40/52 Relax Max

A portrait of my family once a week, every week in 2013

Max: Relaxing on the cool floor, he watches me intently.

Here Maxi stares at me from the top of our stairs, cool air from the bathroom provides relief for him on a hot day. Our sweet pets, they're irreplaceable. They're a part of our tiny family, important parts that make the whole machine click by day after day.

The air is more dry than I recall from last spring, this season is warming early. The grass is crunchy under our bare feet. Local bush fires lick the air, threatening towns. They are here earlier than I remember too. It seemed like only last week that we were battling the flooding from Cyclone Oswald and the crisp, cool mornings that made beach walks, surfing and venturing outdoors somewhat undesirable. This is our first year living directly next to a national park. The lack of rain, thirsty soil, drooping plants and constant deposits of dead leaves remind us to prepare. This long weekend we have been clearing dead, dry plant matter, leaves, branches and grass. We compost what we can, clear our gutters and back up our photos. We might never have to leave in a hurry, but one day we might...

This week I'm digging portraits with animals. Farm life, bunny baby-chino. I'm also fascinated by these lovelies: Pumpkin fun, hide-and-seek, morning shadows. I'm reminded of all the important things in our lives. Children, pets, photographs, our farm yard friends...

If you live in a region at risk of bush fires... Please. Prepare.

~Joining Jodi and friends~

Love Bella xx

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Twenty Something

Twenty-nine somethings to be precise...

As the first rays of yesterday morning pierced the sky in fiery orange columns of light radiating from a glowing orb I sat on the top step of our verandah, distracted by my thoughts. It was a cool morning, the first cool morning I've felt this year, as if the breath of winter was finally heralding her impending arrival. Soon.

I tightened the shoelaces of my worn running shoes and decided I would wear them until they fell to pieces, threadbare and useless. For now, they would suffice for my morning run along a vast sandy shore. I tucked the frayed laces into my shoes as soft rays of sunlight flickered through the trees along the beach. My sun-kissed skin glowed with warmth where the light touched it and I inhaled deeply.

That breath was filled with the distinct aromatic scent of the lavender shrub from the base of my front steps, mixed with the intoxicating salty seaside air.

Yesterday was my birthday. I turned twenty-nine. Despite all my previous fears of ageing too quickly to accommodate my life's plans, my bucket list, I felt relaxed, calm and ready. There's still plenty of time.

I think the lavender helped.

Bella xx

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