Blazing from Winter to Spring

In no time at all it will officially be Spring here in Australia!  

It already feels like it's here with longer days, warm breezes, 

and the smell of native daphne floating on the air.

Sharing here that transition from frost-chilled orange juice for breakfast and bonfires, 

to the buzzing of busy bees around a bottlebrush in balmy Bellingen!

  the cattle were inquisitive when we cleared a fence line and had a bonfire

Crimson Rosella


Native daphne or sweet pittosporum which I read is becoming a weed in some areas.  
Sad because the perfume is delicious

flowering pear blossom 

budding tulip tree against the moon 

Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata var. australis) ~ new pink growth.  
I'll tell you more about this wonderful tree soon.

bottle brush (don't ask me which one!)

I was listening to a program which spoke about the demise of the awareness of the seasons

because so many of us have air conditioned houses, cars and work places 

and so the seasons can pass without us feeling or noticing any change.

If this is the case, then I feel very sorry for those people

but I for one will keep on seeing and sensing the seasons

 and I'm pretty sure you will too!

Bye for now

Winter's Chill

I was up early, not from choice really, but because my dear husband went fishing, 

leaving home at 4 am.  So inevitably I too was awake!  

Breakfast, stoke the fire, shower, make the bed, check emails...still only 5.30am.

 Peek outside and it's cold.

A few weeks ago it was really cold around the south and east of Australia,

 but life got in the way of me getting in the car

 and driving an hour or so inland and uphill to the snow.

 So today I decided to go and check out the frost instead. 

I've got way too many photos here, but I'm not very good at culling!

And then on the way home you can see that time has passed

 and the frost has melted to a sunny day.

Smoke from winter burning off fills the horizon and melds the mountains seamlessly.  

It also helps to produce irresistibly colourful sunsets!

We were both home too late to enjoy the fruits of the day out on the water, 

but don't worry, fish was on the menu the next night!   

I know I should go too, but when you work together sometimes it's nice to do your own thing.

Do you go in different directions or enjoy similar hobbies?  Just wondering! 

Bye for now 

As you blog, so you are...

I need to get organised, have a routine, all that sort of stuff.  I'm intermittent with my blog posts just as I am intermittent with all the essentials in my life.  I write to do lists but I don't follow them.  

I read this post today from zen habits, and I'm going to give it a try...starting here with my blog. One post once a week.  Not too hard, right?  Wrong!  But I'll try it because if I can do that, then according to this post I'll gain in confidence and feel better about myself and so habits will become easier to follow.

So.....today this is what I noticed as I went about my day....

Do you have trouble with doing the things you need to do on a regular basis

 or are you an organised person?

I'm really interested to hear because it is something I struggle with

so any advice would be warmly welcomed!

You can't stop the waves......

Life is a series of waves, up and down, up and down.  

One of those 'downs' found my elderly Aunty unexpectedly taken into hospital.

Off I went some 3 hours south to the beach side town of Port Macquarie to visit her.

I arrived in the evening and as visiting hours were not until 10am

 I thought I would catch a beach sunrise the next day.  

Ha! Well, 6 am found me sitting in the car park staring through the rain spattered windscreen,

surrounded by VW campers and panel vans

 with their occupants still hidden from sight in sleeping bags.

 The sun crept tentatively into view, 

and unbeknownst to me so did the surfies .

But it wasn't long before there was a pitter patter and out came the umbrella.  

Those surfers had sneaked past me while I was engrossed in taking photos

 and there they were catching a wave in the rain!

Out popped the sun and for a while things looked up.

Clouds still hung threateningly on the horizon.

You never know what's around the corner.  

There was just time for me to grab a quick coffee and a bite of breakfast 

before heading into the hospital where Aunty was so happy to see me.

She told me how wonderful the ambulance officers had been

and we laughed when I recounted my beach adventures.

"You can't stop the waves  ~   but you can learn to surf."

Quote by John Kabat-Zinn