It's ok to be afraid.

“Making art is showing your insides.  

Sharing art is asking the world to like your insides. “ 

~ Kal Barteski

Life overwhelms me at times.  

It leaves me raw and vulnerable and without courage.

It’s an emotion I’m rapidly becoming accustomed to.  No matter the frequency of the fairs and festivals I participate in, there’s still that moment just before the doors open when I question my right or ability to be there.

I am my own worst enemy.

I’d always thought vulnerability to be a weakness until I listened to a TED talk by one Brene Brown called “The Power of Vulnerability”. 

There were sheep EVERYWHERE .... as far as the eye could see.

According to her we all DO vulnerability ... everyday.  The courage is in recognising it, feeling it and ultimately making a choice on how to deal with it.  Whatever I chose to do with the feeling should reflect WHO I am and what I believe in.

For me that means slowing down, taking a deep breath and repeating a mantra to myself.

Just be WHO you are.  It's ok to be afraid.

Not what you'd expect to find on a run to Hawkes Bay ... a variety of African animal artworks.

At the end of the day success is only built on failure.

These cows were playing KIng of the Castle!

Not that it wasn’t a successful weekend.  It was.  

It’s a marvellous opportunity for networking and exposing ... figuratively, not literally ... one’s work to a wider audience.  I arrive home feeling I’ve left a part of myself behind.  In some ways I guess I have in the form of artwork sold .... and it wasn’t  just my Kingfisher this time.

Just what we need for the domestic warfare that takes place in our abode ... COMBAT PILLOWS!

Participating in a festival of this nature allows me to witness the abundance of talent in this little country I now call home.  There are some amazingly gifted artists and crafters out there who turn the mundane into the magical ... the failures into success.

Would that I could buy all the magic I see!

Magic was in the air on the drive home too.  The significant other is used to my rather frequent requests to stop.  He’d draw the line at calling them requests though.

Even he, philistine that he can be, was blown away by the unexpected magic in the sunset on Sunday.   It MORE than made up for the indeterminable number of times I'd asked him to stop. 

Finding the right spot to photograph it was an adventure of its own, but find it we did, even if it meant high-tailing it to the middle of the bridge in semi-darkness to get the right shot.

I will NEVER tire of the awesome artwork Mother Nature paints in the skies every evening. Some evenings she outdoes herself and last Sunday was one such evening. 

“Fear is the secret ingredient that makes things magical.  

Go out and be awesome.” 

~ Kal Barteski

Someone's noisier than me ..

“If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, 

of  what then, is an empty desk a sign?” 

~ Albert Einstein

The Agapanthus are slowly starting to open  ... each at it's very own pace!

My desk is ALWAYS cluttered.  I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions.  Suffice to say, 

despite the organised chaos of my desk, work STILL gets done ... or appears to.

I’m thinking my time management might improve were I to put some order into the organised chaos.  It’s only a thought though ... and a fleeting one at that, as there is more than enough to do without dwelling on actions that are UNLIKELY to ever happen.

The name of this little fellow eludes me ... it's starling shaped but with a red face ... need to chat to Google!

A little Eastern Rosella

I did take a photo of a CLEAN desk MANY moons ago .... but that was merely a ruse.  The photo DIDN’T show the floor, which was strewn with the contents of the desk.  It was merely to prove that I COULD have a clean desk, free of odds and ends and work related debris.  

No-one mentioned that the floor should be free of debris too.

The one pitfall of a cluttered desk is distraction and yes, I am easily distracted.  

Focus is a skill I am forever re-learning.

Today however I AM focused.  Work at the shop is finished for the week and preparation for our departure to Fruit Bowl Craft Jam this weekend is underway.  

She's pleading with  me to get Sam to let go of her stick!

Have I mentioned how MUCH I love road trips?

I’m not sure the significant other enjoys them quite as much as I do.  That might have something to do with the indeterminable number of times he has to stop.

I just can’t help myself.  Road trips are a visual feast, particularly here in New Zealand, and I ‘eat’ until I’m stuffed.  Unless it’s raining of course.  Then the camera and I go hungry.

The hound’s not coming with us and she won’t be impressed.  She’s being left to the tender ministrations of the youngest lemming.

