trees – carcrashgratitude

#2362 Park holi-days

It’s been lovely to get in a few nicer Winter days as of late.

Sure, they will probably end tomorrow… but this morning baby girl requested a park visit, and my work-during-school-holidays Mum guilt is rife and strong, so I couldn’t say no.

Just as well, as the rest of the week the weather looks terrible. I’ll try to sneak in as many of these little visits here and there, to make her happy and satisfied on her 2-week break.

Also, those blue skies look pretty beautiful against those bright green trees, right? 😍😍

It takes concerted effort to do things that feed your soul. Often if we just go with the flow, although there’s a certain relaxing element to it, we can lose sight of our days, our weeks, and time can easily slip away.

I’ve been wanting to go to the Dandenong Ranges for ages now. I’m always reminded of it in Autumn, one of the most beautiful times of the year… especially for a place with so many trees and variety of them.

We scheduled it in, and it finally happened today. We spent a lovely day in the hills, crunching leaves under our feet, walking into boutique shops, and eating the afternoon away.

It was way too short, so next time we’ll make it an overnight stay. 😁😁

#2277 Thank God it’s Friday

It is cold.

I can hear trees rustling in the wind, and their branches squeaking against the fence.

CCs sit reliably next to me. (🤣)

Yes. Yes, it must be Friday.

Some weeks are easier, some are harder. This one just past felt long.

I am soooo enjoying this Friday.

All I can think is yes, it’s Friday.

Yes, it’s Friday. And I will sit here, bundled with a throw on the couch, watching Dawson’s Creek, snacking, playing wordle and heardle and any other -dle game you wanna throw at me, ’til I grow sleepy, then I’ll lazily go up to bed.

Friday. 💖

#2103 Tree be gone!

We had a VERY interesting knock on the door last night just before dinner.

I opened it to find a woman and a little girl on the other side of the security door. She introduced herself as the backyard neighbour, pointing towards the back of our house, and immediately the wheels in my head threw themselves forward into motion, propelling into the future with the amazing, beautiful, so very, very longed for words…

“And just letting you know that some guys will be around tomorrow to cut down the big tree.”

Ahhh! Angels sing!

This tree, or should I call it the haven of monster bird shit, has been hanging over our backyard fence since we’ve been living here… it’s so huge, it’s probably been an eyesore for a good couple of decades.

It isn’t actually in our yard, oh no, or else we would have conveniently ‘tended’ to it by now. This is in our backyard neighbours backyard, and it sits right near the fence line… it’s so huge, it shadows over a corner of our backyard, and it just so happens to also hang over the clothes line.

A big tree. Over a washing line. Can you see why this thing causes me such pain?

The bird crap!

So often I put out washing and come back the next day to find bird poo on it. Do you know how painful that is? To wash something, only to have to wash it again, because a bird is sitting and shitting from a tree that hangs over your clothes line, and it isn’t even your freaking tree?

ARGHHHHH!

AMAZINGLY, one section of this tree actually broke off during the freakish storms we had here a few weeks ago, and more AMAZINGLY, it didn’t fall or damage any of their neighbouring yards or fences (or ours), instead smashing their trampoline… but I mean hey, it is their tree. 🤷‍♀️

We saw the tree had a particular lean after the storm, and were hoping against hope that they would like, you know, try to cut it down or something before the whole thing fell and damaged them or us. But like I said, this thing is enormous. If they hadn’t cut it down by now, would they even care?

And yet, here was this lady, telling us THEY DID CARE.

I swung the door right open when I heard the wonderful words from her mouth. All 3 of us were there at the door, expressing our gratitude ‘for letting us know’ and talking about how it was probably in their best interest to get rid of it seeing as it was a danger to them, you know…

As soon as we closed the door, we were literally jumping up and down and high-fiving.

The tree was going down!

Today, as I worked from home, I heard the machinery start up just past 11am.

And now I will provide the photos… start to finish.

You can see in the first photo there is a small gap on the far right… that was full of branches and leaves, before a section fell off. See how huge it still is!

I have to say, I was severely distracted, and not just because of the noise… I was too damn happy to work, I had to see the sucker go down!

And look, I am 100% a fan of trees and nature, really truly I am. We have planted plants and shrubs that border the entire perimeter of 3 sides of our home, so we will be providing bird, animal and insects a great place to visit over the years as they grow taller.

But this was an eyesore, plain and simple, and SEVERELY overgrown.

I think we’re not the only ones celebrating today… I think our neighbours a few blocks back might even get a glimpse of the water now! Amazing!

We are so happy. The amount of light this will let into our home is a real game changer. Mister F won’t know what hit him when he goes for his morning stroll tomorrow. 🤣

#2050 Spring walk

I love these kind of days. The weather just ‘springs’ up on you.

Like today. I came home from grocery shopping, and suddenly it was clear to me why the shops had been dead… clearly everyone was outside!

It was simply stunning. Blue skies dotted with wispy clouds, the warm air gently breezing over…

So after lunch, we did our own Spring walk.

