good old days’ we did it via letter writing with the responses taking weeks to make it across the miles, be read and the next missive written, mailed, received and read …..It was called having ‘pen pals’.

Here in our speedier modern world we ‘blog’. For me it has widened my quiet world out again and brought in your amazing personalities to brighten my life, make me smile, frown, think, empathise, sympathise, reach out, condole, laugh, share my thoughts, opinions and feelings and begin to uncover you – the real you. Getting to know you is a very real joy for me. Friends of my heart. You all have encouraged me in my journey as an artist, the encouraging words, the patronage, the enthusiasm have been wonderful gifts to me. I have blossomed and bloomed beneath your kindness and eloquence. You have encouraged me to return to old crafts and pick up new skills. I have read books you recommend and listened to music you sent my way. I follow your adventures and misadventures with interest and applaud when you arrive somewhere wonderful…….. I am so grateful to be getting to know every one of you!

And now I’m off to meet up with a small selection of my special friends and to have whole days when we can just be together and drink coffee and tea and maybe a wine or two and enjoy each others company, pick up on some of our on-going conversations and deepen our understanding of each other and share whatever is in our hearts. Magic!

It is my first trip to the USA, my first time living amongst American accents – my travel agent warned me some would not be understand my broad, flat Kiwi twang. I am practising trying to remember to speak higher in my throat and with a bit of a lilt and quite a lot slower than I normally do. I’m rather afraid I sound a little like Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara 🙂

There are cultural differences and social differences and language differences. I’m looking forward to exploring them all with these women who are so dear to my heart!

And again and again I ask myself, how does it get any better than this?

Here, to finish, are my beloved babies, my little fellas, my boys. Wrapped in warmth and love and trustingly placed into the loving care of my equally beloved YD while I swan off on my latest adventure.

Forgive me if you don’t receive an immediate response to your comment or if you don’t see me on your blog posts for a couple of weeks. Normal service will resume soon. 🙂

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

On This & That – and Mitten Winners

Posted on March 23, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

Once again the weeks slip by and my good intentions of getting a blog post written and published keep getting postponed until tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow! Elaine sends me an email ‘…. I’m looking for your latest post …..’ Oh dear. ‘It’s coming.’ I reply. Four days later and here it is. What is it they say – ‘Good things take time’ 🙂

Here is Orlando suffering his morning smooch from Siddy

“Finished smooching now. Breakfast please mumma!”

Even though I am very busy, I have absolutely nothing to show you. I am not painting, everything in that department is on hold for another month. I am crocheting and getting myself organised to take part in a most fab KAL [‘Knit Along’ for the uninitiated] over at Mollie and Claire [Claire’s the knitter, Mollie is the beautiful black lab.] [Claire is also beautiful 🙂 ] I am making my own version of this – this is Claire’s ‘Lace leaf Shawl’ isn’t it gorgeous!

This is my ‘yarn in use’ basket, a laundry hamper really. I will not disclose how much other yarn is tucked away in bags and drawers and boxes for fear it may incriminate me as a yarn hoarder ….

Despite that pile of yarn, I have ordered some more gorgeous silk yarn from Silk India – I wasn’t going to and then I thought why go to so much trouble to make a beautiful shawl and not do it in the most gorgeous silk yarn ever?

If you are a knitter, come join us. It won’t take long ……. Needles hit yarn on April 1st, but I won’t be starting until I get back from the US in mid April.

I was thinking the hours spent in airport layovers on my upcoming trip could be profitably whiled away by plying my knitting needles – then I remembered that no needles are allowed any more as I might decide to use one as a weapon on some poor pilot and end the flight importunately……. so I shall just have to spend those hours doing nothing crafty – and there are as many hours waiting for planes as there are actually flying! I’m sure withdrawals will set in. Such a waste of potential knitting time!

The suitcase is out of storage and I am sorting through clothes – trying to decide the minimum amount to meet the changeable spring conditions of DC and Virginia and yet not look too shabby while at it…… and trying to fit a few secret extras in without hitting the overweight mark on the suitcase scale!

My suitcase has been decorated in honour of the northern Spring

Thank you to all the folk who took the poll in my last post – it was so good to get your thoughts and opinions!

