Heaven…
Finally we have the weather gods smiling upon us for the first time in forever.
Every day, Ceylon sapphire blue and mild with it, the skies with powder puffs here and there.
So the winter clothing is packed away (probably too precipitate) and shorts and short-sleeves are worn. The Factor 50 sun cream comes out and we soak Vitamin D into our deprived bodies.
My friend and I go for an early morning kayak, the first for far too long and it is superb to flick across the ocean, to hear the gentle dip and splash of the blade, to feel the cool sea droplets on our legs, to see underwater creatures and watch the weed waving, offering tantalising glimpses of the white sand and rock of the world beneath.
Round the bluff, the water is turquoise glass, stuff of legend, and we wonder if we are brave enough to paddle further and then decide ‘further’ is for another time. Neither of us is fit for kayaking as it’s been a long time between launching – it requires different muscles from ballet and gardening (me), and horseriding (her), and so we must get onto the water often, to enable ‘further’ to be more than just a wish and a promise.
Back in the garden, the dog, who is post-operative, has been lying on the sun-lounge, drowning in sunshine and feel-good warmth. I think it’s helped his recovery.
And the weather gods know how much it helps me…
My time:
Ballet. We’re doing 2 hours every Tuesday. Of course we love every minute, and even though we drag ourselves from the studios up the stair to our cars at the end, we always feel such an endorphin rush, it’s like eating a whole block of Haigh’s milk chocolate (best chocolate ever!)
When I think of how far I’ve come since beginning at Felicity Ryan Ballet in early 2021 and where I am now, and despite the odd year of ballet here and there, I’m surprised. More than anything though, I’m grateful for friends made and health improved.
Gardening. Lots! The garden is splendid but it’s in-between. The veggies are planted but not sprouted, the flower beds finished with spring and now in pre-summer luminescent green (except for the viburnum plicatum and the foxgloves).
So this week I’ll buy white annuals (petunias, cosmos, lobelia, impatiens) and plonk them into tubs and spare spots in the beds where they can be seen from the patio.
Kayaking. See above.
Walking. Bush and coast, starting off slow because of the terrier’s fragility, but he’s almost back to full canine strength now. And I love that we finally have the lowest tided after weeks of flood tides.
Writing. It’s such a solitary thing (which is probably why I enjoy ballet class – a bit of socialising which, like being solitary, is also good for the soul.) But such good news!
Reliquary, Book One of my latest hist.fict saga The Peregrinus Series, (available everywhere - see website) has now been shortlisted for the international Chaucer Awards. So now I’m turning up happily to write these newsletters and also the current novel and I’m surprised to find my brain is operating quietly on a third plane. Apparently, there’s another contemporary novel brewing in the dusty backroom of my grey matter. We’ll see. Let’s deliver on the fantasy first. The first half is off to my UK editor this week to find out (gulp) if I have a story.
Shopping. My least favourite activity of all time. The toaster and kettle decided to pack it in this week, so I’ve been researching. I thought a Smeg combo might be nice until I saw that a combo would be $A500! For boiling water and toasting bread? Ye Gods! So I’ve found copies and they’ll do.
I also found a small extendable dining table for our small coastal home. And other things like shoes made from recycled plastic, a donation to the Fred Hollows Foundation (my mum’s favourite charity because she was legally blind) and Christmas shopping (no detail as the beneficiaries might just read this!).
Farm. The pasture grows inches in an hour.
The rams are fat and happy (and about to be shorn), the older ewes are about to be shorn, a smaller flock crutched (bottoms shorn of dirty wool, so they don’t get fly strike) and the whole farm flock about to be drenched (after such a terribly wet spring, it’s essential). It’s a busy week, which means I will cook for ‘smokos’ (traditionally morning and afternoon tea breaks). Thankfully, our shearers and shed-hands bring their own lunches. OH is making sure the shearing shed is spotless, animal husbandry supplies are re-stocked, and that nothing can go wrong.
Boat. Electrics need assessing and I must attend the boat with the marine electrician, as husband will be flat chat in the shearing shed. Yikes, what do I know?
Watching:
Finished Entrapped Series 3 (previously Trapped) on Netflix. Loved it. See previous newsletter
Now watching Agent Hamilton Series 2 on SBS on Demand, a Swedish spy thriller series. Carl Hamilton is a Swedish James Bond with quite a backstory and every episode is always edge-of-the-seat.
Watched Enola Holmes 2 on Netflix and enjoyed it immensely. I love the Fourth Wall technique and the whole movie ramps along at a furious pace with slick dialogue, a super plot (based on an historical event) and I actually like the costumes and sets although some reviewers don’t. I’m much kinder - I wanted to be entertained and both husband and self were - happily.
Tried to take up where I left off with The Last Kingdom final series but wasn’t in the right mindset, so left it. But will go back as I’m a huge Cornwell fan and love this series of books.
And not at all cerebral but often emotive and always great entertainment, Australia’s Got Talent simply because cream rises to the top. And when it does, the taste is splendid. Sometimes, as with the perfect magic act…
or the most thrilling songbirds, one is reduced to tears.
DELIGHTED to hear that Fane is globally streaming Richard E. Grant’s live show for one week as everyone knows how disappointed I am not to be able to attend his show in Melbourne on 18th November.
Reading:
Audiobook. Finished Geneva, by Richard Armitage and read by Richard and by Nicola Walker. It’s pretty damned good! I hated having to turn it off. For his first ever book, I believe this man can write and it doesn’t surprise me. He’s intellectual - a deep thinker and a big reader and he has such a strong handle on the thriller genre. If I was perturbed about anything it was that Pavel, the security guard/Russian spy, made elemental mistakes, but I swallowed my words on that count.
Kindle: Finished Meg Bignell’s The Angry Womens Choir. Contemporary and plausible in this crazy 21st century world. Great fun to read.
But…
…so glad our corps de ballet is a) not angry and b) not required to appear naked.
I love our blue or black leotards and skirts (depending on our moods). And even more, love the full-length swirling tulle.
It makes us feel like real ballerinas! Which is heaven…
Till next time, thanks so much for reading and if you want to comment, I am always delighted to chat.
Reading your blog, Prue, offers the gentle time out that I need. Thank you. I love to experience the seasons back-to-front! And with each mention of your ballet class, I like more and more the idea. I did ballet as a child and teenager and I would love to do it again. Maybe one day I'll seek out a class, inspired by you.🧡🍁
Gosh, maybe you're getting the really wet rain we had nearly all year. Just grey and wet so that the subsoil is drowned. I do feel for you.
PS: I've just realised how silly it sounds to say 'really wet rain', but there's rain and then there's 'rain!' isn't there...