july scavenger hunt

Gosh, I'm actually on the ball with this post!! Right on time in fact considering all the goings on here!
June was a busy month and July has been the same and I'm really hoping for a calmer August - thats not too much to ask surely? Mind you, I tend to always find more things to add to my day and eventually there's too much on my to do list and I just let it all lapse and dont do any of it. Then I relax a bit until the cycle starts again! But thats ok, I'm aware of the busy/rest/busy/rest nature of my life now so it doesn't bother me overly anymore. 

This month I've had little chance to take photos. In fact, I hardly picked up my camera and only took a bare minimum on my phone. Therefore all the photos for the July Scavenger Hunt are ones from my Photo Bank - the vast collection on my laptop that should really be culled, collated and added to an external hard drive. Maybe next year ;) 

1. Something purple: This prompt is really no hardship since purple is one of my most favourite-ist colours and I have a plethora of purple tinged pics!! I picked this one to share since I'm pleased as punch with the recover I did of my sisters couch. Sister Mimi has grand plans for her new business venture which focuses on holistic funerals and end of life care and to that end she purchased an old church and hall. We spent 6 months having a most fabulous time decorating the hall with all manner of lush furniture and decadent designs! This second hand couch was a grey blue and definitely needed a make over so I made slip covers for all the various parts in a gorgeous purple stretch velvet.....oooh it was yummy! I'm quite pleased with the result - with the right cushions and a painting up on that turquoise wall, it looks stunning! 

 2. Shades of green: As I was scrolling through my pics I found lots of outdoorsy types of shots with many greens but none that really stood out. Then up popped this one that I'd painted during an online painting class I took. I was mixing a couple of greens with other colours to see what happened and it was a great way to learn that although I might only have two green paints in my set, there are actually a whole lot of other ones to be made! It's such a fascinating pastime and I love the simplicity of this activity - makes me feel like an alchemist creating potions!!

3. Starts with F: The most important F word for me - FAMILY! This pic was from two Christmas's ago (I think) and as usual there were extras as well, who just sort of slot in with all the rest! Six of the young ones are mine, plus the blonde granddaughter at this end. The rest are in-laws and some friends that spent a lot of time with us as they were growing up. And of course, there is the Best Man there on the right as well - I couldn't have done it without him ;)

You may be wondering why we are all wearing white? Yes, well.....many years ago when we moved a long way from my family, I decided that we needed some new traditions that denoted our newly emerging little family, and the white clothing was conceived. Every year we wore our best white frocks and shirts and since some of my children (and I) like Tradition, every year we continue to do so. The newly arriving potential sons and daughters in law have (wo)manfully accepted this peculiarity and so it continues to prevail. I do have to remind the offspring every year though because some have threatened to wear...shock....horror...colours!!! Here's a teeny bit on why we celebrate Christmas on Xmas Eve.

4. Still Life: I snapped this one in recent months and have been wanting to share it ever since. It was taken on a sunny morning not long after we'd moved into this cottage and these few green objects were all sitting close by on the bench as the morning sun came streaming through the window. I did move them around into a pleasing arrangement and I rather like the effect. One day I'd love to do a photography course because I can see that it's not too clear and the lighting is off -  but finding time to do courses might be for another year!

5. Snapped at this moment: Yep, literally snapped at this moment for this post! This is the view I see as I'm sitting here at the desk - lots of green bush and blue sky outside and a messy desk inside.  I'll let you into a little secret - I have been busy writing and filming a little online course that I hope to have finished soon. Thats whats been keeping me busy this month and I suspect it will be the same next month ;) The sticky notes on the window are to remind myself that it's ok to put myself on video, that I can do it and that I can be bigger than my fear. Not sure how well the wise words are working but I am slowly getting it done.

6. My own choice: This autumn just gone (southern hemisphere here, remember...so April) we were still living in the bus in the empty paddock next door to our daughter. Sadly it has since been totally covered in a housing development but while we were there we harvested a lot of yarrow for winter use. I've been harvesting it for a number of years now and it's an amazing little herb that can be used in the prevention of colds and fevers amongst other uses. Here's a link to some botanical information and another one with an interesting recipe that I'd like to try next Spring.

I like to use just the flowers for tea since they have the nicest flavour but I believe all parts of the plant can be used. In the photo above, the granddaughters are harvesting the flower heads, which we later snipped off quite closely to the flowers themselves and dried on a tray. The sun streaming in through the bus windows did a great job of drying them! I snapped lots of pics that afternoon and all of them had this beautiful subtle lighting - it must have been the sun and cloud combo - so I couldn't resist using one as the My Choice pic!

