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

Memories flitting through my brain as I do my pile of ironing this beautiful autumn morning, like moving grains of sand on a beach. There one moment then gone. Like life, fleeting.

Little boy’s words….in tunnel driving to airport with two and a half year old little boy in back seat saying over and over

“point…point….point…point”

????

Ah Hahhh!

…..There were green arrows on the roof of the tunnel pointing up ( it seemed) showing all lanes open

Daddy cutting grass…Little boy….”lowing mawn” and putting his ear “muffins” on…Ear muffs for the noise.

Me, Grandma, pointing out a huge crane on a building site as we drove to airport ,
Little boy stating……WOW…
Grandpa do, Grandpa do…
He was stretching out his arms showing how BIG the crane was. Only problem being, grandpa was driving and couldn’t stretch out his arms wide.

Little boy not wanting an afternoon nap, kept wandering out with lots of excuses, last one being as he carried out a big book open wide …”story?”

Memories, of a now adult oldest daughter, when about 6 years old saying to me with my red dress on…mummy you look like a princess….priceless …love you too.

Chatting by phone to the same daughter today. She asked her little boy if he wanted to speak to Grandma…NO….he wanted to come and SEE Grandma. Cute boy!… I think I’m allowed to be a little bit biased though:)

Years ago my husband helping a friend carry an old Auntie in a fireman’s lift ….crossed arms and hands clasped on wrists down flights of stairs in flats in Germany to get her to car.

Little cousins and friends who are now adults, playing, running and sliding down monstrous sand hills near Robe S.A. and getting caught in a wind sand storm…older cousins helping younger cousins escape. Clothes full of sand.

Running home from school in Germany as a little 6 year old because I was so scared of the rumbling line of tanks on a local cobbled street in Lampertheim Germany. They were the American occupying forces on a manoeuvre and seemed monstrous to a little shy girl.

How memories flit through our brain, random and without order, rhyme or reason…but yes , there quite often is a reason or triggers. Yesterday glancing through an old diary of my mother’s going back more than 20 years make for memories.

9th of May , and a spring day in Germany still very cold but wanting to wear a white with little green patterns summer dress . It had ties at the shoulders and came with a red puffed sleeve blouse. My mother had made it for my 6th birthday.

Looking with soft heart at a photograph of my mother’s house where she spent teenage years. My mother had described it in words but this was my first actual pictorial view.

Heppenheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany

Being told of the exciting news of a first grandchild to be.

Holding with awe our first grandchild, and another and another. Six precious beings from teens to babes.

Enjoy and savour the beauty of this day or find something to hold onto that creates a thought of peacefulness.

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

Contents and photos by Alexa.
Till later…

Linking up for IBOT…I blog on Tuesdays with Essentially Jess

Vintage drawing courtesy “Graphics Fairy”

Driving to the hairdresser early this morning I had to remind myself that we now have a new school opened in a local street. Note to self was “watch out for the low speed zone” whereas for the last 20 something years we just drove without thinking…

…and so my mind wandered….

It happens again, the long summer break school holidays, or vacation as they say in other parts, have ended in Australia. Our older grandchildren went back Tuesday before last so as to be able to complete the required number of weeks of education for the various exams. The younger ones the week after.

So sad to see the end of fun and relaxation. A time for the minds to wind down, for families to regroup and refocus again. For extended families to catch up and reconnect. Little cousins with older cousins, siblings, aunts and uncles, mums and dads, grandparents and friends. Mentoring time.

A slowing down and de-stressing. No bus to be on time for, no school bell to hurry for, no constant homework and assessments to schedule for, no sporting activities to be fitted in and uniforms always washed and gotten ready for.

Now holidays don’t have to cost a fortune! There’s so many family friendly activities. Just do research, ask around organise yourself to take food and drinks from home and you’ll all be right. Besides saving a bundle of money your children will feel more nourished and sustained by the home cooking. Eat at a fast food outlet and you’ll all feel hungry again very quickly due to the sugar spike.

Carry this over to back to school. Having appointments or activities like swimming after school? Plan your day and have sustaining after school snacks with you to be devoured on the way to wherever you are off to!… And for mum too….

At times, with the children cook with them and discuss a plan for a theme like a Mexican or Chinese meal.

For home schoolers this can incorporate learning about the culture or geography and history of that country. The learning to make and prepare a new recipe is adventurous but make sure it’s children taste friendly….In this way you are passing on skills….life skills, as mentioned in a previous post. The best part being that they won’t even notice that it’s a lesson….

” care enough to train a child, not merely treat them to a good life” Dr. Tim Elmore.

But as with all things, special things are only special because they happen sometimes and by looking forwards to them. If we always ate chocolate it wouldn’t be such a delight. Yum yum.

If we always lived by the beach I am sure it would become commonplace, and also, we would not notice the great beauty of our surroundings…

EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

Let’s not become complacent about things in general. Can you see the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Bye for now
Alexa

Beach photos belong to Alexa-asimplelife , written by Alexa.
Vintage drawing courtesy http://thegraphicsfairy.com

Memories… walking through fields of grass  

Photo courtesy Proven Winners

Son newly practicing  his abseiling skills using the huge gum tree in our yard with all his ropes and tackle instead of the cliffs and canyons.

Same son lying on lounge in his suit utterly spent after a gruelling day at American Consulate for his interview to migrate? and live in USA to be with his now wife.

At Sydney Airport with family saying our goodbyes with tears  in our hearts. Son and his wife entering restricted area for  Customs where we could not follow but only look and observe them walking away as they returned to USA….a little 2 year old voice calls out plaintifly…. “come back!!!!” . Our son told us later it was the hardest thing he had to do to keep walking and not look back. As I write this it makes me tear up again.

Son writing some poetry…I saw a quote recently…”Poetry is Code” . That must be why he is a programmer.

The smiles on daughters and sons in law faces  at the birth of their dear children.

Me knocking on daughter’s locked front door- knock, knock,knock….little voice from the other side calling “mummy” , footsteps running,  “grandma.”

Me carrying a restless unhappy  little boy who is trying to wake up properly. Whistling occasionally as I walk around among big gum trees  in the still Australian bush beyond the back fence-line …a little voice pipes up “Music”

Me going for a walk in the same still bush on last day of this year with 2 little boys, cousins, trying to find where the tractor that we can hear chug chugging away is. We find it, and holding my hands we just stand there listening and watching from  a distance…chug chug chug, a tractor connected to pump water from a dam for the cows….Very soon its time to go back for tea. One little boy runs to a huge tree and tries to hug  and climb it. Arms are MUCH too little so I lift him up and he walks up the tree horizontally… up and up, way above my head. Another voice pipes up “me too, me too”. So up we go and again and again till grandma’s arms wear out!

“Grandma, God is little cause he can come under the door…he can see everything”.

…and a little funny one, “Grandma can you lick the gravy off my meat I don’t like gravy” from someone quite a few years ago now

Life is full of memories or is it the other way round, memories are life