Two Fridays

 I had to ask myself what day it is because we left Australia on Friday at 10:20 am and arrived in LA at 7:00 am. Same day. Anyway we just got home and everything went fine on the plane. 13 hrs coming home vs 15 hours going. I had my book club book on audible which was 10 hrs long so that took up most of my flight. The sun is shining. Already missing Jude and his mom and dad and Sam.TGIF today. I get to have two fridays.

 

The Big Return

 

Coming home today!

Leaving Australia

 We had an early flight out of Sydney returning home to Los Angeles.  We drove in the dark and watched the sun rise. It takes about an hour and a half to get to the airport from Austinmer.  Athena and Mat and Jude were going to take advantage of being near their old area of Coogee to take Jude on a tour of their old neighborhood.  We had a safe flight home and leave with such wonderful memories of all the great adventures we had with Athena, Mat and Jude. 

 

 

Lake Como in Australia

 On the way to and from Athena’s home and Sydney you pass on a bridge over a pretty lake. Athena told me “that’s Lake Como” . We had a running joke after the first time “oh we’re in Italy again” as we drove on the bridge. There’s a pretty hotel there too.

 

March 30th Last Full Day Scarborough Hotel and Austinmer Pool

Thursday afternoon Athena and Mat took us to the coolest place called Scarborough Hotel (converted into a restaurant/bar) with the loveliest outdoor garden area with a spectacular view. I wish I could bring you all here for cocktails, food or simply a refreshing gelato.

 

 

 

 

 After some time enjoying the sun and sea view we headed for a last swim in the Austinmer ocean pools.

 

 

 

 Then home to relax and pack and play with Jude. 

 

Athena is making a medley of different pizzas for dinner. 

 

 

 

Early morning flight home tomorrow. It’s been an absolutely amazing trip. We thank Mat , Athena  and Jude for making these three weeks truly unforgettable.

 

 

 

I Believe This to be True

 "All things 

SPLENDID

have been achieved

by those who dared

believe that something

inside them was superior

to circumstance..." -Bruce Barton

Expect A Miracle

 

Carpe Diem

 

 

 "Break the

monotony.

Do Something

Strange and

Extravagant."

The Giving

 

 

 "...it was the

outstretched

hands,

 the giving,

that mattered." Annie Proulx

Possible

 

 "Pretend impossibilities

are possible.

They are." -Sandi Hemmerlein

You Will Learn

 

"One day

you will

learn 

how to give and receive love

like an open window

and it will feel like summer

every day."

Come Sit With Me

 

Before Sleep

 

 

"Two practices I undertake every night while I lay in the dark before sleep. The first is to chat with the universe. I telepathically tell COTU (Creator of the Universe) what’s happened on Earth that day and how I feel about it. Everything from the horrors in Turkey and Syria and Ukraine to the “progress” on the hideous remodel two doors down. I complain about the arthritis in my knee and rhapsodize about the existence of the fruits and vegetables I saw at the Farmer’s Market.

Next I creep around in my own brain for a quarter of an hour unearthing buried childhood memories. I’ll remember incidentals like how itchy the petticoat I wore under my school dresses was or how warm and inviting the metal monkeybars felt. Also big stuff like the days I spent in isolation sick with Scarlet Fever and picking up a “chapter” book and realizing I could read it or the creepy bespectacled face of the math teacher who always tried to feel me up and gave me A’s in Algebra and Geometry just for showing up to class.

I tell you it’s therapeutic to talk to the universe and to stroll around your cerebellum every night. All those stars beckoning and the past so stuffed with experiences that didn’t get enough attention. I highly suggest you adopt a similar routine. Or take a Xanax. Win win."

 -Gail Greenfield Randall

The Beauty Shop

In the 1950's my grandma had a standing appointment at the hair salon every Saturday. Hair salons were often referred to as "The Beauty Shop". (June's Beauty Shop was where my grandma went.)  That term is so cute and when you think about it , very hopeful.  Whenever I have a an appointment at the "Beauty shop" I hope I can get me some beautiful while I'm there!

Wait

 

"Wait for someone

who could be the

moon for you.  Just

as strong; just as

steady.

illuminating

changes and seas

and blooming 

flowers and summer

nights. They'd wait 

for you in the

dark. They'd dance

around the sun.

They'd receive

your primal howls, 

your secrets, your

dreams, and

shifting tides.

Wait for the moon.

Wait for nothing 

less than what 

steals your breath."

 

Gail's Remembers Her Grandmother

 

 

"Their apartment was teensy. Just perfect to be four in. My grandmother let me shake water on the clothes she was ironing and let me iron the handkerchiefs all by myself. I would hand her the clothespins as she hung the wet towels on the clothesline outside. She cut up apple slices and I dusted them with cinnamon sugar. We ate them swinging on the glider behind her apartment. She taught me how to knit. How to make a daisy chain. How to play “Go Fish”.

I sat next to her sweet-smelling body on the piano bench and we sang “Que Sera Sera” and “Around the World I Searched for You” as she pecked out the notes. We played “Chopsticks” together again and again to see how fast we could go.

In the late afternoon we pushed her little shopping cart to the corner market. Lamb chops for dinner and Hershey’s kisses for walking home. We walked slowly admiring the puffy white clouds in the sky and the roses in flowerbeds.

She let me use her pumice stone on my feet during my bath and her Jean Nate bath powder after. She gently brushed my hair before I went to bed on the made up sofa. The sheets so soft against my clean skin.

The lullaby of my grandparent’s quiet conversation would soothe me to sleep. I swear I never slept deeper — my dreams were never sweeter than in that teensy apartment that was perfect to be four in."

-Gail Greenfield Randall

Jude loves when Grandpa Mike reads to him.

Acts Of Kindness and Love

 "That best portion of a good man's life; 

His little, nameless, unremembered 

acts of kindness and of love." – William Wordsworth.

March 18th in Australia

 Saturday at Jude’s Cafe

 

 

Day 5 Saturday we drove south 40 minutes to the new waterfront marina at Shell Harbor. 

 

 

 

 

 

A nice leisure walk there then drove up to a scenic overlook of The famous surf beach called “The Farm” . 

 

A breathtaking view. Returning home we had lunch at the Thirroul Community Garden where volunteers grow beautiful vegetables to be sold at the town co-op. 

 

 

We ate a great vegetable curry from the garden grown vegetables.

 

Saturday late afternoon we took the boys out for a run about at a nearby wooded area and park. It’s called “Clowes Park” but Jude’s calls it “Sams park”. Sam loves running here and grandpa Mike and Jude loved finding big sticks.  

We returned home and got Jude fed and bathed and off to bed while his mom and dad had a date night out. End to a very nice day.