Quilt...

I have been meeting up with some girl friends every thursday night for a "Craft Night"...We all know that when a bunch of lady's get together one of the main reasons is to have a good chat!
We all sit there around the table, sipping on tea and doing what ever little project we have going, shairing tips and books!
Its fun!
We mostly go to Ana's House as her husband goes away 5 weeks at a time for work and she has had her second child and the baby is still little!

I have been working on a crochet dress,  but in good old style I have started another project. My very first Quilt! Its for our bed on in the bus. I got a book form the Library and am going to to a "trip around the world" pattern.

I shall share my progress as I go along!

What do you think of the colours??

Playground Hunt! #1.

I am constantly amazed at some of the things Australia has to offer!
Like the play grounds...There are so many, they are in good quality, taken care of and usually have toilet facility near by! Not that we really need it;  Tullula's not interested in peeing in the loo!!!

 This first play ground I shall show, is really COOL! It has swings, slides, a rock climbing wall, crawling ropes, a pond with ducks, a little bicycle track, and a big one too! It even has an enclosed off the leach dog play ground!

Its in Little Mountain. On Raintree Boulevard! If you are somewhere on the Sunshine Coast do have a look at it!

TuesDay TulluLa

Mr Beettle

 We found a beetle on our  curtain and thought it would be a nice thing to take it to day care as they have had a few bugs and things in the pat year! 

We put it in a container for the night, but the next day it was not moving much.

We felt bad, and let it go by the tree down the building. Now when we go past the tree, Tullula asks about the bug...It's quite cute I must say

Strawberry Field's

 Our Sunday was filled of excitement as we started the day strawberry picking!

It was a first for Tullula, and quite an event as she "LOVES" them!

The fields are really not far from home and after a short drive and a walk down the fields we were  ripe for picking, well the strawberry's were!

Little Tullula was unable to actually pick the fruit.

 we tried to show her how to pinch the stems and pull. 

But it was just too hard...

never-the less it was fun and we had a ball picking and eating those big juicy fruit!

 Its a great way to spend a few hours on a lovely day.

TuesDay TulluLa

 

Music...{I Love it}

I juts love it...And all types of it as well!
Its funny because growing up the way I did, the only music that was around what my parents and what ever played on the radio, in what ever country we happened to be at the time! So it was diverse...
My Mother loved to dance, my dad not and preferred to listen to old French tracks!
So on one hand my French Music culture is to me feels very little. But music of the world I had plenty of!
I the click to explore came after I spent 9 months with my brother Morgan sailing the Atlantic on little "Noa".
We together sat many many hours, sitting in the cockpit of his 28ft sailing boat, watching the horizon, listing to music as the days passed by...Boat sailing along, slowly......
The adventures we lived together, gave me my deep love for reggae music.
Then I moved to Paris...What a discovery!
I set myself out on a music quest...Went to all sorts of concerts, hung out with musicians, and danced MANY nights away to Latin groves!
I met poeple who shared their music, and I would get 50euros worth of second hand CD's every month!

If you love music, world music well here are a few Artist's/Albums you should consider trying to find!

1. ShusheelaRaman
2.  Rokia Traore
3. Yma Sumac
4. Puente Celeste
5. A Hand full of Namibians

Hope you Enjoy!

Home Alone

Stephen is gone sailing...I will be home along with Tullula for a whole 10 days!
This is going to sound horrible, but I LOVE it!
Now I love it for many reasons, One; I like being alone to attend my many crafty projects. Two; I like to think that Stephen is having fun. Three; It makes me desire stephen when I think of him sailing or surfing! Four; I appreciate his wonderfulness when he comes home!
I also am a strong believer that we must continue to be individuals even when we are committed to someone!

Its good for our relationship to continue to do the things that we used to do, after all we fall in Love with poeple because of what they do, who they are! So I encourage Stephen to go...We work it together, on the days that are convenient together...otherwise he would not let himself go!

So Stephen has gone sailing on the "South Passage". Its a Brisbane Based Tall Ship that takes Kids from 14 to 17 years sailing, for either day trips or longer passages! At the moment the boat is sailing around the Great Barrier Reef, from Townsville! Not bad place to be doing some voluntary work!

Post Card

I did a Post Card Swap with Nellies and this is what was in my mail box this morning!!

Its so nice to receive something in that little box!

 When it comes to mail boxes, my friend Ana is doing the mail box challenge and photographing a mail box a day!

If you would like to do a post card swap with me, write a comment below and I will get in touch!!

Tuesday Tullula

Ten on Ten

...One photo every Hour for ten hours on the Tenth of every month!

Its heaps of fun!

Join in with Rebekah at  A Little Bit of Sunshine.

