my time in Dili

pictures from my trip to East Timor in 2006....

on this day

today my thoughts turned a number of times to friends in East Timor. ten years ago they voted to free themselves from the unlawful rule of another power.

this is a photograph of me (very pregnant with Audrey in 2007) with two of my oldest Timorese friends - i have known them since 2001. and this pair in particular are the reason i finally joined facebook. i kept getting requests from them over the years... so in order to be able to see the photographs of them with their gorgeous families i succumbed... but that is another story.

i would say that while i have numerous acquaintances, i have about 6 close Timorese friends. i think of them today and particularly what they faced this day ten years ago. i think of the one who bears scars that i dare not ask about, who stood next to his best friend, as he was killed in front of him. i think of the one who risked life, escorting journalists into the mountains to meet with Falintil leaders during the occupation. i think of the woman, who during the 2006 crisis lived in an idp camp with her family, fearful of returning home at night. but still she arrived at work each morning, groomed and dressed like every other day. i also think of a dear friend with the UN who in the aftermath of the popular consultation was housed in the Australian Embassy in Dili, while buildings burnt to the ground and terrifiedTimorese fled to the hills. and i am amazed and grateful at all these i know who hold no animosity but much forgiveness and rejoice today in their own land.

sometimes it is the little things that remind me to be gentler, slower, more mindful and more present.

a family day out

and i am ashamed to say i think it may have been our first in 19 months! just the four of us. i loved it.

the ones you love

i am sitting in the quiet, waiting for my family to come home after another long day. while waiting, i am uploading four years worth of photographs. then i will have them ALL printed. so i can sort them into albums, and also choose the ones to go into the "special" scrapbooking albums. while i wait for them to upload, i am browsing through blogs (of course) and am reading through entries on this one. i remember weeping when i first came across it. i felt the physical pain and heaviness of mourning and missing in my own heart.
this week we have talked about having a family outing to Tidbinbilla tomorrow. we do a lot together at home. we go to story time and to play group. but we don't often go somewhere just to be together. today's rainy weather may no allow the trip to see kangaroos and emus that Nicholas is excited for, but tomorrow we will have pink milk, and i will hold my babies tight and tell them i love them. in memory of a little girl i never knew.

a record -

-three posts in one day!
i have been reading a bit of this site today. i like anything Ann Voskamp writes. and i need the quiet, reflective encouragement she provides. her insight into scripture, lived daily inspires me. she writes beautifully. and her words can pierce. like this post.
* * * * * * * * * *
kids ate all their dinner tonight. they did not fight in the bath, and both drifted off to sleep without any convincing... did i mention that i love Thursdays?

music

we have the usual selection of children's music - playschool, Justine Clarke, the Wiggles... but then there is this music in my playlist. some indie/folk kids music. which is nice listening for parents too!

Thursday...

...is my favourite day of the week. Wednesday we have playgroup in the morning, and bible study in the evening. but on Thursday we have nothing planned. and today is gorgeous. i spent the morning on the deck with this pile of books.

i want to get involved in the garden over Spring/Summer. usually David does the planting but i am really keen this year. (in the past it has been the royal "we" when it came to all of the work outside!)
the kids collected the eggs today: note to self: buy Audrey gumboots tomorrow!

a couple of months ago i picked up the book on natural housekeeping for $15. not only does the content look good, the images are beautiful. i have decided that with my love of earthy looking things (am excited about some pottery purchases coming up...) and my dream of living in an autumn Toast catalogue (should be due to arrive in the post soon...) my taste is quite rustic...
this is our very own woodpile - nicely stocked for the next three or four years thanks to the generosity of friends!

as i was cleaning the shower the other day (and overpowering myself with the smell) i wondered how well you really can clean your house with lemon juice, bicarb soda, water and salt. so i am going to give it a go. it is not that i know anything about being carbon neutral or all that much about the greenhouse layer or climate change, but i think we can do better for ourselves. whether it is turning off lights when you aren't in a room, limiting shower time, using recycable shopping bags, catching the bus, and switching things off rather than leaving them on standby, the small changes we can make in can only be good. even if only for the being present in our daily living. i like this quote from Anita Roddick: yesterday Nicholas and i made a sultana cake and we had our lunch outside, so i am feeling quite home-y at the moment. sewing patterns and notions are arriving, so i've made a date on my calendar to head to the fabric sale this month!

great expectations??

