A chilly start to the day this morning seen in my Beanie wearing husband as he went off to do an installation for Care Alert.

For myself I rugged up in a fleece jacket, checked Google Maps directions to pick up two child’s Booster Seats.
The local Buy, Sell and Swap Facebook site is marvellous for all sorts of great bargains at a fraction of the price.
Not current style but still with all the safety features like side impact protection and extendable height headrest with lock.

Having purchased my seats I decided to drive past Bunnings as I was in the area thereby saving myself another trip for buying potting mix which will be needed later.

Thus I found my treasure trove free for the picking , actually snapping.

Everywhere I turned plants, leaves, blooms glistened in the morning sun with sparkling refractions from the still present heavy morning Dew. It was like being let free in a candy store…which way shall I turn first.

The heavy-headed large Pansy flowers like the drunken butterflies in their silken Kimono robes but frozen in flight
Variegated elegant leaves of the Cyclamen like lily pads
Cyclamen flowers in all shapes showing off a promise of more to come

Dianthus miniature Carnations with a perfect spherical glass like orb at its centre
Indian and tropical inspired miniature Bougainvillea with its veined coloured leaf flowers inviting the passer-by to purchase…but not at that price…ahem… $39.-

So passed a pleasant and refreshing time amongst nature free for all to see if they choose….and yes I did buy potting mix plus four big punnets of Heartsease marked down to .50 cents. bARGAIN!

Another treasure found today was to visit and share some time with the little Grandsons, especially for Grandpa as he sometimes misses out when he is busy.
So whilst he admired origami paper planes of all shapes and sizes which the boys proudly showed off I swapped some plants around in to different pots.
Free
Enjoyable
Precious

The day is as you make it.

For us it was a Treasure Trove.

Living in the moment.The ever changing scenes of a week gone.
A Diary of sorts

31 May being the last day of Autumn.
Remnants of Roses. A fleeting glimpse of Summer gone.

1 June the first day of Winter.
Braving the cold wind in the garden

2 June
Mending day with 60 year old faithful

3 June Saturday
Grey skies so I always go looking for colour in the garden

4 June. Sunday
Sharing Birthday lunch with family and friends.
Boys…Friends and cousins showing off their trampoline skills
Then hurrying off to fish in the dam over the hill

Driving home through the always beautiful countryside.
Worrombi and Cobbity- my favourites
Observing the low sun created shadows as it hastes to bed amongst the hills


5 June Monday
Taking deep into the soul brilliant blue skies and warm hued Autumn leaves
Finding sunny nooks amongst Winter shadows for a slow morning tea
Sitting in a warm sunroom before dusk approaches
Seeing a molten gold sun slip silently behind the western hills

6 June Tuesday
A mending, bed linen washing, soup making kind of day.
Starting off clear and windy for line drying but changing to cold and wet. Needing a cheerful fire and happy flowers kind of day recently enjoyed at our friends home.

7 June
My beloveds birthday
Wet and cold. Double bar gas heating start to damp morning
Boys in school uniforms to be picked up
Happy birthday to be sung to grandpa….we love our grandchildren. Big and small.

I love these sorts of weeks
The plain, the mundane, the grey, the ordinary mixed with the extraordinary
Find exquisite beauty where you can
However small or humble

Linking up with What Joy is mine

31 May, Autumn 2017, Australia.

The sun is shining its last golden rays.
Beams angling through the neighbouring trees.

Ripening Lemon crop illuminated on escaping skywards tree.

Our neighbour is ageing and not permitted to climb ladders anymore so the tree grows and grows. Certainly careful consideration needs to be undertaken as we age when gardening.

We don’t bounce like a child anymore.

Instead we creak a little or a lot.

Lemon fresh from the farm

The distant mountain range with its accentuated high points…Mount this and Mount that- I can never remember their names! I just know that they are part of the Blue Mountains and my eyes are constantly drawn to them.

