Ruby Tuesday

These are photos of our dog Ruby.  I have been promising Cindy forever that I will post photos of her on here and just always forget.

Here she is sharing her pink ball with us.  It always gets lost in the garden or on the roof, then when it is re found it's like brand new all over again
Ruby is an Australian Cattle dog cross (Red Heeler) so she is covered in cute red spots that you can't see in these photos, but she is very spotty.

and here she is looking very coy and cute

I am so sorry Cindy it has taken me about 2 years to put the photos up!!!

please dear readers....

Please dear readers I would like you to read a page for me, don't worry, there is nothing gruesome or bloody that will make you turn your head.  I just think it's something we as humans should ALL read.  It will help us decide on which way to go and ways we help.
PLEASE read it TOP to BOTTOM it won't take long, only a minute at the most, it's in poem form,     thanks so much and let me know your thoughts.  I would love to hear them......:)  here is the page

glass walls

A video put out by Paul McCartney.  If you want only good food for your body and your family's and you also want to help alleviate the pressure on the earth, watch his message.   Very interesting....

gorgeous book

This is truly  a gorgeous and inspiring book.  It is primarily for children but a book we can all love.  The illustrations are GORGEOUS and it's a lovely book for everyone to own.  Especially for young children to understand why we teach them to love and care for animals, but at the same they have them on their plates.  They need to know that's what happens, it shouldn't be kept from them and this explains that in a very child friendly way.  I think it's a must have book for all Primary Schools as well as homes.......

I have ordered my copy from The Book Depository because even though my youngest is 12 and in High School next year,  I still want her to take it to school to talk about it, and I really want it for the artwork.
I will share some of the artwork when it arrives...

stitches and chenille

It feels so good to be getting through unfinished projects.  This one was a gift and was taking a bit too long.   I loved doing the stitchery, so much fun  The chenille is leftover from a bedspread I cut down some time ago and backed with flannelette to make a blanket. 

The stitchery is gorgeous and of course is a Bronwyn Hayes pattern.  I changed it a little.  The pattern had 3 girls in it, but I wanted 2 so it could be my Bestie and me.

My Bestie has a smokey grey cat and I always have a cup of tea in my hand, so the pattern was perfect.

Time to start another stitchery.  It's nice to have one on the go when you feel like doing something crafty.  Something crafty and calming.  Something that has no deadline, just a little to be done here and there......

kate Luke Photography

Some fabulous photos taken by Kate Luke Photography at The Canberra Ban Live Export Rally today

more photos on Kate's blog

Let you MP know how you feel before this Thursday the 18th at  http://banliveexport.com/where-does-your-MP-stand  it's very easy the link finds your MP for you and sends the letter.

frida

Imagine Frida Dreaming

mixed media on canvas board

25cm x 30cm

I am loving the details, so happy with how they turned out....

national day

NATIONAL RALLY TO BAN LIVE EXPORT SUNDAY  AT NOON UNTIL 2 IN EVERY CAPITAL CITY  CHECK OUT VENUES AT BAN LIVE EXPORT.COM

let's do what's right

wonderful documentary for everyone

This fabulous documentary is for everyone. It's about saving our planet and more. It's funny and entertaining and so informative. The description says "part social experiment part funny adventure".   I can't wait for it.

is facebook the new blogging

When I started my blog in 2006 blogging was quite a fledgling kind of thing in Australia and growing really really fast.  Now there are literally millions of them.
I have been thinking for quite a while now how popular Facebook is and seems to have taken over from blogs, to a certain extent.
I have had my FB account for quite a few years but never really used it a lot apart from when my sister was in Europe and for looking at family photos of in laws in other states.

I have found recently though, I have been spending a little time on it most nights to catch up on Groups I am in.  I have joined a few closed Groups.  These are Groups you ask to join, you don't just 'like' the page.  The groups are closed to those who haven't asked to join.   The first time I did this was to join a Ban Live Export Group.  There are quite a lot of huge public groups for this too.
I have found these groups a wonderful way to connect with like minded people.  A few of my groups are animal welfare groups and two of them are Lupus groups.  One Lupus group is a public one you can 'like' and it has nearly 4000 members and the other is a newer closed group starting up for mums with Lupus.  There are many Lupus groups but I thought two was enough to join.

