Eye Spy... my favourite gadget

Of course it is!

Thanks Kellie of 74 Lime Lane for a great theme this week, I suspect her camera might be her favourite gadget too? Thanks also to Cindy for hosting Eye Spy.

Eye Spy... my favourite food(s)

What a delicious theme this week!

1. A Whole Plateful, 2. seafood laksa @ chefs choice, wollongong, 3. MUSSELS WITH PESTO CREAM SAUCE,
4. marinara, 5. Artichoke Pizza, 6. Tartest Lemon Tart

I am a real foodie so when it comes to favourite foods there is no way I could choose just one! I've limited it to six and they are: sushi, seafood laksa, mussels, spaghetti marinara, pizza (especially with artichokes and/or anchovies), and lemon tart. I generally favour savoury over sweet so I just popped one dessert in at the end there. I hope I haven't forgotten another favourite! This week's theme definitely had me drooling, thanks Jennifer Rose! And of course thanks to Cindy for hosting Eye Spy every week.

Eye Spy... seasons change

This tree was bare about a week ago!

Thanks Cindy for hosting Eye Spy... and thanks Lisa for this week's theme.

Eye Spy... something blossoming

Sorry to be so literal but...


...as predicted, the native mint has blossomed! When it's in flower it's my favourite plant in the garden (of course you can always find it pictured better on Flickr so go here to see a more spectacular example).

But at the risk of sounding saccharin it's my boys that are blooming before my eyes; by the end of the year they'll be four and two, and they're blossoming into really great kids; I'm sure I won't be the only one to say that this week!

Thanks Cindy for hosting and a big thanks for letting me pick this week's theme!

Eye Spy... something soothing

image from here

I'm sure I won't be the only one to say a cup of tea is what I find most soothing.

Also: clean spaces, a view to nature, quietness, a hot bath, and the rest that is earned after hard work (especially in the garden).

More soothing thoughts and images over at Cindy's. Thanks Aussie Waffler for this week's theme, it felt soothing just to think about it!

Cindy kindly asked me to come up with next week's theme and having spent some time in the garden this weekend noticing the new growth and buds on everything I'd like to spy what is blossoming in your world (not just in the garden of course); so it's Eye Spy... something blossoming.

Eye Spy... something I want to try

What I'm really itching to try is what I've always thought of as 'real sewing' - that is dressmaking. Properly. With a paper pattern, a dressmaker's model, even a calico muslin... what the hell is that called again? A toile!

photo credit

One day I will have the guts and the inspiration to gather the tools I need to actually make (or at least attempt to make) an item of clothing for myself from a commercial pattern, be it vintage or modern (but probably vintage).

In the mean time here is some flickr lovliness to illustrate what I mean, because (of course) it's the process as much as the end result that I am so looking forward to.

1. Body Double 2, 2. Intro to Sewing Supplies!,
3. vintage wooden cotton reels, 4. my machine,
5. At the dressmaker's, 6. Ladies, start your clocks

More aspirations over at Cindy's. Thanks Melanie at Kimino Reincarnate for this week's theme.

Eye Spy... something red!

Something red?


Oh yeah, it's red alright!


I've spent a lot of time staring at this little red dot all weekend as I tear out the seams from my refashioned skirt: 90% finished I said? Ha! It was all wrong, it had to come apart. And the icing on the cake? I set about ripping out the wrong seam!!!

More red somethings can be spied at Cindy's! Thanks Ellieboo for this week's theme!

Eye Spy... inspiration

I take so much inspiration from what I'm reading that it was the first thing I thought of when I read Cindy's Eye Spy theme for this week. So that, and the idea that she might decide to stop eye-spying has brought me out of the lurkers closet to join in Eye Spy... for the first time.

So this is my inspiration - the stack of books by my bed - warts and all.


Top to bottom:
Jung: a Biography, Deidre Bair (current read - see below)
The New Buddhism, David Brazier (library book, not started)
A multitude of Sins, Richard Ford (short stories, sat untouched on the bookshelf forever, kind of interesting)
Buddhism for Mothers, Sarah Napthali (I went straight to the chapter on anger, good book, fits with my values)
You are your Child's First Teacher, Rahima Baldwin Dancy (bought as a reminder to myself and to gain some tools but not as inspirational as I had hoped)
The Seven Spiritual Laws for Parents, Deepak Chopra (the only one in the stack I've read twice. Deeply inspirational, a must read.)
Madame Brussels: This Moral Pandemonium, LM Robinson (I'm friends with the publisher, a really interesting, compact read)
Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino (A favourite author but not my favourite of his books)
Homesickness, Murray Bail (likewise)
Vehicle Maintenance for Women, Charlotte Williamson (WTF? No it's not a novel, it's one of those $5 pick-ups from a work book club. Unopened.)
The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery (I read this as a kid and didn't get it. As much I would like to say I found it life-changing now that I'm older I'm afraid to say I still don't get it.)
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain (Having worked in restaurants years ago I was engrossed from the first page but somehow put it down half-way through and haven't picked it up again.)

Needless to say some of them have been sitting there for a long time. Most have been started, only one has been finished.

The one on top is my current read and I'm only about 100 pages in. It's from the library. I think I'd better check out how many times I can renew it before I have to return it.


Fascinating but physically quite a chore to read due to the sheer size of it. I'll say a bit more about it when I finish it (if I finish it).

Of the list above it is definitely the Chopra book that I found the most inspiring, however Italo Calvino's Marcovaldo and If on a Winter's Night a Traveller changed the way I thought and felt about literature; and Murray Bail's Eucalyptus resonated deeply with me for the way he uses language and for where I was at physically and emotionally when I read it.

I'm hungry for more literary inspiration so I'd love to hear what your all time must read is!