All this from the gorgeous Kate

A little while ago I had the privilege of meeting up with two blogging friends, EllaDee and Kate. We spent a delightful hour or two at the Botanic Gardens. It was like old friends meeting up, because, although we had never met, we are old friends through our blogs.

Imagine my further delight when I came home one afternoon to a parcel from Kate. In it were little treasures that I have to share.

If you follow Kate’s blog (and if you don’t, maybe you should!) you will know that she is an amazing quilter. The mat she sent to me is too nice to use! But I will, and I will think of her when I do.

The quilted mat

She hand stitched me a book mark, with my initials and even a feather. Knowing that I am obsessed with feathers is not difficult, but how did she know that I collected bookmarks? This one will have pride of place. And I am looking forward to drawing that feather she sent.

A special book mark and a wonderful feather

There were more treasures to come.

A little while ago I had a flurry of making sketchbooks, which I sent off to bloggers who wanted one. Kate’s has come back to me. I was blown away when I saw what she had added to it. I will let the photos speak.

The original sketchbook

…..and lastly some extra, beautiful feathers. I am very humbled, Kate, thank you.

 

I wish us peace

The tragedy of the Malaysian Airlines flight has moved us to tears, and our hearts go out to those who are left behind, grieving.

I wrote last time about the ordinary act of packing a suitcase. For me a suitcase is a strong metaphor. It represents ordinariness, something we all do when we travel. But far more, it represents hope, that we will finish the journey and use the things we have packed. It represents trust, that the carrier will get us there safely. So, to see the images of the spilt suitcases shows us how that trust, hope and ordinariness were violated.

But I worry about the reaction from leaders around the world. Our world changed dramatically after 9/11, and not for the better. I can feel the world shifting once again. Surely this is now the time to find another way to solve problems.

Ardysz published a thoughtful post just recently titled We’re the people. Go over and have a read. However I would like to take a quote from her blog, because I think her words are so wise.

In the coming weeks when we are listening to the various versions of the Malaysian Airline tragedy, let us all remember to keep cool heads and encourage our leaders to keep cool heads. Those who do these things are the minority, not ‘the people’. There are myriad options, other than war and bombs. Whoever shot that missile and killed 298 people, were desperate rebels, which in no way justifies their actions, and they should be accountable. But let us remember, those who pick up the pieces and rebuild and go on forever, are the people. It is just so, everywhere.

The news footage has shown us images of masked men with guns harassing the investigators at the crash site. But we have also seen the miners come to help search the site. We have seen locals laying flowers in tribute. It shows me that we have more things in common that we have things that divide us.

To leave you with another quote that is resonating with me:

Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.
Maya Angelou

I wish us peace.

Look what the postie left for me yesterday!

There, lying amongst the bills and begging letters was a letter with stamps, real stamps! Real stamps = a letter from a real person! These stamps were so unusual that I (briefly) thought about collecting stamps again. 😉

Real stamps, and aren’t they gorgeous!

This was what was inside. A card and some other goodies.

The card

I was even more delighted. Let me explain why.

A little while ago I told you about Alys’s wonderful contribution to her neighbourhood in the form of her Little Free Library. She had described the opening in a post on Gardening Nirvana. The front of her card to me shows the Little Free Library. Isn’t it just the cutest thing? I know that if I was walking down her street I would not be able to resist taking a peek inside, and probably take a book. Because that is the idea of the scheme. The books are available for anyone to take and anyone can leave books there. It is the most marvellous idea.

It is the sort of thing I would love to have on my nature strip. As I can’t, I opted for the next best thing — sending a couple of books to Alys. I am not the only one to have done this, and I am sure that the others are also chuffed to know that their books are being enjoyed by people hundreds and thousands of kilometres away. Of course you can keep up to date with Alys’ Little Free Library by following her blog.

This came in the letter too.

 

What did I send? Possum magic by Mem Fox, of course, and a Roland Harvey book about travelling around Australia.

Thank you Alys. Your letter made my day. 🙂

Dedicating the Little Free Library

I have been following Alys’s blog, Gardening Nirvana, for a while. In every post she comes through as a thoughtful woman, one who cares about the world in which she lives. Over the last few months she has been telling us about her Little Free Library — the one she built right on her nature strip. (To be truthful, Nick built it, but Alys was the driving force.) Her inspiration came from……well, read her post about the Dedication and find out for yourself. It is a wonderful idea that deserves to be shared, just like the joy of reading deserves to be shared too. Thank you Alys, and all the others who have Little Free Libraries.

Gardening Nirvana

Warm temperatures and a cool breeze were a welcome gift Saturday during  the Little Free Library dedication.

The idea for little libraries started in Wisconsin in 2009

Todd Bol built a model of a one-room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mother, a former school teacher who loved reading.  He filled it with books and put it in his front yard.  His neighbors and friends loved it, so he built several more and gave them away. Each one had a sign that said FREE BOOKS.

Little Free library.org is now a non-profit as well as a movement, spreading the love of reading around the world.

I dedicated The El Codo Way Little Free Library, to two of our local teachers, Debbie Hughes Judge and Carolyn Sullivan. Carolyn and Debbie (now retired) are highly regarded 2^nd grade teachers at Bagby Elementary School. They were instrumental in supporting the Books at…

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My Dad

My Dad

I often think about my Dad, but he has been in my thoughts even more over the last few days. He was a most generous, compassionate man.

He left school when he was 14 and always resisted anything to do with writing. That was until he found the computer in his early 70s. Then he discovered that he had a gift for writing stories. He began  writing down the stories that he had told us when we were children. Every family has those stories, about grandfathers and and great aunts, tall tales and funny ones. But Dad’s stories then developed to family history, all written as if he was sitting there with you, telling you the stories over a cup of coffee.

Then Dad wrote about his war experiences. He was very proud to have them accepted by the War Memorial in Canberra. He wrote stories for the children in the family — my cats had a starring role! His work is a treasured possession.

But I am lucky too because I have some of Dad’s other creative work. He tried drawing for a little while, but was never satisfied with what he did. “I can only copy, Anne,” he would tell me. I would reply that that is all I do with botanical art; I copied real specimens rather than the photos he used. But he was never convinced. I have his wooden art case and remember him every time I take it to art sessions. (It is perfect too, because it will fit everything necessary in, without room for the unnecessary.)

Dad then took his drawing skills to design stained glass work. He made these blue wrens for me and they are in a window in my study. (Birds were another passion of his.) I paint my leaves and feathers and plants, look up at these birds and be reminded of all the treasures that my Dad has given to me.

However, I think the greatest treasure he gave to me was his humanity ~ the knowledge that all people have the right to be treated with decency and compassion, regardless of who they are and where they come from.