4th May: Pumpkin Ball

I know it has been a terribly long time since I have posted. Especially when I have had such exciting things to blog about. This past weekend has been filled with Pumpkins in forms of the Ball on Friday, followed by the Festival on Sunday.

(Emily and I masked for the ball)

As frantic as I had become during Friday afternoon, fretting that it would never be ready in time, everything turned out beautifully for the Pumpkin Festival Masquerade Ball.

I have learnt many things in the process of organising this event. As challenging as it has been, (and stressful) I feel proud that it came together.

Although the evening proved to be enjoyable in many ways; dancing!, talking, eating, getting pictures taken, laughing a whole lot ect. Friday was a very special day for another reason to. It was my parents 28th wedding anniversary. To celebrate this, (and embarrass them just a bit) Sam arrived, with flowers in hand, and addressed the whole tent of 80 people with a speech and toast to my loving parents.

(My Adorable Parents)

It was only after dinner that the real fun began. I had been concerned that hiring a band by the name of 'The Lumpy Underdacks' could come back to haunt me. (What was I thinking?) It turned out that not only were they a local band, they were/are also a great band! Dancing started around 9.30pm and we only stopped at 2.30am, because they had to pack up.

(The Lumpy Underdacks, doing their thing)

It was wonderful fun dancing.

All round it turned out to be an enjoyable evening, even if I did spend much of it running around after different things.

(All photos taken by Fred Harden, many thanks)

28th April: Today I'm Thankful For!

Today I find comfort in amazingly awesometastic friends who make up whole academy's so as to send me letters from them. In doing so, bring my heart a great amount of encouragement. (Thank you)

For Pumpkin pies with maple syrup drizzled on top, hot from the oven.

In finally deciding upon a dress to wear to a Ball.

In taking a hurried drive into town to find we have missed the bank, but that means a coffee with a very special Mother.

Puppies who are always excited to see you upon a return, even if you never left.

Buying packets of glitter, which I never grow tired of seeing, and is not used hardly enough throughout the world.

The realising that God saw fit to give me today!

Stolen moments playing new tunes upon my dusty ivory. Imagining the possibilities of a simple melody that has been caught up in my mind for days. Getting to let it into the air through my fingers.

Warming frozen legs by a wood fire, that makes the house smell of burning dirt and smoke.

Curry with Rice.

New colourful scarf that shimmers in the light, with little platted tassels on the ends.

Often it is when you feel overcome by goings on, that is the time most of all you need to find these things that have made you smile. Because it is what gives your heart strength to carry on.

24th April: Pumpkin Ball

I am involved in a community group that is organising the annual Pumpkin Festival our town hosts.
This year my sister and I have been put in charge of organising the Pumpkin Ball that runs alongside the festival.
We have chosen the theme of masquerade; mystery and enchantment. The Ball will be held in a week today, and there is still quite a bit of work to be done for everything to be ready.
We have a local band playing on the evening, there will be live auctions, and miscellaneous prizes handed out on the evening.

Being involved at such a level has really taken me out of my comfort zone. I have done things I never thought I could/would. This afternoon I had an interview on live radio regarding Ball and Festival. I was terrified! I've found auction items, talked with caterers, made tremendous amounts of calls to sell tickets... It has been like a full time job. I am just about ready to see the end of it now.

One of the last things I have to panic over is finding a dress and mask. I've been that busy telling others not to forget to wear a mask on the evening that I forgot to look for one of my own.

There will be photos of the event up soon!

21st April: Out-House Studio!

This evening, Sam and I went and did our bit for the community album.
For the second year a local musician has put his time into writing some songs, and recording tracks, to make a 'locals' CD.

(Setting up the mixing board)


This is the second year he has asked Sam and I to be involved. We arrived at the "Out-House Studio" just after seven, and after numerous takes, laid down vocals for three tracks.

(Sam and I doing our thing)


As he hopes to have the Cd ready for sale by the annual Pumpkin Festival our town hosts each year, which is taking place in ten days, we wont be able to hear the final mixed version until pretty much the Festival day. Which is both exciting and scary at the same time!

(My song as it looks on the program)


Although it is not my first time recording, I still found great amusement in popping my lips into the mic, it lets of the most fascinating sound when the reverb is on.

(Sam starting to get into his groove)


If it is at all possible, or rather if I can figure out how to do it, I hope to post my track up here. We'll see how it all works out. So keep looking back to see if its up!

20th April: Our Sign

The sign went up this weekend! It was nice to feel so excited about the whole project again. Because with everything taking so long, jobs growing, and things taking longer then they were assigned; one does become a little hardened to the idea that there is an end in sight.

We were so happy with how it has turned out. From a thought roughly drawn to this!


