The Quiet Earth

 plum tree blossoms outside my bedroom window

Despite what the calendar says, Australia actually has more than 4 seasons- according to the native inhabitants we have 6. As we alternate through ice cold pouring rain and warm sunshine this week, with the plum tree throwing out perfect little blossoms and the apple tree barely popping green, you can see that this time of year isn't really Winter or Spring, it's a funny kind of inbetween.

 rain on the apple trees

I feel a bit that way myself- life right now is not quite the slumbering quiet of winter- yet I haven't quite got to the point where I'm bursting out like a new bud, keen for adventures and new things. There are days that don't merit getting out of bed for longer than it takes to make tea and toast, and there are days when I think if I don't do 100 things before teatime then it's a wasted day.

 sunshine in the back yard

Creativity is at a stand-still while I (finally!) begin my psychology sessions for my post-traumatic. I've only had 3 rounds so far but I already feel a huge difference. Seeing the connections between my habits and circumstances, the common threads in my life (both negative and positive) has been enlightening and improving. Once you acknowledge the existence of something you have the power to remove the offending habits and cultivate the right ones; I've been doing both.

Though I'm not creating any actual jewelry right now, I am still constructing ideas and theories in my head. I find it odd that the muse should escape me for so long- she's not been truly at my side for some time, more recent creative endeavors have really only been my attempt to carry on without her, but it's not working. She isn't completely gone; I know she's laying low so I can concentrate on my therapy sessions and lay the foundation for what's to become. In the mean time I put my time into my vintage shop, knowing that it's just another way of clearing out the old and every bit as essential to Future Me as the professional brain scraping is. At the very least as I sort through things to bag and list, I know the decisions of what to keep and what to destash are intrinsic to forming the parts of a new whole.

Turtles all the way down

 

These are all shots from a little road trip I took with my Dad and brother waaaaaaaaay back in January, before my 'cars are scary now' kicked in. Although I took these at the beginning of the year, I never did anything with them until now. So this week marks the first time since the accident that I've cared about my photography. That's a good thing, I reckon. 

Hermit break

So last week some stuffs, they come in the mail. I was gunna blog about it but then my hermit genes kicked in and I forgets. But now- now I show to you the magic! Let's get on with it!

The first haul is from Petra, who lives in Devon because she wants to see me cry. Ooooh- parcels! 4 of them!! 

This one says 'from the woods'- ooh woody things!

Holy crap- the cuteness! Drawn on bone and wood, acorns, I think a small chestnut and some other nut I don't know...

The bit in the middle is either a fang or a claw...it came off a very very dead fox Petra keeps in her shed, (if Petra's husband is reading this, she has no fox and I'm a complete liar). Everyone else- I'd show you pictures but you might be eating. I think it's a tooth- if it were a claw it would be hollow like a dog's claw, would it not? Fox experts?

Close up, Mr.DeMille. 

Time to go coastal- this one says 'From The Sea'...what's in here?

GET THE EFF OUT! A little basket!!! YOU GUYS

:D Sea glass and shells and btis of slate- the orangey bit is a bit of brick that's floated about long enough to be worn smooth (probably 19th century).


The other side of the tag said 'from Lynmouth beach', which is near Petra's house. In case you want to know (and too bad if you don't) Lynmouth beach looks like this:

It has tiny buildings on winding steep streets, a river and a tiny railway that goes up cliffs. I am going to live there.

 
Let's move on to the little round pot that says 'from me' D'awww!

 
 so many things in that little pot!

ooooh- okay we're not gunna unwrap everything one shot at a time, let me just unwrap them all and arrange them...

LOOK AT THEM I bought them from Petra's shop - (but there's extra in there!) she's on vacation right now while she moves house, because obviously now I'm her friend she needs a spare room for me to move into.

look! There's an antique coin in there, totally keeping that for my own, cause it says 'One Penny' and I'm one Penny! 

chalky whites and pretty powder blue glazes

These are so tiny!

TINY BITCHES

But wait, what's this one?

OMFG

ferns n lichens!! (customs did a good job keeping this out of the country huh?)

Apparently this moss only grows where the air is really clean- these came out of Petra's backyard in Exmoor park. In case you want to know (and too bad if you don't) Petra's backyard looks like this:

Apparently it's an old mill or something- it's amaaaaaaaaazing.

Look! Ivy! I'll be off to shop for some little antique lenses now, so I can solder these ferns and mosses into tiny botanical pendants. I know I said at the start of the post that I had other hauls to show you, and I do...but this post was epic and it took aeons for the pics to go in the right order and for Blogger's format to not be a douche, which is it's natural talent. So you get that stuff next time.