Sunday 29 April 2012

Orange . The laughing Colour.

So as we watch the leaves turning orange as Autumn creeps in and the spicey pumpkin soup recipes are hunted out, there is a lot of orange around us at this time of year.

Orange is a secondary colour. It is the combination of red and yellow. It's a hot colour but not as agressive as red.
 Kandinsky said " Orange is red brought nearer to humanity by yellow".

People who like orange are said to be thoughtful and sincere. It stands for joy, sunshine, enthusiasm, facination, happiness, success and stimulation. Its the laughing colour.

Buddist monks wear saffron orange robes. In China and Japan it is the colour of happiness and love. The American Indians use it as the colour of kinship. It's a positive colour, the colour of harvest, strength and endurance. Your orange Chakra is just below your navel. Said you be your creative centre.
Orange is a great colour to promote food and toys as it jumps out from the shelf  without the garrishness of red.
Orange food is great to both stimulate appetite but also keep nasty cancers at bay.  Citrus fruits,carrots, pumpkin are all great for our digestion but it's the power of the paw paw that is seriously under exposed! If you have someone you love in your life sick with cancer, I highly recommend you look into papaya power!
Have a great orange day!

Sunday 22 April 2012

Fantastic Plastic?

Having spent Easter in a small slice of wilderness where our only shower was the river, it breaks my heart to see water like this in Sydney's waterways so please excuse the following soap box rant!

Bottled water....... why? We have some of the best quality tap water in the world in Sydney. Nothing like the water that comes out of the tap water in London which supposedly has been through your body 7 times by the time you drink it . I'm all for recycling but it does taste revolting!

In Australia there is no real excuse. You don't have to wait for 'Clean up Australia day' to make a difference either. You can take a few steps, however teeny and your kids will learn by example.

Water is obviously the most healthy drink. Good for your skin, weight, teeth, wallet . Any model will boast how much water they drink.  Kids have to have water bottles pretty much everywhere they go . School. Sport. Excursions. I have learnt by trial and error what I find works the best.
The Sistema company do a great range of bottles and you can find them in the supermarket. None of the nasty toxic plastics and a NZ company that seems to be happily competing with China and doing a good job. http://www.sistema.co.nz/

Their drinking bottles have a screw valve at the top. They don't leak.They don't go mouldy like the straw top ones. You can screw off the top bit of the bottle and sterilise it in the dishwasher . I put mine in the cutlery basket so they don't go wandering. You can fill them and put them in the freezer overnight so they can act as an icepack for lunchboxes in summer.
None of this is hard and it would make such a difference.

Sunday 1 April 2012

Happy Easter From ColourMeArt

 Easter is one of the best time of year to get creative with the kids and have a bit of fun with colour. We always do an Easter egg hunt , sometimes with written clues and even using map coordinates now they are getting older.
One of the favourite traditions in our family is egg rolling. We first hard boil an egg each. Add some vinegar to the water and they seem to harden even more . Bit like baking conkers ready for battle!

Then once they are left to cool, you can start the fun decorating them.
Using wax crayons ( or candles if you don't have any) you can draw on them. You can use inks ( or food colouring ) for bright colours. Glue and beads, string or paper for the more deconstructive creators.

You can add your own style and preferably your initial to make them different.  Best dressed egg gets a small prize in our house but then on Easter Sunday we meet up with friends and do our traditional egg rolling competition. A lot of fun and if you have kids that are older than each other , this is a family tradition that spans the age difference between children quite well.
You set the course ( on a hill obviously), rolling the eggs one at a time down it. The winner of each round is the egg that rolls the furthest that remains intact. You keep taking turns until the ultimate winner gets the first prize.
The Crows and Ibis like their Easter treat left behind and unless you have decorated your egg with something really unbiodegradable , you can leave them to feast while you go for a dip to work off your chocolate fest.

Happy Easter!