She's not happy at being asked to 'sit' in the waves.

Today is the 18th birthday of the oldest lemming’s girlfriend.  I nicknamed her ‘noise’ when she first appeared in his life  ... for very appropriate reasons ... and the name has stuck.  She is, quite possibly, even NOISIER than I am.

Sky City's lost it's tower in the clouds.

The fun of Word Art took on new meaning when I created her birthday card.

I think I feel a head-ache coming on!

“As you think you travel and, as you love, you attract. You are today where your thoughts have bought you. You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.” 

~ James Allen

Hercules waiting patiently at the top of the road for us.

The 'HE'S" in the household have been BEWITCHED!

The “HE’s” in this household who DIDN’T want another pet have been bewitched .... by 2 HUGE blue eyes in a 10cm frame!

My early mornings are a little busier as I clean out what the 4-legged miniature poop factory has produced during the night, and provide her with early morning sustenance. The hound waits patiently whilst being spat and growled at by a small fearsome feline. She doesn’t understand Co’s animosity .... she only wants to play and be friends.

The purring puff-ball has sussed out the pecking order in this house .... and deemed herself queen.

Such is life.

SHE condescended to touch noses with the hound on day 3 .... from the safety of my desk. Two big blue eyes and one quivering nose stretched gingerly out to sniff one WET nose below two eager brown eyes.  If the hound’s eyes could have wagged, they would have done!

The little feisty feline has been here a week now.  She cautiously tolerates the advances of the hound and spits fiercely should the hound overstep the boundaries.  Somehow though, it’s difficult to spit when you’ve rolled upside down off the cushion and find yourself being nosed by a large chocolate monster.

The hound is horrendously naive .... she hasn’t seen those pics of kitty sharpening her claws.

ALL the cygnets were at the bank onThursday

I’ve had far more visits from my daughter than usual this week. Her and Dave generally come for dinner once a week and we see them occasionally over the weekend. This week she’s been here EVERY night .... I just haven’t been able to work out why.  Could it have something to do with a small fluffy fur-ball?

Dad was keeping a close eye on them.

THAT fur-ball is definitely ‘flavour of the month’ at the moment!

Zac, the 4 and a half month old German Shepherd we met on Thursday

Last week was unbelievably hectic! Writing a blog had to take a back seat.  There just wasn’t enough time in each day to fit in writing a blog as well as walking the hound, running the house, looking after a kitty, working at the shop AND preparing stock for Craft Jam.

Craft Jam was awesome  and well worth the extra work and the long car journey there. I met the NICEST of people, made LOTS of sales, got several enquiries for commissioned work and SO many compliments! 

I could do that all over again!!

If they’ll have me, I’ll be back there next year!

Looking down from Te Mata Peak

The drive down was great but the drive back up was a different story. I’m NOT the world’s best car traveller despite LOVING windy roads and long car journeys. I love speed and I love corners .... as long as I’m driving. All the hard work of the past week and the late nights burning the midnight oil caught up with me and the last half of the journey home was tortuous ... the kind of “let me curl up and die” tortuous.

I didn't get out the car at the top of Te Mata ... it was BLOWING gales ... I'd have been blown off the peak!

It’s back to the grindstone today ... work at the shop as usual this morning .... after the mandatory ramble to the viewsite and the waves with the hound. I have two markets next weekend so the rest of the week will be given over to replacing sold stock ... and of course .... TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS!

The rugby ball carrying Labradors at Waitarua .... Sam, Ebony and my hound!
Anthony's holding the ball over his head which is why Ebony's looking so quizzically at him.

“Writing, contrary to the to the culturally toxic tortured-genius myth, should celebrate, rather than bemoan life.” .... Amen to that!

This one came out of the water for a closer look

Look at the size of his feet!

A sea-plane .... most unusual to see one of these parked outside someone's house! Harbour Bridge in the background.

A heron trying to hide from me

We rambled at Meola Reserve on Friday and stopped at the Garnet Station for a bite to eat on the way home

Lunch on Friday at the Garnet Cafe .... was delicious!

Mount Ruapehu in the background.

The sun dial at Mission Estate