Life between the plans

I've been counting days and maybe hours until this evening. School holidays are here. No clock watching, no list making, no planning...

Even though Sibs is now a teen I still relish the time off with her and the chance to have lazy morning chats. School holidays have always been special times for me. The first morning off used to involve watching Play School in our pyjamas, but we've now moved on from there. Now it's just morning tea in our pyjamas where we ponder the day ahead.

When life is so jam packed with mostly necessary routine, it's an absolute luxury to take back control.

There's a little plaque with a quote that I bought on my trip home a few months ago that's hanging in the hallway. 

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".

It's from one of my favourite songs 'Beautiful Boy' by John Lennon. The Double Fantasy album was the first LP that I bought for myself way back in the early 80's. I still have it and I still love it. 

It's funny how some quotes and sayings just stay with you, and this is one of them. Yes, I am a planner and a list maker and most of the time this works for me. Sometimes though I need to not know what's happening tomorrow. Just live the day and see what it brings.

These next two weeks we'll fit in a bit of shopping, maybe some painting and baking, some time in Noosa and time to catch up with people. I don't know exactly when all of this will happen....we'll just wait and see.

Happy holidays,

Some images from Minjerribah - Stradbroke Island

This is a photo post with a few sparse words here and there.

A few weeks ago Sibs went away camping to Stradbroke Island known locally as Straddie, or to give it its aboriginal name - Minjerribah.  It's an island just off the coast of Brisbane and it takes 25 minutes to get to via the passenger ferry or 45 minutes via the vehicle ferry. 

I don't really do camping.... so I stayed at home.

I knew that I would miss out on the beautiful views and tranquility of the sun, sea and sand, but sand in tents and I just don't get on! So with the instructions of "have fun, take care and lots of photos" I waved her off. 

She got to spend time with her cousin, her uncles and her dad and she swam, sand surfed, fished, cooked around the camp fire, walked, talked and took a hundred and one photos!

Sibs planned to write a blog about Straddie so I asked her to choose some photos and I uploaded them and left them in a draft post.  However, life got in the way and things like homework and socialising kept eating into her time so the photos have just been sitting here. 

I wanted to write a blog post myself this week but the words just didn't come to me. That sometimes happens. There's lots going on in my head at 1am and by the next day....nothing!

So I'm just going to take advantage of these images. It seems a shame not to share them.

This is Winter in my little corner of the world. Not bad is it?

Daydreaming in the Dales. UK trip Part 5

After my time on the farm with A and W,  I had a spare afternoon before heading over to Manchester so I decided to go for a bit of a walk. There was no sat nav in my hire car so I set off driving and weaved through the country lanes and ended up in Malham. This is a truly breathtaking part of the Yorkshire Dales and even though it's a tiny village there's always people about. 

The dry stone walls are a feature of the land and criss cross the fields keeping the livestock in their place. Malham Cove is popular with walkers and climbers and I believe that a scene from Harry Potter was filmed there. 

I just seemed to hit lucky with the weather on this trip. It was a bit windy at times during my walk but the sky was blue and a bit of a breeze never harmed anyone. 

When Sibs was born I got to know some girls through mothers group. We went to some pre and post natal classes together and then for a little while before some of us drifted back to work we used to meet up. A few girls lived in Malham and I knew that one was now the local Smithy. She gave up on the corporate world of the city and took over the blacksmith in the heart of the village. I thought her move was pretty amazing and quite inspirational so of course I had to call in to see her and say hi.

Isn't that the quaintest little place to call your workspace? On the afternoon that I stopped by she was busy teaching someone blacksmith skills. Annabelle offers one day courses where you can spend the day learning the basics. An idea for next time maybe......?

Blacksmiths don't just make horseshoes you know, and a pretty little heart leaf keyring came home with me as a memento. 

Malham Smithy website - HERE 

So after a chat at the Smithy I walked a bit further up the road past one pub and past the village shop. 

