Diabolical Clay

In times of great stress, I earth myself, I take off my shoes and I feel the earth beneath my feet, I feel the hum of The Mother and it soothes me. If it is too cold or wet to walk barefoot in the veggie garden, I will plant things out in my kitchen garden. Avoiding the use of any tools I will make the holes by hand and plant whatever it is I have.

Today I have a packet of seeds the funeral home gave me when I collected Mum’s ashes.

I hadn’t kept the seeds for any particular reason, they were just there waiting for me to be ready to plant them.

I am so seriously stressed today internet that I need to vanish within myself.

I need to find that intuitive quiet space where the Goddess and I can whisper to each other.

I need to walk barefoot in the garden and I need to pray to my own Gods.

I have words internet, great piles of them are stored in the mound of my mind but for the life of me today, I can not manage to pull out the ones that I want.

They are tricky these words of mine, they like to come out and play when I am in the shower or driving the car. Sometimes my own eloquence takes my breath away and I think, “Yes! This! This is what I need to say,” and the words shimmer with delight and congratulate themselves, then quietly vanish at the next red light or the sound of the telephone.

These few words that you are reading now have been pulled reluctantly to the surface, each letter has resisted being made solid on the page of this blog, preferring instead to swim about in solitude.

Yesterday was Father’s day, I had to go into the city to drop off some cups that are going to be used in a local Tassie film Breeding in Captivity, (more about that later) it was such a beautiful spring day that we decided to go for a bit of a fish.

Evelyn has been having seizures since Wednesday and I am skittish and unsettled. The wheels of the medical profession turn slowly, oh so slowly and we have had to wait until today (Monday) to begin any discourse with the hospital staff. I am by nature an impatient person and waiting for anything does my head in, waiting for answers about the health of my family is a special kind of nightmare. I like to be doing, something, anything,everything all at once and so fishing with the boys was a welcome distraction.

As were the seagulls.

The tide was running and the current was strong ,”The Spouse” grumbled as the tide took his berley away but the seagulls screeched in delight at the free snacks we were providing and I had fun with the camera.

Now I am going to walk around in circles, picking things up and putting them down until Veronica rings me and tells me what’s the plan with Young Miss Evelyn.

*Updated*
The plan is for Veronica and Evelyn to go into the hospital tomorrow and hang around in Emergency until something is done.

*sigh*

On Saturday as I was driving  down the hill I noticed three roosters huddled by the side of the road, they were good looking boys and had obviously been dumped.

As I drove, I thought about the poor roosters and I thought about the rotten bloody mongrel asshat that had just dumped them there.

There is a growing trend here in Tasmania of dumping unwanted roosters by the side of the road, in the bush or at the local tip. And I think it is apalling.

I place the blame firmly at the door of weekend hobby farmers, tree changers, and their ilk. Enticed by the thought of lovely fresh eggs, from free range chickens these people get a couple of hens and a rooster and their life is just so happy happy joy joy.

Until the hens go broody and suddenly a couple of hens have bred you fifteen new roosters who crow their bloody heads off  at first light. And oh my what are Mr and Mrs sensitive new ager to do with all these noisy unproductive  roosters?

Instead of doing the right thing by their animals they bloody well dump them and it makes me so angry.

My freecycle feed at certain times of the year is full of giveaway roosters, with a stipulation of pets only or not for the pot. It is a sad thing to see. Roosters generally do not make good pets, they do not play nicely with other roosters and they are noisy, oh so noisy.

Yesterday I heard the roosters crowing, so I put some layer pellets into a bucket and walked down the hill through the bush. If I stood on a stump I could see the roosters down in the gully. They had stayed where they had been dumped for four days. On one of those four days we had a good dump of snow. It is a hard life for an abandoned animal.

Being a chook whisperer from way back I was hoping if I stood on the side of the bank and yelled “chook, chook, chook” as I rattled the bucket of food the roosters would find me.

And sure enough one did.

He followed me back up the hill and I locked him in my empty chook run.

By four o’clock that afternoon he had called the other two roosters up the hill as well and I now had three fine looking boys in the chook pen.

My chook pen is adjacent to our vegetable garden and when I only had one old Isa brown girl a few years ago, we removed the divider so that she could get into the veggie garden and deal with the slater beetles for me.

The Spouse who adores me, but hates chickens with a fiery passion was not very impressed to find three large roosters scratching the buggery out of his garden beds.

