Weekly Stills - a little bit botanical

1. solar flare boy
2. leaf prints and tree texture
3. me (warts and all) not running away from the lens for a change
4. leaf skeletons
5. vines entangled
6. delicate snow-white fungi

:: joining in with Emily ::

PS Eeek...I keep thinking I should delete that photo of me...but am trying to be brave about having a photo of myself out there. Why do we always feel funny about seeing photographs of ourselves????

operation art

I've been lamenting the fact that Harry and Till don't sit and paint or draw like they used to. But you can't force creativity, right.

Today I set a trap! Call it Operation Art if you will. 

Step One 

• drag a table outside onto the verandah (a bit of fresh air always inspires me)

Step Two 

• armed with a magnifying glass and flashlight, rummage through the Abyss aka craft cupboard to locate paint sets and art paper

Step Three

• arrange all items enticingly on the table with a jar of water...and finally...

Step Four 

• step back, hide in the kitchen and WAIT

It took...oh...maybe an hour or so...but once they'd fallen into my trap, their bottoms stayed glued to that bench for quite some time - and they even returned for a second round! Hooray.

Sometimes that is all it takes. Like fish to a hook: you just need a little bait!

Does anyone else "set traps" for their kids??

spur of the moment: breakfast on the beach

Ben left to go fishing before the sun came up, sneaking out while myself and the smalls continued our journey through dream land. Much later we awoke to a spectacular morning, full of sunshine and the promise of adventure. I couldn't bare the idea of being inside for a single second. Bundling up the munchkins I asked them to grab their hats and jump in the car...staying indoors wasn't an option, we were heading out for breakfast! Nothing exciting, just cereal, fresh fruit and yoghurt - everything thrown hastily into a basket. The best experiences often require the least amount of fuss I think. And how about this glorious location....all to ourselves. This is what holidays are about...spur of the moment decisions that lead us to doing things a little out of the ordinary.

What goes around...comes around

Ben caught a very nice yellowfin tuna and some enormous sweetlip emperors last Friday - so much fresh fishy goodness, we were able to share with our neighbours. That fresh produce above is just snap shot of what we were given in return! And it happens all the time, whether we have fish to gift or not. Always enough food to go around - excess never goes to waste! I love living with peeps who share and best of all, I love that our bellies are consistently filled with food harvested right here in "our backyard".

I steamed up some chokos and served them with a sprinkling of salt and lashings of butter - they were delicious. But I'm up for some more serving suggestions if anyone has any!!

Stills: A Weekly Collection

1. the dolls got a dusting
2. beach to ourselves - still warm enough to swim!
3. finally hung up the Tibetan prayer flags I bought..oh...a year ago!
4. blooms in our garden
5. the room warmed by morning light

Joining in with Emily

Mood Food

I'm becoming very proficient at identifying how food makes me feel. A skill I haven't mastered with age however, is the ability to resist temptation (I'm talking about food here people, nothing sinister hee hee). Too much sugar leaves me feeling grotty, plain and simple. I've kinda fallen off the sugar-free wagon lately. Christmas was a shocker....(and delicious)....but I did sort of pull myself back...and then Easter came...oops - those trickster eggs screamed "EAT ME"...especially the dark chocolate ones. So after the eggy indulge I made a decision; time for a clean slate, back to sugar-free. It lasted, oh...a week?? Yes, this Friday week, a colleague gifted me a box of Cadbury Favourites. She left them on my desk for goodness sake, with a sweet note of appreciation for all my hard work! After being buttered up like that, how could I resist????? Before you can spell H.E.A.D.A.C.H.E I scoffed them like a mad women possessed. And I KNEW, rather frustratingly, that I'd pay later...and pay I did - with a 2 day long big-ugly-bad mood. It was the bad mood that broke all others. We're talking 'don't-even-look-at-me-side-ways or I might pierce your soul with my dagger eyes'. My poor family. When will I learn folks? When WILL I learn?? This happens every single time.
Sugar (apart from maybe a miniscule amount) is NOT my friend!

Rest assured, the tide has turned...here's a photo of what I've been snacking on these past few days. Let's call it 'Good Mood Food for Michelle'.

A few generous spoonfuls of sprouted buckwheat (bought from here because I can't source it locally) topped with a big dollop of Greek yoghurt, a dusting of cinnamon and a light drizzling of local honey. Think itty bitty crunch meets silky smooth with just a little hint of sweet. I really love buckwheat, particularly crunchy sprouted buckwheat. Ben and I have been cooking up sprouted buckwheat pancakes like there's no tomorrow - check out this recipe. They are SUPER easy to make and are certainly my breakfast food of choice at the moment.

So does food affect your mood or am I the only crazy woman with this tendency?

