weekend reading

(A desert flashback: Uluru)

The rain is falling here this morning. Thunder is rumbling over too. Seems kind of fitting for Halloween.

Do you celebrate Halloween? It seems to be catching on in Australia more and more. Despite people saying 'it is such an American thing' it is actually a Celtic tradition. There are a couple of aspects to the whole Halloween tradition one is the acknowledgement of All Saint's Day (November 1st) where the veil to the spirit world is said to be at its thinnest and the pumpkin thing is explained by it being a celebration of the end of the season's harvest. You can read more about the origins and traditions here.

I've recently been introduced to Terri-Anne Leske's blog Carrotsticks and Cravings and wanted to share Terri-Anne's new cookbook with you. Terri-Anne is an Aussie ex-pat living in Singapore with her young family. Terri-Anne is mum to 3, including twins! And somehow she finds time to create beautiful recipes and has put her first cookbook together. I'll be sharing one of her recipes in the coming weeks.

Speaking of cookbooks, have you seen Mamacino's latest ebook Chocolate Indulgence?  Beautiful recipes and photography all by Mamacino.

If you're looking for a little less indulgence and in fact would like to lose 'those last 5 kilos' click on over to Brenda Janscheck and Naomi Judge's BreakThrough program, enrolments close tomorrow night. I love the holistic approach of this program it is not purely about calories in calories out, it considers digestion, hormones, metabolism, the quality of food and basically the quality of life you are living! For all those reasons I am an affiliate of BreakThrough. Take a look here.

Broad beans and haloumi are a good match

So are sumac, roasted eggplant, lentils and cherries

If you're in the mood for a Halloween cocktail try this witch's brew

Excellent meditation tips from Veggie Mama

Meet Barbara Stanny she has some wise words about money

And on that note, I'm off to prepare a dinner feast for my little trick or treaters tonight and prepare for attending a house auction today eeek! Better find the rescue remedy. Fingers crossed there'll be cause for champagne. When is there not cause for champagne?

Happy weekending everyone xx

weekend reading

My rascals pictured here in Alice Springs.

Sorry for the lack of posting.

We've been brushing off the red dirt from the desert and settling back in to coastal life.

We've also been house hunting which chews up plenty of time! It is exciting, nerve wracking and would be a whole lot simpler if real estate agents quoted honestly. Anyway, enough of that.

Let's get on with today's list...

Last week I got to meet one of my online buddy's in real life, always fun to do

I've been working on my husband Pete's online gallery and growing his Instagram following come say hi @riverandsol and I want to share Pete's beautiful Summersalt print featured in this bedroom by Nathan + Jac

Who doesn't love RAW chocolate?

I'm revisiting some of the recipes from Georgia's great breakfast ebook Rise and Shine

And how beautiful does my friend Lucy's delicious wholefood ebook look?

I would have been eating lunch today at my fave Cakes & Ale but alas Sol has an ear infection :(

Powerful new movie addressing women's mental health

There's still time to enrol in my 2 part Blogging for Beginners course at Sorrento Community Centre next Thursday 29th October and Thursday 5th November 10am - 2pm $140 / $116 concession. To book phone: 03. 5984 3360

If you're looking for some kids art inspiration this weekend I love The Artful Parent

Ok. School pick up calls. Happy weekend to everyone. See you next week x

before & after

We arrived home late last week from two months in the Northern Territory to a wildly overgrown veggie patch and lawn.

After a family working bee that saw us spend a whole day weeding, shovelling compost and spreading out a covering of pea straw the veggie patch is ready. A shame the same can't be said for finding the bottom of the washing basket!

We've hit the ground running, in a good way, the boys are back to school "it was much better than I thought it would be Mum" said Sol. There's been a string of visitors welcoming us home, I've been costume hunting for a friend's 70's party this weekend, filling the fridge, feeding the family, trying to catch up on making a living, and did I mention the washing?!

A bit like the veggie garden there's definitely been a positive transformation in all of us since taking the trip to the desert. The people we met, the stories we heard and were part of, the desert landscape with its vibrant red dirt and resilient plants and animals, the long stretches of time spent together have all made a lasting impact.

