Photo: Home made apple pie, lovingly created by yours truly and Joshua in honour of Daddy's long anticipated return.

And secondly, for, like, the first time ever, I have been tagged for a meme thingy. My sister, Sasha, picked me for a book meme, something that suits me down to the ground, except that my head's been all scattered lately, and I can't seem to focus on a book for more than a page or two. I had just finished reading Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth, a very enjoyable book, and it's taken me this long to choose and start reading my next book, Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy. I have listened to the first 1/6th of this book on my ipod, while at the gym, but I wanted to read it too, for no really logical reason, except that I am enjoying the story, and the words.

The instructions were to turn to page 123, go down 5 sentences then post the next 3 sentences. The passage I came up with from AK reads, (you got off lightly; Tolstoy is the master of the very long sentence that is so out of fashion these days):

'Dolly dear, I am so, so unhappy!" she whispered guiltily. And the sweet tear-stained face hid itself in the folds of Dolly's dress.

As if tears were the necessary lubricant without which the machine of mutual confidence could not work properly between the sisters, after having a cry they started talking of indifferent matters, and in doing so understood one another.

I like this passage very much. Coincidentally, it is about the nature of sisters; Kitty is heartbroken, and making herself sick over it, and Dolly has gone up to 'talk' with her. But in that way of sisters, they know what the other is feeling without words, and they never talk about the problem (of Kitty turning down a very nice suitor and then being dumped by the dishonourable man she thought she prefered), but, in talking about other stuff, they both come away knowing the full situation.

We don't get to talk as often as I'd like, but I hope my sisters know how much they mean to me!

I won't be tagging anyone, but if you're reading a good book and want to share a couple of sentences, I'd love to hear about it.

It's a joyful day today. Daddy's coming home this afternoon, after a week spent out at mine sites. It's hard to sleep in a water bed when you lose your ballast! I am busy today, tidying up and preparing a dinner for our prodigal.

This photo was taken at Christmas time, 2005, on a vacation to see our Northern family. It was pretty much my favourite sunset ever.

One of the nice things about neighbours is being able to enjoy the view of their thriving garden. Unless you have the misfortune of being our neighbours, in which case you have to endure the view of our over grown, toy filled jungle.

My linen set is finally on the line, drying in the first sunshine we've had in weeks. The forecast is for a heat wave this weekend; the place is going to be a sauna with all the rain we've had lately.

Fiddling with my camera settings, when a keen subject leapt into frame. Just another bad photo, but the ant that I'd never even noticed was an interesting surprise.


It's another wet day here. It's so lovely not to be worrying about the garden, but I'd like a sunny day to wash and dry the completed linen from an earlier post. There's a bit of crafting going on around here, and I'll post pics when there's something to see.

I knew it was a sign of their love that my parents allowed me to learn to play the violin. Even then I knew that it couldn't be easy listening to the shriek of a badly placed bow, or the whine of dodgy finger placement. I knew at the time how bad it was to listen to, after all I had my ear glued to the instrument.

Today, however, I think my parents got their own back on me. My darling first born has brought home a saxophone. Beautiful to look at, divine on a jazz cd, strangely reminiscent of a goose being strangled in my living room. The goose is putting up a good fight. Christopher knows nothing except how to put the instrument together, but that is quite enough. At the moment he's honking away and randomly pressing the keys, amid gales of laughter from his two adoring fans.

It's going to be a long year. Hold me.

Ok, one more disclaimer: I seem to be taking the photo and posting the following day, rather than on the day of the photo. I figure this is acceptable, since most of you are a day behind me anyway.

So, a number of you will guess immediately what I did all day yesterday (and I am going to finish today). Stitching and the BBC's version of Pride and Prejudice is a favourite combination of mine. I know at least four of you regulars agree with me! I am up to the scene where Mr Collins comes and visits after Lydia has run away. Kitty is hiding in the shrubbery and the other three sisters are enduring his pontificating. I love this scene, but I am really looking forward to Lady Catherine De Burgh's hissy fit.

Oh, and the stitching is a pillowcase, for a set of bedlinen I have almost finished. The embroidery in the opening credits of each episode puts mine to shame, but it's so inspiring!

The advent of blogging has given us internet addicts windows into the lives of people across the world. I am fascinated by the photographs of people who's lives are so similar to mine in some ways and yet so very different. Megan, over at Hip To Be Squared, is a friend I have known over the internet for many years. This year she's been working on a project in which she takes photos of her life each day and publishes her favourite. I have always enjoyed Megan's photography, and I am loving following her photo project. The glimpse into her days, the beauty she finds in everyday objects, all very interesting to me.

I have decided to give it a shot (get the photo pun?) too. Now, I know me well enough to come up with a few disclaimers right now.

1. I will most certainly not remember to do this every day.

2. It will take me weeks to get around to figuring out Flick'r, so no fancy photo hosting for now.

3. I don't know how many interesting photos I'll be able to come up with, so if it all gets a bit repetitive, don't say I didn't warn you.

With those three things in mind, and probably more to be thought of, my first photo is above. We have been enjoying a couple of fine days in the middle of a true Wet Season. The rains have finally come; the drought, for now, is broken. Water restrictions remain very strict (I am mistress of the four minute shower), as the dams are filling but are still too low to lift the restrictions. Our current water total is about 1/3 of the total dam capacity.

The garden is thriving. I have been planting a bit lately, taking advantage of the well soaked soil and regular rainfall. This photo is of my pawpaw (papaya) tree. I planted it well over a year ago, but it's been struggling through the dry weather. Now it's a very happy tree, and I am very happy to think of those delicious pawpaws slowly growing. Mmmmm!

Back into the school routine again! This year Christopher started Grade 5, Samara's in Grade 2 and Joshua is in the strangely named "Pre-prep". I guess he's preparing for the preparation year prior to Grade 1. Beats me why they can't just call it Preschool.

All the children are very satisfied with their classes and teachers. Christopher ended up having a different teacher to the one we expected, but the new teacher (who seems so very new in a school that has only changed one teacher since we started in Grade 1) seems like a very pleasant lady, who already has the measure of her class.

Samara has the same teacher as last year, which suits us very well. She had so much success last year, and we're looking forward to seeing what the new year brings. Samara's also returning to Brownies this evening, and is very excited that she's preparing to make her promise.

Joshua is thrilled with Mr Brown and his "new Kindy". Try explaining Pre-prep to a four year old! His one disappointment last week was that he only goes to school on Mondays and Tuesdays. He got up on Wednesday and pouted on the couch for a while.

This year is also promising to be a busy one for me. I have had a second publishing success, and so I am trying to spend more time on my writing. Part of that includes resuming the never ending Arts Degree. Rome wasn't built in a day, Mum!

In other news, I have signed up for a twelve week fitness challenge at my gym. School holidays etc have meant that my gym time fell by the wayside, but I am back with a renewed enthusiasm, and this will be just the accountability I need.