i had bought a beautifully bound "First Five Years" memory book for Nicholas when he was born, which included lots of pages and lots of detail (note to self: must catch up on the last two years!) but i had not been able to find one that i was completely happy with for Audrey. the one i did get had as many pages for five years as Nicholas' did for one.
but, inspiration hit from this Ali Edwards album, and a later Tuesday Tutorial she posted about. this is what i will use to make my own "First Five Yeats memory book for Audrey. i have a feeling the album is a little smaller than i had envisaged using, but that's ok - i'll work with it!
i can see our dining room table transformed in Spring/Summer - becoming my work table. i can open the french doors and keep an eye on Nicholas and Audrey playing on the deck while i sew or scrap.
i have now completely overwhelmed myself with projects that i am itching to start. i am pretty happy with the progress of projects listed in the side bar, but now i really mean business.
here are all of the things i am determined (and really believe i will) make/do over Spring/Summer.
* start (and finish before her second birthday) Audrey's first year album.
* create Audrey's "First Five Years" memory book... and update Nicholas'
* the Tail Feathers quilt. this is a block per month, so i think i can easily pick this up when i need to.
* a table runner for our dining table
* this quilt for our bed during the warmer weather (assuming i can convince David that he has always wanted to sleep under a patchwork quilt!)
* new pillowcases from Weekend Sewing
* two more quilt patterns i have, to make for a nice selection for picnics and other outside activities like reading or playing or even for keeping warm on the couch during cooler months
* the wrap skirt in Weekend Sewing
* this top
* these buckets
...and if that isn't enough, i have the patterns for two dresses and some pyjamas i want to make Audrey for summer...
overly ambitious? maybe, but i have given myself six months to do it... i really just need to stop looking and to start sewing!

these are two clips of my kids singing. unfortunately i forgot that i don't know how to rotate the video footage on my camera, and i filmed it portrait, so Nicholas looks like he is standing on a wall...

and something only a mother could understand, Audrey singing the Playschool song!

Aung Suu Kyi is someone i admire so very much. she has sacrificed almost everything she can for the ideals she believes in.
i am thankful that so many people, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu (a beutiful article) and Bono (if you watch the clip you will hear her at the end) make sure she is not forgotten. today she was sentenced to a further 18 months house imprisonment.
i have a quote of hers above my desk at work...

"Some have questioned the appropriateness of talking about such matters as metta (loving kindness) and thissa (truth) in the political context. But politics is about people... love and truth can move people more strongly than any form of coercion."

in the kitchen

i am a hit and miss cook. i have great aspirations, and sometimes i surprise myself when i manage to cook something that looks like the picture in the book... and tastes good too.
maybe if i wasn't married to someone who is so passionate about cooking, and who perfects everything he attempts, i'd be a bit more inspired to try harder...
in my dreams i cook like this:

it is early for posting. i like to get up with David when he leaves for work, as it gives me an hour in the quiet before the kids wake up. today we are going to storytime at the local library (usually a Saturday morning activity, but we are busy this weekend.

i have been doing some quilt stitchery, and stitching some gorgeous matryoshka dolls. i now have three extra quilt patterns i want to make. i think i should be able to do them quite easily as they are basically squares and rectangles sewn up together.

i am really interested in the history of quilting at the moment. this site has some great links. what interests me most though, are purpose driven quilts. particularly those that were sewn out of a real need - the kind of quilt that may have been made by a sharecroppers wife during the depression, from rags that were past any other means of use.

i've mentioned before that i have my grandmothers sewing machine. i know that she sewed clothes for my dad and his siblings on it... she once told me she sold a bag of potatoes for the money to buy it... my maternal grandmother knitted... i wish they were here so i could ask them more.

how decadant i am!

what a gorgeous day! i really am anxious for lovely sunny days when we can be outside for hours... i have so much planned for Spring/Summer.
last Saturday i had a fun, hectic, sewing day with my mum and my sister. and i can't wait for these books filled with projects i WILL make...


today i slept for FIVE hours! it would seem luxurious, if i had not been sitting up with Audrey until 4am this morning. she cried all night until i came in her room and she would reach her arms out and say "cuddle". i tried to be stern with her, but how could i not lie and cuddle her. especially when i am away with work for 4 days in a couple of weeks. my boss asked if i could go for an extra day. i pretended i didn't hear him! :) i worry for when she wakes and i am not home. if i am not the one to come to her she cries and i hear her from my bed calling "ma!" i worry for her and i worry for David.
but today. today my mother-in-law has the kids, and i slept. now i have magazines, a coffee, biscuits and Lost In Austen. i think this will be the fourth time i have watched it! sorry Jane, sorry Colin, but i think i like this version better! :) (warning: spoilers follow!)