We were due for a break. We were excited by the opportunity to go away as a family and take some time out.

We didn't need to go far, or spend much money at all.


It is funny that you can be so close to home and yet feel so different about things. Truth is, it is not the location, it is the mindset that you slip into.

You slip into a mindset of relaxation and renewal. You slow down, breath and look around. You are not rushed and you take the time to let all the little things enter your senses. You listen intently, you breath deeply to smell all that you can. You reach out to touch the surrounds.

And it feels wonderful. It feels like you have a fresh lease on life.


...and yet, you are so close to home. It shows you that you can turn off distraction and turn on your senses at any time that you need to renew.



Our weekend consisted of a Friday night of games first of all. A hilarious night of Pictionary where we snorted with laughter and our drawings made us question the way we think collectively because we could draw meaning from a couple of squiggles.


On Saturday we walked almost 8 kilometres. We explored, studied and 're-wilded'. We reconnected with nature and realigned with the fabulous thing that is Mother Nature in its many forms.

It is beautiful to watch our boys, who are now young men, still show wonder and awe at the natural environment.

On Saturday we had an abundant meal of fresh seafood.

On Sunday we returned home, very steadily, stopping a number of times along the way.

When we arrived home we were refreshed and content. It was such a wonderful time of purposeful renewal that we all agreed that we will do this more often.

Personally, I will be exporting this thinking to myself when I am at home. I challenge you to do the same.

What would it look like if you carved out some time to practice renewal ? Does it mean that you have a bubble bath with a glass of wine ? Does it mean that you drag your chair out into the garden and read indulgently without guilt while you eat strawberries ? Does it mean that you choose a hobby and give your self permission to carve out time to indulge yourself in it ?

It's very healthy to practice self care instead of martyrdom and guilt . We are much better for those around us when we take care of ourselves first.

There is much joy to be had in slowing down.

to strive for extraordinary lives.

Such striving may seem admirable,

but it is the way of foolishness.

Help them instead to find the wonder

and the marvel of an ordinary life.

Show them the joy of tasting

tomatoes, apples and pears.

Show them how to cry

when pets and people die.

Show them the infinite pleasure

in the touch of a hand.

And make the ordinary come alive for them.

The extraordinary will take care of itself.”

– William Martin

Well it certainly has been some time that I have spent away from the blogosphere. I actually contemplated giving up blogging completely, but something has drawn me back and had me thinking.

Why blog ? 

Why the break ? 

Why return ?

The Verdict ? 

If you have been wondering why things are so quiet on the blogging front, it is because we are moving. I thought that we would be staying in this house forever, but over the past few months a series of things have just fallen in to place and before we knew it we had made an offer on a place out of town.

I feel quite okay about moving. I thought I would have a really difficult time leaving this house, after all,  a lot has happened here in the past 16 years. Firstly, it is the longest I have ever lived in one place. It is the home that I lived in when we were first married and the home I brought my babies home to.

In the past 16 years it has seen me be a teacher, a stay at home mum, a solicitor, a business woman, an author, a blogger and an urban homesteader.

What started as a little cottage has expanded over the years to accommodate our growing family. We added rooms, built bathrooms, took down walls, pulled up carpets all to keep up with our changing needs.

Now, as the boys are physically getting bigger they are after space. I am looking forward to new gardens, fruit trees and the next stage of family growth.

With our move shortly upon us, I thought things would be more chaotic. They are busy, but haven't fallen into total chaos......yet. One of the best things we did when we thought there was a possibility of moving was to have a severe cull of our possessions. We donated, sold, gave away  or threw out everything in every cupboard, drawer, shed and shelf that we did not need or completely love. We also shredded years and years of paperwork no longer required. Even if we weren't moving, this was a FANTASTIC feeling of freedom !

Now we have been working on preparing our house for tenants. Painting, cleaning, fixing. It is funny that jobs we have been meaning to get around to for years have all suddenly been completed in a fortnight.

Everyone is so excited about the move. I am really looking forward to having a place for everything and everything is its place. I am excited about creating new spaces for cooking,   baking and making. The most exciting thing for me, however, is the established fruit trees. Strange, I know, but having trees that are bearing so much fruit is really exciting !