So defined, clear and blue today in the cold crisp breeze.

Not Winter cold yet though.

*****

I am sitting in our Sunroom with large windows which in these cooler months is beautifully warm and light….only in the afternoon though when the sun shines. Then we open the connecting door and let the heat warm the Family room too.
The reverse in Summer though. Pleasant in the morning but once the sun peeks in there we close the door.

*****

How swiftly darkness has descended.
As I type by the light of my iPad I can feel the chill starting to creep through my jumper…time to leave this magic room and close the door into the house and turn the gas heater on low.

Winter is on its way

Walking past the Grandchildrens play area I ready the house for days closing. I peek out the windows for one last glance and see the twinkling lights on everywhere in the distance. All the way up the hill and moving as cars wend their way home in the darkness.

*****

It is mesmerising watching the sky changing as it prepares for night….colour, brightness, dazzling touches, brilliance….
Then plainness as the light show disappears and is gone abruptly.

Sunset over Largs Bay , South Australia

Sunset and Moon rise

Is it morning yet!

*****

The heater’s warmth has created a light beautiful Rose perfume. Some end of season roses stolen from my garden.
It was a hard choice. Leave the roses on the languishing bushes for a bit of colour or bring them into the kitchen to enjoy!

My Roses last lingering scented gift of colour

Whilst I sit here in comfort I know my man is sitting out the peak hour traffic somewhere till it thins out and he will wend his own way home.

*****

Are there not many blessings and comforts in life?

I rang my dear mother in another State to keep her company over her evening meal.

As we chatted about the nice warm heaters and warming blankets over her oil heater for the coming nights rest she commented how blessed we are…down the road there is probably a person saying “oh how cold it is, and how can I keep warm”

Everything is at our fingertips.
So easy.

May we never forget our blessings.

Autumn leaves in Wagga Wagga N.S.W.

“>

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

Happenings in the space of an hour

Plan to go out to run some errands

Discover it is raining a little but we head out anyway

Follow the iPhone Maps App lady’s voice to the recycling facility

Told, Oh sorry, we don’t collect these things.
You will have to wait for your Council Dangerous Goods Clean up day.

Hmmm…Council HAD advised us that the recyclers would take our old Fluero tubes

Note that now I have muddy shoes so place a large Aldi shopping bag on the car floor to rest my feet on

Stop at the Woolies shop because we are driving past. Might see if there are any reduced price goodies….found a few

Push shopping trolley and prepare to return to car…it’s raining properly now

Wait under cover til rain eases somewhat and discover a spider dropping down on a very fast and long web just where we are about to step. I try to swat it with the small rolled up shopping docket and step on it.

Hear Hubby’s comment, you missed the spider and it’s racing back up to the high ceiling…it was a plump red back spider .

Note to self. Keep an eye out for that rouge spider.

Load the car with rain dripping down our necks. Quickly slamming down the boot/trunk as we had forgotten we had fragile recycles in there.

Errand list remains very incomplete

But our Senses were rewarded

Extreme summer heat of yesterday and the days before
When all that the lawns wanted was water
So I gave them water

Today the air
Super charged with Ozone from the Thunder and Lightning

Hypnotic rhythmic rain gurgling down the drain pipes
Hills and mountains shrouded in secrecy by rain clouds

Our own Coffee Club enjoyed in the back verandah
Crackers and cheese and comfortable chairs
Savouring too the abounding greenery lit by that special light during rain

Then stillness as the rain passes and leaves droop silently
Not a movement
Silent

Now I can hear our clock ticking the seconds away

The birds too gradually come out celebrating a refreshed day

So too the garden
It breathes deeply

We see
But what do we see?

Take a moment, be kind to yourself

Courtesy diannehope@morguefile.com

Home late after a full Sunday out

House is dark.

