top ten pictures from the week ~ 18 august 11

It pains me to tell you this...

seen on honey 'n fizz

but I will anyway

seen on gingerella

the top ten was hard work this week...

seen on wish you were here

I had to persevere and keep looking, looking...I was disappointed it took so long to put together, but what can you do?

seen on the style files

just go with what you've got...which is good, don't get me wrong, but it was  hard to find...it's usually a breeze. Well, breeze-ish.

seen on the design files

I don't think the fact that I've been difficult to please or my patience threshold is low has got anything to do with a lack of sugar. No, I won't hear of it!

seen on my pear tree house

it's only been three days and I suspect there's so much kicking around in my body it's going to take a lot longer than that for withdrawal nastiness to kick in!

seen on greige

but...reading this post by Jane from My Pear Tree House certainly made up for a dearth of pretty pictures. Please go and read it if you haven't already. A wonderful attitude and quite a lot of wisdom waits for you there.

handwriting...

I've been doing a lot of writing lately.  After my wonderful Bali experience, there seem to be an awful lot of first sentences for novels or short stories floating around on bits of paper, banged out in a random word document when the computer's up and running or typed haphazardly on the iPad if that's the closest thing to hand.

One thing I have been trying to do is my morning pages...three pages of handwritten stream of consciousness. Oh the drivel that sometimes comes out of the end of a pen onto lined paper in the early hours of the morning is something to behold. Or perhaps not :)

I use one of these lovely Christina Re journals that I won on Louise's blog

But it makes me think about handwriting. I like to write, provided I have the right pen. A fine nibbed ballpoint is the weapon of choice for me. Cheap pens from hotels I've stayed in seem to be the best for some bizarre reason. And my handwriting is not too shabby. Not fancy or anything. No clever embellishments, no swirls and twirls. But when I'm 'in the flow or the zone' or whatever it is, my writing looks pretty good. It too is fluid, languid, easy to do, and easy on the eye. I can also do a reasonable imitation of a type font when I put my mind to it. But that requires a different pen...and a whole lot more time!

But when I'm in a hurry or my thoughts are jagged, my writing takes that form on as well. Do you find that? Or is the art of handwriting just dead and buried, used only for shopping lists or by very well mannered people who write thank you notes? I hope not. There's such pleasure in reading something that's been lovingly written don't you think. 
I will leave you with the words of Norbet Platt...I don't know who he is or was.. not even google helped me with that..but I stumbled upon this quote yesterday and I like what he says. I think my morning pages are doing this for me.


"The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium."


And speaking of equilibrium, thank you to everyone who left a comment, emailed or facebooked after my last post...you're very kind you lot. And while the zen may not be completely back it's certainly getting there. Some balance has been regained. And that's a very good thing. The top ten might even make it back next week at this rate :)
images 1 and 3 found on pinterest

pffft...!

That's the sound of my zen disappearing in a puff of smoke. I'm going through a bit of a rough time at the moment, but I'll be back as soon as I feel I can. Hopefully that won't be long :)

Until then, enjoy this painting I did a long time ago, but more importantly please pop over and say bon voyage to Charlotta. She's given me the honour of writing her last blog post from Australia....I'm not sure if she's brave or just momentarily muddled! She and her lovely family are heading back to Sweden. Sob and sigh.

top ten pictures from the week ~ 14 June 11 (and a relative of mine starts a blog!)

Hello possums...

seen on wish you were here

how was your long weekend?

seen on brabourne farm

...if you were lucky enough to have one that is.

seen on archiphile tumblr

...mine was mixed.

by nic at make space

I spent most of saturday starting to make a quilt for a new baby

paul candales as seen on the style files

her name is Ruby Grace...isn't that lovely

seen on mfamb

you can see the start of it over on my FB page

seen on archiphile tumblr

but my plans to finish it were scuttled by that thing called work

seen on anya adores

which seems to be crowding my life just a bit too much at the moment

seen on an indian summer

I shouldn't complain...it pays the bills after all

seen on alkemie

but still...

taken by anya adores

My cousin Phillip has started a blog (he says he was inspired by me...silly bugger. I've warned him about blogging addiction)

seen on driftwood interiors

...it's called Reinventing Home and it will chronicle his and his partner's search for their first home somewhere in the Blue Mountains. Pop over and say hi if you get a chance. He's family after all :)

seen on compulsively compiled

There'll be no top ten next week...I'll be out of the country and quite possibly incommunicado!

You'll cope I'm sure......but I've given you a few extras today just in case you don't :)