Most of all, as usual, I am looking forward to creating......................a vision splendid ! 

Image Source: http://sayingimages.com/hello-september/

Hello September. I am enjoying you so much. Just when I had settled into a life of rugging up, adding layers, snuggling under blankets on the lounge, you turn up and surprise me.

You get me every year!

I get the first hint of you in the breeze. Then I notice you in the song of the birds and the sound of a distant lawn mower. Then I smell you in the blossoms and when your light hits the new green leaves on the crepe myrtle tree.

Then I remember what is to come.... the early mornings, the long summer evenings, the swimming and skiing and playing and gardening and holidays and Christmas and mangoes and watermelon and prawns and shorts and t-shirts and thongs.....

.....and I am one happy spring chicken.

Do you think it is prudent to tighten our belts in the name of securing a solid emergency fund ? How many of us could truly survive for six months if our current income source dried up ? If your income stopped tomorrow, how prepared would you feel ?

As you know, I am always using 'times gone by' as a reference point when it comes to being frugal, living green or living more simply. Perhaps because of the instability of the times, people from older generations always put money from good times away for times when they may not be as good. They stood by the traditional wisdom of saving for a rainy day.

Are our times today any more stable today than what they were back then ? Does easy credit disguise society's true position ? I am not sure, I can only judge it by what I see, hear and read around the community and in the blogosphere.

Why suspicion is.....yes.

Last week I purchased an external hard drive to make a double back up of my digital photo collection. Gee it was easy! I had lots of photos ( I mean LOTS) on CDs all carefully labelled and categorised and I even had proof sheets printed of what was on each disk.

It was so easy to just whip them into iphoto ( I am a Mac girl) and there they all are - in chronological order and able to be sorted in keyword categories at the click of a mouse!

I skim through all the photos they really reveal just how much I have a love affair with days gone by. There are so many photos capturing aspects of a life that was.


I am always intrigued by the lifestyle that people led in the past. The days of hard work and little reward, an instilled work ethic that is rare to come by these days, a complete life of self sacrifice to others with no chance of any recognition.

My Grandmother told me once that the girls of today just don't have the stamina to be able to do all the things they did.....and I would have to agree!

Although, I have been quoted as saying that I could do without electricity and running water, grow my food and still get by quite okay ......as long as I had wi-fi and a solar powered lap top to blog about it! LOL


Look at this tired old truck - can't you see the expression on his face ? Years of hard work can be seen across his brow!


I don't have to walk four miles to school barefoot in the snow. I haven't birthed 13 children all 9 months apart and I will never have to fight for women to get the vote..... but I really do think that there are some traditions and principles that we should not let go of in our modern world.

We should not shy away from hard work. We should only eat our fill. We should show respect to our elders. We should live within our means and we  should raise our children with values that we want to see reflected in our society.


......and then we should blog about it to share the message !

When we were away we took the opportunity to go panning for gold at Nundle. Even though it was the middle of winter in an area that often gets snow, it was really quite a beautiful day.

As I sat there, the children off doing their own panning and happily exploring all the river had to offer, I suddenly realised that I had found treasure !

No, it wasn't a gold nugget sitting in the bottom of my pan, it was uninterrupted time, seated in nature where I could hear nothing but the babbling noises of the creek.

It was delightful and the time spent there was worth it's weight in gold!

When we were in Sydney we were walking along in Darling Harbour when the boys found an SD card on the ground. A few weeks later when we got home, we decided that we would make it our quest to look through the photos and try and locate the owner. I had heard of someone loosing a camera once and some kind stranger viewed the photos and tracked down the owner. We knew it would be a difficult job, but thought it would be such a triumph if we could track the owner of this SD card down.


We looked all through the photos as a family, gathering clues about our mystery people - who, realistically could have lived anywhere in the world. We were so excited when we realised they were more than likely Australian. That narrowed it down to about 22 million people!

Although we could work out where they went on their holidays ( and what costumers they wore to a Halloween party! lol) We couldn't work out any way of contacting them.

