This morning at daybreak Mount Warning stood under cloud as far as the eye could see. It’s been a cold day today with no rain, however the cloud lingered for most of the day.
Yesterday morning at around the same time I took today’s photo – just after 6:30 am – the valley looked completely different.
This is yesterday –
The colours, the light on the mountain, the mist in the valley – if ever there was a contrasting photo of the same landmark, this is it.
I took several photos yesterday, all of which are self-explanatory.
I particularly like the next photo. The funnel of “mist” in the valley could be mistaken for a steam train driving along the valley floor. It is actually the steam emitted from the Condong Sugar Mill, where the harvested cane is taken for processing.
On days when there is a thick layer of mist in the valley, the atmosphere is different. I can’t explain it, but it feels “other-worldly”. It’s on days like these when I realise the power of Nature, and the significance of The Universe.
On the mornings when the mist rolls in and changes my world, I realise also how very small I am in the big scheme of things.
She made it! The Queen of my pets, beautiful Phoebe, celebrated her twentieth birthday on Sunday. Or should I say her people-family celebrated for her. I’m sure Phoebe thought it was just another day of sleeping, eating and having snuggles with her people.
Phoebe gave us quite a scare just over a week ago. We thought she wouldn’t see her twentieth – that’s ninety-six in human years – but after spending a night at the vets on an intravenous drip containing fluids and antibiotics, she came home again the next day. She amazed our wonderful vet by pulling through! He was convinced we’d all but lost her.
I wasn’t convinced. I needed to find out the problem before I could make that unmentionable decision. And I’m so glad I did.
She’s still on medication for a severe infection, but look at her now – bright-eyed, happy, and purring with contentment.
Phoebe was born on the 3rd February 1999. My kids – who were all still little ones at that time – found her in a pet shop. How could any of us resist her? We brought her home with us in April 1999, and she’s ‘grown up’ with my children, various dogs, birds, cats who have lived here temporarily when one of my children have moved back home, and she takes our busy household in her stride.
For the first ten years that we had Phoebe she was an outdoor cat, venturing out every morning, returning home either when it rained, or it was time for dinner. After she came indoors for her meal, that’s where she stayed for the night, usually curled up on the end of my bed. When we started to notice her panic when we let her outdoors, we decided to keep her inside. We’ve been told that she probably started to lose her eyesight around that time. And in the last couple of years we’ve noticed her hearing isn’t the best either. When the arthritis set in, she stopped jumping up onto my bed at night, but she still loves to curl up on a comfy chair.
It would be lovely if Phoebe made it to another birthday, and maybe she will. But for now, I’m just so thankful she’s well. And happy. ❤
As the year 2019 begins, my family is happy, which is all that I have wished for.
This time last year though, I had a different story to tell, although it wasn’t a situation I wished to talk about at the time. On the day of my grandson’s first birthday in July, my daughter-in-law ceremoniously decided she was leaving, moving one-thousand kilometres away, to live with her parents. My son had two choices – stay here and lose his son, or follow his wife, which was really no choice at all. Obviously, he left too.
To be married in March 2019.
For the next six months, I didn’t see my grandson. My son, however, couldn’t cope with being away from his family. He was torn between his birth family, and the one he had created. So in desperation, he tried living and working here during the week, and flying home to his other family for the weekend.
It was a massive strain on him. He was miserable. And I knew there were problems in his marriage.
Fun for the family, Christmas 2018.
As Christmas approached, I felt absolutely no enthusiasm. I felt my youngest son’s pain, and at times I felt as if my heart was bleeding for him. Consequentially, I didn’t buy any Christmas gifts, I gave my family money and asked them to spend it as they pleased.
The Christmas tree looked so bare without the usual array of gifts, but when my family arrived that situation changed as brightly packaged gifts began to mount beneath the tree.
Meeting the right person at the right time! ❤ Christmas 2018.
During the afternoon, we all went outside for a photo session. My heart wasn’t in it though, my son would be missing from the photos. It would be a permanent reminder of the unfortunate split in our family.
At one point, my eldest daughter and her husband handed each family member an envelope, instructing us to open our envelopes together. I imagined I would read my card later, once I had gone inside and had put my reading glasses on. But that all changed when I took out the card, which read –
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
jingle all the way …
Oh what fun
It is to say,
A baby is on the way!
Due to arrive
August 2018.
I was going to be a Nana again!
Many reasons to smile again …
Fast forward to Christmas 2018 – My youngest son is home again. His ex had chosen another significant day to ceremoniously (again!!) announce the end of their marriage on their third wedding anniversary. But this year, he’s smiling again.
My auntie dunked me!
My boy is back.
My family are all friendly with one another again, just like they used to be (before the x joined the family).
Aunt Em loves me!
And most importantly, my grandson was here to help his four-month-old baby cousin, Aurora Ebony, celebrate her first Christmas. 🙂
Aurora’s Mummy and Daddy getting into the spirit of Christmas.
I think the photos speak louder than any words I could choose.
And in 2019, we have two weddings to look forward to! My eldest son is to be married in March, followed by my youngest daughter who will be married in April. ❤
Christmas 2018 photo session. 🙂
A year ago, I couldn’t write about my life, or my family. This year, we have everything to celebrate!
I’ll be Flower Girl at my Aunt Em’s wedding in April!
I wanted to share this brief version of the story of my 2018 to let anyone who is suffering know that nothing stays the same. Change is inevitable. And there is always hope for a better future.
Uncle Ben and Braxton.
For 2019, I wish everyone a year of happiness, a year of joy, good health and prosperity. A year where even if your life isn’t going completely to plan, know that there is always hope for a brighter future. xx
Watching the New Year’s Eve fireworks on TV with Nana and Poppy. NYE 2018.Baby Aurora, New Year’s Day 2019.
If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail. ~~ Heraclitus
It’s been an age since I added any new content to my blog or visited any of my blogging friends (again!) but I am still around, still writing, and still trying to fit too many activities into the limited number of hours within each day.
Over Christmas and the new year I am taking a break from university study. I still have another month before my next semester begins, and now the chaos of Christmas is over I can collect my thoughts, attend to long overdue chores, and get my life back on track again.
This afternoon, I downloaded photos I’d taken during the past three months. As always, some photos turned out beautifully, some were blurred, and there were a couple of unexpected images.
I decided to share one surprise photo today.
We live on quite a long block of land and way down the back, in our next door neighbour’s yard, is a beautiful Jacaranda tree. Every spring, the tree treats us to a beautiful array of lilac flowers, so when it was in full bloom in October I zoomed the tree into focus when I could see what I thought was a common crow sitting on one of the tree’s branches.
A distinctive feature of the Drongo is the fish-like tail – very unusual in a bird. In all the years I have been taking photos of my backyard feathered friends this is only the second time I have seen and photographed a Spangled Drongo.
The features of the bird are not very clear in the photo, other than the deep black colouring and the fish-tail, so I have added a link for if you wish to take a closer look at this unusual bird. I’m sure you will enjoy the beautiful flower-foliage of the Jacaranda tree as well.
I don’t know when I will get back to regular blogging, but I have a tentative New Years Resolution for 2019 – to add a new post once a week.
In My World 