Memories and the persistence of nature to inspire. — We have a high walled courtyard off the main bathroom. When my children were preschoolers, they planted a branch of cypress there. Surprisingly, a pine tree grew. It must have come up from a seed on the stick. …

Rainbow and the Roo I was in the pool at six yesterday as storm clouds gathered, then blew over. Without any rain, there was still a rainbow. Bright, it even had a deep violet stripe within an arc that was almost a semi-circle. I splashed about while it beamed into a double rainbow. Climbing…

I planted 100 sunflower seeds from the middle of October to mid-November last year.

I’m about to take the decorations off our 2022 Christmas tree.

Two babes jumped along the branches of my favorite tree, a massive Jacaranda next to the house.

My husband made a beautiful orchard. We couldn’t have it near the house, where the Red-necked Wallabies and Wallaroos come to graze at dusk each day. The giant vegetable garden with loads of grapevines, berries, and fruit trees is a block with high fences half a kilometre down the mountain.

I’ve written very little since January 2021. I stopped because of a long commute to full-time work which ate up ten hours of each weekday. Eighteen months on, I’m working less but still not writing. Then, at the start of winter on June 3, I caught COVID. It was nasty. …

My son screamed for five hours straight. I was half deaf and mostly insane with overfull, throbbing breasts that he refused to suckle. Without fluids or food for hours, I rushed him to emergency. I was seen quickly due to the sound of the writhing, howling monster making everyone feel…

Tremendous self dialogue and self-love flowing off the screen. Thanks Edie Tuck, you have supplied me with a mantra for today...the week...the year even. Live, laugh and love. When you make those pan juices of life into a sauce, then a deep, rich gravy, you have to make a real reduction. Those three L's are the necessary for every day. Without them, I reckon our days are pretty meh!