A Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY ~ Friday 28th September 2012

Outside my window...I became aware of the rain dancing on the roof...with a low rumble of thunder to accompany it long before daybreak. What a lovely way to begin the day...listening to the beating rhythm and its roar.

Now that the blinds are open I can watch it too. I'm not bothered by having more rain because we've had some brilliant sunny days lately and have appreciated it fully with beach walks, eating al fresco and generally being outdoors from dawn to dusk! 

The cockatoos are calling with their squawks echoing around over head. They even came to call just to see if we had anything of interest to share...perfect photo opportunity as they land on the balcony showing their best side to the camera.

I can see the tall blue gum trees swaying against a bright but fully laden sky...the rain will be here for a while yet...but that's fine by me. It's giving a refreshing feel to the morning.

If I look over to the left I can see the ocean with amazing waves rolling in onto the clean golden unspoilt sand. No foot prints have marked the perfect scene so far.

The amazing azure blue with starch crisp white crests rolling and tumbling forwards...oh I could sit here and watch it for hours. This has to be good for the soul.

I am thinking...whilst I'm sitting here appreciating this scene...when will my breakfast arrive? I wonder who's on duty this morning? (rumble in the tumble) Ahh haaa...it's not me as I hear clatter coming from the kitchen. The day just gets better

I am thankful...for moisturizers. After a day at the beach my skin drank in my moisturizer like a parched elephant at a waterhole!

In the kitchen...It's not my own kitchen today because we are on a road trip but the kettle is cooling so needs to be refreshed and another cuppa made. The fridge is stocked with fresh juice and champagne (not bad eh?) The breakfast order is sitting in a basket waiting for us for whenever we decide to participate. Which by the sounds and feeling in my tum won't be long!

I am wearing...cropped jeans and a t-shirt although if I venture out I'll be wearing a cagoule.

I am creating...a huge porfolio of inspiration! We have been collating photographs for the last two weeks...literally hundreds so that should stimulate our creativity. There seems to be an abundance of

stimulus at every turn.

I am going...home today to prepare for our next trip! It's all go.....
 

I am wondering...how Mufftypup is behaving? She's staying with Zac whilst we nip here, there and everywhere....so I can imagine there could be high jinx! 

I'm reading... The Paris Wife by Paula McLain (I'm reading it on my kindle)

The Paris Wife

I decided that I would use my kindle for this read because I know I'm going to be busy travelling around so it will be ideal. I've enjoyed holding three huge 'real' books (as I call them).

I've only just started it but already I'm enjoying it immensely.

Book Description:-  

A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures a remarkable period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.

Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

Though deeply in love, the Hemingway's are ill prepared for the hard-drinking and fast-living life of Jazz Age Paris, which hardly values traditional notions of family and monogamy. Surrounded by beautiful women and competing egos, Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history, pouring all the richness and intensity of his life with Hadley and their circle of friends into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises. Hadley, meanwhile, strives to hold on to her sense of self as the demands of life with Ernest grow costly and her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Despite their extraordinary bond, they eventually find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unravelling of everything they’ve fought so hard for.

A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.

About the Author:-

Paula McLain was born in Fresno, California in 1965. After being abandoned by both parents, she and her two sisters became wards of the California Court System, moving in and out of various foster homes for the next fourteen years. When she aged out of the system, she supported herself by working as a nurses aid in a convalescent hospital, a pizza delivery girl, an auto-plant worker, a cocktail waitress--before discovering she could (and very much wanted to) write. She received her MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan in 1996. Since then, she has received fellowships from the corporation of Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the Ucross Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her first book of poetry, Less of Her, was published in 1999 from New Issues Press and won a publication grant from the Greenwall Fund of the Academy of American Poets. She's also the author of a second collection of poetry, Stumble, Gorgeous, a memoir, Like Family: Growing Up In Other People's Houses, and the novel, A Ticket to Ride. Her most recent book is The Paris Wife, a fictional account of Ernest Hemingway's first marriage and upstart years in 1920's Paris, as told from the point of view of his wife, Hadley. She teaches in the MFA Program in Poetry at New England College, and lives with her family in Cleveland. 

I am hoping...that a friend who is having such a difficult time at the moment finds peace, stability and can embrace the new start in her life no matter how scary it appears just now. She deserves the best! ;D

 

I am looking forward to...the list is endless and would take far too much time here.

Oh breakfast has just arrived....brilliant timing...yum!

 

Around the house...well its hardly a house as we are staying in a hotel but we're heading home later...once I've finished here I'll be packing up our belongings, loading up the car and off we jolly well go....toot toot! 
 

A favourite quote for today...which we saw written on the rear of the vehicle in front of us whilst on the road!

"Why do people with closed minds always open their mouths?"

 

One of my favourite things...is having my photographer with me. I don't have to carry the equipment, worry about light, exposure, or composition...we just see things so similarly and sometimes at exactly the same time...sometimes no words are necessary...just a look or a finger point and click!

   

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... it rendered me speechless!

 What better way to end a spectacular day than to witness the rugged splendour of the famous 12 Apostles, magnificent rock stacks that rise up majestically from the Southern Ocean.   

 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 weekend and hopefully the sun will shine wherever you are   but if it doesn't just make the most of everything.....Enjoy!