(Almost) lost Salt Spring Photos

I did figure out how to get some of the potentially lost photos from Salt Spring Island off our camera, but completely forgot to post them here so thought I would share them with you know. They make me want to go back as soon as we can, there is something so magical about the light there.

Hope you're having a lovely Tuesday!
xo

p.s. have you seen this lovely desktop calendar? I cleaned up my desktop especially so I could have this little piece of art to look at.

After a conversation on twitter amongst some lovely blogger friends a week or so ago about a giant blog collaboration or 'community' day of action, the idea of 'Blogging It Forward' was born. Victoria over at sfgirlbybay did an absolutely amazing job of putting this together, organising 300 bloggers who will all be writing about what inspires them over the next month or so.

Basically it is going to be like a kind of progressive dinner or relay, we've all been divided up into 10 groups and starting Wednesday on 10 different blogs each blogger will write about inspiration, and then link to the next person in line. If you want to follow along, you can see the schedule here. I'm up on Friday, and I'm sure there's going to be a lot of amazing posts to check out!

Monday morning good-ness.

via bricolagelife

Sometimes, not always, Monday mornings can be a little tough. So I've decided that each Monday I would share a little list of things with you that are making me happy, to perhaps brighten up the start to the week.

~ Monday Morning Mix: I made you a mix tape, 'A little bit 'o Soul' with some of my favourite ladies and perhaps one of the best song (and now mix tape) openings ever, in my opinion. A sing a long with any of these gals always makes my day that little bit brighter

~ Pretty pyrite necklaces, found via Erin. I quickly snapped one of these up and can't wait to see which one I get!

~ Reading through the Married To The Sea archives and giggling (ok, sometimes guffawing) to myself.

~ The sweetest (and free!) printable Valentines candy bar wrappers from Nice Package, natch.

~ Hearing that $6000+ was raised for Haiti Relief at the Vancouver Vegan Bake Sale last week. Perhaps there is a bake sale in your area, or perhaps you'd like to organise one yourself! Take a look here for more info.

~ Thinking about whipping up a second batch of raspberry scones. Seriously, the combination of berries and coconut oil? To die for.

Hope your week is off to a lovely start!

A thing of beauty is a joy forever

I finally got to see Bright Star last week and it was every bit as good as I was hoping it would be. I love Jane Campion (An Angel at My Table is a favourite) and knew that I would be in for a visual treat. Aside from the beautiful love story and a lovely Abby Cornish (and me bawling at the end), the film was just so incredibly stunning to look at. The colours, the natural lighting, the wide sweeping landscapes.....so so good! There were so many moments where I actually did a little gasp and how beautiful the shot was so I thought I would share with you some of my favourites.

I hope you're all having lovely weekends wherever you are. I've spent mine sleeping in, lazying about in bed chatting to my bestie Jayne who is living in Edinburgh, eating bananas on toast and drinking tea. Soon we'll be off to a Waitangi Day celebration at a nearby pub to drink a beer or two, have a chip butty or two and no doubt listen to The Exponents.

xo

WIP Wednesday: Wooden bunting (and where I've been)

Wooden bunting in the making, soon to be in the shop!

Why hello there! We've been a mix of busy and a little under the weather over here, hence my absence for the past wee while. After an initial quiet few days, people went completely nuts over our guitar picks (huge thanks to Jan for featuring them on Poppytalk, I have no doubt this lead to the many orders!) and we were rushing to keep up so everyone could give them to their Valentines on time. Hence almost all of the weekend sitting in the living room, blender penning, sanding, cutting, packaging and watching some great movies (almost all of which made me cry).

I've started a Flickr group for WIP Wednesdays, if you'd like to join. Hopefully I will be able to figure out how to edit it soon so it can have it's own photo (and no spelling mistakes, argh). It's all pretty loose, mostly I'm just really interested in seeing how people make and create, their processes and what finding satisfaction and beauty in something that is unfinished. It doesn't necessarily have to be a craft project, it could be a meal, a drawing, an outfit...anything! If you do play along on your blog, let me know as I'd love to see!

I hope you're all having a lovely week!

A marvelous victory

Howard Zinn 1922-2010

I have sat down to write this post a number of times and just couldn't quite seem to find the right words. Howard Zinn was a personal hero of mine, reading his essays, listening to lectures and interviews and of course A People's History of the United States totally blew my mind and I was always looking for more to get my hands on. He spoke to me as an educator, he taught me to challenge the history I had been taught (and who taught it). He impressed on me the importance and power of knowledge. He made me believe that not only can you not be 'neutral on a moving train' but that to see what is wrong with the world comes with a responsibility to work to change it, and that the time to do that is now.

I never expected his death to have such a strong impact on me (I bawled on the bus when I found out, ha) and over the past few days I've been thinking on why this is. I didn't personally know the man, but like Naomi Klein said on the Democracy Now! tribute to him, he was every one's favourite teacher and now we've all lost that. I definitely think that is part of it, but also I think (at the risk of sounding cheesy) that he taught us to believe in ourselves and our convictions, that 'ordinary' people can and more often that not have been the ones to bring about change. He believed in people. While it breaks my heart that I won't get to hear him speak, that I won't be able to look to him for comment or that he won't write another book, the reality is it is now our turn to stand up for justice, speak out for the oppressed and fight for change.

I wanted to end in his own words so this is from his autobiography, 'You Can't be Neutral on a Moving Train' ;

"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

"What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places -- and there are so many -- where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

"And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

A marvelous victory, indeed. We'll miss you Howard.

WIP Wednesday: roti

I realise technically it is now Thursday (what am I talking about 'technically'? It is Thursday) but here is my WIP Wednesday. It was a long day today, finished on such a lovely note though with yummy dinner, wine and a good friend. I made red lentil and cauliflower curry with cornmeal roti and might I say it was rather delicious. At first I freaked out a little when I looked at the recipe as they seem a little labour intensive, but once you get the hang of them they're not that tricky at all. Greasy though, check out that olive oil glistening. Yum!