Short report

There's been a TSO Winds Concert at The Mill.

It has been rumoured that's the Triabunna Symphony Orchestra...

It's lovely to be upclose and personal to the musicians.

 I've made 70 bandanas, so far, for the Dogs Breakfast next month's Mental Health Week.

Rosa's Luca looking suave

sort of self-sown tulips in the garden

native Golden Moth Orchids growing on Melbourne Street!

the road to Buckland yesterday

Zumba, tai chi, yoga, Tuesday Lunch all continue, but that's the news for now.

Happy Birthday Hildy May!

Mum and I both have a penchant for Cointreau

so what must a good daughter do on her Mum's birthday?

Mum liked to drink hers as an after dinner liqueur - neat in a small glass.  I like Cointreau and lemon with ice, cocktail style.  And that's what I've just had.

You may recall that last year Helly, Tamasin, Willowa and I went to the Magnolia Gully at Mt Lofty Botanical Gardens to celebrate Mum's birthday and her life.

Back home, I set about buying 2 magnolia plants,

one deciduous (Waterlily Magnolia)

one evergreen (White Pearl).

I am pleased to say that they have both survived and blossomed right on time for her birthday.  This spot seems to perfectly meet their needs but I'm still waiting on the inspiration to pretty it up a bit.  It will come.

Owed to Mum

This is the weekend between the first anniversary of Mum's death on 30th August and her birthday on 2nd September.

I have a friend who believes that I am still grieving.  I don't think that is so.  I have grieved that Mum did not use her full potential, content to be a wife and mother, and I am sad that she did not make better use of her time in the nursing home.  These were her choices and I respect them.

Mum was a very good wife and mother.  I left home at about 18 to live in a uni college and then left in 1974 to live in Tasmania.  I spent little time with her from then on.  This is demonstrated by the few photos that I have of her.  I have never missed my Mum. It is as if she is always with me - especially when I look in the mirror...  She and Dad did a good  job and raised me to be capable and independent.  I love her, and am very grateful.

Favourite photos:

Mum with her Mum and Dad, Weymouth, around 1930

Mum, Helen and I circa 1957

Mum, Helen and I on the verandah of the nursing home during covid

Last weekend a couple with a young daughter camped next door at the caravan park.  It mostly rained and I watched them struggle to put up their tent and, a couple of days later, pack it all away.  It occurred to me that Mum and Dad had done this many times and, as a child, I had taken it for granted.

They had their naughty eagle boy with them.  Another reminder.

Horsham, on the way to Tasmanian holiday 1970

Mum was no shirker:

concreting the driveway at 16 Ramsey

(photo courtesy of Helly)

slaving away at my place 1981

nearing the end of a big day of trains and walks in Barcelona 2014

and a big day walking the clifftops from Pwyllgwaelod to Cym yr Eglys 2014

We shared a passion for eating:

we love a good picnic, River Derwent around 1981

Mum's first paella 2014

and we both so love seafood

that Mum gave me money for The Easterers to have a fish frenzy on the Eyre Peninsula in 2013, wishing she could be there.  She loved us all.

 

I love blackbirds and consider them to be a sign of home.  We have always had them in our garden but this week they have taken to hanging around the house.  It feels like a blessing.