Cauldrons and Cupcakes

Celebrating Life, Spirituality, Creativity and Kindness!

Category: Nature

I Took A Mental Health Day

  The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea. ~ Karen Blixen Hey, Lovelies. I did something unusual on Thursday. I took a day off. A ‘mental health’ day, to be precise. We’ve had a bit of a tough time recently behind the scenes here at the Treehouse, and on Thursday […]

My Morning In Pictures

Outside the open window The morning air is all awash with angels. ―Richard Wilbur Hey, Lovelies. Here’s a little snapshot of my morning – the awesome and the not quite so awesome… First, the place where I meditate each morning and evening. This is the current massive bedroom spider. Eek just a little bit! My […]

Wild Life

The wild life where I live is not really disco balls and pool tables. It’s more crazy than that…

Unwinding in the Twilight

  Sometimes it is okay to simply do nothing. Put down the to-do list, cancel your plans, and just sit there and relax. You deserve to be present without worrying about, “what’s next?”. Save those thoughts for another time. ― Robin S. Baker Hey, Lovelies. I had a busy day with clients yesterday, many of whom […]

Me And The Moon

  Dreams are like the old stories where wolves are seekers always running, and women carry fire in their bare hands and light the dark paths before them. Old stories hold that the birds will fly all the miles of the world to tell your secrets to the rising moon, and men will walk over […]

My Secret Garden Update

  If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero Hey, Lovelies! Another happy update today – my secret garden on the laundry deck is thriving, and tonight I will be using fistfuls of fresh basil for our dinner. We already have tiny tomatoes forming, our first […]

The Case of The Curious Red Flowers

  Life is so full of unpredictable beauty and strange surprises. Sometimes that beauty is too much for me to handle. Do you know that feeling? When something is just too beautiful? When someone says something or writes something or plays something that moves you to the point of tears, maybe even changes you. ― Mark […]

Random Happy Things From My Week

  If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy. ― Dorothy Parker Hey, Lovelies. It’s been quite the week. Lots of […]

Getting to know my other neighbours

  I think the most important quality in a birdwatcher is a willingness to stand quietly and see what comes. Our everyday lives obscure a truth about existence – that at the heart of everything there lies a stillness and a light. ― Lynn Thomson Hey, Lovelies. One of the best things about living in the […]

The Dancing Bamboo

  The seed of a bamboo tree is planted, fertilized and watered. Nothing happens for the first year. There´s no sign of growth. Not even a hint. The same thing happens – or doesn´t happen – the second year. And then the third year. The tree is carefully watered and fertilized each year, but nothing […]

What I heard when I talked to the trees

  Listen with curiosity. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity. The greatest problem with communication is we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we don’t listen with the intent to reply. We listen for what’s behind the words. ~ Roy T. Bennett Hey, Lovelies. Maybe I’ll speak to […]

Talking To Trees

  Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. ~ Herman Hesse Shhhhhh! I can’t talk now. I am listening to trees. Because to build a relationship, you need to listen more than you talk. So, this morning I am sitting with […]

Ocean Immersion

    “I have been feeling very clearheaded lately and what I want to write about today is the sea. It contains so many colors. Silver at dawn, green at noon, dark blue in the evening. Sometimes it looks almost red. Or it will turn the color of old coins. Right now the shadows of […]

Soothing Sounds

  “The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach.” ~ Henry Beston Hey, Lovelies, this morning I have already heard the wind in the trees, and rain on the roof. Now? I’m at the […]

Birdsong and Beaches

When the Sun of compassion arises darkness evaporates and the singing birds come from nowhere.  Amit Ray Hey, Lovelies.I woke this morning feeling distressed. Even my meditation did not soothe it. War in Ukraine ( a friend of mine is missing there after his village was shelled), floods here at home where we have elderly […]

And then the rain came…

Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book. Bill Watterson Hey, Lovelies. When we moved to the treehouse I thought my days of being flooded in were over. At the farm we were cut off from the world by flood waters a couple of times a year, […]

Searching For Elders

Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories. Listening for them is something more acute than listening to them. I suppose it’s an early form of participation in what goes on. Listening children know stories are there. When their elders sit and begin, children are just waiting and hoping for one to come out, […]

Beachcombing With My Grandmother

The people you love become ghosts inside of you, and like this you keep them alive. Rob Montgomery Hey, Lovelies. With COVID raging the way it is here in Australia right now, and my dodgy immune system the way it is, the only way I am walking on the beach is if it is empty. […]