I even forgot to make the draw for the mittens and in the end read all the comments and, abiding by my own rules, decided that all the folk who indicated they would like a pair for themselves or a little relative would get a pair!*

*Provided they had commented by the time I made that decision on March 15th.

Here is the winners list:

Jenny – 2 pairs for your nieces

Claire – 2 pairs one each for Jessie and Megan

Fran – 1 green pair

Jem – 1 blue & white pair

Lisa – 1 green pair

Kerry – 1 fancy flounced pair

Sharon – 1 orange pair

If you will all bear with me the gloves will arrive on your doorsteps in due course. I thought I would send the Southern Hemisphere ones first seeing as how winter is knocking gently on our doors and send the northern climes ones off slowly over the next three months or so. No postage required, but addresses are if you have never received anything from me before. My email address can be found on the ‘Contact Me’ page.

If you would like yours sooner please just let me know.

Lisa I will personally hand deliver yours 🙂

Here is my daughter ‘modelling’ her new mittens and matching infinity scarf, made for her birthday.

Here is Siddy looking all ‘Bad to the Bone’ in his new winter jacket – especially for Jill

Back View – he did not understand a photo pose that did not have his smiling face in it

So we have this also

Here is the latest picking from my tomato crop – another two bowls like this and we will be done for the year. Not a bug or a mildew or a mark to be seen on any of them. So proud! Companion planting and wicked water tubs rock! Thanks Fran and Robbie!

If I’m not always visiting your blog, or not commenting as much as usual, please forgive me – I am a tad over committed at the moment and just trying to keep on top. Normal service will be resumed soon.

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

Don’t Put Off Til Tomorrow ….

Posted on March 1, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

This was to be a post about an opera and some mittens – instead it will be a brief cautionary tale involving thoughts and irons and puppies and Emergency Rooms……..

You know how sometimes a day just starts off wrong? Something is amiss, something escapes you, something is askew within your psyche…….? My day started like that yesterday. I was just a little grumpy, a little out of sorts, vaguely irritated with life. No reason to be so, no idea why and seemingly no way to step out of it. I went into the ‘just accept that today is an off day’ mode and watched the cricket, which even though the Black Caps won and We Beat the Aussies didn’t quite dispel the malaise. And I worked a number of rows on the third incarnation of my crochet jacket [the tale of which is a whole other story] and finally toddled off to bed saying all will be well in the morning!

It was well-er in the morning, but not quite on top of my game I ignored the ironing board still sitting up in my workroom with several lightly steamed mittens laid out drying on its towelled surface. I looked at the iron and thought, I should put that away and went on to the next thing.

The next thing was to have my shower, wash my hair and return to my workroom to begin the routine of light yoga stretches I had begun [again] to do each morning a couple or several weeks ago and had so far managed three consecutive mornings on. I lay on the floor beside the ironing board and began the alternate leg raising scenarios while puppy thumped me on the head with his latest ‘fetch’ toy. Being ignored he gave up and skipped happily across my stomach to go sit on his chair.

Siddy had his haircut last week in a #1, he is ready for the army!

After I finished jerking and moaning with pain from the hefty leaps of the careless puppy, I took a moment to straighten my spine out, stretch myself to my full 5′ 31/2″ and do some slow, deep breathing. As I relaxed and centred myself Siddy jumped from his chair and something cold and very heavy, reminiscent of a brick, landed just to the left of my left eye.

For a moment I was completely stunned, then I am ashamed to say, I roared something rather akin to “Cheeses Crisp!” as I clutched at my eye to see if it was still there. The pain was blinding and my hand did not recognise what it fell upon – something hard and cold and heavy. I pulled it off my face with my right hand and saw it was the iron I had failed to put away. My left hand was cupping the pain in that eye and when I pulled it back I saw it red with blood.

I don’t do blood!

Luckily there was the towel that had been wrapped about my wet hair and I used that to mop up the red stuff.

Eventually I staggered up to my feet and found a mirror to peer into. Blood was smeared all about the top of my eye and was still oozing out of a jagged cut that would have, on any pirate, looked rather daring-do! However on a somewhat tousled, stunned looking upper-middle-aged woman – well, it just lacked that certain debonair charm.