Key turned in lock

Greeted by Coldness

Lights on

Easy flick of switch for heater’s warm glow
For others a more time consuming fire to be stoked

We are so blessed with manifold creature comforts

Home
It embraces us and whispers welcome
A much loved Haven

What’s to eat

Know my fridge

Find cooked chopped vegetables and dry fried mince with onion

Into microwave bowl to heat
Add boiled water with stock powder and little gravy powder
Continue heating and boil a little
Blend partially with stick blender carefully due to hot liquid

Serve.
Savour and enjoy.
Comfort food.
Replete.

Quick soup not from a tin.

Being prepared is a ….

Winner
Time saver
Sanity saver
Dollar saver

Boring for some
A necessity for others

A small thing for one
A momentous find for others
Practical for me

PROVERBS 31

Perfect ending to a Winter day

Till later

Glamping. A child’s perspective …

We have fun glamping

We have the glamping tents up lots
It’s real cool

Raining or sunny

They are so much fun

A place to chill

Or pretend,

‘specially us boy cousins

That’s the very “bestest fun”

All you need are sheets and cushions

LOTS

Grandma always has heaps for us to play with
They are her old sheets for fun stuff

Maybe even Grandma’s patchwork quilt if we can get it before she looks

We can make a BIG tent with LoTS of sheets for us ALL
We can make LITTLE tents for one person

We use Grandma’s laundry Airer and lots of pegs
You have to fix the sheets to stay there
Grandma pegs the sheets to lots of things
Like the door handles and hooks on the wall and clips it in the windows

It’s funny when Grandma has to crawl in the tent ’cause she is big

We go Glamping on grandma’s back verandah.

No pause button here. Beautiful endless youthful energy. Precious.

Because “us” boys have discovered that with a click we have our own “house” When the adults were talking we giggled and locked our door
“Hmmm…unlock the door please” they said

But that’s no fun!

We can make a HUGE tent outside too in a tree that has pink flowers in the hot sun. It has a funny name. Grandma knows what sort it is.

Really fun this sort of Glamping

We just have to get to Grandpa and Grandma’s house….

“Please can we go mum”

Find me also on Facebook

Winter is on its way

Wishing with all my heart that I could paint…
Longing to paint and capture that emotion

Holding our youngest grandson recently

At one with the calm Australian bush scene before me

Quietly standing sheltered from the rain
Under the pattering metal roofed verandah

Falling big plops of rain
Dripping from the corrugated iron roof edge
Splashing on the bottom step
One footstep away

Little fingers outstretched and reaching
Little brain processing that new-found sensation
Cold rain in an endless stream of splashing
Splashing on a tiny hand

Watching
Escapee hens enjoying new-found freedom
Speckled, black, white
Iridescent red with browns
Leading endlessly long charmed lives
For now
No fox getting near enough for a taste

Escapee Long Legs

In the rain
Sparkling orbs of reflected light
Rain drops on lush green grass

Clucking hens pecking merrily away
Beady eyes endlessly searching
Then darting for that perfect morsel
Around and under and over
an abandoned for now toy car
Brightest of primary hues
Yellow, red and blue,
Little Tykes, a pedal powered car

Like a artists paint palette before us
Those vibrant and clashing hues
Eye popping in the ozone charged air

Nature versus man-made
It’s own tapestry creating

My arms were full of a sweet munchy little boy
…so precious

With no room for camera
…so sad

No candid shots today

Memory snap shots will have to suffice
So too that all surrounding Earthy, clean washed and lingering remembered scent

No “wow” for all the world to exclaim over

But

A simple still moment

Try it

Savour it

Food for the soul

Balm

Savour that moment today because these ever rolling years have wings and stop for none…they run without a pause button

Time is like a child, it runs

Indeed wings as I found.
This draft was prepared near a year ago and only published now

It was a time of rain

As the Flower of the field, it toils not nor spins…

Cherish each day

A last burst of summer sunshine to gladden the heart

Embrace the seasons and stages of life
Finding joy and beauty where you may

#savour-the-moment

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…