Memories of a recent school run whence I picked up and drove home two of our grandsons

Question – Bailey, are there puddles at school after all the rain?

Answer – Yes, a big one on the Basketball court. But last week is was REALLY BIG!

Question – Bailey can you climb into your car seat without stepping in this big river of water in the gutter?

Answer – Look Grandma, as he carefully dips the toe of his shoe in the water…the water goes around my shoe.

Boys and water are attracting poles on magnets.

Boys of all sizes loving the Beach!

~*~

So on we drive through the country

“Grandma, did you know it isn’t Summer anymore?

It is”. ..pause…

I help with the starting syllable, Au…

“AUTUMN” is the response

“I have to look at our house for the coloured leaves ” was the wise comment from Mr5yr old who has just started school.

~*~

Having completed my grandma love errand and remembering Bailey’s words I then made this observation.

It being March 2nd, the leaves on the Manchurian Pear trees not two minutes from our house are changing colour to the brightest red and falling.
What beauty surrounds us if we can but see it

We had heat wave maybe a week past then cool change.
Presently sunshine, grey skies, rain and humidity

Poor nature is so confused

Lawns are growing so lush and fast they look to be on steroids.

Maybe the rain will ease enough for the lawn mowers to go out to work…it has been very quiet on that front in the neighbourhood!

A note for hubby. Buy fuel for the mower before the can is empty and lawns are humungeous . He discovered this for himself having gotten changed into gardening attire ready for action.

But a feast for the eyes is the greenness everywhere on hills which would normally be brown.

A benefit too is the fact that there is no need to water the garden…the postman delivered our latest water bill …need I say more?

Even though our Australian summer was very hot and dry I could not starve the garden. I love being out there too much.

Thankful for our beautiful surroundings which creates food for the soul.

Joining Our World Tuesday

Look no further!
Go visit your local nursery for a free lift of spirits

Free you say!

Yes definitely because no money changed hands.

By letting my mind be refreshed and calmed on a hot hot day under the misting sprinkler.

I remembered …
Lavender cutting/slips growing under some greenery
Hibiscus cuttings/slips slowly growing roots in a glass jar
Red trumpet creeping vine cutting/slip started in a pot
Big Red geranium growing lushly from a cutting/slip

It was a stepping back in time of how old gardens were created.
Networking and sharing.

How to best utilise what I have at home in the garden…..just a moving round and swapping positions. Or repotting with large recycled pots from the neighbour’s hard rubbish clean out.

There was no instant gratification costing $$, just some methodical or random planning and a little patience.

Have you ever done this?

Blessed

Joining Through the Garden Gate

Joining Frontier Dreams

Impressions from my sister in law.
Memories of 1978.

#farmergetsawife
Agriculturalists gets a wife
City bride new to the country
City spouse new to the country
City girl marries her farmer
City miss weds her rancher

All of the above are depending on from where you live in this world.
Different expressions….same meaning

“I married my beloved farmer or rancher as the Americans say. A young lady who lived nowhere near the country but by the sea. Near Semaphore in Adelaide, South Australia.

Well all this came to nought. No happy catch up time. No time for chit chat.

Country life line

Rather, a call had been received from my parents in law asking that we return to the farm property immediately for my husband to help with the grain cleaning. In those days you needed to wait having made a booking for a man to go to your property or ranch on a set day to do this job …well that time slot had come early!

There was no new bride to be carried over the threshold. I ventured into our stone cottage myself.

But I love our life here. Over the years we’ve lived in a few different houses. First was that stone cottage.

Cycles of family life.

Alexa back here again.
Our cycles of life
The years roll by
Silently but ever moving

Our family visiting the Farm

Now I must search out that pastie recipe from an old school book when we did Home Economics at High School. My sister in law bakes an awesome one.
Best eaten on a cold day which is the opposite to what we have here presently in Australia. Summer heat waves. Yet I guess you could eat it with a salad.
I think I will wait though so that the oven does not over heat the already warm house.

