I had no idea how noisy geese really were until they came down to visit our canal on saturday morning. They made a huge racket and demanded attention from all the canal houses and houseboats. To see them up close and personal – right at eye level – was quite something…

Standing in the depth of the forest is one of the most magnificent “I’m alive” moments to be had. Being amidst the trees, the birds, the insects, the soil, the air… it always sends a tingle up my spine. My racing mind stops. And my heart fills with light, and life. It is so real yet so magical.

Would you like to take a moment with me today, and stand right in the middle of the rainforest? We can stand in one place and look around to see what we might see, and hear what we might hear. We can pretend we live in a treehouse, high up in the branches.

Please click on the play button to listen while you scroll through the photos below to be whisked away to the depths of the rainforest with me. Enjoy…

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Have a wonderful weekend mes amis.

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+ soundscape and photographs taken on a walk through Lamginton National Park in Queensland, Australia, January 2010.

+click here for more soundscapes.

all gorgeous photographs for this story  by chris chen.

Before I hopped on the plane back to Amsterdam, I grabbed the latest issue of country style at sydney airport for two reasons. 1. because I’ve always loved this mag (the photography is perfection, and they often feature the homes of country artists whose style is natural,  real and inspiring) and 2. because a little birdy told me that the feature article would make my heart sing. Indeed it DID make my heart sing because it is all about Harriet Goodall, her home & property in Robertson NSW, and her incredible woven creations…

Harriet’s story about how she came to be weaving baskets is as beautiful as her creations themselves. She says she has always been drawn “to the ephemeral and imperfect beauty of natural materials and have forever collected buckets of shells, driftwood, beautiful leaves, bones, moss and feathers  with no particular purpose in mind.” Sounds delightfully familiar.  She saw a flyer for a basketry course in Mittagong and decided to join up because it fitted perfectly with her love of art made from nature. After another course she was well and truly hooked on the craft. Inspired by the work of Andy Goldsworthy, Herman de Vries, and Chris Drury, Harriet says that the wonderful thing about baskets is that “it’s possible to harvest your garden then sit on a patch of ground and, just with your hands alone, make something that’s strong, useful and beautiful – while knowing that women have done this for millenia”…

Harriet and her husband Mat collected all their furniture from the local tip shop and family hand-me-downs. The area where they live is surrounded by national parks, waterfalls, beaches, rainforests, and incredible escarpment and rolling green hills  – all within a 30km radius…

Meet Banjo: Harriet and Mat’s little guy who loves being in nature as much as they do.

It’s a beautiful, inspiring story, and I encourage you to find yourselves a copy of the february issue of country style to learn more about harriet’s home and work…

cover shot by mikkel vang, styled by sibella court.

Thank you for the inspiration Harriet! I hope to come and visit you one day, and see your creations in person.

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Harriet’s baskets are available to purchase. They start at around $140.00 AUD. For further enquiries, click here to email Harriet, or you can call her on +61 402 346 106.

A big thank you to Country Style and photographer Chris Chen for the use of the images.

For those of you who have been visiting the (blog)house from the early days, you may remember my little story about the first time I walked into ‘Tracey’s world’ as I like to call it, when I was propping in Sydney some years ago (here is the post). I’ve been wanting to visit Tracey in her new studio in Redfern ever since then, and last week I finally managed to do so. It really is a world of natural wonder, with exotic flora and found objects made into incredible pieces of art. Tracey continues to be a huge source of inspiration for me, her work stretches the imagination in the most sophisticated, yet simplest of ways. I took some photos while I was there, just for you, would you like to see them? Here you go…

Tracey’s studio is just around the corner from Baffi & Mo, that great cafe I featured a few weeks back. My suggestion would be to have some breakfast there and then wander over to Tracey’s (Studio GO1/59 Great Buckingham St, Redfern)…

Thank you Tracey! I can’t wait to see what you create next.