All I could see when I looked at the roosters was , how handsome they were and how young and tasty two of them would be.

All the Spouse could see was WORK, for him.

Work, fixing the divider and stringing a new top layer of chicken wire across the fence.

Work, fixing up the garden beds.

Work, killing and cleaning the two roosters that I could not keep.

To say that The Spouse was a tad grumpy last night is akin to saying  Mt Everest is  a bit of a tricky climb.

Because “The Universe” disguised as an asshat poultry owner had given me a lovely rooster I asked on facebook for a couple of hens to keep the chosen rooster company.

I will be picking up two hens, one black and one white, from a friend on Thursday.

The Spouse is not impressed.

But I am content.

This morning I woke up to snow, we had a good three or four inches of snow which in itself is lovely, but I had packed the kiln yesterday and started a bisque firing.

I manually fire my kiln and so for a bisque firing I leave it on 5% power overnight in order to have a lovely slow temperature rise, which removes any traces of moisture left in the work. Some of the work I put into the kiln yesterday wasn’t completely dry so I turned the kiln on at 4 pm and hoped that the forecast snow didn’t arrive.

Harry the dog is always with me and he tore a round and around in circles like a puppy trying to get me to play with him. I threw a couple of snowballs at him and he wasn’t impressed that the balls disintegrated in his mouth.

Crocs make remarkably good snowshoes, if you stop every ten steps or so to knock the snow out of those pesky holes.

I have to walk up to the studio every two hours to turn up the power regulator on the kiln. Looking out the studio window it is still very snowy.

I tried to take some macro shots of the snow hoping to get all the crystally bits but I gave up when a drip of water went down my neck. Soft, I know.

Then I became distracted by the play of light and shadow in the landscape around me.

The snow on the side of the trees sends me off into another daydream.

The parrots came down for an easy meal of seeds. I don’t feed the birds regularly as I don’t want them to become dependent on me for food but they know that a meal is generally in the offing when the duck comes up to the house.

It is nearly time to walk back up to the studio and turn the kiln up again, the snow is still thick on the ground and maybe I need to think about buying myself a pair of gumboots.

As a child I would spend hours watching the clouds. Time spent staring at the sky was always time well spent in my child’s mind, as a never ending procession of elephants and horses, dinosaurs and giant birds flew past, sparking my imagination. I was always especially thrilled if I caught a glimpse of Pegasus and I would soar away with that winged horse of legend.

My house has lots of windows and where I sit to write there is southerly aspect, I can see the western sky from one window and the eastern from another.

Some days there is not much writing and a whole lot of cloud dreaming happening.

A friend of ours, Paulie, died on Sunday. It was liver cancer and it was very quick, less than three months from diagnosis to his death.

The Spouse is very sad, but in the way of men he keeps his sadness locked down, deep inside. I held him yesterday as he cried his silent tears and then I left him alone to drink his beer and watch re-runs of MASH. I know that his sadness and his words will bubble to the surface, one by one over the coming weeks and I can wait for them. I can wait to comfort him as he needs it, without pushing, as I have loved this man for twenty five years and I think I know what makes him tick.

Life and death, death and life entwined in this dance we do.

As men in their fifties, men still young, friends of our youth die from cancer, three in the last six weeks, I see my Mother in my grand daughter.

Veronica has worked incredibly hard chubbifying Evelyn’s cheeks and she demands that you and I admire them internet.

Who am I to deny the demands of my first born?

When it comes to the work of charities sometimes donations aren’t enough.

Sometimes they just need people. Selfless people with the skills, passions and time to help those less fortunate than themselves – they’re called volunteers.

In the spirit of volunteering, ten years ago the guys at SEEK volunteered to build a site to find individuals for Australia’s thousands of not-for-profit organisations.

SEEK Volunteer is a site that represents every Australian charity, organisation and community project that requires volunteers to ensure their success. It is a site that places passionate individuals with not-for-profit projects that really needs them.

Since being launched SEEKVolunteer has been responsible for placing thousands of individuals in not-for-profit projects and organisations. Passionate individuals have been connected to the charities that need them, from Red Cross and Oxfam to local people and businesses trying to help their own communities.

The need for volunteers never stops growing. In fact, thousands of Australian not-for profit organisations need to fill volunteer positions this year. Unfortunately, this ever-growing need is not widely known. We want to get the message out there about the power of volunteering. And demonstrate that anything’s possible when enough people come together with a common goal.

