on love, in sadness

That’s actually the name of one of my favourite Jason Mraz songs, but it’s fitting. D and I are taking a time out; it’s not what I want although I guess on some level it must be, but the fact is I am very very sad right now. I am getting on with my life, I am ok, I still laugh and dance and continue my love affair with the beach, but there’s a big lump of sad trailing around behind me just now.

I don’t know what will happen, I can only hold a space for Something Wonderful, even if that doesn’t ultimately look like what I right now hope it might. I’m doing a lot of thinking too, and some ideas for paintings are percolating and will be show-and-telled when they come into being, but for now, I can’t {and don’t want to} pretend I am not sad.

There are so many complicated {and yet somehow simple} feelings when you part ways with someone; someone said to me it is a grieving process even though no one has died. I guess the thing that died was the potential of the future you saw growing. It’s not that now there is no future of course, only it doesn’t look like what you thought, and even though I have faith that everything happens for a reason, and that whatever comes next can only be magnificent, there is no point pretending to myself that I am only excited about that. That I don’t have fear and sorrow, confusion and even some anger. To not honour those would be to deny them and have to deal with them later anyway.

I wasn’t going to say any of this. I am not asking for sympathy {although I take my comfort where I can find it!}; I know there is nothing to say. It is a part of my life though and I guess it wanted to be said. And I also know that there are many many many of us {human beans} who are being buffeted about these days. If it’s not 2012 stuff it’s planetary alignments or solar or lunar eclipses, or just weird energy that brings change out of nowhere and smacks us upside the head repeatedly in a variety of imaginative ways.

And so if shitty or difficult or sad things are happening to you or your loved ones, I send you enormous beams of love and endless streams of miracles. I send you big spaces where you can breathe deeply and feel peace, enormous reserves of strength within you and big swathes of hugs to support you. May your light shine brightly and bring healing to all you come across, starting with you.

{And if you don’t need it right now, maybe that message is for me after all.}

get your cake out :: part one

Oh my. I really tried to limit the photo uploading you guys. I was thinking, “I’ll just post three photos for each place we went to”, which would be 18 photos already, and so far we’re at FORTY.

{Some time later}

Well I’ve done my best. This is the least amount of photos I can share while including both the weird and wonderful {and there are so many I’ve left out!}. You were all so sweet about welcoming me back and being interested in photos, I have rather taken you at your word. And it’s nice to have a record of the feel of the trip. I’m making it a two parter though, as we all have lives to lead.

So we started in Ubud in Bali, then went to the small island of Lembongan off the south coast, followed by some time in the Gili Islands off the east coast of Lombok and a few days on the south coast of Lombok in and around Kuta, and a couple of days in Kuala Lumpur before finishing up on the island of Pulau Perhentian Kecil off the east coast of Malaysia.

Off we go… first, Bali.

Ubud, Bali ~ temples abound; the main religion is Hinduism and you cannot walk the streets without literally tripping over the offerings of flowers, incense and even cigarettes placed everywhere every single day

Sunsets; an almost daily treat {rainy season schmainy season}

Lunch. Served on a banana leaf, naturally.

Feeding the monkeys in the Monkey Forest, Ubud. This one pulled politely on my shorts when he saw the banana in my hand. How could I refuse?

Women working in the rice fields

Rice fields at Ceking, Tegallalang

Next, a few days on the the island of Lembongan. Population, 500. We stayed in a thatched hut, with astonishing outdoor bathroom, surrounded by tropical gardens.

Sunset over Mushroom Beach

Best studio ever?!

No need for glasses. Just whack the top off the coconut with your handy machete and stick a couple of straws in. A child could do it {and usually does}.

Seaweed farming is the big export here; picturesque as it dries in the sun but pretty stinky.

A post snorkelling trip float through the mangroves; I will most remember the complete silent stillness. And D attempting to punt us out of there to give Su, our guide, ‘a rest’. Let’s just say Su made it look easy.