Wonder, Awe and Updates

To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour. William Blake Hey, Lovelis.I had a restless night last night. Too much on my mind. You know how that can be. Earlier, I had spoken with […]

The Door Guardian

Each of us guard a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside. Stephen Covey Hey, Lovelies. I went to visit my family, but they have installed a new Gatekeeper. No, not that top picture. This one! Pretty effective, huh? That snake was very cosy, and did not want to be disturbed, […]

Making Time For Magic

Every sunset is an opportunity to reset. Richie Norton Hey, Lovelies. Yesterday afternoon Ben and I played in the backyard with the dogs and hiked around our tropical jungle of a garden, here at the treehouse. By the time we finished it was later than we had realised. Bummer. I’d planned an afternoon walk on […]

Not Blogging Today Because This!

if the ocean can calm itself, so can you. we are both salt water mixed with air  Nayyirah Waheed Hey, Lovelies! My team and I are working on some surprises for you – new projects that are just being birthed. One of the suppliers messaged me at 7pm last night, as they were going to […]

The Sneaky Snake

Laura described the remnants of snake devotion still found in rural villages of the Black and Adriatic Seas. There, people believed black or green snakes bore guardian spirits who protected their cattle and their homes. In her travels Laura saw ornamental snakes carved to decorate the roofs and windows for protection. Great good fortune came […]

NAIDOC Week 2021 – Heal Country!

We only know a tiny proportion about the complexity of the natural world. Wherever you look, there are still things we don’t know about and don’t understand. There are always new things to find out if you go looking for them.  David Attenborough Hey, Lovelies! In Australia this week it’s NAIDOC Week (July 4 – […]

The Willy Wagtail

If that fella Willy Wagtail dance for you and make dat clicking sound, you listen! Something you need to hear. Pay attention then. Not just to him but in your life. Aunty Mary Hey, Lovelies! Here in my treehouse I have a Willy Wagtail – a small black and white Australian native bird – come […]

Sitting In The Forest Saying Sorry

I think of what wild animals are in our imaginations. And how they are disappearing — not just from the wild, but from people’s everyday lives, replaced by images of themselves in print and on screen. The rarer they get, the fewer meanings animals can have. Eventually rarity is all they are made of. The […]

The Awful Noises In The Night

Some night sounds outside my window remain strange & mysterious. Perhaps they are the sounds of the trees themselves, stretching their limbs in the dark, shifting a little, flexing their fingers, whispering to one another. Ruskin Bond Hey, Lovelies. I had the crappiest night the other night. I was riddled with pain, and no matter […]

Instructions For The New Moon Eclipse June 10 2021

Sometimes I think there are only two instructions we need to follow to develop and deepen our spiritual life: slow down and let go. Oriah Mountain Dreamer Hey, Lovelies! I love a good astrological event. If you’ve followed my blog you’ll know that I often provide rituals and activities to help you tune into that […]

Eclipses, Earth Energies and Your Intuition

If you’re going to trust one person, let it be yourself. Robert Tew As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. Johan Wolfgang Von Goethe Hey, Lovelies! I so enjoyed the recent Lunar Eclipse, which I watched unfold in the star-spangled sky above me. It filled me with a sense of […]

Things I Saw Outside My Window Yesterday

Set wide the window. Let me drink the day. Edith Wharton Hey, Lovelies. I am working from a temporary office in our treehouse – one that looks over a little garden, our long driveway, and the winding path to our front door. All the big views are from other rooms, but oh, the things I […]

Working With The Pleiades Healing Portal – May 2021

Believe something and the Universe is on its way to being changed. Because you’ve changed, by believing. Once you’ve changed, other things start to follow. Isn’t that the way it works? Diane Duane Hello, Lovelies. Right now we have an astrological conjunction in the skies above us. The Pleiades constellation of seven stars has come […]

Dawn View From My New Office

Veil after veil of thin dusky gauze is lifted, and by degrees the forms and colours of things are restored to them, and we watch the dawn remaking the world in its antique pattern. Oscar Wilde Hey, Lovelies. This is the view from my treehouse office, just before dawn. Later, the place explodes into colour […]

The Bird In The Pine Tree

Everything is ceremony in the wild garden of childhood. Pablo Neruda Hey, Lovelies. Were you ever fascinated with something when you were little? One of my loves was a white enamel serving bowl with a blue Scandinavian Folk Art pattern on the outside. It showed pine trees in silhouette, and some of those trees had […]

