Our Crooked Little Candle

I had a bag of candles lying on my desk, in the sun, and they kind of melted into a new shape. O well, this one still burned and cheered up our dinner table just fine and didn't even drip any wax.

Saw This on My Way to Work...

Today's Harvest

We're getting pretty close to the end of our growing season here. I did a bit of cleanup in the garden today and picked these cherry tomatoes, decorative gourds, small canteloupe, green pepper, swiss chard, one green bean and these scrawny looking sweet potatoes. This is the second year that I've tried growing sweet potatoes and this is my entire harvest. They're about the size of my fingers. Maybe I need to concede that this just isn't sweet potato growing country. Too bad. I love them and would love to grow my own.

Happy Birthday, Gerard!

My dear husband enjoying blueberry cheesecake on his 63rd birthday (this past Saturday).

Fall Colours!

The colours are so gorgeous in our neighbourhood. We really didn't need to go for a colour tour this year. Every time I walk to the subway or the pool or wherever... I see colours like this.

Positive Influence of Australia Trip

While visiting Alida in Australia I really enjoyed all the socializing, new food, walking and hiking. So I resolved to enjoy more of all of the above when I got home. So far I've hiked, walked or gone swimming every day. We had visitors or went visiting every day last weekend (4 days), and today I tried a new recipe - Australian sweet corn fritters! Most of the recipes I found on-line said to deepfry them, except the Australian ones - which just fried them up in a frying pan. They turned out to be delicious! Thank you, Australia! and Alida!

Thanksgiving Weekend Hikes

As is our tradition on Thanksgiving weekend - we went out to enjoy the fall colours. The weather was fabulous and so we hiked every day and also hung out with friends and family everyday. A wonderful transition from all the socializing and hiking I did in Australia, to getting back into life at home!

On Saturday we went to Hockley Valley and walked part of the Bruce Trail. The picture below shows my favourite section of the trail.

On Sunday we walked close to home through BettyAnn bush and down into the ravine. The colours in the city were unbelievably brilliant!

And on Monday we hiked at Mary Lake, ending up at the apple and pumpkin farm.

Home Again

I arrived safely back in Canada on Friday night and was welcomed by these flowers from Gerard. I love their fall colours! My body is still confused about what time it is here. I've been wide awake very early in the morning, like 1:30 am and 3:30 am so hopefully one of these nights I'll get a solid sleep because tomorrow it's back to work.

My visit with Alida was everything I'd hoped it could possibly be. I got to see how she lives there, meet her friends, spend quality time together and on top of that the weather was beautiful and I saw and experienced a lot of new things. I'm so glad I was able to do this trip and that Alida and I could spend this mother-daughter time together!

One of the first things I did on Saturday was to take a quick tour around the garden. Here are some pictures...

Beauty All Around

Paddington lace.


Lorikeets

Sunrise over the Pacific Ocean.

Along the coastal walk between the Clovelly and Bondi beaches.

Alida and Christine.

From My Northern Hemisphere Perspective...

From my northern hemisphere perspective, I keep getting delightfully surprised/confused by things here. For example: This afternoon we were out for a walk in Centennial Park with Alida's friend who told us that she's now three months pregnant. I quickly calculated that she should be due around October. So when Alida asked about the due date and her friend said,"April", I thought, "What!? I guess my brain is just programmed to think, "It's spring here and spring starts in April so due date is October." Except... spring in Australia starts in October, so the due date is April. Oh well...

(Black swans at Centennial Park. That's the first time I've ever seen a black swan.)

And it happened again this evening. We were invited to Jade and Jimmy's apartment for dinner. Jimmy was showing me his container garden on the balcony where he had just planted strawberries, tomatoes, basil, chives, coriander, spring onions, and thyme. When I asked him which way their balcony was facing, he said it had a northern exposure. I wondered whether there would be enough light for the plants to grow. "No worries. We get full sun here from early morning until noon, when the sun goes around the side of the building." What?! Full sun for half the day on the north side of the building?! How's that possible? Aha!!! Of course! I'm south of the equator here, so here the sun comes from the north!

Each time this happens, I think that now I've got it and then something else comes up to surprise me again. It's kind of fun, actually!

What My Photos Can't Tell You

By now I've posted 122 pictures on Facebook of my visit with Alida. They show many beautiful things and places I've seen, many great people I've met, and many exciting things I have experienced.

And yet what they can't tell you is...
... how great it feels to spend time with Alida in person for a while
... how I enjoy experiencing glimpses of her world here in Sydney
... how blessed I felt to be here the evening Alida shared her testimony with her church family
... how amazing it is to feel one in the Lord with total strangers halfway around the world
... what it's like to be at a prayer and healing service at Hillsong Church
... how much the girls in Alida's house care about and support each other
... how much I enjoy all the little differences in the use of the English language and the way of doing things here compared to at home
... how it feels to realize that I'm clear on the other side of the world from my own home
... how proud and honoured I felt to see Alida in her nursing position at the hospital where she works
... how moved I was when Alida showed me the tiny little babies she works with in the neo-natal intensive care unit - especially the little twins bundled up together for warmth and comfort
... how much energy I have when there is so much exciting activity to participate in every day from morning to night
... how, even though I'm so excited to be here and am loving every minute of this wonderful adventure, I also look forward to going back to my own home again.

And now a few pictures because even though pictures can't tell you everything, sometimes one single picture is worth at least a thousand words.

This past weekend we stayed in a cabin at Fingal Bay. The beach was beautiful and great for long walks. I love the sun, wind, sand and water combination!

Gorgeous view from the summit of a big hill (forgot the name just now) we climbed.

And just another look at these delicate little flowers we saw on our way.