Peaceful end to a lovely day out.

OK everyone, it really is time to get home. The sun's going down, the chooks need locking up and the dog will be getting hungry.  Hop in and let's go!
(In case you missed parts one and two of our day out in the New England Tablelands of New South Wales, please have a look here )

The last rays of sun stream through the trees to our west, as we drive east

No more roo's to be seen, even around aptly named Kangaroo Hills Creek.  

Early evening is a time you need to be very careful to look out for them on the road.

Too dark for any more photos, and here we are at home now.

 Well, thank you so much for the company.  It's been lovely to have you come along.

Bye Bye, I have to go and feed the dog now, he's not a happy chappy!

PS

Do you have a favourite place to go for a day out that's within reach but still feels like a bit of an adventure?  I'd love to hear about it.

Heading home

Ready to get back in the car and head east towards home?  Good, so am I !  

For those of you who missed the journey so far check it out here

The hint I gave as to what we would be seeing was simply animals, cattle, sheep & horses of course.

Quick or you'll miss them....  

These roos are ready to jump the fence for greener pastures!

Stopping for a photo break beside the road where a side road joins ours.  

It's not as bad as it looks!  The cattle truck waits for the gravel truck to pass...phew!

Drama averted, and oh what a view.  Going on 5.45pm, the light is glorious.

This journey is taking longer than I thought....

 so I think we will have to carry on to a Part Three.

Glad to have you along so far, and hope you'll come back for hopefully the last leg next week.  

See you then!  

Bye for now

Back on track

A bolt from the blue found me in hospital with a mystery illness last month.  

I'm back on track now thanks to wonderful care from the nurses & doctor 

 in our lovely little local hospital and of course from my beautiful family & friends.

It certainly brings things into perspective though 
and makes you realise what's important in life.

So yesterday I met up for a picnic lunch with my son and family in the little town of Guyra

some 100 kms to the west of us, and about half way between Brisbane and Sydney.  

Guyra is the highest town on the New England Tablelands of N.S.W. 

at 1330 metres (4363 feet) above sea level. 

Autumn colours there are in full swing.

The usual hour and a half journey home took way way longer
 as I stopped constantly to take photos!

The country is quite dry here so colours stand out in all their vibrancy

 against the dry vegetation.

I am at risk of becoming boring......(I warned you I took lots of photos!)

so I think I will continue on my journey home next time.  

The photo above gives a hint of what's ahead.

Bye for now

Eyes open to beauty

My daughter gave me a  box of affirmations "Up the Garden Path"  from Affirmations, made locally in beautiful Bellingen.  The words for today were:

'Greet each day 

with your eyes open to beauty,

 your mind open to change,

and your heart open to love.' 

Paula Finn

I reckon I've done just that today!  Come on and join me......

I was up early and I could see by a glance out of the kitchen window

 that it was going to be something special.

 

So I headed up the hill camera at the ready and Cobba the dog

 running up the pathway ahead as usual!

The moon was still in view 

and this parrot seemed as though it was flying straight into the sun.

 

I turned my back to the sun and watched as my long shadow

 reached down to the trees across the paddock.

The warm rays of the morning sun turned the dry wintery western hills gold.

Cobba snuck off to seeing what was going on at the neighbour's place.

My eyes were drawn back into the hazy glare of the new day.

And I could hear the buzzing of bees around the old plum tree.

A pee wee sat atop the highest branch and dared the other birds to come near.

Translucent petals shone against the sky.

The bees were in heaven!

And it felt like I nearly was too!  

Isn't it great when an ordinary day turns out to be extraordinary? I think, as the  opening words say, it can be as simple as being open to the possibility.

Would love to hear what you think makes a day special.

I'm beginning to see the light.

I have been floundering with my blog since I decided to have a break from selling my potato jewellery. 

Why am I blogging if not to showcase my wares?  I have always enjoyed blogging, but now it seems to have no purpose.  

I read two fabulous and inspiring blog posts, one from Tasha Chawner, and one from Catherine at Foxglove Lane.  They both set me in a spin, and got me thinking.

So when I woke up the next morning and looked out of the window, 

a mist enveloped my world, but unlike most dull misty mornings,

this one was seared by sunlight.

 I was drawn outside, away from the warmth of the fire

and the early morning coffee.

I woke the startled dog from his sleep in his cosy kennel

 and closed the garden gate behind me.

  

The distant sun-glow beckoned me towards it, out across the hill paddock, 

under the fence, to the trees beyond.  The dog was way ahead!

Magpies were warbling, kookaburras cackling, 

rosellas reeling with delight in the morning air.

Like my mind, the spiky branches were a tangled mass

 ~  muddled, darting in all directions ~ a blur.

Suddenly in a flash, fingers of light were thrusting through the trees

 in an ordered fashion ~ not chaotic, all over the place ~  

but directed, purposeful and....yes, stunningly beautiful.

Everything seemed to fall into place.

It all became clear.  I could see above the mist.
  

I wandered back across the fields to home. 

Back in our sunny kitchen my husband was making a cuppa.

"I've had a wonderful walk and taken loads of photos" I said  

"and best of all, I've worked out why I'm blogging!"  

"Because you love it" was his instant reply!  

He knew all along, I just never asked.

Thank you too, Tasha and Catherine!

We need space sometimes to soak up what may be obvious to others.  

A good walk always enables me to sort out my mind.  How about you?