Moving Day

https://million-petalledflower.com/

I’ve been blogging for over ten years now, but at the end of last year, after years of “being pecked to death by ducks” (Maya Angelou) I crashed and burned into early retirement. So, this blog that was me, no longer feels like me. It just doesn’t fit who I am now, or rather who I am becoming now. I lost my mojo, here.

So, I am starting a new life https://million-petalledflower.com/  and in time, after those who might consider following me have had time to look up my new address, I will probably archive this site.

If we don’t meet again, well thank you for your friendship and love. What a great decade we have had together and I loved walking the blogging path with each and every one of you. Life goes on, and change is good for the soul, so I hope we meet again, and very soon.

Flamingo Dancer

xxxxx

Dreams are made of this

Last night, Peppercorn, now aged two and one quarter years, was having trouble sleeping. Her parents both had work today. So I gathered Peppercorn up in her Grobag/sleeping bag and carried her out to the balcony overlooking the river.

it was raining and we could hear the rain joining the river and see the lights of the high rises in the CBD disappear behind mist and fog. An event centre on the opposite river bank had string of lights, ending in a bright blue light that dazzled Peppercorn.

She cuddled into my arms and we chattered very softly under she started to yawn and rub her eyes, ready to settle back into sleep.

i know she won’t remember our night time moment, but I know I will for it was so precious. The city, the river and the rain as we sat together in the night shadows. Feeling very, very grateful and lucky today.

A view from my chair

After several tumultuous months we are seeing hope, peace and simplicity on our horizon. Today I have a superb view of the Brisbane River from my armchair in our Daughter’s apartment. It may be a cloudy day, but I have the river and all its sounds and activity, as well a couple of great books and a superb bottle of white chilling. All I have to do is prepare dinner!

If I get energetic, I can go downstairs and sit on the lawn and watch the world go by…

Happy fifth day of 2018

We had a lovely  Christmas and New Year  blessed with family and friends. One day we hosted a morning tea in the care home for MotherFD to share time with some of her siblings. It is such a joy interacting with my aunts and uncles now that I am mature too. Sadly, Mum is not too conscious of who they are, but they ignore and treat her as they always have. My niece’s little ones were present, and Mum did not take her eyes off them the entire time. She has never seized her love or concern for children. It was lovely to witness the connection.

The Saturday before Christmas, or Christmas Eve Eve, we Flamingo Dancers met to give out presents to our three precious grandchildren, one having his first Christmas. I bundles all sorts of gifts into one large box for each of them and so we had the delight of watching them dip into their box as they wished. Peppercorn (aged 2) insisted on wearing her pink tutu swimsuit the entire weekend, and I must admit that if you can’t wear your tutu swimsuit for Christmas at two, when can you?

Christmas Day was hosted by my niece and her family. She looked to every detail and I half expected to open a cupboard to find Martha Stewart and her clipboard check list inside.  It was incredibly hot weather, which was out of everyone’s control but it was a truly lovely day. It was lovely to see my grandchildren really interact with my sister’s grandchildren for the first time, as mine little ones are now aged 4 and 2 years, and the baby is 5 months  – he is a real heart breaker.

New Year’s Eve was a quite affair for Mr FD and I. We shared a Pimm’s at midnight and watched the Sydney and Brisbane fireworks on television. It was fairly quiet in our Village, but I did hear a few fireworks earlier in the night, which I think may have been illegal.

The end of the school holidays are only a fortnight away, but I am not returning to teaching. Life change, adventures await. We will see, what we will be…

 

by the road side

 

Arrived home from a brief interstate trip for a family funeral. The funeral was in a small country town in western New South Wales – just on the civilised side of the outback as far as I am concerned. It was a long car drive, with plenty of breaks for refreshment. The following photos are of a café at Bullarah, in New South Wales. It is situated next to a school, in what was once the local community hall. but by the look of the menu, we are guessing it is a very popular truck stop. Lots of high protein, greasy meals. Man meals.

A quirky little spot for a little break after a funeral. The café is in the little annex on the side.

 

And this is the view from the café

 

getting my big seasonal jollies

Finally got my jolly on. We’ve gone with a real tree this year – can you tell Christmas isn’t at our house this year? Norfolk Pines grow to 15 metres and now I have burdened the children with eternal care of “Grandma’s tree”. A new family tradition! Perhaps they can bury me under it one day.

And as an extra for your viewing bonus, this was the view from my front door today.

 

yeah, maybe, all of that…

Even after a second glass of wine, I can’t decide if this seedling sprouting from a discarded cleaning cloth on my potting table is a metaphor for how tough life has been lately, or to never give up, to keep trying no matter the environment.

I think it is a tomato seedling, once again proving that come the nuclear armageddon that we may still have tomatoes to feast upon. Just remember to pack the salt and pepper, and maybe a little olive oil, in your survival pack.

a house with a view and a plover

We have had some lovely spring rain and mild temperatures this year. Our garden has blossomed and we have enjoyed some plants flowering for the first time in the five years since we made our tree change.

The following photos are of the bauhinia shrubs ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhinia ) that I thought no longer had the will to live a few short weeks ago. They survive against the odds in the worst conditions, very shallow shaley soil on a stoney ridge.

 

And this is the view that I have from our living areas. The plover and its nest is circled in red.

plover circled

 

 

 

it is all about balance

Out and about today, so we lunched at an Organic Café. They were so organic that I was worried that they might check that I was wearing underwear made from natural fibres before they served me. I wasn’t so, thank goodness they didn’t.

We both settled for the totally vegetarian salad.

Hence dinner at home was this:

Augie ate his so fast, I couldn’t get a snap – even after I gifted him a second sausage!

this isn’t in the play book

I have a summer cold. This isn’t suppose to happen in my new happy ever after life. The only eucalyptus I can smell in on my tissues (Kleenex). It’s Mr FD’s fault. He has a chest infection.

To be fair, Petite Fille brought the virus into their home, and she shared it with her father and mother, and then with me, but I am quite sure that Petite Fille’s father passed the virus to Mr FD and then he incubated a more virulent version. After a night or six of coughing he passed his new improved germ cocktail to me. I am an innocent victim. Again.

Poor little Petit Garcon also has the cough, which is unfair when one is only 4 months old. Did I tell you that I have the most perfect little Flamingo Dancer grandson, ever? I do. Babies should be given germ protection for their first year because they just don’t understand. Life is cruel.

The summer weather is just heating up now, which is rather unusual, for most years we would have already had several weeks of “if it is so hot now, what will summer be like!” conversations. Our garden was almost dead from a warm dry winter, and we were planning memorial ceremonies for some beloved plants, but then the spring rains came and everything bloomed. We have some plants flower for the first time in the five years we have been in the country this spring.

Of course, it means Mr FD has to mow every three or four days. Plovers are having their second hatching in the middle of the lawn, and so the mowing only goes so far, before plover squawks alert Mr FD that he has gone as far as they will allow. I caught sight of him mowing with a long stick clutched in one hand the other day. Apparently if the Plover Pair are flying he eyeballs them, points the stick directly at them and they have second thoughts about their murderous intent.

We are a positive animal sanctuary – rabbits, hares, bush turkey, plovers, ibis, various parrots, magpies, bandicoots, wallabies, kangaroos. It is a hot bed of fecundity.

Luckily, Mf FD and I are too old for such things…