LIFE IS NOT MADE OF MILESTONES BUT OF MOMENTS

 Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.
George E. Woodberry 

Art around the house.

As I continue to sort piles of folders and papers I came across there cute prints that my younger daughter R did many years ago, before cupcakes were so fashionable.

Cupcake print - ink on paper

Cupcake print - ink on paper

I think I was very spoiled with the amount of creativity at home in those days. I should have had these framed on the wall. I have packed them away for future reference.


The building

P:-) and I bought some 3 metre plasterboard just to practise maneuvering it into the house and down the stairs to the back room. It was very difficult. We both have bad backs and the thought of moving 15 more sheets, 10 of which will have to be 3.6 metres long is a bit daunting. We will have to give it some thought. I am thinking of hiring some young fit men to do the moving when the delivery finally comes.

However, P:-) did get the first length of plasterboard up so I just had to show you.

Plasterboard at end of backroom

A longer view of backroom

WOW! This room was begun before the beginning of the millennium. A divorce and lack of funds prevented it from being finished. P:-), a retired builder, is very generously finishing it for me.

The Helensburgh house


Over a year ago I wrote in my blog of P:-)'s daughter's house. This was how it looked.

September 2011

Helensburgh house interior Sept 2011.

Here is the house today. My mother provided M and B with the agapanthus plants which have settled in and begun to flower.

Helensburgh house January 2013.

View from verandah.

M and B have been in for over a year now. P:-) gave them a lot of help. This is an old miner's cottage and only has 4 small rooms - a bedroom, a lounge room, a very small kitchen and a bathroom. M and B now have a three month old baby and are very cramped but have begun adding on extensions.

In the garden

I enjoy cooking with fresh herbs but don't grow any at the moment. I use a lot of coriander (cilantro), basil, mint, parsley, rosemary and thyme. I have had herbs growing in the past but not had much success at my current house.

This time I have tried planting some basil in pots.

Basil

I have been moving the pots religiously into the sun and out of the sun and into the rain. It is mid-summer here in Australia so I am hoping the basil will take off and now that I have finished work I will be able to nurse it along.

I find it quite expensive buying herbs, and they have to be fresh so I am often popping out just to buy a bunch of herbs. So I am hoping my new plantings will save me some time and money.

This morning there was a great flock of cockatoos in the trees at the back of my house. I managed to photograph a few of them.

Cockatoos in trees

Cockatoos in tree

These birds are very noisy and a flock of them overhead is almost deafening. They make a harsh screeching sound.

I will finish with these pretty pictures of P:-)'s front lawn, which looks like a wild flower meadow in England.

This is not the aim of P:-) for his front yard. It is supposed to be a flat carpet of green lawn.

Even though dandelions are considered weeds here in Australia it is hard not to see the beauty in them.

 I don't think P:-) agrees. He thinks I am a bit crazy, but I think we should look for beauty and goodness wherever we  can find it - especially in the small things. I think it is good to remember that life is not made of milestones but of moments. (Anonymous)

Interesting sites


1.

Photo source

 To see a pink Christmas is a Tiny House click here

2.

Click here  to read how soybeans could be a source of a valuable chemical. 

3.

Photo source

Nicaragua plans to be resourced by 94% renewable energy by 2017. Click here to read more.

BEAUTY FROM ASHES

Christening present

Every Wednesday I get the mail for our school from the Post Office. I was really pleased to come across these pretty painted letters today in a craft shop nearby.

Painted wooden letters.

P:-)'s second granddaughter  L is being Christened in a couple of weeks and we bought similar letters for her elder sister for her christening a couple of years ago. The letters make up her name.

The wooden letters are about 9cm high.

The two girls share the same bedroom so I am pleased to have been able to get matching letters. We will also buy Granddaughter L a brooch with her name engraved on it, as we did her sister.

Keeping shallots 

I eat quite a few shallots and I have found that rather than keep them in the fridge they actually last better in water. Not only that they will continue to grow.

 

I have only been keeping them this way for a couple of weeks, so don't really know how long the shallots are going to keep growing, but I just keep cutting the tops off as I need them.

Beauty from ashes

I came across these words below on a blog called  Life in Grace . They are written by Edie Wadsworth. Her house burnt down and she has just built a new one. I know some of the people who read this blog, and are not Christians, may be a little irked by them, but I decided to include them anyway.

These words mean a lot to me because I feel that my life was like ashes after my  ex-husband  left what I had thought was a happy marriage of 30 years. But with the help of God I am rebuilding it.

Clover in P:-)'s lawn

  

Beauty  From  Ashes

So, whether your house burns down or your spouse leaves or your children rebel or you have cancer—there is one thing you can count on.
For the sake of Christ, God has loved you with an everlasting love.  He is your Father and He knows your sorrow and counts your tears.
He chose you before the foundation of the world, to live this life, with these people, in this very specific circumstance.
Your hurt is not lost on Him.   He cares for you so much that He suffered every conceivable temptation to rescue you from your shackles.
He will use every heartache in your life to bring you joy in Him.
He will make every piece of the puzzle make sense.
He is not waiting for you to obey or be strong or be faithful.
He has obeyed and been strong and faithful in your place.
And He offers this all to you freely, for the sake of Christ, because that is the reason why He came.
He is the Rock on which your life is built and you need not worry when you see the walls all fall down around you.
In Christ, they will be built again, with the true and sure Cornerstone of His body and blood.
He will make life from death.
Hope from ruin.
Beauty from ashes.


Mystery photo

Mystery photo

The photo above was taken at the table. I am not a very good photographer but I zoomed in on something on the table at mealtime and was quite pleased with the results. Can you guess what it is?

Interesting sites

1.       

I hate the dark. Click here to read about a system which automatically turns on battery lights when there is a black out. Priced at $89 in the USA, which sounds very reasonable, I imagine when we do finally get it here in Australia it will be quite a bit more expensive.

2.  

 This moving pattern called the Sketch of Voronoi is really fun to play with.