Feeling a tad off my game, which hadn’t been that great to start with you may recall, I sent a text off to my daughter who was on her early shift crying out for help. My youngest daughter is terribly practical and very clever at fixing things and finding solutions to problems and is my go-to when my brain has shut down. Which it had.

Within moments she was with me – and within more moments we were in the doors of the Accident and Emergency Dept of Dunedin Hospital where we spent the next half hour waiting to be seen and eventually I was adopted by a lovely nurse, poked with a particularly nasty biting needle, cleaned up, stitched where possible and glued in the other bits and finally eye examined for subterranean problems by a charming resident. Eventually I was pronounced almost as good as a new one because I would likely now and forever after sport a dashing scar by my eye and sent on my way with dire warnings about wetting, touching or otherwise unduly disturbing the unstitched part of the wound for five days and a tube of antibiotic cream which I must on no account use as it would likely wet, touch or unduly disturb the unstitched part of the wound…….. so I left it in my daughters car.

So here I sit, slightly head-achy, a little the worse for wear – and my dears I am at an age when one needs all the help one can get in terms of ‘wear’ – but with no-one to blame but myself!

What I find really hilarious is that on reading a post from one of my lovely blogger friends early this morning, and still in a slightly irascible frame of mind, I had written a comment that had stated my desire that the world and her husband get their acts together and take responsibility for their choices and decisions.

Now that I have finished roaring with laughter at myself and acknowledged wryly that Karma is indeed a bitch – yes. I should have put the iron away and my morning would have been way more productive and you would now be coming to the end of a lovely post all about opera and mittens and, my friends – freebies!

I still have to write that one and if you would like to come by again to read it and find out about another giveaway, that would indeed be grand!

Until then – thanks for coming by today today, I love that you did!

The Gift of Friendship

Posted on January 28, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

If you have been tagging along with this blog for a while you will have read on many occasions of my appreciation for the delightful people that blogging has introduced into my life. I love how certain folks circle around different bloggers, how we introduce each other to new and exciting blogs – how we click with new people. I sometimes forget how I stumbled across someone and then will see another name in the comments and remember that I gatecrashed their party a year ago and have been having a growing relationship ever since ….. I’ve made some really good friends while blogging. And never actually met a single one of them!

But that is all about to change!

Recently some of these friends put their heads together and decided to make something happen. They invited me to come stay for a few days. A week of chatting and outings and chatting and touristing and chatting and just getting to be in the same space in real time – to look, to touch to hug! To chat. To just be together.

How cool is this? How wonderful? How amazing, how generous! I have been completely overwhelmed about the whole idea, completely blown away by their kindness and generosity and sometimes stunned to a standstill with excitement. The adventure of a life time! An unexpected joy! A dream come true, a true ‘blogger friendship’ story!

Unexpected gifts! It’s so amazing to me, how does such an event occur – what serendipitous movement of planets caused this little miracle to take place?

Are you interested yet, do you want to know more?

The plan is for four of the five to travel to the home of the fifth. There we will be hosted and have a wonderful opportunity to relax and have fun just spending time together. Only two of these bloggers have met before, though we have all spent time on Skype together and separately. We email, message via facebook, communicate through our blogs and have shared aspects of our lives and feelings and have quite simply developed a rapport that is multi-layered and the stuff of real friendship.

So at Easter time I shall find myself wandering among the cherry blossoms of Washington DC

Isn’t that just so pretty! Of course, I am full of hope that the weather gods will be kind and turn on just exactly that kind of early spring vista for us……..

I did some reading and found the history of the cherry trees fascinating:

http://www.nps.gov/cherry/cherry-blossom-history.htm

As the days go by and I look at these pictures, I constantly catch myself thinking – Ah! Washington DC – in the springtime. Look how pretty – how I should love to wander among all those blossom laden trees ……. You may notice I have some difficulty with the fact that this is really happening, even though the plane tickets are booked – the passport is being renewed ……. the plans are at ‘GO’……… And then, in a ‘But you shall go to the ball Cinderella!’ moment, I remember yet again and with a surge of excitement, I shall be there, I shall see this, I will wander along beneath those cherry trees!

And I shall not wander alone.