 

7something...there is a little girl waking up by my side!

 8something...Mainly Music.

 9something...Morning Tea is provided!

 10something...some things have to get done.

 11something...Finishing some projects.

 12something...Lunch dessert.

 1something...nap time. For both of us!

 2something...get it?

 3something...We are going out, and it takes ages...

 4something...Drawing at friends house!

Becoming Billilgual

I guess it becomes some sort of big issue or discussion point when you are raising a child that way. For me, it has been something super interesting to live, watch and talk about!

On the Sunshine Coast, I am surrounded by Multicultural families.

A few have children the same age as Tullula so it’s a topic of common interest!

Now apart from a little boy whose parents are both French, the others are different nationalities.

It has come to my attention that I am doing really good, always talking to Tullula in French, no matter where we are or with whom. I know I have to, it’s the key factor to her learning, remembering and becoming bilingual at this stage!

I do know that it can be hard to do so, and I have at times felt like giving up and just talk in English. Some people are embarrassed to talk their native language when in public and I have been told that its “rude” to talk to you child in a language no one around can understand!

Well you see, I don’t think it is!!!

I am French, and I speak French! I am teaching my child to talk MY language, and Stephen, day care and every one else is teaching her English.

I mean; say you go on a holiday to France (or any other country of different language) and take your child to the playground; are you going to talk to your child in French???

Well if you don’t speck the language, you can’t, and even if you did, I bet you still would not!

Now, ok once Tullula will be older and actually BE bilingual, sure then I shall talk to her in the language of those around us, but until then I am teaching her something valuable, something that is part of her heritage, and now she will learn it much easer than at any other time in her life!

It just has to be done from the begging and never stopped until it’s achieved!

I have been frowned upon that Tullula will take longer to learn to talk, and maybe its true. Maybe she is a bit behind in the language stills, but then is she really?

Maybe she is now, but next year she wont be.

She will eventually talk, we all do! And when she does, she will talk two languages!

I think that’s being a bit ahead in today’s world! At least it’s the way I see it, and if I can give that to my child well then I shall!!!

As for now, haven spent 3 weeks in Fiji and being surrounded by French has clearly improved her French, and it makes me very proud to hear!

Tullula has a cold!

Whats your way of teaching your children to becoming Bilingual?

How is it working?

I would Love to hear your story.

Tuesday Tullula

Saturday.

I want...It all!!

I can be really confusing (mostly for my poor Stephen) and confused girl!

Now I have been warned that I classified as a “high sensory” person!

It has to do with the fact that I have moved around so much growing up, and that of course in many different country’s thus creating a need for constant stimulation.. I am not sure if need if the right word, maybe it’s more of a habit!

Well I often write list, all sorts of lists: To do, want to do, to finish, and dreams!

I like to be able to keep my dreams on a scale where they are actually achievable, and there is no better feeling than crossing out that dream; done! To then have to make a new dream!

There is so much I want to do…It does become a jungle in my head, and when I want something, when I want to do something; I want it NOW!!

It’s really bad…I am terrible!

Last night I decided I should get it all OUT my head and onto paper to see what it looks like.

This is what I got!!!

-I want to learn, read, and write.

-I want to become a yoga instructor.

-I want to be grateful.

-I want to study midwifery in a French territory.

-I want to be a good lover, partner and friend.

-buy a boat and sail a bit.

-See remote Australia. 
-live in our Bus.

-I want to go to India.

-I want to Travel/live in Latin America.

-I want to live in Iceland or the Falklands (some cold remote island) 6month, less than a year!

-Go on a Holiday with Stephen (no Tullula) to Indonesia.

-I want to teach English overseas.

-I want to foster a child.

-I want to have an exchange student!

-I want to dance.

-Play with Fire.

-I want to sell on the markets.

-I want to be involved in festivals somehow?

-I want to play the Didgeridoo or the recorder (maybe the didgeridoo is going to be too hard?)

-I want to do Mehendi.

-I want to create.

-become a Doula.

-I want to do the Diploma in Pregnancy Massage.
-Sew cloths.

Well I must say, my head does actually feel less heavy and full now that I got all that out!

It’s a great exercise and this way, maybe I can work my way along the list and see what I can do about all these wants of mine!

Do you have a list like this? With it all there??

A new Beginning!

I have been back home for a week now!
Its amazing how fast time goes by...One week! It does not feel like it!

