#2497 Heat and Rain

And then summer came.

Last week, heater. Even, colds, or something was lingering in our household.

Today, HEAT. It was glorious, but it’s come on quickly so there has been some very sudden adjustments.

But there was a moment of symmetry today, that really made me think…

Because it was sunny, ALL DAY. I do a little walk near the school before pick-up, so as I approached the lolly-pop man crossing, a strong clap of thunder threatened from above.

What? Thunder? Sure there were clouds up there, ominous too, but it was sooo warm!

Surely there wouldn’t be any rain on such a gorgeous day. Not here anyway.

We got to the car and all was good. Mondays we go straight to swimming from school, because baby girl has a class at 4pm.

We were in the car and suddenly, I could hear spots on the car. Some massive drops appeared near the open window, and we quickly closed it.

OK, sure. There was some light rain passing. That’s all it was.

But these drops, they were BIG! They were thick, they made an impact when they crashed down.

Within minutes, the sky was dark and it was pouring. We were driving and marvelling how we had been so hot and bothered only minutes earlier, and now we were driving to swimming and we were literally swimming in it ourselves! We had to do a dash inside, getting splattered with heavy raindrops all over, and we just kept shaking our head at the craziness of Melbourne weather.

But… later, it made me think.

Earlier today, I had sent my manuscript off to someone… and this manuscript that I have slaved and stressed over for weeks now, well it has a scene in it where the rain comes down hard and heavy out of nowhere…

And I went huh? What are the odds?

I don’t know, but it felt awfully coincidental, symmetrical, super weird, that we were kinda acting out a scene from my book, on the day it went out to… someone.

What are the odds?

Rain is release. Letting go. Things getting unveiled, brought to the surface.

Replenishing. Renewal. Rejuvenation.

Let’s hope it’s also means Reward. 🙏

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

#2213 The other end of the bay

Still on beach posts, but you gotta admit the photos are pretty. 😍

It was an overcast, cloudy and humid day, and yet those conditions still made it practically perfect beach weather. There was a mildly gentle breeze, and without the sun directly blaring down on us, it felt sublime.

I had the idea to walk all the way down to the end of the beach, until the tip of the alcove coastline as it were. So we walked.

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And it was different. Beach boxes still adorned the sand, but they grew fewer in quantity, whereas the trees and sloping green landscape rose in abundance. A few small staircases leading down from the grand clifftop houses above appeared out of nowhere, only visible to the immediate eye, and it really did feel like our own private beach.

It was simply lovely to view our local from a different vantage point. An essential life skill I think. 🤔😉

#2206 Holiday vibes are on

We’ve been on holiday together for almost a week, and still hadn’t managed to get a beach day in.

Well with like another 6 days of HOT weather ahead of us (cheers Melbourne 🥂😎) we’ll be sure to fix that, AND we started today.

• 

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Holiday vibes (it’s the catchphrase these holidays folks) continued later, when we headed down to Southland for some food and $10 cocktails from TGIs, only to follow it with some intense driving games that had baby girl screaming!

Looking forward to more 💖🙏

#2156 Angel bracelet

When I’m working from home I try to encourage baby girl to get outside, play with the cat, or do something creative… anything to get her away from the ipad (even though it still happens).

I worked today…

but Mister F was having an adventure and it was super hot out in the sun.

So she got creative and started making bracelets from one of the many kits she’s received recently. She sits quietly and loves putting different bead and letter combinations together, and I swear if we were to put all her home-made bracelets together (remember the looms?) she’d have over 100!

But I love it. It’s creative, I don’t care. Let there be 200!

She said she was making me one, and came and measured the string against my wrist. I cut it to size for her and then went back to work, and soon, she showed me her beautiful work.

Awww! And you know what I said to her?

“Isn’t that funny? You think I’m an angel, but you’re the real angel.” 💖😇

#1470 Mills Beach Love no. 5

Make the most of every last summer day!

(WAAAAAAHHHHHH!)

Not summer day, as in seasonal… summer day, as in HOT.

Which is what we, and a billion other people who came to our seaside, did today. 🙂

#1431 An easy shop

An easy shop. It doesn’t mean items come to you easily, or simply pop out at you, begging to you as you’re walking along saying “pick me! Pick me!”

Rather, it’s the casual intention of the shop. To wander. To browse. To take your time. To go wherever your feet lead you.

We didn’t know where we would end up today, but after seeing the intense haze and smelling the burning smoke this morning from home, we knew the destination WASN’T going to be outside.

Indoors it was. And what better place to escape heat and smoke haze than at a shopping centre?!

It was good. It wasn’t stressful because we weren’t madly trying to find things to no avail like what usually happens when we wait until the last minute to find something for an event… we were just walking around, looking here and looking there, and because we weren’t intently on the search for anything, we actually found things we were after!

