Off the Highway and up the Mountain.

Lillies taken over the pond.

A shed that sits easily on the earth

Road just wide enough

I love driving off into the west, into the bush, finding little towns, parks, walking trails and streams. I love the wide streets, houses with huge backyards with jasmine and grape vines, the older style shops with cute curtains and tables with little bunches of herbs or roses from the garden that advertise coffee and home made cake for $5, the wild flowers, the way birds sit on the cows backs, the sunset colours across the paddocks, leaving the return home late and seeing all the lights come on in the homesteads, giving them that welcome glow and somtimes smoke curling from chimneys. 

And so a trip up to Tambourine Mountain Botanical Gardens was in order. Ten minutes from the highway the houses gave way to large hobby farms, the air was fresh and the grass was green. 

A smattering of homes

This house sits on the boundary of the Botanical Gardens

It overlooks tall palms and a little steam.

Part of the Tranquility Gardens.

The Bamboo Walk at a nursery on the mountain.

Nature is so intricate, so complex, vibrant, breathtakingly beautiful, nourishing, surprising, constant, calming...there is no need nor inclination to hurry, think quickly, plan ahead, no, just to walk and take it in is reward enough.
I'll be back!

Thanks for stopping by,
Vickixx

Health and Holidays, grateful day 14.

Banyan Figs, New Farm Park, Brisbane.
These trees watch the children at play in the amazing park. 

Chantal contemplating

The more I think about being grateful the more I realize that I have taken some aspects of my life for granted. My children's health is vitally important to me, their physical, emotional and mental health, I strive to make sure they eat healthily, I give them extra nutrients, fresh foods, I don't factor fast foods into our diet at all, if we travel by car I prepare food to take. I also keep an eye on their sleep, I try to make sure that they are well rested, there's a lot for the brain to take in at school. I also try to keep a balance with a calm, happy and peaceful home life, I play beautiful music across the spectrum, I burn fragrant oils, I have flowers or palms from the garden, I display books every week, just for interest, I plan days out at the theatre, the art gallery, the botanical gardens but yet I don't consciously acknowledge my thanks.  At school, with friends, just going about the typical day brings them into contact with all sorts of stressors, especially now as the girls are in their final year of schooling, the pressure is on the get the passes for the University courses they want to get into.  Everything just works so well when we are healthy but rarely do I give it more thought than that until I see people who are challenged with health problems and that's when I feel humble and grateful.

Alexandria with shells.

Beach flowers

Berkelouw Book Barn, Southern Highlands, such a find! Fire in winter, cafe, open paddocks...

On holidays I like to discover interesting things, and it could be anything from a bookshop or a plaque on a garden wall. I've come to realise that I'm not the exciting type of mother who takes their children on rollar coasters or camping in the wilds. Although they can all ski and sail and swim like fish, the son rides motoX and one descends from helicopters,I have suffered and taken them to the theme parks, I just prefer to have my feet planted!

The rummage shed at Berkelouw.

Pilgrams at Milton, our healthy food cafe.

Tomaree Mountain, Nelson Bay, a great walk with a view to take your breath away.

I will try to keep my gratitude in full awareness. I need to be mindful.
Take care, thank you for reading and have a lovely day,
Vickixx

15 days of gratitude.

Summer

Blogging is not something that comes easily to me, I started because I wanted this year to be a year where I tried a different thing every week, something that I'd not normally consider. I don't want life to be...same ole, same ole.

The problem is, being private is a natural way of being for me, to reveal my thoughts and aspirations feels almost surreal and I find I like to delve too deeply into life to put it all onto a blog, it would bore everyone I'm sure, so I've decided to take inspiration from my friend, Jillian at deux chiens et un garcon, and think about some aspects of my life that I feel grateful for. I am aware that there are books and websites that show people how to tune into being grateful, in the past I have tried writing down, at the end of the day the three things that I am grateful for,  I am always keen and conscientious to start but soon the little notebook bought specifically for that intention starts to fill up with recipes, quotes, things to research, fallen leaves, sketches of trees.....so here I am to be grateful for 15 days. Thanks Jillian. I love your musings.

Chantal

I am grateful for my daughter Chantal. She has many abilities, amongst them to see clearly into situations, for that reason and many others I think she will make a good politician, all she has ever wanted to be. She is always grateful for everything! She thanks me for every little thing I do for her, eg, driving her to school, listening to her talk about her day....she also likes to take a dramatic photo!

