Water, Water, Everywhere...

And you wouldn't want to drink it.

Here we go again. We are now experiencing our third major flood in as many months. So yet again Little Tree is home from school and Mr I came home early to avoid being stranded.

Please excuse the quality of the photos - they are from my phone as our camera has packed up.

Above is the small reserve at the bottom of our garden. The creek has clearly broken it's banks.

Right is the path that runs alongside the creek below the reserve.

Much to my surprise, we still have power. Very strong winds have accompanied this lot of rain and at this very moment I can see the weeping bamboo being whipped around and the trees bending and can hear the roar of the wind in the tree tops - I hope that if any trees come down they kindly miss the house.

Little Tree has amused himself with Thomas the Tank Engine and perusing the latest Thomas Yearbook and pointing out which engines, trucks or accessories he wants next. So far in order we have Diesel, Hector, "coaling plant", Oil Derrick and no doubt he will come up with a new request to add to the list before the end of the day. He has also been painting and listening to his favourite CD - Children's Christmas Carols!!!! Well, at least we are closer to the correct season for it.

Hopefully, we will wake up tomorrow and the wind will have dropped, the sky will be clear and sunny and we can start cleaning up the mess.....again.

Journeying

There must be something in the air this year. Everyone I know is journeying. Whether they're taking off to the Kimberleys for six months, or taking a trip around Oz, starting something they've never done before, moving house, dying (!!!) or journeying inwardly - which is where I am.

I started this year thinking that something had to change - that I could not continue to approach the world in the same manner, as it obviously was no longer serving me.


I was even disatisfied with my singing. I pulled out of concerts and exams as I found my heart was no longer in it - at least not to perform in the traditional way. Images of Red Priest and Corvus Corax came to mind and my imagination ran wild as to the type of performance I'd like to be a part of. The importance of all that has been dislodged for the time being by this inner journeying. And I'm really surprised that I'm not feeling distraught. I feel I'm putting things to one side in order to make space for something new.


I've been trying to find that real place in me beneath or behind all the facades and roles I play in order to feel I fit in and am acceptable to the people I'm with. I want to practise stepping into my skin or stepping into life. In the odd moments I can do that - usually when I'm on my own - I've been feeling a peace and contentment that is just.....bliss.


It doesn't seem to matter how much reading or listening I do - without the correct key, it merely remains knowledge rather than understanding. And I feel I'm only just beginning to get a mere glimmer on a subject I thought I understood. Ah well.....just call me Shrek!! (You know, "Ogres are like onions - they have layers.")hehehe.

Birthday

There are only 5 days of school holidays left and I'm feeling guilty taking more time out to blog.

Yesterday, with sun shining brightly, we took down the streamers and balloons from Little Tree's birthday party. We'd left them up for a week which given the dull grey rainy days has given the house a cheery feel. I tied all the balloons together to make a giant colourful grape bunch. He's been having a lovely time running with them trailing behind bumping into the wind chimes on the verandah, needless to say some of the balloons have since burst - much to his amusement.

His favourite presents were, no prizes for guessing, Thomas the Tank Engine track and Bill and Ben engines to add to his already extensive collection. His next favourite present was a book called "My cat likes to hide in boxes" because "The cat from Brazil caught a very bad chill" which apparently is absolutely hilarious which in turn has us laughing which has him laughing and we end up with tears on our faces and aching tummies.

There is no point trying to have the kind of party for him that I once imagined we might. One with friends and fairy bread, party games and singing happy birthday. He would just run away screaming and shut himself in his room. He let us sing happy birthday for the first time on his 8th birthday ( I was so happy I nearly crushed him with a hug) so this year there were no problems and even a big smile.

Grandma and Grandad came as well and Auntie S Uncle A and their 3 girls, exchange student Poy and Mr I's Uncle David and Aunt Maggie. Little Tree coped very well with the influx of people (especially since he knows them all very well) and since everyone was happy to comply with instructions not to touch his track he was very happy.

Being unconcerned with convention, he was loud in stating he was tired and wanted to go to bed (earlier than usual) - before the candles had been lit, song sung and cake cut. Not wanting to risk a quick descent into sensory overload meltdown, I chose to leave my partially eaten dinner to bring out cake with candles lit and coax him into the midst of birthday guests to blow out candles with as much spit as puff - oh well!!! The chocolate birthday cake was enjoyed immensely, evidence of which was smothered all over his face!!!!

Then it was bath, story and sleep...come on, sleep... please, just close your eyes - that's it.....(door slams) bugger! Breathe. Everyone left soon after Little Tree went to bed and the washing up and generally cleaning up had been done - bless them. So with a quiet house he did finally drop off to sleep and I could reheat my meal and enjoy birthday cake, undisturbed. mmmmm lovely.

We might do something quieter next year - a picnic perhaps.