To raise awareness SEEK Volunteer is encouraging everyone to promote volunteering by volunteering something. Whether it’s a profile picture, a tweet, a blog article, a feature article, a billboard or a 10 second TV spot, individuals, organisations and media outlets can all volunteer.

If you get involved you will be part of a nationwide movement involving all facets of  the media, corporations, communities and individuals to help Australia find volunteers.

If we all play our parts we can inspire a whole country.

Gather your workmates family and friends.
Julie and Sissy are going to break another world record!!

Julie and Sissy are two local girls who first came to my attention a couple of years ago when they decided to simultaneously raise money for the Children’s ward of the Royal Hobart Hospital and break the world record for the most stuffed toys in one room.

They did both, spectacularly well.

The Girls have  their own community page on facebook, Julie and Sissy’s Community adventures.

And this Sunday the 19th of August  they are raising money for the Clown Doctors and attempting to break another world record for the most clowns in one place.

Their flyer says,

MOST PEOPLE GATHERED DRESSED AS CLOWNS
This is to raise funds for the CLOWN DOCTORS

Julie and Sissy need 1000 people dressed as clowns to be at Lansdowne Crescent Primary School on the 19th August 2012 at 1pm

There will be face painting from 11am

$10 entry per Adult

$5 entry per child

Entry fees can be paid directly to clown doctors through this page Every Day Hero

The girls have been very busy creating “Clown Kits” which will be for sale on the day with all proceeds going to the Clown Doctors Charity.

When all is doom and gloom in the media and all you hear are negative stories about young people it is a delight and an honour for me to be able to support these girls in their community adventures.

A quick recap.

MOST PEOPLE GATHERED DRESSED AS CLOWNS
This is to raise funds for the CLOWN DOCTORS

Julie and Sissy need 1000 people dressed as clowns to be at Lansdowne Crescent Primary School on the 19th August 2012 at 1pm

There will be face painting from 11am

$10 entry per Adult

$5 entry per child

Can you please share this post and see if we can help Julie and Sissy break another world record and aid a charity at the same time. Cheers Kim

These chocolate balls are also dairy, egg and gluten free.

And TASTY very tasty.

Ingredients.

Half a cup of sunflower seeds

Half a cup of Almonds.

Half a cup of Sultanas

One or Two cups of Dates.

3 tablespoons of cocoa

Shredded coconut (optional)

Throw the nuts and seeds into the food processor and buzz them into a gritty powder.

Put the nuts and seeds into a bowl, add the cocoa and mix it up.

Throw the sultanas into the food processor and buzz them to bits. They will be sticky.

Do the same with the dates, though they wont be as sticky.

Add the mooshed up sultanas and dates to the bowl with the seed and nut mixture

And mix it up some more.

You might need to add a dribble or two of water.

Roll the mixture into small ball shapes.

Roll the balls in some shredded coconut, or more cocoa.

Keep in the fridge.

I was going to take a photo but I have eaten them all, so you just have to use your imagination.

You are welcome.

EDITED. *The lovely Kate, from Kate Says Stuff made these chocolate balls using her Thermomix and sent me through a photo as well as the Thermomix intructions. Yay, thanks Kate.

Place all ingredients in bowl. Blitz for 10 seconds at speed 7. Set to speed 3 and drizzle 1/4 cup water through hole in lid. Roll.

Today a friend shared in our Plastic Pollution Australia Group on Facebook, this image of plastic pollution in a sieve.

This is the amount of plastic that came out of half a tube of Clean and Clear Blackhead Eraser Scrub.

Half a tube.

I am gobsmacked.

Imagine the millions of tubes of this and similar stuff sold all across the world, and then imagine all this plastic washing down the drain and ending up in the ocean.

I think we are in a bit of trouble internet.

If we kill the Ocean we are pretty much buggered as a species.

Doomed.

So because I don’t actually feel like being doomed. I thought I would bring this to your attention.

The solution is pretty simple.

Don’t buy Face/body scrubbers that contain Polyethelene.

Microcrystalline Wax is listed as an ingredient as well, but I am not sure if that is plastic but it sounds dodgy enough.

There is also a petition asking Cosmetic manufacturers to stop contributing to Marine Plastic Pollution.