My lovely Melbourne-and my first mosaic!

Saving power

This light fitting was in my lounge room -one of two halogen globe lights, each one having three globes. The globes were each 50w -that is 300 watts for the room. The globes were VERY difficult to get into the fittings, even with a special pair of tongs I bought especially made for the job.

The room was dark in corners.

With the coming changes in power costs in WA it was time to make some changes, especially when we needed to get the electrician in anyway so that one of the wall plates could be replaced.

Here is the replacement! Each of the low energy lights is 11 watts so that is 11 x6 or 66 watts instead of 300watts for the room.

There is much more light in the new arrangement. I also love the way these look -it fits my country style much better than the old ones.

With the new outdoor fridge and these lights, we will have significantly lowered our electricity consumption. Will be interesting to see the next bill when it comes!

Fifty Second post! Melbourne in autumn

I started my blog on 25th April last year, so I have already had my 'blogversary" and today's post is my 52nd! It has been great fun and I enjoy the challenge of thinking of things to write and seeing my life as something I can record and share.

This is the first time I have sat down to write since getting home from Melbourne, so I thought you might like to see some of my pictures.

Melbourne in autumn is particularly beautiful. We did a lot of walking and it was great!

There were such lovely colours of foliage everywhere!
We don't often get these scenes in Perth and our winter this year seems to have disappeared, so it was particularly nice to spend two weeks in one of my favourite cities.

Black elm tree stems are fabulous too!

And what about this colour combination from the Botanical Gardens!

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Simply going to Melbourne

When I announced to people I knew that I was taking long service leave, most people assumed that I was going to go overseas. I guess that is what many people do.

I put off taking my long service leave for over 12 months because I felt quite intimidated by the idea that I had to do something very important or special with it.

It was a book called "Grace in the Desert" by Dennis Patrick Slatterly which changed my mind. Dennis went on a pilgrimage from one retreat house to another for three months throughout the US. What he found, and writes about very beautifully, is that in fact he was undertaking a 'journey within" -giving himself time and space and quiet to discover the internal stuff of his life.

I was inspired to believe that my long service leave could be fruitful by allowing myself the same sort of time and space What I have planned is a couple of retreats, a holiday with my DH who cannot leave his work for more than two weeks, and a lot of craft workshops.

I am deliberately trying to slow down and to notice what I am thinking about and feeling. I am journalling more. I am not listening to the radio or following the news.

I am trying to exercise those parts of my life which don't get much of a workout when I am a full time worker and mother and everything else that I do.

In the next two weeks my husband and I will be visiting my brother and his wife in Melbourne. We will be catching up with friends and enjoying our 33rd wedding anniversary. We are taking Kerry Greenwood's first couple of Phryne Fisher books with us so we can enjoy visiting the 'scenes of the crimes'.

This is sheer indulgence and fun. Not going overseas, simply visiting my favourite other city (other than Perth of course) and being with the one I love.

See you when I get back! Hope to have lots of lovely pictures.

Smell the roses

This beautiful card was given to me when I left work for my Long Service Leave, with a hope that I would have time to stop and smell the roses. I left work on Friday afternoon and drove straight to New Norcia for a weekend retreat. This was such a good idea, because it meant that I did indeed have time to walk around and pay attention to the beauty around me. I thought that you might like to spend a few moments enjoying what I found.

Gum trees in blossom in the monastery guesthouse courtyard. Wattle in bloom. Lavender with a friendly bee. Enjoy these beautiful things and then try to pay attention to those precious little moments of beauty in each day. Simplicity is not just thriftyness, not just growing vegetables. Simplicity starts with being attentive and grateful and the rest will flow from there.