Just when we were about to give up, I remembered seeing a photo of some school children and was able to zoom right in on the badge of the school uniform. We then googled the name of the school and sent the school an email with a couple of pictures attached asking them if they recognised the family.

You can imagine our delight when we were contacted by the school and the family to say the card was theirs! They lived all the way over in Western Australia.

Our boys were delighted and we thought it was hilarious that we could actually do this. Although I guess it was a little invasive for the owner, I am sure they are extremely grateful to get all their precious photos back.

The joy you get from performing an act of random kindness is fabulous....... why not give it a try sometime, you never know when the favour might be returned to you!

I am an early riser. Sometimes it is ridiculously early. Sometimes I am rising when others are just blowing out the lamp for the evening.


I wake naturally. I haven’t had an alarm clock for years. Somehow, I seem to have a built in one.

It wasn’t always this way, in fact, I used to be the complete opposite. When I was at uni the first time they ran evening exams and my housemate and I became completely nocturnal for a period of time! Then.... there was the time I overslept for a maths exam and bolted out the door ( thank goodness I had fallen asleep fully dressed) and was then told that I had the imprint of the electric blanket wires in the side of my face!!!!


But, alas that was almost 20 years ago (gulp!) and somehow I survived the lack of sleep and somehow managed to get a degree or two and somehow pick up a husband and a couple of children on the way to here. ... somehow.....

In between all of that I have lived at both ends of each 24 hour period. I have stayed up very late and I have gotten up very early. For me, the rising early habit really works.


1) I function better, no really.... a LOT better when I have had great sleep. When I don’t get enough sleep I not only lack energy, but my brain fogs over.


2) Quiet, uninterrupted morning time. Whether you use this time for meditation, reading, blogging or just sitting.....the peace and still of the morning really centres you.


3) No rush: getting up early means having enough time to eat a proper breakfast, snuggle with the family, think through your day, get ahead with some housekeeping jobs to free up extra play time etc


4) Seeing the sunrise is a powerful moment. That clear reminder that today is a new day and that everything is fresh and ready to start again. ( contrast this with the buzz of an alarm clock and rush rush rush.....)

Do you want to become an early riser ?

Try these tips.

Go to bed earlier – read if you need to wind down.

Make slow and steady changes, try 15 minutes earlier every second day.

Do something ‘lovely’ with your new time so that getting up early becomes a treat not a punishment.

Read up on the health benefits of getting sufficient sleep

http://www.abc.net.au/health/minutes/stories/2009/04/06/2532293.htm


Are you an early riser ? If you are a night owl, would you say you are productive or have 'quality' time in the evenings ? Have you tried to become an early riser ?

"She rises whilst it is yet night and gives food to her household and portions to her maidens" - prov 31:15

Looking at these handkerchiefs all freshly washed and crisply ironed I am reminded of their place throughout history.

There was a time when one would never leave the house without a freshly pressed hankie in one's pocket. A hankie was more than just a tissue, it was seen as an item of fashion and, particularly after the war, an extension of the self.

It is interesting to see the progression of beautiful vintage designs. Did you know that when dresses were somewhat plain and all one colour, a decorative hankie in a bright floral was thought to bring style and elegance ?

What about that hankie that was strategically dropped, only to be retried by an attractive suitor ?

What about the hankie that was handed to a teary lady which was lovingly hand embroidered with initials ?


I have accepted the mission of single handedly bringing the vintage hankie back into the world. LOL

You may remember that I am also on a mission to single handedly bring back the tea towel

http://avisionsplendid.blogspot.com/2008/02/tea-towel.html

and the air pot.

http://avisionsplendid.blogspot.com/2007/09/chaning-world-one-air-pot-at-time.html

Phew, this world changing stuff is hard work...... any takers for continuing the crusade of bringing back the hankie, the tea-towel and air pot ?

We arrived back from our annual holiday and for the first few days I had what I coined 'post vacation blues'. Normally I am really happy to go away, but very happy to return home again.
We use our annual holiday as a time for renewal. We make our plan for the upcoming year, talk about our focus and and areas of improvement we will launch into for the upcoming year.

We also totally relax.

I enjoyed watching 'Chocolat' ( must be about the fifth time I have seen it and still love it!)