wishcasting wednesday

Over at Jamie Ridler Studios a question is posed
every Wednesday as a wish-prompt.

Today asks: WHAT DO YOU WISH TO SHARE?

I wish to share my authentic self.

I wish to share my Light.

I wish to share my compassion and care for Mother Earth.

I wish to share in the celebration of others greatnesses.

I wish to share in the love that surrounds us all.

nature strip

what a great concept to share the love around

ethereal beauty

Lisa Mitchell - See You When You Get Here


you can check her out on Saturday Oct 3
at the Metro

duststorm

6.38am Bondi Beach








I wake feeling like something is tapping me on the shoulder.
My eyes reach for the sky to check what time it is.
Bright orange light like cheezels or Lucille Ball's mop looks
back at me.That can't be right. My heart is beating strong now.
I have to see this standing upright.
Before I know it I'm pulling clothes on and heading outside,
to be cloaked in this surreal, hellfire embrace.
The beach is crowded with others like me, trying to register
this gritty, smoky, eerie, warm atmosphere claiming to be air.
Camera flashes all around as we clamber to capture the strange
morning that greets us.Strangers strike up conversations reaching
out to share this moment with each other.In the midst of this
setting, mother nature clearly in charge,it seems the humans are
reminded of our fragility and our connectedness to each other.
I take home the smell of red earth in my hair and feel the powdery
dust on my skin and in my lungs. The wind is picking up.
Strange days indeed.

schools kill creativity?

watch Ken Robinson -entertaining, thought-provoking and inspiring

sydney swelters

only 3 weeks into spring and we are having another day in the 3o's
I think there must be a lot of sickies going on by the look of things

tune in

Sleep Alone from Bat for Lashes on Vimeo.

enjoying the scenery

say it out loud

some of my favourite pieces along the Promenade

smoky grey

So delighted to find Bondi again a sleepy old coastal town on this
warm and subdued morning. The heat, the crowd and the hoopla
of the weekend feel a lifetime ago. There is space to find my own
rhythm as I walk. And the only sounds to be heard are coming

from the sea licking the shore.

Spring?

I don't know about you, but 29c feels alot like summer.
I would love to post you some pics of the beach in all its
madness as the crowds flock to get some relief from the heat,
but my computer is in sick bay and the guys who I took it to
are incommunicado. I feel lost and kinda empty without knowing
it is nearby. Almost like a grief feeling weirdly.

It's all b/c I hadn't backed up like we are all told to do. So when I
found I couldn't upload any new photos b/c the drive was jammed
full, I bought a new external drive, loaded everything on, ticked
the box to "sync with my comp" and then deleted half my photo
files (30GB) and proceeded on.

Short story, when I go to view photos on comp via external hard
drive it "syncs" with my comp and voila, erases the files it had
previously saved.
F__________!

I am trying to be all zen about this loss and looking for the good in it,
but I can't say this is easy. And now a complete stranger has my comp,
my external HD and although it was supposed to take 30mins to do the
job of upgrading the memory, still no contact. And that was over 24
hrs ago. Will I ever get my baby back?
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrghh!

So who knows when I can get back to delivering more than just text.
Until then, I will just keep breathing in, and breathing out.
Breathing in, and breathing out.

Festival of the Winds

Hopefully there is as much wind around on Sunday as the last
couple of days because it's that time of year again to dust off your
kite and untangle the string - as thousands of novices and
pros descend on Bondi Beach to join in the largest kite flying
festival of the year - The Festival of the Winds

There will be stalls selling kites if you don't have one or make your
own at one of the workshops being run.

Not into kites? The Pavillion Amphitheatre will have live entertainment
alongside music and dance workshops. There will be great food, face painting,
stilt walkers, jugglers and rides going thruout the day.

Click here to see the program

Yarn Bombed

I'm pleased to say, Bondi has started being tagged by at least one,
but who knows how many guerilla knitters. I first spotted their
work near the Lifeguard Tower, but before I could get back with
my camera, the 2 exquisite pieces were gone. Had they been nicked?
Or worse, removed by the Council?

My heart skipped a beat when I discovered a new wrapping yesterday.
If you've never heard of this subversive form of street art, it's expertly
knitted pieces, sometimes crocheted that are then stitched around
public fixtures eg. bus seats, parking meters, railings, doorknobs, poles,
trees, or snywhere really.

Although knitting's image has taken off in recent years with many
celebrities now claiming it to be their favourite pastime, I love the way
knit one purl one has morphed down an edgy, even graffiti style line.
It's now a worldwide phenomenon as knitters gather into groups to
spread their irreverent approach to humanising and brightening up our
concrete and steel cities.

In July, Canberra held a festival in celebration of knitting bringing out
Texan knitter and guerilla Magda Sayeg. She made a promise to let Sydney
'see' that she had been here so I'm wondering if these pieces are her
handiwork or by someone who lives nearby?

I'm always on the lookout for more types of this work so let me know via
my comments below if you spot any.

To see more pics go here






Found near the Bondi Icebergs

surfwatch

Beach conditions had improved from yesterday, with a new SSE swell kicking in, light offshore winds and waves around the 3ft mark. Maybe everyone got up for the early because there was room to move out there while I was watching.

Boot Bay

I consider myself a Bondi "local". Well, I have lived here
longer than 10 years and my kids were born here, so I'm
sticking with that title regardless of what others may say.

