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

Starting out once again.....

I seem to keep on starting
I guess it's better than stopping
  It's just that I start and stop
 and can't seem to keep going

You can see that my last few weeks

 have been full of sunshine and showers

just like any week

any lifetime really.

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How have you been going since the last time we met?

Would love to know. 

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?

~ Time for a Change of Direction ~

That's right....

There's no easy way to say this so I'll just blurt it out.

I'm taking a break from my Potato Jewellery for a while.

There, I said it!! 

Life has thrown a whole lot of other things my way recently and something has to give. Spuds are very generous souls, and so they put their hands up to say, "We'll take a back seat for a while Jane, while you do whatever else you have to.  We'll be around when you feel like coming back to us."  OK ~  well thank you my potato partners.  You have helped make my decision a lot easier. 

However, don't think for a minute that you will get rid of me that easily!  I've got photos to share that are just jumping out of their seats, shouting "Choose me, choose me!!"

So that's what I'll be doing, sharing photos and thoughts along the way.  Would love you to pop by when you can and join me.

I'm sure you've found at some stage that you can't keep those juggling balls up in the air all of the time.  How have you coped with this dilemma?  Would love you to share your ideas for making life's journey a bit smoother.