april in paris
we arrived in paris late last night, after an uneventful flight (truly, my favourite kind) to crisp cool dry weather. i didn’t sleep well in hong kong and both of us watched movies for the entire 13 hour flight, so when we finally hit the hay, we hit it hard. we booked the same darling [...]
en vacances
after several months of focused work down in the soapmines, we are being released for a few weeks. we are off to europe for all of april and some of may, and the first stop is paris. springtime in paris, i can hardly bear the thought of how lovely it is going to be! our [...]
frida
i know i am years too late….but i recently saw the film “frida” about the life of frida kahlo. it was lush and gorgeous and full of original frida and diego quotes. the clothes were amazing of course, and the music was just wonderful. don’t miss the fabulous tango scene! salma hayek and alfred molina [...]
take me with you
almost my favourite holiday photo….the charismatic and irresistible norbulingka jumped into place and settled down amongst my packing when my back was turned for a moment. i’m blending in! i weigh very little! take me with you!
post yasi
it is 7am here and it has been a long harrowing night. we lost electricity around 1am and it will probably be out for a while, if cyclone larry is anything to go by. from the windows in our house i can see absolutely no damage at all. even the garden looks unscathed. a few [...]
blog love at cocobong soaps
my soap has been all loved-up over at julia kalkbrenner’s lovely blog. i am blushing here….could julia have been any more generous with her praise? we truly did meet over some birkenstocks….i’ve been buying my shoes online from baumhouse for years. one time i had to return a few pairs for resizing and the postage [...]
this is it
it must be a post-flood-apocalypse reaction….but lately i’ve been really getting a deeper understanding of what Thich Nhat Hanh was on about when he wrote : this is it. it’s a reminder that we have no future and we have no past and we have no possessions….all we have is right here and right now. [...]
moroccan lentil soup
i made this today, after reading about it at www.thestonesoup.com i adjusted it a little, because i had different things on hand….and it was utterly delicious. it’s easy to make, and good for you, and it will last in the fridge all week. 2 onions, finely diced 2 T olive oil 2 T ginger, grated [...]
retail therapy and an obituary
after some days of being glued to the television watching 24 hour coverage of the horrific queensland floods, i felt i needed a change of pace and something to lighten the gloomy atmosphere. we went to the local garden centre and ordered terracotta pots for the new gravel bed that wraps around the extension….when they [...]
a boxing day sale for you
merry christmas everyone! for boxing day, i am running a little discount sale for the next seven days. simply head to my etsy shop with your handfuls of christmas gifted cash, and purchase anything you like. as you checkout, enter the following coupon code: boxingday01 and you will receive an automatic 20% discount on everything [...]
christmas holiday closure times
we will be open for web sales and wholesale all the way through the holidays this year, as usual…..except for the actual public holidays (25th, 27th, 28th). our various local couriers and the post office are taking various holidays….so if we cannot ship with one on a particular day, we will ship with another. we [...]
cooking with kefir
my friend jo sent me some kefir grains as a birthday gift last week. they languished at the local post office for three days longer than necessary (no one could find the parcel)….so i was most anxious for their health by the time i got them home. my first batch smelt a bit yeasty and [...]
the extension, finally.
this morning the timber blinds were installed and as far as i am concerned, this room is virtually complete. some loose white sheer linen curtains over the big glass doors….move the wine racks out there….hang some textiles on the walls….bob’s yer uncle. really, all that needs to be done is the gardening around the whole [...]
moulds and cutters sale UPDATE
thanks to everyone for your interest! i was amazed to get so many offers….a set of custom soap moulds and cutters is a very specific kind of thing, with a very specific market. we have a buyer and now we simply need to get a truck full of bubble wrap and packing tape and get [...]
selling my moulds and cutters: FAQs here.
if anybody has any questions not addressed below, then please let me know in the comments and i’ll add them. thanks! 1. what do you line with? we line with black plastic garbage bin liners that we cut to size and reuse over and over again. they need a rinse between uses, to get residual [...]
another wet sunday in the kitchen
apparently, we’ve had over 8 inches of rain this month (and 3 days to go!). our rainwater tanks are overflowing every day, regardless of how much laundry, showering or floor washing that we do. and the long term forecast is for a lot LOT more rain this wet season. o well….at least it is green [...]
friends of bob harris
UPDATE: after posting this afternoon, the first two orders i received, (thank you to michelle in queensland and claus in denmark) came to a total of $241. so i thought what the hell, and loaned it all out, plus another $9, to 10 new kiva entrepreneurs (some of them are groups, so the impact of [...]
fine frost
a simply beautiful etsy treasury i was featured in recently…..curated by brandmojoimages. if you’d like to look at anything in more detail, simply click on it’s image. ‘First Frost’ by brandmojoimages The warm sun is falling, the bleak wind is wailing,The bare boughs are sighing, the pale flowers are dying…-Shelley Weaving Through Time – … [...]
focus
one if my very favourite bloggers, leo babauta at zen habits, has just released his latest book: focus. you can get a FREE COPY here. it takes about no time to download and you don’t need to sign up or do anything at all beyond clicking the button. zen habits has provided me with many [...]
is there anything more miserable….
….than a cold? or maybe it’s flu. i don’t know. i spent the night alternating between shivering and sweating, with the backaches and headaches and face aches (my teeth actually hurt!), gulping down vit c and zinc and herbal sinus relief tablets, and giving myself neti treatments. my lovely husband stoked up a huge woodfire [...]
brisbane and auckland
it has been some days between blog posts. i’ve been running around half of the southern hemisphere, or so it seems. on sunday 10th, i flew to brisbane. i stayed overnight at the most gorgeous little B&B in the inner city: one thornbury. i am almost reluctant to share the website, because it’s such a [...]
patti flynns galore
a couple of weeks ago, patti flynn bought some soap from me. yes, you read that correctly. the other patti flynn had googled her name to see what turned up and ran right across a whole heap of soap almost immediately. she liked the look of the soap, so she ordered some, and sent me [...]
new moulds and liners
back in may, when i was in korea, i was fortunate enough to meet with some makers of extraordinary silicon moulds. i travelled to their factory, about an hour or so out of seoul and spent an hour there sketching and talking (with a translator) and miming a lot of soapmaking. i wanted moulds that [...]
a purple treasury on etsy
i am in a bit of a purple phase right now…..complete with mutterings to paint the whole house exterior purple. or an agapanthus shade. i found this purple treasury on etsy this morning and a new trick to post treasuries that doesn’t involve laboriously patching together screen shots, then saving those to flickr, then generating [...]
yungaburra market report
we are in a new spot at the yungaburra market…..after 7.5 years of wearing a trench in the grass at L25, we are now on the fabulous corner at N4! right in front of the coffee man!!! a corner spot requires a whole new approach, in terms of set-up….and we will be fiddling with that [...]
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