Just opposite the shop, this sign caught my eye. Imagine landing back in Brisbane with -  

"I've bought a woodland called Dingly Dell! "

(If you're wondering....yes, I did google it and it's open to offers)

The road to the cove is to the left of the shop and there are a few delightful little cottages and B&Bs to fall in love with and daydream about.

As I was in the middle of one of those daydreams, this fellow scampered across my path, ran through some long grass and jumped on a wall. It was almost as if he was waiting for me to follow him with my camera as once I took a photo he was off.

Then it was past Hill Top Farm, where I did think about going to say hello but time was getting on so I carried on walking to the cove.

Malham Cove is a natural limestone formation with interesting erosion patterns. The sunlight (when it's out!) bounces off the white rocks. It really is like going back to the land that time forgot.

My walk then took me back into the village where I had to snap a photo of The Listers Arms, which has had a fancy new sign since I was there last.  

No swifty for me though, as once I changed footwear I was back in the car on the way to my last destination.

The big question......was my memory going to get me from the Dales to South of Manchester? Was I going to get lost on the M65, M66 and M60?

Special friendships. UK trip part 3

Here's another snippet of my time back in my homeland.

After topping up the vitamin D, I headed back to Wales to spend some time with close friends. 

I feel so lucky, so incredibly lucky that I still count my school friends as my close friends. We may not see each other for a couple of years yet we fall back into such a familiar chatter of conversation that as cliche as it sounds - it just feels like yesterday that we were together. 

They are my cosy jumper and favourite pair of jeans friends.

The kind of friends that are always there, albeit thousands of miles away....

Those friends that you just feel so comfortable with.

The friends that are in all the photographs over the years. 

A few of these special people I have known since Nursery days - that would be when we were 3 or 4 years old! Not worth thinking about how long ago that was...! Others, I spent those crazy school days with and some of us carried on to crazier days at Uni together. 

So it has become a bit of a regular event that when I find myself back home we organise a get together. Four of us had managed an afternoon catch up the previous week (that was the tea, wine cocktails, back to tea afternoon I mentioned in an earlier post) and we planned a larger gathering for the bank holiday weekend. 

M has hosted these gathering on quite a few visits and this time it was from her new place. M made the move across the border to England to study and then began her working life in London. Some years later Wales called her home and she moved back. At first the family lived just outside the city and then more recently they have moved to a property with land. It's a dream place.

The minute I drove past the pub and up the lane I loved it. Not hard to see why.

spot the happy dog playing in the water bath.

Griff the dog came to greet me and he was in absolute heaven with so much space to run around, fences to jump, chickens to watch and sticks to carry. 

The kettle was immediately filled and placed on the Aga and the inevitable observations were made on how much the 'children' had grown. I use the word 'children' loosely.... they are beautiful young ladies.

It struck me during this particular afternoon that in the couple of weeks that I had been away from Australia I had almost exclusively spoken Welsh. I had reverted back to my mother tongue without a second thought. That was a lovely thought.

As the afternoon moved into early evening more and more people came and sitting around the kitchen table was the place to be. Nothing changes does it? More and more bubbles were poured, stories shared and phones passed around to scroll through photos.

Conversation was easy. We moved from family and friends updates and working life into the benefits of supermarket home delivery! At this point someone pointed out that this was rather a "middle aged type of topic" so we quickly changed the subject! That was possibly the time that there was a moment of madness when four of us girls decided that it would be a good idea to have a go at a dancing thingy with the Wii. Actually, in hindsight, I'm pretty sure that I had nothing to do with the decision and I just found myself in front of a screen, holding a white control in my hand and singing (rather than dancing) to 'Fame'! 

I think the under 18's in the house were in awe of the fact that we still had the moves....or maybe those looks were them being a little horrified at the sight of so much jigging and giggling!

The most worrying thing is the fact that it was all captured on video! It took a few attempts trying to re-watch the footage as the tears of laughter were blurring my vision! Please let me never see the sight of my behind like that again!!

