Lazy days in Cannes

Not quite summer in Cannes, France but a warm late spring day on Ile Sainte Marguerite.  My new friends Helene and her sons Clement and Paul taking us through the avenue of Eucalyptus trees planted there.  Helene's husband Phillipe is with us our boat driver and friend.  The island a tranquil escape after the business of touring for 4 weeks.  A picnic fresh from Helene's kitchen packed carefully and served on a checked tablecloth.  France as we had not yet experienced her, on a lazy almost summer day with the scent of Eucalyptus in the air and the warmth of new friends surrounding us.  

Roaming around inside this old church in France, it was cool, and dark and then looking up the sparkle of the candles in the chandelier lit us with their glow.  The beautiful stained glass windows all around us glinting and shining in rainbows of colours.

Au Revoir mon ami

My spotty pink case is packed, my camera is stowed away ready to bring back some memories.  My passport with the photograph that I will never show anyone unnecessarily is ready to go.  I have my ticket and some money, coins for the metro and bus and notes for some serious spending.  Wish me well with that won't you!!  The notes are written to remind my girls of what needs to be done and in just a few hours the journey will begin.  Follow me won't you.  Paris here we come.

Do You See Her?

I think she's been here a long time, I only met her last week though.  Standing watering the agapanthus at her feet I looked up and there she was.  Stretching to the sky, tummy held flat and not ashamed at all of her nakedness.  I love meeting new people and she is welcome to hang around for as long as she would like.  She stands at my front gate and welcomes me whenever I come home.

Fresh is best

Ashleigh and Danielle recently back from Europe and a cooking school in Tuscanny, made us some fresh homemade pasta.  The colour, the texture, the taste.  Truly Fresh is Best.

Rocks area Sydney New South Wales

Remnants of an era long gone.

Green but not for long

Pomegranate - green for now, but not for long, soon she'll be a luscious red,  filled with shimmering ruby red seeds, now though she's green with just a hint of blush.

Hidden

Look closely, all around there are things hidden.  Tucked away, not easily seen, some forgotten, long lost, alone.  Some even hidden in plain sight.  My daughter put on this mask and behind it her beauty was hidden.  Impossible to tell who she is, what she is thinking, how she is feeling, the mask a cover for the reality.  Look and find the hidden treasures all about us, show us what you find Hidden.

Cracked

My Dad gave me this vase, probably 25 years ago.  It was unusual for him to give me a gift, he usually gave me money, thought it was better for me to choose what I wanted.  So this was a real treasure, not because I loved it, it's really nice but not really my style, but because he liked it enough to buy it for me.  One night in 2001 my twins were playing a game in the dark and knocked it over and broke the lip, see the cracked bits glued back in place.  They panicked, totally thought I would go nuts, I didn't!! and made up a really fantastic story about how it happened, hoping that laughter would ease the pain.  It did.  So now my flawed vase, no longer perfect is one of my only remaining gifts from my dad.  Is it any less precious or treasured because of the flaw, no way, I think maybe it is even more special, now it has new stories attached to it.  It still reminds me of dad everytime I see it and I will keep it forever, flawed and all.  Just like me really, well like all of us, broken in places, mended as best we can but still loved and special to someone, hopefully to many.

Treasured forever...

Meet Lucas Adrian Middleton.  My eldest daughters first baby, born 5th May 2009 living in heaven since the 23rd June 2009.  I don't want this to be a sad post, but when I thought of the things I treasured the most all of them were people.  My parents, husband and daughters, son -in- law, and Lucas.  We only had 7 weeks with him, but I know that forever we will all remember him, love him and treasure the time we had with him.  Most of all I treasure him.

Oh My Goodness What Am I Doing

Officially I must have lost my mind, I am cringing, but I am not going to let pride get the better of me.  No I am not going to remove this photo, I am gonna let it all hang out.  The wrinkles, the age spots, the yukky bits I can see, and you probably can't because you're all too kind.  But here I am in all my glory.  Lord give me strength.

Sweet Things

Sweet pink gerbras, sweet cupcakes, sweet teacups and the sweetness just overflows.

Love is...

Love is all around us, it is everywhere we look, if we really look.

Rock Walk

Rock Pooling

exploring,

talking, sharing finds,

sitting, watching the waves crash,

 listening to the roar and the shush of the sea. 

Together on the rocks,

My rock and I

I took this photo and digitally enhanced it during a 10 day intensive Digital Photography and photoshop school that I have just finished.  The fact that I was able to learn to use my camera properly, to use photoshop properly, well mostly anyways and to be so out of my comfort zone amongst so many talented people has given me a new perspective of myself.  I CAN DO IT, what can I do, well anything I really put my mind to.  I will be 49 next week and I can still do whatever I really want to.  For years I have just trod the safe line and now I am seeing that I can step out of the box and not fall over.  Yeah finally.  That really is a New Perspective of me for me.

Wishes

Christmas tree lights

New Years Eve fireworks for me always make me smile.  Like one of the children I oohh and aahh and call out the colours I want to burst forth next.  It's some kind of magic for me.  So wishing or praying or just hoping really hard, seems to be the thing to do when those brilliant colours blast across the sky.  For 2010 I wish to be able to do all those things I have been putting off, to attempt even if I fail, the things that I think about, talk about, even dream about, but are too afraid to actually do.  I wish for there to be a new baby to hold, a grandbaby to spoil.  I wish for safety and good health and much love for my family and all my friends.  Happy New Year wishes to you all.

First Christmas

My beautiful African family got into the Christmas Holiday spirit their first year in Australia.  They had never seen or worn red santa hats before but they all joined in with our family tradition of a Christmas hat photo.  Whenever I see the red hats in the stores I know holiday season is upon us.

Ebony & Ivory Together

Ebony & Ivory,

Jane & Me,

Together, different,

The same, women, mothers,

daughters, friends.

Teaching each other, learning together.

Loving and growing together.

Handmade Look a likes

My beautiful girls, well actually one is meant to be me and the other my very talented friend Chris who made these for me.  It was my 4oth birthday and she spent days and weeks and hours making us.  She is the one with the red hair, even though her hair isn't really red its more an auburn, and I'm the long haired blonde.  I haven't had long hair for an eon now.  She has put freckles on my nose and made herself with slightly darker skin, she's quite olive skinned and I am the fairer one.  We have sexy pantaloons on and we even have tatoo's something we always wanted to get but never would.  I have a tulip on my wrist, hidden just under the sleeve and a heart on my bottom.  Chris has a heart and a rose on her bottom. I was amazed and so touched when I opened this present.  To think that someone would spend so much time making something so special for me, my love language is quality time so this was the very most special thing anyone could give me.

Morning Walk

I used to walk alone, my girls in the UK or married and away.  I loved the sense of starting a new day, all alone.  I enjoyed that tiny piece of time when the world was mine, no one else was awake and everything belonged to me, just to me.  The air fresh and crisp, clean and cool was mine, the horizon shrouded in fog or twinkling with the glimmer of the rising sun, it was mine alone.  The carpets of flowers fallen over night from the trees, they were all mine.  Now we go together, it's ours the early morning, the chatter, whispered so we don't wake those that don't know the secret beauty of the early morning.  The secrets told, the hopes shared, the decisions mulled over, these are ours and the morning is still beautiful.  We go together in this life and in our morning walk.