Dolls, Clocks and Painty Mess

Two blogs have recently prompted me to get in touch with my creative and artisitic side. Lorell makes the most gorgeous dolls straight from the pages of fairy stories. Rima is a nomad travelling around UK in a converted horse box and paints the most exquisite images.

Autumn always turns my focus inward. Instead of wanting to be outside adventuring and socialising I feel more like staying at home and being creative whether that's cooking, spinning, knitting, felting, painting or gardening.

So the other day, during a brief respite from the rain, Little Tree and I went into town to visit one of our favourite shops, Soul Weaving. It has everything a Steiner child could want including watercolour paints and quality paper and brushes. I haven't painted with watercolours since I was a child so it's going to be interesting to see what happens. I don't suppose I'll be happy enough with the results to post them here, then again I might just surprise myself. So far all I've done is started to sketch the picture I want and to experiment with washes and effects - but already I can see that this is going to be a lot of fun.

Gosh, as I write this, the sun is trying to peek out from behind the clouds for the first time in days - woooohooo!

Tickle Tank

Or - Tickle me pink, it's a tank house!
I'm in awe of the creativity of Irene, who turned a concrete water tank in a horse paddock into an amazing home and garden. When I eventually have a home that belongs to me and not someone else, I hope that I can be as creative as this. Here is a link to the ABC's Gardening Australia episode that features this remarkable home.
Next time I visit South Australia, I plan to visit while it is open to the public - armed with camera.

Water, Mud and Moods

Well, it's raining again, or should that be - still.

We had a flood in February, which the media made a huge fuss over and a "one in one hundred year" flood a couple of weeks ago (see left) which was much more deserving of the media attention. I know this sounds terribly cynical but the only reason I can think that the first flood received such attention is that at the time bushfires were ravaging Victoria and Queensland was having floods so of course, not to be outdone, NSW had to come up with something equally newsworthy. (sigh)

Although our house was safe, we were cut off from everywhere. Little Tree had to stay home from school for three days as the bus couldn't get though, which pleased him no end. The river came up so fast and stayed up longer than I've ever known it and the creek below our house came to within 2 feet of the garden. Mr I arrived home three and half hours late having driven the long way home in order to find a semi passable road - lucky he wasn't later or he would have had to return to the office and slept there!!!

This is why he couldn't get home....

And.....

We were without power for 24 hours - the house was so peaceful and quiet without the hum of electrical appliances and I couldn't help but smile surrounded by lantern and candlelight. Having lived in this area for little while now, we are used to having to rely on our gas camping stove for cups of tea and cooking etc. when there's no power due to storm/flood/fruit bat tangled in wires.

We lost mobile phone reception for a while too - lucky the landline still worked. Mr I, being Manager of a local communtiy service organisation received a call from one of our Councillors to check on a constituent's 90 year old Mum, so we put together a thermos for her and Mr I drove out there and was able to report back that mum was doing fine. There were lots of other stories of strangers going out of their way to help others - pity it needs a disaster to bring the community together. When we could get into town our little supermarket was running out of food - a lot had to be thrown out due to the power cut and the all the roads further out were still cut so no deliveries could be made.

The Pacific Highway was high and dry but access roads from here to our town not so lucky.

In other times it would have been quite exciting but I wasn't able to convey the problem of no power and my inability to fix it to my autistic son who was getting very distressed that he couldn't play his favourite DVDs or the computer. And during the night we had to get up to make sure a tealight candle was still burning in his room in place of his nightlight. So, it was with huge relief to have power restored and consequently a return to a happy boy.

A number of fences, roads and bridges in the area are still washed out. And drowned livestock, boats and other debris are being cleaned off the beaches. And it's still raining...

(photos courtesy of Bellingen Courier Sun)

Summer

It is the most glorious summer morning. I can smell the scent of mock orange blossom wafting through the windows on the gentle breeze. The windchimes are softly dinging and donging. The garden is full of butterflies and birds. The wattle birds are feasting on the grevillia flowers and the firetail finches and fairy wrens are playing chasey through the hedge and bushes.

It's going to be a hot one today - 31 degrees. I'm so glad I'm not living in Victoria with their 46 degree heat and murderous, obliterating fires. Later I'll shut up the house and turn on the air conditioner hoping that I won't be causing actual bodily harm to anyone. It seems that not just one but two fat healthy (at the moment) Green Tree Frogs have decided that there's no better place to live than inside our airconditioner. We started out with just one but apparently it's so nice in there "the one" invited a friend. We have attempted to relocate them but given past experience I expect them to return today or tomorrow. The fan makes the most horrible clunking noise as they try to remove themselves from harm's way. Of course when that happens everyone dives for the off switch and the household goes into search and rescue mode. Then its -"Screwdriver"...(thunk).....(grunt, strain, stuggle)..."aha".... "plastic bowl" ...(thunk)....."perforated cover"... (clunk). Sigh of relief knowing that we not about to get splattered with pate de frog.

Maybe, if there is still a breeze this afternoon, I'll put up the hammock under the tree and doze - did I say what a glorious day it is?