awesome adventure pic post part 2

When I last left you, we were watching the sunset over the river.

Gorgeous view, huh?

This is part two of that story... the part of walking home... the slightly spooky, moody, twilight part of our discoveries.

As we walked back from the sunset, we looked up a hill to see this sight looming in the distance:



We continued walking... but I remembered my promise to myself to be more surprising and spontaneous... so I giggled, running back up the path to find vine covered stairs up the hill. To my delight, everyone else followed.

We found an abandoned old toilet block...



Further into the long grass, we found the old church that had enticed us there... it too was abandoned, and a forest of wilderness grew inside it. It formed part of the large estate of the former Gladesville Hospital for the Insane. A rather strange story that one, without much information on the internet available on it. Walking in the beautiful gardens of a former "lunatic asylum" that is now thoroughly overgrown was a thrilling, scary, intriguing experience.




The church was fenced off, but the adjoining building was fenced off only by draping vines and a moody feel.

So I did what all good spontaneous people do. I dared everyone to go in there with me.
they protested a little, and chris asked me not to, but I laughed back:
I have to do this.
So I pushed the vines aside, walking under the veil of mystery and spiderwebs.

It was quite beautiful under there.





The roof gone, and only barbed wire resisting the greenery, it was a blend of shadows and light, structures and organic lines.



We joked as we stood under there,
if only to take the eeriness off.



Sometimes it's good to feel a little bit afraid.



We scrambled back down the path again, and walked on, feeling a little bit thrilled,
and a little bit more ready for more adventure.

We took another path home, walking us past cottages that were well lived in. A clothes line filled with dozens of identical blue striped tea towels waving in the twilight breeze, homes all blanched in 1960s red brick. A hundred metres away, another abandoned house. As though someone had left forty years ago and forgotten to return.

The back stairs grew trees.



The front door lay covered in leaves.
Where did they go? Where are they now?
Who left this waterfront home so quickly they forgot to close the fridge door and take the forks from the kitchen bench?
I am not sure, and it's kinda nice not to know all the answers.
Only to know that here this house remains, empty, paint peeling, and an empty presence that resists you from staying too long.







The others waited outside in the parking lot with two brides and fancy cars as we crept through history, breathing in old moments.

As we walked outside to join them, we make friends with the hugest dog I have ever seen. He smiles widely at us, nuzzling our elbows, before gaiting off with his owner onto another adventure.

As did we...

(to be continued)

Signing off,
Adventuress Leonie

Indigo Connections

Joyously happy and proud to announce I'm signed with the licensing agency Indigo Connections whose wonderful website launched today.

I deeply look forward to creating spectacular books and products with Indigo Connections to light this whole world up with joy!

You can check out my lifework under the two brands of Leonie Allan & Goddess In You.

Today I'm sparkling with possibility,
and radiant with magnificence.

love and light,
Leonie

:)

"1. Make it your own

2. Everything matters

3. Surprise and delight

4. Embrace resistance

5. Leave your mark"

~ Starbucks principles

shine on

under the moonlight, mixed media commission

{I created this for a woman who wanted a special birthday present for her best friend. she wanted a piece of artwork that celebrated their friendship and shared journeys, dancing together under the moonlight. She wanted symbolism of their two different religions (christianity and paganism) included, as well as their two favourite colours ~ all differences embraced and melded together, just like their friendship. I just loved working to create her vision, and having the opportunity to help celebrate such a beautiful connection.)


Have been busy these last few days doing my life and my art,
taking deep breaths
and circling with women
photographing in the sunset by the lake
dreaming bigger.

I have a big ole butterfly net out catching dreams.
That's where it matters.
So for now,
I share the below words with you,
that I spoke at my solo art exhibition.


Sometimes I burst open with the hope I hold for all of us, and the sight of the great beauty that resides in us. We are mountains, valleys, rivers, deserts of human emotion and experience. We are simple, silly, complex, captivating, wondrous beings. Some days we can almost feel the feathered wings growing from our backs. Some days we feel so stuck in our humanness the only place we wish to be is under the doona.

I wish you a large butterfly net to catch your dreams in.
I wish you fifty small miracles and the sight to see them.
I wish you a well worn and tattered book filled with everything you are grateful for in this life.
I wish you a cup of tea brimming over with love.
I wish you a wide openness to love ~ love for yourself, love for your tribe, love for those tender, fabulous creatures who surround you.
I wish you a picnic. Occasionally it will rain on you, and you will fashion hats out of plastic bags before resorting to hiding out in the public toilets, but it will always be worth it. Adventures always are.
I wish for you deep friendships that split you open in sweet vulnerability, to see all parts of you and love you anyway. They will make you more YOU than you have ever known. There is a great healing when your stories are heard.
I wish you the courage to be yourself.
I wish you the sight to see yourself right where you are, then put your loving glasses on.
I wish you a blue tattoo that wakes you in the morning, singing Joy is an option.
I wish you painting wild and raucous colours in the backyard, the creation of your world as you wish it, a night stand of books that touch you and a lush journey of life.
And of course, I wish you a platter of fairy bread to sustain you.

From the highest part in me, to the highest part in you, I thank you for being here today and everyday.