I find these a great source of support and information.  You can post something and either immediately or it may be the next day you will have several comments/answers/suggestions.
It's for this reason I have decided to close down my Lupus blog.  I started that to primarily journal what I was going through.  Also to write about new research etc.  But after a few months I found it so limiting.  I felt I was talking to myself and not connecting with other Luppies!
Through FB it is an amazing group of total strangers who are totally there for each other.   Even if you don't want to comment or ask anything, just reading it all you relate to it and learn.
It's definitely a virtual support group.  This suits me really well as I wouldn't do well in a real life support group.  For one thing, I don't often feel well enough to get to one.

I am now also in a mixed media artist group too  (Thanks Cathy for the invite).  Artists from all over the world talking and sharing work with each other.   It's crazy wonderful stuff.  There are groups for everything.

But even without groups, so many peeps seem to blog on FB because it's so instant, you can post photos too just like a blog.  It's great if you have a shop, instantly getting your stuff out there.  You can live chat if you want to.  It's all straight away.  Which is great.

Blogs will always be here I think but they seem to have taken a back seat to FB.     I often (if I am having an extra unwell day) still visit my fave blogs to keep up with what bloggy friends are up to, but it can take a lot of energy to comment on lots of blogs in a day, so I don't comment as much as I used to.  I tend to lurk.  There are sooooooo many gorgeous and inspiring blogs now that we all want to drop in on and that takes a lot of time.  There is only so much Internet time we can have in a day.  (although it is great through the night if you can't sleep)

So far, I am glad I haven't chosen to Twitter because quite frankly I just couldn't keep up with it all, but then I remember saying that once about Facebook.      I sometimes wonder lately about keeping my blog.   I can't sew as much as I used to so I don't have that to share very often.    So I guess most of what I share is my artwork and musings about stuff.     I'm sure I will keep it though, just lost the mojo at the moment.

photo source Pinterest my Blythe Pin board

Another part of blogging I have enjoyed is the photography.  Trying to take good photos and to improve on them all the time.    I still do this but now spend a lot of time on Pinterest.  I find it so inspiring and gorgeous and love I can put any photo I love on the Internet into a pin board for my inspiration and joy at anytime.   So now we have to add Pinterest into the mix of Internet time. Of course I still love Flickr.  There is a great sense of community on Flickr.

I love to spend time on YouTube too watching artists at work, and I am part of a few online mixed media groups/courses so this takes up Internet time too.

I wonder where it is all headed........what will be next, what could possibly out do Facebook........

shop...

I couldn't resist a little retail therapy at Lark's recent winter sale.  I am always drooling over Lark's goodies but have never had spare cash to buy anything but their winter sale had some great bargains.

I had to buy myself this shopping bag because a/ I can use it and b/  I have always had such a love for vintage Asian graphics. 

 Something that is hard to describe what exactly that looks like but this bag is the epitome of it.  Sometimes you can still find this type of graphics on Asian lollies if you go to your local Asian Supermarket.  It's such a cool and pretty style.     It seems it started around mid century, not long after WW2.

I did buy a couple more goodies but have put them away for Xmas.  I often do that.  Buy some things for the girls at great prices in a sale, usually stock take etc and put them away.  Then after a little while it kills me.  I can't wait until Xmas and give it to them anyway.

I will try not to do that this year as every year Xmas gets leaner and leaner as I dislike the whole concept of it and we can't afford it anyway.  

I have had a few days in bed with Tonsillitis and a chest infection and am hoping like mad to be up soon and get on with some crafty shenanigans and paintings.

Meanwhile I am having copious amounts tea and watching Mad Men and other faves.   Maybe Life On Mars will be next for about the 4th time!

...

