A lot can happen in a year... (or not quite a year in this case!)

Well, look at that… it’s been a whole 9 months since I last wrote a blog post… to put that into perspective, I could have had a baby in that time!  But I haven’t!!!   No, life just got busy. 

March started with a rush of shows and jewellery making and didn’t stop till later in May.  My son had his first year away at school and I spent quite a bit of the year going back and forth between home and his school to see him.   Winter was very mild and I spent more time out and about that I normally do, then of course it was back to the bench making jewels for spring and summer.   

Husband travelled to the US for almost a month in spring, which meant I was wearing the Farmer Piper hat for far longer than was comfortable and it took more time to do everything being a single parent.   I did far more spring shows than I have in the past testing new markets… then summer arrived.  Orders kept flowing til a couple of days before Christmas when I had to call it quits for sanity’s sake.   And now it’s January! 

In hindsight there were lots of things about 2013 that I'd prefer to just block out, it was one of those years when everything went wrong ... repeatedly and of course everything cost way more than expected.   On the positive side at least we were all healthy and as happy as everything going wrong allowed.  

So what’s in store this year?  Well, I’ve had some time for reflection over the last couple of weeks and there are some things that need refining both on the home and jewel fronts.

Home 

• Take more time out to cook.  Healthy meals.  I was doing quite well till around hubby’s trip O/S … and  I think that stress took its toll in poor food choices, getting on that awful roundabout of being good for a few days then bad for a few days.  

• Garden more.   I’ve had a wonderful friend helping me the last year and the house paddock is finally starting to look a little bit more like a garden (albeit a park like garden) - but ONLY if I spend time maintaining her work!  So, I need to water more.  (HINT: for all you other non-gardeners out there, water is the KEY, even I can make things grow with enough water!).   Admittedly, this is hard when it appears we’re in the midst of another drought on the farm, but I can see the need for at least a small portion of an oasis for Farmer Piper to chill out in/around.   

• Continue to visit son regularly at school – he enjoys it and I need it!    And continue doing things with the girls, they’re growing up so fast! If this means more time away from home, that's a small price to pay.

• Schedule more regular times for farm bookwork so I don’t get buried in it every 3 months when the GST is due.

• Start playing the piano again… it’s been months and although I’m certainly no “artiste”,  I do enjoy it.

• Exercise more, the shoulder muscle I tore over a year ago still isn’t quite right, but I’ll have to make time for some version of activity.

(We had a blackout last night and I got so much done, albeit by candlelight… I think I need to pretend there is a blackout once a week for a few hours, it might help me do some of these resolutions!)

Jewels

• Be more selective with shows and find more indoor ones.  I have been at the mercy of the weather more times than I care to think about this year and it hasn’t been enjoyable for anyone involved.   

• Ask my clients to recommend events/shows – they know me and have a good idea where I would be a good fit!   I tend not to want to put myself forward, but doing a host of shows that were less than average in 2013 made me see my folly in this regard.  It won’t be easy but I’m on the upper side of 40 (a tad too close to 59 actually!) and need to have more confidence to ask.

•  Keep my website up to date and blog regularly.  I did very badly in both areas in 2013.  Facebook & Pinterest took its toll – it’s so easy to get caught up and lose time there.  So, a regular session of website work, adding new stock before I become overwhelmed at the amount and more blogging… I'm looking forward to getting back into the groove!

• Make more jewels (I should do OK with this one!)

So, what’s your year looking like…  are there lots of  achievable resolutions or are there some high level wish lists there?

I like this view… although I think I’ll change the  muck about “on boats” to “in planes” since there certainly aren’t any boats around here… or water to float them in -  but aeroplanes we have in comparable abundance ^_^

Till next

Annette :)

Photos 'pinched' from The Bottom of the Ironing Basket blog... as she always has such good pictures there!

Farewell 2010 .. Hello 2011!

It's here - the end of the year 2010. Another year gone and a few scant hours to get everything done that I said I would this year. The pressure, the pressure!! Then again, maybe that's asking a bit much - perhaps my to do list is just already half done for 2011!

