I feel human (again)

after a trip to my home town where i managed to catch some great rock-a-billy nashville style live tunes at a new funky venue called saas and an afternoon to myself in which I got to finally talk to a friend (pictured) without simaltaneously attempting to stop my nearly two year old from killing himself or someone (else) I feel human again. wow normal converstaion is hard to come by these days (on my part as conversation tends to be interupted with "don't eat that" or "come back" or "where did you get that cake from?") and it feels good.


this amazing woman pictured will be holding her own bubba some day (very very) soon and I'm so excited for her...


Picture is Bess with Oscar aged 4 minutes.

cob is more than a loaf of bread.

Alex and I have been entranced with this book on the right. It is all about cob homes - homes that are made of predominantly mud and a bit of straw. We are so inspired! Alex has even completed a two story floor plan for an amazing cob home with window seats, a library/quiet room and a bathroom with a bath with a view (my dream home involves both of these).

Cob homes are absolutely gorgeous, there are usually no straight lines in a cob home and they are often built to mirror and compliment the environment that they are built in with concepts such as a living (grass) roof.

If you are interested check out
I Love Cob - a blog all about cob homes with some great pictures and links.

In the meantime we will be building a cob oven with
Ted this year - which is a good start!

Happy Birthday Alex!

Let Me Tell You a Little...

Story or Two.

Well have been hitting rock bottom a couple of times each week wondering what is in store or even out of stock in my/our life to come. That stupid but I didn’t think it would be like this loop playing and playing and playing until someone says stop and I say well shut-up time to get on with things and maybe I get a bit Oprah and train that voice to you go girl you take control you go get those dreams. Kindofthing. But I also so secretly hope to God (really) that I don’t bump into anyone that could vaguely represent the people I’m Supposed To Be Impressing but at one point I turn up to a wedding and a lot of them are there or not really but that dumb self that hopes to be the girl that they are all secretly jealous of, the you know, guess what she’s doing girl or even the girl the whole school talks about as the girl that went to our school la de dah. Then realise it’s all dumb, i haven't been at school in over ten years, and I’m not a failure just because I don’t have a job and haven’t yet reached that unobtainable fantastical DREAM JOB status. Plus I have the cutest husband And son around, so you know, that wins. Hands down and not pants down as I accidentally said once.

Story two. Got passed an envelope at church with a heap of cash in it with our name on it. There I was buying scratichies and getting really bummed that I didn’t win, the whole Everyone’s A Winner-Just Play For Fun not amusing me at all. Let’s face it fun is a million bucks in the bank and not fun is a scratched scartchie that doesn’t even promise another free ticket. But a whole wad of cash for us given with no strings attached and a Merry Christmas card that made me believe in Merry again. Things aren’t really that bad but I suppose Merry anything seems like a huge word and merry Christmas maybe does not represent my experience of this particular celebratory day. Being handed this money made me think about being handed GRACE and prior to remembering GRACE I went through the thoughts of we don’t deserve it, we don’t need it, that person needs it much much more and it struck me that that is what it is like to receive God’s grace. To think those thoughts. So I accepted the money. Thankfully and gracefully. I also said that night to alex I feel wrapped in a silk cocoon of love. I think he thought I meant him which would be partially true but I really meant everyone that He has placed around me/us. Spectacular people that create a marshmallow wall between us and the world. People that show me His love in so many ways. People that show us Hope.

Story three. When you hit rock bottom you then have to find the tools to carve your way up and through the molten. My tool is writing. The old adage write until you write is my new motto and rather than putting off writing and reading about writing or even reading about other people putting off writing. I am going to write. Probably a great deal of shit like this but maybe I will pull some gems out. Or even some semi-precious bits. So you may tune out soon reader. You may go this is not for me. You may want to visit blogs where boom bands play. And I don’t mean my husband’s band- I’m referring to a line out of Dr Seuss book, Oh the Places You’ll Go. Read it. So feel free to piss off for my future ramblings streams of self indulgent consciousness. Or. Stick around. Ramble too.

