Have a look at these, purchased at Robin’s suggestion for my camping kitchen kit. When I bought them I though “How generous, they’ve included pepper and salt with them.” Then I went to use the pepper grinder when we had our first dinner in our cottage in Denmark and realised that the “pepper and salt” was actually very life-like pictures!

Picture this:

A 3-footed grey walking stick, standing on the floor of the Qantas Club in Melbourne.

On top is a black wide-brimmed hat, making the walking stick look like a small, hunch-backed man.

This is what my mother’s visit to Melbourne airport created!

Despite the stress of getting her there and keeping her safe, I had to chuckle to myself. There would always be something very specially…unique about my mother.

And I will miss that when she leaves us.

Although these weren’t the ones I saw, they give you the feeling that I was gifted with during my morning walk today. Tomorrow I will be flying with Mum to Melbourne, where we will meet Fiona in the Qantas Club lounge and Fiona will then fly with Mum to Tasmania so Mum can have a “holiday” at Fi’s place.

Actually it will be an intensive respite time, with Fi showering on Mum all the love and care she’s been aching to give during the past some months while Mum has been increasingly ill.

In my heart I knew this would be the last time I’d see Mum alive, and I was sad.

So as always when I’m sad there’s a wonderful wild gift. This time, on the calm, shiny wintery river, there was a fleet of pelicans. As I watched them I spied a few dolphin spouts amongst them, which soon disappeared. Soon the spouts reappeared some distance away, then the leaping started, which meant that there were fish to catch! One by one the pelicans took to the air then landed amongst the dolphins, eager to share the feast. They were joined by gulls and cormorants. Lastly one of the pair of ospreys who’ve nested in a pine tree on the river bank glided in majestically to see if there was anything to eat.

What a sight – worthy of our legendary David Attenborough!

And it made my heart sing:-)

Today was the 40th Anniversary of the day that man landed on the moon for the first time.

Today was also the 40th anniversary of the day that Rob and I decided that we were “an item”. On this day 40 years ago Rob and I sat holding hands in the back of the Ross Lecture theatre at UWA (which my father’s building company had built) and watched Neil and Buzz clamber down the ladder of the lunar module and into the moon dust.

We took the afternoon off to have a long lunch, visit the Ross Lecture theatre, the street where I used to live, and just remember with great gratitude that we are still alive and together:-)

This weekend we gathered at “Curradel”, Tristan and Blaine’s bushland just west of Tammin. It was the annual seed-planting and we had 3,000 little seedlings to plant!

Tristan, Blaine and the kiddliwinks arrived there on Friday night and spent Saturday morning getting the land, seedlings and gear ready.

At lunch-time Jeanette and Christopher, Rob and I, and Blaine’s step-Dad Joe (who now lives on land nearby) joined TBTA for lunch in Cunderdin “Pit Stop”. Then it was off to the bushland and work! After I’d helped to put the Thea down for her sleep I realised that someone would have to stay nearby to watch over her. So I tidied the camp, set up our tent next to the caravan and kept myself occupied while everyone else scattered across the land. By the time Jeanette an Christopher left around sunset we’d broken the back of it.

Stars that night, and magic of magic there were frogs singing in the salt-laden creek!

Early rising on Sunday, breakfast in Cunderdin, then I watched over Thea and occasionally Tom for the morning while the others planted.

Not too many left at lunch-time when Rob took this photo – Thea had been helping me do a bit of planting before we noticed Tom in trouble – he’d got stuck in the mud and couldn’t move. Pa had to come and lift him out. So he stayed with Thea and I to recover over a BIG lunch!

We left about 3:30 and TBTA not long after – all the seedlings were planted, rain was forecast for the entire next week and we ALL looked forward to a good sleep that night!

Elwyn and I had serious fun buying these clothes for Tom and Thea from Marks & Spencers’ in London. Elly said it was the most fun she’d had in a LONG time:-)

Rob and I celebrated my return from UK by going to do the shopping on a very cold, rainy day, so Rob of course wore the fancy outdoor jacket that I had bought for him in UK… well Elwyn helped me to order it over the internet and had it delivered to her workplace which caused a few chuckles!

I’ve come down with a cold today. As I’ve got the 24 trip back to Perth tomorrow and Wednesday, I decided that going into the London for the planned workshop was NOT a good idea. So stayed at Elly’s and was very quiet. Finished off some writing, and had a slow walk on the shady track around Fleet Pond. It’s been good getting to know the area where Elly lives, especially Fleet Pond. So many creatures – squirrels, Canadian geese who migrate here to mate and make babies for the summer (see pictures), the resident heron (after whom the local very nice pub is named – see picture), terns which also migrate here, swans (white! – see picture), coots, and many other birds which I don’t know, the local dogs being walked, the resident trout or pike in the stream…

It was nice to have the time to say farewell, this morning, tonight when Elly and I walked around the lake again while the roast was cooking, and I’ll go around the other way tomorrow in preparation for my plane flights.

Today Elly and I battled through motorway standstills due to a horrid crash (see sign above) to get to Bath for her cricket match. We sat on a hill overlooking Bath with got a welcome breeze in the sultry heat.

Firstly I chatted with Hannah’s (fellow cricket player) delightful parents from Wales, and was duly shown the photos from Hannah’s recent marriage to Richard. Then my meeting with another Richard (L) was at 2pm. He came to the ground, where his daughter used to play cricket, and we spent a couple of hours chatting, sharing life stories and where we could work together on my leadership program.

Elly’s team got the opposition out for 81, then got their runs fairly quickly, ending with Elly not out for about 40. Then we went on the Bath Cricket Club and watched the men’s match there for a while before making our way home. Via Stonehenge which is recovering from the 39,000 people who camped around it for last week’s summer solstice! Nice to say goodbye with only a few people there:-)

Home to Elly’s for a late dinner and bed.

This is what Richard (L) emailed me later about Elwyn’s batting:

“I have a very clear image of her whacking the ball in a way that was beautifully elegant.”

Elly and I went shopping this morning with a shopping list that was something like this: Food , Flange for light fitting (so she could replace the broken light shade in the spare room with a new one), fan (because it was an unseasonal 25-28 degrees C here), shower screen (because her old one was falling apart and very mouldy), pin-up board (so she could keep track of her paperwork), folding chairs (so I would have something to sit on for tomorrow’s cricket match and she and Robin will take them camping), possibly a dishwasher.

So we got it all, and Elly saw a dishwasher that was a VERY good buy. Here she is with it unpacked in her kitchen (with the able assistance of her friend Tricia)!

Note the bottle of Pims in the foreground – I got her that yesterday because it’s Wimbledon season and apparently you are supposed to have Pims, strawberries and cream which she and Tricia shared later on (over Wimbledon on TV of course).