Chantal

I am grateful for my daughter Alexandria. She is a sensitive, musical, switched on girl who loves travel and wants to explore. She has her feet on the ground, she loves history, animals and mystery. She cares about people doing the right thing. She likes to talk about the 'why' in the world. She reminds me to learn everyday, even when it's hard....like French!

Alexandria

Two of the best reasons for me to be eternally grateful....and I've got another 14 days to go!
Take care,
Vickixx
P.S. I am grateful for trees.

A Genteel Life.

I came across these three old photographs in an Op shop.

They had been tossed into an old tin, laying amongst bric-a-brac. How could I not take them home and sit them somewhere to be seen. I called them Elizabeth Mary, Harriet Jane and Ethel Francis. And so whenever I look at these women I  wonder about their lives. Were they born in Australia or England? Were they formally educated? Are they of the landed gentry?  Did they have lives of comfort and privilige with balls to attend, picnics by the river and painting lessons? Did they marry city men or graziers and manage their husbands farms as some women did? Did they have connections? What were their lives like? Did they have 10 children as was so often the case then? In the early 1800's the life expectancy for women was 45, in 1900 it was 59, did they live longer? Are there descendants out there who would love these photos? How did they end up in an op shop? I hope they were happy.

I think they are beautiful. 

"Elizabeth' looks serene and composed. She is looking at the photographer with a modest assurance and confidence, not to much, just enough. She is well groomed, wearing expensive clothing, the large collar,the cuffed sleeves, the lace ruffle of her blouse, pin tucking, stylish belt, side buttoned skirt which fantails out from the knees, bangle over long gloves, the delicate chains which usually held a watch or some similar object, glimpse of an earring and the hat with the feather decoration which was very fashionable in the 1890's, all certainly indicates that she was from a wealthy background. It was also fashionable in those days to hold flowers. Is the carved pew a photographers prop or from a church?

 'Harriet' also has a serene demeanor but I think also a tranquil glow. In my photographs the ladies have flawless skin, the paper however has some marks on it, Ethel's' being particularly marked as it so much older. They all have  cardboard backing. Her thick hair is held up with clips and ribbon, it looks as if it would be very long. Her dress could indicate that it is around the late 1800's and onwards, it would have been hand made, there are tiny bows at the high neck and the sleeves look puffed which indeed was the fashion of the 1890's. She wears tiny peal earrings, a locket and a broach of fresh roses. What was this occasion? Is it her child's christening? She has a look of devoted love on her face?

Ethel looks like the typical Victorian woman. Day dresses were worn with a round, linen collar, she has a small pin for that touch of femininity. Her dress and collar has been sewen with thin ribbon and it looks as if her corset is actually on the outside? They were expected to be childlike, pale, passive, submissive, mindless, genteel and nice, incapable of making a decision and prone to emotional 'vapors'.  Their status was reflected in their clothing and Ethels hat is a fashion statement from the 1820's. The more feathers, wide ribbons, runching and decoration the better, hair was piled upon the head and the hats worn on top. Hat pins were sometimes 18" long! Her face reflects the expectations of the women of that period. It was the time when they could not vote, that did not arrive until 1902 and men thought it incomprehensible that women could focus on any matters apart from the domestic and the trivial. Who knows what career Ethel would have had today? What do you think? I hope she smiled at home.

Despite having no say in the direction their lives would lead I see these women as incredibly strong. To 'bear up' and keep going takes determination and the optimism that one day life would improve.
And it has.
Vickixx

The Importance of Just Being.

I have finally come to the conclusion that I must have the sort of face that compels people to confide in me. Place, time nor occasion stops the general public from bursting forth and telling me the most intimate of details. I feel slightly uneasy at times, other times I wonder if they have mistaken me for someone else but now I also feel an obligation to steer them in a different direction to the one they're stuck in! 

Sometimes life can be overwhelming.