Laurie of Life on the Bike and Other Fab Things will be driving in her truck from Virginia

Kelly from Boomdeeadda will fly in from Alberta

Alys from Gardening Nirvana will jet in from California

And I, having completely given up on being Contented and become instead Wildly Excited, shall hop, skip and jump all the way from New Zealand

And our generous hostess Julia from Defeat Despair will do the airport runs ………..

High five girls!

I wish you could all be there with us – what a party we would have!

But if, by some serendipitous placement of plans and or living location, you are in the DC area over Easter, let me know and come on by and say hello – we would all love the opportunity to meet you!

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

It’s January & It’s Summer!

Posted on January 9, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

It’s January, it’s hot, it’s Summer! We didn’t have one last year. She must have unilaterally decided to give my part of the country a miss, I believe it wasn’t personal, she just had other places she would rather be. So there has been unbounded joy in this little corner of the world – long hot days followed by long warm dusks. It is just now getting dark about 9.30 pm, light by 5.30 am. And my word, you should see my garden! It’s a jungle out there folks, no room to sit and sizzle in the hot sun, it’s been taken over by tomatoes and salady stuff and petunias and lobelia and sweet-peas – let’s not forget the sweet-peas!

I was getting worried about the lack of fruit on the tomatoes when voila, up these popped overnight. If you can’t see them, biggify the photo – they are there I promise. So proud! 🙂

Siddy and I water every evening, well I water and Siddy bustles and bumbles about through the undergrowth, rather reminiscent of a rare black and white wombat – eventually popping up all muddy and wet and happy and puppy-ish again. [This one’s especially for Jill.]

This is his ‘Whaddya want mumma?’ face, because I whistled him and he stopped what he was busily bumbling about with and rushed up to me.

As a complete aside, a few days ago we celebrated Siddy’s ninth month birthday. He has stopped visibly growing, thank heavens. He is much calmer now, he loves his mumma very much, adores Orlando and his aunty YD is his most favourite person in the whole world – but should he meet you, you would immediately become his next favourite person in the whole world. Siddy’s joy and enthusiasm for life and people remains unabated. It is just tempered with slightly better manners these days.

Getting a scenic shot in my small garden is impossible – so here is a little montage

This tiny garden, organic and companion planted, growing mostly in buckets and tubs is in good looking condition – but something has been eating my peas!

I’m picking them this evening, ready or not!

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My ‘rhythm of life’ – that thing some of you refer to as routine – has suddenly disengaged. It erupted! I knew it would. I signed on for a year long art course last October. I’d been waiting since mid-May for the signing date to arrive because I knew I needed and wanted to focus on developing myself as an artist. I don’t usually refer to myself as ‘an artist’ – I say I ‘muck abart with mixed media’ or ‘I paint’. Some folks have thought that means I’m a house painter – [which makes me smile because I spent years decorating my homes with paint, now I do it with mostly fabric] and start to ask me which paint is best for this or that problem – or even offer me a job!

Anyway – having taken that little meander off subject, let us return …… the art course has started. It started for me on January 2nd, with a bang I might add. Immediately I fell behind as I had, coincidentally, been asked to act as an honorary ‘colour advisory consultant person’ and I was a bit caught up in that process.

But I got my act together and set about creating this

Beacon of Light – Pauline King

If you follow my progress with mixed media you will see a huge improvement in the way the paint has been applied especially to the face – I learned so much in just the first lesson!

In case I have piqued your interest, the course is called Life Book 2015 and clicking on that will take you there. You’re welcome! 🙂

I was so pleased with the result of this first exercise that I set myself the task of doing an older more Contented Crafter version – here she is underway, but with a LOT of work still to be done. What do you think?

and the eyes, with which I am particularly pleased

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If you have noticed me missing from your blog, or missing with my usual long and opinionated ramblings in your comment section all the above is the reason why. Suddenly there is not enough hours in the day. I wasn’t so busy when I was still a working girl! [Ooow, did that sound wrong?] I’m still doing my best to read everyone’s posts – I always feel that if you took the time to write and proof-read and insert photos and anything else you do on each of your wonderful posts, the least I can do is participate fully! I just can’t fit it all in at the moment – But, like Arnie, I will be back!

And I nearly forgot – there’s also these, that sometime get a look in during the long warm evenings – but progress is slow

Life is warm, it is busy, it is very happy. Life is good! I hope you are enjoying all your busy moments too.

