…little treasures at dusk, in my garden…

I still cannot believe my luck in being reunited with my bike! I have never heard of anyone finding their bike here after it’s been stolen, it’s some sort of miracle.  I would really love to know what happened,  if only my beautiful rusty bike could talk. Today I took it for a little ride around the neighbourhood, it was like we were never apart. I will be sure to buy it some flowers, or a new light, or something, just so it knows how much I love it so.

Aside from my bike being stolen and found, life for me so far this summer has been full. on.  With the Amsterdam: Made by Hand book release and my current book deadline all happening at the same time, it’s been ‘nose to the grindstone’ all the way. Last week I thought I was going to explode so I went for a jog to see if i could release some of the tension. I lasted about 30 seconds before I started hyperventilating. The next day my shins were crying out in pain. I’ve never been a jogger but you know it was one of those things where other people make it look so easy and enjoyable. It’s like high heel shoes – every few years or so I get seduced by some fabulously leggy woman strolling past me in heels and I think “wow, I really must get my heels out and wear them like this!”, to which I do and then after about 25 minutes my lower back screams out in agony.

One thing that has kept me in good stead though while I’ve been so frantic this past month (beside french boy, of course), is my kitchen garden. It has been wonderfully therapeutic – when I have a tea break I check the plants to see how they’re going, give them some water, make sure they are healthy. Some of them have been transplanted into bigger pots on the front deck of the boat – while inside I have basil, thyme, parsley, and rosemary, outside there are strawberries and lavender, and I even managed to grow lemongrass from a dried up piece of stalk I bought at the chinese supermarket! Gardening truly is so great for the soul…

And lilies – my dear friend Zoë planted some beautiful lilies in my garden last summer while we were prepping the boat for a Finnish tv crew who came to visit (I know, I still haven’t had a chance to tell you about that!). I thought the lilies would not last through the winter so I was stunned a couple of months ago when I saw them popping up and reaching for the sun! They are truly stunning…

So what else can I catch you up on? As you know Amsterdam: Made by Hand is now well and truly out there in the big wide world.  I want to thank everyone who has blogged about it since its launch, and those of you who have told your friends, colleagues, family and local independent bookstores about my work –  I really cannot tell you enough how much your support means to me, and how incredible your blog posts and conversations about my work have helped spread the word  – you guys are the ones who enable me to keep doing what I love.  thank you.

On my to-do list is to make a special blog page for Amsterdam: Made by Hand like I have for Paris: Made by Hand. I will create a list of all the lovely shops that are selling the book around the world so if you’ve seen the book somewhere, please let me know and I’ll include that store in my list. And the same goes for reviews and features in magazines and blogs – if you’ve seen one let me know so I can be sure to include them on the page.

Also on my to-do list is to update my online portfolio, it’s in desperate need of attention. I may have the oldest, most out-of-date portfolio on the planet by now. Oh well, it’s impossible to get to everything at once and right now I am devoting all my attention to you know what. Mes amis, I am so incredibly excited about what is transpiring, it is turning into an exquisite book and I am bursting at the seams to share it with you. All in good time.

Well, that’s pretty much my catch up post! Hope you are all having a fab summer and for the southern hemispherians, a fab winter. I have another ‘catch up’ style post coming tomorrow, so stay tuned for that one.

xx

view from plane, looking over central australia. photo by me, pjb.

Lara Damiani is a young australian filmmaker whose film-making adventures  I’ve been following closely over the last few years. I first heard about her through the Tibetan community in Dee Why, Sydney –  it was early 2007 and there was a rumour going around that this young woman had plans to go into Tibet to film. I was intrigued and inspired, to say the least. After doing some research I found out the rumour was true – Lara sold nearly everything she owned to set off for Tibet, risking her life to make a documentary about the plight of the Tibetan people. That documentary was Tibet’s Cry for Freedom, you may recall I wrote about it upon its release, right here.  Since its release, Tibet’s Cry for Freedom has been acquired by two international television broadcasters, and has screened at 14 film festivals across the world.

Lara has just embarked on another film making journey which I’ve been wanting to share with you for some time, this one is a little closer to home. Banjo’s War follows the story of the Alyawarr people of central Australia as they attempt to create a self sustaining community from mulga scrub on their land at Honeymoon Bore. It’s a story about self-determination, freedom, dignity, human rights and why the Government’s Intervention is wrong. The doco will be centred around Banjo Morton who led a successful walk-off back in 1942 and now, 68 years later has led another in protest against the Government’s Intervention.

collecting bush plums. photo by rusty stewart.

Filming has begun – last week Lara and her crew went to Alice Springs to attend the Gathering of the Indigenous and Non-Indigenous People. Here is a snippet from Lara’s account of the event:

“As I sat, filmed and listened to the stories from the Traditional Owners of their experiences after the Government’s Intervention, I came to fully understand their struggle. I couldn’t help but think of the thousands of years of history, tradition and culture that were standing before me over the course of the week – elders, children and other Indigenous Australians – and how little mainstream Australia really knows about the issues and the struggle affecting our Indigenous People. How rich Australia is to still have our Indigenous people. How sad it is that they are struggling to survive.”

This is a story that needs to be told, and I’m more than thrilled that Lara has taken this doco on board. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying seeing Lara’s photos and video journals come through from her visits with the Alyawarr people, and I thought I’d share with you one of my favourites below. It’s a little clip of young Jesse-Lee showing Lara how to find and eat bush banana – brilliant, check it out…

The completion of Banjo’s War relies heavily on donations, so if this is a topic that you are passionate about like me, you can help make this film happen –  for more info click here. And to see the film’s teaser trailer, click here.

Well done Lara, your work is awe-inspiring and I hope to meet you one day – even better, work together. Until then, as they say here in Holland, succes!

sand dollars (and a sand penny!) by cori kindred

tomatillo skeletons by ottoman handmade

nature shelf treasures by brambly thicket and remembering sanibel by lindaolo

…Jan from poppytalk has started a fab new flickr group called collecting nature. Above are some of my favourites from the group thus far. If you have a flickr account and are an avid nature collector like so many of us are, then get in amongst it! I think it’s such a beautiful idea for summer.

emptied pockets by lindaolo

Read more about Jan’s inspiration for starting the flickr group here, and see more fab nature collections here. Nice one Jan! Can’t wait to see what you might create with some of your own found treasures in the fall.

quiet treasures from heidi swanson‘s backyard, here, and here (found via {manda}’s photostream)

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katarina krizanovicova’s mum’s garden (I quietly discovered Katarina’s beautiful work via her recent comment, thank you katarina).

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and twilight in sammy and glenn’s garden. Thanks for the quiet inspiration as always.

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Have a wonderful weekend mes amis.

…anna emilia’s website, weather diary, and shop.

just beautiful. quietly, exquisitely beautiful.

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found via nectar & light via creature comforts.