On my holiday, I.....

... stayed in my unfashionable suburb and made Leonie's apple and sultana cake with apples from our non-stop-apple-producing tree. We drank cups of tea and ate cake under our enormous backyard lemon tree - the man, the child and me. Lovely.
There were successes and failures on the knitting machine.... lots of absolute absorption in the process... a few impolite words....
...and a fair bit of poncing about in long wraps.

A small part of Auntie Wilma's nylon ribbon stash* was fashioned into woven homewares (for the cat).*Plenty more nylon ribbon where that came from! If anyone would like a ball or 6 of it, feel free to call in and pick some up!!

This Easter/Anzac Day weekend, Melbourne turned on the best of its Autumn weather for us, and I soaked in the big, blue sky. I took the bike out for a ride and discovered a bike path that will take me nearly all the way to work.

I rode beside the creek behind my house, and smiled at the way the fruit trees, vegetable gardens and free-ranging chickens spill over back fences and onto crown land. As I neared the city, I saw the back fence landscape change to graffiti and jasmine... and noticed the bluestone lanes, fashionably dressed people, the smell of good coffee.... and thought how lucky I am to live in both of these worlds.

I saw a small red felt heart hanging from a tree branch, silhouetted against the brilliant blue sky. It made me smile.

Today I held my mother's soft, frail hands, and remembered how they were once strong and swarthy from years of clothes-washing, bread-kneading, chook-plucking, garden-digging ..how capable they once were.

I was reminded again to seize the day.