stills on sunday

Farewell school holidays. You've been swell x

stills collection

(Linking up with Em at The Beetleshack)

1. Here I am with 3 of the reasons I love being in the Northern Rivers shire in New South Wales, our dear friend Ruth and her twin babes.

2. A magical breakfast spread - thankyou Ruth and Micheal! Recipe from this coming soon.

3. Hard view from Ruth's kitchen sink huh?

4. Mighty fine felafel lunch with Uncle Dave at Yami's in Brunswick Heads

5. If you're not quite sure what on earth to do with shitake mushrooms I have a delicious recipe I'll post for you as soon as travel time allows.

6. Sweet Sol just hangin' out at Uncle Dave's shop.

stills collection

1. Goodmorning Grandfather Sun. As much as I prefer not being woken up before dawn by Sol, I do love how excited children are each day to see the sun and begin the day.

2. You know I'm a fan of kids in the kitchen. Here is River chopping a vegetable he doesn't like to eat but I figure getting him to touch it is the first step towards him enjoying to eat it one day!

3. Those mushrooms ended up in this yummy stir-fry Uncle Dave cooked for us with soba noodles.

4. This little beauty arrived with another beauty, our friend Ruth :)

5. Our friend Cath came up from Melbourne to work on some photos with Pete for her new business which I am excited to share with you soon!

6. And then this arrived in the mail...an early 40th birthday present...a massage and aromatherapy facial. Such a beautiful gift. It was a heavenly 2 hours. Lucky me! A big mwah and thankyou to my dear thoughtful and generous friend.

stills collection

1. Sol dragging seaweed along lighthouse beach at Port Macquarie while Pete and River fished. One of a string of beautiful sunsets we have witnessed on this trip.

2. Pete and River heading into the waves. Town beach Port Macquarie.

3. Three laughing buddhas, well that was what I asked them to pretend to be while I took their photo. If you are wondering how on earth Poe and Ilo have popped over to my blog, we were lucky enough to spend some real life time together on our way north. Thankyou Jay, Scott, Ilo and Poe for your warm and beautiful hospitality and to Bellingen for charming us.

4. Concerts were just one of the treasures of this visit.

5. A tired looking me with my little buddy Sol who wakes before six most mornings. We spent a beautiful day together just the two of us wandering around Brunswick Heads and Mullumbimby, while Pete, River and Uncle Dave travelled up the coast for a work day.

6. My self-directed, highly motivated, enthusiastic homeschool boy. Phew. Thankyou River for making my job easy.

Yes we are having a wonderful time.

stills collection

                                                           (Joining in with Beetleshack Em)                                                                                                           

1. Even the sewing box looks like an artwork in afternoon light.

2. This is our family jobs chart, instead of just having the children's names on it we all add our initial after we complete a job. My thinking behind it is to show that we all contribute to the house (Sol is still to get into the swing of this and River on the other hand LOVES seeing his initial up there so it is a big motivator I am hoping it still works when he is 16).

3. Loving that we are still getting some beach days. Sol put his sweet little arm around my neck and said "Take a photo of us mum" quite happy and relieved that 'selfie' is not yet part of his vocab.

4. Sol has found a new use for food colouring: paint. I keep some for colouring playdough. He spent three hours throughout the course of the day mixing paint and adding to his masterpiece "It's for River". Beautiful to see.

5. And River, our guitar man trying out his big cousin's guitar. He has been cracking me up each week when I ask "how was your guitar lesson?" "Good! I'm learning a song, it's called something like Hotel California". And the next week, "Yeah it was a good lesson, this week I think the song is called something like Smoke on the Water". Stares at me in amazement when I tell him I know the songs. I love being a parent.

No food pics here in this post sorry about that! Save your appetite for next week :)

sunday stills collection

1. A bloom that broke off a plant I bought this week. Too beautiful to waste...

2. So it sat on my kitchen windowsill bringing me joy for the week

3. Banana smoothie please

4. Thankyou Pete for growing these beauties

5. This is what we ate for dinner on Tuesday night. Oh yes we did. More about that next week.

stills on sunday

1. Pete grew those cherry tomatoes, then cooked that sauce, then took the photo! No end to his talents.

2. Our little helper in the garden. We're happy that this year he can work out on his own which ones are ripe enough to pick!

3. The current state of my pinboard. I love River's words on the red paper 'I was as happy as the sun', and the pics - me with my nan, cousin and aunty 3 of my besties, Sol and I on his first day of kinder this year, River and Sol looking thrilled last summer about having their first ice cream from the Mr Whippy van that drove up our street and top right is that same cousin as a little girl with my bro.

4. A gorgeous melon, a gift from Robin. 

5. Spinach and fetta pie for dinner this week didn't last long at all. A definite crowd pleaser here.

(linking up with Ms. Beetleshack Em)

stills on sunday

1. A little gift to myself to start recording notes for our upcoming road trip in May

2. Pete and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary this week with a walk on the beach and after a coffee for me and chai for him. All. By. Ourselves! I love the concentration on Sol's face in this photo

3. My favorites from Byron Bay I wear nearly every day

4. Another day, another dish. Domestic bliss

5. Our backyard veggie patch is crazy with corn.

stills: a weekly collection

1. Sol's fourth birthday party spread - carrot and cumin hummus with rice crackers, feta and spinach frittata, savoury gluten free muffins, brown rice sushi rolls with tuna, avocado and carrot. (not pictured salsa and corn chips).

2. Chai for the grown ups. I love drinking chai at the park.

3. Sol's jellyfish cake. Thank you Women's Weekly kids party cake book for the inspiration. Yes gasp that is blue jelly you see there.

4. Sol's kinder teacher is an exceptional woman, so loving and nurturing, she creates a beautiful space in the kinder room both by how she decorates it and by her warmth. I am grateful to have her in our life. This is a sign she has at the entrance to the room.

5. Beautiful strawberries, I haven't met a child yet who doesn't love this fruit.

6. Morning light. My favorite.

7. Another piece of kinder inspiration. (Pay no attention to this if you are having a grumpy mummy day ;) that's not the days we're talking about)

(Joining in with Em from The Beetleshack)

stills on sunday

1. I hope you like salad because we're going to be eating a lot of that around here, the garden is a patchwork of big fat lettuces

2. a beautiful morning mess

3. my new camera and I still getting acquainted

4. boiled oranges waiting to be turned into...

5. flourless orange and poppyseed cake, in place of 1 cup of caster sugar I used 3/4 cup of coconut palm sugar and it was still a bit sweet, I think 1/2 a cup will do next time. Plus I iced it with the finest sheen of icing sugar mixed with lemon juice

6. this painting caught my eye in a local art show, intense but somehow still beautiful

7. greens from the garden + chillies + garlic + fresh abalone cooked in the wok = our kind of happy meal

8. River receiving first prize for his year level in the local historical writing competition, yes a proud parent moment. The stories were about Indigenous culture and traditional life was like for Aboriginal people.

9. Sol chasing River to get his hands on the prize

10. omg the prize! Can you believe it?! The chocs, plus $10. The other mums were chuckling "Of all the kids to win a box of chocolates". The chocolates were shared. Far and wide!

(joining in with Ms Beetleshack Em)