And the curvy tree-lined paths and shimmering waters, get me EVERY TIME. 😍

#2010 Springtime at night

Ahhh.

About an hour ago we stepped outside to take our cat Mister F to bed… 💖😻

And the scent of springtime just HIT ME.

It came from our neighbours’ trees, overlooking the side of our house and almost hanging over the fence. Branches mostly bare, but oh my, the tips were bursting with white and pink buds, just sparkling in the night sky.

So, so beautiful.

#1996 Post workout ritual

Today I headed back to the Loft.

Once again I was overcome with emotion at the last part of the session, the relaxation/meditative element if you will, that follows the main yoga-exercise part. Once the session is over our teacher gets us to pick a card from a spiritual deck, and read the message that we have been drawn to read.

I read mine over twice, letting it sink in.

It was all about ‘The Space Between.’ How often we feel frustrated and stuck being in that in-between space, where we are neither here or there… and yet it is in this space of indecision, of the unknown, that we do the most growing.

It is the space that is the most beautiful, because we learn and get the most out of it.

Interestingly I came across the same thought elsewhere just days ago, and the thought was, if you can be comfortable not knowing, then you can learn anything.

I sat quietly, going over these words, freaking out at just how accurate they were for me during this limbo stage of my life.

After all that stretching, lifting, pulsing, deep breathing and contemplation, it made sense that I had to head down a couple blocks to get myself a post-workout pick up… 😉

I then took myself and my boosts of energy down to the water, to sit, breathe, take in all I had learnt and felt the last hour, and just BE.

I also went a step further, and I didn’t only take photos of the glistening wavy waters in front of me…

But I looked behind me, and around, looked at the sand, the trees, the grasses.

I looked at the spaces in between. 💖

#1920 Shiny, happy and BRIGHT

I’ve wanted to travel to Bright for maybe 10 years now.

It’s been the trees. Sure I love the water, and live near the water, but I have a thing about trees.

Big, bold, grand, old, beautiful trees. And Bright is renowned for plenty of those, and in Autumn?

Stunning colours abound.

Greens, golds, oranges, and bright reds… bright reds! Even purple, brown, and then there are all the shades of greens imaginable.

I’ve actually been to Bright, a long, long time ago. I was about 8, and went with my parents and another family, but it was in summer. The photos show heat, swimming in rivers, eating ice creams, and a cute little dog we befriended named Bingo, as well as a New Years Eve celebration complete with fireworks.

Today, we drove to Bright.

What will our photos show?:

Fallen leaves. Trees of every colour. People rugged up in jackets, beanies and scarves. Long track walks and mountains in the distance.

And so far, I am loving it. 💖💖🌳🌳

#1833 Plum dumplings

I’m like a bull.

Sometimes I get a thought in my head, and I just charge, straight for the target.

Nothing can stop me. No one can distract me.

I won’t be satisfied until I’ve done what I set out to do.

That’s what happened today as I went to prepare, “Knedle.”

Otherwise known as ‘dumplings’ with plums.

I had seen an interesting recipe some time ago, and then when my parents picked all the plums off their trees in their old house before they moved, well we had an abundance of plums, didn’t we…

And I thought, wouldn’t it be great to make this traditional recipe, using homemade plums?

My parents plums?

I HAD TO.

Today, through much effort, I got these done.

I am now satisfied, but I tell you, sooo tired. I feel like I didn’t stop. On a day when I was catching up on so much already, then I started making this time-consuming dish, now I’m just like –

DONE.

I have dessert to last me all week. If anyone wants to swing by, you know what you’ll be eating. 🤣

#1812 The countdown is on

It’s already begun.

I realised with extreme sadness this morning, as we got ready to go to my parents house, that it would be the LAST TIME EVER Hubbie went there.

I started to cry.

Oh the memories. The memories. I can’t even begin to express the breadth and depth of emotion when it comes to the memories.

In some ways, I am feeling more for my parents leaving this house, then I did for Hubbie, baby girl and I moving from our first home over 4 years ago now.

4 years, versus 40 years. There is A LOT of difference there.

I even cried when we were at the front of the house today, Hubbie filling up the car with stuff to move over to their new place. I sat on the big pillar that serves as a mailbox, remembering how I sat there with my neighbours, over 25 years earlier.

I walked up to my former friends’ houses, noticing how I hadn’t done it for decades… and knowing that it had been different for just as long.

It’s hard to remove yourself from the place where you made so many memories. It’s hard because a piece of you stays there forever.

Sure, many of the people in those memories have moved away and are gone… but I was always able to visit the my parents house, my old home, and reminisce about the way things used to be.

Today I stopped and stared a lot. Looked around my parents back yard. Their enviously luscious green back yard. So abundantly healthy and blooming in all life forms of nature. Several times I went past the pear tree, and as I lifted my head, the fruit actually bonked me on the head, hard.

I had to laugh.

I know the memories will come with me. I have been preparing for this moment for so long now. But until the day of goodbye comes, I will keep staring at that beautiful green, drilling it into my memory for all of time.

As if I could ever forget. 💖💖🌳🌳

Tag: trees