Code Pink Alert!

OK, so you've got a jillion (?) projects that are not finished, the laundry pile has grown feet and teeth and you are about to give it a name, the garden needs weeding/planting/watering (pick any and all that apply) and your kids can't remember the last time they were looked after by a babysitter......take heart, Mothers' Day is coming up sooner than you think!
In the meantime do any of these statements apply to you?

• Am a Mum/mom/Mummy/Mother or Mama?
• Planning on being one?
• Identify yourself as a woman?
• Care about peace and liberty for all women?

If you said yes to any of these pointers you qualify to join A Radical Act of Knitting in honor of Mother's Day!

From Code Pink - Women for Peace,

"We are creating a beautiful, quilted cozy to cover the fence in front of the White House to honor Mother's Day. The message will be “We will not raise our children to kill another mother’s child”-inspired by Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation. We’ll be piecing it together from individual squares knitted by YOU as part of the 24 hour Mother’s Day vigil for Women who live in War Zones. The best part is you don’t have to be an experienced knitter to help! This is perfect for knitters of all skill levels—and a great opportunity for those who want to learn! Celebrate the time honored tradition of the radical act of knitting!

borrowed from 1000 points of peace

Park Bark

...can you find the romantic one?

This is not my garden part 1

As an already avid collector of bark, lichen and trees, I realised I shouldn't limit my collections, so here I have added some more botanicals to the ever growing palette of natural wonders....enjoy. :-) I'm fascinated by my reactions to the mix of male verses female in plant-life always feel strangely drawn to those that are alien to me. These were all taken in Balboa Park, San Diego and I didn't note what any of the names were, sorry!

Vernal Equinox

Whilst I'm happily floating around Balboa Park this Equinox to celebrate 12 years of matrimony to my ever loving Hairy One, I'll remember and notice all the beautiful changes we see around us and in us. Even the subtle season change here is most noticeable at this time of year. The waking of the trees, flowers and insects. The birds are busy and noisy, the garden is blooming and it's easy to grow almost anything!

This little friend will be featured in the...you guessed it...the OCS Silent auction coming up next week, yawn yawn.... Thank you to the talented Ms. Perez, who made all her gorgeous snuggly clothes so she doesn't have to parade around starkers anymore, this hair needs sewing on properly, so off I go to get that done before our little trip....

Airy Eire

Aibreann
This lass was made for a lucky swap bot recipient to celebrate early Spring she's about 4"
and has hair down the to the ground!

With not very much Irish in the blood of this gal, it's nothing a good couple pints o' Guinness, fresh made cabbage soup and corned beef won't take care of today!! The Americans ( bless them) love to celebrate this day of the kidnapped brit, St Patrick with green cookies, beads and shamrock shakes ( for a limited time only of course) and lashings of fake accents, pretending how Irish they may be....I confess to being a fair bit confused, but will play along with some greenery for the kids I suppose...oh and that pint may come in handy to down the green cake....

Farm-acy

This is still 'in the works', the animals are being stuffed and the fields are being sewn!!! Sharing some sneaky peeks of the 3rd grade felted farm piece that the parents pulled together as their offering to this years' live auction on March 28th at OCS' not so silent event. There may be some Hollywood peeps to spot I hear, so pop along and bid for some unique handmade items, collectors items like signed stuff and other wonders of La La Land that can be bought that day!

felted bunny stealing yummies from the veggie patch

the ponds and poms inspired by The Knitted Farmyard by Hannelore Wernhard

practically perfect 'peppermint' pigs in their pen...

The Gwinna story has been expertly felted by OCS crafters ( Sage, Fly and Fern) to illustrate this gorgeous book and the author so graciously donated and signed the book to go along with it...

ooops I owe an owl to this scene.....off I go....

Silent no more

...busy as bees, what on earth have the talented ladies of the Ocean Charter School ( OCS) crafting circle been up too all these weeks? Why is my hair silver, is my garden dead yet? These questions and more are answered in this smidge pictorial of what's to come in our upcoming silent auction - March 28th at The Organic Panifico. I think you can bid online or by proxy and if you are local, come by and see the madness and works of wonder for yourselves!

