Saffy's "take me with you Mum" look.....
It is only this week, as it has returned, that I can measure the impact to my life - I have felt better, more energetic, and I have to say, hopeful. Yes, winter has let go for a while and spring has arrived.... early, but so welcome. I am sure it takes advancing age to truly appreciate spring; the awareness you only get to see it a finite number of times and to get out and breathe it in, wondering at the beauty! To me the harbingers of spring in Christchurch are the smells; I can start to fill the house with Jasmine and Daphne and Jonquils.
When I wake up, the window onto our driveway is filled with magnolia and pink blossom.
There are birds singing and the mornings feel light, easy to wake up to. As I leave for work, there are daffodils lining the driveway, and I get to return home from work in daylight...we turn off the heating and leave the doors and windows open. Yesterday, a friend and I sat under the sun umbrella outside, where she gave me a professional manicure ( total bliss folks as my nails are not my best feature) and I got my first real taste of the power of the sun. Soon the scent of sun screen will become a normal part of life again, as it should have been yesterday judging by the red tinge to my neck.
Meanwhile, we still have a lot happening in our lives. With my parents and three children still here in Christchurch, we get to see them all regularly. In fact, hoping to catch up with my parents today - on the 1st September it is their 58th wedding anniversary... Certainly deserves some celebration these days !
The Bangladesh crew have returned to Dhaka, although their blog entries have been sparse... they have three more months to go before becoming tourists and visiting London, New York (where they have booked their tour of the Statue of Liberty... never realised you had to book so far ahead! )... and somewhere in the travels, they will stay with my brother in Vancouver for Xmas. I think they will have learned a lot this year, not just Bengali. Sounds like friends, family and home comforts will be appreciated when they return :)
Check out their blog Life in Bangladesh
Other news.. well, Phoebe is walking!!! Check her out on video pushing the little push chair we bought for her when they stayed with us recently! Awwwww....
We are booked to fly up to Auckland for a week long visit, 3 weeks and 4 days from today. Will be so nice to catch up with them all. They have been busy with school, kindy, gym and visits from their extended family...and adapting to their new lives. You can follow their journey at Treacy Travels. Here are a few pix from their blog.
View of Auckland from Devenport
It is such a pain that I do not have Skype on my laptop... well, to be accurate, I can add Skype, just need some way of getting a camera and mike set up! We need to make a greater effort to work out when they will be on as we do have an Imac we can use... just have to push my youngest son off it for a while.
Finally, last night, I cooked Mushroom and Vegetable Rice Pilau, a simple dish I like to make occasionally. I always fill it with garlic... what fills me with nostalgia is that it was a dish my Polish mother in law made for us all the time. The garlic fumes would greet me when I stepped out of the car, and she would freeze me pottles to take home for the children. It was just one of many of her delicious repertoire.. but I stood quietly and thought of her and my father in law as I made it. We lost them both within a year of each other. You truly don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.
I am sure my ex husband would have said "it's not as good as Mum used to make".. and you know he would have been absolutely right.
Well, thats enough from me - hope you are all well out there.
fi