Tropical paradise at sunset

Leaving Lembongan; market day at the harbour, and there’s our transport in pink and blue, ready to take us, a few other passengers and many baskets of fish to Lombok.

That’s more than enough for today! Part two tomorrow. x

dragonflies, murk and excitement

Well. I have been doing a bit of something artish every day {bar two}, but it isn’t really show and tellable yet. But I did manage to put my procrastinating to good creative use by making this fabulous treasury in honour of the gorgeous Angel who loves dragonflies:

 

‘Dragonfly Blue’ by AquamarineArt


Mother of Pearl mosaic …

$135.00

white and blue throw pi…

$22.50

Thin dragonfly stackabl…

$26.00

10 Teal Dragonfly Organ…

$10.00

Dragonfly Vinyl Wall De…

$12.00

Blue Dragonfly Print

$15.00

Beautiful Japanese Fabr…

$7.50

Dragonfly Bowl Handmade…

$14.50

Vintage style big drago…

patternaddicts
$2.99

Dragonfly Gift Set – Al…

$30.00

Discover Happiness Bowl

$18.00

Chandelier Dragonfly M…

$52.00

Dragonflies and butterf…

$60.00

Dragonfly 11 Graphic pr…

$15.00

Silver Dragonfly Earrin…

$16.00

Dragonfly Bag and Pouch…

$72.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

If you’re wondering how I got my treasury into my blog post with clickable links, I found the instructions here.

Here is a photo of the West Pier I took yesterday when it was all murky and strange on the beach.

And a rather more scenic one taken later in the day while I was sketching on the beach:

I’ve also been rather excitingly asked to write a guest post for Leah’s blog for December! The theme is ‘wintering’, and I’m putting something together with that in mind. More on that later. I have to go and feel pleased with myself now. Also it’s lunch time.

The August Break

So I am just learning how it all works over here at WordPress (although actually the blog for my old business was in WordPress I just realised, so it should be more a case of remembering), and basking in the gloriousness that is my new all-in-one website. ;)

In the meantime I have joined Susannah Conway’s August Break, which involves posting as many or as few photos as you like, as often or as little as you like throughout August, using any kind of camera. (Flexibility is my fave!)

As Susannah says, “No pressure – just looking at August through your camera lens as a way to be more present this summer.” I take photos all the time, especially since I got my smartphone, so this is going to be fun! And I could certainly do with reminders to be present… {and, it strikes me, it’s also a good way to master the ordinary and remember god is in the details.}

There is a Flickr group and you can get a gorgeous sparkly badge (like mine, on the right there), here.

So to kick off the proceedings, here are a few photos I’ve taken over the last couple of days…

{after a swim}

{lunch on the roof terrace}

{the parental dog Coco and her meerkat baby}

{beach + boat = bliss}

{my father in his garden}

{quiche love!}

Well that took most of the morning {some hardcore learning to do on the uploading images front}, and next time there will be less photos. {Promise!} Are you taking part in the August Break? I’d love to see your photos from your day to day life.

camera app catch up

So my muse buggered off to who-knows-where (well frankly I don’t blame her, it’s much warmer there I hear), and then I got a vicious cold, so I am generally feeling quite flattened. Nothing like a bit of enforced down time to reassess things. I’m not sure that reassessing when you’re on a low ebb is quite the best time to think about your future and what you’re going to do with it. But it IS a good opportunity to catch up on reading, movie watching, travel planning and napping in the afternoon. But never mind all that; I’ve been missing my blog and my blog peeps (that’s you!) and I realised I’ve started amassing a few nice little photos with my not-quite-an-iphone-retro-camera-app-thingy, so a quick share to say hi, I’m still here, and I’ll be back soon.Honestly, with these camera apps you can make ANYthing look cool. Here’s a post breakfast in bed shot.
Reading on the front steps in the sunshine.As soon as I’m up and about again, I’ve got several projects either on the go or waiting in the wings, and then things will get interesting again. Promise :)