Snapshot

 I miss the days when I blogged more regularly but somehow it seems that the less I blog, the more fussy I become about what is a good topic. And so it's a catch 22 where I edit new ideas out of existence and don't blog and then become even harsher with the editing!

In the absence of  anything more significant to say, let me give you a dot point run down of what's current:

Reading: The Kindness Revolution

Wearing: pink hair and thrifted gems

Eating: Portugese tarts

Watching: Hoof Doctor videos (weirdly fascinating)

Cooking: roasted parsnip

Dreaming: of travel 

Craving: chocolate 

Enjoying: coolish weather before summer hits hard

Playing: Wordle and Waffle

Cowra/ Canowindra Long Weekend

Well, here are the long awaited photos from my weekend away.

The Lachlan River runs through Cowra and the bridge over the river has these huge pylons which were graffiti central until somebody decided to put art on them. It's made a feature of what must have been an eyesore.

During WW2 there was a Prisoner of War camp at Cowra, specifically chosen because it's a long way from nowhere. The night the prisoners arranged to break out has gone down in Cowra's history. Australian soldiers who were killed in the breakout or who were Cowra locals and died as a result of the war are buried at the War Cemetery.

The Japanese Garden 

"The 231 Japanese soldiers who died in the escape were buried nearby and local members of the Returned Service’s League tended their graves. As mutual respect grew over the years between Japan and the citizens of Cowra, the idea of a garden arose which would be a symbolic representation of the landscape of Japan."

Back to the bridge! I thought I edited this particular photo to show less mud but apparently not.

More Japanese Garden

The Japanese Garden and whats left of the POW camp have been made into parkland and together called the "Peace Precinct" 

I guess it has snakes but I didn't see any.

'Scuse fingers, haha! The grapevine on the motel really made it feel welcoming and lush.

We went to a concert at a lovely plant nursey in the neighbouring town of Canowindra. The nursery seemed to have very few plants and a lot of covetable homewares. The grand piano was set up in the cafe/ shop area. Locals tell me Nerida is the local piano teacher and also owns the nursery. It has the makings of a lovely cultural hub.

Poppies at the visitors information centre. They were on their way out so I was glad the timing allowed me to see them. The spring weather also meant that there were lots of naturalised fruit trees flowering on the road edges.

Time has mostly stood still in the Canowindra main street, which makes it pretty and a sought after movie location. I was too busy talking to take more photos, though!

Water tank art in the Peace Precinct

Back to the War Cemetery

I took this photo for Keaghan who is a 4WD enthusiast.

Another Canowindra cafe and gift shop, called Finn's. What a delightful place to linger over lunch. It was the old General Store and close inspection revealed the original bins for bulk goods and spices. I'm sure there were other treasures to appreciate if I'd looked harder. This place hosts the monthly men's lunch, which is a great initiative allowing rural men to get together and support each other. 

I think I took a photo like this one on my last visit to the Japanese Gardens, 29 years ago. I wonder how it would compare?

Thanks for road tripping with me!
 

party like there's no tomorrow

 I was away last weekend, gallivanting about the country side and I'll post photos from that trip sometime soon.

It all started as a plan to go to to the Canowindra Baroquefest and then morphed to become a road trip with an old friend from my student days, meeting up with another student friend of ours for a concert and a long lunch. 

The long weekend away lead into a shortened work week and then this weekend which I expected to be very quiet turned out to be anything but. 

My girls went to my sister's place to bake with the cousins and then my sister wanted to know why I wasn't there so I went and we had a dinner of Thai take-away. It was almost like a family reunion because I see my sister so rarely.

My ex turned 60 this week and it's a big deal in Chinese culture so there was a party and I received a last minute invitation. He had been telling our daughters to invite me and they told him I wouldn't attend without being invited properly so eventually the invitation came with about 48 hours notice.

The invitation was the apology I will never hear and the admission that I wasn't as bad as he thought, maybe even a recognition that I always had his back. And my attendance at the party was my silent acknowledgement that I understood.

It's too little and too late but it feels significant.