Beginning near the end

Here I am back in Everyday Land ... but the Time Before Now involved an Excellent Adventure on Another Continent.

Yes I know I was going to write and post and add photos en route ... just think of this as a timey wimey thing ...

... here we are in the Sequoia National Park ... well that's me, and can you see some small patches of white near the trunk of the tree? That's snow. The air was crisp and very fresh as we strolled down

a mile long and very well kept footpath/trail, on our way to see the largest living thing - the General Sherman Tree.

These two trees, huge and very old, were so beautifully incorporated into the trail.The blackened gap in the trunk beside me was an opening I could stand in. And don't you love the moss on the mere saplings behind them - huge trees in their own right!

The General Sherman is not as tall as the Redwoods we saw further north, but it is vast and huge and growing wider every year ...

Here's some handy facts:
It's 2,200 years old. The base is 11 metres wide (36.5 ft) and its 31 metres in circumference (103 ft) and weighs a whopping 1,385 tones! And I love this from one of the helpful information posters on the trail - if you could fill the trunk with water, you could have 9,844 baths - one every day for 27 years!

It was a steep hike back up to the car park,so it was great to have lots of rustic wooden benches to rest on.The trail winds past other huge and ancient trees. With the snow, the forest had a magical feel. The Sequoias have such amazing chestnut coloured bark that almost doesn't look real. We saw a few forest critters, little squirrel/chipmunk creatures and tiny birds, enjoying the mountain spring and splashes of sunlight, quite unconcerned about the waves of humans wandering through their forest.

Let's get this blog started ....

Been spending the evening re-kick-starting my blogging - so let's set the scene....

It's way past midnight, and one day 'til lift-off. Yes, Monday we fly out to LA.
We arrive Monday - I love that about travelling east - and then it's off on a road trip, the first for 4 years over in the US.
I'll put up the odd shot here, so stay posted .... !
But for now, it's good night!

3 more sleeps ... Again!

Time has passed, technology has changed and here I find myself again, 3 days out from our next US adventure. Had planned to post over at my blog cherrypips* and perhaps I will, but seeing as I didn't get very far with this one last time, here goes again. (*I did move the post here!)

Dinner tonight? A mushroom omelette, a nice glass of red, a Ten story - Tooth and Claw - and The Hobbit.

A bag sits in the third room, full of my first go at packing, no black cat in it this time though. Jaz has been in for cuddles, Ruf on his table - or vlado!

Trying to sleep one hour earlier tonight, and need to wake one hour earlier - jet lag technique.

Here I lie in bed, writing this on my ipad - a very different style to last time when I had a big, heavy, hot laptop. Hopefully this will make it easier to post en route!

Sleep, it calls ..  Here's a shot from the recent exhibition, it foretold of things to come ...

Dreams, wishes, plans ...

Sitting in dappled sunlight, well my left foot is. It's a new year again, 4 days in, little aunty marg's birthday today, happy birthday to someone I fondly remember. There's a breeze, the titch, titch, titch of crickets, a pleasant rumble and clickety clack of a train crossing the bridge and heading on westwards. A plane roars out, off to some far distant place. Birds rasp, chirp and whistle. Now a train coming east approaches and clatters over the bridge, a nice sound I think.
So here we are in 2013. Our Ruf is currently asleep on top of the BBQ, very relaxed and peaceful. We made it, through 8 weeks of, well, through 8 weeks. Feeding tube gone, jaw working well, now it's just healing and a few more things that we can come to when we come to them.
Happy. Enjoying this moment, and that's what I hope the most for 2013 - enjoy the moment, and make the most of it. Make plans and enjoy them.
So my plan today is Les Mis, shopping, lunch, Bunnings maybe. Tonight I'm cooking my second 15 minute meal, thanks Jamie, the Thai chicken lahksa was very yummy, but more like 45 mins! But that's ok, just need to do more prep, so that means it really isn't 15 mins??!
Days 1,2 and 3?
1 was the last of tube feeding, collar changing, the leash! Lunch - very good roast potatoes! And beef, pork, salads, strudel. Driving up to SASH, then an evening, the first in 8 weeks, that didn't have a night feed. Felt amazing.
2 was waiting, waiting, progress reports, and finally success. Picked up Ruf at 5.30, now just 7 days of meds.
3 saw me lolling a bit! Poor uv had to return to work, but I spent the day checking on Ruf who was enjoying next doors garden and later and who later curled up and slept all afternoon in a corner of their shed. I washed, read, snoozed, talked on the phone, shopped, cooked, watched the first almighty johnsons, season 2. Not bad, eh?

New discovery: Bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I've just discovered Bloglovin and I'm experimenting with it. Just have to add some code to my blog so that I can claim it as mine ... here goes.

Seems to be a nice way to manage your blog subscriptions. I currently use Google Reader in my iGoogle page, but I'm always up for a new idea!

Discovered this after reading a post from one of my fave knitting blogs, a friend to knit with, who was featuring a guest blogger from a blog that is new to me, tentenknits.

And again, it's August!

Not a windy day like last year but sunny, fresh and full of the promise of summer. I walked under a long, shady stand of Moreton Bay Figs at lunchtime, enjoying the cool shade, while yesterday I was looking for as much sun as possible.

Here are some images I took last year in New York on a day that felt very similar to today ...

Wish I was there right now!

It must be August

Someone today remarked that a friend born in August was given the middle name Gail ... made me smile .. perhaps they spelt it Gale, or even Gael ... but a whimsical nod to the windy month of August.
Here are some Etsy treasures that are all about the wind ....


{lovely illustration from a cute little shop called Matilou from Lyon}


{just how it is now, in Sydney, from here - how about that, another one from France}


{lovely clutch, palm trees buffeted by the wind, from here}