a drawing bag

We enjoy Thursdays.

Thursdays are slow, at-home, quiet days where we can sink into whatever is exciting us or make progress with projects that have been lurking around for a while. Making paper is one of those projects we will do today. Sky has plans to dye wool with beetroot juice but I 'm not sure whether I am up to the possible messy outcomes.

Thursdays come between the two fullest days for us: full with the community garden, piano lessons, seeing friends in town, sometimes swimming, sometimes climbing and Drama class. Oh, and errands of course. We manage to live a little out of town and be connected with town friends and fun by organising our weeks well. We want to use the car as little as possible and on the whole, we prefer a predictable rhythm to the week, and so we have built a rhythm of "home" days and "out" days.

The survival kit for Sky on the days we are away from her creative space is her "Drawing Bag," packed with pencil roll and paper, sometimes nature journal, sometimes watercolours. Often treasures. It is on hand ready to record a spiral in nature, diagram the steps in a game, spontaneously draw a princess, a fairy, a rainbow or a rabbit (some of her current favourites).

I made the drawing bags a few years back in the hope that they would be easy to grab on our way out the door. They have not disappointed and have made great birthday presents for friends on occasion too.

The bag is a simple drawstring - yep, I do love drawstrings - and the pencil roll is fairly easy, backed with felt and decorated with ribbon. The strip you can see at the top of the pencils is totally unnecessary; don't bother with the extra fuss.

Yesterday her bag carried her nature journal and some new inspiration we picked up for $2 at one of the local oppy' - "The Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady" by Edith Holden. A real beauty and just perfect for Sky's current flower project.

----------------------------------

Over on the Lyttel-town blog I've recently posted some inspiration from Nicole Foss' (of AutomaticEarth) recent visit to Lyttelton and her thoughts on the ongoing economic and energy collapse and how people and communities can prepare.

I am convinced that we have no idea of what our children will live with and through. Growing strong, resilient girls who are used to thinking outside the box and whose sense of agency is foundational is a solid start.