Protecting Wilderness

“To protect what is wild is to protect what is gentle. Perhaps the wilderness we fear is the pause within our own heartbeats, the silent space that says we live only by grace. Wilderness lives by this same grace.” Terry Tempest Williams

A sky watch friday photo to celebrate All Hallows Eve or All Saints Day with an old graveyard and a busy sky combining early morning misty haze and white plumes from a bush fire.

And a photo of Susan Island, Australia’s largest inland island and home to the largest colony of fruit bats in the southern hemisphere. Funny how bats or flying foxes got included in Halloween and scary things.

For people in wild life care flying foxes are the most darling little creatures to raise and complain that it is all bad PR, bats need a better media manager. Link to Northern Rivers Wildlife Carers who volunteer wild life rescue in the region, to read more about animals in care.

Am working on a new creative project and putting out a call for colourful postcards from around the globe, if you are up for a swap or have one to donate, drop us a message about your colourful images.

Sky Watch Friday = the best fun seeing different views of the same sky from all over the place and their new off shoot My World in case you ever get tired of seeing the sky from different angles.

New link added to our list this week for Black River Designs a new boutique paper manufacturer in New Brunswick Canada with a delightful range of products. Wishing Christine and her team the best of luck.

Stray Gifts

“Pleasure is spread through the earth in stray gifts to be claimed by whoever may find them " William Wordsworth

Jacaranda flowers in streets of Grafton NSW are this week’s stray gifts. The Jacaranda tree might be a native of South America but it grows really well in northern NSW.

In the 1870s Grafton town council invested in seedlings to line ALL of their streets with graceful shade trees with the added bonus of a floral display celebrating spring in the southern hemisphere.

Grafton’s Jacaranda Festival celebrates spring as well as being Australia’s oldest floral celebration and largest & oldest collection of jacca’s in the country. Every single street pretty much looks like this, big beautiful shade trees that shower purple flowers in spring.

A beautiful sight in this little country town.

Sky Watch Friday is the best fun, check the link to see what bloggers from around the world are sharing this week.

Yellow Tabebuia‏ is one of the other trees that flower at this time of year, nice compliment to the purple haze of Jacca time.

Sarah of the Beach Cottage in sunny beachside Sydney is hosting a give away this week. Click the link and check out her blog full of fun ideas on creatively recycling but get a cup of tea first, you could be there a while.

Then look into the Bloggy Give Away Parties all kinds of fun things going on over there.

Another Melissa Frances project from a recent class. Aren’t these kids the cutest?

Inspiration In The Sea

“I have made friends with the sea; it has taught me a great deal. There is a kind of inspiration in the sea. When one listens to its never-ceasing murmur afar out there, always sounding at midnight and mid-day, one's soul goes out to meet eternity.” Not quite Anne but we have been liking L.M. Montgomery’s style

Sky Watch Friday is the best fun, meeting bloggers from around the world who share their view of the sky. This photo was taken on the north coast of NSW Australia.

Found a couple more links for Anne of Green Gables and Lucy Maud Montgomery. Canada’s Confederation Centre for the Arts hosts a site on Montgomery’s works including a peek into her Victorian style scrapbooks.

The University of PEI (Prince Edward Island) also hosts an interesting site on Montgomery’s works.

Happy Thanksgiving

"When I left my future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road. I thought I could see along it for many a milestone. Now there is a bend in it. I don't know what lies around the bend, but I'm going to believe that the best. It has a fascination of its own, that bend." Anne of Green Gables

That is the last of the Anne quotes I have but a good one to share with Sky Watch Friday, you never know what you will find bloggers are going to share this week.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends and family.

Inspiration for this little tart is courtesy of Victoria magazine.

“Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.” From the television show The Wonder Years

Collage in miniature for the Vintage Christmas themed Itty Bitty Book was a challenge. The pages are a similar size to an ATC with an allowance on the side for binding. Each participant creates their tiny page from different elements and photocopies X number of participants (in this group that is 35) and decorates each page. The lucky hostess will receive everyone’s contribution in a few days to assemble the books and distribute. A huge group for this tiny little book will mean it will be bursting at the seams with creative inspiration and excited to see what the end results will be.

Road Less Travelled

Check Sky Watch Friday, where 100s of bloggers find fabulous views of the sky to share with us all.

It is amazing what is on offer in the sky when you take the time to look.

This morning we found lots of misty haze reflected on the glass calm river with streaks across the sky from a local bush fire.

"I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence

Two roads diverged in a wood,

and I - I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference." Robert Frost

If you have any favorite Anne quotes, do share as we only have one left now and saving it for next week.

This is a shadow box picture frame that we recycled with an assortment of all kinds of fun cast offs, dictionary pages, game peices and dolls house furniture.