Summer fun from the Seahorse class

Lady Spring and consorts

King Winter with his fellow snowy gatherers

Patriarch Winter with real crystal and silver wound wand

Another Spring maiden to suit any nature table

Is the kettle on?

....there's really nothing like that afternoon cuppa to help you relax, get through the next few hours and give you an excuse to take a load off for even 20 mins. I do indeed enjoy this daily ritual ( or rather need it) in spite of myself and I'm pretty sure it's not just coz I'm English! The special blend PG is stashed for this purpose and there may even be an accompaniment of sweet cake, biscuit or other fanciful tidbit to stretch the stolen moment even further. Thanks to a friend who loves to bake, I am kept in many wonders of the sweet bread world, this was a divine choc-chip and fresh raspberry muffin steaming hot from the oven that allowed my poor tired brain from shutting down before sundown yesterday!

I would love to share the ancient Japanese tradition of the highly ritualised tea ceremony - you can bet I will too- and hope to bring the joy to my boys whilst visiting Japan in a couple of years.

The Japanese tea ceremony, or Cha-no-yu, meaning “hot water for tea”, is more than an elaborate ritual. It is an interlude in which one leads oneself for the moment to the spirit of beauty, quietude, and politeness toward others. The ceremony may be practiced anywhere, at home or in a teahouse.

There are 4 principles: harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility (wa, kae, sae, jubuo)

• Harmony: with other people and with nature. The tea ceremony is the way of bringing one’s self into harmony with nature.
• Respects: a harmonious relationship with others.
• Purity: clean yourselves through the five senses - sense of hearing when hearing the sound of water(which remind one of the silence outside), sense of sight when see the flowers, sense of touch when touch the utensils, sense of smell when smell the scent of the flowers, sense of taste when drinking tea.
• Tranquility

so what are you waiting for, go heat up some water....I'm coming over!

Fruitylicious

These lovely ladies were faced with having to work up a felted bowl of fruit for a Waldorf school silent auction, so they invited yours truly to help guide them on this high flouting endeavour.


Happily the task, was not only fun ( champers, smoked salmon and croissants to boot) but as you can see, turned out quite splendidly! Well done ladies and thanks to Piper for organising it!

Are we there yet?

When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
Aquarius! Aquarius!

Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind's true liberation
Aquarius! Aquarius!

When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
Aquarius! Aquarius!

Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
The sun shine in
Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
The sun shine in




Virgo Full Moon, March, 10 2009, 7:38pm

Both Aquarius and Aries are energies of independence and creativity. We are called to use this energy to give birth to something much more authentic and liberating than the lives we live today.

This is just the beginning of this energy. Spring Equinox will be here in 10 days, to be followed up with an Aries new Moon. Now is the time to begin moving old energy to create something new, fresh and authentic.

This is a perfect night to release your New Moon in Pisces intentions for global/personal peace and healing.

This is the Full Moon to celebrate the body and take responsibility for our health. This kind of questioning may include opening yourself to alternative treatments or new approaches.

By the way, this is the ideal Full Moon to start a weight loss or de-tox program, especially with Venus in Aries (new beginnings) and Chiron in radical change, tell-it-like-it-is, unemotional Aquarius. For this reason, the Full Moon in Virgo reflects a tremendous desire to throw off unhealthy habits that create sickness and sadness in our lives.

Click here for more..

3.7.09

Won't you allow me to indulge for a moment?...The Hairy One sent a posting for a local mixed media art show about a month ago, I sent in some pics, asking if my sort of fluffy stuff was even considered for this type of show, and here I am thanks to Mavis Leahy (or a terrible mistake) invited to join the fabled artists ( for a night) at 10 Women TODAY!! If you want to show up and check out all the lovely work and maybe check to see if I embarrass myself, please come along and join in the fun and have some vino and cake? ( see poster above).

The flyers are done, art is framed, website is still not up..(yep there's another darn link coming)...... and I'm all inspired to make another piece tonight!

toodle oo