Transitions

This little family is going through some (little) transitions at the moment. We are learning to Trust in the midst of chaos and uncertainty. Which is i guess what trusting is actually all about. So in a matter of weeks I may have 1. no job, 2. a job that I'm semi-excited about, 3. a job that I'm very excited about BUT am also freaked out by, 4. Some other job that well... pays the bills...

and in amongst the chaos and the plans I've been doing some dumb stuff like yesterday I was sure that my car had been stolen at a rather large complex only to have the very nice security guard walk me around the entire carpark until I found the car by which time I had told him all about peak oil and how it probably would be better for everyone if the car was stolen and written off never to be driven again. Right before we spotted my car I said to him "Razoul why are we even making new cars, new roads, new freeways..." Poor Razoul. anyway his "I'm not sure lady" replies were enough for me.

My Boys...

The Other Inconvenient Truth

The End of Suburbia

The End Of Suburbia

You've heard of Global warming, but what about Peak Oil? It's set to be the other defining environmental, economic and social issue of our generation.

Come and see Peak Oil documentary "The End of Suburbia" at the St Barnabas Church Offices (4/173-179 Broadway; enter from mountain Street) Monday November 20, 7pm for a start. Bring your own popcorn/snacks.

For more info drop me a comment....

ALL WELCOME

You say you want the best laugh of your life?

Check out Jas and Kaz's garden!

Check out
Peak Food blog. What an inspiration! I look forward to hearing more of their gardening pursuits.

Pigface Point (where we live) tour coming up...

(Photos courtesy of Alex)


**** A VISIT TO PIGFACE POINT – AN ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLE EDUCATIONAL SITE ****

Run by Ted Trainer (Visiting Fellow, School of Social Work, UNSW)

When: Saturday, October 28 – tour starts at 9:30am (2-3 hrs in length)Where: Pigface Point (see directions below)

Description: Affluent, industrial consumer society is grossly unjust and unsustainable. It is only possible for one fifth of the world’s people to have that way of life because they are taking and rapidly using up most of the world’s resources. We must move to far less affluent lifestyles, highly self sufficient communities and local economies, more cooperative ways and an economy that is not driven by market forces or profit, and has no growth at all. Pigface point is being developed as an educational site that will introduce people to these themes, especially the existence of workable and attractive alternatives, ie: “the Simpler Way’.

Pigface Point is not a community. Council zonings only permit 2 houses on the property. The main purpose of the site is not to provide an example of how we should all live, but to have displays, models etc, which point towards the sorts of change that will have to be made in our settlements, economy and technologies in order for our society top become sustainable.

We do not charge for our tours. Please bring lunch if you wish. Morning Tea is provided.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to come along or need directions drop me your email in the comments and I'll send them to you. Rachelxxx

margaritas on mondays

I had a fantastic birthday that involved French toast (thanks Alex), Lindt waffles (with Ange), Margaritas (yay for Alex), a great and fun surprise of Bess and Nicole arriving for dinner and an amazing chocolate creme brule birthday cake (thanks Bess and Nicole!)

27 aint so bad! yay for birthdays that revolve around food!

oh yeah and I can cross off 'drink Margaritas' on my 27 things list now... Though there will be more margaritas in the future especially when limes aren't 3 bucks each!

Revolutionary healthcare model!

When a dream takes hold of you...
We cannot separate the health of the individual from the health of the family, the community, and the world.
Much more than simply a medical center, the Gesundheit! Facility will be a microcosm of life, integrating medical care with farming, arts and crafts, performing arts, education, nature, recreation, friendship and fun.
Gesundheit! has grown out of a deep concern for the quality of peoples' lives. We want to subvert greed and selfishness and replace them with compassion and care.
We don't want to be a Band-Aid for ailing health care; we want to change the system, to bring about a peaceful revolution.

