My Song is Love...

...for Australia Day 2010.

Shell xx

Hope for Haiti Now...

The beautiful, and ever thoughtful she posted this on Facebook today.

I have become enraptured.

I'm ready to get on a plane and take all my groceries.

Donate my fortnights spending money.

Sell my TV and my iPhone if I could just help an ounce!

I can see why the Lord uses the gifted to help the needy.

That a performance so inspired by the Holy Spirit such as this,

Will communicate to all the millions.

of what we need to do.

At very least.

Log onto iTunes

And donate as little as $5 to the American Red Cross.

Or buy the official Live performance album,

From last night's telethon.

I donated $10 through my iTunes account.

It's not enough.

But it's a little piece,

Of hope for Haiti.

Shell xx

The rainy city...

I have awayed for two short days to the beautiful, rainy city of Melboune. I have been resting my bones and filling my mouth with amazing - and sort of the nearest to Europe - food you can taste while still in the land of L'Australie!

I have strolled the city arcades, browsed best of designer, vintage, and kooky haunts...

I have loved/and lived all the many ways one can lounge in coffee shops, and scribble poetic phrases into ones jotter...

I have marveled at the architecture...

As my budget was a little blown before I even arrived in the city - I was to content myself with tea shops and my own photography, with dreams of returning soon with money for a dress {or perhaps two!}

But I did procure this cunning little crocheted necklace for $19 in an alley way boutique!

I suspect I will yearn for breakfasts as good as I have had, and shops as interesting and plentiful, for time spent in quiet contemplation of the world, for special moments with my dear Mumma and sisters in law, for quite some time to come!

Shell xx

Warmth and cool...

Somedays, you are a fiery burst of oranges and reds - moving quickly, getting ahead of things, looking the lens in the eye, and bursting with the sort of confidence that is derived by things of burnt orange!

Other days, you're more somber places of purple, green and blue, content to let the day slip by a little more... Slowly brewing pots of tea and hearing the deeper thoughts from within the core of your heart...

Which are you this day?

Shell xx

The waters of this world...

...I'm not much of a swimmer -

But I know not who could have resisted these waters..?

Certainly not, me.

I have been washed in clear river waters of late.

I even rode the rapids! (tentatively, once!)

Spent time praying by the shore...

Eating gourmet picnic delights.

Escaping the intensive heat.

Playing with my children/niece/nephews.

The world I am in, is in tosses and turns at the moment.

No doubt in a wonderful way!

For I am embarking on several new adventures...

And look forward to recounting them here with you soon.

Until then, I hope you feel the cool, the clarity, and the pleasure I have taken in these waters of late.

I hope you take pleasure in them too.

And also in a phrase, I heard mentioned by a wise soul the other day -

which has been swirling round my head - cooling, and clearing my fear and my thoughts:

"It's only a short trip through life,

and the idea is to leave it better, than you found it."

Amen to such wisdom!

Which inspires me to embark on betterment with a clear, collected view, of my walk through the waters of this world.

Shell xx

a Small Summer Harvest...

I keep you and tell you-

Plant you and ask you, to grow?

I'm wowed by your mystery,

and the miracle

of life, that keeps my life,

but for this time of harvest.

Though small and modest a-gathered-

I keep you and thank you,

I am so ever proud!

of my small Summer harvest.

Shell xx

New Year's Produce...

From my own little patch of soil...

Raspberry & White chocolate batter {while the raspberries are below $12 a punnet!}

Lunch on a hot afternoon.

If this is any show of things to eat for the year ahead, it shall be a very good year indeed!

Shell xx

To plan, to pledge, to promise...

...because New Year's Resolution - is an over-used term.

And frequently I think it's works are under-used.

I have been sitting in silence here for large portions of the last few days, waiting for this post to come to me. Wanting to share with you some of my hopes and expectations of this new year, six days in, and well on it's timely way.

My eye {and then my iPhone} caught this image in my Mother-In-Law's house the other day and I just loved the way it made me feel. For love of old things, made new. Of green tinged glass, and red Jarrah wood, of peach coloured roses... But more importantly, of the homeyness of a home. And the soulfulness, of the souls who placed those things there.

So on to plans, and pledges, and promises;

This year I plan to paint. Using oils. I have not painted since I was in my last year of school, but it tugs on my heart every time I see a fabulous, thickly layered abstract work, so I plan to loosen the strings and unleash the painter in moi!

I pledge to walk more often, up hills, along trails, in the rain, and through wild winds, with my husband, for long, and talk about everything even more, or just with Campbell, or my Emma, skipping with Tara, or singing with Sean!

I pledge to eat a little less, and exercise a little more this year, to keep the balance of healthiness of body and of spirit.

I promise, to stay here with you. And share the precious aspects of this life I'm in. I promise to keep my heart soft and focussed on God. And to be someone who has love to give every minute. The glass shall remain always at least half full - even in the throws of fear or doubt.

I promise to, as a dear friend said in her blog so well, "send my artwork out into the world, over and over (without the slightest worry) forever."

So here is some considerable piece of my heart for the new year to take; and throw into the wind! I shall go with it, and keep going! Ever growing, and writing music, making art, participating in collaborative creative endeavors, (and to re-quote) "without the slightest worry, forever."

Shell xx

To the sea...

For a change of colour, sound, smell and scene... We - upon not much more than a moment's notice - headed towards the ocean blue...

To be washed in yellow sand, in salt and water. And play on the beach with our babes.

To observe those costal bound birds - and enjoy Tara at one, all but flying high alongside with them, and quite certainly right up in the air, in her mind...

A long journey to a seaside town,

On a moment's notice,

Arm in arm with my love, my children,

My brother and sisters, niece and nephews,

Home to have church and read Proverbs 28,

Drink tea together and enjoy some lingering Christmas Belgian dark chocolate...

This year so far is immensely, undeservedly blessed!

Shell xx

New is the year...

New is the year!

And we have celebrated the season-

With the company of beautiful family, who are our very best friends!

We wore silly masks and sat outside Green House Cottage under a blue moon.

Danced, and sang, ate, chatted and played-

Last year, I wrote a poem to my love, we sat quietly and pondered what the new year might bring. It delivered much joy, and growth between us... I think we love more each passing year.

Jamie's parents celebrate their own wedding anniversary on the eve of each new year, and we all talked about our own weddings, over scrumptious homemade delights - what we loved and remembered...

Happiness is all these things. The balance of serious thoughts, spiritual strength, undying love - in everything - and even when you don't feel like it - happiness with loved ones is on the other side of all this - when you can be silly, and dance, and sing, and play, in a freedom, which I have learned is born only through obedience in Him.

New is the year, high are my hopes, deep is my love, and love never fails.

Love to you, and yours at the dawn of such a season!

Shell xx