I appreciate water in a whole new way. I appreciate that the food I eat here isn't trucked in from 700kms away or further, as it is from Adelaide to Alice. I appreciate my long time friends and my family. I am savouring catching up with my nearest and dearest one at a time.

I won't ramble on, I just wanted to say we're home, we're enjoying settling in and there are plenty of photos and stories to share from our adventures. I look forward to sharing them with you soon.

What's happening at your place? Are you planting a veggie garden?

weekend reading

 

This is our last Friday in Alice. Well, last Friday for this trip. I do hope we come back.

This is our last Friday in Alice. Well, last Friday for this trip. I do hope we come back.

It's been a week of packing and sorting, of saying goodbye and of doing last minute visits to places and people we have loved meeting.

I like the line in the sand that traveling draws in life, the lead up to a departure is like having a deadline a clear time in which to get things finished and the things that don't get finished are low on the priority list and probably didn't really matter that much anyway.

Here are a few things that have caught my eye around the net this week:

I enjoyed discovering artist Alena Hennessy via Soulemama.

Closer to home I've been introduced to the art work of Minnie Pwerle

Have you seen Heidi's latest cookbook?

And Pete's?

One for the baby lovers. Brace yourself for Joan Scarlett. Huge congratulations Heidi & Ben x

We're stopping here on the way home. Can't wait.

Come say hi on Instagram. You can find me @wholefoodmama

I'm reading Kim Mahood's memoir Craft for a dry lake. A wonderful read for anyone traveling to Alice or interested in a first hand account of life in the outback with all its enchantment and complexities.

I took the boys to see Oddball this week. LOVED it. Highly recommend. Especially for anyone living in the desert needing a fix of ocean viewing! Beautiful footage of the wild Victorian coastline plus wonderful story to boot.

Happy weekend everyone! How did it get to October so soon?! x

thursday recipe: smoked paprika almonds

I can hardly call this a recipe, it is a yummy snack though.

It came about when we were invited to have drinks with the neighbours and I didn't really have much in my makeshift pantry, this is what I came up with and they were a hit!

Only a few days left here for us in Alice then it is time to drive south. It will be bittersweet leaving the desert, we have made such good friends and memories. Many reasons to come back again.

Smoked Paprika Almonds

1 cup raw almonds
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
sea salt to your liking

In a bowl toss the almonds with the paprika.

Heat a heavy based fry pan with the oil in it over a medium high heat.

Add the almonds and the salt and toss until the almonds are nicely 'roasted' be careful not to burn them you may need to turn down the heat.

Enjoy! Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container (there won't be any leftovers).

weekend reading

Let's have a quick power catch up.

I haven't been able to post this week because for some unexplainable, frustrating reason my mobile modem and mobile phone reception have decided to stop working at the unit where we are based in Alice. I am taking it as a cosmic sign to have some down time from social media and the internet.

I've made it to the library today so I am powering through all things internet related so I can head home and meet up with Pete to go and view some Indigenous art at a local art buyers home. The buyers have had an on-going relationship with artists here for over 20 years. I missed the opportunity during the week to go and visit the community and meet the painters because Sol woke with croup which meant an all nighter staying awake to make sure he was breathing!! That's motherhood right?

Anyway, Sol is on the mend and I get to seeing the paintings and hear the stories tonight.

We only have about a week to go in Alice and it feels all too short. Every day is an adventure here. As one of my girlfriends at home said after telling her of some of our adventures, "How are we going to keep you entertained when you get home?!" Luckily I have a few colourful friends and a very unboring husband who keeps me on my toes.

It is looking like the boys will miss the first week back to school because Pete's project has run over time and we want to stop at Uluru on the way home. I had a little neurotic moment about them missing more school and wisely rang a good school teacher friend who put my mind at ease and reminded me to 'relax and enjoy the pace'. Enjoy the pace. Gee friends are good aren't they?

Time has run out but before I go, one link to share with you.

