A Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY ~ Friday 31st August 2012

Outside my window...I normally write my daybook when I first wake, but once again I'm a little late not only with the hour of the day, but also the day...well very late in fact for me because its Friday and nearly dinner time...so the view is very different.

Tomorrow is officially the start of spring here and not a moment too soon as far as I'm concerned.

Although we have seen the sun for most of the day today...that lazy wind has been its constant companion. (just in case you haven't heard me use the term 'a lazy wind' before I just mean it doesn't go around you...it just cuts straight through!)

So what can I see from my dining room window...lots of plant cuttings that I took a few days ago when the temperature started to rise...I'm ever the optimist!

I'm also keeping a very close eye on my jasmine because there's a challenge on between my jasmine here in Melbourne and a friend's jasmine in Brisbane. The challenge is whose jasmine will flower first! I know I'm up against it here, as Brisbane gets far more sun and higher degrees more temperature but I have lots of buds on mine and it is in the sun (when it comes to call) They are just waiting to pop! It could be a close match! 

One more day of sun might just snatch this win for me ~ :D

I've also had a regular visitor this week coming into the entertaining area tidying up for me...no I haven't decided to take on a cleaner or gardener...it's a Magpie and he/she's obviously thinking spring is here already because he/she is collecting all the twigs and sticks for the nest. 

The sun is just dipping down now making that wonderful light that apparently makes photographers never home for dinner...it just changes everything and I always stop to appreciate it for a few minutes.

I am thinking...Whoohoo...my son got a new job today, so life is pretty good ;D
 

I am thankful...for the above obviously. 
 

In the kitchen...There's nothing cooking and I really must get going...dinner may be a little late this evening. Maybe a take-away might be better...hmm....
 

I am wearing...layers....the best ideal clothing for Melbourne. 

I've been out and about today so had to try and cover all eventualities. Jacket off...jacket on...jacket off!!!
I think it may be time to light the fire...don't you just love Friday nights!

 

I am creating...well I'm not really creating but I should be...I've hit a problem....because I wanted to post a scanned copy of a painting but it is in pdf format and I can't or don't know how to change that format without having to rescan!
If anyone knows how then please can you let me know before I pull ALL of my hair out! 

I am going...to a craft fair tomorrow which I believe to be the best in the whole of Melbourne! I can't wait! I'll hopefully post about it sometime next week...but I might be so overcome and hyperventilating that I might forget to take photos or have soooooo many bags to carry be unable to. We'll have to wait and see ;D

I am wondering...how people are coping after Hurracane Isaac. I've never been in anything other than a heavy tropical thunderstorm so can't imagine what it would be like to experience a hurracane.

I'm reading...I'm still reading this book but I have to say I'm really enjoying it...which is strange because when you read the synopsis you may think this one isn't for me...it sounds so depressing but let me tell you somehow it isn't... the writing is lucid, with precise and memorable images. It is a novel built on acute character observation, told with great beauty and that rare thing in fiction: genuine poignancy."

'The Meaning of Grace by Deborah Forester'

'Mum is the reference point. If you ever get confused about anything, there she is, waiting with all her knowledge of you.'
Grace Fisher, mother of three, one day decides her husband is a sore disappointment and moves the family from Melbourne to a coastal village in Victoria. But Ian's slow dissolution on the couch masked a depression that will harrow him into an early grave, leaving the kids with a lifetime of questioning: what happened to their father; how did he get so sad? Between their father's demise and Grace's hardscrabble existence working at a local bakery, each child is left to find meaning on their own. Edie, the eldest child, locks herself into a romantic ideal so lofty that it can't help but fail. The middle child, Juliet, struts and careens through life, filling it only with what she can seduce, steal and manipulate. Sibling rivalry between sisters proves the slowest and fiercest of burns. Love comes easily for Ted, the youngest, but when his wife abandons him to raise two daughters on his own, the perils of fatherhood are laid bare.
When Grace, the distant, imperfect hub of the family, is diagnosed with terminal cancer, the siblings are forced to confront each other as adults, and come to understand their mother.
Written with her hallmark warmth, humour and deftness of observation, Deborah Forster's follow-up novel to the Miles Franklin shortlisted The Book of Emmett is a moving story of the loves and rivalries that burn at the heart of every family, and the meaning that comes from it.

About the Author....

 

Deborah Forster grew up in Footscray, Melbourne. She worked as a staff and freelance journalist for many years and was a This Life columnist on The Age and The Sunday Age. Deborah Foster is married to Alan Kohler and they have three children. The Book of Emmett, her first novel, received the Dobbie Prize and was shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literature Prize and the Miles Franklin Award.

I am hoping...that a friend who is having a really difficult time at the moment finds some comfort, stability and moves forward to a new positive place that provides all that she needs....she deserves it!

I am looking forward to...warmer days. I'm sorry if you're heading into autumn/fall but I need spring :D

 

Around the house...I don't know because I'm sitting here in the dark now...there's only the glow from my screen as the sun has decided to call it a day. 

A favourite quote for today..."Learn from yesterday....live for today...hope for tomorrow"... Albert Einstein

 

One of my favourite things...is relaxing at the end of the week...candles lit, a glass of wine near to hand, chocolate and watching a movie...ahh....relaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaxing at last. 
    

A few plans for the rest of the week: Work, rest and play but not necessarily in that order : D

 

A peek into my day: I went into the CBD with a friend to see ‘The 400 Fest’ which started today at Federation Square. It's celebrating 400 collective years of Melbourne’s major municipal Markets.  

Today was the start of the 2nd annual market week festivities which will run from Friday 31^st August - Sunday 9^th September.

Don't you feel so much healthier just by looking at all this fresh produce never mind eating it.

I've posted previously about Prahran Market and the Queen Vic Market but have yet to post about the South Melbourne Market....but I will ;D

 So that's it for this week; I hope you enjoyed your visit. Don't forget to pop over to The Simple Womans Daybook and check out the other day book entries

Have a fabulous week and hopefully the sun will shine wherever you are : D