a paper boat

these paper boats of mine
are meant to dance on the ripples of hours,
and not reach any destination

- tagore

beautiful little paper boat by my friend kristina

places for things . . .

my home ( which also houses my studio )

is full of furniture that has been
collected, given, bought new, bought old,
handed down, salvaged . . .

it all somehow goes together . . .
or maybe i just think it does . . .

recently as my parents changed some furniture
in their rock house out west
i was handed on this rickety old cupboard
which i love so much

with a fine little painting on the doors by my mum,
and lots of room inside,
it is now home to trays and trays
of work that are cushioned well ( no vessels in here ) . . .

every time i think i am close to clearing the shelves . . .
more trays of work appear,
i sometimes wonder where it would have lived
before this cupboard was here . . .

sometimes things are handed to us when it is needed,
even if we didn't know we needed it . . .

and sometimes i have to remember
that this is how life can work in other ways too . . .

oh, that . . .

oh, that i could
shrink the surface of the world,
so that suddenly i might find you
standing at my side . . .

- wang chien

two wedge-tailed eagles
last weekend along a familiar road out west . . .

pencil cases . . .

also in store this week . . .

to continue my love of making special things
to help with writing and drawing,
doodling and dreaming . . .

pencil cases

released at finders keepers in june
and finally in my online store now

these pencil cases
were embroidered in brisbane,
then lovingly sewn for me by my fabulous
studio girl selene . . .
from a beautiful cotton/linen
in chocolate brown and natural

with linings to contrast the case,
and to match the embroidery and zip . . .

2 designs in the 2 colour ways . . .

you can find them HERE

pencils not included, but we'll be sure to put one in the parcel
when purchased from our online store . . .

journals are now in store . . .

my new range of journals are now for sale
in my online store
they are beautifully hard covered books,
with a white ribbon marker
and 144 blank pages for you to write all your
words and wonder

the cover has a lovely textured paper . . .
and the label with the quote is de-bossed
creating a lovely point of difference . . .

and best of all they are only $19.95 each

a w a y . . .

i've been away for a few days

visiting a very special part of the world . . .

a family home
a place of memories
a quiet corner

it rained the whole time i was away
we played trivial pursuit ( two good long games )
to pass some of the time . . .
mind you it was from a set that was 25 years old,
and the genus version at that !

my dad won both games . . . he is a bit smart really
a journalist who has lived through a lot of the news history
that was asked, and who knows what river
flows where and on what continent
and a historical literary knowledge second to none i know. . .

we all had to remember though, to answer with the knowledge that
the pack of questions was so old that countries have changed
( yes there was an answer that mentioned west germany )

and so far back that caroline chisholm
was the only australian woman once
who appeared on an australian bank note . . .
( the old purple $5 )
i did answer this question correctly with
thanks to primary school knowledge and an old
song by the overnight jones ( aka warner brothers )
called brunswick st girl if i recall . . .
i can't find the lyrics so am not sure
but will have to see if i still have the seven" around somewhere

it's funny what rainy days
and crazy old board games bring out !

it rained for so long
that the sandstone floor verandah
became damp from underground . . .

but made the patterns all the more beautiful

the little collections of things my mum
has placed around the house bought great inspiration

she gave me that beautiful white raku vase
to bring home with me . . .
it was made by a previous willows resident
and fired in a drum in the back yard by mum and dad a
few years back . . .

my brother made fantastic sushi,
one night for a family birthday . . .

tempura and all . . .
on a little gas stove on the back verandah
. . . not bad for a rock house kitchen in the middle of the bush

i collected a couple of stones that i know i will one
day pass on to a friend who i collect such things for
" why look for sapphires "
he once said
" isn't every stone as beautiful as another in some ways "

i took many more photos
which i will share in the coming days
but for now

it is these moments
from those days
i wanted to share . . .

how beautiful the breeze

days are busy here at pbp hq
i will be back with news and ramblings again soon . . .

in the mean time have you seen that my friend
kia has some wonderful new stamp sets in her store
my fav is the gossip girl one, but maybe just because of the title . . .
the bird and cloud is also pretty fabulous . . .

x

you orbit my life . . . . . . . .

and still i love you . . .

i am so enjoying making
a whole new series of little bowls
with words from my new book . . .

i find that my poetry pots
feel like home to me . . .
it is where a big part of my creative heart
resides . . .

( like i said some time ago here and here )

a f t e r . . .

after many years
two very dear friends of mine
( they feel like family really )
are changing direction,
forging a new path in their creative lives . . .

i am thinking of them everyday
as they close one door
to open another . . .

x o x o

today

some lovely visitors visited

in the studio with my fabulous thursday studio gal
we made lots of little bowls
and i stamped them with my poetry

i just read this lovely post
which i've been meaning to write a little message about here also . . .
but she beat me to it . . .
( so lovely to be sitting with my beautiful friend on those pages )

today

i thought of the poetry ( i write )
and the love letters that they are, really . . .
they are