I want to do a more detailed post on this but I'll get started here. I've finally set Pete up on Instagram to showcase the beautiful prints from his online gallery. The collection of work was 20 years in the making, so great to be able to share it literally with the world now. You can see his gallery at RIVER&SOL and please follow on instagram @riverandsol.

Have a great weekend and if I go missing in action you'll know its not because I don't love you anymore its because internet access isn't easy. More soon x

stills collection

1. When people ask "how's the homeschooling going?" I say "great. the boys are learning to read and write and cook kangaroo tail".

2. Making a necklace by the fire. "No talking when beading. You'll burn your fingers" our friend Leonie Palmer tells me. Wire is heated in the fire to pierce holes through the seeds. It takes great concentration.

3. Desert jewels.

4. "I'm so happy out here (out bush), the happiness of the land gets into you." - MK Turner.

5. Night falling driving back into Alice after being out bush.

6. I turned 41! Happy Birthday to me.

7. Lorna Hendry and River at the N.T. Writer's Festival this weekend. I'm reading Lorna's book Wrong Way Round to the boys. River in particular is loving it and didn't want to miss the opportunity to meet Lorna in person. River's birds nest hairdo took Lorna back to her family's traveling days when her son's hair was the same. "Just leave it" she told me. My Virgo sensibility is struggling!

today

A man I'd never met before arrived at our door yesterday afternoon with an injured River on his back.

River had been playing footy at the little park four houses away in the court where we're staying. I'd been down to check on him about twenty minutes before he was returned home with a swollen, bruised and scraped right knee.

I'd agreed nervously to let him go down to the park with the other kids who live in the street, I'm usually one for keeping my boys within sight. But the park here is bordered by the homes of the children that River was with and the day before they'd been at the park and there were other parents around. What could happen I thought? Gotta let him have some independence some time. All those kind of thoughts were going through my head as I walked back from the park after checking on who was at the park. There were no adults when I went down there, just four boys. "Come straight home when the others go home" I instructed River. "Yes Mum" he answered immediately.

Instead, some of the other kids parents and uncle joined in the footy match and when one kicked the ball to River he was so busy focusing on the mark he forgot about the knee high fence behind him. Bang went his knee into the fence, he flipped over the railing and landed on his back. He was extremely lucky to get out of it with a bruise.

Ice packs and arnica cream seemed to help. Although, he went to bed with a throbbing leg wondering how he was going to sleep. "Remember that time Archie fell out of the tree house at Van's and landed on his arm and thought he was ok and then woke up in the middle of the night in bad pain and it was broken? Well what if that happens to me?" River asked.

I did my best to reassure him that if his knee was broken he'd be in too much pain to be going to sleep. As mothers do best I kept my thoughts to myself that wondered the same thing, what if he'd really damaged himself? I had visions of returning to Melbourne with River in plaster.

He slept soundly as he always does and despite laying straight as a board when he first was in bed, by morning he was tangled in his sheet legs bent and splayed in opposite directions. Clearly his knee hadn't bothered him overnight.

Pete set off at 6.30am out to a community where he is building a women's healing shelter. He had a long hot day in the sun ahead of him and wanted to get started early.

At about 7.30am I heard River hobbling his way out of bed. He still couldn't bear any weight on his knee. I helped him to the couch where it looked like he was set to stay for the day. Without a car and with River injured we were house bound. As it turns out, a day at home was just what we needed.

With so much to get involved in in Alice Springs and knowing we are only here for a limited time, I had forgotten the value of having a day at home.

Sol stayed in his pj's and ate buckwheat pancakes in the morning sun. River read for the best part of the morning and relished having a rooibos tea with milk and sugar because we'd run out of honey. We raided the bush camp bag that had sugar in it for when we made billy tea.

We did manage to do some school work, River wrote three songs and Sol created imaginary worlds and battles with his Star Wars figurines. I even let them do some maths games on the computer! A very rare event.

By the afternoon we'd all earned some down time, a movie for them and a cup of tea and time reading 'Wrong Way Round' a fabulous true tale of a family who packs up their life in Fitzroy, Melbourne and hits the road. Written by Lorna Hendry I'm aiming to finish it before the weekend when I'm going to a workshop Lorna is presenting at the Writer's Festival. I've been reading it to the boys too, they get totally lost in the story asking for one more page, one more page.

