7 January 2015

Heartwoods in Summer

 
Welcome to Heartwoods from Bushy, Winter and I.
We had a lovely time away, and would like to share it with you.
Here is a map of our property. It's a mountain side, made up of two 40 acre blocks. They were parcelled off during the gold rush. So if the kids fall out, they can inherit one each. 
 
You can see the bottom boundary is a creek...more of this at the bottom of the post. Top left of the block you can see two black spots which are our sheds, and one blue spot which is our leaky dam. We are almost at the top of the hill at about 900 metres.
 
 
You may be wondering what the kids get up to without screens.
First we have Mr Artist being cool in a shell on our dam (complete with some water for a change.)
Going, going, gooone!
 
 
Here Winter, come and float in my boat.
Um, no thanks!
OK I'll go by myself..."wow, look at all the tadpoles, there are literally millions, seriously there are more than a thousand!"
 
 
Then we have parkour adventures over "Speedy" our stationary wreck.
 
 
Don't forget archery sessions with Bushy who is a passionate archer. (new bows for Christmas)
 
 
And then we have riding our bikes - this time the kids rode from the top to the bottom of our block after Bushy slashed a path with the tractor.
Mr Artist managed it unscathed both times, but poor Mr Actor came a cropper the second time. Thank goodness for dirt bike helmets!
 It was still voted the BEST fun!
 
 
We also have time to jump on an old couch, throw sticks that sound like thrumming boomerangs, and play cricket with Bushy...Winter is fielder.
Top right photo shows the stairs I fixed and outlined with bark, and bottom left shows the outdoor shower in the driveway (which we now realise we left up, so may need a new one by the time we head back!)
 
 
Down time includes knitting, reading comics, drinking tea, sitting in our lounge room admiring the view (a flat elevated cleared section- you can see the ground drops away behind Bushy), lying in the hammock, and the all important bug spray!
 
 
There were plenty of bitey bugs, but we also saw a ton of birds including an eagle, also a tortoise, a snake, lizards, and tadpoles.
 


Down the bottom of our block we have a ford to cross the river, and we've noticed it's been under water the last few times. So when Bushy mowed the driveway we came down to have a look. The pipe underneath was silted up.
Never fear, Bushy is here! 
After some digging and scraping, and strategic placement of rocks, we had it flowing again.
 

Then we decided to clear away a waterhole for swimming/ squatting(!), cutting back some undergrowth, to create a lovely cool spot for picnics.
 
 
What does Heartwoods look like at night, you ask?
Here is Bushy in the shed with our divider down (Mr Actor is asleep behind the blind), and outside the trees are silhouetted on the cooling sky.
 
 
One of the glorious sights this visit was butterflies flitting around this blossom. Of course I didn't manage to capture any of them!
 
 
So that's our busy visit. Hope you enjoyed your time with us.
Feel free to lie back, relax on our hammock, and enjoy the evening sunshine!

 
Please come back again.
Until next time, keep on creating and showing your beautiful selves to the world.
 
Love,
Jazzy Jack

31 December 2014

New Year Fireworks

 
Happy New Year!
Welcome to 2015!
 

Feel any different yet?
I certainly do, because I'm typing on my very new computer!!!
Still at the frustration stage as I learn where everything is, but it's so amazing. We have two screens side by side, which run as one big screen. Mind boggling!

The photo above is from last night's fireworks. Mr Actor and I were trying out the firework settings on our cameras. Yes, Mr Actor scored a new camera for Christmas, a smaller version of mine. (He is now telling me what all the buttons on mine do!)

Not sure how frequently I'll post this month, as we are on holidays as a family, and will do at least one more trip. But I wanted to mark the change to this new year.
I wasn't even blogging, this time last year!

We are starting a new tradition this year, writing time capsule letters to ourselves to read this time next year. Hopefully we'll remember where we put it.

Hope your new year is a humdinger.
And remember to keep on creating and showing your beautiful unique selves to the world!
Love you heaps,
Jazzy Jack

23 December 2014

Christmas Sculpture

Hello folks. It's Christmas Eve...a day that has Christmas in the title! So I can finally post my Christmas post.
We have a non-traditional Christmas tree this year. We imported a sculpture from our garden.
This consists of an old wire bedbase we found in an old fire at 'Heartwoods' (our bush block). Someone had obviously burnt a bed (desperate for wood or what!)
I love old rusty things, so we brought it home...as you do...and made it into a sculpture  in our garden, with three branches for a teepee.
When we were looking for a Christmas tree idea I noticed the tree shape, and so decided on this!
It's so lovely and ethereal being see-through.
Here it is in the day time.
 
With the blue lights shining...
 
And here with the red. It changes the feeling totally!
Smart-Blue obviously approves...or he is about to pounce on them ^o_o^ !
 
The windmill type decorations are some I made with NZ flax.
 
We hope your holidays are filled with light, love and laughter. Bushy is on holidays for the whole of January...whoopeeeee!
Looking forward to sharing more fun shenanigans with you in 2015.  Thanks for being part of my blog and my life this year. You rock!!
'Til next time, keep creating and showing your fabulousness to the world!
 
Love,
Jazzy Jack, Bushy, Mrstrs Actor and Artist, Winter, Smart-Blue, Jade and Blueberry(budgies), and all the fish(no name brand)!

21 December 2014

BeautyScope 190: Floral clock


backlit blooms
tell of life's cycle
to bud and bloom
then wither...?

16 December 2014

BeautyScope 188: Kangaroo Paw


ghostly cicada shell 
clings to a kangaroo paw flower
the beast transformed amongst beauty