Things Making Me Smile

I know that I have neglected this little space a lot lately but it is always at the back of my mind. I feel as though I have this internal monologue, drafting posts in my head as I collect an egg, knead some dough or plant seeds in the garden beds.

I like to think that I am a 'glass half full' kinda person so thought I would share some of those little moments that have brought a smile to my face over the last few weeks.

• Swapping some homemade bread and yoghurt for some homemade ANZACs with Mum. 
• Morning beach fishing with my Dad and the littlest mouse. Is there any better place to be than the beach at dawn, especially with a couple of ANZAC biscuits for breakfast.

• Opening the latest copy of Green Lifestyle Magazine to see an article about the inspirational Gavin from The Greening of Gavin.  
• Reading the fabulous book The Idle Parent by Tom Hodgkinson. I first came across Tom Hodgkinson at the Etsy conference in Berlin in 2011. I thoroughly enjoyed his talk and went straight out and bought a couple of his books. Mr Mouse read these immediately but it took me a little longer to get around to it. 

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• An early morning visit to the local farmers' market to get the fruit for the new school term. So many familiar faces and that great sense of community. It's always great to have an chat with The Big Issue vendor Sean.  I was also pretty excited to see that the kieffer pears are back in season. Yum.
• Watching the kiddoes putting up the tent in the backyard. I just put the bag out where they could see but I said nothing. It was a bit of a The Idle Parent moment, watching them sort it out themselves and not wanting or needing adult assistance. This became a second home over the Easter long weekend.
• I came across a fabulous video via Gavin's Facebook page. We all watched it over and over and over. The littlest mouse in our house even went out to see if it could be recreated here. No luck.

I hope you notice those moments that make you smile.

Take care

Plastic Problem

I am very lucky to live where I live. I am about a 15 minute walk from a stunning coastline and beautiful white-sandy beaches. As a kid I grew up not far from where I am now and have memories of beach swimming lessons in the Christmas holidays. I'm not really a big ocean swimmer now but I do love being near the water. Afternoons on those hot Perth days are spent waiting for the sea-breeze to come in and cool everything down. I didn't realise how much I took the beach for granted until I moved away to my first job all those years ago where the nearest beach was over 300km away. 

It is always lovely to read about other people's beach experiences and how that expanse of blue just helps clear the mind.

Cityhippyfarmgirl reminded me of a video I saw recently about the effects of plastic on the creatures of the deep. (Just a warning: this video does contain images of dead animals). There are too many questions to ask about how and why this happens and I really wish I knew the answer to fix the situation. The simple solution is to dispose wisely but when some people still put recyclables in their household waste bin at their own house, it is not surprising that plastic ends up in waterways and other public spaces.

In the words of the Dalia Lama;

Peace and the survival of life on earth as we know it are threatened by human activities that lack a commitment to humanitarian values. Destruction of nature and natural resources results from ignorance, greed and lack of respect for the earth´s living things.

Do you live near the coast or a waterway? Do you notice a lot of plastic?

Take care