I am feeling a bit slack just posting old pics but in a way its lovely to share some that just haven't made it onto here! If you are interested in more Scavenger Hunt photos then do pop over to visit at I live, I love, I craft, I am me and take at peek at all the other people and places!

sustainable living june

Well dear friends!! I finally have a spare hour to settle myself fully into this space. They've been a whirlwind in many ways these past 3 weeks, to say the least! Thankyou so much for the lovely comments that you left on my very quick 'just passing by' post. It really was delightful to read that some of you are still stopping by to see what I'm up to! 

I won't go into all the details of my absence because this post is supposed to be about all the happenings in June ;) Mind you, it feels like June was a lifetime ago and I mostly cant even remember what went on!!! However I did start this Sustainable Living post back then and really want to share it regardless of the lack of memory! 

nourish: Firstly and most importantly I feel, there is the food! There were a lot of nourishing vegan bowls of goodness in the last month. Ive been passionate about healthy eating for most of my life and am a firm believer in More Greens!!! I've also been striving towards a plant based or vegan diet for the past 12 months - which wasn't hard as we were vegetarian for over 20 years.

It's so easy now to be completely plant based as there is so much info and so many great ready made sauces and substitutes if you are short on time. I mostly make my own and the one above is a super simple cashew sauce as well as a quick guacamole. I make those a lot because a sauce can dress up anything! The bowls here have a whole baked sweet potato topped with a can of lentils (which I fried with an onion and some spices) baby spinach, chopped capsicum and the toppings. We've been having these types of dinners regularly - sometimes the base is quinoa or brown rice - and always there are lots of different veggies in there and some delicious saucy goodness on top!!

Oh, and I also made peanut butter! :)

lessen: One of the little quirks in my life is not liking to throw things out! Now that does mean that I tend to have a large stash of junk useful items tucked away in our Shed of Delights waiting patiently for their day in the limelight. It also means that when I or indeed any of the family require say, a metre and a half of fly screen or a book on batik dying or even a 1970's National Geographic magazine, they are sure to find it within those hallowed shelves! I used to feel a little weird about this habit of mine. I mean it's not exactly what everyone is into now is it? Just take the popularity of Marie Kondo and the minimalist movement.

In recent times however (like the last few months) I've been feeling at peace with my hoarding tendencies. I refuse to feel guilty any longer! I like being able to put my hands on some fabric to create without buying it new; I enjoy having a stack of mags if I feel like creating a vision board; I love to help my family out with whatever it is they may need for a little project. Of course, I don't have everything we need, stashed away in The Shed but often there'll be something there that we can make do with. And because I love to re-use stuff, it makes me feel really good.

All that to say that I used up a beloved and well used linen tea towel....and after a lot of stitching, turned it into 3 dishcloths. I get such a thrill out of this kind of thing - just looking at the pic makes me all excited!! Mind you, I think that was the only such remake that happened all month so I suppose it's a good thing to be excited about hahaha!!!

grow: See, I told you I cant remember much from June - I'm not even sure why I had a pic of my salad saved under the 'grow' category although I'm guessing it's because of the sprouts! Nothing at all growing here outside. The weather is doing it's wintery, sleety, windy thing and I'm tucked up inside growing the only garden I can right now! Sprouts. Delicious tiny powerhouses of nutrition.

create: I do remember creating these pyjamas for the three grandchildren! Mostly because I swore a lot and spent days arranging and rearranging the pattern pieces on the various matching bits of fabric that I'd unpacked from.....wait for it......The Shed!!! The plain pink was an old sweatshirt of mine and the rest were fabrics I'd picked up in op-shops over the years. Since they were for pj's I wanted to use only cotton fabrics rather than synthetic blends, hence the need to make it all fit. The two girls have matching pants (which they'd already taken home before I got the tops made) and then the tiny boy had to have a top and pants out of many scraps. I managed in the end but it was a near run thing.....as I mentioned, there was cursing and much gnashing of teeth. The girls of course are delighted to be all matchy with their new brother and I'm ecstatic once again to have used some of the Stuff!!!!


So, my lovelies! There you have it - what I did in June! I must say though that July has been a very different month indeed. I'm not sure July will even qualify for a sustainable month post actually!

Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment. I'll be popping in to see you all later on today, as my spare hour is up for now. ;)

it's busy here!

Oh my goodness!! This last week and a half has been filled with so many different and un-usual happenings that I've hardly had time to even look in on this space let alone have a peek into yours!

I hope to be back here soon with my Sustainable June post but in the meantime I'll leave you with some (older) photos of my oldest daughter and her two little ones - who have been taking up some of the aforementioned time ;)