The hot summer weather finally hit yesterday - we've had days in the last week when we've all been back in long sleeves and sweaters, but yesterday dawned clear with one of those typically bright blue summer skies, and today was no exception. We're back to opening up the house as much as we can at night and closing everything up into semi darkness (hard at our house with all our windows and glass) from about 7.30am with the ceiling fans valiantly moving the air around.

The pool comes into its own in this sort of weather and we all live in our swimsuits as we dive in, have a quick splash and then get out walking around in wet cossies and letting nature do its evaporative cooling on us :)

I've had the opportunity to get out on a few walks in the last week - they brought back to me WHY we moved out here a dozen years ago. The fresh air, the smells of the bush, the peace, being surrounded by nature, the fresh air and the togetherness that was possible in such a setting. I'll relate:

On Christmas Day while the kids were busy playing at Grandma's hubby and I escaped for a walk. Grandma lives closer to the highway than we do but being Christmas Day there was nary a car on the roads, so the distant rumbling of trucks and cars was unusually silent, there was no quad bike humming nearby, no tractor roaring away either near or in the distance (everyone who still had harvest to do had stopped for Christmas) and no fumes from any of the vehicles mentioned. Many varieties of birds were chirping, cicada's buzzing, the sun was warm but the air was cool. It felt so wonderful to be outside amid it all.

As I walked down the track in between the dry oat stalks (from harvest a few weeks ago) on an early morning walk this week, a light breeze started and the stalks rattled together, clicking and tapping, making an odd but delightful sort of music.

Last night I had to drive hubby down to collect the header from where he had been doing some late contract harvesting. The paddocks he had done were WAY down a little used track. As we entered the track there was a section of 'scrub' or 'the bush' - native trees and grasses - that we had to drive through. It had the most incredible smell - evocative of the walks I used to take myself on as a child on our farm on the north coast of NSW. When we finally got to our destination it was about 7.30pm the sun was low and not as hot, and we were able to appreciate the stunning vista before us, before turning homeward and back to reality.

So, do you all want move to the country now? :D

My girls will be 10 years old tomorrow, so whilst the rest of us reflect on the past year later tonight, they'll just be bouncy and happy waiting for 01/01/11 and their birthday! No doubt we'll be off in the land of nod by the time the clock ticks midnight - New Year's Eve parties are a thing of the past for us these days.

So, here's to a fabulous year - let's see all the new and amazing things 2011 brings to us all!

Cheers
Annette

A lovely start to 2010

Can you believe we're into 2010 already!?

Did you have a good Christmas? I hope you got lots of presents that you wanted/liked and had a joyous time with your family or friends! How about New Year? Did you celebrate with parties and fireworks or had a quiet night in?

I like the idea of staying up to see the new year in, but I inevitably get tired trying to stay awake and am really far better off sleeping! This year was no different. We dined with friends but retired about 10.30pm and although briefly awoken by firecrackers going off when I assume it was midnight, I dozed straight back off. Still haven't made any resolutions either. Have you?

Of course, my girls' (twins) birthday is New Year's Day and it would be a bit rude to party the night before and not on their birthday. Well, that sounds reasonable at any rate! So, this year, they had a small party hosted by our ex-neighbours who now live on the coast. There were two other little girls who they have known since birth (plus all the boofy brothers LOL). One of the mums bought them all big glittery flower hair clips and I love this pic of them line up waiting to get to the food ... a veritable garden of flowers!!



The best news of all for the past week is that we've had rain, and not just a token sprinkling. But good, decent, soaking rain that went for days! Brown paddocks are already looking green, dams are almost full and the lawn that we had been desperately trying to water to bring back to life a couple of weeks ago is so long that it will be a job and a half to mow it! Our tally for the year's rain is still far below average for 2009, but we've had a nice start to 2010 - let's hope it continues throughout the year! From a farmer/grazier's point of view, it would be so nice to have a good year!! Here is a pic I just snapped from our verandah of our nearest dam... it's almost full :)



For today's pic (top) I don't usually make these, but a client requested some hair vines for her upcoming wedding. Made with swarovski crystals, freshwater pearls and gold plated leaves, I still have a couple of matching hairpins to finish before sending these to her - but she is thrilled with them so far. Someone else who is stepping sideways slightly from traditional jewellery making is Dana who makes gem trees. She has a great pic of a partially made gem tree on her blog. I love seeing the things we get drawn in to - is it by accident or design!?