Ain't she a beauty??!

18th April: Skeleton Letters

I cant get over how these letters look as though they have escaped the page that was grasped in the jaws of the typewriter.





Now they hang bound in the air, painted and set out to dry.

17th April: A Grave Tale

I bought myself a new book! It smells of bleach and fresh printing ink.
I hadn't realise until waiting in line to pay that the author has brought the book out in two covers. This makes me immensely happy. Not only are there two covers but within each cover there is a different illustrator. Straight away the reader has a choice of how he would like to approach the story before reading a word.
I know that throughout the ages people say not to judge a book by it's cover. But I just cant help it! For the most part it works for me!



Neil Gaiman has fast made his way to be one of my favourite author. He does not hesitate at approaching a complex theme, while leaving you longing for more by the time you have come to the last page.

(Take a guess at which cover I chose..?)

16th April: Puppies!

My Dad and Brother arrived home after a trip to town, both of them carrying something in their arms, I didn't take much note.
As my brother got closer to me I could see what it was he was holding, a puppy!
He proudly held her up like the scene in Lion King, and proclaimed "This is Lily", I fussed, and laughed... "And this one is yours." My Dad was saying as he handed me this tiny little fluff ball of excitement. (My Dad is a softy!)

Need I really mention that I was all laughs, smiles, an amount of jumping up and down on the spot, while still a bit stunned.? I'm sure you guessed that anyway!

I named my little girl Pepi.

Our two other dogs are not sure they like the idea; I think for that relationship to work there will need to be a lot of supervised time of getting to know each other.

So suddenly in the peak of our business we find ourselves with two little babies in the family. Terrors that want to attach everything...!

(Pepi)

(Lily)

My New Car!

At last I found the one that was meant for me!

30th March: Crim shot

This afternoon I sat and passed my green P's licence. I know first hand about hazards, more so than I might have three weeks ago! As excited as I am with gaining this higher licence status, it has brought up a topic of thought.

"Why does the photo on your licence always make you look like a criminal?!"
-I was ready to turn to the side and hold up my number-

It is a known fact that I am not the most photogenic person around, and if there is someone who is going to get caught with there teeth looking at though they are jumping out of their mouth, it is me.

The 'example' I will have to carry around for the next two years has not changed my mind on the matter. Dozy/spaced out eyes, lips that show signs of a sneer, red face, plain miserable looking..
The picture never seems to be in focus either. I had wondered if others had noticed how the camera they use distorts reality.? (That is what I will tell myself)

Although I thought it best not to put up photos of my licence here, I did however go through my photos and found a classic example of what licencing photos come out like. Have a bit of a laugh at my (miserable-looking) expense....


(Yes, it looks as if I am ready to kill someone, ironically I was quite happy in this moment. Who'd've thought?)

16th March: In Its Own Time

My ticket for the Folk Festival arrived in the mail today. This brought with it a smile and a little skip in my heart. I have longed to go to this particular event for the past five years. I was determined to go, I ordered my ticket early so I wouldn't miss it again.
These sorts of things have a way of creeping up on you fast, that before you know it they have come and gone.

I have found it to be very true, that whether we realise it or not, everything happens when it is meant to. Often things we would like to do/see/buy are in the front of our minds while they are not happening. Than one day, without thinking about it you find yourself in the middle of the thing you had longed for, and you know if it had come earlier it wouldn't have been the right time. (Even though you ached for it to be so)

Do we try to understand things we are not meant to know.
Or plan our lives ahead of ourselves...

15th March: Car Selling 101

After spending two days looking around countless car yards I have decided it is a very good thing that you don't have to trust/like the man selling you the car.
I am not saying every car salesman is like this, but certainly all those I have met over this weekend.

This is my guide to selling a car..

Firstly I have found the new way to sell a car is to make sure you tell the buyer your name. (Now I have nothing wrong with knowing to whom it is you are speaking to, yet rushing over to you when your foot crosses onto the car plot is a little excessive.)

The second thing you must know to sell a car is to ask for a budget and make the buyer has in mind.

Following step two, you take them to the cheapest car in the plot, and show them how bad it is. Then proceed to show them to a car about $2,000 over their mentioned budget and tell them how great a car they could get if they 'pushed their budget' just a bit. (More like blow the budget out of the water!)

When you have finally showed them to a car they like, let them know that it belonged to a church-going man, that you have been driving it around for the past two weeks the drive being smooth, and how you have been unable to knock the car for its performance. Throw a price in the air -a little lower than is written on the windscreen-. Allow them, after taking a photocopy of a licence,to take it for a drive around the block.

Upon the buyers return, drop the bombshell that the boss is not happy with how cheap you have previously discussed, that price is the steal of the century and will last one day only.