What a pity I did not keep my copy when I culled all my books during our recent move. The modern copy is rather pricey now.
Live and learn.

Recipe of pasty…….
Page 7 of 8
“Cookery the Australian Way” 50 some years old and still serving and teaching our young.

Memories are the threads of life
A tapestry in the making

On the first day of August
Which now seems light years away

It being the last month of official Winter in Australia.

I was wishfully speeding the approaching Spring on
to valiantly burst out of Winter’s very tight coat

Apple blossom finally bursting from its tight winter coat now in October

So,

I took a stroll with one of the grandsons
A quick walk before the early winter darkness encroached
Because little boys need to wind down for sleep soon

Hand in hand for a run up the winding path to our little park

Quickly a swing, a slide and another swing

See the street lights are flickering on
Time to run back

But wait, what a find

Usually all finds end up in little hands

Look at this leaf

It is mine

I carefully hold it by the stalk
and selfishly do not give it to my little companion

It is mine

Much too precious to share
Brim full of the essence of life

Then that very night
Photographed under mean kitchen lights
A fluke of a picture

The rivers of life
Days and nights of weather encapsulated in one single leaf
Alone on the path

Leaf

“I study the leaf veins
they are little streams of life
yearning for the sun
static trees stand sentinel
watching our brief lives go by ” A Poem by Andy Brookes

I sit here now enjoying the afternoon sunshine after this mornings grey gloominess.

The Simple Life.
So easy to find.

May your week be Blessed

#messageinaleaf #momentintime #whatdoyousee #considerthelilly

Preparing for evening

Today the sun does shine beautifully here in Sydney.
Contrast to yesterday when the same sun was out but the wind nearly blew one over. Even sitting here in the kitchen I could hear the wind gusts roaring through some tall gum trees at a park over the road.

I know in some parts of Australia we are expected to receive some bad weather today with flooding that has already been going on for days with its associated heartache.

Considering the wind yesterday we caught a brief lull and managed a quick game of “Rugby” in the back yard with young grandsons. Let’s tackle grandma was the call to which I replied and acted, let’s TICKLE you!

Lucky that they are still only five and under. There will come a time when it’s time to stand at the sidelines and direct!

The sun with its awakening rays bring weeds and flowers alive together in abundance.

Joy for the soul at the mass of riotous colour from easy to grow Nasturtiums, hardy Calendulas, bright Geraniums and tough Heartsease.

Raised Garden

Easy to grow but patience required during the long dark days of winter with Roses in hibernation.
Note to self – plant some of the above earlier and and do an extra later planting too. I’ve had to prune some of the nasturtiums back a bit today….no pain no gain

As we have only been in this house for three seasons next year I will know how this garden grows and flowers. I am really hoping the Figaro Dahlias come back again from their corms as they were brilliant last year. I was able to cut them back twice and got Dahlias on Steroids as my daughter called them

Calendula and Heartsease

Heartsease thriftily divided , one nice plant into four and then again as they grew
Calendulas price slashed and nursed along from sad straggly seedlings. These are tough. It’s the first time that I have grown these.
Nasturtiums were grown from seeds
Geraniums from cuttings. As they grow I take more cuttings from the “Mother Bush”.
“Big Red” a much appreciated gorgeous potted geranium left behind by the previous owner. Fabulous for colour in the drab of Winter

Hedge Trimmer at work

The warmth brings the hedges out of their slow and dormant growth. Time for a green haircut by my man and his garden toys.

So too does the warmth bring out our little grandsons when visiting. They love to poke, prod, dig, cut and chop in the garden all under the supervision of either myself or grandpa dear.

We did miss them though with their chatter when we attended to some gardening chores last weekend.

“Chicken Heads”

The easiest of craft activities if little hands become tired of wearing disposable gloves just like Grandma for digging.
Fill them with soil instead and get Grandma to tie a knot. Instant chickens that do not need feeding.

