Finding joy in the everyday

Art Friday: Toilet roll art by Anastasia Elias French artist Creating miniature worlds in used toilet rolls. An idea for your next art class. Each one of these takes Anastasia about 1 hour.  See how all of these are made plus more! http://chicquero.com/2011/11/29/toilet-paper-rock-and-roll/

As a lover of books, I loved this facade at the Kansas City Public Library - how cool is that and how creative!! Here is a temporary facade of "books"in Cardiff, Wales Taking their inspiration from the Kansas Public Library, an art group in Tyumen, Russia transformed a rundown building in a local school yard into a bookshelf. Brilliant idea. 

"Children have only one childhood.  We can fail in business and oftentimes start over and make good. But if we fail in the teaching and training of our children we never get another chance." Tomorrow's world will be shaped by what we teach our children today. *** A mother's patience it like a tube of toothpaste.  It's never quite gone! (all quotes are from the book "Amish Proverbs" by Suzanne Woods Fisher) Isn't this the sweetest illustration.  I still have my mother, I can't imagine how hard it is when you loose yours. To all those who no longer have a mother to talk to (now in heaven) - in my prayers.

White Ribbon Day Every day 1,000 women are violently assaulted across Australia.  Ordinary women. Most assaults are never reported to police. All forms of domestic violences is wrong. Sexual, physical and emotional abuse against women and men is completely unacceptable.  Not all women are saints, but that does not give a partner the right to assault their wives or girlfriends.  Close to half of all women (40%) have experienced violence since the age of 15 Just under one third of women (29%) have experienced physical assault Nearly one in five women (17%) have experienced sexual assault Nearly one in six women (16%) have experienced violence by a current or previous partner in their lifetime Since the age of 15, one third of women (33%) have experienced inappropriate comments about their body or sex life, one quarter 925%) have experienced unwanted sexual touching, one in five (19%) have been stalked Not only does domestic violence have long term

Just loved this - very true in my case.  Just a quick entry today as I know you are all very busy. What are your plans for the coming week? I have four more weeks at work before two weeks leave. This is always a nice time at work with Christmas parties (and yummy morning teas) and a lot more fun and laughter (I think because the weather is sunny and warm!). *** For my American family and friends - did you all have a lovely Thanksgiving? Was it a calm and relaxing day or more like Doris Lee's painting (1935).  Only the dog looks relaxed! *** Thought I would share with you a couple of photos of the Hebe growing in my garden. The shrubs are covered in these gorgeous white flowers and the butterflies and bees are very happy.  The garden is doing so well at the moment, I think we have had the right amount of rain and warmth.  Even the vegetables are doing very well. The tomatoes are growing before my eyes (and I can see baby tomatoes growing), the

Art Friday: Tilt-shift photography I will let you enjoy these photos and then I will tell you how they are done. Tilt-shift photography is a creative type of photography in which the camera is manipulated so that a life-size location or subject looks like a miniature-scale model. All these photos you have just looked at full size real places. None are miniature to play with!!  Here is a wikipedia explanation of tilt-shift:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilt–shift_photography It is pretty cool !! Here is my first attempt at tilt-shift - can you see Santa? Would love to see some of yours if you give it a try!

Not very Australian I know!! Australians expect to spend an average $419 on presents, down 10 per cent on last year.  Thirty-five per cent plan to spend less than last year, 52 per cent the same and 13 per cent more, the phone poll of 1200 people. ( link ) I have, for the first time, almost completed my Christmas shopping.  Usually I leave some items until December, but this year I have been feeling very organised and decided to start early and get it all done by the 30th of November and I am on par to achieving this. Not only that, most are wrapped as well - a bit more yesterday noon when I came home from work.  It feels such a relief to been this organised. I have done much of my shopping online — this isn’t unusual for me — I am a fan of online shopping and do most of my everyday shopping online these days. Not only because it can be cheaper, I have a greater range to choice from (particularly with books and DVDs), I can shop whenever I want to, the parcels are deliver

In Australia, 58.8% of women are participating in the labour force (those women working or looking for work) compared to 71.5% for males. Of those women working, almost 55% are part-time and 54% are full-time.  Most men work full-time. One of the most popular topics that I find when reading blogs is the number of articles on feminism.   I have been wanting to comment on this because it puzzles me quite a bit. Most ordinary women who go about their daily business, including those going off to work don’t talk about feminism or even think about much.  It's just not on their radar anymore. Many young women no longer see it as relevant — however they still believe in things like equal pay, but they don’t see this as a feminist issue, just common sense.  The worry among the feminist movement is that it isn’t much of movement anymore and its certainly lost its power. It was only when I started reading blogs did I come across the word so much and so often.  It would appear th

I know all about this!!! But to thanks Marcel Grateau (a French hairdresser) for inventing the first hair straightener (known as the "flat iron") in 1872, I now have much more control over my hair (hair product also helps)!!  However if the humidity increases to much, that's it, no hope at all.  Up it goes into a bun or pony tail and that helps "control" the curl.  Modern hair straightener is much nicer than this is! Does your hair do its own thing?

Elizabeth Gaskell was born 1810 and died in 1865. She was an author during the Victoria era and weaved through her books the plight of the very poor and the consequences of the Industrial Revelation on these people plus an insight into the class system of Britain at the time. Several of her books have been made into mini series and they are all excellent. My favourite would have to be North and South , a gritty portrayal of northern England during the height of the British cotton industry.   Cranford is lovely, I thought  it was much more gentle that "North and South" but so beautifully made with some of England's best actors including Judy Dench.  And on the weekend I watched Wives and Daughters as recommended by my brother. Another wonderful BBC production by Andrew Davies. Interestedly, Gaskell never finished "Wives and Daughters", she died before she wrote the ending.  However she had told a friend how it would end and who Molly would marry.