Landcastles

 Have I mentioned before how much I love Autumn? Mother Nature's teasing me with little bits of 'autumn-ness' every where as we sit on the cusp of my favorite season. I took my camera and 2 of my kids for a walk the other day, back to Yatton Park to build sandcastles  landcastles and to see what became of the one I built 3 months ago. To my surprise there was still a little bit of it standing!

The remains of my first landcastle at Yatton Park. You can see the fallen sticks at the base and I'm guessing it was nature that took this down, not people. I'm surprised to see any of the sticks still standing! Just like last time I found mushrooms nearby too..

I spotted this too...a seed pod of some sort. I only found the one seed and I couldn't determine which tree it came from so I've got no idea what plant it is. I left it where I found it.

My children also left a little 'something' behind...

In the place of my old one, they made this!

The pine cone actually fell from the tree and landed where they were building.

It was so cool listening to them talking to each other. "What sort of structure you going for mate?"

"Ahh, just something.. you know. See what I can find." "Mum...I bags the stick!" "Hey mate...I think Mum just beat you too it!"

This is what I left behind, landcastle II.

Anyone who knows me will know how ecstatically happy I was to find a nest! And not just any nest, but a flat one that was otherwise intact. It even had a hole in it right through the middle, just big enough for the stick!

Nest love!

For scale I took a photo to show how it looks as you walk past...it stands about 1 metre high yet it's totally dwarfed by the huge hundred year old tree.

Life is good!

Some pix, a box and a book!

Ponga Frond (NZ native tree fern)

Succulent.

The top two photos were taken in my garden. I love the ponga frond photo especially! We don't have a big section, one tree and only a few plant varieties. Yuccas, succulents, ferns, ponga and a few potted natives! It's surprising how much even a few plants can enhance the visual appeal of a house and make it feel more like a home. The photos were taken only a few days ago and already the ponga is a full fern. I've posted a black and white version on my Tumbler page if you would like to take a look. Seth Apter and Robyn Gordon also have Tumbler pages and you will find links to them on my page.

The collage box #1 has arrived and been posted on! The top pic is a photo of the stuff I took from the box. Unfortunately I don't have ready access to the photo I took of my contributions as it's on the old computer! I was able to take this one just before making the book below...

Collage book cover. Bingo card, ex libris scrap, fibre. My own circle/coffee paper was added to supplement my selection.

One of the books pages. I used a 'collage box paper' on every second page or used it as the actual page. The yellow mesh fabric was used to bind the two covers together.

I was last in line for box #1 and Lawendula has since received the box from me and she's done a fabulous post on her blog about it. Please check it out here to see how the journey went!

This will be my last post for a few days. We're off camping (not the real rugged variety...just the sleeping in a tent under trees variety!) in a few days and I can't wait! Fun with the kids, roasted marshmallows, nature art, board games, badminton, cricket, waterfalls and photography...wahoo!

McLaren's Falls. This is a photo I took when we camped there last year.  If you enjoyed my nature sculpture post (previous post) then please see this link to a fabulously inspiring Muse Me nature art event that I went too a few years ago at McLaren's falls. You won't be disappointed! Thank you to everyone who share their delight and memories triggered by my last post. I really appreciate it!

*See you soon*

Walk'n under trees in a cool summer breeze...

Walk'n under trees in a cool summer breeze is exactly what I needed today. It's the school hol's so we took a picnic and the bicycles and headed off to Yatton Park. I was a bit worried it would be really busy at this time of year with holiday makers and locals but out the back where we went it wasn't too bad.

It was beautiful in the dappled light and I decided to have a little play...

Sticks gathered and loosely woven against a huge 100 year old tree's trunk..

Many attempts later (wind, wobbly sticks, perfectionism....)

I started out wanting to make 'something'. A sundial or wind chime or some other recognisable 'thing' for a passerby to find. In the end I just played and enjoyed the seeking out of leaves and the many shapes, colours and textures to be found.

I'm sure it's no surprise to see that the one 'thing' I did represent was a nest! I found the curled mossy bark and didn't even try to resist...and it was made even better with the last minute find of feathers!

I had fun with this, despite my urge to control the design and make 'something.' I am quite pleased with the way it turned out because it felt good to make it even if I did get some strange looks from other people!Hopefully someone will pass by and smile because it made them feel good to see it and just maybe they will stop and play a while too...