This is my 150th post and I just recently went past 350 followers. Most don’t read, but to those who do, who come by regularly and leave your endearing messages of support and cheer, thank you, thank you, thank you. You warm my heart, encourage me in all kinds of crazy directions and inspire me daily.

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

Farewell and Welcome

Posted on December 31, 2014 by thecontentedcrafter

I say farewell to 2014 a tad reluctantly – it has been such a lovely year, with so many wonderful events and meetings and good changes and opportunities to learn more about myself, about the world and about other friends. But it just flew by in a flash – was it the same for you?

My friend Alys over at Gardening Nirvana chooses a word for herself every year. Her latest post reviews the word for 2014 and reveals her new word for 2015. This all made me aware that, without knowing it I had a word for 2014……….

‘Settle’ it turned out, was my word of the year.

2014 was the year I decided to settle where I was. This was quite a momentous internal shift for me to make and it was certainly a new and quite liberating experience. It was also something that grew and deepened as the year progressed until I find myself now, on the last day of the year quite astounded by the changes it has wrought both within me and around me.

For starters it meant giving up on my dream of a cottage by the sea and of owning my own home again. It meant giving up on being dissatisfied with the way things are and existing in a camping situation. It meant I freed myself of waiting for a mythical future to arrive and allowed me to begin living in the present moment. It also meant I stopped all blaming, hurting, wanting and regretting. I gave up on the lot. And in a flash of blessed intuition decided [that is a very important word!] decided to become truly contented.

This all happened very early in the year and I pretty much spent the rest of it turning my very small home into a place that not only worked for me as a house, but one that also felt like the one I would create by the sea. If the sea-side cottage wouldn’t come to me, I would live as if it had anyway.

Literally and figuratively I gave away everything that I was holding on to. I was happy to think that the miscellaneous items that had been stuffed into boxes, bags and cupboards would find new homes with others who needed it now, would love it now and use it now. It’s a win-win situation! I discovered that by ridding myself of unused stuff my home grew bigger. I kid you not – my home has turned from a small, over filled packed nest into a cute, airy space that makes people smile. As my home grew bigger, I grew lighter. Not physically so much [alas!] but certainly within myself – a new lightness of being slowly unfurled and a new level of contentment deep within myself was born.

The last two months were dedicated to making my art space really work for me – I was tired of trying to work in a space that often ended up being about 30 sq centimetres surrounded by piles of supplies. I was constantly losing bits I had made, bits I needed for something I was making and tools. Now I have three work benches, most of which is space available to work on. Fabulousness!!

The alert viewer may even have a glimpse of something finally being created here and bound eventually for Tasmania ….But folks – lookit all the creative space and the pretty tiny garden gets to peek in too.

Everything in my home is current. It is here because it is beautiful and useful. There are a few ‘just because’ items that have been gifted, mostly from my dear blogging friends. But they too are beautiful and bring me much happiness.

In May I adopted a puppy and in September I retired. Both events are memories that make me smile and laugh! Siddy is the happiest pup in the entire world – you can’t help but smile when you see him. He goes about constantly with his big puppy smile on, looking up at you, dancing in time with your steps, keen and eager to be there, to do the good thing and if possible a treat or two would be absolutely wonderful………. maybe, just maybe, might you agree?

Retirement is something old folks do. My pal Robin just wrote about Rod Stewart and Tom Selleck turning 70. I don’t see age when I look at these two men. I see wit and humour mixed with maturity which makes them really appealing. I think we Boomers are playing a huge trick on the world – we don’t know how to become ‘old’. I think we know how to wisen up a bit, slow down a tad and we are learning to enjoy every day.

It’s true that age is just a state of mind.

Orlando and I ‘settled’. We made a home, we opened it up to a new friend and we all [learned to] live together happily ever after….. We even made a very small garden.

I companion planted and my tomatoes and peas have zero bugs. My broccoli alas did not make it, but an abundance of herbs and salad greens have been happily eaten on a daily basis. I am picking sweet scented sweet peas every day.

The work of settling is now done. So maybe, it now occurs to me, maybe it is the exact right time to say goodbye to 2014. Funny how things work out 🙂

2015 will be the year of ‘Create’ and ‘Breathe’.

