Great.

I've just come back from a great weekend away.  Just me, my sewing machine and my knitting machine. 

I know.  Indulgence.

The truth is, I haven't been feeling so great lately.  Real life has been biting and my health and productivity at work have copped a battering.  The realisation struck that I hadn't had more than the odd weekend break in more than 5 years, and the last time I had more than a week's break was over ten years ago. 

It occurred to me last week that if I didn't escape for a few days to completely unwind, I may hit a VERY hard wall before the end of the next 12 weeks, which are booked solid with teaching and writing work (umm...ok... and another crafty weekend sometime mid-September.... but that seems too far away).

It felt vital to take up the offer of a friend's holiday house and escape down the Great Ocean Road immediately - child-free and work-free. I left after school drop-off on Friday and came back in time for school pick-up on Monday.

 

The quilts I started at Sewjourn in May came together over the weekend.  I'm yet to find the perfect fabric to bind one of them, but the other is finished. They made me happy and feel a bit proud of myself.  I kept looking at them all weekend.  

There was also machine-knitting and (simultaneous) Boardwalk Empire-watching, there was reading and walking and listening to audio books. 

There was no telephone, no internet and no work.  There was no having to be anywhere or do anything and there was no having to take responsibility for anything.  I needed this part, most of all.

It's more than 20 years since the last time I stayed in this part of the world but it was the place where my family always went when we were kids, often several times a year.  It was my parents first home when they were newly-weds and young parents, and is steeped in history and tradition for us.  A holiday homeland, of sorts.

As I walked along the beach yesterday, I found myself treading through memories of sandcastles and campfires, hot baked potatoes and freshly caught fish...songs and laughter.... of being a child, a teenager and a young adult in this place. 

I came up off the beach and found myself in front of the house we stayed in for most of the holidays of my teenage years.  More than 25 years absence couldn't erase my instinct for where 'our' path from beach to house is.

It felt great. Like home.

The sky and sea were so blue today, I changed my plans of driving (quickly) through the mountains to the freeway to taking the Great Ocean Road (slowly) back to Melbourne.  Stunning.

I feel recharged.  Shut down and restarted.  De-fragged.  Great.