Sunday again

and we are in the workshop,
on a Sunday
again...............

• samples to make, 
• building goes on , and on, and on.... we keep crossing things off the list so surely we are getting close to completion-  please just say "yes dear", I will believe you!

going a little crazy with it all..... can start to see how nice it will be when done though, the clues are there.

• Priest has finally tuned up to move the little temple that was under the tree months ago- new office has been built around it, once moved to its new location we can complete the walls of the office. yes truly!
            will show you more as the event unfolds
• only a few staff in to day and I plan to sort all our patterns out, our pattern guy makes nice patterns and can grade them properly, a skill hard to find in our neck of the woods but he completely lacks organization skills which causes some major hiccups sometimes. We are trying to organize to take advantage of his skills and limit the mistakes from his foibles. This causes a lot of grrrrrr moments, lucky one did not happen when the huge was open I may have had a different use for it.
• Truthfully I am hiding from that job at the moment and talking to you :)
• our morning started today with finding a bud on our lotus- we grew them from seed this season and did not expect to get flowers until next year at least, what a blessing.
• Then traffic on the road this morning, this buffalo would not walk past the car nor allow me to drive by, they are quite docile but one ripped off the car lights one day swinging her her head when Praveen tried to squeeze past, so we show due respect

  Ma came back and moved her along right quick with a big stick, lots of food around due to the rains so much traffic around at the moment. Fat happy and lazy cows, buffalo and goats.

• You will have seen some of our latest fabrics, we are working with Anjelms- we have worked with them for years now manufacturing their designs. Usually Gaelle invites up and coming young designers to collaborate and then we help out around the edges. This time we are working directly with Gaelle to bring her new range to life. Excited- it is fun to bump off each other, share our passion to make beautiful, lasting, comfortable clothing for people to LIVE IN and the people who made the fabric, colours and work to LIVE FAIRLY from. Keep your eye on her website to see what happens. Pass her name around, she is open to wholesaling her designs- tell your local shop about her and us- plllleeeeeaaaaaasssssse :)
• Blessings done, rocks that are the statues in our temple have been bathed in milk and rose petals and given a fresh start along with lots of prayers in their new location. Poor Praveen was a little nervous and I was under strict instructions- no Australian quips this is to be approached seriously. went well, he is happy. 
  
• well time has come, praying done, hiding here with you needs to finish. I have to face all our patterns and get them sorted.
• Bye

in the garden

William the rooster [of William and Kate fame] out defending our territory from passing peacocks.

Good boy....whilst peacocks may look lovely they can also eat everything in your garden in no time flat.

Thereis now 7 boys in this group and they check our place out morning and evening to see what they can steal....this afternoon a group of 4 peahens went by and distracted them....

My favourite place in the whole wide world to sit as the sun sets...out on the steps to my vegie garden watching the light change and things grow....shanti, shanti peaceful.
Dashing out the door for a week in Oz- see the kiddies, sit on my mate's veandah and take it easy.....life is lovely.
Praveen is staying home to finish the moving of workshops- it will all be ready for me when I get back....yeh!

perhaps, just perhaps....

Perhaps, just perhaps things are changing....why do things seem to happen fast yet change comes so slowly.....often you are trying, trying trying and then you notice things are different....

I have been watching the weather wondering when it was going to change, the garden is starting to resembel triffods and I am getting worried it will swalloe the house!

This is chawla or black eyed peas growing in the home garden, soon they will be ready to harvest and lay out on the terrace to dry and store for use through the year....

This is the view from the back door to the kitchen - you can barley see the Baba House at the end with all that lovely Gwafal growing- this is a camels favourite food [and camels are very picky eaters would you belive!], we are going to dry it and make chaff and it should feed for quite some months.

 Around the edge we popped in Sesame seeds to grow- no anilmals like that plant so it would deter marading animals from getting into our fields and will give us an extra crop.

 These photos were taken at 7.00am in the morning, I needed a flash...that is how overcast it has been.....usually it would be bright, bright sunshine by then.

 Even Chortu had to have breakfast in the dark which was most confusing for him as he likes to sleep in.

 And then yesterday I woke up we had bright blue in the sky, Ohh boy is that lovely I have never appreciated clouds when they choke out the blue.....there was a real change to the atmosphere and many birds arriving back in the area from their migrations......I think changes are happening.

and to top all that off I actually got to start the printing for Tasty Old Chooks Clothes....it almost rained when I went to Nandu but did not actually...I would guess we could say the monsoon is starting to pull back.....of course we will really appreciate it by the time it comes around again next year [Oh please do come!]

Birds are crazy and raucous out there this morning- I am off to greet the day.

A day in Pushkar

This village used to produce 5 trucks of rose petals every few days in rose season....that was only 5 or 6 years ago...now they struggle to get 5 bundles of roses off the same gardens.
if only you could smell this, we were sitting just near by talking stitching with the most gorgeous aroma wafting around us....
out to visit the ladies of the Stitching Project- they are really rocking, all the ladies are really lovely, they cover their faces because strange men are here [ my husband with the camera and Panalal our friend and translater seated with me] but step away from them and veils are off and it is laughs and broken conversations and smart women- I know we are going to have fun developing ideas together.
I am planning for the Pukka Studio when we have workshops for foreigners to have a translter and be able to offer the education to some of the Stitching Ladies for free- it will really help them develp design skills and ideas.
sunflower seeds we bought in Syria have grown into these lovely huge flowers.
There is a man in the market who grinds seeds to produce oil for the farmers so we figure we can take them to him for our own oil...just wandering when to harvest- never done this before.

Zac has finally settled in enough he can start painting- first Indian work- he is excited and things starting to flow- good on him....