At the beginning of May we celebrated Samhuinn, the mid-point between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice. In the Druid tradition, this is the time when we honour those who have gone before us and recognise that as we journey into the dark of the year, we give our soul much needed rest. This is also … Continue reading
Although this spring has been somewhat tumultuous weather-wise, the soil is clearly getting warmer and spring is definitely taking a hold in the garden. S.and I are loving having space to get outside and plant things, and of course T. is enjoying having space to run around. He loves looking for bugs, riding his motorbike, … Continue reading
Well, it has been a while since my latest post. And we are well and truly into the wild spring weather. Beautiful one day, bitterly cold the next, and of course the ever present spring winds come to play almost daily too. Our house is zoned for high wind, and my goodness can you feel … Continue reading
The school holidays are still a highlight of our lives – counting down the weeks to family time – and these ones just been have been particularly lovely. B.’s parents came to visit us in the first week, and then we visited my family in Auckland in the second week, and we’ve had many a … Continue reading
I wrote this post for the blog of our spiritual group, and wanted to share it here too. Since starting our family, or even before that – when we considered the idea of bringing children up in a spiritual tradition – we’ve been on the look out for books that inspire kids’ spirituality in different … Continue reading
I took a big step last week, and sent in my resignation letter to the school I taught at before T. was born – I’m officially not going back to work for the foreseeable future. Hooray! Hooray?? I knew, ages ago, that I was going to make the decision not to return to work after … Continue reading
It’s been a whirlwind couple of months, as evidenced by our distinct lack of presence here, but luckily it’s been for a most exciting reason – we bought our first home! We’re still working through all the things that a major move involve, but we’ve been settled in for nearly a month and are feeling … Continue reading
It’s been a crazy couple of weeks – I went back to work temporarily, we had a whole heap of visitors one after the other, and – most exciting of all – we bought our first house! Moving day is less than two weeks away now, so we’re surrounded by boxes and ongoing mess but … Continue reading
I was recently moving all our cookbooks (to make space for a project I’m working on for the little guy) and came across this gem: (Aunt Daisy was a New Zealand radio celebrity from the 1930s onwards). I don’t think I actually ever looked at it properly when it came home with my sister and … Continue reading
{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. Inspired by Amanda Soule…visit http://www.soulemama.com to see her moment and scroll down to her comments to be linked to many other moments … Continue reading
My parents have this beautiful rimu computer cupboard that unfolds into a computer desk when you open the doors. Inspired by this S. and I decided to have a go at creating our own. We scoped out the local antique stores and op shops and finally found our ideal cabinet. Bringing it home was a … Continue reading
I’ve always loved markets. From the most exotic and chaotic to the ordinary and everyday, they provide an awesome opportunity to take photos – something I love doing! We are lucky in Wellington to have so many fruit and vege markets, including one just down the road from us. We regularly go to the markets … Continue reading
It’s been fascinating watching Little Bear interact with his world and learn how it all works. He has developed very clear preferences about activities and toys! Without further ado, a few of his current/recent favourites: S.
This project has very much been a labour of love, with so much planning and imagining even before we got pregnant. I’m a very visual person, and I like to have clear pictures in my head of how things will look before starting anything new, so there wasn’t much decision-making required by the time we … Continue reading
I’ve been wanting to do a little series about my garden for a while now, and after a good autumn clean up this afternoon I feel like I have the words at last. There’s a fair bit to tell, so this will be split into 3 installments. Way back at the beginning of 2011, in … Continue reading
I love cheese. No seriously, I really love cheese. Especially the fancy kind. At this particular moment I’m not eating any since I am recovering from having my wisdom teeth out a couple of days ago. In fact I’m not eating much really, but that hasn’t stopped me thinking about what I will be eating … Continue reading
One of the things I love most about Summer holidays (and the wonderful fact of the matter is that as teachers we enjoy fantastically long ones) is that S. and I have a chance to reflect on the year that’s been, plan for the year ahead and, most importantly, enjoy spending time with our families. … Continue reading
Disclaimer: I’m a dancer not a doctor. These are remedies that I have used during my years dancing and have learnt via the dance teacher training I’m currently completing. If something is persistent, painful or acute then these remedies are not going to be enough and you need to see a health care professional. Here’s … Continue reading
Well spring has well and truly sprung here in Wellington and although I wouldn’t call it my favourite season (Autumn wins that hands down) it is gorgeous when all the flowers come out. We spent a lovely afternoon wandering through the botanic gardens taking pictures earlier this week when my parents were visiting. Here are … Continue reading
As a druid, I work with the idea of ‘within and without’. For me, this encapsulates the body or physical life (without) and the mind/soul/spirit/heart or the spiritual/emotional life(within). I love this duality, and am increasingly learning to walk my spiritual path in the wider world. One of the interesting ways this has been manifesting … Continue reading
The school librarians at work sent out a request on the last day of term: they wanted us to take a photo of a bookshelf in our house for a competition in Book Week, where the students will have to guess which bookshelf belongs to which teacher. I have to admit, I had quite a … Continue reading