-Patch Adams

Ted came over last night really excited about his discovery of
Patch Adams and I have to agree his vision for healthcare is Good! Disregard the Hollywood movie and check it out!

There is life out there

we don't have a television. But we do have a radio and CD player. We love radio. Even crappy radio can be entertaining (hey have a listen to 'love song dedications' one night after a glass of wine or two...)

I think that little O has benefited from not having a television - he's a really good dancer and his current favorite pastime is to play baaaaRRR-boooOOOm!!! off the couches (throw himself onto the couches with 'loud' sound affects). My hope is that he will be a very imaginative curious inventive kid.

2ser (107.3 FM) kicks butt! Where else can you listen to an ad free radio with both awesome things like radio lectures (where I have heard the likes or Roy and Tariq Ali) and great music...? Community based and run radio stations are damn hot.

Anyway all Kudos to 2ser who have through their member on air comps practically doubled our CD collection. Just this year we have won Gulag Orchestra, Jolie Holland, Dirty Three, Bonnie Prince Billy, Mward and more!

Also I hear the presenter of 2ser Thursday Breakfast is the hottest radio journo in town...

27 things to do in my 27th year...

So I turn 27 in a week or so...

1. Finally get to Galiwinku

2. Facilitate dialogue in Christian communities Re climate change and Peak Oil.

3. Ride a Red Bike in Paris (not likely)

4. Get published (really not likely)

5. Shop predominately at Alfalfa House

6. Get my Steiner Craft toy-making group for mamas off the ground...

7. Facilitate discussion about THIS BOOK at my church and ways to incorporate some of the ideas...

8. Do a felting course

9. Learn to swim

10. Drink margaritas (nikki, jane and anne this one includes you!)

11. create my own zine.

12. get a new job...

13. Do every activity in my book "360 free activities for your toddler".

14. give up caffeine. for good.

15. become one of those kind of people that know where everything in their house is kept or is at any given time.

16. Attempt to not buy one more trashy magazine. ever again. or at least for one year. oh dear.

17. Go on a retreat.

18. Get fit and flexible.

19. create some imperfect crappy messy art. and not care that is crappy messy imperfect.

20. Go somewhere and stay the night... on my own (for the first time since the birth of O).

21. Finally go to Melboune and visit AZ .

22. Read the entire Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe series

23. Pull out the sewing machine and do something with it...

24. learn how to design and maintain a website so I don't have to use blogger...

25. s l o w d o w n

26. get a puppy (hey Alex there is always my birthday....???!!!)

27. Go a whole week (or two) without eating sugar ( i wonder if I would die from withdrawal?).

Love your enemies... (part 1)

I'm trying to think hard toady who my enemies are and though that part may be easy, how to then love them becomes a little problematic.

The people that I am thinking of are perhaps not MY enemies but enemies of others that I care about...

So Philip Ruddock, Vanstone, and the main man- JH, come to mind... Do they qualify in a biblical sense? How do I go about loving them (sending them a bunch of flowers and an 'I think your great' card does not seem very sincere...)

Could it mean to write them a letter and tell them about how some of their policies have deeply affect people that I know and care about... Feels rather futile...?

I could perhaps also say enemies are people that have a differing ethos to mine- how do I love them? How do I love racists and sexists? How do I love the people who live in the McMansion Estate that I have to drive through to get to our property? How do I love those that live for financial gain? How do I love those who are willfully destroying the environment? Ho do I love those that vote for people that think placing individuals/families in detention centres is a great idea?

Now that I have broadened my 'target' enemies it seems that my enemies are closer to me than I realised? It includes now some friends and family....

Birthdays...

