My shangri-la beneath the summer moon. . .

Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream
I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been
To sit with elders of the gentle race, this world has seldom seen
They talk of days for which they sit and wait and all will be revealed

My shangri-la beneath the summer moon, I will return again
Let me take you there. ......
Led Zeppelin

Kashmir.... the name I have chosen for our little caravan by the sea....it isn't much, but it's ours.. and I am itching to get hold of the key so I can put my mark upon her....
I wanted an exotic name.. images of Marrakesh, Morocco, vibrant Indian markets, bohemia, all floated through my minds eye... and although not a huge fan of Led Zeppelin.. i think the words of their song above, really suit what I am wanting in our little haven by the sea... I did think of Bohemian Rhapsody.. but there are too many letters for me to attempt to paint! I thought of calling it Avalon... or AnamCara.. Joe said 'Magick' but Kashmir it is at the moment.... unless I find something else.
although to be truthful, I am not a camper.. I have never liked to rough it, I don't like outside toilets, I hate sharing showers... I have always insisted on luxury... no-less than 4 stars.. bed & breakfasts where I am treated like royalty....(hanging head in shame)..I always thought i was a princess and wanted to be treated like one.... but Joe has always wanted a caravan and we started looking.. just for fun really.
Over the weekend, I was reading Women who run with the Wolves and I put alot of my thoughts down in my journal.. thoughts which make no sense at all now... something about life being too safe... and I wrote: 'what about a caravan? - this would put me out of my comfort zone.. a caravan will make me spread my wings and fly.. it will help me let go of 'my too-safe mother'.... and I will have the opportunity to go there by myself.. to help me overcome my fear of being alone.. to be able to lie under the stars...'
and now I am over the moon with excitement!
my 'worrier' mother didn't have alot of positive things to say... her first words to me were:'oh there will be mozzies and you will be bitten to pieces'......*sigh* but those words slipped off my back.. like a duck...
I have so many ideas... lots of lanterns.. just like a gypsy caravan!

here are a few photos that we took...


this is the annexe to the caravan, quite spacious.. this will be where we eat and relax... below is the caravan.. that is where our beds are.. and a small kitchen.

the caravan park has its own jetty..

here is Joe, just after we paid the deposit and signed the papers... the water is so blue and I cannot wait to sit on the grassed area, looking out and maybe doing meditation, yoga or journalling. Who knows, I may even write poetry or sketch...

and Mister Pelican..... maybe he will become my animal totem by the sea...

the romantic notion that I have of sitting out under the stars... by the water.... yes, quite excited I am.. and Joe is absolutely beside himself!

yesterday, I washed all my timber floors... in the old fashion way:- on my hand and knees... I made up a big bucket of hot, hot water, liquid organic soap, lavender oil and a dash or apple cider vinegar, donned the rubber gloves and scrubbed... and after they were done, I had a real soul satisfaction.... the rooms smelled really clean and fresh, I had a physical workout while doing it and my floors looked cleaner than if i had used a mop... good old elbow grease !!!!

F ~ is for

not much happening here in Woodford - it is raining - again or still would be more appropriate.. and while I know we need this rain... I also need some sun.. but who am I, but a speck in the scheme of things to complain? So I will be grateful for our weather... it is filling our dams, it is watering my gardens and it has been a cool summer.. but as I said.. autumn is on her way... the last days of summer are here now... and I have been told that we have had an English summer, so maybe those theories that the polarities of Mother Earth are changing are correct... maybe one day Australia will have a White Christmas...
so.. I will just get on with the F in my life....those Fantastic, Fabulous things that make my heart Flutter...those things in my life that I can have a Feeling of gratitude for.....
first of all we have a little FAERY sign.. the people who created this sign, did not know how to spell faery correctly... the sign sits in a pot of Bay on my front steps

then we have FEVERFEW... this started of in my garden as one small plant and has now self-seeded all over the place. I love it!! It is good for headaches apparently.. oneday i hope to be able to use my own feverfew to treat my headaches...

then we have FOUNTAIN.... in the middle of my front yard... it goes constantly and I find that the sound of water is quiet peaceful.... I have a few water plants in it too... Joe bought me this fountain for one of our anniversaries....


and last but not least is my FOOT... I took this while at the beach on the weekend.. do you know how difficult it is to take a photo of your own foot, while juggling a big bucket of shells while the tide rushes in??

so there you go ~ my ABC for this week ~ be Footloose and Fancy Free!!