‘Create’ because back in August I decided to sign up for ‘Life Book 2015‘ and dedicate the year to learning more about my chosen path of mixed media. It starts tomorrow!

‘Breathe’ because that is my word when I feel myself wanting to control situations. I want to go with the flow – see what happens, be okay with whatever happens. Live in the moment and strive always to see the bigger picture.

And, as always my New Year Blessing remains

May the road rise up to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

The rains fall soft upon your fields

And until we meet again

May God hold you in the palm of his hand

~From an Ancient Celtic Blessing

Thanks for coming by today and throughout the past year. I hope you will continue to visit and chat next year. I love that you do!

A Very Blue Room and a Very Small Garden

Posted on December 23, 2014 by thecontentedcrafter

Season’s Greetings to all my dear readers and friends – I’ve been tardy again with posts. Way too busy making stuff and creating a gorgeous and extremely well organised art space and watching my garden grow to actually take any photos. Today our official photographer called round and was ~~coerced~~ invited to take some shots – so here is a small update to record progress on the various projects in action.

The up-graded Arty-Crafty Room is almost complete – there are just a few doo-dads to be completed and hung across the window……

Back in 2011 the room looked like this –

WARNING, WARNING, BEWARE!! BEWARE!!

Go no further if you are not a lover of BLUE!

In this first shot you of the keen eye may notice the Dangler has found its home. It also now has some very tinkly bells and a pretty stitched candle applique sent over to us from Marlene Herself just in time for the reveal. “Thank you Marlene! xoxo”

I painted the old ‘Create’ letters and re-hung them and made a new frock for my trusty old office chair. The only purchases were the gorgeous blue butterfly fabric – I splurged and bought two metres and then spent hours making it go as far as four metres would have – and the plain blue which was a dress fabric on sale. The rest is from my stash of fabrics, or old stuff made over. This is once again a makeover / revamp done on a minimal budget. Which is incredibly satisfying!

The full view of the back wall where I hung an A3 copy of all the current completed work with the expectation of filling up that entire wall by the end of next year with examples of completed pieces – hopefully not just faces!

Totally inspired by the lovely Alys over at Gardening Nirvana who did this to her dressmakers model in honour of Christmas, I swept up some bits and bobs, beads and ribbon and did this to my mannikin who previously had spent all its days naked, standing atop this same shelf. Everything was hand sewn as I went along, as I had no idea what I was doing until I was doing it.

My Indoor Sid made the move from the living room to the art room, just for a change of scenery.

I’m currently crocheting a long vine of leaves to wind around those blue flowers I made for the front of the shelves. I made many more flowers too, they will hang in the window along with Claire’s stars when all is ready.

The garden has been busy too. I promised some photos ages ago – but the weather was just poo until a week ago. Here you can see that while I wasn’t paying attention, the peas wove themselves through the garden chair

Lettuce, arugula, silver beet [chard] various herbs and tomatoes

Out-door Sid and his companion Cat are being swamped by the rampant Jasmine and Boston Ivy [Note to self – for goodness sake, cut it back again!]

And in case you missed it – yes apparently you can grow peas in a 2 x 4 metre container garden

Orlando and Siddy are both in good health. [I know you were wondering!] Siddy is in desperate need of yet another hair cut and may go under the scissors tomorrow. The boys have been receiving Christmas parcels from their blogging friends. There is a pretty aqua package from Boomdeeadda Orlando’s Mini-Me got a dinky Christmas Cap from Gentle Stitches and of course there is Siddy’s tinkly Christmas flower from Mollie and Claire.

And just this morning the postie brought us all some bunting from Teddy and Tottie. [Sorry, that package arrived just a little too late to be included in the photo].

Top this all off with an unbelievably wonderful invite from three of our American friends which I’ll share later – and this is one highly blessed Contented Crafter and furry family!

Whatever your beliefs, religion, or inclination – this is the season for shining our lights. Don’t forget to tell the people you love that you love them. Don’t forget to thank the people who taught you the hard lessons and don’t forget to love that you learned from them. Shine your light for yourself, for your loved ones, for those who are alone and in pain and who cannot, at the moment, see the light. Remember, it’s not about the stuff. It’s about the love. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing – Be Blessed xoxo