After the rain...

" The wind is up, I set my sail of songs,

Steersman, sit at the helm.

For my boat is fretting to be free, to 

dance in the rhythm of the wind

and water.

The day is spent, it is evening.

My friends of the shore have taken 

leave.

Loose the chain and heave the anchor, 

we sail by the starlight.

The wind is stirred into the murmur

of music at this time of my

departure.

Steersman, sit at the helm"

       

                      - R. Tagore

A new year, a new journey

I hope that your Christmas time, Yule time, Winter time or Summer time holy days are being filled with love and family, mysteries and magic...

And where ever you are in the world I wish you the most blessed new year.
I hope it's full of new journeys and new discoveries, new rivers to travel, new mountains to climb, new skies to fly.
But I also hope we all can learn to live without regret. Of the things we haven't done or achieved this past year or the places we haven't visited, and learn to live in this moment now. Forget the stresses of future or the past and find the joy of the present.
And spend time with those we love, because that's the most important thing.
:) xxx

little creature

Just got hold of this photo - this is the little mite I mentioned in the last post. This was taken just before we let her go so she was bright and perky :) Such an incredible feeling to hold such a tiny creature in my hands!

The view from here

For quite a few months now I've been meaning to share some photos of the area in which I live. I love seeing the working spaces and surroundings where creative people live, I find it very inspiring. Maybe it's something to do with seeing these artists and creatives in such normal surroundings, it helps me to remember that these amazing people are just people! While of course they have, no doubt, incredible natural skills, they have also gotten where they are through hard work and perseverance and so this makes me think that maybe I can get there too :)
Anyhoo, while I haven't really taken any photos of inside my house and studio yet (it's a very dark little house and I'm not the best photographer....) these are ones of the surrounding area of Glen Iris. I really am loving it here at the moment - we are still so close to the centre of Melbourne but with all the parks and bushland walks around here you can almost fool yourself that your out in the country (well, apart from the distant hum of the freeway!)
And I love the fact that there is wildlife around here! I love that I wake up to birdsong these days instead of traffic....
And so many birds - there's the common cheeky magpies and pigeons but also wrens, cockatoos, galahs, ducks, parrots and lorrikeets... and spooky, silent bats that float by at dusk.....and soooo many possums! Most of our neighbours really dislike them - they can make an awful amount of noise at night and can make a mess of trees and gardens, but I love them :)
Although admittedly we don't have any trying to nest in our roof or pooping on our driveway so maybe I'd change my mind if that was the case, hehe!
But I love sneaking out the back door at night time and catching them staring back at me from the fence, most of the time not scared at all, just watchful.
And the size of some of them! There was a brushtail possum as big as a cat out there the other
night!

Unfortunately our dog Jools has also discovered them...and she can be quite obsessed. A couple of weeks ago she actually managed to catch one! I couldn't believe it! Here I was thinking she was trying to catch mice in the undergrowth as she often does with no success and there was the fact that it wasn't even close to dusk, until i heard the squeeks and realized what was going on...!! Then I became this screaming, yelling, hitting banshee and thank goodness she dropped the creature and I was able to pull her away and managed to tie her to a tree. The poor wee little mite was just a baby and I found it shivering in the undergrowth with clumps of fur missing and covered in wetness which at the time I thought was blood but afterward realized was just saliva.
So I picked it up and wrapped it in my jumper and we took it off to the vet thinking that at least they could put it to sleep and save it from a lingering, painful death.
But yay! I rang back the next day and the little guy was fine! So happy to know that our Jools isn't a possum killer, phew! She obviously didn't know what to do with it once she had caught it and didn't clamp her jaws down. I hope she never learns! (it was such a disturbing sight seeing her standing there with tiny little possum feet sticking out from either side of her mouth, waving slowly in their struggles - urgg!)
So we picked up the little fellow from the vet and popped him back in his tree, and were overjoyed to see his mother and him staring down at us a few moments later! So beautiful!
Every time I pass that tree I look out for them but I haven't seen them since. I hope they are both still ok... but i guess I'll never know.

So here we go - I'm a bit slow -these were taken a few months ago in winter.
Now the trees are swimming in green and there's a completely different feel to the air. But it gives an idea of the lay of the land at least. And of course my silly little fur moppet :P

Explorations Await!

So wow, finally back! No, I haven't been away on some fantastical adventure....unfortunately... but we have moved house which to me has been very exciting!

We finally have Internet connected after what feels like ages (I didn't realize how attached to it I was!) but here I am once more :) A big thanks to new followers who arrived in my absence, it's nice to know your out there!

We moved from Moonee Ponds to the other side of the city to Glen Iris, what a pretty name you say? Yes, I quite agree! I've never lived on this side of the city so lots to explore. We now reside in a beautiful, quiet little street with awesome dog parks and walking tracks almost at our front door. Unfortunately our dog Jools has discovered the existence of possums...oh dear... she hasn't managed to catch any, thank goodness! She's just incredibly obsessed!

And..drum roll please...I'm super loving it....I now have my very own studio! Whoop, whoop! No more working out of my bedroom or lounge room! It's just bliss let me tell you!

So I'll post some photos next post because, I don't know about you, but I love having a sneak peek into other artists spaces.

Ahhh, quite relaxed at the moment....a beautiful area, a great working space, creeks and nature for Jools and us to explore (we're even thinking of maybe getting another dog or at least helping out some poor homeless doggies by fostering. We're thinking greyhound fostering. Don't suppose anyone out there has done anything similar? If so, let me know how it went!)

For now though, here's some little critters....

introducing Jools!

So....about a month ago, my partner and I decided to take the plunge and adopt a dog!
Whoop, whoop! SO here is our beautiful Jools! (isn't she lovely?)
She's from the Lost Dogs Home here in melbourne and (now I'm sure every dog owner says this!) but we really think she's the loveliest dog ever!
She's about 5 years old and she's a Labrardor x great dane (we think... so she's a big girl!)
She's amazing, she has the most beautiful temperament, really mellow and sweet.
And amazingly, so far, she doesn't seem to have any major issues, apart from a bit of a mistrust of older men which is a bit sad :(
So we are really very lucky. Thinking back now, we really could have thrown ourselves in the deep end a bit as she's the first dog we've both had since we were kids and she could have had all sorts of issues that we wouldn't have found out about until we bought her home. So we are very lucky in that regard. She was also quite a bit underweight when she first came to us, poor thing. It's so strange, we have no idea why or how anyone could mistreat her and dump her. It's beyond our understanding how people can be so cruel.
But she's really settled now. She LOVES other dogs! Even if they're barking at her right in her face, she still want to play, silly thing! Sooo funny! She acts like a silly puppy with the other dogs at the dog park near us.
Look at her, what a sook, she's got us wrapped around her her little paw with her big brown eyes!

Photos by Gerard Rijs. thanks Gerry!