Now the afternoon sun causes the kitchen to glow as it illuminates and makes the yellow Nasturtiums appear translucent in their vase on the window ledge. These are complimented beyond the window by the golden hedge on our boundary and a golden tree in its Spring coat.

Did I say that I love Spring!

Hope you all have a good day.
Find something to lift your spirit even if only briefly.
Pause a while.

Sun soaked Orange Blossom’s sweet perfume

Such has been life….

Moving into another house. Loving it here. A snip of a Rose here, finding a home for this. Food for a group , or just for one. Trying out this magic Thermal cooking machine the Bellini Intelli and Skinnymixers recipes or filing these papers(sigh).

Oh the garden is calling me again.

Sad to see the roses slowly finishing their season in the sun

Thinking of dear ones who are not with us any more, or ageing mother far away.

Time marching on.

Are we really that old?
I am young inside.
Yet today I seem to creak.

Fun visiting the farm

Were we ever that young?

But go it has!

I was reading through some old diary notes and this one struck a chord. March 2015. Fourteen long months ago.

Utter joy

U.N.F.O.R.G.E.T.A.B.L.E

Fast forward to yesterday morning.
Walking in the Botanic Gardens.

Two older preschool cousins and little Austin walking across rustic stepping-stones. Perfectly placed for little boys.

Us Singing songs, counting steps, pretending being on a bridge in a creek. I say “Can you hear the water?”
But children have such imagination with no prompting needed from adults!
I turn around and see…
Boys lying on stones , pretending to be on the deck of a boat.
Toes to head, head to toes.
Three little bodies all in a row

Repeat again and again.

Singing the ABC song as the stones were stepped upon.

Following the leader and singing the song. Little Austin chiming in and singing too….Bailey stopping mid stride and looking at me as if to say “how can little Austin know this song” ….

In all seriousness he wisely said “I learned him the song”

Infinitely P.R.E.C.I.O.U.S.

Just an ordinary day sharing morning tea.
Definitely not ordinary.

Finding a thing of beauty through the eyes of a child.

Budding artist and his abstract number flowers

If I do pause to reminisce and check my last article then the internet may drop out. The pause will be like discovering a drawer full of old photos. Memories. Ghosts. Sadness. Years passing with the speed of light. Joy. Laughter. Loud laughter and silent chuckles. Sadness for a dear sister lost. Sadness for alone ageing parent too far away to see often enough.

Time has passed taking with it sickness and death, an inevitable part of the cycle of life. Yet when it is family it brings with it a vulnerability. It says to me, you too are getting older.

Today, after a morning tea and play with the little grandsons and family I waved them off to their various destinations. Littlest one to sleep, older two to play some more. One mum to shop and the other to share precious time with visiting in-Laws

Having time to spare I decided to stay and explore the beauteous spring showcase at the Mount Annan Botanical Gardens. It beats browsing any Harvey Norman, Domain, Myers or other big name store hands down.

One section was titled “A room with a view”

There are vast green spreading lawns, small bushland gardens or tropical rainforest settings…..a thing of beauty.

By a still pool a timber bench was placed inviting a passer-by to stop, rest and contemplate.

The unobtrusive memorial plaque said it all.

“Find a thing of beauty in every day”

Flower shop in Stirling

Delicate snow drops in spring garden

Courtesy binks@morgueFile free photos

My thing of beauty this very instant is listening to the frogs merrily creaking and croaking away in the distant creek thinking of how I will grow a few summer salad plants when we move into our house God Willing in a month.

Missing fresh Rocket in my salad

That itself is another page in our journey. From a two storey home where we lived for twenty-nine years to a single storey home a little further out but with a nice size block just under quarter acre. I would have loved living a bit further out still but the voice of reason spoke.

Where we will live is still close enough to country with the likes of Cobbitty and its surrounds. Nice for a drive and a coffee should we desire.

We always said we would move before we were too old to negotiate stairs in the house.

It is the journey to love and cherish. To prepare, savour and enjoy. A move whilst we are able to make our choices and decisions.