I have always been creative, is it due to my star sign, Aquarius and the arty side we can have?
Or just my character or my dad that got me to make jewellery at the age of 12 "to keep me busy" as he put it!
Well what ever it was, ever since then I have been busy with my hands! At 12 I used to make things with shells, sea urchins...When I look back at what I did then, I realise how basic and very rustic everything was, but the fact that a little girl made it all got the sales up!
When we were in Colombia, a lady bought the whole lot off of me, display board and all my stock!
How funny!
Then when we got to Panama, I used to sit next to a Peruvian (the begging of my relations with the Latin community) man called Vino, and we would sell our things just off the jetty where the Ferry from Panama City would arrive. Full of tourists coming to spend their weekend on Taboga Island!
Vino was a nice man, and again being so young (I was getting closer to 14 then)  made him take me under his wings and he taught me how to do wire work...make bracelets...I never really continued the wire work, but got deep into Brazilian bracelets! They were in style then!
Then we continued our trip to the Pacific, and I started to work with sharks teeth, and coconut fibre and weaving! My craftsmanship was clearly getting better and I had a whole range of techniques under my belt!
But we kept on moving, and Hong Kong along and I got fascinated with beads, colour!
By the time I was 18 and left home I did not want to make anything any more...I guess I was going though some sort of refusal...trying to find myself.

Yet reality is that I need to be making things, I need to be creative.
I love to sit there and make create, it well and truly is my form of meditation!

So today I start anew.
I have set myself up in Tullula's room. Got my working desk and a sewing table, that way I can leave it there and not worry about packing up, and can sit there when ever I have the desire to do so!
Tullula does not play in her room, and the other option was to move her cot into our room, but decided to give this way a try first!!!

So, what will I be making?
I am going to continue doing the macramé jewellery, but I am also going to do some sewing! Cloths to be more specific as well as some accessories...But first I have to trial the things I have drawn out and make sure its fits properly! I hope to get back to doing markets!

For now its all very exiting and feels like a new beginning!

Guest Post- Ange Takats

While I was In Fiji, I took along 2 magazines and 1 book to read!

The magazines I had were Peppermint  and Frankie, I got to read those at the beach or some afternoons while Tullula slept!

But what really got my attention was my book!

Now I had seen Ange Takats sing one afternoon at Perigien Originals (I will tell you all about that event sometime). She sat there, alone with her guitar, long beautiful hair, and such a sweet voice! 

cause you see she is a woman of many talents!!!

Anyway, I got the book off her web site a while after and was finally able to read it on this holiday!

Well, let me tell you it was a wonderful read! I actually struggled at times to put the book down. The story is great, and its written so beautifully, I really recommend you all to get the book (and the CD) and keep a close eye on this very talented Lady! I have been so captivated by it all that I have even got her to write a guest post!! 

So here she is and this is her story!


Guest Blogger - Author and Musician Ange Takats
"It’s not every day that an Australian girl finds herself attending a funeral for a water buffalo in Thailand… but that’s exactly what happened when I took up a job as a foreign correspondent in Southeast Asia.
The buffalo’s name was Boonlert and his big dead body was hanging inside a shed in a remote Thai village, with fairy lights wrapped around his horns and flowers stuffed into his ears. There were Buddhist monks, draped in orange robes, praying in front of him when I arrived with my cameraman and the spectacle of that story proved to be so memorable that it inspired the title of my memoir: The Buffalo Funeral: Soundbites from a Songbird in Siam.
I was 22 years old when I quit my job in Sydney and moved to Bangkok… and I can thank an Intrepid trip for being the catalyst! I had fallen in love with the Land of Smiles during a life-changing hilltribe trek, four months prior, and decided I wanted to move there.
My parents weren’t exactly sold on the idea (I think my father’s words were: “Why don’t you move to London like all the other Aussie girls?”) but I was determined and after several weeks of emailing the major media organisations, I had secured myself a job with an international news company.
Little did I know that my new gig would involve running from rockets at a rainmaking festival, interviewing heroin addicts in Hanoi, being chased by a tiger in a Buddhist monastery, witnessing a drug bust in the hills of Northern Thailand, and having my breasts massaged with Tiger Balm whilst filming a story about Thai boob jobs!
It was during my time in Asia that I was sent to cover the most significant story of my career – the release from house arrest of Burmese Democracy Leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 2002. I feel so blessed to have been in Burma on such an historical day and to have had the chance to interview a truly remarkable woman.
Strangely enough, it was in Thailand that I was also able to pursue my passion for music. I landed a second job as a singer in a folk rock band and spent my weekends drinking sweet Thai whisky and performing old hippie songs with some of Bangkok’s finest musicians. The guys in my band not only taught me a hell of a lot about singing, but they became my family, and showed me a magical side of Bangkok that I never would have discovered on my own."
To see photos of Ange's adventures and learn more about her book The Buffalo Funeral - go to www.angetakats.com.au