A fabulous article written by Geoff Russell of The Punch.
"The live animal export trade has been a major focus of animal welfare and rights groups for decades. Campaigns have usually focused on sheep and the death and suffering during the 2-3 week trip to the Middle East. Typically, annual death tolls are around one per cent. This may not sound high, but it is equivalent to 16 per cent of a farmer’s sheep dying in paddocks in the prime of their life in a single year.
Not being a sheep, it is hard to imagine how they feel about being confined on a ship and standing in excrement for three weeks, but many deaths are caused by inanition. Inanition is a tricky technical word meaning they just stop eating and die. It is subtly different from starvation, which would take much longer. No, the shipping conditions rob sheep of the will to live, something that even hunger or mulesing won’t do.
In recent years the campaign focus has broadened with Animals Australia investigators putting themselves in harm’s way to take footage of horrific slaughter or handling methods in Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. Each investigation has been greeted with a mixture of mock and genuine outrage and disgust in Government and industry circles.
The offending segment of the trade has sometimes been suspended for a suitably polite period after which everybody picks up where they left off amid grandiose claims that steps have been taken, training initiated, protocols established, reports written and people admonished.
There follows a period of silence until the next investigation which unfathomably but invariably finds more of the same.
The latest cycle of this dark game is underway as a result of Animals Australia footage of cattle handling and slaughter in Indonesia shown last night on Four Corners.
But the implications of the live cattle export to Indonesia are widespread and complex. The savagery spreads out beyond the cattle themselves to forests, orangutans, local cattle, farmers and undernourished children. This industry can’t move a sinew without smashing something or somebody.
Some background will help understand what is happening.
Food riots in Indonesia and elsewhere in 2008 captured media attention briefly as grain prices peaked and people went hungry. The Indonesian food system has been fragile for decades. In 1995, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, it produced just 2584 calories per person per day. The latest 2007 data shows a slight reduction as productivity increases fail to cope with 20 per cent more people.
Our food system, for comparison, consistently produces about 3200 calories per person per day. When cyclones send banana prices through the roof, we can easily eat something else. When rice prices go up in Indonesia, people go hungry, seriously hungry. The practical impact of a marginal food supply is that some 30-40 per cent of Indonesian children are stunted. They don’t get enough food. Stunting during childhood usually causes a host other physical and mental problems in later life.
Australia’s live cattle exports to Indonesia have mushroomed since the mid 1990s and we are now sending half a million cattle to Indonesia annually. Doesn’t that mean more meat for children and less sick kiddies?
Only if the batteries in your bullshit detector are flat.
What do you think happens? People who are having trouble affording rice just duck down to the supermarket and pick up a steak or a bucket of mince to give little Bambang a growth spurt? There are 225 million Indonesians who share about half the quantity of beef consumed by Australia’s 22 million fatties. But guess what tourists and wealthy Indonesians get to eat in Jakarta restaurants and hotels?
What has this large growth in live cattle export done to the Indonesian beef supply? Nothing. Nada. Zip. There has been no increase in the per capita beef supply since 1995. Tick, tick, tick, work it out. Guess what has happened to the indigenous cattle herd? Globalised markets ... survival of the fattest. The local cattle industry has declined by the same amount the import industry has grown.
But wait, there’s more. There’s not a lot of pasture in Indonesia so almost all the feeder cattle from Australia end up in feedlots for 90 days.
And what drives these feedlots? What do the cattle eat? Remember all those TV programs about palm oil? Remember the bull-dozed tropical forests and dead and orphaned orangutans replaced by palm oil plantations? Palm kernel cake is now the main component of cattle rations in feedlots.
Probably in the very feedlots that produce the beef that TV documentary crews eat at their hotels while making stories about the horrors of palm oil. Palm kernel cake is what you get when you crush palm kernels to make palm kernel oil. It’s a high protein food similar to the soy bean cake left after the oil is extracted from soy beans.
Warning: satire alert.
So can you see the beauty of the system? We have deforested large areas of Australia to run cattle. To run the northern herd for Indonesia, we burn huge areas of the top end every year in massive conflagrations to prevent reforestation and the drawing down of any of that carbon from our coal burning. Hell - we wouldn’t want that. All this destruction allows us to produce cattle at bargain prices just ready for fattening.
Then we sell these cheap feeder cattle to Indonesia and they obliterate their tropical forests and orangutans for the final fattening. Deforest one, get one free. But the bonuses just keep coming. Cheap feeder cattle drive the little producers out of business, this means that instead of small local Bali cattle eating rice straw and turning it into useful manure locally, the post-harvest rice straw is sent to feedlots which concentrate manure to maximise its potential for damage.
Then most of the beef is eaten by the rich and when the rich get bowel cancer and heart disease they do what the rich everywhere do ... demand first class medical attention. This consumes resources which might otherwise get frittered away providing clean water to some grotty little village in the back of nowhere.
Isn’t it wonderful what can be achieved with a little cooperation and globalised markets?
End of satire!
Exporting cattle to Indonesia does nothing for the poor of Indonesia. But it makes the destruction of tropical forests and indigenous wildlife like orangutans more profitable. "

shabby

I am off op shopping tomorrow, I can't wait.   I haven't been in the mood for it much lately as I am always feeling too fatigued and unwell, but I am looking forward to it.  There are a couple of pieces of furniture I am hoping to find and then I will be painting them white and shabbying them up.

Its a great way to make everything feel cohesive when what you own is all a hodge podge of styles and ages and that way the house feels less cluttered and the furniture kind of disappears.   As long as you have white/cream walls of course.

Our house is very small and I am always on the look out for more storage but without adding a cluttered feel and dark furniture. 

I may not find anything, I have been looking for what I want for sometime, but it's fun looking....