Taking risks.....

It's been a while since I last posted and for good reason. I've started a new business venture and have been busy creating all things wholesome and handmade. Drop in and have a look at my new blog -

Eco As Anything

 'The Shack' in my backyard. Watercolor on paper. 2011

Andrea

Living the grass roots life.

'The Shack Out The Back'

...is a special place for me. It's only a humble little out-house, with no electricity and no running water. One of the glass windows was missing so I had to replace it with some heavy duty clear plastic. Does the job fine and keeps out rain and weather. All  my paintings are stored here and I also paint sometimes in here, if not outdoors. I refused a traditional washing line in favour of an ad -hoc line made of branches and string. ....the backyard vista looks poetic in my eyes.

I've been renovating small kitchen items. A once dark blue enamelware vase has taken on a fresh look in white enamel paint. Looks really nice now filled with fresh hydrangeas from the garden.

.......very old canisters covered in layers of paint , scrubbed backto reveal the shiny metal beneath. I did this without the need for chemicals, by submerging them in boiling water for 15 minutes and then, scraping away the paint. Revealing some of the original labels which probably date back to early 1900's australian . I decided to leave some of this original paintwork on the tins which now gleam.

We are enjoying a cooler spell here in Melbourne, after the onslaught of heat last week. With temperatures reaching 40 degrees, I escaped outside and painted in the shade. We have no air - conditioning in this home,  

but a fan does suffice, coupled with the occasional drenching with water. Have no desire to pump up the electricity usage when the over- use of electricity is part to blame for the extreme temperatures facing us in this day and age. Australia's early settlers managed , and so can we.

One frosty morning....

a little girl equipped with icing sugar, flour, ginger

spices and all things nice......

set out to create the most beautiful gingerbread house.

Inside it was warm and cosy

while the snow outside

gently fell....

and when the morning sun  peeped up over the frosty mountains,

the little girl wished she was tiny.....  small enough to enter the gingerbread house.

We decided to have another go at making a gingerbread house this year.

After our last attempt which was a failure, I did some research on the net

for a 'vegan' gingerbread house recipe , and found one that proved to be 

a success. Do not want to eat it, just yet......

....and among the flotsam, I found Dickens.......

l

... a beautiful old book by my favorite author 'Charles Dickens'

- David Copperfield....found for a song at my local thrift shop.
I have plans to crochet a rug made from these old fabric remnants,
sheets and doona covers, my inspiration coming from the latest Jeanne D'Arc Living Magazine,
sent from Angela Osment  at Simple Things Small Joys....
she wraps the magazine so beautifully in paper and ribbon,
each time I receive it  is like a special present arriving.

Whale spotting on the Mornington Peninsula

School hols at the moment, so, we all went for a hike with our cousins

along the Mornington Peninsula from  Cape Schanck Lighthouse  to Elephant Rock - 

a two and a half hour walk return.  

I had learn't that it is migrating season for the whales at this time of the year ,

but I wasn't expecting to see any . ...that is until our little observant cousin, 

to my children, spotted a mother whale and her calf in the cove below, 

swimming alongside each other, the signature water spout observed every 

so often on close observation.  This was undoubtedly the highlight of our day.  

Our guess is that is was a humpback, but we can't be sure. 

What an incredible day, and so fortunate to see a whale and her calf , swimming playfully without a care, 

 in the deep blue waters of the Bass Strait.