April 2nd, 2011 - B

For this challenge I am using up some of my large paper and card supply and making and laminating a 5 x 5" card each day. 

April 1st, 2011 - A

For this challenge I am using up some of my large paper and card supply and making and laminating a 5 x 5" card each day. 

Another daily challenge starting tomorrow

Every day I post a small piece of writing at my other blog, Pausing to pick up small stones. During April I am planning to participate in another daily challenge. The A to Z Blogging Challenge! It involves posting something each day in April (except Sundays) with each post dedicated to a letter of the alphabet starting with A and ending with Z. 
I have decided that I will make an alphabet card each day and post photos here. So at the end of April I hope to have a beautiful set of alphabet cards. I am still deciding what size they will be. I think I will do a capital letter on one side and a lower case letter on the other. It should be a wonderful way to use some of the many beautiful papers I have collected over the years as well as give me a good reason to play with colours and shapes each day. I also look forward to seeing other people's approach to the challenge. There are a huge number of people signed up to participate (over 700 when I last checked). Click on the badge above for more information. 

Three Word Wednesday - March 30th 2011

Three Word Wednesday time again. I didn't think I would play this week and then more words came to join the three (loud, persuasive, riches) for this week. Here they are: 


Life can be packed full of riches 
Maybe not of the monetary kind 
Words persuasive need not be loud 
Whisper listen - what will you find?  

Sunday Scribblings - March 27th 2011

The prompt this week for Sunday Scribblings: nearly. 


After the phone call 


Nearly, she sighed, clearly wasn't enough 
Application and interview both really tough 
And now here she cried 
Feeling glad she had tried 
Yet really quite right out of puff 

The March garden update

A couple of weeks ago I was going to post the garden update for March but thought it was a bit early but now here it is almost the end of March. Here is some of the garden news. 


Growth has been fairly steady in the garden this month. I have rescued a few seedlings from Bunnings (parsley, marigolds and some basil) and look forward to seeing how they go. The marigolds really seem to like their new environment. They look really strong and are starting to flower. 

Marigolds rescued from Bunnings

The beginnings of bright orange flowers

I planted some basil seeds a while ago and they seem to be going well in the garden. 

beginning basil 

The zucchinis and squash are, well, taking over the garden. Next year I will know to plant them further apart. I have enjoyed a few zucchinis and there are many more growing. The squash plants haven't produced as well but I am hopeful I will get to enjoy some soon. 

taking over!

I love seeing these bright and cheery zucchini flowers

Hoping to enjoy this squash soon

There have been a few visitors to the garden. I have discovered quite a few snails under the zucchini leaves. Something is enjoying the rocket I planted from seed. I hope the plants are strong enough now to withstand attack. I have had some difficulty in the past growing rocket in the garden, losing plants to hungry creatures. 

rocket with holes 

Looking very healthy is the plant I got when I saw the Magic Harvest film last month. 

Next job is to do some weeding I think!

Six Word Saturday - March 26, 2011

Two six word sentences this week. Simply because I came up with two and I can't choose between them. 

What will I write this week? 

These six words hold much curiosity. Another six words, ha ha. At the moment I am enjoying participating in a couple of weekly prompt sites as well as 6WS. It has been a lot of fun and I have produced some writing that I am quite pleased with. 

Sunday Scribblings provides a theme which people then write about. Last Sunday it was: free. My approach is to consider the prompt and post something if I feel like it. I have done so for the last few weeks. There was one week I didn't come up with anything although I did think about the prompt a lot. I am taking a low pressure approach to this one - it's good if I come up with something and revising something old to fit the prompt is okay and it's also fine if I don't come up with anything. 

Three Word Wednesday provides three words each Wednesday which participants then incorporate into a piece of writing. I have been participating for the last three weeks. For this one I am writing something new, often a poem. This week I wrote a list poem about meditation (see previous post). I am really enjoying this process. It feels really difficult at first but then with some thinking and playing with words each week something has begun to unfold and before long I've had something ready to post. I think that I will keep giving this one a go for a while and enjoy the challenge. As with Sunday Scribblings I will not give myself a hard time if I don't come up with anything suitable to post. 

I wonder what I will write for both of these this week. Will I even write anything at all? I look forward to seeing how they both unfold this week. 

I'm confident that I will write at least something each day this week. On my other blog, pausing to pick up small stones I post a small piece of writing each day. I am looking forward to July when many other bloggers around the world will join in and post a daily small stone in the river of stones. Find out more about this and how you can participate here. I wonder what my small stones will be about this week??

As well as blogging I am also doing a reasonable amount of journal writing. I use my journal to play around with some ideas for the prompts too. I am also writing a piece about the role of singing in my life and my participation in the singing group which I wrote about for 6WS a couple of weeks ago. I wonder how much of that I will get done this week. It will involve planning some time to write. I think this week will include much writing. I'll see how it pans out. 

And now the second six words for this week...

There are millipedes in the house. 

It's unusual to have so many millipedes in the house. A friend asked yesterday if I had millipedes in the house. She was getting frustrated with all the sweeping them up. I did notice lots around this week. They were at work too. It must be something to do with the weather. We are just moving into Autumn here but it has been quite wet recently and Summer wasn't very hot compared to other years. Seeing so many millipedes reminds me of living in the Adelaide Hills where they would be everywhere. I think one of the years I was living in the Hills there was a real plague of them. I remember public toilet walls just covered in black. There also seems to be more spiders around. One has a very intricate web in the corner of our yard. And there are lots of crickets around too...

Some hopes for meditation

My third week participating in Three Word Wednesday. Wow! I am enjoying producing a piece of writing that would not exist if not for the three given words each week. This week's three words: dual, identical, volley. What I ended up with was quite different to how it started! 


Some hopes for meditation 


To be one in a circle of identical poses 
To experience a dual state of awareness: thinking self, observing self 
To calm a volley of emotions 
To let go of perfection 
To enjoy a gift to myself 

Some fun and brightness

A relaxing and fun afternoon of drawing and painting. 

by Casandra 

by Kylie 

                                                                                                       

by Casandra

Sunday Scribblings - March 20th 2011

The prompt this week for Sunday Scribblings: free. What a huge prompt. My thinking is going in so many different directions. Buy one, get one free! Now I am free! The freeing of emotions! The freedom of holidays! 


I am left feeling unsure of whether I can do this prompt justice with words. Maybe they will come later? So for Sunday Scribblings this week I offer an image. 

Here I feel free. I appreciate living so close to such a beautiful beach.