AMAZING!

Shopping moral of the story? Don’t look for anything… meander, and it will come to you. ♥

#1403 When they don’t know I’m watching

I stood on the balcony this evening enjoying the cool breeze that was making this heatwave of a day that much more bearable.

I could hear them in the backyard though – Hubbie and baby girl. I went to the side of the balcony to look over at them, and started to watch.

Have you ever done that? Watched your family or a loved one when they didn’t know you were there? I spied Hubbie watering the garden with baby girl…

Or trying to.

I saw the clever way in which he let her ‘overflow’ the bucket of water on dry patches of grass and near where plants needed watering…

I watched as she filled the bucket, then watered plants, happily looking at him for acknowledgement and a pat on the back…

I watched all this for maybe two whole minutes. Hubbie was the first one that saw me up high around the corner, and he laughed.

No doubt he was thinking how I’d been watching him manage our 6 year-old daughter, with a hose on a hot day…

Almost impossible to do 😉

#1354 Summer salads – quinoa, mango and tomato medley

It ain’t Summer yet, but the weather is definitely warming up, making it the perfect time to start making fresh, healthy and inciting meals that take stock of some Summer staples.

The ‘salad’ I made today could well be a meal on its own – and why not? On those hot days when you just can’t be bothered turning on the heat, well this recipe uses minimal, and combines a lot of great flavours, all fresh and warm and contrasting, so that it really equals a surprisingly filling yet healthy meal.

Oh and there’s coriander. There are some people that hate it… but we are not those people.

Hubbie LOVES coriander. And I gotta say I enjoy the fresh and mild flavour it gives off too.

Looking forward to a hot summer, with some stunning salads, like the above 😉

 

#1227 Tuesday ‘me’ day

You know what I am remembering Winter is good for? Other than sleep-ins, hibernation and lots of hot drinks and soups?

Catching up on things.

This can include long put-off tasks, all the way down to minor speedbumps that have been nagging you for a while.

Catching up, also includes necessary time to replenish yourself.

Therefore it was a bit of everything today and none whatsoever was expected AT ALL.

I got a coffee after I filled the car with petrol in the morning after school drop-off, because…

a) $1 coffee

6) convenience

%T) 5 degrees anyone? Brrr.

I wrote, I almost completed my second online writing course (!), I found out good things, and I planned for more of my novel…

I purged too. I burnt something that was no longer of use to me, and I found it most therapeutic…

And finally on a last-minute whim, I realised I had ample time up my sleeve tonight (WHAT?!?!) and had a long and hot bath with magnesium crystal salts to rejuvenate and awaken not just my body, but my soul too.

Ahhh.

Like I said, not really planned, none of it expected. But I think these cold and crisp days allow us to turn inwards a lot more readily that we normally do, and we ask ourselves perhaps the most important question of all…

What can I do for myself today.?

Moreover, “what can you do for yourself?”

 

#1155 The risktaker

What is it like to live with a risktaker?

What is it like, when that person is your husband?

They can be spontaneous. Things happen suddenly, plans change, and you have to learn to just go with the flow, and roll with the waves.

They get passionate. Passionate about big things, but little things too. Life. Music. That green shirt. Grass. It is all or nothing. The passion brings about great satisfaction and joy, but in lack of it, the days can sometimes drag on.

With passion comes the sure-fire heat. And not the type that comes from a stove. I am talking the heat of conversation, the explosiveness of words, the fuel that comes tunnelling forth with great news… and the disappointment that has to unleash with the bad.

Things are always ‘happening.’

Baby girl said to me a while back “you have to be a risktaker.” I was surprised to hear those words from her, until I realised where they had come from.

It was from school, the day before their ‘try popcorn and pineapple’ day.

But when Hubbie is a risktaker, he does things like this:

Over 20 years post his days of climbing monkey bars. Never mind this followed some ‘casual’ drinks. Never mind he was wearing sandals that he could have toppled over in.

Never mind that our daughter was watching him with awe and amusement.

The statement “Don’t try this at home” suddenly had a whole new meaning.

“Don’t try this at school!”

But there is good. More good, than even all of the above mentioned.

Because with risktaking, there is hardly any emphasis of failure. Sure, a healthy dose of fear is there, it is natural… but it isn’t the main focus.

It is just ‘let me try this’ and if it doesn’t work out, then –

“Oh well. Now I know.”

In risk taking, you aren’t left wondering what could have been. Risk taking requires self-confidence, and being your own support group, so you can rev yourself up to go out there, reach high, and try to jump to the sky…

Much like Hubbie did today.

On the outside, as I scolded him and told him to get down, with a smiling baby girl looking up at him beside me, I may have seemed disapproving.

But in all honesty, I want her to be a risk-taker too.

And, so do I.