If the buyer (your prey) brings up any 'flaws' they have come across in their drive and brief inspection. Deny, deny, deny.
Example:-
Them: There seems to be a bit of a tick in the engine, and a noise on the left wheel.
You: Is there? I've been driving it for two weeks and haven't heard a thing. That's the truth.
Them: Yeah, there is defiantly something wrong/in need of being fixed.
You: Well, I'm not a mechanic but I'm sure its only a barring or maybe a flat tire.
This method is tried and true.

Talk price a little more, the buyer at this time will be wanting a little time to think about things. Give him your card, even take their phone number; Tell them you will get a mechanic to look over the car, fix those MINOR problems, and talk to the boss again about the best deal you can offer them.

Give them a call an hour after their departure, tell them that you will fix everything up, but you would have to bump the price up from your initial offer. OR drive away as is, for cash, $100 cheaper than offered bargain.

That my friends is all you need to know to be a car-salesman.

3rd March: Miracle

This morning God sent me a miracle. 7ks from home, on a dirt road, taking my dog to the vet I lost control of my car went careering off the road. I came to stop between two rather large trees, either of which could have caused a lot more damage than did occur.
Although the car is beyond getting fixed, I (and my dog) walked away without a scratch.
I have never been in an accident before; the road upon which it occurred is a very quiet place, it was only after walking for nearly an hour that a car came along and dropped me off home.
I am amazed at how many things can flash through your mind in such a moment. I can clearly remember at least 15 different things I had been thinking at the time. Is it only in the event of a life threatening situation that we realise these things that our lives should be about..?
It would not be quite honest to make you think it was a serious accident. But it could have been. It certainly makes you realise that God is watching our lives, and keeping us safe. I have also been overwhelmed with the idea that He must have something in mind for me to do, that I haven't done yet.
When my Dad came up there with me to look at the damage later in the afternoon, he said "You know there is an Angel up in Heaven with skid-marks on his back that will want a word with you!" That somehow put it all in prospective for me.
We are here for a purpose. God has a plan for us, though we may never know the extent of what that is.

2nd March: The Cat Empire

Last night Mother, Brother and I went to see the Cat Empire live at the royal theater in Canberra. What a performance it turned out to be.

Our whole family are lovers of their music, and as much as I love all of their albums, getting to watch them preform live is nothing short of fantastic.



The vocal solos (by both Harry and Felix), the instrumental displays, and the charisma of them all working together, is enough to keep them in my favourite band list for many years.

I love that no matter what type of music one might normally like, there is somethings about the 'Cats' that keeps everyone entertained.

Post update...

Technical difficulties...

A quick note:
Over the past month I've been having a little trouble publishing my posts, some deleted themselves (certainly not of my own doing!). For some reason they would save ok, just not publish. A few did publish, much to my own surprise.
Though I seem to be having a bit more luck getting some of the up, so please scan through some of my older posts as they have only just been uploaded.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.
~Sarah-Mechelle~

17th February: Two Worlds

Are writers not the best magicians? For not only can they hide a rabbit in a hat, but they know how to hide whole worlds, lands, castles, people; harnessing the power of fear and grief along side those of hope and faith and love.

I have been living in two worlds...

I have gone on an adventure to find a fallen star. I have traveled to far away lands with languages unheard by man kind. I have sat in the great concert halls of Venice. I have visited the four corners of the earth, before falling over the edge. Been a watch maker, a squire, a traveling gypsy.

The people I have seen, shared my meals with, listened to their stories by campfire. Characters I will never forget, though that I've also never meet. I love the direct out come of these worlds, there is an ending. All that has been accomplished, all that has been overcome, is now a lesson you know you learnt. All the little pieces are brought together to form the whole picture which you can now see.

Then there is the second world I find myself in...

Though not quite so full of dangerous adventures, and far away lands. There are all the characters you could ever hope to meet. There are those here I would travel to no end of lands for their safety. Although in reality the most I might ever be able to offer them is the love I carry with me, enough for them all. (For my heart will never be too full, it will only grow to fit everyone in.)

Days here sometimes drag by in a slow trudge of work, and responsibilities; although at times you want only to bury your head in the sand till the storm passes by, I would rather live in this painful, hard, rewarding, unpredictable life than any fairy world that I like to visit in my stories.

16th February: All the Good Things

Making rice pudding at 10pm and enjoying it with lots of cinnamon on top,
Wearing red lipstick while eating rice pudding and listening to Schuberts Piano Sonata in A. (All in the name of music homework of coarse)
This was proceeded by my own tinkling on the black and white keys of my beloved theropist, patients builder, at times frustration releser, but mainly musical instrument with whom I love to waste the time that is never truly wasted.
I read that the other day,
"Time that you enjoyed wasting was not wasted at all"
Sadly it did not mention who wrote it, but with thoughts like that I sure would have liked to read more of them.

