Gert has begun preparing the garden for winter and I couldn't resist photographing the colour of the decaying rhubarb leaves yesterday.
The red raspberries are almost finished. The parsnips are almost ready. He harvested a huge load of silverbeet (Swiss Chard/Bietole) and we froze some. Then he cut back the Thyme and the Rosemary too.
We had a wet warm Spring and then there was enough rain in the summer for the garden to grow madly well. This morning I was on the school run and as we left the house at 7.30am, the air was Crisp ... with a capital C. We're losing the light now ... the door to the garden stays shut while we eat breakfast, and the big metal shutter isn't opened until after 8am.
I'll miss Summer ... well, until I reach New Zealand anyway.
I found the music of Missy Higgins today, just after finding an old favourite of mine ... Paul Kelly's song, Midnight Rain, via youtube. I've been searching for it online for years.
And I watched it and remembered swimming in New Zealand's oceans. I remembered how good it felt to walk my dogs on the beaches. I remembered startling one of my favourite dogs out on Long Beach, in Dunedin, when I ran into the surf with her ... fully clothed, one day when I just needed to swim.
Then I hit replay and listened while I wrote to a friend. Not seeing the flim clip, I heard the familar roar of the surf, the crackle and slosh of the sea ... and something clicked, in my soul perhaps.
And I cracked open a spare moleskin notebook I had here.
I wrote New Zealand there on its front page, and started a list.
- find a copy of the movie 'In My Father's Den'.
- swim in the sea
- stand and walk in the surf, (photograph that to bring back to Europe when I leave).
And finally, so long after booking the tickets, I let my mind sift through the possibilities ... sunrises with coffee, outside, someplace beautiful.
Seeing my nieces, the Georgia and Katie creatures, who were 8 years younger when I left and now, well ... they're both teenagers.
And my much-loved favourite sister, Sandra, and my dad ... and one of my brothers, Steve, will be over from Australia.
There might be sunsets and wine, and long conversations ... with friends, like Dave and Jude, Christine and Peter, Fiona and Barry and others ... but I talk of them here.
Anyway, I'll be letting this song of Missy's take me home in the meanwhile ... and maybe I'll play up loud as we wander New Zealand ... letting Home sink back into my bones and fill me again.
We had so much fun but I think that comes through.
We were so delighted by Lies editing too. I imagine many will get a sense of what else might have been said during the hours of filming and conversation that went into this piece.
Thursday there was a corporate photography shoot that became huge.
Then yesterday ... Wednesday 3rd October, there was the launch of CameraJourneys.net.
In-between, a million other things too.
There was the launch of Benny van Loon's Retro Food project.
On Sunday, Gert's parents came over for a pavlova and coffee and conversation about Istanbul. His mum is wandering there now ...
My Nespresso machine was finally sent off for repairs today. The house is clean. The last of the rhubarb was picked and the plants have been 'tucked up' ready for winter.
The temperature dropped to 10 celsius in the rain today. I froze. Quite unprepared for it all.
Maybe that's all ... it's been a mad-busy couple of weeks though, mad-busy.
Istanbul, a universal beauty where poet and archeologist, diplomat and merchant, princess and sailor, northerner and westerner screams with the same admiration. The whole world thinks that this city is the most beautiful place on earth.
Edmondo De Amicis.
Although, I might mention Genova in the same breath. Another most beautiful city ...
This wasn't the first time, I've been interviewed for television before ...
I'm not sure if you read through the various blog pages I have on this website but I wrote the story of my recent interview experience over on my Antwerp blog page so ... just in case you missed it, it's there and not here, where I had originally intended to tell the story.
