On a day when I hardly saw my back garden let alone Mount Warning, due to this mist and low cloud, I spent most of the day working on a university assignment, which is due this Wednesday.
During constant reading of any description, I find I need to take regular breaks, usually in the garden. What to do when it’s raining heavily outside? I baked a loaf of bread instead.
It’s been many years since I baked a loaf of bread, although I always bake a batch of hot cross buns every Easter. This year, I baked two batches, and they turned out so well I was inspired to try bread baking again.
I started simple, just a plain white loaf, and the result was a beautifully crispy golden crust and soft white bread inside.
It was a pretty good way to spend the final day of the Easter long weekend, here in the damp subtropics.
Husband is home today, doing a few touch ups before my office is put back how it should be. The kitchen renovation continues next week as well, and there’s a couple of places that need a touch of paint, so he’s getting into that as well.
Semester 1 of university started back this week so today I listened to a lecture and got into some required reading. It’s a blessing that the first week is never overly hectic! It also helps that I can access most of what I need for uni on my iPad.
Today the weather is humid. There’s no rain about but the valley looks rather dull. I took this photo earlier today, when the mountain was mostly visible. Now, it is hidden behind low cloud.
With just one more day of offical summer left though, the humidity should decrease from now on. We’ll see. Regardless of how many humid days we have had this summer, I can’t complain. It’s been a relatively cool summer for a change. 😊
This is something of an experimental post. I’m adding this content from my iPhone, with a photo taken on my iPhone. The mountain, yet again, is in hiding.
Yesterday morning I had a call from our floor covering people. The flooring I ordered before Christmas for my office had arrived. They’d had a cancellation on another instal planned for the day. Could they do my job, they asked?
Of course, said I, not realising they would arrive in fifteen minutes!
In a mad scramble, I removed as many books, sewing paraphernalia, office bits and bobs and furniture as I could. When the boys arrived to instal my new flooring, they helped me move the remaining contents of that room into the next room.
Currently, my dismantled computer awaits my attention in the other room. The room where my computer resides barely has floor space to walk on. What with boxes containing some of the contents of my kitchen already stored in that room, now the office contents have joined them. It’s bedlam.
How do people cope with moving house frequently? All I’m doing is renovating and I feel dreadfully disorganised. It’s so tiring!
But … the end of the kitchen renovation is in sight. By this time next week I will have benches, tiles and a sink with running water. I won’t know myself!
Meanwhile, I will plod through my disarrayed room, sort through the mess, and restore my desktop computer as soon as I can. 😊
Occasionally, I’m asked by my overseas blogging friends whereabouts I live in Australia. If you are anything like me, you have to Google a map to see where exactly the place is, and even then you are not completely sure you have it right.
So, when I came across this lovely old map of Australia recently, from the early 1900’s, I decided to leave an “X” on the spot of the map to show where I live, so that you can see my location, right on the coast of New South Wales, and bordering the state of Queensland.
The lovely blog where I found this map, “Knick of Time” has a huge number of gorgeous free printable downloads, and so much more including DIY projects! I haven’t had the time yet to wander through the whole site, that will have to wait until after the wedding we are having here in the garden in September, but I’m really looking forward to whiling away some time at “Knick of Time”, when I have the time!
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Just a brief update before I go, I spent the day with Adam and Mary yesterday, and they are doing much better now. There were still a few tears of course, but I think that they have reached a small turning point. We shopped for the wedding and they were even able to joke around a bit, and there were also some smiles. And thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the kind messages you have been leaving for me. You will never know how much your loving words, virtual hugs and support have meant to me during this sad time. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to every one of you for the kindness you have shown. xxx
I found this elegant photo on Facebook and love the complete image it portrays ~ the pine for Christmas just past, the subtle streamers for celebrating the New Year, and glasses of champagne, for a toast to the very best wishes for 2015 to friends and family.
As I begin to write today, I think it would be safe to say that the entire world has now welcomed in the New Year. I always feel that the promise of new beginnings, carried through on a wave of excitement into a new year, is perhaps the most magical time on the years calendar.
The thought of writing a list of New Year’s Resolutions leaves me rather cold, however. I prefer instead to feel my way to a higher level of wisdom, and for want of a way to describe my feelings, that is the best I can come up with!
The magic of this time of the year in Australia also lies also in long, lazy, hot summer days, taking a break from work, setting the usual routine aside, and relaxing. Since Christmas day, I haven’t cooked a real meal, we have lived instead off the left overs of cold Christmas meat, the occasional bar-be-que, and salads. We have mince pies in the cupboard, rum balls in the freezer, and oh, the chocolate! My indulgence in sweet treats will end shortly, then I will diet. 😉
My husband is at home every day, not doing anything in particular other than relaxing. He’s also reading a lot. I remember many years ago, a time when he simply hated me reading, feeling it took time away from our “together” moments, and I actually stopped reading for a while, just to keep the peace. How times have changed. After thirty-five years of marriage, he finally discovered the joy of reading for himself, perhaps initially with an attitude of “if you can’t beat them, join them”, and recently he confessed that he regretted the time he resented my books, and wished he had discovered the joy of reading sooner. Those few sincere words from my husband were a highlight of 2014 for me. We now enjoy our together time, sitting in the same room, on different comfortable chairs (it’s too hot to share a sofa during summer!) each reading the book of our choice.
Today is a photo-free day, just an opportunity to wish good health, good luck, happiness, blessings and love to all my friends, as 2015 begins.
I have a great feeling about this year….it’s going to be magical. ❤
In My World 