Yesterday a young man at the fruit shop told me of a home invasion and how it had left him with a loss of his feeling of personal space, last week it was a checkout operator telling me of her joy in standing in her lounge room on dusk watching the koalas in the gum trees with a glass of wine in hand but that she would have to return to her homeland in New Zealand because of a divorce and lack of funds...I only bought celery, tomatoes and sourdough! I've had a well-past middle age immaculately groomed woman break down at her cash register in the middle of  Christmas, surrounded by carols trumpeting and Santa's bell ringing in the background when she described the joy of becoming a grandmother, the sight of me patting her on the back with misty eyes must have made some shoppers take a double look, I've driven an African immigrant to a hostel as she didn't know where to stay and had too many bags to lump onto buses, I've been asked to hold babies,mind luggage, wake people on trains at their stop, read timetables to little old ladies, take photos of families and even  serve behind a cafe for the owner who was attending her cut hand....

  

The feeling of being included in other people's lives is affirming. It's a basic human need that we matter to other people.

The need for art in our lives is fundamental to our expression of who we are. We were all born to be creative and to not feed it  is to deny our emotional needs. This is my daughter,

Chantal taking a photo of a plastic bag exhibit at GOMA but it doesn't have to be in an art gallery, it can be absolutely anywhere, it can be drawing in the sand with a stick, painting your name on a rock, designing a family calendar.....endless possibilities.....

We need to look at the sky....at least once a day...and breathe it in. The world is a big place and every day it starts fresh.

We need to stop and pause in our day. The shadows, the light, the edges, the colors..to process our thoughts.

We need to nurture our young. We need to stop... and look as they do.

I'm hoping that this week when I'm being confided in that I can at least bring a smile to someones' face.

Have a great week,
Vickixx

The Secret of Time.

I've had time on my mind for some months now, I think about how fast life goes by, I ponder if all people feel the same about time when they pass the halfway mark, do people regret tossing their days away on watching T.V, doing nothing or do they feel it's a productive way of countering stress and a wind down from a hard week at work? I know I used to feel guilty if I didn't cram as much as I could into every day and I would regard a day as being wasted if I couldn't finish it by reading, no matter how much I had accomplished.

Now, I have come to learn the trick of father time, that we record the changes in our life, not the passing of time, we don't measure the months or years and as we get older we have less changes in our lives. Most of the milestones have been achieved and passed, we've finished school, entered the workforce, married, had children, bought a house/car/boat, set up a business and gardens, for some they have divorced and retired. There are no landmarks to anticipate, plan for and rejoyce in and so time just passes. Every Christmas I remark to shopkeepers how fast yet again has this year gone and if they are out of their 20's they almost certainly agree.

But now that I know the secret I will be able to slow it down. I need to constantly see/hear/smell/touch/eat/do things I've not contemplated before. Easy! I can do this! It's just a matter of re-thinking, out with the routine and in with the unexplored and undiscovered. Now I need to walk a different path, one where I will listen to music I've never heard, grind eastern spices in my pestle and mortar and let the aroma fill the house, buy a new perfume, I need to go to a huge craft shop and find and touch materials that I've not touched before and maybe buy some and make a heart to send to a friend, I need to explore Asian foods or Indian foods, something I've not eaten before apart from rice and dahl, I need to plan adventures like swimming early in the morning, eating meals outside, lying on the grass on warm nights and watching the stars, only using candles after dark, bush walking in the late afternoon then reading under a tree before I make my way back. If I was younger, perhaps under 50 this list would be different and if I was over 70 different again.

So, I will start now, I'm going to be presant in my daily life, I'm going to use every opportunity to be still engaged and look for the new milestones peeping around the corners.

Love to all,

Vickixx

We'll get through this.

I sit and type from my secure home, only an hour from a city being brought to it's knees with flooding. I sit dry and comfortable on my lounge watching the scenes of utter devastation in towns dotting the Queensland countryside, I say goodnight to my children knowing that I will see them arise the next morning. But my heart is not the same, how can I watch scenes this tragic, hear of the loss of life, know that some families will never again see their loved ones and not be moved and changed. They say hard times bring us together, make us more unified, get us working in the same direction and that that is the backbone of our unique Australian-ness'. And it does, we've proved it already, we've done it for centuries, communities have stood strong through droughts, wars, bush fires, even an earthquake. People are so underestimated, people who on an average day, go to work, shop, meet in coffee shops or their homes to socialise are now rescuing, at times frantically with no hindrance for their own safety. They're sharing and giving.  What role models for us all. Heroes are not sports people. Heroes are the dads, the mums, the teenagers that we now see on our TV's. My love goes out to you all.

A Good Year?