As I sipped my tea and soaked in the quiet of the house and the rhythm of Lorna's story I felt a slight pang of guilt that I should be doing something else, something more 'productive'. To stave off the guilt I told myself that essentially reading the book was work. I am a writer after all and I needed to 'study' the book before the weekend. The guilt also stemmed from thinking about Pete building in the blazing sun while we were in the cool comfort of the house. Guilt, it is so pointless isn't it?

By the end of the day River was back on his feet. At 4.30pm when the boys' buddy Jacob and the other kids in the street arrived home from their school day River's injury was a distant memory. "Who wants to play hide and seek?" they all scattered to find their hiding spot.

Have you forgotten the art of staying home? Are you caught in the busy loop too? Take a day off!

desert mob alice springs

 

 

Desert Mob is one of the many celebrations of Aboriginal art and culture that happens here in Alice Springs. We've been lucky to coincide our visit with the 25th anniversary of Desert Mob. 

A week ago on Friday evening we joined the crowd pictured above at the Desert Mob Dancesite where Aboriginal women from a number of Central Australian communities sang and danced their traditional songs and dances.

The magnificent women pictured above dressed in yellow skirts and white feathers are from Tennant Creek they are dancing the Munga Munga dreaming, looking for water in the Dreamtime. (I was scribbling this down while keeping an eye on kids so if I have any of that incorrect apologies! Let me know and I will update it).

Desert Mob is hosted in partnership with desart the association of Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Centers. The annual Desert Mob exhibition is a highlight at the Araluen Arts Centre as is the Desert Mob marketplace held on the Saturday. Pete and I managed to have a morning without our boys (thanks Jodie, Scott and Jacob!) to visit the marketplace. Market goers were in a buying frenzy as you can see from the last few photos. The art market is a unique opportunity to buy Aboriginal art at remarkably affordable prices (the majority of work on sale is under $500) and if you aren't in the market for a canvas there is jewellery, cushions, scarves and t-shirts.

Don't you love the t-shirt? The artist who painted this is the youngest artist from the Minyma Kutjara Arts Project, he is 6! 

The design on the first cushion cover pictured above is owned by Mary Anne Nampijinpa Michaels. It tells the story of a sheltered rock basin where the rockhole Lappi Lappi is a permanent source of water. It is surrounded by country rich in bush tucker. The rockhole is home to a warnayarra, a rainbow serpent that travels underground between various rock holes. You can read more detail of this story here.

The second cushion cover, the design is owned by Betsy Napangardi Lewis. This design tells the story of all a group of women of all ages who travelled to the east gathering food, collecting 'ngalyipi' (snake vine) and performing ceremonies as they travelled. You can read more about this story and purchase this cushion cover from Better World Arts.

Winter is a perfect time of year to visit Australia's red centre because the weather is perfect, blue skies every day, and there are so many festivals and events that provide a great opportunity not only to learn more about the art and culture here but also to meet Alice locals.

Now that it is Spring, the temperature has jumped up into the low 30's. Cannot imagine living through summer here!

Happy Monday everyone x

weekend reading

I'm reading two books at once, gearing up for the NT writer's festival. I can relate to much in Lorna Hendry's Wrong Way Round, I'm reading it to River and Sol we're loving it. And I'm only a few pages in to Kim Mahood's craft for a Dry Lake.

Here's a practical and positive approach to supporting asylum seekers in Melbourne.

New study released today shows the negative impact of eating a junk food diet on the brain.

Why depriving your kids of toys is a great idea

Have you made Georgia's healthy chocolate, coconut almond bars? They're one of my favorites.

I found this an inspiring read, one woman following her calling.

What have you been cooking lately? What's on for the weekend? It is my birthday on sunday!
"Two more sleeps and you'll be turning 24 right mum?" asked Sol. Bless him. More like 41 :)
I'm looking forward to it. Have a great weekend x