Magical Houses Made From Bamboo

"And when my father built Green School in Bali, he chose bamboo for all of the buildings on campus, because he saw it as a promise. It's a promise to the kids. It's one sustainable material that they will not run out of. And when I first saw these structures under construction about six years ago, I just thought, this makes perfect sense. It is growing all around us. It's strong. It's elegant. It's earthquake-resistant. Why hasn't this happened sooner, and what can we do with it next?" Elora Hardy....

You've never seen buildings like this. The stunning bamboo homes built by Elora Hardy and her team in Bali twist, curve and surprise at every turn. They defy convention because the bamboo itself is so enigmatic. No two poles of bamboo are alike, so every home, bridge and bathroom is exquisitely unique.

In this beautiful, immersive talk, she shares the potential of bamboo, as both a sustainable resource and a spark for the imagination. "We have had to invent our own rules," she says.

View Elora's amazing buildings: Ibuku.com
Ibu means "mother," and ku means "mine," so it represents my Mother Earth, and at Ibuku, we are a team of artisans, architects and designers, and what we're doing together is creating a new way of building.

Coffee and Klezmer

The power was out for the day, apparently the local substation needed upgrading.

So we set off to have our coffee at The Lighthouse Beach Surf Club Cafe...

it was a gorgeous morning and the little lemon curd tart was very delightful.

Isn't it nice when people put a little bit of love into their work?

OK you two where's mine?

Later on off to see The London Klezmer Quartet - I had no idea what to expect. The room was packed and a great night was had by all. If you've never heard Klezmer music either, here is a youtube video of the group playing...

Visit the London Klezmer Quartet.com website click here

Energy Bites - Almond, Date & Coconut Truffles

I don't know about you, but I've got a sweet tooth and my weakness is chocolate. Seriously don't leave one near my vicinity, or it will disappear. I don't know what happens to them, they are there one minute, and then gone the next. So it was with a great deal of thanks that I discovered date truffles also known as energy bites. They make a great alternative to chocolate or sweets, and they rapidly became one of our family favourites.

Almond and Date Truffles:

  • About 2 cups raw almonds - process in a blender till ground
  • 15 or so dates - chop them and make sure you remove the pits
  • tahini - a couple of tablespoons
  • a couple of tablespoons carob powder
  • 1 tspn vanilla extract
  • Coconut to roll the balls in
  • After grinding the almonds, simply add everything and blend together
  • Roll the date mix into small balls and then roll in coconut - keep in the fridge or freezer.

    A while ago I discovered Deliciously Ella's Blog. If you love food, especially healthy food, she will inspire you to head off to the market for new ingredients. I enjoyed seeing the variations to the energy bites that she added.

    If you haven't discovered Deliciously Ella's blog yet click here - you're in for a treat! I'm looking forward to trying out her recipe.

  • Don't send a man to the grocery store

    I headed down to the beach this morning for my walk and on the way noticed a huge Woolworths van delivering food to a home. I think it's so great that we can now hop on the internet, order our week's shopping, and have it delivered. I haven't done it yet, but it must be so helpful if you're working or not well or just fed up of waiting in line at checkouts. And on the subject of shopping... have you seen Jeanne Robertson's comedy routines? If not, she is great fun...

    Time for a giggle - Don't send a man to the grocery store. I think Jeanne needs to do another comedy routine... Don't send a woman to the hardware store... but that's another story.

    2015 - Happy New Year

    Youth is when you are allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve.
    Middle age is when you are forced to. ~ Bill Vaughn

    Happy New Year!! I don't know about your area, but the streets around our area were so quiet. No noisy parties to be heard anywhere, however, I did wake up at midnight (we must be getting old we'd rather go to bed early on New Year's Eve and read a book than go out) to a frightened, shaking doggie scratching at my face - she'd woken up when she heard the distant fireworks and was having a bit of a panic attack. Happy New Year! Poor little sausage, we had a cuddle till the fireworks stopped and all was well again. So how was your New Year's Eve, as exciting as ours?

    Our New Year's house sit bookings are already filling up, so the year looks like a lovely one with trips back to mind favourite puppies and houses. We decided to stay at home over Christmas this year, and just as well as my mum broke her hip at the end of November, and so we were busy running back and forth to hospital to see her. In between times, we enjoyed watching the kangaroos who visited at our back fence...

    Photos taken at our back fence.

    They can be quite comical to watch - having a good old scratch

    I sometimes wonder how those large joeys fit in their pouches

    And I wonder what they think when they look at us watching...

    The Thong Christmas Tree - 2014 - Lighthouse Beach

    Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

    2013's Tree

    The last couple of years we have been delighted to see the Christmas Thong Tree appear, in the dunes at the southern end of Lighthouse Beach. (If you're in Port and would like to see it, turn right where the camel rides are held, and keep walking - it's a way down the beach but the exercise'll do us all good after all those Christmas puds.)

    Rudolf, Blinker, Daisy, Snotty and Spitty the camels at Lighthouse Beach

    I was a bit late in going to see if it had been put up again this year. The end of November I had a phone call, at midnight, in the middle of one of the worst storms we'd had - it was my mum to say, she'd fallen and couldn't get up - she'd managed to drag herself across the room to the phone to call me for help. She'd broken her hip poor treasure, so what with going back and forth to hospital, combined with a rather large share of thunderstorms in our area, I hadn't been able to see if the tree was up this year.

    The Christmas Thong Tree 2014

    But today, I managed to wander down to see if it was there... and there it was in all it's thongy, Christmassy glory.

    Moments from our Christmas

    It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air. ~ W.T. Ellis

    Hope your Holiday break was a joyful one - I love all the little moments that happen during the holidays - little memories that linger after the festivities are gone... here's a few of ours...

    Christmas Tree Pavlova

    This year, we voted the Christmas Tree Pavlova - best desert ever. My niece created this delight, staying up to 2am to finish off our Christmas Day pièce de résistance.

    Angel on our kitchen shelf, with Maggie's Christmas Cookbook - a gift from Wombat

    Christmas art on the deck

    Reindeer Flying School - a favourite of ours

    Candy our dog near the Christmas tree

    Kangaroos at the back fence

    From our house to yours - Seasons Greetings