As this year slides into it's close and my head prepares for 2011 I am hoping that the new year will be a vintage crop. I can't help but compare the similarities of wine production and my life. Winemakers require the right acidity in the soil, the right balance of minerals, the right amount of sun, drainage, type of grape, careful tending, the right time to harvest and an experienced person to produce a product that stands up in the market place, oh and just a pinch of luck! Raising a family, juggling work, allowing for every member to grow strong and tall in their own right, getting the physical and emotional nutrients right, pulling it all together and hoping that all the hard work pays off is what my aim is. This Christmas, my goal was to bring lots of fun back into our life after a hard year and I've come to learn that what I was after was a Christmas more akin to the ones when the girls were little and everything was cause for laughter and delight and curiosity. Now our fun times are different, they are more painting fingernails and making plans for the end of next year when Yr 12 is over. It's more about arranging the ornaments and discussing our Christmas menu.

Christmas has grown up and moved on.
Lot of happy thoughts,
x Vicki

The Rush to Save Time.

I've been thinking about relaxation. At the busiest time of the year. In a time when 'we must catch up for a coffee' is the default for hello and it was prompted by the sight of a woman sitting in a busy cafe surrounded by a long list and a pile of Christmas cards. She did not pause except to sip her coffee. Card writing used to be a long, relaxing event in December. It was often reflective and even cathartic as was gift wrapping on Xmas Eve and drinking coffee in cafes. Now we can outsource and what a time saver that has proved to be! But where does the saved time go? Is it spent talking with our loved ones, finishing that book, trying out that recipe, a long landline conversation to an interstate friend, a swim or better still a time to process our thoughts? There is no bank of 'saved hours', at the end of every day we start all over again. I've worked out my New Year's Resolution, I'm going to spend every saved minute every day, I'm going to waste my saved time on whatever attracts me in the moment. I have a feeling it will be time well spent.
Have a truly restful day,

vicki xx

A Hot Christmas.

I've been thinking about Christmas. It's hot. And in Queensland where I live we are not tied to any particular style in anything we do, our Xmas can be as'European or as Australian as we want. We can have a traditional tree adorned with glistening baubles and garlands of glitter or a contemporary tree with minimalist branches made from wire and decorated with paper hearts. We can have an elaborately set table with damask cloth, fine glassware, candles and multiple courses of roasted and baked fare or stand, whooshing the flies, dripping wet from the pool around the BBQ eating hot prawns and coleslaw with a pavlova to finish. My experience of Christmas as a child growing up in the 60's was as remote for todays's children as it would have been for me then to imagine computers. My toys were all centred on mothering, dolls and their clothes, prams, tea-sets, plastic make-up sets, kitchen appliances, paper press out dolls and their different clothes and for the well-to-do, dolls houses. My brothers presants were centred on being a 'man' pop guns, cap guns, garages with cars, train sets, plastic knives in a sheath strapped around his waist, marbles, kites, sling shots..... My yearning was for an Annie Oakley outfit. I wanted to be just like Annie! Riding horses just like the men, not being obstructed by dresses and tight shoes which pretended that you didn't have toes, laughing just like the men too! Alas for me, no matter how hard I wished and asked Santa every Christmas Eve night there would be no cowgirl outfit under the tree. It made me wonder how 'good' I had to be. Thankfully now girls are not stereotyped  at present giving and mothers don't have to sweat it out in a hot kitchen all day. And I can order gifts from Lithuania or Venice on the computer. Oh progress how great it is to finally meet you!
Merry Xmas and good cheer to all.
Vicki xx

That Christmas Feeling.

Welcome to my first post, I'd like to share happy bits and pieces of our life in Queensland following the seasons and events that shape our days. I want to mainly concentrate on the positive side of life, whilst I don't want to put my head in the sand and pretend that there is no war, famine, crime and abuse there are many blogs that deal with those tragedies and they do a far better job that I could in bringing certain issues to light, for me I want a little place of respite from the heavy side of life.

For so many people around the world December is a time to celebrate whether it's from a religious tradition or a time of getting together with loved ones. I want to bring a carefree feeling back into our family after a long and at times stressful past year. I want my two daughters, Alexandria and Chantal to be free from schol worry about projected marks, word counts and deadlines. So, I'm going to put my silly hat on for this month and overload the house with carols, candles and baking. All serious talk is being put on hold and we're going all out for fun!

How are you going to make your Christmas bright?

I hope your December and Christmas is all that you hope it to be.