*a gift from a faery*

while FaEryLaNd was open during January to celebrate my 50 years in this life-time, I organised a gift-swap and the past few weeks.. little birdies have been criss-crossing vast oceans to deliver little packages to lucky faery-friends! Yesterday, there was a tap at my door and on the step was a package for me!...

my gifts were a delight! I received some lucky oil, some cut-out faeries as well as a collection of faery prints, some ephemera for collage, a paper doily with the words' so fairy special', a little birdie and a leaf...some crystals, an acorn and a magick wand ~thankyou, thankyou to my faery friend!! I love it all... specially my wand!!

a walk along a south coast beach

I'm back. the weather was absolutely divine while I was away... blue sky, aqua water. Today, in Woodford it is raining - again. At the moment, I am beginning to think that it will never stop raining... I know that we need the rain, but it is beginning to wear thin.. not being able to get my clothes dry and everything is so damp... I guess I am never happy !
We had a wonderful time - doing nothing much, really... I read a little of Women who Run with the Wolves and wrote some thoughts in my journal... I still have to sift through them and maybe I will share, maybe not. I promised a few of you that I would share my time away and what better way could I do it than in photos? . . . .

To get to the shell 'graveyard', we must walk quite a long distance along the shore until we come to a rocky outcrop that is only accessible at low tide... these rocks are full of rock pools...

I love to peer into them and am sometimes suprised by little fish and crabs scurrying about ... once upon a time, there would be star fish in these pools, but for some reason, they have disappeared.. I haven't seen a star fish in years....

being at the mouth of the Inlet, the tide is very strong and at high tide the waves crash upon the shore dumping millions and millions of shells.. this is what we call the shell graveyared. and as I wandered, collecting shells and bits for a wreath that I want to make.. my love called to me that there was a gift left for me to find..... and I found these... he had been collecting for me - a gift of love..

as I walked through the water, I noticed all these circles and spirals... not sure what they are.. but they reminded me of ancient markings... someone inside me remembered, something...

loving my walk along the rocks... I thought of Sr.K on the other side of this ocean... this sea that was swirling around the rock pools.... in and out with the waves... is the exact same sea that swirls around her feet as she takes her walks collecting bits for her art.....

and this gorgeous rock.... it looked like a beach dugong.... so smooth and silky....

and an even bigger moment for us: a few years ago, we owned a cottage down there, at Sussex Inlet but sold .. it was gorgeous but all we did was spend time working at it whenever we went to stay.... so while we were away this time, we decided to buy an onsite caravan.... we have bought ourselves a little cara- van, on the waters edge!!!.... it is gorgeous... I thought of my friend Lee in Dorset and her delightful van Pippin and I cannot wait to lie out under the stars..... and I cannot wait to decorate our little van! I have taken a few photos to share... but will do that sometime this week....

my monthly get-away & sharing some journalling....

remember when I went to the sea-side in January... and I decided to make the effort to go to the beach once a month? Well.. it's actually happening.. I have booked us into a little seaside shack for the weekend.. down the coast at Sussex Inlet... right on the water.. and we are leaving this afternoon..... I cannot wait. Sussex Inlet must be my favourite sea-side village... it is like you step back in time...sometimes, I go early in the morning to see the sunrise above the sea, maybe I do a little yoga.. but I am always alone, no one else there and it is perfect... we can walk for miles along the shore..climbing over rocks to the shell graveyard, where there are absolutely millions of shells to be picked up. And large stones too.... I can go knee deep into rock pools whose floors are covered in sea glass and sometimes I lie down and peer into the water, watching the underwater world go about its daily business.....it is a little bit of escapism

the other day, when I was carrying on a treat about why I blog.... Krissie suggested that I journal my blog... she had found it on a challenge site journal your blog .. I think Krissie is Queen of he Challenges... she always finds the most amazing things to do ! so i played for a bit over the past few days and it felt good to do ~ I had forgotten how soothing it is to sit among bits and pieces and create something for fun... I always tend to try to create a 'masterpiece' and end up doing nothing, the inner critic *sigh*... ... I have this brand new journal, with one entry from the beginning of January... I have been in a real creative slump lately .... I write so much on my blog, about my home and life, so to actually journal it and create around the post, really helps me to focus....so i am going to regularly do this in my journal... here is my first entry:

Krissie also takes part in a weekly challenge called Gothic Arches and I thought I would play around with the theme this week, which was 'old schooldays' - a perfect theme for my journal.. I could create something around my own school days ... I had an old report card of mine that was sitting around uselessly, getting more dog-eared by the minute, so i used that as a background.. once upon a time, i would not have done this.. thinking I must preserve all my papers... but really, who wants them... I have my mums too... sitting in a box, disintegrating - I used an old photo of my first day at school.... and at first, I didn't like what I had created... but I am actually quite liking it now....my Gothic Arch old schooldays....

I have decided to allow anonymous comments again as I received a delightful email from a 'lurker' who can't comment now.... her words really touched me alot and I think sometimes, comments are just as important as the actual posts ~ you just never know when a comment may help another reader.... thankyou to 'pt' .. you can comment again....

the full moon came and went yesterday... I don't think I have seen a full moon for 3 months or more.. it is always raining... I have my crystals waiting to sit out in a full moon bathe.. but it looks like they will be waiting for another month.......

so off to the sea-side it is....