Then it was back to the kitchen table....

Towards the end of the night we made it to the sofas. It was cheese and biscuits and singing time. My lovely talented friends had recently been on TV and I was treated to a showing of the programme. Biases aside - they were flippin' marvellous!

Next morning it was wellies on and I had a walk around the farm. I had already mentally moved into the barn next door to the main farmhouse when I was told about the potential for conversion...!

As we continued with the walk there was a funny moment when it was pointed out to me that I did not need to keep my eyes down as I trudged through the long grass - there were no snakes to look out for! 

So with another great weekend under my belt I left with some fresh hen eggs and a head full of wonderful memories to tie me over until next time. 

Diolch am noswaith arall o'r cyfeillgarwch gore. x

A little getaway to Isla de la Eterna Primavera - UK trip Part 2

One week after flying into Cardiff I was off again. This time leaving the flat green landscape of Bristol for rugged volcanic terrain 300 km off the coast of WestAfrica. 

Tenerife is known as Isla de la Eterna Primavera - the Island of Eternal Spring, and being on a latitude with the Sahara Desert it is warm all year around. It's also quite convenient being only a 4 hour flight from the UK. (When you consider the 30 hours it took me to get to the UK, 4 hours is a blink!)

This holiday was a girlie birthday celebration for 2 mums who became friends when they were eleven. Our families had grown up together so there are a lot of memories in that bank!

We started the holiday with duty free shopping. There were introductions to weird and wonderful Vodka flavours with the Zubrowka Bison Grass one winning the battle for a place in the shopping basket. Aunty R thought it actually tasted of silage...! but she does live on a farm so maybe she knows more than me?!

Then the lady at the Chanel counter told the mothers that the shades of lipsticks that they had chosen (and had been wearing forever) were completely wrong for their colouring and had way too much blue in them. I could only see pink - but again, who am I to know! Imagine - they had been wearing blue lipsticks for 50 + years!

Quick lunch and we were then on our way. Oh, there was a little incident of a chunk of glass in my sandwich....rectified by a complimentary large glass of wine as there was no time for a replacement meal, but apart from that all was good.

So we joined the golfers and the sun seekers  - all 20 of them on the plane. The air steward kindly asked us not to move seats as the weight distribution was important....

This was a last minute booking and with that comes the inevitable concern of the unknown. Not to worry, our apartment was great. 

 

If I was trying to impress then I would say it was a penthouse - well it was on the top floor with a large balcony! There were mountain views to one side and a sea view to the other. 

It was quiet and restful and warm. Just perfect.

This was never going to be a rush around, seeing everything holiday. It was all about the company. We lazed around the pool, ate lunch with our sangria, lazed a bit more, walked to dinner and ended the days sitting on the balcony watching the sun set. 

We made friends with this little bird who would come and join us for evening drinks. He was made quite welcome until he got a little too friendly and decided to take a fancy to one of us by marking his territory! Four out of the five of us found it funny...... (Sorry for laughing so much L).

There were many more memorable moments - one of the best being the evening that we ventured more than 100m out for dinner. We walked along the shore line and found ourselves in a spot that was quite a bit more lively than where we were staying. There was a man singing and we believed that he was an Elvis tribute act. That was until we realised that he was attempting to sing Tom Jones! Now being Welsh we thought we should stop and listen. We may have put him off as he soon began to forget his words and carried on with gyrating his hips at the old ladies in the front row -they enjoyed themselves immensely.  Again, sorry for laughing so much Mr pretend Tom Jones!

The final evening we booked a table for a birthday meal and were very well looked after by the staff at the restaurant just below our apartment. There was a bottle of bubbles on ice when we arrived and then everyone there including staff sang Happy Birthday when the desserts arrived. 

Coincidentally, the slightly inebriated lady on the next table then informed the waiter that it was her birthday too.... so we all sang Happy Birthday again!

Getting away for a few days is such a tonic for the soul. Add good friends and laughter into the mix and it's the best cocktail ever!