Do find your moment of beauty this day.
Blessings…

We wouldn’t have it any other way
Wonderfully blessed
Making memories

AUSTRALIA DAY AT HOME
Jan 26 2015

A hard day here
Sitting on the back verandah on this Australia Day

Australia a land of contrasts indeed…
Deep fried in the intense heat yesterday
Grey, cool and overcast today
Wishing it was a trifle warmer with the sun showing its face
( we are never ever satisfied are we! )

Egg and bacon breakfast cooked by husband dear
Minding two grandies in their parents home
Children happy and content
Grandparents enjoying the luxury of a Verandah

Savouring the view over green lawn to surrounding bush
The old lush mulberry tree
Listening to the birds and their different melodies trying to out sing each other
Hearing the old hens give their distinct call

You know this is a home to a busy family
Basketball on the lawn
Tractor truck on the verandah
Bags of potting mix next to plants waiting to be potted

Long strips of curled up bark from the gum tree lying on the veranda from a made up and now discarded game of hop scotch (grandma did not want to be the first to draw with chalk on newly re painted decking)

Little boy calling out, grandma, I’m hungry

Joys of being a grandparent in this little corner of Australia

Our laid back Australia Day

Courtesy Jaeb@morgueFile free photos

Having just arrived home from a lovely driving visit interstate with family and friends I came across a refreshing recipe. It would be wonderful as an entree or for a gathering of friends and supper. Light, but I would say very moorish.

I would add a delicate sprig of fresh Dill as well for its wonderful scent and aroma.

My dream raised garden

Dill brings back memories of my dear mother when she still had her own garden and little herb patch. Whenever we visited Mum always chopped up some Dill and added it to her wonderful mixed salad and home made dressing….between us three girls there would almost be arguments over who got more of this delicious trademark salad

Here is this refreshing recipe of Salmon Rillettes

Alternatively you could experiment just with some smoked salmon and flake it instead of the fish stated in Downtownshift.
I seem to recall a friend of mine does this, or is it potted shrimp…..Keren if you are reading, is this how your mum makes her dip?

…and so I’ll sign off for now and maybe do a bit of unpacking. The painful part at the end of a trip…..but I have many wonderful memories which will spur me on:)

From country to city and back again, day by day.

Courtesy GaborfromHungary@morgueFile free photos

There is a saying ..Life is a journey.

With many a detour, hold ups, unpredictableness, joys, throw your hands up in the air situations along the way. Each one is a step.

Remembering those maybe tantrum hard days with children and then at day’s end as they lie sleeping peacefully in their beds you take a deep breath of thanks again.

Briefly reinvigorated for many tomorrows
One step and again another.

I wonder how many steps on this our path
A journey, our life
Never heading in a straight line.

Look closely at the photo on the top of this post. The photographer captured a brilliant moment!

Almost a choose your own adventure. So many stories. Along the board walk at a brisk walk or over the quaint bridge at a leisurely stroll. Maybe even a pause in the cool grass on the other side. Serenely meandering in the sailing boat down the canal but only going in one direction because the bridge is in the way. Or pick a speed boat out of the various sizes and styles to zip along the canal in either direction. Yet all starting off from the same place! An analogy of Life.

So this is our life’s journey. It can be boring or we can really observe what’s happening around us, partake or participate in the good things of life. Bear gracefully when burdens overload us.

That being said it is the small happenings which if we appreciate are as a gift. A priceless gift bestowing joy or a memory to be savoured.

Then again, have you ever seen the silvery trail of a snail in the morning after rain? It goes everywhere yet there is no snail to be seen.

Morning walk on Gannet Beach , N.S.W. Australia

Or a collection of sea shells and pebbles washed from who knows where deep in the ocean. Swirled from here to there. Tumbled around and deposited with that tide, to be moved on again by the next.

Courtesy spiroll@morgueFile free photos

Tumbled through life’s happenings and dramas yet many times unknowingly picked up and helped along the way. Our support network….may we remember to pay it forward.

That is our journey.

Joining in with Essentially Jess for IBOT
Modest Mom