Every now and then I stumble upon something magical that makes my heart soar – high up in the sky, diving and weaving through the clouds. This morning I came across the work of the stories from the ground shadow puppetry, and I am enraptured, take a look…

Here is a behind the scenes documentary of how they made the film. I love that they show how they made Lior’s character – from bits of cardboard, steel wool for his hair, tape, and bicycle spokes…

Incredibly inspiring, non? It got me thinking about this upcoming holiday season (and yes, I will be posting my holiday gift guide and decorating ideas first thing on monday so be ready) As a kid, one of my all-time favourite things about Christmas day was our ‘performance’  – my cousin Simone and I would spend months in advance planning our Christmas day show. It included piano solos and duets, lip syncing stage shows, spectacular freak shows (which usually involved my brother and Simone’s brother, trying to do some circus act to shock our audience – being our grandparents and parents – but instead would have them laughing uncontrollably ), and detailed choreographed dances by Simone and I, to such songs as “locomotive” by Kylie Minogue. Simone and I would turn the living room into a lively theater, ushering our audience into their designated seats and handing out hand drawn programs.   They were fun fun times.

What does this have to do with the above wonders? Well, I’m thinking, for the children (and the children at heart, that being us) how wonderful it would be to create a puppet show for your family day this year! You can use things from around the house – like steel wool for hair, and cardboard, and old bicycle spokes – to make a wonderful puppet show. To get that lovely paper drop-look the stories from the ground have used, what about baking paper? I have a baking paper that I buy from my organic/fair trade supermarket and because it’s made from recycled paper,  it has that lovely tea-dyed look to it, it would be perfect. Your children could choose one of their favourite songs to be the musical backdrop. What do you think? I think it would be a living-room-box-office hit!

xx

Jasmine from show + tell recently honeymooned in this incredible abode known as treehouse point, in Issaquah, Washington  and took the most amazing shots. Aren’t these photos magical?

Look at that treehouse, tucked high up in the branches. How utterly dreamy. Click here to see more of Jasmine’s gorgeous photos, she has a fabulous photostream. Now, I am off to dream (again!!) of treehouses, and I think I may just have to book myself a trip to treehouse point next year. What a treat it would be!!

It’s that time of year. The days are getting shorter and darker as winter steadily approaches. Don’t get me wrong I’m really looking forward to Christmas and the festivities that go along with it (the streets are already aglow with wonderful twinkling lights). But as the days are grey and rainy here in Amsterdam and I prepare for my first “proper” winter, I can’t help but think of escaping. Sometimes I have a fleeting sense of wanting to turn back the clock – just one more week of blue sky and soaking up the sunshine!

It’s probably normal (tell me it is!) and as the year winds down most of us are looking forward to a rest and relax. Since I’ve done a lot of moving around this year I’ve committed myself to staying still for a while – pottering around in my first real home in almost 8 months since my partner and I uprooted our entire lives for adventure and change traveling the world. It’s blissful to do all those things I once took for granted – framing photographs, buying knick knacks, drinking endless cups of tea staring at the canal below my window and getting to know our beautiful new city on bicycles.

Every so often when I hear of exotic travel plans or visits abroad my heart gets restless and I get that wonderful feeling of anticipation. Looking at Pia’s amazing pictures of Canada this week reminded me of the deep connection to nature I felt in the Pyrenees mountains earlier this year. For me this was a truly magical place and I can’t wait to go back and explore more. Right now whenever I miss the smell of fresh air and greener than green trees I simply take a wander down memory lane…

“I’ve got a great idea”. Sometimes my day begins with this sentence. I’m lucky I’ve got a great partner (thanks Al) who embraces my sometimes-ambitious. borderline crazy plans. And so this is the way it began in Figueres, northern Spain. We were enjoying a leisurely few days in the birthplace of Salvador Dali with our new found freedom in a hire car. “How about a little roadtrip?” I suggested, “Its not far to the border of France”. In order to get back to Spain and return the car we somehow decided to do a roundtrip and include the Pyrenees Mountains. It certainly was a lot of driving – we drove up to France into the Pyrenees from the French side, onto the Spanish side where we stopped for 2 nights before returning to base camp at Figueres. Phew! But the fresh air, the countryside, the mountains.. aah it was bliss.

One of the nice things about not being in a hurry is being able to detour along the way. Once we got over the border into France we stumbled upon many gorgeous villages. Being right on the border of France and Spain meant most were bi-lingual and this transpired to food as well with a lovely mix of french-spanish cuisine. We took the opportunity to gather supplies along the way and had a wonderful impromptu picnic of fresh bread, cheese, nuts, cured meats and juicy nectarines to finish. Delicious!

It was a long and winding road to the top of the Pyrenees Mountains. It really felt like we were in a fairytale winding up and up and up to the peaks above us. No Jack and the Beanstalk at the top but the sense of exhilaration was well worth it. The crisp fresh air and mountains dotted with villages made me feel instantly relaxed.

In our long term travels people often asked me where we stayed or how we managed to budget for that many months away. It mostly depends on two things 1. availability last minute 2. the type of traveler you are. This wasn’t a backpacker trip for us and so we mostly did a mix of small hotels or pensions and the occasional splurge with a last minute price. For this mini-trip I wanted something romantic and cozy and was lucky enough to stumble upon a small hotel – formerly an art nouvea mansion on Pulgcerda Lake (in the village of Pulgcerda). It was absolutely blissful and we had a luxurious stay eating, drinking local wine, spa baths and wandering leisurely around the beautiful lake right on our doorstep.

Of course the point of driving all this way wasn’t to stay inside so off we went exploring. I’ve often heard people describe the feeling of peace and spirituality in destinations like Machu Picchu (I’m dying to go here!) and I can’t say its exactly the same but I felt such a sense of happiness and freedom high up in the Pyrenees mountains. We found countless charming villages and took long invigorating hikes along pristine streams. The Pyrenees for me was one of those places that puts things in perspective and reminded me its important to stop and enjoy the moment. Sometimes there is a bigger world out there than the worry and day to day that fills our lives. Its just making the time to see it!

text and photography by cath conroy.

UK-based illustrator Rowena Dugdale has been experimenting with polaroid and pinhole cameras lately, creating stunning images.  “Like the delicious static on a vinyl record, any dust specks, light leaks, torn edges or quirks are an integral and honest part of the process and character of this body of work and have been deliberately left in rather than airbrushed out.”

She uses objects around her – marbles, feathers, fern fronds, moss and buttons – to create ethereal, light filled photographs. The results are incredibly beautiful…

Rowena’s images have taken me back to my days at university, when I spent hours in the darkroom, lifting paper out of the smelly chemicals and hanging them to dry, wanting to burst out of the darkness to view my latest creations. One of my absolute favourite processes was making photograms, where I’d bring in things from my home, compose a vignette and play with exposure times. When I am back in Australia I will try to find some for you to show here on the blog.

Click here to read and view more of Rowena’s work, and here to purchase her creations  –  a wonderful gift idea for someone who loves photography.