For reasons unknown my blogger account has been saving posts I've been trying to publish. Though it seems to be in a good mood tonight. If all is well again, I will be uploading posts from nearly two weeks ago. After writing everyday for two months I couldn't just stop cold turkey, I'd get the shakes around 9:30pm, "I need to write something."

8th February: Country Entertainment

Guess what I went to?







Hot sun beating down upon the earth, the air smelling of dirt, sweat, and sh!t. Sounds like a perfect day for a rodeo. Now we all know at such events there are a sea of cowboys (I -of coarse- am referring to the hats!) and this one came with no exception.
I enjoyed the day with my brother and his girl friend, sitting in the shade of a tarp pulled and pinned much like a tent.
Watching man and horse and bull battle it out in the arena before us.
Some boys for our town were signed up to ride in the days events, which made one feel a little more connected to the goings on; I have never been to a rodeo where I have watched someone I know.
The day brought about my brother saying how one of our 'local riders' is going to give him some coaching so he can enter in the next time the rodeo is here again. (Apparently that is around June-July...) Cant wait!

5th February: Unwelcome guests

My eyes opened, consciousness slowly brought into focus the room around me, as on any given morning. I open the bedroom door, pulling it toward me, I leave my sanctuary for the day.
Two steps of the twenty-five it is to the end of the corridor, my head at this time is still coming to terms with all that must be done during the next 10 hours, something is under my foot; oh, its only a frog.

WHAT!!

Whats he doing here, under my foot, waking me up so sharply and quite rudely.

I know that country girls are meant to be tough; and although I am quite happy and willing to try my hand at any job that might come up and need an extra person, -there are just a few things I have never been able to come to terms with. That is the creepy-crawlies, and reptiles. Goosies are coming up on my arms with the very thought of them.

Meeting Mr. Frog in our corridor got me thinking, how and where do these critters get in. Windows, though they all have screens, we don't have any holes in the floors, and our walls are sealed. One disturbing thought was that maybe he was carried in on one of us. (If this was the case, I pray it wasn't me, and if it was, I'm glad he hopped off before I found him attached.)

Over the years we have had some strange (uninvited) visitors. Bats that have chased us around from room to room. Mother, Me and Brother -yes Brother too- screaming with a flapping bat on our trail.
There have been spiders the size of dinner plates. Mice who had obviously never lived in any churches for they were the noisiest things you ever did hear.
But of all my creepy encounters there is one that takes the cake.

Of all the things my story could include, this time it really is about the kitchen sink. An unsuspecting, in an organising mood, younger me opened one of the two cupboard doors under the sink, without paying much attention reached my hand in to grab the detol. I looked to see how close my hand was to the bottle, and about 2cm from my fingers was the head of a snake. I did not have to think, (though there is no stopping the hundred thoughts that cross your mind at such moments) it was pure natural reaction to fly oneself to the other side of the kitchen, landing on top of the bench normally a task to climb.

My parents -outside- had no idea what all the screaming was about. Now it is a known fact that if there is anything 'iffy' to be found/had/tripped over, I will be the one to do so. "But she is inside, what could possibly be wrong?"

To this day we have no idea how that snake go there. This whole drama caused snake-proof fences to be erected and cemented in all the way around the garden.
We have not seen a snake in the garden since. Its amazing what desperate measures such events will cause you to take!

3rd February: Music Within

I believe that everyone has something inside of them, that portrays their very essence. Their very own music within. Though the idea it self may seem a little far fetched, because the argument can be made that not everyone is musical, I find it the easiest way to describe the 'IT' that I am referring to.

'IT' is who you would be if you weren't scared of what people thought, 'IT' is what you would do if you weren't so full of fear, 'IT' is the you who has faith not doubt ruling your life, 'IT' is you doing and being your purpose.

I am ready to let go of the baggage I have collected, the fear and doubts that have stopped me from letting the world hear the music that is inside of me. I am ready to start living my purpose, to spend my time on the people I love instead of the worries of this world that I will leave behind me one day.

I want my family and friends to never doubt the place they hold in my heart. Not just because I tell them that they have a place, but by putting them on the top of my list. What has life become when you tell yourself (and sometimes even others) that you don't have time for a relationship? What is more important??

Really, you can make more money, you don't just die if you have none. Someone is always going to come along and replace you at your job. At the end of the day nobody really cares what certificates you have won for yourself, only you.
Everything else can be taken away in minutes, and none of it will matter when those you do care for can be taken away just as fast.

Don't come to the end of a perfect career and find yourself alone...