Giving thanks, 2017

I am thankful for strong bones and muscles, and two feet that carry me through the botanic gardens when I feel like taking the extended walk home.

I am thankful for windows that open and close. For weather warm enough to keep them open all night, and for fruit bats that giggle and cackle in the park outside the window until 3.00am.

I am thankful for daylight savings time (DST). I still don't like the act of changing the hour, but the fact that we're on DST and family is off means we're only five hours apart, and a late afternoon chat actually works.

I am thankful that Edgemont Elementary started a French immersion program just when we needed a first grade. Eight years later, the family is honorary French.

A lady in our ward organizes an annual French event in Melbourne, and knowing our honorary French-ness, she gave us two complimentary tickets. I am so thankful for her kindness! Jonathan and I spent the day yesterday eating fondue, pastries, and tarte flambee, attending cooking demonstrations, and watching French films. All because of Laura and because of Edgemont Elementary.

I am thankful for a job that keeps me busy and interested and anxious. I am thankful for opportunities to stretch and learn and become the person I want to be when I grow up.

I am thankful for morning rain showers and afternoon thunderstorms and allergy medication.

I am thankful for late spring, early summer. I am thankful to be here. Right here, right now. To have bare feet and short sleeves, and yet to be warm. And to be thankful.

Sunshine

It is strange to think that other people are moving into winter now. I saw a picture of a cousin on a social media site, with snowflakes stuck to her hat. Our world doesn't look anything like that.

Sometimes I visit the other large university in the city. On days that I visit that university, I walk up the boulevard just to the west of our building to the large central train station.

When I head to my own university, I walk across the park just to the east of our building to a different station. Both stations are within walking distance, and both are very nice walks, through parks or past them, along tree lined streets.

If you ride the train from the first train station to the second, there is one station in between.

On Thursday, just to do something different, I decided to get off the train at the station in between, and walk home from there. My phone map suggested that I walk from the station to the stoplight, then cross into a park, walk through the park, over a pedestrian bridge over the river, and then through the Botanic gardens. Once through, walk a block, then cut through the edge of another park.

It was a 10 minute longer walk, but probably the loveliest walk of all.

I took some pictures. This one looks over the lawns and pond toward the city centre.

This is deep in the fern gully: one of my favourite places.

The lawn here sweeps down to the lily pond.

As you can see, we have finally broken out of winter. The trees all have their leaves again. The air is thick with the scent of flowers, and with pollen. (Tim and Jonathan are back on allergy medication.)

And I am so happy to have the sunshine again, at least for a few days.

Things I haven't been blogging

There is nothing like a dressing room -- fluorescent lights, full length mirrors -- to make you feel lumpy and old.

I've been looking for a new pair of jeans. They should be super comfortable, cover my butt at all times, and make me look young and skinny. I have jeans that are comfortable, and I have jeans that cover my butt at all times. But none of my jeans make me look young and skinny anymore. The skinny jeans just make me look lumpy. The young jeans make me look old.

I tried on several pairs. Somehow my stomach looked poochy and my hair looked flat and my eyes looked tired in all of them. Even though I kept trying them and trying them. And trying them.

I don't know. Maybe I'm asking too much of my jeans. Or maybe I can't ask them to make me look young and skinny while I'm in a department store dressing room. Maybe I need to just buy lots of jeans, and after I take them out of the dressing room they will make me look young and skinny again.

Because real life works like that, right?

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I owe you pictures of our spring school holidays. I almost wrote "recent" school holidays, but the longer I don't post the pictures the less recent those school holidays become. But I'm behind on all sorts of things. Like my work projects. And email. I have a lot of unread email. Ignored and un-responded to email. Some of it I have marked with a star, to remind myself that it's important enough that I need to get back to it. Some of it I have marked as unread, so I will go back through it and read it again when I'm cleaning out unread messages, and I'll remember at that time that I need to do something about it. And some of it is both starred and unread.

But pretty much I'm behind on all of it. Sorry.

I'm behind on all sorts of things. I think I need a secretary to sit me down and tell me what to do each day so that I can actually do the things that need to be done and postpone the things that don't need to be done immediately -- but not to postpone too long. Right now, my email inbox is my cheap way of having a personal secretary. Along with my electronic calendar. Email and e-calendar. They send me reminders of important things that I mark with a star so I'll someday get around to doing them. I hope. If I ever get through my email. I don't like electronic secretaries. They're too impersonal. And I have to tell them which things are important. I think a personal secretary would do a better job. Who will hire a secretary for me?

Meanwhile, do you think a personal secretary would shop for jeans for me? They could definitely sort through the holiday pictures and post the ones in which I look young and skinny.

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We are in the thick of spring. Last Saturday, Tim was unable to stop sneezing. Allergies. Jonathan laughed at him and told him just to hold the sneezes inside and Wow! His sneezes were Loud!

Sunday, Jonathan came down with the allergies. Red itchy eyes and hives. Tim was not extremely sympathetic.

With a little allergy medicine and a drastic change in the weather, they are now both allergy free. I'm not a fan of the weather change, though. We went from sunshine and blue skies to lots of cold rain. Lots and lots of cold rain.

But if it's raining
have no regrets
because it isn't raining only rain
it's raining violets.

That's a song I learned once. I think of it in the spring. I guess November showers bring December flowers, or something like that.

But what do December flowers bring? Pilgrims? Spring jokes just don't work in the Southern Hemisphere. They just don't work.

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Anyway, I haven't been blogging any of that. Because somehow it all seems a little stupid and embarrassing. And because I should catch up on my email and photos before the blog. That's why you haven't heard any of it yet.