HOSPITAL TOMORROW

WELL, FINALLY the time has come to pack a bag and get ready for a new plate to be attached to my fractured collarbone.  god, i hope it works, six more weeks in a sling!   I've been seriously paying attention to working with my left hand and being aware of every movement. i've ordered new clothes, all pull up or zip up, easy stuff.   The freezer is full, partly my own efforts and kind gifts from friends. Where would i be without them.

My sanity is intact however, largely due to being in this beautiful place.  I'm reading Julia Baird's 'Phosphorescent', all about the life enhancing effects of 'awe and wonder', and much as i don't go for catchphrases like that I have to say that the daily sight of pre-sunrise over the lock, sunsets, the river and birds, the moon and stars in a clear sky, surprise sightings of kangaroos, stumpies, even foxes have kept my spirits buoyed through these past four months.

and then there's the garden . . .

i'm waiting to see if these overcrowded irises flower, it looks as though they will - i planted them in the old bath so i could identify the ones i'll take with me when i leave.  they've multiplied so much just in one year.

Freesias are out all over the place - a yearly pleasure

this pigface is growing over the road amongst the saltbush

Besides the 'awe and wonder' factor of living here,  knitting is also keeping me sane.  there's something about the repetitive meditative quality of producing  useful garments in wool that's very grounding and satisfying.

and then there are the constant visitors, this magpie and 

two others have recently arrived (or returned) and they're

quite tame. this one landed about 1 metre from my head

as i read in the sun on the verandah.   the bee below was

on a table outside where i was also reading, he was very 

busy doing something but i couldn't figure out what it was.