Tea

Is there anything better in this world than a good cup of tea? A good cup of tea can be a moment of peace and meditation. A good cup of tea can be the catalyst to a wonderful conversation. A good cup of tea can refresh the soul and warm the body.

Like a lot of people, I was introduced to tea by my grandmother. I think she used to drink about a million cups of the stuff a day. Always made in the pot, with a cosy, the proper way. Sitting and drinking tea with her started my love affair with the stuff. Served at her table with scones, biscuits or cakes, it was always wonderful. I love coffee and often drink it more than tea, but to me, tea is a lot more special.

I often drink tea while I write or work. It makes me more productive for some reason. I also love a hot cup of tea on a really hot day, it's super refreshing. When Skip and I travelled around Australia and lived in a tent for around a year, we drank tea every morning (as it's damn near impossible to get good coffee in the outback) and it was a fab start to the day.

My most poignant tea memory is making a pot of tea for myself at my  Grandma's house. She was dying of osphegeal cancer and wasn't eating or drinking much. She hadn't had tea for a while and people had stopped asking her. I felt sad because it was such a ritual for her (and for my time with her). I asked if she would like a cup, she perked up and said 'Yes'. She savoured every drop and for the first time during my stay with her, seemed a little contented. For the rest of her life I think she lived on tea, with her pain medication being slipped into as well as she refused to take it otherwise.

Tea is a common denominator. No matter where you go in the world you can find some variation on tea, which I love. No matter how different we are, we all love tea. No wonder wars have been fought over the stuff. Cheers!

An egg-cellent start to the day

Yesterday morning, the four of us were lying in bed rejoicing in the fact that it was Saturday morning. Skip was headed to the races, Lil-lil and I had a date at the movies planned and Goosey was to spend quality time with Grandma.

Skip commented on how it would be nice to have eggs for breakfast. Soon after Lil-lil slipped out to the lounge room followed by her shadow Goosey. Skip and I had a strange conversation about whose DNA had more farming ability which was interrupted by Goosey standing at the door with something in her hand. In the 6am light, it looked a little like a half-eaten Easter egg. 'Oh no' I thought, they've got into the Easter stash and they'll be chocolate everywhere.

On closer inspection, Goosey was indeed grasping an egg – a real chicken's egg. Cracked shell with the white and yolk running over her hands.

We went out to the kitchen where Lil-lil was proudly standing with breakfast for her dad. A green plate with an egg she'd 'scrambled' with a fork. Shame it was still raw. "I made a special breakfast for Daddy, all by myself. I cracked the egg and mixed it with a fork." I have never seen her so proud of herself.

Skip declared it the best breakfast that anyone had ever made him, and I had to agree with him. It was such a lovely moment and gesture. It was worth every moment spent mopping up raw egg off the floor, to see father and daughter so happy with each other. It makes you realise that you must be doing something right to have a little girl who is so thoughtful.

Hope you all have an egg-cellent weekend too.

If it ain't broke...

I have had a strange week, feeling a little out of the groove after Easter. After a busy time having fun, socialising and being out in the workforce recently, I decided to tackle things around the home - fixing the ceiling fan that broke (and kept us up many night sweating), finally getting a start on landscaping our back 'yard' (it's so small I'm not sure if it qualifies as a yard), getting the house painted and other domesticities. I've been looking forward to crossing things off the to-do list.

First thing Tuesday, after the long weekend, was the time scheduled to fix the fan. This broke a few weeks ago and we had a few sticky nights since where we couldn't sleep in our hot bedroom. In fact, there was a lot of yelling at said fan one particular night. I was so excited about the fan being fixed, even though the weather has gotten decidedly cool. The fan man was booked in and I was told he would arrived between 8am - 12pm – a tactic that I'm sure is employed purely to make you crazy with gratitude when the finally turn up. At 11.30am he arrived, he took one look at it and in seconds had it whirring. He turned and grunted to me "Duracell make the best batteries," and left. It seems the only thing wrong with the fan was a dead battery in the remote control... whoops!

This morning had me at our local tyre guy. We had found a screw in our tyre, so I took it off to get repaired. After dropping it off and taking the kids to a local park for an hour while he repaired it, I returned to hear "There was no puncture, I just took the screw out and it was fine. Took just a couple of minutes." There goes another morning!

I'm hoping that next week I may be able to fix some things that are actually broken.

Splutter, splutter, splutter

I feel like the petrol tank is empty at the moment and I'm just running on fumes.

I think the time has come to take some time for myself, fill up the tank and then hopefully I can start running a bit better again. If not I may be on the side of the road unable to move anywhere.

The biggest problem is finding the right petrol station and then working out what is the best fuel to use.

How do you recharge your batteries? Get yourself running efficiently?

Bush magic

Over the Easter weekend, Skip and I went to a good friend's wedding. It was such a lovely wedding, everything went off without a hitch and the happiness in the room was sparkling. A wonderful little bonus was that as the nuptials were out of town, Skip and I got a night away in the bush.

Spending the night in a little cottage on the edge of a national park was amazing. It was so cozy, plus the fresh air and the peaceful quiet began to wash away life's stress in a matter of minutes. After a deep sleep (with no call outs from little people), we breakfasted on the verandah as parrots chirped away and wallabies hopped past.
We spent just 12 hours there but it felt like much longer.

We drove off feeling like a little magic wand had been waved over us. It's amazing how a change of scenery and a touch of nature can make such a difference.

Exciting news

Well I have just received some very exciting news, but you need to keep it quiet? Can you do that?

OK, well I just received an email from a lovely man from a west African country. It seems that he made a lot of money in oil in South America. His business partner Mr Belly died after battling heart cancer for many years and he had deposited all of their money in a bank in western Africa. The man is afraid of the government taking all the money but he needs somewhere safe for it to go internationally. If I let the man transfer the USD$40 million to my bank account he'll let me keep 40 per cent! All I have to do is send all my personal details and a photograph and the money will be mine!

Finally my ship has come in and I can buy my holiday house in Port Douglas. So I may not have a lot of time to blog from now on – what with all the new purchases and money counting I'll be doing. :P
Image: www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Five years ago

Five years ago today, it was a lovely, gorgeous sunny autumn day – not unlike it is today. I was up in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, staying at the magnificent Carrington Hotel. As a child, my mum and I often stayed at this heritage hotel and it always held a special place in my heart.

At this exact time five years ago, I was staying in the Lord Carrington Suite, putting on a gorgeous gown made by a close friend and getting ready to walk downstairs to marry my sweetheart. Being in such magnificent surroundings on such a stunning day with all of my favourite people was one of the best days of my life. That fact that I was marrying the love of my life made it the most magical, out-of-this-world day.

Five years on and we not only have each other, but we also have two amazing daughters.

Skip, you have blessed me so much over the past 5 years (well, 12 years really). I feel proud and privileged to be your wife. Most of all, I love you, always, 100%.