Moonlighting as a professional

My Mum asked for some updated photos of the munchkins. It's been a few years since my kids had some professional photos taken but photographers here are hard to come by (well I do live in the middle of nowhere) so I decided to have a crack myself. I don't profess to have any skill or know-how but I certainly have the tools (as in a mighty fine camera) and plenty of enthusiasm. And best of all...I'm free.  Harry and Till were such good sports and didn't complain once - I dragged them over every inch of our 5 by 8 kilometre island. No doubt a trained professional would pull these images apart - and I'd be glad of some constructive criticism to be honest (how else will I learn). But on the whole, I think I got a collection of nice shots - a few the grandparents will be happy with anyway.

Our 'screen time' manager

When I wrote about our TV-free life a few weeks ago, I mentioned we use a timer for managing screen time. Well here's how it works. To begin with we had to buy a timer that counts forwards and backwards. Importantly this timer lives on the fridge so it can be easily found when required...it goes "walkies" once in a while! Hmmmm.

Every time either Harry or Till sits down to do their music practise they grab the timer and switch it on to count up. When they want to play on their DSi's or the iPad they hit the timer switch to count down. Easy hey. Sometimes Harry will spend up to 30 minutes at the piano and maybe another 15 on guitar. Till may earn 15 to 20 minutes at the piano and she's just starting out on the flute. The 'screen time formula' is simple: time spent practising equals "screen time" earned! Just like accumulating interest on your savings really.

We aren't running a precision military operation here... so obviously there are moments when Harry and Till use their electronic devices without having "earned" the time; when the weather is awful, during the school holidays, when someone isn't feeling well etc. But on the whole, throughout the school week, this is the method we use. For us it works quite well.

Sometimes we forget about the timer, but the "music practise earns screen time" scheme still operates successfully. It kinda sounds something like this...

"Mum, can I play on the iPad?"

"Um, yes... *if you did your practise this morning before school!"*

Then after a time (as in how long it takes to chop the veggies for dinner) I just call out...

"time to switch off now" 

...and they do (a five minute heads-up helps).

How do you manage screen time?

NB. It would be helpful to own 2 timers! We rely on Harry's good memory and honesty sometimes.
* Sometimes I go to work before these things occur you see...Mum's aren't always in the loop.

Stills: A weekly collection

1. soup for lunch
2. a project just begun
3. tea on the verandah after a dip in the sea
4. the town planners
5. watching the ship unload
6. sweet plaits

Joining Emily for the first time (even though I'm a few days late)...

the upskilled blogger

image from here

It's no secret I love blogging. I really enjoy taking and editing photos, stringing images and words together and arranging and then re-arranging layouts and designs. It dawned on me recently just how many technological skills I've acquired since I first started. For me, getting the hang of applications like Picasa, Blogger, Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop is a big deal. Photoshop still eludes me somewhat, but Lightroom is becoming easier to navigate. And aside from negotiating software applications, all this writing has enhanced my grammar and spelling skills too. Whilst some bloggers have a gift for words, they definitely don't flow easily for me. I really have to work hard to put my thoughts into a coherent readable fashion; one worthy of your time anyhow! I type and read, type some more and re-read, re-word and hit 'delete' more times than you can imagine. Online thesauruses and dictionaries are my friends and I dip into them often, both with intent to expand my vocabulary generally and because I want make my writing more interesting. All this blogging and use of technology nourishes my thoughts and provides a healthy exercise regime for the old noggin. I think with those reasons alone I can justify why I spend so much time blogging!

A little time spent in nature...

...is good for my soul.

a little more Hair Sty'ln

How could I not share a few more? Don't you love her look of concentration! You can see Harry's not fully present in this hair styling experience....but he's definitely absorbed in the book.

Friday Favourite: Till's Hair Salon

This is my favourite photo taken this last week. I'd be thrilled if you could share your 'Friday Favourite' too.  

Steer me in the right direction by leaving a link to yours in the 'Comments' below. Go on...please!

sick days

Till was first (a light case...she's our little tough-nut), then Ben and now Harry (who has been hit the hardest). But not me folks, do you hear? I'm not getting sick. Uh uh. End of discussion!

Should I make a batch of George's Marvellous Medicine, just to be sure the lurgies stay away?

Natural light and beauty

Sydney is beautiful, it's true. But when I stood on our verandah after coming home I was struck once again how magical Norfolk is. Such a contrast from the congested maze of buildings, roads, railway lines, street lights, factories and concrete (SO much concrete) that makes up suburban sprawl....the view here is raw, untouched and invigorating. A friendly luminous green sea of rolling hills melts into the distant skyline in every direction. Norfolk pines stand straight and proud creating an impressive silhouette against the setting sun. The sky is clean, bright and vast. Scanning the panorama, you can't help but feel lighter and free. There's less distraction here. It's peaceful.

It's good to get away...at times a change of perspective is healthy and necessary. Coming back reminds me there's no place like home. And certainly there's no place on Earth like Norfolk Island!

I love it here.

City Sights...cont.