Sleeping On The Floor With Harry

Being a mother is an attitude, not a biological relation.  Robert A. Heinlein Hey, Lovelies. I’m tired today. I spent most of last night curled up on the lounge room floor beside the dog bed. Harry, our older dog, has a partially ruptured cruciate ligament that requires surgery. We had him booked in earlier in […]

The Spring That Sprang

They both listened silently to the water, which to them was not just water, but the voice of life, the voice of Being, the voice of perpetual Becoming. Hermann Hesse Hey, Lovelies. We have recently had a magical discovery, here at our treehouse. A natural spring bubbles up out of the ground after rain. We […]

That Big Ol’ Moon

Yours is the light by which my spirit’s born: – you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars. e. e. cummings Hey, Lovelies. Last night I spent hours under the light of the Full Moon. I watched her slow dance across the sky. I sat, silent on my verandah, observing owls and possums […]

The Blessings of My Neglected Garden

I wanted to rest my eyes on green meadows. I wanted to sit on green grass under the shade of a green tree. I wanted to eat cool green salads. I longed for arugula tossed with olive oil and parmesan, for asparagus tips dripping with melted butter, for a salad of sweet and bitter green […]

Totally Distracted By Crystal Grids

The Wounded Inner Child is the primary gateway to healing and integration. When you invite your woundedness out of subversiveness and into your awareness you finally begin to honor the past pain. You also minimize its contractive influence on your life. And you begin to offer yourself the potential of something more. Markus William Kasunich […]

Watching It All Burn

Adults keep saying we owe it to the young people, to give them hope, but I don’t want your hope.  I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. I want you to act. I want you to act as you […]

4.30am – Sitting On The Front Steps

“You are the trembling of time, that passes between vertical light and darkened sky,” Pablo Neruda Hello, Lovelies. I had a restless night. Too much on my mind, the house still overly hot from the heatwave, the weight and worry of caring for others heavy on my shoulders. Eventually, at 2.20am I rose, and began […]

The Tawny Frogmouth Family

“I may not always be with you But when we’re far apart Remember you will be with me Right inside my heart”  Marc Wambolt Hey, Lovelies! Ben sent me this grainy photo yesterday, taken with his phone on maximum zoom. It’s our Tawny Frogmouth Mumma and her two chicks. Dad is just out of shot, […]

What If You COULD make a positive difference to the planet?

It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your […]

The Anxious Girl And The Birds

“Nothing can wear you out like caring.” S.E. Hinton Hey, Lovelies! A dear friend of mine has two daughters, in year 1 and year 3 at school. My friend is a First Responder. It’s a stressful job, and he is constantly worried about the many threats we are facing from COVID, climate change, and then […]

Counting Birds

Some people are very competitive in their birding. Maybe they’ll die happy, having seen a thousand species before they die, but I’ll die happy knowing I’ve spent all that quiet time being present. Lynn Thomson Hey, Lovelies! It’s Birds in Backyards week, here in Australia, and I have elected to take part by spending twenty […]

My Happy Little Lockdown Herb Garden

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace. May Sarton Hello, Lovelies! A few months ago, when I realised I would be stuck in the city, and Ben would be stuck at our farm, because […]

The Quiet Of Morning

Outside the open window The morning air is all awash with angels. Richard Wilbur Hello, Lovelies. Mornings here at the farm are a quiet affair. The sunlight slants golden fingers that edge out the darkness and soften the gloom of dawn until you can make out the shapes of trees and cows. Birds call to […]

The Kid Who Would Rather Have Trees And Bees Than Toys!

People need to stop buying kids so much stuff. It’s wrecking our planet. Ebony – age 9 Hey, Lovelies. One of our community reached out to me yesterday. She comes to my ‘Colour and Cuppa’ sessions sometimes, and enjoys making the recipes on my blog. She sent me an email, which I’ll include below just […]

I am okay with getting old

The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.  Robert Frost Hey, Lovelies.I got an interesting message yesterday from a fellow entrepreneur, which I am sure was well intentioned. I’ll pop it here for you: HI Nicole, how are things? You know I love you and your work right? Just wanted to let you know that […]

The Geranium Story

If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree. Michael Crichton Hey, Lovelies. A friend came to visit yesterday, to drop some supplies off for me. In return I gave her some geranium cuttings from my garden. I also gave her […]

Daisy Mae, Ninja Stealth Cow!

