1. This week has felt messy, mainly because of kids’ illnesses, all minor, but it’s meant trips to school in the middle of the day to collect them. Having them at home always interrupts my creative flow, even when they’re well, but especially when they’re sick.

2. My younger son visited me the other night because he couldn’t sleep. He sat on my knee and told me his worries—he’s frightened that his Dad or I might die, and the other day, when I was late to pick him up, he thought I’d been in a car accident and was in hospital. He sometimes visits me late at night to tell me his worries, and I try to reassure him, telling him I’m doing my best to stay alive. But I remember my own childhood anxieties, and my terror at the thought of losing a parent.

3. Life seems a little slower this year, and it’s so much easier to parent when there’s enough time. Or maybe some of those Parenting Lessons I learned in 2014 have finally gelled.

4. I know I’ve jinxed everything by saying that out loud.

5. I’m the fattest I’ve ever been apart from when I was pregnant, and I can’t even be bothered caring about it. I’m enjoying winter’s warm food, and it’ll come off again if it’s meant to …

6. The evenings already feel lighter, but the weather doesn’t seem to know if it’s warming up or cooling down, and it’s sometimes trying to do both. I don’t know whether to turn the heater on or off, or whether to wear my polar fleece or not when I take the dogs for a walk. If I wear it and it gets too hot, it’s hard to take it off while holding two dogs on leads and wearing earplugs threaded through the layers. To untangle them, I unplug them one ear at a time because I don’t want to miss any of the podcast, and I can’t possibly pause it while I sort myself out, because it’s timed to end when I finish my walk.

7. I usually decide to remove my polar fleece, then turn the next corner and find I’m walking straight into the wind, so I have to put it on again, and go through all the ear plug and dog lead palaver again.

8. I know I really don’t have anything to complain about.

9. Life is rather good at the moment and I’m very thankful.

10. And the edits are going … well, let’s just say they’re going—two steps forward, one step back. It’s not fast, but at least it’s in a forwardlyish direction.

11. Spellchecker didn’t like ‘forwardlyish’.

~

And here are some photos from my week:

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Daisies on a well-tended verge

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Grevillea + Bee

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The wattle is already blossoming

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The stamen appear to be floating in this tubular yellow flower (I don’t know its name)

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Water droplets on a daisy in our garden

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Alex’ china cup and saucer

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When my daughters were young, I began giving them antique china cups and saucers for their birthdays. They weren’t their favourite gifts, but they now have quite a collection. I hope that one day they’ll bring them out in all their mis-matching glory, and enjoy old-fashioned morning teas with friends.

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Some of Isabelle’s art from primary school, using the ‘Selective Colour’ setting on my camera.