That Wascally Wabbit

Lately, we've been noticing the cutest little grey bunny hanging out in our neighbourhood. He shows up and nibbles in our rapidly-declining garden, then hops on over to someone else's yard to sample the delights of their garden. One of our neighbourhood dogs has had the most wonderful pursuits, but the rabbit always seems to get away.

I worry for the little fellow; there are hungry coyotes, as well as dogs, in the area (see my old post here), and winter weather is on its way. Where does he live? Will he survive?

Hopefully, he'll make like Bugs and foil all the dastardly plans for wabbit stew!

Glass Flowers

So today, the boys and I were chatting about friendships and those sorts of things......as one does over a leisurely lunch during the holidays.

One thing led to another, and the boys decided that we should write a poem about friendship. So we have.

And then E decided that we should call it “Glass Flower”. So we did.

We took some photos, and E worked his magic with some photos for me. So here they are.

I hope you’ll enjoy the little artistic foray (& hopefully it makes sense......albeit in an artyfarty kind of way! Be very relieved.....my original poem was called ‘The Mysterious Bellybutton Fluff’....the boys vetoed that little piece of inspiration. They said that from the title alone, the poem was doomed..!!)

Glass Flower

Fragile beauty, delicate attraction

Song without words

Your very presence takes the tear

And moulds it to your will.

With your warm golden flecks

You reflect life and health and vitality

Prismic splendour

You cut through the dross

All who see you, reach out

Hoping.

Those who have ever held you

Remember.

To experience you is to live

But for many

Your intricate loveliness is unbearable

Your colours are too bright

The light comes, the light goes

Hues waft, but never settle

Your visage is fleeting

A hint of something more

The diamond edge

Cuts too deeply

Jagged petals, ragged buds

A million dreams

Shards in the universe

All together alone

Dance for Fall!

In a few short hours, summer will officially end and fall will take over.

I'm not really a fall kind of person. Summer is my gig, as you know; I love sunshine, blue skies, and light till 10pm. I intensely dislike being cold. However, there is something to be said for autumn.

The colours, the crisp sunny days with a tang of something in the air, swishing through dry leaves... it's pretty nice when it happens.

The reality, however, is frequent grey skies and rain. And it has already begun.

But today was gorgeous. Like a last hurrah for summer and a warm, friendly welcome to fall.

Although I took this photo in August (yes, it's the Oregon coast again), it makes me think of a cool, damp, private celebration. Just right for the season! So join me as I - figuratively - dance for fall and get enthusiastic about it. Maybe I'll talk myself into getting excited!

(Except I won't look much like that cute dancing girl in the photo. How about we pretend that's me...???)

(Are you happy, Christine?)

Distant Memories

Just one month ago, I was on holiday.

Sigh...

It was really beautiful.

We camped on the Oregon coast, right by the beach, in our old favourite Nehalem Bay State Park. Did I mention that we were by the ocean??

It wasn't warm; in fact, the day we arrived, the temperature on the coast was 20 degrees cooler than it was inland! But the salt air, the sand, and the waves made up for having to wear jackets.
Now that school has started and life is wild and crazy again, I would really like to be back there.

It nourishes my soul.

Toowoomba

K was invited to be a guest speaker at a conference in Toowoomba.

His loyal entourage decided to accompany him to this city which sprawls over the top of a mountain range, 700m above sea level.

Toowoomba is known as the Garden City of Queensland.

If you look at its Civic Calendar for the year, the first thing you notice, is that most of the major events in this city revolve around the various floral blooms and flowering seasons. It is also one of the few, if not The Only Region in Queensland which can legitimately claim to have FOUR seasons in the year with different seasonal floral attributes ! (OK, so the rest of Queensland claims to have seasons, but in truth, the weather in Qld is beautiful all year round with a slightly cooler patch in the middle named winter; or if you prefer, the weather is beautfiul all year round with a hotter patch at one end ie. summer!).

And annually, the city hosts a huge Festival of Flowers on the last weekend of September (1 month into Spring). Whilst we were there, there were already flowers galore everywhere, with much evidence of more good things to come in the next 2 weeks leading up to the Flower Fest.

I wasparticularly impressed that my two boys were so obviously taken by all the beautiful flowers everywhere. They were just happy looking at flowers and more flowers! (I don’t remember being so enamoured by flowers as a child…even tho as a girl, the stereotype says that I should’ve been! There’s hope for my kids!!).

Toowoomba has the feel of a country town about it, though there are about 100,000 residents there, with more in the surrounding districts. The main street has a quaint mixture of beautiful old buildings mixed with the new. And the shops are also an interesting fusion of ye olde worlde country versus hip! Built up high, there are many amazing views to be had over the Lockyer Valley and beyond. Many residents of Toowoomba are farmers from the Darling Downs who have made their millions and have now retired to the higher ground, buying up exclusive acreage on the ridge with views forever.

And the food is fabulous – fresh farm produce with good country portions!

In fact, one of the more notable, award winning restaurants from Qld, is in Toowoomba. The “Weis Restaurant” boasts a huge seafood/steak buffet every day.

We were advised, that if you are ever given a choice of chicken or beef in Toowoomba, choose the BEEF! My favourite cut of steak – eye fillet – was the HUGEST eye fillet I have ever laid my teeth into. And cooked to perfection! They grow ‘em big down there!

But what is also amazing, is that high up here, hundreds of miles away from the ocean, is a restaurant providing the most amazing, fresh seafood buffet surpassing many of the seafood establishments closer to the Coast. And to top it all off, you have that laidback, friendly, good old country service that is often lacking in the bigger cities…..

Here’s hoping K has to speak at another conference soon!