The "local" title is a slippery one. Some say you have to be
at least 3rd generation i.e your grandparents had to have lived here.
Others say unless you went to school here, no claim. I like the crowd
who says you need to have lived here for over 10 years since I fit that
criteria, but I'm sure if you are in the backpacking tribe, you
would be considered a "local" if you stayed longer than a month!

Anyway, I thought I knew a fair bit about this place, but everyday
it seems I discover something new. I was snapping off pictures
as I wandered around this morning, when a man came up and said
"Have you seen the boot? You know the rock that looks like a boot."
It is true that I have put in many kms on the Bondi-Bronte coastal
walk and checked out the rock platforms, the beautiful flowering
hillsides, the sculptures and the whales, while always mindful of
bondi landmines (aka doggie droppings), but i have never seen boot
rock.

So me and Mario get chatting, he shows me where to best view the
said rock and I discover he is a 40+ year local via Sweden and in very
good shape for a 71 years young man. So now I know that the bay
between Bondi and McKenzies is known as Boot Bay. He invited me
for a game of lawn bowls at his club, where you can have a couple of
beers and an afternoon of fun in the sun playing bowls for under $15.
Sounds too good to let go by don't you think?

Here is a picture of Boot Rock and Mario is above leaning on the railing

Bangarra

I am still coming down from yesterday.
What a day. A walk on the beach. Tuned in to
global meditation webcast. Laughed and
danced with my girls. Ate great food.
Hung out with great friends. And then to top it all off,
went to the SydneyOpera House to see Fire- A Retrospective,
pulling together the best of the last 20 years
of Bangarra Dance Theatre.

Words can't describe the feeling this performance
created except to say I was transported somewhere deep
into the past, deep into our land and deeply into
the future.

If you want to connect to the spirit, the strength
and wisdom of this land, go and see the show.



Photos courtesy of Bangarra Dance Theatre

t-shirts

I guess you can never have too many t-shirts and finding good designs
is a challenge, but the people over at threadless are feeling the 9/9/09
vibe big time and selling all their t-shirts for only $9(US). I don't know
how long the sale will be on, so check it out asap.

There is also the chance of making $2500 if you submit a design that
gets voted in by the threadless online community.

To see more of the collection click here

I want these 3




"Picket" by Dann Matthews

"Radio-Activity(Spread Music
Love) by Gianbattista Bonavita


"Art No War - by Noah Benjamin

Artist

One of my goals is to make this site a platform
for local and emerging artists and craftsters.I am sure
there is an incredible amount of great work going on
out there and I'm happy to showcase artists who inspire.
Feel free to let me know about yours or a friends work.

Although not local to me, but hailing from Melbourne
the work of Eveline Tarunadjaja has been a favourite of
mine for awhile so I'm happy to see she has been commissioned
by none other than Billabong, Hurley, Anna Sui, Gorman and French Kitty
to do some t-shirts and hoodies.


I know what's going on my Wishlist

photos from here

Nowhere near local but a fav for sure.
Check out the simplicity of Zachary Rossman's line drawings
Sublime.

postcards

Photos by Dani

triple 9 gateway

I am no expert on this, but the Mayan
calender is said to end on December 21, 2012. Noone knows
what this will mean for humanity, but astronomers know
this date only happens once every 26,000 years. Many people are
talking about 9/9/09 being of great significance, that Earth
is being bathed in new cosmic energy that opens the heart
and consciousness. As it is New Year's Day of the sacred Mayan
calender, today heralds the countdown to 2012, leaving just 3
cycles left. This some say, accounts for the influx of Light and
Energy flooding the planet that many are feeling.

All of this is hard to prove, so it might take a leap of faith
for some of you. But I can say for myself that I have been
experiencing lots of loving and creative energy and hearing
of many others experiencing great shifts and turbulence.

If you feel like tapping into this special time:

Light a candle on the 09/09/09 at 9:09 am or pm in your local area. This SHOULD create a "continuous flow" of collective spiritual energy for close to 12 hours of candles being lit around the world with ONE INTENTION - to bring LIGHT to the PURPOSE and INTENTION of expanding SPIRITUAL AWARENESS that is growing EVERYWHERE around the WORLD! To the TRUTH that we must UNITE to HEAL our people and our world!
You don't need to be at a computer, you can do this ANYWHERE WHERE EVER YOU ARE in the WORLD. Peace, and loving thoughts to yourself and vibrate them out into the world.


If you want to know more about this look here

first up

i've decided to show up at long last
and join the bloggerati.

i see it as a great place in which to
project out into the ether what matters
to me. what inspires me. what makes me feel alive.
if people tune in, awesome. if not, it can act as
my witness to what's going on in my world.

i truly believe what you put out there is what
you wind up getting back, but probably threefold.
so my intention is to celebrate the beauty that
exists all around us. i wish this place to be one that
shines the light on others and allows me to step into
it as well.

my biggest flaw is being a perfectionist. for me it
manifests as not starting projects for fear they will
not be good enough for my standards or anyone elses
for that matter. this is a big step for me. taking the
plunge into a medium i still do not fully understand and not
having my head around all things technical is scary.
but i figure i just have to make a start and see where it takes me.

so jump on board
i hope you will find something here for you.
as i hope i do.