Hello strangers

It has been nearly six months since I posted! I haven't defected to the lesser socials, there have been no great revelations made on Facebook or Instagram. I have just been living my life; working full-time, sharing a car with the almost independent daughter, driving the two more dependent children to many extra-curricular activities, running three card classes a month, with associated preparation, and reading. It isn't that I dislike blogging, or think it unimportant, I just haven't considered it more important that those things, or sleep.

When I left work yesterday, there was hugging. We don't usually hug when we part at the end of the working day, even on Friday afternoons, but this Friday was different. I am not returning for five weeks!

We are going on a trip of a lifetime, and by 'we' I mean all five of us. Joss will be off to uni next year, and perhaps we will never all live together again. So, we are off on a joint adventure, and I am planning to share it here. Facebook and Instagram will get something, too, but it won't be the same, it never is.

We fly out on Tuesday, to places that seem dreamlike; imaginary and magical. I know they are real; I have been there after all (Andrew's and my trip was ten years ago!), but I am a person who reads largely for setting and place, and the settings that really tug at my heart are in the U.K.

I was a very unpatriotic young person. Actually, I think patriotism tends to be ugly, so I am still not patriotic, but I no longer suffer from the grass is always greener mindset that is the enemy of contentment. I have come to terms with Australian summers, and there is so much to love about where we live.

Last week, I drove Bethany's friend back to her farm in Wantabadgery, around forty minutes away. It has become my favourite drive. It was late afternoon, and the sun was setting behind me, lighting the dry grass and trees a vibrant gold which contrasted with the deep blue-grey sky, threatening rain. We then drove into the rain, and on the way home, the sun was behind the hills, giving them a luminous pink glow.

So, while we will be travelling to places that move me deeply, I am happy to call this place home, at least until I am called to my true home, for good.