Saying goodbye to the memories.

I was trying to get rid of 'stuff' in my daughters room, and I decided to empty out the dressing up box. In it I found my teen's old Flash outfit. For two years, around 3-5, he followed me everywhere in that suit, with the hood on.
Over a decade ago.
Where did that time go? We march on so busily and forget so much until prompted.
Suddenly, those little funny people that take up so much of our day are adults that come and go independantly and occasionally dine with us.
I love who they are now, I love seeing all the prospects in their life but sometimes when I see these items that have such snapshots of a specific time in their little lives, I miss those days.
I hung the dressing up clothes on the fence for people to take and a short time later, Flash was gone. I am so happy a new kid will get to love this suit, and I'm hoping I get to see a little Flash roaming our streets again.

Do you get triggered by forgotten memories?

Linking with #IBOT #Nanahood #DreamTeam #TwinklyTuesday and #TheRandom

The Best Cake I have eaten...

Like the rest of the world, and most of Instagram, my favourite cake is BlackStar Bakery's Strawberry and Watermelon cake.

For my birthday each year, I zip off and sneak myself a piece. If we have visitors from overseas, I take them some. If we have a gluten free dinner guest, I also put in on the menu for dessert.

If you haven't had it, I suggest you try it. Light and fluffy, refreshing and sweet.



What's the best cake you're eaten?

Linking short and sweet (boomtish) with Denyse for #Lifethisweek or see it repeatedly on my Insta over the years....and the red strawberries for #RubyTuesdayToo

Sunlight is painting. Nathaniel Hawthorne

Sometimes just the light that something is viewed in transforms it completely.

When my father died, there was never going to be a way to change his loss nor mine, but I could focus on the other aspects of his life, the great things we shared and how lucky we were to get the time we had together.

May your days always have a surprising glow.

Linking with #WordlessWednesday  #WWOT #WWOAT #ThruMyLens #PictorialTuesday #WeekendReflection, #MySundayPhoto #MyPhotoFriday and #SundayBest

Good and Bad...

I am angry at the Liberals move to stop covering the firefighters with their new cancer legislation. It's disgusting. As the bill moves to the Upper House I would ask people consider emailing Fred Nile (F.Nile@parliament.nsw.gov.au) and asking him to please support the firefighters who already have work related cancer and to amend the Deemed illness bill to include backdating it 6 months.

I had tickets to Childish Gambino, and when he cancelled, I got us tickets to Mandy Patinkin. It was a great show and I'm really thankful I got to see it. He chose a number of Randy Newman songs, which made me bubble with delight. He also did a fascinating Bohemian Rhapsody, as full opera.

The story I want to share, which relates back to this post, is when he talked about how he'd made a commercial as a 17 year old, and his father wanted him to do a business degree, to have something to fall back on. He said 'I didn't want to fall back on anything. There was no plan B, this was it.'. As the cheques from the ad kept coming in, his father realised he had the commercial for 7up to fall back on...

For some reason I can't embed the song, but here's Mandy's version of the Queen classic.

Loving that I get to our beautiful Opera House as much as I do and see so many gloriously creative performances.

What are you loving this week?

Linking with #PhotoTunes (sorry the clip won't embed) #OurWorldTuesday (just for the photos) #GlobalBlogging #KCACOLS, #Sundayinmycity  and #TravelTuesday

The Unstoppable Stan Lee

I was sad to have the news flash across my phone this morning and read that Stan Lee passed away. He was 95, but he was one person that lived life right up to the end, and is a lesson to us all in persisting with doing what you love.

He tells a story of how in the forties (in his twenties), he'd go to parties and people would make fun of him for working in comics. They'd ask "When are you going to get a real job?" Fast forward fifty years and he's in Hollywood films and travelling the world meeting millions of adoring fans. He'd come to Australia for ComicCon, well into his nineties!

His other story he told was when Marvel was wanting to wrap up his original characters because sales were down. He asked for them to give him one more year. All the flagging characters were wrapped up into the hugely successful Avengers, and a new life was born. One that we know has turned into a booming franchise.

Even if you don't read comics, you know Stan Lee. As an avid comic reader, I get a fangirl fluster of excitement when his cameo appears in each film.

May we take these lessons of his success into our own lives. Just because we aren't successful yet, doesn't mean we need to give it up. Just because people don't see the value in what we do, doesn't mean it isn't something worthy. Just because it's failing, doesn't mean we need to give up completely on something we love. Nothing is failed until we stop.

It is a lucky man who can say, as Stan Lee did in 2006 "I don't really see a need to retire as long as I am having fun."

While the man is now gone, may his magnicent Marvel Universe continue to make us do just that.

As he himself often signed off, "'Nuff Said!"

Linking with #StayClassyMama #DreamTeam #FridayFeature and #TwinklyTuesday

I'm linking also a reminder that no matter what our role in life, we can use our influence to cry out for what is right. Here are some articles where Stan Lee cried out racism during the Civil Rights movement.

Remembrance Day 2018

Today marks 100 years since Armistice Day, and around the world people are marking the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month with two minutes silence.

May we never see such futile waste again.
May we learn from history.
May we never forget.












The art students at Hurlstone Agricultural High School made an art installation for Sculpture in the Vineyards which runs from 2nd to the 18th of November in the Hunter Valley. Comprising of ceramic poppies in a field, there are also 32 ceramic helmets, one for each country that was involved in WWI.

 (Teachers Jo Ross and Margo Gabsi guided the students through the project. Photo Credit: Margo Gabsi)

Linking with #WordlessWednesday #PictorialTuesday #WWOAT #WWOT  #ThruMyLens #TheRandom #OurWorldTuesday #RubyTuesdayToo  #MySundayPhoto #SundayBest #Sundayinmycity and #KCACOLS

Down in the dumps - Share the dignity #Itsinthebag

I've been a little down in the dumps lately, I suspect because I'm not sleeping well and it's having a knock on effect into everything else.
So, as you may remember, one of my favourite cheer me up activities is to sort out my xmas charity donations. Share the Dignity's #Itsinthebag drive is one of my favourites, giving toiletries and goodies in a bag to homeless women. This year the drop off locations are at Bunnings, and the drive is from the 16th November until the 2nd December. (For those that don't have the time or interest in putting together a bag, Chemist Warehouse will pack and deliver it for you (donate here).









This year I've done two - an adult one and a teen bag (you tie a yellow ribbon on it).








As for what I'm loving, one of my children finished school! I am so thrilled for her and excited by the next adventures that lay ahead, whatever they may be! The HSC stretched over three weeks which is just way too long. (As I have one kid still in primary school, I feel a long way to go before I'm out of the woods, but I'll take each celebration for what it is!). I don't feel sad or like it's an end of an era, I'm just excited by all the change that's coming her way.

What do you do to lift your spirits?
Will you be doing #Itsinthebag?
Got a school leaver? Are you happy or sad?

Linking with #MummyMondays and #OpenSlather