Storytime

Last week I went on an adventure. I tend to visit my sister and her family regularly (working permitted). I took a few days off during the first week of the school holidays and went for another visit. But this time I took Little Miss with me. I took a few audio books for the long long drive....however she didn't want that. She wanted to chat. So chat we did...for nearly five hours. This was her first time on such a long drive. First time staying with my sister and her family. First time for so many things. She brushed and loved Ellie... She roamed the river. At one stage even going for a swim. always with an eye out for eels. She decorated some cupcakes... Walked up the big hills behind the house. She played with animals, ran with alpacas, fed a baby lamb, chased chickens out of the house yard. She had a blast. Nothing tired her, she kept on going. I, on the other hand, am not as young as I once was. But it was great fun. Going to my sisters i...

Week one of holidays and I've done bugger all. Well, actually that is a bit of a misleading statement. I have accomplished a few things. Some planned, some not so planned. I did plan zooming up to my sister's for a few days. I find it a great place to simply relax. Mainly because my phone doesn't work there. I have no internet, no facebook, no messages. Nothing. If I need to contact home or someone I can use her house phone but....do I really need to? My sister has a menagerie. There are cats...a pony...alpacas... dogs...chickens...and a stray duckling that wandered in while the guys were jackhammering. I go up there to spend time with the folks (and animals). Sometimes I take lots of books and plan to read, this time I took my camera and mooched around and took photos. I walked a bit...  did a bit of art work in my sister's studio had a discussion whilst walking the dogs to school- if the world was dying and you could save 10% of t...

Yep I'm on holiday. For two weeks. Two lovely, wish I had put in for more, weeks. No, we are not going anywhere. Not this time. And surprisingly for me, I don't have a lot planned. It has been a hectic past few weeks. Lots of Tinies and Storytimes and kinder visits and Halloween shows....there has been new libraries to meet... if near Narre Warren you must check out Bunjil Place! AMAZING. Reading nooks to try out.... There has been Charlie Chaplin capers for a friend's 50th... we even began a saga about the mystery of the meandering moustache.... There has even been a tad of culture Much Ado about Nothing at the pop up globe...AMAZING. With this lovely lady.  So I'm a tad tired.  And in my wisdom have decided to simply take it easy. I do have some things pencilled in the diary...getting my back seen today....car service tomorrow...hair cut on Friday. But for once I don't have a huge TO DO list as is my wan...

Recently I spent a week with a friend I hadn't seen in a long time. Nearly two years I think, perhaps longer. Some of you will know that I'm great ... okay ...terrible with phones. Never been known to phone unless practically forced to. Just the way I am, and my friend and I were a bit slapdash with email. Okay make that quite bad with email. So I did wonder if there would be awkward silences when we did finally catch up. Would there be nothing to say, as our lives had moved on in so many different ways. I needn't have worried. It was like we had met last week for a coffee. It was a great week in Brisbane, a city I had not experienced before. There was a lot of walking and talking. And talking and walking. Many sights were seen... and some new coffee shops discovered. And amongst all that talking (and walking) we reconnected with poetry. My friend had been working on a series of poems but hadn't sent any out for a few years....and I...

So we have just come back from a holiday. Three weeks touring the South Island in New Zealand. This year has definitely had it's moments, so for both of us we were ready to relax and enjoy. And we did. It was just lovely. We had visited Christchurch briefly five years ago, then headed north and visited the North Island. We knew we wanted to come back, and eventually we made it. I made myself a pact. I was going on holiday. No thinking about work or writing...I was just going to enjoy. And what was not to enjoy? Mountains and lakes and birds and gardens and houses and boats and water and... You get the idea. Every where we turned it was WOW...stunning view. Or quaint buildings. I'm a bit of a nature nerd. I like to walk, I like to look. I like to feel a place. Give me some birds to see and I'm happy. Even if I have no idea what they are. And although I said I wouldn't think about work I had to go into a library over there. Take photos, que...