The trick to not being discovered until it is too late is to become part of the expected surroundings. Stealth is more the art of blending in with the background than sneaking through dark shadows. Raymond E. Feist Hey, Lovelies! I know that you’re not supposed to have favourites But I do. This girl. Daisy […]

Intruder Alert!

“Now we had two invisible intruders. Because one wasn’t hard enough.”  Ilona Andrews Hey, Lovelies! I’d like to be able to tell you that this morning was peaceful, and that my meditation ended with feelings of calm and deep comfort. I’d like to tell you that. Instead I will tell you what really happened! I […]

Strange Visitors

“Visits always give pleasure–if not the arrival, the departure.” Portuguese Proverb Hey, Lovelies. Sometimes it seems as if the drought, and Australia’s horrendous bushfire season happened years ago. A lifetime ago. So much has happened since then. So much continues to unfold. But those years of drought and catastrophic fires have left their mark. As […]

A Sokli Kind Of Walk

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Benjamin Franklin I needed to go for a walk to do some chores yesterday morning. Rain was forecast for the afternoon, so I got ready to leave home – without my umbrella. As I stood at the front door I heard the cheeky little voice […]

A little bit social…

“There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.” Linda Grayson Hey, Lovelies! How are you coping, where-ever you are in the world? We’ve been in self-isolation here at the farm, Ben, me and the pups, since late February. It hasn’t been too bad overall. We’ve loved the slower pace, […]

April New Moon Energies – The Beginning of a Time Great Shift

“Nothing is predestined. The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings.” Ralph Blum Hey, Lovelies. We’re sitting at the cusp of the New Moon (April 22) but already you’ll be feeling the influence of this strange and powerful energy. This new moon sits in the astrological house of Taurus, […]

Ordinary Luxuries

“Do not ask your children to strive for extraordinary lives. Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness. Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life. Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears. Show them how to cry when pets and people […]

The Survivor

“The one who falls and gets up is stronger than the one who never tried. Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying.” Roy T. Bennett Hello, Lovelies. It’s funny (or not) how nature has lessons for us, if only we pay attention. Last year, here in Australia, we experienced terrible drought here at […]

How Coronavirus Threw Me Back Into My Forgotten Past

“I’ll just tell you what I remember because memory is as close as I’ve gotten to building my own time machine.” Samantha Hunt Hello, Lovelies. A strange thing happened to me yesterday. I’m in lockdown here at the farm right now, just me and my husband, and our two dogs. I have internet connection. I […]

Ten Easy Vegetables To Grow At Home with Limited Space

“The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world. ” […]

Possibility and Expansion – Monday Oracle 10 February 2020

“You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.” Buddha Hello, Lovelies! February is a month for standing […]

The Road To Sedona

“Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they are doing. Do things without always knowing how they’ll turn out. You’re curious and smart and bored, and all you see is the choice between working hard and slacking off. […]

Renewal and Rising Hope – Monday Oracle 20 January 2020

“For within your flesh, deep within the center of your being, is the undaunted, waiting, longing, all-knowing. Is the ready, able, perfect. Within you, waiting its turn to emerge, piece by piece, with the dawn of every former test of trial and blackness, is the next unfolding, the great unfurling of wings, the re-forged backbone […]

When Not To Waste Your Breath Trying To Change Others

Photo via kimmcsweeney52 on Instagram. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” ~ Reinhold Niebuhr Hello, Lovelies. My inbox is choked right now with messages from people who are frustrated that climate change is not being […]

Calling All Crafters – Australia’s Injured Wildlife Need You!

“The hour has arrived to abandon theories and go directly to what is practical.” ~ Samael Aun Weor Hey, Lovelies, Today I’m calling on any crafters who feel called to make things to give practical assistance to those on the ground caring for burned and injured wildlife affected by the current Australian bushfire crisis. People around […]

What To Do When Your Beds Are Burning

“How do we sleep while our beds are burning?” ~ Midnight Oil Hey, Lovelies. I’m back in civilization, after some much-needed time away. I’m not back in Australia yet, but I do have reliable internet again. I’d love to say that I’m better rested, refreshed and feeling brand new. But, to paraphrase Midnight Oil, how […]

The Luxury Of Flowers

“In joy or sadness, flowers are our constant friends.” ~ Okakura Kakuzo Hey, Lovelies! I’m in Hong Kong right now, a destination renowned for its luxury shopping. But I’m not a shopping kind of girl, although I enjoy looking at things. At my age I have enough stuff, and I’m not interested in buying things simply […]

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