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

-George Bernard Shaw

piss-weak prayers

I just wrote a little comment (maybe a rave- oops) on The Blogging Parson
about praying Big Bold Prayers in regard to world issues (eg David Hicks, current wars etc)

I seem to get frustrated at church when prayers do not seem to accommodate that we believe in a God that can do anything. A God that can cease AIDS, stop wars, bring fulfillment. Rather prayers seem to become piss-weak with the new fandangled concept of "justice".

Justice is not new and maybe one of you who are more educated than me may be able to fill me in on the origin of the word and the true meaning. But I suppose what I am perceiving is a learned helplessness when it comes to praying. We are confused because on the one hand we are told that faithful prayer consists of 'your will be done Lord' but on the other hand we are also explained that "we do not receive because we do not ask..."

I fear that we pray "bring about your justice Lord..." When we really mean "May every man place their weapons down in places of war, please Lord let not one more person contract AIDS, let not one more child die of hunger, let countries compassionately accept those fleeing their nations....."

Yet we do not pray these prayers but we long for these outcomes.

I wonder if we fear disappointment? I wonder if we fear appearing loopy or too optimistic or too naive? I wonder if we think God is not big enough to deal with something as big as AIDS or war?

Praying for justice is good. But I wonder if praying for specifics is gooder (sic). I wonder if those that hear such specific prayers are shown Christ's justice more clearly?

I know there are times when it is impossible to know what to pray. I remember praying for a client when I worked in child protection and I just didn't know what specific I could pray for them. Every night I was praying and crying that God would just do something anything for this child. I prayed for justice. I wasn't sure if this child should be with their parent or not and I know that at times like these that our sheer 'groaning' and 'sighing' reaches God like incense to Heaven.

In many ways all of our prayers are piss-weak and we are entrusting them with a powerful loving God and that is where their 'power' lies.

What are your thoughts?

My favorite time of day.

Currently my favorite time of day is reading Oscar a book before bed. He rests his back against me and a miracle takes place- he actually sits still! Sometimes I really have to work it to keep his concentration by singing a song about a picture in the book or by using funny voices for the characters (there is a particular book where I have every animal with a different British accent - Alex is usually in stitches in the other room!)

We really had to work hard to get him to appreciate books . He used to think they were only fun if they had flaps and though Spot is a great book I needed a bit more variation to keep my concentration.

His all time favorite is:
Though My favorite is perhaps:



What was your favorite book as a child? Mine was quite funny.....

I'm very excited!

I'm about to start a monthly Steiner- craft mamas group.

This is something I've wanted to do for ages and when I saw Rosie's beautiful handmade doll on the weekend that was the clincher for me that it was time.

I love the idea of raising my child/ren with natural handmade imaginative toys rather than commercial plastic toys that leave no room for the child to use their imagination and often foster commercialism or TV watching.

The Steiner doll will be our fisrt project (pictured above) which is an amazing concept of a doll made with minimal identifying features so that the child's imagination will not be restricted and also so the child may be able to project any of their emotions onto the doll.

The pretend food made out of felt pictured above may also be another project.

What was your favorite toy as a child?

Diane Arbus.

"What I'm trying to describe is that it's impossible to get out of your skin into somebody else's.... That somebody else's tragedy is not the same as your own."

-Diane Arbus

My friend Cathy lent me the biography of the photographer Diane Arbus after we were talking a about her. I devoured the book in 24 hours and feel that I have had a glimpse into this extraordinary woman's life. I love her paradox's and ambiguities such as the fact that she was hugely shy and had very low self-esteem yet she found the boldness to ask many strangers to take their photos even going to nudist camps to photograph.

I love the stories of Diane throwing on her camera at midnight to catch the train to the seediest parts of NewYork and take photos of so called 'freaks'. She was terrified yet that very fear was the thing that drove her.

Being afraid yet following that fear was what made Diane feel alive. She took photos of 'freaks' to overcome hers and the rest of societies desire to look away. By taking a photo of the tranvestites, develop-delayed, nudists etc we are once again allowed to look at them and their humanity is once again reclaimed.