I hope you're all either still enjoying holidays or recovering well from the partying! Till next :)

Annette

Photography and magnesite

Christmas is over for another year, in fact another year is almost over - only hours to go until 2009 shows its face!

Our christmas was very family oriented and the children had a wonderful time, as they always do. Did you receive anything you just LOVE? I did! I received an autographed copy of the wonderful book A Grain of Sand by Dr Gary Greenberg. I've mentioned it on my blog before as a wonderful look into something so mundane yet so startingly beautiful that you will never look at sand the same way, ever again! Not just a gorgeous coffee table book, there is wonderful information on both Dr. Greenberg's microphotography and on sand itself.

I was contacted by a fellow who saw my admiration of macrophotography and sent me a link to his photos on flickr. He has taken some wonderful shots of stones that would make great wall art.

Bright blue-greens are always popular in summer and I found a great strand of treated magnesite (pictured above made into a necklace) that gives that wonderful aegean green colour. I haven't dealt with magnesite before and was interested to learn more about it. It is commonly found in a massive form (more rarely as crystals) in white/grey/yellow-brown. Fairly soft at 3.5-4 it has been used for sculpture for thousands of years. (A small Mesopetamian lioness sculpture made of magnesite c. 3000-2800 BC was sold by Sothebys in 2007 for over US$57 million!)

Metaphysically it is said to bring deep peace to meditation. It promotes a positive attitude, stimulates ideas yet has a calming effect on emotions. Said to detoxify the body it acts as a muscle relaxant, treats bone and teeth disorders, speeds up fat metabolism and helps deal with fevers and chills. Sounds like I should save a piece for the medicine cabinet! ;)

My family (and I imagine half of Australia) are off to a New Years Eve celebration tonight. If you have such a gathering to attend I hope you have a wonderful time and I look forward to catching up with you in 2009 ;)

Happy New Year!

Look out here's 2008!

How was your Christmas? Ours was the usual routine, but the children do make it a special time! They were to bed early on Christmas Eve as they couldn't wait for Santa to come, and as expected, he came sometime through the night as their Santa bags had lots of pressies in them the next morning :)

Then there was usual ripping and tearing of paper frenzy before going to my in-laws mid morning... for more ripping and tearing before lunch! The kids played happily with their gifts all afternoon and in fact the whole time since (although I will not be surprised when the "I'm bored" statement is eventually uttered!).

My girls (the twins) are still on a high, as their birthday is just around the corner - on New Years Day. This of course means a huge bonanza for them at this time of the year, although the rest of the year is a little light in the present department!

It is really hard having children with a birthday on a public holiday so close to Christmas (I feel totally sorry for those who have their birthdays actually on Christmas Day!). You want to do something for them that is special, but in our case, everyone is tired after the festivities of New Years Eve and most of their little friends are involved with family things or away on holidays.

Last year we had a pre-party for them the week before school broke up and that seemed to work well. But you still have to do something for their actual birthday too.

We always have a cake (two actually) and have in the past had a New Years Day brunch or lunch with friends and relatives that happen to be around. This year, we are going out for New Years Eve and the children will be staying with Grandma. So we are proposing a BBQ style lunch at our house with the cake afterwards. (This gives us time to sleep in a little and get everything prepared ;) ). I've been looking at what I can cook and found this scrumptious looking recipe on the My Day Off blog. Perfect for a hot summer day when everyone is a little tired!

I've included a picture of a beautifully bright coin pearl bracelet that would be perfect for New Year's celebrations. The colours in the photo are quite true to life and set off beautifully by the silver.