I've been home and now I'm home... UK trip part 1

Seven months ago I planned a trip - a secret trip.

Brisbane to Singapore, Singapore to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Cardiff.

I told a few key people and by some miracle it actually remained a secret. As a friend of mine said - "the jungle drums in the valleys can be quite loud".

My mum was celebrating a significant birthday and I thought it would be a good idea to surprise her. So on a Tuesday morning a few weeks ago I turned up on the doorstep with a "Hi it's me, please can I borrow £25 to pay Dai the taxi man as he doesn't accept cards or Australian dollars!"

The initial shock quickly morphed to utter disbelief that I was there and not on the other side of the world. We had teary hugs and I lost count of the number of times she said "I don't believe it"!

No time was wasted though, as a couple of hours after landing I was in the middle of a small family reunion. Mum was being taken out to lunch and so of course I now tagged along - bonus! It was a walk around the corner to a great place that was new to me since my last visit home. Such lovely company and thank you Aunty Glenys for a superb lunch.

Holm House

One of the things that I love about going back home is the fact that I can walk most places. Down through the park to the sea front, round the corner to the shops, across the road to the railway station to take me to the city. I have lovely memories of wrapping Sibs up in blankets, putting her in her pushchair and bumping her down the dolly steps in Windsor Park, past the little aviary, maybe a stroll along the pier and then up the hill the other side. It was all still there - so wonderfully familiar.

Windsor Park

Winsdor Park Aviary

The pier has however had a bit of a face lift recently and I have to say looks rather grand now. In fact the whole of the prom looked better than I remembered it. Maybe the blue skies and warm breezes made a difference as the last time I visited it was dark, grey and cold during December. The Bristol channel is always a mucky brown though, whatever the weather!

My first week home was spent doing everyday things. I will admit to getting rather wide eyed at the mundane, and if anyone saw me in Waitrose oohing and aaahing at things on the shelves - I apologise. (I was also a bit the same in Tesco and Marks and Spencer food hall!)

I stocked up on the essential under garments in M&S, bought some new shoes, paid a visit to Thorntons and had 'proper' fish and chips....twice!

I drank coffee and champagne in equal measures and ate half my body weight in real Jaffa Cakes...and that was just in the first few days!

Three wonderful friends came to see me a few days after I arrived and we spent the afternoon chatting and reminiscing. One of my favourite memories of this day was the speed in which we seemed to move from cups of tea to wine to cocktails....but then back to cups of tea! Maybe we are getting older and more sensible?

This little fellow came to visit most mornings during breakfast and would scamper around in the back garden. I managed to take this shot through the window just before he flew back up the tree.

I enjoyed walks up to the coffee shop in town and strolls along the promenade. It was all quite full on but also quite relaxing. We met up with some extended family one afternoon with some aunts that I hadn't seen for some time. Again, there was champagne....

The Saturday before the big birthday my sister and family travelled to Cardiff and we met up with Mum's closest friend and her two girls. Her friend had just passed the same birthday so it was a double celebration. It was an afternoon of pure joy and my sides were aching from all the giggling. You know that group of people that laugh a bit too loudly at everything? Well that was us!

During the lunch we told my mum that she was being taken away for a few nights to a little island in the sun for a girlie holiday. More champagne please!

Before she could think of packing we ended the Saturday with a family meal. Good job it was a two minute walk from the house as I was fit to burst by the end of that day.

So that was my first week away. A wonderful catch up with very important people. I was busy on top of busy but it was a good feeling flopping into bed at night knowing that I had filled my day.

I think that flute was stuck to my hand...!

I have always slightly regretted never recording and blogging about the last trip that I made home a couple of years ago. It's nice to have some words behind the photos to trigger the memories. So I'm rectifying that regret by capturing some of this one.

I'll be off to The Canaries next, then a few days back in Wales before heading up the M5 and M6 up North on a road trip. Care to join me?