Last week took me back to the bright lights of Melbourne and it was interesting to return to the city. It was my first trip back since leaving for the country in August last year. I wasn’t sure how I would feel given the circumstances of my return were emotional anyway. To be honest, when we drove over the Bolte Bridge in the early evening and spotted Melbourne town lit up like a Christmas tree, there was that old spark of excitement; she really is a beautiful and vibrant city.
BUT a few days later I saw her in a different light. Everything looks grey and I suppose in fairness that’s not just because of all the big buildings and concrete, Melbourne turned on some appalling COLD weather and grey skies during our visit. Now that we live in a country town of 80,000, being back in the city highlighted the differences for me (not all bad of course)…. given the greater population in the city there is more diversity in terms of race, religion and economic background which is more interesting, but I felt like I was swapped by people rushing around. The traffic congestion felt intimidating and the air polluted. On the other hand, shopping centres are just that – big centres with lots of variety – gotta love that!! Everything is available and easily accessible. Had I had more time I’m sure there would have been a shopping spree.
Given the purpose for our visit there wasn’t much time to catch up with friends this time, so I really appreciated these two gorgeous friends going out of their way to meet up with me for a quickly coffee. Do you recognise them?
They are of course Vikki (left) from Sew Useful Designs and Anna on my right from Anna Rosa Designs. I’ve known both of these gorgeous gals long before we entered the blogosphere, but now I can also keep in contact through their blogs. We had a lovely couple of hours and boy, did we talk. Some things are just better discussed in person!!
So, now that I am back up on the coast where life is far more relaxed and the skies are blue, life is returning to our usual routine. We are already benefiting from the beautiful Spring weather but the wind has swept up as it always does this time of year – hello allergies. I should have known it was an ill wind blowing yesterday when the kids were silly and the dog was barking at the sky, but I wasn’t prepared for this lunacy…
My poor old clothesline was whirring around in the wind one minute and the next she snapped in two and collapsed.
There’s a strange kind of Karma in this incident and I bet Kris from Tag Along Teddies is enjoying this immensely. You see, a very similar incident happened to her clothesline awhile back and rather than offer condolences I laughed and jibed with much hilarity. Now my poor old girl who was a tad rusty from the salty sea air has thrown up her lineal arms in disgust too. Just between us, I had a big laugh myself yesterday until I realised getting the clothes off the line was going to be a drama.
On a side note, do you see my vegie garden there in the bottom of the picture? One of my students gave me about 100 strawberry plants a few weeks back and our back garden has strawberry patches popping up everywhere. Mmmmm, won’t that be nice in a few months.
Hope you all have a great and sunny weekend,
Hugs ~ Kerryanne