My daughter-in-law is very creative with old metal zippers. She makes fabulous jewelry that looks fantastic! Some time last year I modeled some of her pieces so she could take photographs for her etsy site. Here are a few you might enjoy.
Check out Fiona’s website http://kinaweradesigns.wordpress.com/ to see more of her creative zipper constructions and other wearable art……. and you can find more entries in the A-Z Challenge here.
In a recent post I included photos of a model village, known as Cockington Green. It seems only right to show you the rest of this very cute village as part of Jake’s challenge this week.
The builders have lovingly created as many details as possible to give the feeling of an old English village, it really is very charming!
On our visit to Thimphu, the capitol of Bhutan we visited the Buddhist Arts and Crafts School where traditions are carefully passed from older to younger crafts people. We saw textiles (weaving, sewing, embroidery), woodwork, painting, sculpture, costumery and more. Young people sat quietly working on their projects, used to visitors passing through with their guides. Thanks to this traditional school there is a constant supply of creative young artists ready to supply the homes, temples and government buildings of Bhutan with all their favourite artworks.
Thanks to the Daily Post I remembered these inspiring youngsters and their important role in maintaining the creative works of their country.
These photos are from a summer about 8 years ago, when our Japanese friend Miruko came to stay. She was our son’s host mother for a year, and has since become part of our family! Vivacious and exciting, Miruko certainly added to the fun we all enjoyed that summer.
Miruko, Kitchen Ninja, cooking up a storm with Stuart
Firstly there was the food, all our favourite Japanese dishes, with Stuart a keen sous chef!
Browsing through our garden Miruko found treats we had never imagined.
The beach, so clean and unpolluted was heaven for her, she collected pippies and kelp to make traditional dishes.
We had one of those extraordinary days when the dolphins surfed in on the waves, whales spouted out to sea, the sea eagles flew overhead …. we told her it was all in her honour!
As well as all the usual beach excitement we had neighbours with horses!
I had a lesson in Ikebana!
Ikebana
Miruko plays golf and enjoyed several games on our beautiful ocal courses with out keen golfing neighbours. When they were out together the neighbours stopped by the road to pick up some rubbish someone had thrown from their car. Miruko was amazed, and promptly decided to spread the word via her radio program in Japan, that anyone can pick up litter and keep their suburbs clean. Then we headed over the range to Canberra for the highlights of the Capitol.
Parliament House
Miruko was surprised that were able to go inside Parliament House, something unthought of in Japan. She loved all the photo opportunities of the National Capitol, including Black Mountain Tower, below.
Black Mountain Tower, view to Lake Burley Griffin
We had family time too, Miruko came with gifts for the little ones!
Just one more tourist treat, a miniature town, Cockington Green in a beautiful setting.
Miruko enjoying a tiny town!
The flowers were quite impressive too.
When we were in Japan Miruko took us to some truly awesome traditional gardens, luckily she liked the novelty golf course here!
This was truly summer fun, even more special because it was shared with someone we all love, a generous, creative, vital soul who travelled across the world to be with us here at Dadirri. Join in this weekly challenge with your summer fun!
On our visit to Tasmania we explored some fantastic Huon forest via the famous Tahune Airwalk.
Suspended 45 metres above the ground the Airwalk enables you get up close and personal with the treetops, which at that time included Leatherwoods in flower. The whole experience is thrilling, for a while you almost feel like a bird looking down on the forest and the river blow. Later we bought some of the incredible Leatherwood Honey from nearby apiarists, so much more affordable when you are close to beekeepers and not far away on the mainland of Australia paying huge prices for this specialty.
Visit the Daily Post to join in the fun and see the other entries about Close!
A fun idea again Jake, and after hours of thought and searching through the archives I chose the Australian film “Crocodile Dundee”. This was a 1986 film about a legendary bushman who lives in the Northern Territory and fights saltwater crocodiles with his bare hands. His relationship with an attractive New York writer makes the film script interesting! The film was partly made on location in Kakadu National Park. Here are some stunning views of this world famous park from Ubirr Rock.
Kakadu from Ubirr Rock
Sunset from Ubirr Rock
One of the greatest attractions at Ubirr is the incredible rock art.
traditional art under a sheltering overhang
The perfect time to do a post on happiness …. when i am in pain and on a weird drug high after jaw surgery for osteomyelitis. I know happiness has nothing to do with pain, but with loving life, that rare chance of being here, being conscious and living each moment. Most of the universe is Dark Matter, and the part of life we know makes up about 5% of the known universe. Somehow we are in the fuzzy five percent where we can experience happiness!
Here are images of some happy moments, valued by us human beings because our values have been ingrained in us according to those things that enhance our chances of survival. We love out grandchildren because those ancestors who did care for grandchildren had more descendants ….
bliss 🙂
We are really happy when we provide food for our family, and the thrill of successful hunter or the prolific gatherer is deeply felt!
successful hunter!
Food is big source of happiness, because providing food meant more chance of life and reproduction of successive generations …. here is youngest son looking very happy about cooking up a treat for the family which of course includes his very beautiful wife…. not pictured here but regulars know her!
making food for those you love
For some of us happiness is enhanced when we feel we are doing something for others … the awareness that we are all One means that we wish for All to be happy, All to be well, All to be blessed with health and abundance.
praying that all life shares in happiness
This post is part of the first photo challenge organised by island traveler, a Weekly Image of Life challenge, with the first focus being Happiness …. would you like to join in? Follow the link and go searching for our own images of happiness!
cities are built around good harbours
Water, the source of life on Earth, attracts settlements and cities. Since we evolved in water and came onto the land later we all love to see calm water, like Sydney Harbour, viewed here from Milsons Point Wharf.
water surrounds us here
We live here, our place is in the upper left of the picture, we have a choice of beaches, and whichever way the wind blows we can hear the ocean.
water, like emotion, reflects its surrounds
Water is a fluid at moderate temperatures, but it can also be a gas, or a solid. So changeable! Like our emotional bodies water reflects its surroundings, it takes on colours, odours, temperature, and reflections.
light and life, water
Here water shows the warmth and colour of the morning sunrise, lotus leaves hold drops of water from an overnight shower.
we come from water and love to return
In water we feel weightless, buoyant and free, such a joy to float and swim, to dive and play like dolphins or whales, remembering our ancestral past!
Thank you Jake for this opportunity to think about Water, bringer of life to the planet Earth! Did you know they think water arrived here frozen, brought by meteorites?
Playing around with an iPad app produced this experiment, such fun!
eXperimental self-portrait from iPad
We are nearing the end of the alphabet with Frizztext’s weekly photo challenge, still time to join in and unearth your X image from the archives!
Here are a few lovely entries: Xerophyte, and Xpectant, Xtract, and Xistence have a look 🙂
heartfelt images 